Vic 2007 Xmas Swap Taste Thread

[Wardhog]

just finished last swap beer & recon we should start the polling for the craftbrew brownlow

3 vote maple rye ipa

2 vote wardhog esb

1 vote mark m house ale apa

This is going to be hard. Can I have more than 3 votes to give?

3 - Squirrel Foot Bitter
2 - Maple Rye IPA
1 - mark_m house ale

With very honourable mentions to Peels' Scottish Ale, Citymorgue's Hop Ale, voota's stout, and Chris Taylor's Red Ale.
You know it's a good case of beer when something like Peels' Scottish Ale doesn't get a number. I would've liked to have 7 points to give out.

 

[Maple]

Spills - Belgian Blonde
Smooth, clean crisp finish, tight (albeit small) head that pretty much lasted the length. Nicely carbonated, maybe a touch high, but no complaints here. not a clear beer, although it tasted like it should have been - didn't get that yeasty flavour i though i might. Also the malt profile was a bit on the light side (probably spot on for this style, I have no idea) but relatively no hoppiness, or bitterness to it, nor was it sweet. I'm thinking this is a good thing - balance maybe?? I give full credit to you for your beer. I enjoyed it after a rough day work, hits the spot!

 

[apd]

Don't just assume I'm right and you're wrong, trust what your senses are telling you.

To anyone who knows anything about DMS : Can it be localised to a bottle? Or is it "the whole batch or not at all"?

The fact that the brown ale was no-chilled will have contributed, I'm sure. Although last batch of brown ale was chilled (sort of) and had the same sort of flavour. I say "sort of" because it was chilled in a bath of water rather than a chiller. So it spent hours chilling rather than under an hour.

 

[Wardhog]

The fact that the brown ale was no-chilled will have contributed, I'm sure.

No, I don't agree. All of my beers are no-chilled, and I haven't had a beer that has tasted of DMS. I've had other funky infections, but not DMS. All the other infections I've had have been the result of "cross fingers and hope for the best" sanitation or getting too cute with saving yeast cakes.
And I've only lost 2/15 beers.

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

Spills - Belgian Blonde
Smooth, clean crisp finish, tight (albeit small) head that pretty much lasted the length. Nicely carbonated, maybe a touch high, but no complaints here. not a clear beer, although it tasted like it should have been - didn't get that yeasty flavour i though i might. Also the malt profile was a bit on the light side (probably spot on for this style, I have no idea) but relatively no hoppiness, or bitterness to it, nor was it sweet. I'm thinking this is a good thing - balance maybe?? I give full credit to you for your beer. I enjoyed it after a rough day work, hits the spot!

Thank you - your description pleases me as that is exactly what I was aiming for.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Also drank Spills' Belgian Dumb blond.

Pretty much agree with maple. Light easy drinking, nice noble hop aroma, just a very light touch of that belgian yeast character in both flavour and aroma. A bit too carbonated for mine, but that helped fill out the mouthfeel on what is quite a low bodied beer. Just a light bitterness to balance, any more and it would have been skewed. Apart from a bit of a haze, no real faults.

Nice beer

Thirsty

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Wardhog's ESB -

nice dark copper almost brown. Good head formation and not bad retention. Looks a little murky, but doesn't really matter because its too dark to see through anyway.

First whiff got a strong banana ester thing, then it was all malt.

Same with the flavour, quite strong esters with some banana, but really serious maltiness and some nice toffee/caramel stuff going on.

Lovely beer

I suspected the S04 as the yeast ... I have an old ale I brewed with that stuff and I got a goodly chunk'o'banana out of it

Thanks

Thirsty

 

[therook]

Chris Taylor - AAA

This style is a beer i always have at home, so i was keen to try this one out. It would be the darkest Amber ale i have ever tasted which had a nice creamy head when poured and lasted to the very end. Out of all the beers so far this one had the best lacing, wether that makes it taste any better who knows but it sure looked impressive. I could detect some earthy flavours, could this be the yeast ? I found it to be very bitter compared to how i make them but still was a very enjoyable beer, nearly as good as mine

Thanks Chris.

Quintrex - Belgian IPA

What a great beer. I got a gift box of La Trappe beers on Friday which came with a glass, so it was christened early friday night with this lovely yellow beer with high carbonation. When poured it had a massive head which subsided with time, the bitterness wasn't as high as i expected and to me was well balanced with the malts. There was a nice spicyness to the beer. I drank this beer over 90 minutes and as it warmed up it became crystal clear and the taste improved every mouthful. There has only been one other beer so far that i was dissapointed to see finished.

Thanks Q for a very fantastic beer.

Andrei - Hefeweizen

I'm about to make my first wheat beer and if it comes out as good as this one i will be very happy. I poured the whole bottle into my wheat glass and sat back on the couch and savoured this nice yellow wheat beer. Nice high carbonation with a mild banana aroma. The first mouthful had mild banana/bubblegum flavour which finished of with a lovely clove taste. This beer is something i could sit down and drink all day so Andrei if you ever need a mouth to help you empty a keg just sing out.

Thanks Andrei

Thistys - heffe

This is a good beer Dan, i drank this beer straight after Andrei's to compare wheaties. I think it needed a bit more carbonation, but thats just my thoughts. It poured a nice head which faded away to a thin layer by the end of the glass. I could just detect some clove flavour which if was a bit stronger i would have liked it better, but hey this was a nice easy drinking beer with nothing wrong with it in my eyes, something i would enjoy on a typical Tallarook 35+ degree day

Thanks for the beer TB

The next 2 beers i tried i think were infected so i only tried half a glass of each

Wambesi - Honey Wheat

As soon as i tasted it i got this medicinal flavour which i havn't tasted before, is this the taste you get for a Honey beer?

Sorry mate but it wasn't for me.

Spills - Belgium Blond

As soon as i opened it i thought we were in trouble, the beer gushed out everywere and had a real rubbery smell/taste to it.

Sorry Spills but i couldn't drink to much of it....but you were a great host

Rook

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Chris Taylor - AAA

The next 2 beers i tried i think were infected so i only tried half a glass of each

Wambesi - Honey Wheat

As soon as i tasted it i got this medicinal flavour which i havn't tasted before, is this the taste you get for a Honey beer?

Sorry mate but it wasn't for me.

Thanks for liking my beer - It seems I had a bad bottling day and the ones that I managed to get packaged without an infection are OK, the rest... not so much. At least some people are getting reasonable ones

As for Wambesi's beer .... it depends, don't know if maybe yours was genuinely infected, but for mine, fermented honey does have a quite distinct phenolic and kind of medicinal flavour to it. I';ve made two meads, tasted Spills mead and a couple of commercial ones... all had that sort of flavour profile. So it could be just the flavour of the fermented honey. Wambesi's beer is the first "honey Beer" I have tasted that had that sort of flavour in it, but I recognised it straight away as the same thing I have tasted in meads, so it might just be that he's used a more significant proportion of honey and is starting to approach a braggot???

Cheers and Merry Christmas

Dan

 

[chris.taylor.98]

Still getting through the case swap ... only 10 or so to go

Tonights choice was:

12. Quintrex - belgian IPA?

Overall this was a very well fermented beer, fantastic clarity, and lots of hop character. Perhaps a bit more on the bittering side for my taste, but definitely expected in an IPA. Somewhat dry in the finish that seem to accentuate the bitterness.

Great light golden colour that was very clear to bright, with appreciable white head that lasted right to the end.

What I missed out of this beer was that real Belgian yeast character, that seemed to be mostly overpowered by the strong hop flavour. I got some hints of it in the aroma, but once the bitterness rolled on in, it was all over.

Great IPA style, but I think that for me this is not quite a marriage made in heaven (and I will admit the IPA is not right up my alley). I would really like to try one of your non-IPA Belgians one day Quintrex, as the little bit I could perceive was certainly very inviting, and quality overall of this beer was excellent.

 

[chris.taylor.98]

Chris Taylor - AAA

This style is a beer i always have at home, so i was keen to try this one out. It would be the darkest Amber ale i have ever tasted which had a nice creamy head when poured and lasted to the very end. Out of all the beers so far this one had the best lacing, wether that makes it taste any better who knows but it sure looked impressive. I could detect some earthy flavours, could this be the yeast ? I found it to be very bitter compared to how i make them but still was a very enjoyable beer, nearly as good as mine

Thanks Rook

I think the earthy character you are referring to is more likely to come from the POW hop additions, as I actually did a 30min POW addition that will draw out some of the flavour profile of the POW.

