Vic 2007 Xmas Swap Taste Thread

[Maple]

Quintrex - belgian IPA

This is probably the most unique beer I have had in a very long time. Very clear, and good carbonation. nice fluffy white head when poured, that almost made it to the end. Very strong yeasty fruity aroma to it. Hadn't read the recipie at this point, thought, wtf is this... initial flavour of the hops...well, we are liking this...and wait, there's more...a tame spicy flavour mixed with the same flavour i get from a wheatie...humm, very interesting. Not sure that this is something that I would do, but can certainly appreciate the complexity of it. I did enjoy the experience. Well done Quintrex. thanks for the journey.

 

[voota]

Voota's 'SS' stout

I loved this beer. Black as the proverbial. Luxurious dark tan head. Roasty, roasty, roasty! Here's hoping you've put the recipe in the recipe thread...
Andrew

Glad to hear you liked it, did it have SS or S.S on the lid? I guess I can post both recipes...

 

[apd]

Glad to hear you liked it, did it have SS or S.S on the lid? I guess I can post both recipes...

SS - no period between.

 

[chris.taylor.98]

11. DarkFaerytale - F.E. Stout - 'FES' on the lid, it's at least 2 months in the bottle but like all stouts, gets better with age, i'd leave it till one of the last.

Being lazy, and not reading the above before putting this in the fridge, I have now consumed this sample (apologies DFT).

Great roast aroma and flavour.

No appreciable hop flavour or aroma, although comes out quite balanced. Roast grain add a slight astringency as expected.

Low to very low carbonation.

What I didn't expect was a bubblegum flavour that seemed to be fairly prominent ( as with the aroma ).

Note I have also managed a similar feat with a brown ale that was mashed with overly chlorinated water.

I suspect that this is more likely due to acetaldehyde (green apples) that was possibly detected in the aroma after first opening the bottle, mixed in with the strong roast flavours.

Overall a good beer, but as DFT has pointed out, will only improve with age (into what I suspect will be a great beer). In fact if I am incorrect I would expect the acetaldehyde to be cleaned up by the existing yeast within another couple of months.

Next time I will read the instructions before tasting, not afterwards.

 

[DarkFaerytale]

no need to apologise, it's deffinatly ready to drink. but will also improve with time.

hmm i might chuck a bottle in the fridge tonight to see if i can detect the apple and bubblegum flavours. i'm not happy with the tap water at my new place. i might start buying water for brewing (and drinking) again.

-Phill

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

no need to apologise, it's deffinatly ready to drink. but will also improve with time.

hmm i might chuck a bottle in the fridge tonight to see if i can detect the apple and bubblegum flavours. i'm not happy with the tap water at my new place. i might start buying water for brewing (and drinking) again.

-Phill

Or filter. All my brewing water goes through a Brita-style cartridge.

 

[chris.taylor.98]

no need to apologise, it's deffinatly ready to drink. but will also improve with time.

hmm i might chuck a bottle in the fridge tonight to see if i can detect the apple and bubblegum flavours. i'm not happy with the tap water at my new place. i might start buying water for brewing (and drinking) again.

-Phill

I had lots of problems with chlorine for a while, even though others in my area had no issues at all. My water also seems to be high on the PH side as well.

I filter all my water through a carbon filter now and have no problems with chlorine anymore.

 

[DarkFaerytale]

cheers guys, i'll look into the filter option. it's been asked befor but i'm to lazy to search, do you find it takes long to filter that much water?


-Phill

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

cheers guys, i'll look into the filter option. it's been asked befor but i'm to lazy to search, do you find it takes long to filter that much water?
-Phill

I guess it depends on how you do it.

I use a 20litre bucket with a Brita filter in the bottom. 20minutes or so to filter a single-sized block of water. While it is filtering, I'm doing other stuff as part of the preparations.

 

[AUHEAMIC]

65 Bellet - Squirrel Foot

I went to the local school xmas carols night last night where its OK to take refreshments (and most people do). So I went under the house to select a case swap beer to take with me. It finally struck me (yes I am a bit slow) that its great to have a fine selection of beers to choose from. Its not just taste, enjoy and review. Its like when are going out to dinner you go into a bottle shop and select something that matches your dinner plans only the bottle shop is at home. How good is that? Anyway onto the beer. Im right into malt driven beers ATM so this went down very well. Imagine me (well maybe Elle McPherson so your not physically ill) sitting in a deck chair, late afternoon sun, cool breeze, listening to your pride and joy singing xmas carols to a packed crowd, all whilst chugging on a Squirrel Foot Bitter.

Thanks 65 Bellet. Top effort.

 

[Hutch]

cheers guys, i'll look into the filter option. it's been asked befor but i'm to lazy to search, do you find it takes long to filter that much water?
-Phill

I use a 1micron carbon-block filter in a standard 10inch filter housing (like the ones Ross sells), and I get about 4-5 Ltrs per minute. So the HLT gets filled up in about 8 minutes. Obviously this uses mains pressure to push the water through, so is a bit quicker than the gravity-feed system a lot of brewers use (cost about $60 off evilbay).

 

[chris.taylor.98]

I use a 1micron carbon-block filter in a standard 10inch filter housing (like the ones Ross sells), and I get about 4-5 Ltrs per minute. So the HLT gets filled up in about 8 minutes. Obviously this uses mains pressure to push the water through, so is a bit quicker than the gravity-feed system a lot of brewers use (cost about $60 off evilbay).

I use the same type (we did a club buy and got them for about $50). I run it at about 4Ltrs/min.

 

[Wardhog]

therook's Alt -

I quite like an altbier, and this one's no exception. Only two things about it though, very very low carbonation - look at more next time.

What is that flavour that lingers on the palate? I've only had a few alts, but none of them had a finish like that - almost dimethyl sulfide. Maybe you shouldn't reuse the yeast from this one, or have a more vigorous boil.

Edit: It was a very low level, not enough to stop me from finishing the bottle. Cheers, therook.

 

[Maple]

therook - Alt
My first Alt Beer. here are my thoughts, not knowing what is to be expected of this style. Nice burnt copper - brown colour, thin head, sweet malty aroma. yep, matly flavour turns to a huge malty smooth sensation. nice clean yeaast not adding much in the lines of "different" tastes at all. it's got a nice bite to it initially, but fades into a smooth malty coating on my tongue. not much in the fruit department, but possibly earthy tones. no idea if this is a yeast, hops or fermentin' thing, but i think it suited the malty taste. head fades over time. I didn't find it too carbonated, nor under carbed for that matter. A very interesting drop. Cheers Rook!

 

[Wardhog]

19. Chris Taylor - American Red.

I'm all at sea here. I have no expectations of an American Red, because I know nothing about them.

I know I really like this beer, though. Kind of a low-hop (Amarillo?) high-malt APA, and it works for me, a very good beer.

However, is the carbonation supposed to be that low?

Still, feel free to send me a couple dozen of these to educate me about American Reds.

Cheers, Chris.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Wambesi - Honey Wheat

beautiful gold colour, very nearly completely clear, only a slight haze to it. Fluffy white head that might have faded, but it kept being renewed by the ncreadible amount of bubble activity in the glass.. boy is this beer lively.

Grainy wheaty smell, a bit sweet and a little bit tart/sour as well. Probably just the wheat. Honey there as well

Tastes like honey and malt... mmmm. The honey gives it an almost phenolic character.. its kind of spicey peppery, but not really. Just like the smell, its a little bit tart at the finish. Which makes it refreshing. Its not very bitter, and maybe the honey taste would have become cloying, but that little bit of tart/puckery/sourness thing kicks in at the end and saves it.

Drinkable, refreshing and pretty damn nice. I usually intensely dislike honey beers. But I enjoyed this one just fine.

What kind of honey?? or is it already in the recipe thread??

Cheers

Thirsty

 

[andreic]

Thirsty Boy - Hefeweizen - Not labeled

Poured into one of my weizen glasses. Its very cloudy, a generous white head, reasonably carbonated. It looked very nice in my glass.

However... the aroma was of burnt rubber. The taste was also a little rubbery, tangy fruit salad, and finished with a very chalky feel to it.

Sorry Thirsty, I didn't finish the bottle. I'm guessing this was either infected or the yeast just wasn't in good enough shape to do the right job.

 

[wambesi]

Wambesi - Honey Wheat

beautiful gold colour, very nearly completely clear, only a slight haze to it. Fluffy white head that might have faded, but it kept being renewed by the ncreadible amount of bubble activity in the glass.. boy is this beer lively.

Grainy wheaty smell, a bit sweet and a little bit tart/sour as well. Probably just the wheat. Honey there as well

Tastes like honey and malt... mmmm. The honey gives it an almost phenolic character.. its kind of spicey peppery, but not really. Just like the smell, its a little bit tart at the finish. Which makes it refreshing. Its not very bitter, and maybe the honey taste would have become cloying, but that little bit of tart/puckery/sourness thing kicks in at the end and saves it.

Drinkable, refreshing and pretty damn nice. I usually intensely dislike honey beers. But I enjoyed this one just fine.

What kind of honey?? or is it already in the recipe thread??

Cheers

Thirsty

Wow, thanks for the details thirsty!
The honey in this case was the coles brand (only one available at the time) yellow box, pretty sure its all in the post I put in the thread.

I've been slack last few nights with the beer tastings, but having a BBQ on the weekend with some mates so we're going to do a few tastings then too.

 

[chris.taylor.98]

19. Chris Taylor - American Red.

I'm all at sea here. I have no expectations of an American Red, because I know nothing about them.

I know I really like this beer, though. Kind of a low-hop (Amarillo?) high-malt APA, and it works for me, a very good beer.

However, is the carbonation supposed to be that low?

Still, feel free to send me a couple dozen of these to educate me about American Reds.

Cheers, Chris.

Thanks Wardhog.

This particular example is probably out on the edge of the style, belonging to a what are commonly referred to as the "Red Ales" in the US. And even then this one probably takes a bit of a liberty with the emphasis on hops.

I've had an American try this beer which was supposed to be inspired by Potomac River Brewing Co.'s (defunct) "Rappahannock Red Ale", and he thought that this was a rather extreme interpretation.

I used both Amarillo and Cascade for flavour and aroma hops, with POW for bittering and dry hopped with Amarillo.

I finished it a little higher than what it is supposed to be, to balance out the bittering hops.

I would have preferred to have had higher carbonation, but was experimenting with using wort as the priming sugar. Think I will go back to using cane sugar, as it gives more predictable results.

Cheers

Chris

 

[andreic]

20. driveitlikeyoustoleit - ACA

I assume this is a cream ale? Last swap there was a cream ale and this definitely reminded me of that beer.

Was a nice light golden colour. Almost totally clear - the clearest beer in the case so far for me. A nice white head. Looks like I want some of my lagers to look like. I loved the aroma - perfumy, some sweet corn. Taste was clean, light, some corn flavour. Its not bitter, slightly sweet, but suits the beer.

This is a nice tasty, light, easy drinking beer. I love the look and aroma of this beer. I'm thinking it could work as a session beer but I'd need another few more longnecks to be sure...

thanks for the beer drivelikeyoustoleit :beer: