Qld Xmas Case Swap - Consumption

[clean brewer]

12.AndrewQLD - Coopers Sparkling Ale

On cracking the bottle, a lovely estery aroma burst from within the bottle. I felt compelled to share with SWMBO, and we both knew we were in for a treat. The colour and clarity were spot on. The head was there but wasn't too persistent, as per how it should be. Upon consumption, there was a pronounced malt base that I reckon outdoes the Traditional version. The thing I noticed was that the ester flavour component was very prevalent, and I'm not sure if that was necessarily the intention. While I enjoyed this beer, I wouldn't necessarily have thought that the ester/yeast flavour component should have dominated the beer like it did in my bottle. If I were to make this beer (and it will be on my "To-do" list at some stage) I would want the estery-ness to be a bit more balanced in relation to the rest of the beer.

I agree with your comments GG, tried this yesterday and was trying to pick the words for it... Nice beer all the same though...

:icon_cheers: CB

 

[AndrewQLD]

12.AndrewQLD - Coopers Sparkling Ale

On cracking the bottle, a lovely estery aroma burst from within the bottle. I felt compelled to share with SWMBO, and we both knew we were in for a treat. The colour and clarity were spot on. The head was there but wasn't too persistent, as per how it should be. Upon consumption, there was a pronounced malt base that I reckon outdoes the Traditional version. The thing I noticed was that the ester flavour component was very prevalent, and I'm not sure if that was necessarily the intention. While I enjoyed this beer, I wouldn't necessarily have thought that the ester/yeast flavour component should have dominated the beer like it did in my bottle. If I were to make this beer (and it will be on my "To-do" list at some stage) I would want the estery-ness to be a bit more balanced in relation to the rest of the beer.

Thanks for this beer Andrew - both your Sparking and Pale Ales will be getting a run through the So Button's brewery before the summer is out!

I agree with your comments GG, tried this yesterday and was trying to pick the words for it... Nice beer all the same though...

:icon_cheers: CB

Thanks for the feed back guys, I think the esters being quite strong is due to my using a third generation yeast for this brew, the more you re culture this yeast the more profound the esters become, it's just one more thing I have now learnt in trying to replicate this style. Propagate once, divide and use each division once only. It's surprising that such a simple beer can throw so much at you, but I think that's the joy of brewing it.
And I have to say it's great getting honest feedback from such a large group of beer lovers, it makes toning and perfecting a brew so much easier.

Cheers

Andrew

 

[Fatgodzilla]

17. Henno's Budvar. I dont know what happened here but I got the taste of smoked suasage, maybe bacon with this beer??????? More like a Rauchbier for me. Had me searching for budvar but nothing matched what was in this bottle.
Brad

Henno, I got faint ginger type taste out of mine, nothing smoky. Not drunk much czech pilsners, taste reminded me a lot of Carlsburg though. As got further into the glass, the palate adjusted well to the flavours. Can't comment on whether this was good to a style, can say I enjoyed the beer immensely. Thanks and enjoy your Xmas in Sydney !

 

[Henno]

Henno, I got faint ginger type taste out of mine, nothing smoky. Not drunk much czech pilsners, taste reminded me a lot of Carlsburg though. As got further into the glass, the palate adjusted well to the flavours. Can't comment on whether this was good to a style, can say I enjoyed the beer immensely. Thanks and enjoy your Xmas in Sydney !

Oh dear, that could be a bit embarassing. I think a few of my PET bottles had a ginger beer in them before. They all got the PBW and Starsan treatment but that bloody ginger is a persistent bugger. I can't remember having any smoked sausage in any of the bottles previously though The only Czech pilsener I can get up here is Pilsner Urquell which seems to throw the same skunky yeast flavour so you could try one of those.

 

[scoundrel]

few more this week, been hot so tall cold ones go down well.

9. browndog - wolfcreek IPA - Now that's an IPA, on cracking the bottle i get a bit whack of hops, colour was good, it stayed carbonated with a fair bit of head retention, and the hops and malt were well balanced, don't change a bloody thing, if thats in the DB it'll be the first thing that goes on my rig. top fookin' notch.

16. daemon - english brown ale - i've only ever had a few brown ales (fursty ferret and old leg over) but i really enjoyed your beer, only thing i have to say about it is the head didn't hang around long, which did leave me wanting, most of the brown ales ive had have have big creamy foaming head by the truckload, probably better suited to a keg? nice beer though, went down in bout 5 mins flat.

15. Gavo - bastardised dogwoodpale - i really enjoyed the buiscuty quailty to this one, reminded me of nan baking malted milk bicckies, nice colour and well hopped. nicely done did you write done what you did for this one, i'd interested in a look at that?

 

[daemon]

Cheers SR, glad you enjoyed it. It's under-carbonated a tad (compared to other beers) and maybe the use of a pocket sparkler would fix it. Can't say that I've left it in a glass long enough to see what the head retention is like

Drinking Gavo's APA now and certainly enjoying it. The beer is a lovely golden colour with a light malt taste and plenty of hop flavour. Can't quite pick the hops yet, it's tasting like a blend of a US varieties yet I can't narrow it down. The clarity and head retention are both excellent, maybe being a tad over-carbed is about the only real fault I can find (or it could be the fact that I've been brewing ESB's!). Initially the bittering was a tad sharp but as the beer warmed up this seemed to disappear. Up there with the best APA's I've had Gavo, very nicely done!

