SE QLD Xmas-in-July 2015 (Tasting Thread)

[angus_grant]

Aydos - Dark rye IPA

It's a little bit belgy
It's a little bit hoppy
Lots of rye.
It's dark.

It's multiple beers in one.
Big yeasty aromas, big dark malt flavours, rye zing

Id love a rebrew with the dark malts and the Belgian yeast. Narrow things on these two flavour sets.

 

[fattox]

Tonight's offerings:

Yee IPA - pours well, good solid head. Good colour.

Smell - unfortunately lacking a lot of hop aroma, I'm not sure what sort of IPA this was supposed to be?

Taste - bitter hops, no aromatic or flavour hops.

Feedback - try whirlpool/steeps with big aromatic hops post boil for a good 20-30 mins and also dry hopping if you're going big, that's the best thing I've learnt to make a super dank AIPA.

Second beer - beersuit Trappist single. Spot on. Good pour, carbonation a touch low but it still left a little lacing as I got through it and would pour a decent head, just didn't keep it. Brilliant clarity, brilliant flavour and aroma.
Sweet Pilsner malt and yeast derived esters. Nice dry finish, very summery beer. Quite enjoyed it.

 

[fattox]

Last one for the night - 16 - bens rice lager.
The lemongrass comes through at a nice level on the aroma. Minimal pepper but it's there. Pours well, good head and some lacing as it fades. Get more of the pepper and lemongrass on the back end of the taste but they're definitely not overpowering at all. Well balanced, spot on. Can tell a mild mannered auto sparky brewed this

 

[rokaxe]

Thanks for the kind words, Meno! I'm very proud of this one.

All these beers have been top tier fellas. Well done to all so far.

 

[Natdene]

Number 4, no underline - really enjoyed this one last night, so tasty just got better and better as it warmed up

 

[Adr_0]

Had a swig of number 12 - natdene's black IPA

I told myself I wouldn't do a Tony Abbott for this beer - because it has skills, feelings and value but is not Caucasian like a pale ale - so I put my racial prejudices aside and had a go.

Looks good, smooth, creamy tan head. Dark... nice red higlights. Smells like fresh pine, with a touch of resin and grapefruit.

It's a dry beer, with a nice bitterness, and when it's cold I'm surprised that there is no chocolate (good) and the roast is pretty subtle - it blends in really well with the hop bitterness. Really faint aftertaste of chocolate and roast though, bit of slight coarse wood. It's dry but there's still a slight nutty sweetness. As it warms, the roast comes through a bit more but is still matched nicely with the bitterness.

Overall it's very good. Some black IPA's - and this is probably why I don't normally like them - have the fruit too forward which doesn't match that well with the darker malts, and they're often too thick. So I think you've done well to keep it dry, with nice solid bitterness and keep the grapefruit and choc/roast very subtle. Really good actually, good job.

 

[fattox]

First beer of the evening was Natdene's black IPA. Nice beer, dark malts aren't too forward but I think I'm used to more hop in a black IPA. Tastes great but I will let it sit while I do the washing up and see what some warmth does

 

[Adr_0]

Had a 4 - underlined. There was a big line across the bottom so no mistaking the underline. Is this cold, hot, wet or dry steeped? I can't remember.

Looks like a stout.

Smells like a strong coffee.

Tastes... blissful. Amazing. I actually laughed at how good it is. Got through about 640mL and after half an hour thought I should give some to the wife. "What's that?" "Coffee stout" I said, and gave her some. "Wow, jesus..." and after another sip, "Wow..." then reluctantly gave it back to me. I had some more, then she took it again and left about 3 drops. So I think she was a fan.

10/10 - amazing.

Pic:

 

[fattox]

After letting it warm up a bit more hop came through. This was actually quite enjoyable. Solid effort!

 

[madpierre06]

Had a 4 - underlined. There was a big line across the bottom so no mistaking the underline. Is this cold, hot, wet or dry steeped? I can't remember.

Looks like a stout.

Smells like a strong coffee.

Tastes... blissful. Amazing. I actually laughed at how good it is. Got through about 640mL and after half an hour thought I should give some to the wife. "What's that?" "Coffee stout" I said, and gave her some. "Wow, jesus..." and after another sip, "Wow..." then reluctantly gave it back to me. I had some more, then she took it again and left about 3 drops. So I think she was a fan.

10/10 - amazing.

Pic:

4 - coffee stout.jpg

Thanks mate, appreciate the awesome feedback, I'm blown away by how this beer has come up going on the comments so far, eh. You have (had) the one with addition of cold steeped coffee added prior to bottling. I am really going to havw to do this one again, I've got 4 bottles sitting here, first one will be opened on saturday night when I get back.

Quick question, how long will these likely age for without losing their yumminess?

Here is the recipe, happy to share.

