Tasting Notes - Vic July 2007 Swap

[andreic]

Hey crew - a little off topic, but from reading all the notes being put up there is one very interesting common theme....

There are 2 big factors driving the outcome of tasting beer:
1. The expectation of the drinker of the beer, and
2. The beer itself!

It seems as if when people have an image/idea of what a beer will be like (i.e. stout or ale or wit), then if the beer is different then the outcome is that the beer is not what they expected, and thus they see what is 'wrong' (different) with it a bit more easily.

I suppose this provides a good hint to all those brewers out there from a marketing point of view, whether to friends or to potential buyers: Tell the punter what to expect!

Next time I have buddies over for beers I will try this theory on them - I might even brew a weird beer (maybe with chilli, or heavy smoke or something) and test whether people like it or dislike it based on their expectations... Other thoughts/comments?!

PS I will get back on topic tonight and post up another beer tasting!

Cheers,
Chris

Hi,

that's probably a fair assessment... but I think its human nature to be influenced by what's on the label.

I think if you put the "style" you intended on the label, you should probably expect reviews to be comparing the beer against the style. This is of course a bit harder when as a taster you haven't had beers of the style before (there's been a few new ones for me so far). If you put the full recipe on the label, then this may also influence the reviews - e.g. tasters trying extra hard to taste particular malts, hops, etc.

You also have struck on a good hint for future swaps - label the beer how you might want it reviewed... e.g. "beer" if you want no pre-judgment at all, list the style if you want feedback against a style, and full recipe and brewing technique if you want more detailed reviews against style, recipe, possible technique faults.

Anyway, I'm a very inexperienced brewer and taster in comparison to many on this forum and also in this swap. But you only get better with practice so I'm going to keep drinking my way through this case over the coming weeks :chug:

Andrei

 

[Thirsty Boy]

RobW's Robust Porter

Tasted from a 330ml tumbler (near enough to a pint glass). Probably around 10 degrees C.

Appearance

Poured a lovely deep brown with an inch and a half of light tan head with fairly loose bubbles. Head faded fairly fast down to a film over the top, then ajust a rim around the edge of the glass.

Held up to the light the beer was clear and bright with magnificent deep ruby shining through. A thing of beauty

Aroma

Not much hop aroma but detectable. What was there was floral and I flatter myself by thinking that I picked it as Goldings, but it was a guess, and before I wrote this I read the recipe on the bottle, so I'm just full of it really.

Roast, and darkly sweet toffee for the malt aromas with hints of chocolate.

Not sure if it was esters alone or some interplay between them and the crystal malts, but there were some nice raisiny/dark fruit aromas, that mingled with a slight but definite hint of alcohol to give a sort of rum'n'raisin smell that ran through the bouquet and played tag with the roast and chocolate.

It was hard to just keep smelling this beer... it made me really really want to take a taste. So I did.

Flavour

A medium full to full body on this beer with perhaps a touch too much carbonation initially.

Roasty without being "ashey" the toffee, fruit and alcohol evident in the nose did their thing in the palate as well. Hints of chocolate and sweet on the tip of your tongue would give this beer a slightly confectionery feel if it weren't for the fact that they are beautifully balanced with a silky smooth bitterness.

Finishing long, smooth and nicely dry this lovely beer leaves your palate grudgingly and with a parting gift of fine bitter chocolate.

- - - - - - - -

I really liked this beer, I drank my first glass too quickly, lingered over the second and was disappointed that there wasn't more


Thirsty

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Hey guys,

those of you who have tried DFT's smoked ale (and of course you DFT)

I think I am going to save this one for Wednesday night this week when I am going to roast a chicken with a little cajun spice.

What say you? an appropriate food/beer match?

TB

 

[andreic]

10. RobW - robust porter - Labelled, ready to drink

Poured my first glass and had trouble raising a head, and what was there disappeared fairly quickly. I apologise now for some of my reviews to date... my glassware has definitely handicapped some beers on the "first impression" side of things.

For my second glass I got a different glass and had much more success - a small off-white head. This didn't last the whole glass, but didn't completely disappear (at least a bit better than the first glass). Carbonation was towards the lowish end. The beer is a rather dark brown colour, with a slight reddish tinge.

The aroma was very pleasant indeed. I thought I could detect a tiny bit of fruitiness at one stage, but mostly it was a nice, toasty aroma with maybe some coffee but kind of "sweet" if that makes sense.

Tastes a little malty, grainy, a bit sweet, then with some really roasty, toasty flavours, and a moderately bitter finish, and also a little drying.

It has quite a silky mouthfeel at first and is medium-high bodied for me.

