Sandgroper Xmas 2007 Recipes And Tasting

[Kai]

Had a good night last night eh rob?

 

[chillamacgilla73]

Well after 2+month hiatus from brewing and forum trawling due to work commitments, fertility treatment, triathlon training and preparations for major home rennos. Check out the pic of our yard.. Bless the earthmoving contractor that even after having an initial site survey a month ago, he still managed to bust the lids on the first day and we now have open septics with spandeck sheets covering them for another 2-3days..stinky poos up our way.


Anyway, Im back..

I can only give hazy recollections of the chrissy case as my memory is as reliable as a gold fishs.

Vlads Another top ale with many layers of flavours fruitiness, spiciness, sweetness and otherness-nesses..I dont recall hoppyness?
Tonys Top example of an English ale that I managed to serve at the correct temperature(EG: Not freezing cold). Plenty of crystally goodness balanced nicely with some variety of English hops. Again, the memory is cactus so apologies for vague descriptions..
Roger Mellies Top beer with wonderful aroma n flavour of the latest Saaz incarnation(C or D?).
Goats Hefe One of the finest homebrewed weizens Ive tried(Sitting alongside Ashers weizen he brewed using a recipe inspired by the recipe on the Weyermann site). Top effort in achieving a good balance of wheat tartness, fruity goodness and phenolics.
Ashers NS Ale Tidy ale from the king of lagerland. NS ales seem to taste grapefruity and have a kind of acidity that makes a cracking thirst quencher when youve been hard at work watching the boxing day test on the couch.
Deebees Another deebee ripper from the man that thinks outside the square/circle or rectangle(EG: Not style guidelines restricted, just thinks what will taste good together). I remember Amarillo n malt and quite dark. Father in law enjoyed it too.
GL's - Tidy english brew, never played with BC hops or had much to do with them. Very tastey.


All of the high octane and Belgian numbers are tucked away and I will give a more definitive review when I find the perfect moment to imbibe.

A side not regarding the chilla haze Altbier. I am pretty sure I mixed up my base malts when I brewed my chrissy case. I accidentally used Kirin in the chrissy case Alt and JW Trad ale in the house weizen. Well I can only assume the superdry weizen and full bodied Alt is down to this very reason.refer label regarding brewers inventory management skills..

Cheers all for your reviews and tasty beers and apologies for going AWOL for a few months, life gets in the way of brewing sometimes..
Chilla

 

[Vlad the Pale Aler]

You will only be forgiven if you turn up at Randyrobs brewday.

 

[randyrob]

Had a good night last night eh rob?

it was good up until the point where we decided to duck out for a late night curry and i ordered the prawn jalfrazi, while trying to squeeze one of the prawns out of the shell into my mouth i got a dash of curry in my eye, had to walk home with my eyes closed still stings like buggery today!

 

[ausdb]

Well after 2+month hiatus from brewing and forum trawling due to work commitments, fertility treatment, triathlon training and preparations for major home rennos. Check out the pic of our yard.. Bless the earthmoving contractor that even after having an initial site survey a month ago, he still managed to bust the lids on the first day and we now have open septics with spandeck sheets covering them for another 2-3days…..stinky poos up our way.

Anyway, I’m back..

Good to see you are still alive, I heard a rumour you were off to ol Blighty!

 

[chillamacgilla73]

Good to see you are still alive, I heard a rumour you were off to ol Blighty!

Cheers mate -I look forward to catching up for a beer sooner rather than later. Ole blighty fell through, manager wouldn't agree to interoffice transfer so I have been trawelling recruitment sites....he heWe decided the rennos will need to be finished before we bugger off..so that won't be for a while...

 

[kook]

Triathlon?

Is that like brewing, bbqing and bottling at the same time or something?

 

[Guest Lurker]

Cool idea Kook. Lets do a brewing triathlon at Robs brewday!

 

[roger mellie]

Mika's Xmas Beer

Last cab off the rank - been sitting in the fridge for a month now - thought it was time as the temperature has plummeted to 23 degrees here today - with 25mm of rain - I declare it to be winter.

Wow - what an excellent beer. Perfect Carbonation, glorious head, awesome viscosity. An absolute myriad of Xmas cake flavors here - Five Spice, Nutmeg - underlying treacle and marmalade tones all carried through by a delicate amount of alcohol heat. Really well balanced.

I dont know whether the weather added to the experience but I would rate this as the best beer of the case - indeed one of the best of that style of beer I have tasted

A real treat in a Word - Delicious.

Cheers Mika

RM

 

[Vlad the Pale Aler]

I have to agree RM, although too slack to write a gushing essay on this beer I also rate it as the best in the case.

 

[mika]

Wow...I'll have to taste it again as I thought the spice had gone out the window. Cheers for the glowing response fellas.

 

[ausdb]

This years offering - no chilled in the fermenter as my chiller was out of action.

As others here have pointed out - the combination of Weyerman Pils and No Chill can = DMS. So apologies for that - from the 2 or so glasses that I had - the DMS does dissipate in the glass.

It has had a week in the fridge - might pay to give it a couple more.

Cheers

RM

Smells like cooked cabbage :angry:

Hey RM I am known for not being one to rush things so I have been trying to make this years chrissy case last till next Christmas. The RK Pils was up on the list this evening and I can say that all traces of DMS have left the building and it has a very nice Saazy D aroma to it still. It poured a bit hazy and there was some yeast sediment which I was surprised at consideirng that I see you filtered it but it has been lagering for a while now. Theres was also a nice assertive bitterness to back it up, Well done!!!

 

[barfridge]

Mika's Xmas Beer

It's had enough time to age. Looking at the recipie, I'm at a loss for which style it should be. It tastes like a Belgian dark strong, but without the strong ester character from a Belgian yeast.

Pours very clear by now, a gorgeous dark brown with a healthy tinge of red. Thick tan head which stays until the end, despite the alcohol percentage, leaving a nice lace. Healthy levels of carbonation keep it lively until the bottom of the glass.

Taste is heavily towards the malt, a nice solid backbone and additional dark plummy sweetness from the carafa. Not much left in the way of hops by now. I can't detect any spices, except the ginger, which blends in beautifully with the slight warming from the alcohol.

Aftertaste is a slight hop bitterness and tannic bitterness from the grain.

Overall a very well integrated effort. Dark and strong beers aren't my cup of tea *cough*, so I may be a little biased in favour of this one.

 

[Guest Lurker]

Gald you managed to drink it,
yes carbonation is far too low, which accentuates the 1016 finish,
In my opinion now a very average beer, but one that had a great deal of hope and artistic passion wasted on it.

Hey Case

2 kegs blew dry tonight. So I went rummaging in the back of the fridge and found a divine hammer.

Review: What I said last time, except it has carbed up more, dried out more and is a very tasty estery malty drop, the alcohol is still very well disguised, the colour is a nice reddish amber, and it holds a thin head. Drinking well, no signs of oxidation, which I find odd in a beer that was counter pressure filled a very long time ago, drinking especially especially well in front of the fire as I conserve the precious power and gas resources of WA. Got any more?

 

[Tony M]

The Hammer and the Xmas are the only two I have left. Looks like I should get stuck into them when I return home from Prague just to remind myself you don't have to fly round the world for a good beer.

 

[Tony M]

Mika's Christmas Beer.
I saved this for the 2008 Christmas dinner finale. Enid did not bother to make a Christmas pudding this year and she had no need to for there it was, bottled up like a genie waiting to be released for our pleasure. It was clean on the palate, clear to the eye with rich fruit driven flavours that had us all smacking our lips. This was a beer you'd pay quids for and go back for more. Well worth the wait.
Edit: I think you should put down your next offering now so that it will be perfect for Christmas 2009.