Sandgroper Xmas 2007 Recipes And Tasting

[Tony M]

Is it just me or has the standard lifted for this year's case? I have only tasted eight 2007 beers but every one of them would place in the top 5 of my memories of last year's and previous years' cases.

I cant believe how NICE you guys are being to each other. Its like a 1970's love in. I haven't cracked a bottle yet so I hope it's all true

 

[roger mellie]

Recharges Khazi Ale

Caramel Brown almost Orange hues, not much carbonation or head. Perfumed nose, I cheated and looked at the recipe as I thought this was going to be some obscure american hop - I would have to say I would never have picked Amarillo. Despite low carbonation the backbone was solid on this - sweet caramel, nice bitterness, a good pint - SWMBO (who is a tough judge) had no complaints.

Very Drinkable.

So thats 10/22 I think - nothing approaching a bad beer yet. Enjoyed every one so far.

Cheers

RM

 

[roger mellie]

View attachment 16906

v low on carbonation with a massive flavour burst of some pretty insane hops would have taste lovely straight out of the tap.

D Saaz - you gotta try it - i think insane is actually quite a good descriptive - B Saaz on Steroids I think Ross quipped - I love this hop.

Sorry about the carbonation - I tried to squirt some more CO2 in after decanting from the keg - not enough unfortunately.

RM

 

[Guest Lurker]

Goat Hefe wheaty thing
I cant decide between Goat and Kai for the wooden spoon in the label comp. Andrea and Rueben too busy to cut round the goat ears this year? Probably Kai, actually, cos he left the originals on. I liked the orange character in this one much better than last years version Mr Goat, very tasty beer, and if you left out the wheat, an even better one. I dont detect any oxidation, so maybe HSA doesnt exist after all.

SimonW Amber Ale
Middle stage malaria pee colour. Grapefruit aroma. Lowish reasonable carbonation. Quite malty, with some darkish toasty, almost tarry flavours, good fruit salad and grapefruit hop flavour, long clean lingering bitterness at the end. Nicely balanced, smooth, very good beer. For my palate, a slightly lighter malt flavour would improve it, but thats just me and my nemesis, cara aroma.

 

[recharge]

Tonys "Not so Ordinary Ale
Nothing was really dominant in this beer it all just blended well together.
I didnt get much in the aroma dept.
The flavour was mildly hopped with a kinda lingering fruitiness (that hung around on the back sides of my tounge) if that makes any sense. I'm sure i was getting a mildl up front yeast flavour as well but could have been something else i'm yet to describe properly.
All in all a lovely beer.

Recharge

 

[Vlad the Pale Aler]

GL's Bx
Pours nice and lively, thin tight head, plenty of fine bubbles. Colour of dehydrated Great Dane pee. As it warmed the chill haze left. Faint fruity aroma, I think Bx is supposed to have a currant aroma, but I could'nt pick it. Balanced with the malt just getting the better of the hops, a dry finish in spite of an fg of 1.012. Excellent beer that would be even better from the handpump.
One complaint, I only received a bottle of beer, the Big Dog Brewing glass must have been left behind on swap day, I'll pick it up sometime.

Mike B Wit, Ordinary Ale, Kai Cream Ale
I took these 3 beers to a party so the tasting notes may be a bit scant. Mrs Vlad liked the Wit, so did I but a bit more mouthfeel from raw wheat would have been better, nice tang to it as well.
Tony's ale, can't remember anything about it, except it being quaffed down without any problem, so in 1970's love in tradition, it was all beautiful man.
Kais cream was a bit of a surprise, the only cream ales that I have had, (Hahn, Brew 42) have been creamy. This was a tangy, zesty sort of a summer ale, I think. hard to evaluate under the circumstances but it was a refreshing beer and I look forward to the other 250mls to taste it properly.

 

[roger mellie]

Big Dog Brambling X Bitter

Good Carb, Good Head when poured, little retention however. Honeyed/Amber hue - sweet nose with definite bready/sweet estery characters.

Bramling Cross? I got no blackcurrant flavours indeed no real 'bitterness' as such - Honey/Caramel flavours were strong - also quite fruity/raisiny - which no doubt was the Windsor. I also got a dusty/herbacious aftertaste.

A pleasant beer - not my favorite yeast - not being critical but I have made beers with Windsor before where the yeast takes over and imparts raisiny characters.

Would liked to have tasted this as a Bitter - from a pump.

Name and address withheld

 

[Kai]

Goat Hefe wheaty thing
I cant decide between Goat and Kai for the wooden spoon in the label comp. Andrea and Rueben too busy to cut round the goat ears this year? Probably Kai, actually, cos he left the originals on.

Hey, so did barf.

 

[Guest Lurker]

Roger Mellie Pilsener
Colour is working in the garden all day golden honey pee. Low carbonation and hence not much head. No DMS in the aroma, pretty sure I got a whiff of diacetyl, but its hard to pick against the melon honey aroma, mostly melon and stone fruit hop aromas. Hop driven flavour, no diacetyl in the taste, fruity peach and melon, a bit of honey, with a strong bitterness. Very nice beer, reminds me a lot of microbrewery beers in NZ. For me slightly over bittered, but my palate seems to be calibrated to a lower bittering level.

Kook Saison de chocolate goblin
Aroma is spicy and estery and grapefruity. A bit hazy and golden a few beers the night before pee colour. Vigorous carb, big fluffy white head, which decays to pretty good lace. Interesting flavour, mostly hop driven, citrus, and an assertive bitterness that gives it a clean finish without being harsh, also some pear esters that balance the bitterness. Very tasty beer, slightly over bittered for me which I guess means just right for most people.

Mika Christmas Beer
Oh my God, did that pee come out of me, Mahogany colour. Good gas and head. Kind of a malty subdued aroma. Slightly fruity, malty, warming ale. The warming flavours come in mostly at the end, and the 9% is very well disguised. Enough bitterness to give it a smooth finish, giving it good balance, a very nice Christmas ale, malty without being syrupy or Christmas cakey, smooth, drinking well now, but Ill try Fletchs bottle in a couple of months.

 

[mikeb]

recipe for mikeb's halbwitz (halfwit)

batch size 25L

wyermann bohemean pilsner malt 2.5kg
uncle tobys oats .25kg
rolled wheat 2.75kg
wheat malt .1kg

28g czech saaz plugs 3.5% 60mins
6g hallertauer pellets 4.6% 60mins
14g czech saaz plugs 3.5% 10 mins

10 grams coriander seed, lightly crushed and 10 grams of orange peel in at 10 mins.

wyeast belgian white beer 3944

fermentation temp was 15 c


have since noticed that my mill gap is huge and that would explain the half part of the wit sorry about the late post with the recipe

 

[Guest Lurker]

I know, we were supposed to wait for this one, but I wanted to complete the set, beer 21 out of 21.

AusDB Blonde Ale
Early stage malarial pee orange brown colour rather than blonde. I think with another couple of weeks at room temp, this beer will be pretty good, and will demonstrate a nice bready maltiness, a citrusy almost orange hop flavour, and a clean lingering dry bitterness. Right now it is a little murky, lacking in carbonic bite, and the bitterness comes across as harsh, but hey I had to complete the set.

 

[mika]

GL, you didn't get any hot alcohol flavours from my beer ? That's what I was tasting prior to the swap, was hoping it would dissappear with time.

When the brew stalled at 1020 it had a nice spice note to it, but once it restarted and finished off all the spice notes shot thru as well and the hot alcohol picked up.
Did you get any spice from it ? I used the Perle hops in the hop of a mint taste, but didn't get much of that either.

Edit: Wondered how you were going to handle the colour on your new scale

 

[roger mellie]

Randy Robs Lucky 13 Pale Ale

Lovely Amber colour, excellent carbonation, head was persistent. Not quite clear - but nearly.

This is an excellent beer. Powerful Willamette/Goldings spice flavours dominate a very well balanced malt profile. Rich Malt flavours, a silky texture and a very hop driven afterpalate combine to present a strong flavoured Ale - my favorite style.

Pick of the bunch so far for me. VVV Good.

RM

 

[Guest Lurker]

GL, you didn't get any hot alcohol flavours from my beer ? That's what I was tasting prior to the swap, was hoping it would dissappear with time.

Warming but not hot nasty alcohol. Surprisingly smooth for 9%. Mind you the preceding suite included Kooks 7% saison, so I was probably surprisingly drunk at the time.

Overall an excellent case, and I am quite happy to Have Fletch's tucked away in the shed. Its not a competition, and its already evident from the reviews that the same beer can be tasted quite differently by different people, but for me, Vlads Tranny Ale, Robs APA, MikeBs halfwit and Mikas Christmas Ale stood out for different reasons. I'm almost tempted to organise a mid year one, except I ditched the 16 l of frying oil into the tomato garden. Good thing too, sme pretty nasty sludge at the bottom

 

[Doogiechap]

Randy Robs Lucky 13 Pale Ale

Lovely Amber colour, excellent carbonation, head was persistent. Not quite clear - but nearly.

This is an excellent beer. Powerful Willamette/Goldings spice flavours dominate a very well balanced malt profile. Rich Malt flavours, a silky texture and a very hop driven afterpalate combine to present a strong flavoured Ale - my favorite style.

Pick of the bunch so far for me. VVV Good.

RM

+1 ^
I loved this drop, it was my first real taste of Willamette and it will definately be coming out to play in my recipes soon .
For me carbonation was spot on, again a good head that diminished to a thin persistant layer.A lovely aroma with a good malt backbone to carry the fairly decent hop hit. Color was lighter than some of your other APA's bloke and I have to say that this recipe does it for me .
Cheers
Doug
PS The label and bottle sets the bar pretty high from the outset !

 

[mika]

I have been drinkin' just not postin'...yet

Ashers NS Summer Ale

Good carbonation, not OTT. Hazier than your usual offerings and the Nelson Sauvin was fairly light to the version I had from keg at your brewday. It's a weird hop, comes thru real strong when young and mellows out so much as it gets some age to it, at least that's what I've found. The summer ale part seemed to fit the bill, nothing standing out, just a real nice beer.

Beer by David

I like the level of carbonation and drunk it straight away. Really nice creamy fine bubbled head that persisted. Nice initial malty sweetness, then the bitterness takes over and finishes it off, not a lingering bitterness though, great balance.
I was expecting a slightly heavier tasting beer than the colour suggested, hop aroma I picked as some kind of noble (checked the recipe and there's the saaz). Really nice beer, love the balance, might give the recipe a spin

"Doctor's scribble" Hefeweizen Is this Goats ?

Basically...not a fan. I got very light carbonation, aroma seemed in place but the rest of the beer was thin,watery, seemed to have some of the right flavours but all too subtle, I personally like my Hefe's a lot bolder. It has been lagering in my shed over Christmas and that probably didn't do it any favours, but I'd suggest that my version was past it's best.

Transylvanian Pale Ale

Still drinking as I type. Light hiss on opening, carbonation on the lowish side. Nice deep Reddish brown hue (though I am colourblind :huh: ), first beer that had real aroma from the bottle, but I can't describe it. I trawled back thru the posts to find what it was and when I saw Belgian, things started to drop in place. I initially got this weird (but pleasant) aftertaste, it reminded me so much of something I've tasted, but can't for the life of me remember what. Kinda toffee, spice as another member suggested, either way, I like it. A really nice beer.

Deuchars IPA

I think the scottish need a lesson in hop flavour. I had a "Twisted Thistle IPA" a while ago and the label ranted of the big C hops and I got none of that. Maybe it's the journey that's killing it ? I got a distinct flavour from the two, not sure how to describe it, but wonder if it's the peat malt flavour, not smoked, but kinda almost, not really like it.
As you've probably guessed, I'm not good at this beer descriptor thingo.
Overall, not a bad effort Barf, but I'm sure you can do better

 

[Vlad the Pale Aler]

Half Luck APA
Just finishing the young whippersnappers APA now, and have to echo the previous comments, an excellent beer with the "more factor". Warming up a bit now and the flavours are still the same as cool, clarity has improved.
Best so far, but I am only half way through.

 

[kook]

Robs APA

Tried this last saturday. Poured hazy copper with a medium-large, long lasting cream head. Perfect amount of carbonation, just enough to maintain a medium head throughout the beer. Big spicy hop aroma, with some citrus fruit and fresh cut flowers. Starts with a toffee-biscuit sweetness, slowly moving through to a citric, hoppy finish. Pine notes follow, with a slightly spicy bitter aftertaste. Perfect body, medium and refreshing. Really top APA Rob.



Ashers Summer Ale

Tried this yesterday. Pours hazy gold with a fluffy white head. Initially quite highly carbonated, but subsides to just enough to maintain a good head. Amazing aroma of stonefruit, passionfruit and honey. Silky smooth mouthfeel. Very fruity flavour, passionfruit, citrus, grapes and apple all there. Also some fizzy lollies too. Zingy bitterness in the finish, I couldn't tell if this was carbonic or due to the hops. Suprisingly a little alcohol in the finish as it warmed. Really interesting beer Asher. Very complex, at first I wasn't sure whether I liked some of the flavours, but the fact that I kept drinking more and more of it removed that thought!



Beer by Dave

Tasted this evening. Pours slightly hazy copper with visible high carbonation. Great medium white head that held throughout the beer. Nice lager-like aroma, slight sulphur, but not in a bad way! Great balanced malt flavour, slightly toasty. Medium bodied, with a nice clean bitter finish. I really enjoyed this Dave, infact I could have easily drank another 750ml!

 

[big d]

I'm almost tempted to organise a mid year one, except I ditched the 16 l of frying oil into the tomato garden. Good thing too, sme pretty nasty sludge at the bottom

Now your talking GL considering my total lack of organising skills to brew up a batch for this most anticipated xmas case swap.
This year i will have no excuses.Other than death. h34r:

Cheers
Big D

 

[clay]

APA
by clay

25L batch

2.5kg Pils malt (Joe white) 47.62%
2.0kg Marris Otter (Bairds) 38.1%
0.25kg Carafoam (Wyaermann) 4.76%
0.25kg Caramalt (Joe white) 49.3EBC 4.76%
0.25kg Wheat malt (Wyaermann) 4.76%

25g Amarillo 8.9% 45min 20 IBUs
25g Amarillo 8.9% 20min 13.2 IBUs
25g Amarillo 8.9% 10min 7.9 IBUs
25g Amarillo 8.9% Dry Hop 7 days

Safale US56

OG 1051
FG 1009