This was a very enjoyable beer. It definitely got better as it warmed up - maybe it was too cold to begin. Today was f@#$ing cold in Melbourne, and this was a great beer to drink inside in a nice warm house on such a night...

cheers :beer:

Andrei

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Velophile's Amarillo Pale Ale

Tasted from a stemmed Stella glass at about 5C

Appearance

A beautiful clear copper colour with a bit of orange to it. Nice tight bubbles forming a medium just off white head, that lasts pretty well and leaves nice sticky lace on the side of the glass.

Not much in the way of bubble activity in the glass.

Aroma

A little sweet malt in the aroma with a quite light floral American hop note. Not in your face Amarillo though, but definitely American.

No real ester smells to speak of.

I get a bit of plastic / bandaid off aroma hiding under the hops.

Flavour

Oh... much more of everything in the taste than there is in the smell. Its really quite full bodied and creamy in the mouthfeel department and there is a chunk of toasty almost nutty malt flavour going on as well.

It smells like it is going to be a subtle light and easy kind of a beer, then it comes over all grouchy maths teacher and gives you a wallop for not paying attention properly.

Its got quite a bit of residual sweetness, but that is well balanced by the quite strong bitterness. Good carbonation has the beer active on your tongue leaving it tingling and happy with the dry and firmly bitter finish that leaves just a couple of glimmers of caramel maltiness.

The bandaids are there in the flavour too, but there is enough of everything else so that you pretty much have to go looking for the taste. Its most noticeable towards the finish of the beer and comes out during retro-olfaction. Not that its all that bad by any means.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

A nice beer Velophile. Very drinkable indeed. Right in the zone where I like my APAs.

Cheers

Thirsty

 

[AUHEAMIC]

Apd Brown Ale

A little cloudy. Carbonation was perfect and the head lasted to the bottom of the glass. Its defiantly all about malt this beer and I personally wouldnt change a thing. Well done apd. Top marks.

 

[Wardhog]

A note to those who haven't already opened the WAPA :

I cracked one tonight that has been sitting inside since bottling day. It's perfectly well carbonated. Try to keep it in the warmth for a couple of weeks, and it should be good.

This bottle has been sitting inside since April some time. We only have the heating on for about 1-2 hours in the morning, and 3-4 in the evenings, the rest of the time the house is < 17C.

 

[AUHEAMIC]

10. RobW - robust porter - Labelled, ready to drink

This is the first porter I have ever tasted (I know. I have had a sheltered life) and if this is a typical example of the style I will defiantly be looking for more. Its a shame we didnt have a 3 per bottle swap as one was just not enough.

Bloody lovely beer Rob.

I presume it was a 23 litre batch? What yeast did you use?

 

[Fents]

10. RobW - robust porter - Labelled, ready to drink

This is the first porter I have ever tasted (I know. I have had a sheltered life) and if this is a typical example of the style I will defiantly be looking for more. Its a shame we didnt have a 3 per bottle swap as one was just not enough.

Bloody lovely beer Rob.

I presume it was a 23 litre batch? What yeast did you use?

Bust day at work mate? B)

 

[AUHEAMIC]

Bust day at work mate? B)

Like a lizard drinking

 

[Fents]

legendary mate.

im outta here @ 3.30pm off to fed square to do my bit for the AHB community.

 

[RobW]

10. RobW - robust porter - Labelled, ready to drink

This is the first porter I have ever tasted (I know. I have had a sheltered life) and if this is a typical example of the style I will defiantly be looking for more. Its a shame we didnt have a 3 per bottle swap as one was just not enough.

Bloody lovely beer Rob.

I presume it was a 23 litre batch? What yeast did you use?

Thanks Peels, glad you enjoyed it.

25 litre batch and the yeast was SafAle SO4. Probably be better with a quality liquid yeast but the SO4 is convenient and does a decent job.

The recipe is Warren's Power St Porter from the recipes section here. I've been making this one for a while now and it always seems to be well received.

ed: spelling

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Andrei's Irish Dry Stout.

Drunk at about 10C from a big tumbler thats as close as I've got to pint glass. Shared this one with my wife and had it over dinner. Roast Kangaroo with assorted roast veggies. Comments are a mixture of the responses of both myself and the better half (and better palate) of the tasting team.

Appearance

Poured a lovely black with a tight well formed tan head. Pretty good head retention. Beer was hard to see through, but clear and bright where you could with ruby highlights around the edges of the glass.

Aroma

All malt and a little English hop (goldings??) Not a lot of roastiness, but it's there. A bit of beer drunk, and some more headspace in the glass gave up a bit of coffee and chocolate. But not much.