Coffee Imperial Stout 23L Batch

B.B. Pale Malt 4.700kg

B.B. Crystal Malt 1.200kg

B.B. Wheat Malt 0.840kg

Voy. Buloke Choc Malt 0.720kg

B.B. Roasted Barley 0.240kg

Bairds Black Malt 0.240kg


Nthn Brewer Hops 84gm bittering@70mins

Cascade 50gm finishing for 5mins post boil


WLP007 Dry English Ale
Danstar Nottingham


Mash @ 65C 1 Hr, then mash off at 77C and begin lautering.
Sparge to 30L wort, boil 70mins

Pitch@21C

Aiming for 1.069, achieved 1.064
F.G. was 1.016

Then split the batch for coffee additions, half was 30gm fresh roast whole bean added at end of primary, soak for 18hrs prior to bottling. Other batch had 12hrs cold steeped and filtered coarse ground (27gm in 250ml) coffee from same roast batch added direct to fermenter. Initial taste of both prior to pitching....the whole bean batch was a tad sweeter and smoother, the steeped was a little drier in keeping with the taste of cold steeped coffee.

Interestingly, I completely missed the mash out step and my efficiency was down due to some equipment trickery (was first brew on my 3V set up). Not complaining though.

 

[fattox]

Tonight's first study beer - Luggy's Irish ale.

Looks - good, deep deep red. Good head that stays around as long as it needs to. Nice haze.

Smells - like a great example of an Irish ale.

Taste - good. Very nice and simple beer, as noted in your grain bill. Thoroughly enjoyable, good mouthfeel and great taste. Probably one of the best home examples I've had of the style.

Overall - it needs a little while to warm to the right temperature but once it's there, it's quite content to become delicious. Great effort mate

 

[menoetes]

21. Radshoes - Vanilla Mocha Porter RED 21

Wow, what a great beer!

The bottle opens with a satisfying hiss and pours with a deep tan head. My nose is blocked atm so it's hard to pin down an aroma but the flavour makes up for all if not at all what I expected...

It fills my mouth with a sweet tart flavor of rich dark malt and mild/moderate herbal/citrus-y hoppiness. The bitterness is crazy smooth and the flavour is a mouthwatering. The body is thinner than I expected; more like an irish ale than a traditional porter but I'm not complaining. It's well carbed and coats my palate leaving a slight tart sourness in it's wake. Don't misunderstand me, the sourness isn't dominant but just a hint at the end that I'm enjoying the hell out of!

I'm sorry my notes aren't more detailed but I'm fighting the aftermath of a flu and it's dulled my already blunt senses. I will say, truthfully, that I really wish I had a couple more bottles of this one and I'm not a regular dark beer drinker ...but I'm seriously salivating for the next mouthful between sips :icon_drool2:

Cheers for the drink sir!

 

[menoetes]

2. Ciderman - Red Rye IPA 6.5% 66IBU

It's late and I'm quite tired so I'll be brief (sorry Ciderman).

The bottle opens with a faint hiss and pours with little head, I fear it's a bit under-carbed. It's clarity is fairly murky and the aroma is subtle, mainly rye as far as I can tell with faint floral tones. I had hoped for more of a nose in an IPA but I'm not disheartened though - the taste is what it's all about.

The first thing to hit my tongue is sweetness tempered by mildly fruity hoppiness. Then the bitterness which is smooth and well engineered leaving me with a nice smooth aftertaste. The body is full and rich, quite enjoyable and overall I find this to be a well balanced beer in flavour and mouthfeel, though I might have wished for more carbonation and aroma.

It's still an adventurous and enjoyable brew though, balancing such high ABV and bitterness has to be challenging and I think you nailed that important part of it.

Cheers for the beer sir!

 

[fattox]

Last night - a number 4 with an underline. Pretty much what everyone has been saying about this. Bloody brilliant. Wish I had more

 

[fattox]

Tonight - Adro's English IPA. Very good. Clean bitterness and nice malt character

 

[luggy]

Tonight's first study beer - Luggy's Irish ale.

Looks - good, deep deep red. Good head that stays around as long as it needs to. Nice haze.

Smells - like a great example of an Irish ale.

Taste - good. Very nice and simple beer, as noted in your grain bill. Thoroughly enjoyable, good mouthfeel and great taste. Probably one of the best home examples I've had of the style.

Overall - it needs a little while to warm to the right temperature but once it's there, it's quite content to become delicious. Great effort mate

Thanks mate, second time ive brewed this glad everyones enjoying it

 

[Liam_snorkel]

16. (11/07) Benken25 - rice lager with lemongrass and black pepper

Clear golden colour with thick white head. Initial aroma was a little bit tooheys new, tastes of finely ground peppery lemony dry beer, maybe a bit soapy. Balanced though. Aroma cleans up and swings towards pepper as I get to the end of the glass. Head retention is excellent. Nice beer, wish I'd cracked it on a hot sunny afternoon

 

[madpierre06]

Last night - a number 4 with an underline. Pretty much what everyone has been saying about this. Bloody brilliant. Wish I had more

Got back last night, have since had one of the underlined and one of the straight' 4's. The '4' is an easier, very sessionable beer but obviously very dangerous drop being at around the 7% ABV mark, wgile the underlined version was a very potent feeling and tasting brew where the strength and body of the thing was quite powerful. I'll be doing the underlined version again, I loved the 'feel' and taste of this. As it warmed. the alcohol 'heat' was more pronounced also.

 

[Radshoes]

I had a no underline 4 last night - as it warmed up it was almost like drinking a cold black coffee.
Follwed it up with an 8 wired flat white.
still fell asleep watching true detective!

 

[madpierre06]

Is that down to the show, or the beer :lol: