Sandgroper Christmas Case 2006 Consumption

[Whistlingjack]

Transylvanian Pale Ale

Nicely carbed, poured well with excellent clarity. A thin head that lasted to the end of the glass.

Very subtle hops aroma. Nice, fruity esters. Crisp finish. We had fresh cray with this tasting

First cab off the rank and a great beer as well. Good stuff, Vlad :beerbang:

Dezemberfest

Like this one. Again excellent clarity and good carbonation. Thin head with persistent lacing. Citrusy aroma.

Nice malt profile, balanced hops and with a pleasant, dry finish.

Any more, Tony M? :chug:

 

[Simon W]

Ash, is the bottle labeled 'Bavarian Surprise' the Pale Lager?, or any of the three and thats the surprise?

Thanks to GL for a great day and the beers on tap, very nice but the soda lacked head(done to death?), and to Fleur for the snacks, the dip was awesome.
Thanks also to those that provided samplers, was great to try Case's (double?)IPA again.
To Tony for the awesome sweet smell of pipe tobacco in the air.(drooling Homer style)
And to everyone for a great selection of chrissy beers !

Simo

 

[ausdb]

To Tony for the awesome sweet smell of pipe tobacco in the air.(drooling Homer style)

Aah Tony's pipe the magical ingredient that makes every AHB brewday or get together special. I am sure the ash even add's some magical enzymes to assist with efficient mash conversion and hop isomerisation during the boil. Not sure how well it works post boil tho, could be the new Profix wonder juice

 

[Tony M]

Case,
You dont scare me. Just because your PET bottle has the consistency of a well fired brick and the bulge in the cap has only reached 3.5 millimetres, I shall just store your beer in a steel box and put on a raincoat when I open it.

 

[Simon W]

LOL!
Just checked all mine, Case's is fine, but there are a few others with bulged caps and bums that won't stand still upright.

Keep an eye on my Hopburst, I've only got stubbies of it here. It measured 1010 at bottling but the slurry is still bubbling away!
Could it just be heavier sugars that sank to the bottom of the ferm?

 

[Whistlingjack]

Hey guys,

Just a hint about the hefeweizen. The yeast may have dropped out of this, so give the bottle a roll before you pour. I tried it myself two days before the swap and the banana esters were still evident, but are sure to dissipate over the next few weeks.

Not sure about bubblegum, I've never had that flavour in my hefe's.

Happy drinking.

 

[Guest Lurker]

BigAl Saaz B lager

Having tried to make a couple now, I have a new found respect for the lager brewers. This is a jolly fine example, well balanced, nice hop aroma, good carbonation and head, with enough malt to taste without adding any caramel, and enough hops to balance without being overly bitter. A good example of how to balance a lager, and I wouldnt mind the recipe.

Since I always do what Batz tells me, I dont drink wheat beers, and am not qualified to comment on the wheat beers in the case, but:

Sinkas saison weizen
Vigorous and enthusiastic carbonation, pillowy big bubble head, didnt climb out of the bottle, but did eventually lift the yeast off the bottom, where there was rather a lot of yeast, giving a muddy second pour. Very drinkable, refreshing, a slight winey taste in there which maybe is supposed to be? I wouldnt know.

Goats wit for brains

Very refreshing, eminently drinkable. Does have a slightly odd ester. Tastes mostly of orange, but with a slight plastic and a slight coconut edge, resulting in the restrained impression of the presence of an artifical orange flavouring, but not in a bad way.

WhistlingJack hefe

A clean refreshing wheat beer, ester flavours are a little muted, but they are there, although I dont get much banana, but to be fair I went back for a second more yeasty pour, and my sister in law had tipped and cleaned the bottle in a fit of efficiency.

Well done guys, all very enjoyable, and I am looking forward to the rest of the case, and then starting on the spare case!

 

[barfridge]

Ash's Bavarian Surprise:
pours the colour of ginger beer. Small head which dissapeared. Restrained nose, slight malt sweetness, not much in the way of hops detected.

Flavour is sweet orange, with a tiny hint of phenols. Taking a stab at the style, I'd say wit?

 

[deebee]

Goats Wit
I drank this at a picnic by the river and it went well with boerworst sausages and spare ribs. Was refreshing though a little under-attenuated. I tasted passionfruit and banana. Perhaps undercarbed? I dont buy or brew these beers, so cant reliably critique the style, but I enjoyed the drink. Once again Goat (Andrea) is a serious contender for label of the year.

Als lager
A very classy crisp lager with an exquisite nose of fresh clean saaz hops. A little cloudy, consistent with the bottle conditioning. A bloody top-notch beer, delicately balanced, beautiful summer drinking.

Vlads Transylvania Waters
Low carbonation and barely a phaht on opening; to style? The aroma is sweet: caramel, malt and esters. Id love someone to tell me exactly what that prominent flavour is: I call it esters and I identify it with boisterous fermentation and English bitters. Its not rampant in this beer, as I have had it in a few of mine and it is offset by a gentle sweetness up front. In the end this beer finishes quite dry and has a satisfying resonant bitterness on the palate.

 

[JasonY]

Al's SaazB Lager
Poured with a good head which dissipated (probably my glass), looked to have a little haze. Nicely balanced if more malt driven, low bitterness with that nice SaazB flavour coming through. Didn't read the description about the rice lager but it had a light body which makes sense. Very tasty drop which didn't last in the heat! For my taste I would add some more late hops.

Asher's Bo-Pils
Poured with a good head which lasted the beer. Lots of carbonation going on in there but poured well. Bit hazy compared to your usual crystal clear stuff. Nice body to it not overly heavy but then not too thin, bitterness balances well not a lot of late hops. Slight sweetness. Enjoying this one right now.

 

[Guest Lurker]

TonyM Decemberfest
Rich, malty, toasty without being roasty, malty without any cloying caramel, finishes clean, a jolly fine beer, very impressive. Edit: And...as I continue tasting it...I swear there is a hint of pipe smoke in there.

Roger Mellie Summer Ale
Overgassed, didnt climb out of the bottle, but was extremely vigorous in the glass with a big bubble foamy head. Consequently the initial taste is quite a sharp carbonic bite which strongly masks the beer flavours. Let it sit in the glass for a while and degas, ...and then,.... its goddamn lovely. Just enough malt to balance the strong hop presence. Lovely hop flavour, inspired combination of citrusy centenials, and winey grapey fruity Nelsin sauvins. Reminded me strongly of that Macs Nelson Sauvin lager they do in NZ, and so far, one of the picks of the case for me.

 

[BigAl]

Jase, two years in the US, and you'll be moaning that a 65 IBU beer....needs more hops h34r:

 

[Vlad the Pale Aler]

GL, let go of the caramel thing, its ok, it won't hurt a bit.

 

[Goat]

Interesting comments on my Wit. I should come clean as 'the Capt' has spotted and DeeBee hinted at; I fermented it for two weeks at 20deg and thinking that should be heaps didn't take a gravity and just kegged it.

On tasting it a few days later was when I posted my comments (which were roundly condemned) 'cos there was nothing there in the flavour stakes and mouth feel was horrible. So I steeped the peel of and orange and about 10 grams of crushed corriander in some vodka for three days and added it the Saturday morning.

 

[Hillbilly]

Onto my fith pick today the Roger Mellie Summer Ale.....Mmmmm best one sofar, Goats is next up, just luv this case idea. :chug:

 

[chillamacgilla73]

I picked up my case today and couldn't resist one bottle even though I was going to save them all till chrissy holidays - 3 weeks off the lung busters today so thought bugger it.

Als Saaz B Lager.
Poured well with a smallish head and moderate cascading, nice aroma. Crisp and dry, light on the body, a great malty flavour with the Saaz B not dominating.

Top brew Al.

 

[mika]

Kroozy's Summer Ale

I actually thought this was meant to be a strong ale, until I tasted it and re-checked the bottle.
Pours with a nice thick head, I couldn't detect any aroma. It has a nice light brown colour, not overly dark for an ale. Very clean taste with a subdued caramel (?) flavour, no noticeable hop taste or aroma.
For my personal taste I would have hit it with some more hop flavour, though I'm not sure what.
Overall a clean, enjoyable drinking ale.

 

[facter]

saaz b lager

great hop finish - a i love saaz b. beautfiul pale gold color. light head stayed all the way down to the bottom. some really rounded malty flavour in it which is still evident with the hops accentuating, but not actually overriding it. Drank this with some laksa, and it went down an utter treat.

 

[Simon W]

Santa's Saaz B Lager

Loved it, aroma was great, well balanced, the head was smallish but hung in there and laced all the way to the bottom(tall 500ml glass). Was very slightly hazy but I'm pretty sure I unsettled the yeast. Would be very very happy if I could make a lager this good. My old-man liked it alot.


Hopburst Amber Ale

I know this isn't ready, only been in the bottle for 5 days but I had to test one of the stubbies I had here. All I can say is that I propose a name change to 'Hopsearch Amberish Ale'. The hops are there, very very faint aroma that I can't put my finger on, but it's not what I expected. I'm not at all impressed. Sorry guys.

 

[barfridge]

BigAl's saaz B lager
It's everything the others have said, plus it's a cracker! A beer I would be quite happy to pay for by the pint. On a warm afternoon it's beers like this that remind me why we spend all this time and effort. Top stuff

JasonY's APA
100000 times better than the label! Served with a raging hot Mi Goreng, it was a soothing tonic from the gods. Has a fragrant cascade nose, and a real sweetness in the aroma. This is carried into the taste, with an assertive, mouth-coating sweetness complimenting the bitterness. It's almost like a burnt-toffee flavour, not the normal diacetal honeycomb/butter taste.

Even with this strong sweetness, it's amazingly well balanced, so the IBU's must be quite high, I'm guessing about 35.

How was this achieved? Decoction? Boiling down of wort to syrup?