Flavour

Much more body than I was expecting. This is medium/full bodied and with a nice silky mouthfeel. Almost like an oatmeal stout. Beautiful malt flavour dominates, but the roasty character is fairly subdued. Later in the glass, the roast came out a bit more and there were touches of ashiness around the edges of your tounge.

A fair amount of sweetness balanced nicely with the hop and roast bitterness. If you really really went looking for it, there was just a titch of the Guinness like sourness around the edges of your tongue in the aftertaste.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Two levels of response to this beer. First, I really liked it. It was a great choice to match with my dinner, it was smooth ,malty and easy to drink and all in all a fine stout.

As an irish dry stout though... I didn't think it was a great example of the style. It had way too much body and sweetness and so wasn't "dry" at all and it was too low on the roasty bitterness. Although I suspect that if it was a bit dryer, the roast would have stuck out a lot more.

But hell, don't change it, I liked it just the way it was. Good Beer.

Cheers

Thirsty

 

[andreic]

Andrei's Irish Dry Stout.

Drunk at about 10C from a big tumbler thats as close as I've got to pint glass. Shared this one with my wife and had it over dinner. Roast Kangaroo with assorted roast veggies. Comments are a mixture of the responses of both myself and the better half (and better palate) of the tasting team.

Appearance

Poured a lovely black with a tight well formed tan head. Pretty good head retention. Beer was hard to see through, but clear and bright where you could with ruby highlights around the edges of the glass.

Aroma

All malt and a little English hop (goldings??) Not a lot of roastiness, but it's there. A bit of beer drunk, and some more headspace in the glass gave up a bit of coffee and chocolate. But not much.

Flavour

Much more body than I was expecting. This is medium/full bodied and with a nice silky mouthfeel. Almost like an oatmeal stout. Beautiful malt flavour dominates, but the roasty character is fairly subdued. Later in the glass, the roast came out a bit more and there were touches of ashiness around the edges of your tounge.

A fair amount of sweetness balanced nicely with the hop and roast bitterness. If you really really went looking for it, there was just a titch of the Guinness like sourness around the edges of your tongue in the aftertaste.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Two levels of response to this beer. First, I really liked it. It was a great choice to match with my dinner, it was smooth ,malty and easy to drink and all in all a fine stout.

As an irish dry stout though... I didn't think it was a great example of the style. It had way too much body and sweetness and so wasn't "dry" at all and it was too low on the roasty bitterness. Although I suspect that if it was a bit dryer, the roast would have stuck out a lot more.

But hell, don't change it, I liked it just the way it was. Good Beer.

Cheers

Thirsty

thanks for the feedback Thirsty :beer:

Yep - goldings hops were used in this beer.

Its amazing what different palates pick up in these beers... I can't pick out half of what you describe in my own beer. And looking back at some of my descriptions - they are quite different to other tasting notes on the same beers! Oh well... just have to keep practicing my beer tasting as well as my brewing.

When I have another crack at this style I will definitely try and get it a bit "dryer" - but I'm glad you liked it ok as it was.

cheers,

Andrei

 

[Wardhog]

Andreic's Irish Dry Stout

Only the roughest of pouring would result in a brown head sitting on top of a body that's pitch black but shows some ruby colour when held up to the light. But, that's no problem, there's plenty of carbonation contained in each sip.

Roast malt flavours run the show, with hop flavour coming in a distant second. Hop aroma might've been scratched.
A sweet beer, not at all what I expected from the name, but nonetheless one I liked and would not have said no to another bottle once the first ran out.
No gritty burnt taste, either. A thoroughly enjoyable beer, well done.

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

One thing that has impressed me as I wade through the beers left at my house on the day is the number of homebrewers who must actually drink Victoria Bitter - I reckon I've got nearly a box of empty VB bottles in my garage now!

Waiting for the excuses to start...

 

[AUHEAMIC]

Excuse number one.

If you go behind my local reception centre Sunday morning you will find 14 (yes I have counted them) wheelie bins full of beer and wine bottles. When ever the bottle stocks get a bit low drive in, load up and drive away.

 

[chris.peile]

One thing that has impressed me as I wade through the beers left at my house on the day is the number of homebrewers who must actually drink Victoria Bitter - I reckon I've got nearly a box of empty VB bottles in my garage now!

Waiting for the excuses to start...

Excuse #2: I stole my bottles from a pub... honest!!!

 

[Fents]

I gave up about 5 or 6 good coopers 750mls in my swap case

 

[DarkFaerytale]

mine would of been a mix, probably even got rid of some of the really old CUB or XXXX ones, you know with the fella with the hat on them, there great bottles. as for why some of my bottles would have been VB's (but with label removed) is beyond me, would of pinched them from somewhere -~

-Phill