The yeast was Wyeast 1056 from memory that does not usually add much character or flavour when I brew with it.

Cheers
Chris

 

[AUHEAMIC]

Thirsty,s contribution

As Im not a fan of wheaties I brought the bottle in to work to share with a German work colleague. He enjoyed it very much and said it tasted very fresh like it was just poured out of a tap. He also said it was difficult to get good quality wheat beer such as this in Australia.

 

[brettprevans]

Cummins - IPA
great IPA. Ive had a few really hoppy IPAs (Jamison Beast IPA etc) recently so was sort of extecting that level of hops (which there wasnt). thats not a bad thing though as the hop bitterness was probably at a good level for everyday IPA drinkers. really great appearance and flavours. good little xmas day drink

Lavender - APA
Again I was expecting more hops just because I have been drinking hoppy beers. But again this had a nice level of armarillo. little sweet on the finish but hey who cares as it personal taste.

driveitlikeyoustoleit - ACA
havent had an ACA before so didnt know what to expect.. really nice. great session beer. dead white tight head, great subtle malt flavour with a light creamy? finish on the palate. really enjoyed this. it would be a great beer to have on tap.

squirrelfoot bitter and alleycaet summer quencher tonight.

 

[brettprevans]

65 Bellet - Squirrel Foot Bitter

watering the garden last night in the heat (on our allocated watering night of course) and had the SF Bitter. - a hard earned thirst needs a big cold bitter, and the best cold bitter is Squirrel Foot Bitter!

bloody beautiful bitter style beer. hit the spot perfectly. nice body slightly on the medium side but not too much, not overly bitter but enough to make a nice full bitterness. nice use of POR hops. good job 65 Bellet. Thinking I might knock up a clone of yours tomorrow if ive got any EKG left.

I saved the summer quencher for todays 40C+ heat.

 

[driveitlikeustoleit]

Hmm,

DBB Sweet Wheat, Honey Wheat. Wambesi?

40 degree day. It didn't touch the sides. Damn it was tasty.

Wheaty but not too strong (how I like 'em) mebbe the honey mellowed it.

Nice head (we all love a bit) but it lasted 30 secs, but there was no beer in the glass to support the head after that.

Keep it up dude, thanks.

Thanks to all the other brewers who joined in, I've only drunk half the swap beers but they've all been interesting (Even the infected ones).

 

[therook]

Alley Cat - Light Summer Quencher

Fantastic......after 4 days in 40c + heat and no let up in sight, it was nice to sit down and drink this beer.

Very pale beer which poured a great head but faded very quickly ( but who gives a shit ), plenty of yeast haze, excellent carbonation.
As others have said i think you got the balance spot on for my pallette.
I really nice fruity aroma and taste which i think was passionfruit.
Loved this beer.

Thanks Alleycat

Rook

 

[andreic]

its been pretty quiet on this thread of late... has everyone finished their beers? or has everyone been away on holidays like myself?

Just got home after 12 hours on the road with an incapacitated wife (so I had to do all the driving) and 2 younguns in the back driving me absolutely nuts :angry: Seriously knackered now... Drank my first beer and put my last 4 swap beers in the fridge before any thoughts of unpacking. I will finish off my swap beers this week...

cheers, Andrei

 

[DarkFaerytale]

finished all mine ages ago, been a bit quite on the forums of late tho, i'v been busy and have a second life addiction to deal with haha. hopefully i'll get back into brewing again soon as stocks are starting to run a little low. great swap guys. looking forward to the next

-Phill

 

[Wardhog]

Yeah, I finished all mine before Christmas. Have been busy constructing the larger-capacity mash tun (50L keggle with SS false bottom - maiden voyage this weekend), and have been on holidays. Now stocks are getting low, either through drinking or small explosions, time to knuckle down and get them back up.

 

[brettprevans]

ive still got 6 or so left. been working through the holiday period so litttle drinking has been done. I have a few in the fridge for the latter half of the week when its sweltering hot again.

Top caseswap and day. looking forward to July.....