Hot day here in QLD, I think I'll select another beer to "evaluate" :chug:

 

[AndrewQLD]

Stuck my hand in the fridge, closed my eyes and randomly picked...

20. Clean Brewer 4/8 AIPA.

I can smell those hops as soon as I cracked the cap. When I first started to pour this beer I thought Uh oh where's the head, but by the end of the pour and even 5 minutes later I have a big dome of foam on top of the beer and it looks great.
Looks pretty hazy but that can happen with high late hopped beers. The aroma is beautiful, I'm not really up on the American hops (to be honest I don't use them) but it smells really nice. I'm not getting any real malt aromas as expected.

On first sip this beer is not quite as bitter as I thought it would be although it does finish bitter after an initial sweetness. Malt is up front but subdued finishing dry with a lingering slight bitterness.
Lacing on the glass is pretty as you slowly sip your way through this beer.
I think it's very well balanced as far as malt/hops goes.

The only downer for me was the clarity which detracted from the nice bronze/amber color.
Sorry CB, but I won't be "enjoying this responsibly", as it's too nice a drop to sip.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[AndrewQLD]

18. GravityGuru - Powderkeg GB

First off, never, ever have I seen a Ginger beer that held a head, I've got 3 mm of nice foam on top, beautiful.
Aroma is all ginger and slightly citrusy, It's cloudy and a nice pale gingery color for want of a better description.
Taste is ginger up front and slightly sweet but well balanced, holy crap, there's more than just ginger in this surely, I've got some severe lip burn going on here that I usually only get from chillies.
This is a REALLY nice ginger beer, but keep well away form spiceaphobics.

Is there Chillie in here GG?

Nice beer GG

Andrew

 

[daemon]

Since it's still nice and warm, a few Hefe's were on the cards.

First was jlm's lucky number 13. This one seemed fairly restrained with just a hint of banana phenolics. Undercarbed as pointed out previously but not that big of a deal. Wheat taste was certainly there but overall the beer seemed a bit "muted" flavour wise, maybe as if it'd been brewed a while ago? Not trying to be too critical of course, I'm planning a few wheat beers for Christmas and know they can be fiddly. It was still very enjoyable overall of course, just trying to give some constructive feedback.

Second was Frogman's number 11. Far clearer than I expected and reminded me of the Redback beer from Matilda Bay. Not as many phenolics as other wheat beers but still easy to drink. Seems maybe more like a US wheat style, it seems less wheat driven than the kegged one you had at the swap. Again a lovely quaffer on a hot day and the evaporation from my glass has been a problem as it's nearly all gone

 

[jlm]

After a couple of rough AFD's I got back to the swap tonight. Plucked out Bradsbrew's entry, but unfortunately got stuck in a work phonecall which distracted me during its consumption. My vauge notes which I remember while trying to give a shit about builder/architect's whims were that it was a nice ESB, a bit sweet perhaps and I'm interested in what yeast was used. There was a slight, uurrggh, almost vanilla-ey (or something...) ester I was picking up that I liked. Not real good at putting these things into words unfortunately. While my feedback may not be all that helpful Brad, your beer helped stave off my inevitable christmas work tantrum for another day.

And Gavo, I'm interested as to what the hop/s were in your beer. It was a familiar flavor (I was getting a bit frustrated at not being able to definitavely identify them) which i'm sure I've brewed with before, but as stated earlier am a bit crap at picking these things.

And also, Daemon. After trying one of my leftovers, I think "bland" (sorry, muted, same thing) sums it up best. It's pretty fresh, only nudgeing 4 weeks from pitch now. The only thing I can put it down to (as I like to think I can brew a decent weizen) is I've stuffed up with my pitching rate. 1st time bumping up that yeast from a test tube, and is nothing like it's earlier cousin I was trying to emulate. That and the 3638 thing.

 

[browndog]

few more this week, been hot so tall cold ones go down well.

9. browndog - wolfcreek IPA - Now that's an IPA, on cracking the bottle i get a bit whack of hops, colour was good, it stayed carbonated with a fair bit of head retention, and the hops and malt were well balanced, don't change a bloody thing, if thats in the DB it'll be the first thing that goes on my rig. top fookin' notch.

16. daemon - english brown ale - i've only ever had a few brown ales (fursty ferret and old leg over) but i really enjoyed your beer, only thing i have to say about it is the head didn't hang around long, which did leave me wanting, most of the brown ales ive had have have big creamy foaming head by the truckload, probably better suited to a keg? nice beer though, went down in bout 5 mins flat.

15. Gavo - bastardised dogwoodpale - i really enjoyed the buiscuty quailty to this one, reminded me of nan baking malted milk bicckies, nice colour and well hopped. nicely done did you write done what you did for this one, i'd interested in a look at that?

Thanks for the feedback Bloke, I saw a post about 5.XX grams of hops per bottle in such and such's swap bottles in another state. so did a quick calculation on mine and it is 12.17g per bottle ! Glad you enjoyed it.

cheers

Browndog

 

[clean brewer]

Stuck my hand in the fridge, closed my eyes and randomly picked...

20. Clean Brewer 4/8 AIPA.

I can smell those hops as soon as I cracked the cap. When I first started to pour this beer I thought Uh oh where's the head, but by the end of the pour and even 5 minutes later I have a big dome of foam on top of the beer and it looks great.
Looks pretty hazy but that can happen with high late hopped beers. The aroma is beautiful, I'm not really up on the American hops (to be honest I don't use them) but it smells really nice. I'm not getting any real malt aromas as expected.

On first sip this beer is not quite as bitter as I thought it would be although it does finish bitter after an initial sweetness. Malt is up front but subdued finishing dry with a lingering slight bitterness.
Lacing on the glass is pretty as you slowly sip your way through this beer.
I think it's very well balanced as far as malt/hops goes.

The only downer for me was the clarity which detracted from the nice bronze/amber color.
Sorry CB, but I won't be "enjoying this responsibly", as it's too nice a drop to sip.

Cheers
Andrew

Andrew, after comments like that mate, I just want to go and brew now(1.17am).... Thanks a bunch for the comments.... Really am stoked.... :beerbang:

As for clarity, its bottle conditioned, and it hasnt been fined(dont really worry for my own drinking) and it is fairly late hopped aswell.... Maybe for beers for swaps comps etc ill have to work on clarity but as long as its nice mate..... Enjoy irresponsibly....

:icon_cheers: CB

 

[Gavo]

Ok the bastardized Dogwood Pale APA Hops were Simcoe FWH, then Simcoe and Centennial 50/50 for late and dry hop additions.

Scoundrel I can give you the recipe but I will have to make you dissapear h34r: na I just have to find where I scribbled my notes as it was one of those brews where I kept running out of everything and had to make it up on the fly.

Thanks for the comments guys, I have a house brew similar to this that I am still tweaking a little where I use NZ Cascade in place of the Centennial. :icon_drool2:

Cheers
Gavo.

 

[The Scientist]

CB,

Very nice AIPA, the first thought which came to mind was "F*#k this tastes like a BrewDog IPA and to me it really does. Great job, here is your judging sheet. As you can see my writing/spelling got worse as I drank more of you beer, so the strength is about right. Also in the last sentence the word is supposed to say 'cleaner' (no pun intendid). :lol:



Cheers,

TS

 

[winkle]

15. Gavo - Bastardised Dogwood Pale (APA)
Presented well, good colour nice dense head. I think I detected a slight astringency in the bitterness but I'd have to consume 3 or 4 more to be really certain B) . Good US hop mix, went down well on a steamy evening.

20. Clean Brewer 4/8 AIPA.

Another good beer, poured a hazy gold with good head retention. As The Scientist noted quite similar to the Brew Dog IPA in aroma and flavour, quite moreish.

(Apologies to BribieG for my comment on his stout - oh why did I think drinking it at 12 was a good idea :icon_drunk:. )

 

[browndog]

OK, here is one for Andrew


Top beer mate

and Henno


Pity about the ginger.

Cheers

Browndog

 

[The Scientist]

Oh dear, that could be a bit embarassing. I think a few of my PET bottles had a ginger beer in them before. They all got the PBW and Starsan treatment but that bloody ginger is a persistent bugger.

Henno,

A very refreshing brew, but my sample was definately a ginger beer with Pilsner type shandy.

The only reason I have never brewed a ginger beer is for the same issue you stated above. I don't have enough fermenters that I could spare one that may inheret the ginger flavour and pass it on to any future brews.

You could certainly enter this into a specialty class and do quite well.

 

[The Scientist]

StillScottish,

Great 80/- mate, hard for me to give much feedback which could possibly improve what you have achieved. Simple things like colour adjustment and a higher mash temp to dry out the beer are the main things which could score you a few extra points in a comp. This beer gave all the main attributes which I was looking for in accordance with the BJCP guidlines while drinking.

Great job :super:



Cheers,

TS :icon_cheers:

 

[The Scientist]

BrownDog,

Holly Sh*t, that was a great beer. One of your best for sure:

Glad you held back on the bitterness with this one as its not as bitter as I expected from you and because of this the malt was able to shine through second only to those fantastic hops.

Really well done mate.



Cheers,

TS :beer:

 

[browndog]

StillScottish,

Great 80/- mate, hard for me to give much feedback which could possibly improve what you have achieved. Simple things like colour adjustment and a higher mash temp to dry out the beer are the main things which could score you a few extra points in a comp. This beer gave all the main attributes which I was looking for in accordance with the BJCP guidlines while drinking.

Great job :super:

View attachment 33480

Cheers,

TS :icon_cheers:

Liam, did you mean a lower mash temp to dry out the beer? Thanks for the comments on the AIPA. I certainly did use a lot of hops in it.

cheers

Browndog