Vic 2007 Xmas Swap Taste Thread

[chris.taylor.98]

4. Spillsmostofit - Belgian Dumb Blonde - Numeral FOUR on the bottle cap. Drink whenever - I recommend after a bottle of cheap red wine.

Didn't have a bottle of cheap red so just had to drink it straight.

Well have to say it was about 10 times better than my attempt at a Belgian Blonde Ale.

Good colour, but a little on the flat side.

Some good malt flavour present, but didn't really get that Belgian sweetness or the more complex fruity esters that I was expecting. Seemed to have a fair bit of yeast in suspension which could have been masking some of these other things.

The yeast will probably drop out in time and change the profile of this beer significantly.

What temperature did you ferment this one at Spills?

I must say after my own previously disastrous foray into the Belgian styles, I am going back to basics and just trying to ferment them cleaner and cooler. I'd have to say this would have to be one of the more challenging styles to nail.

 

[chris.taylor.98]

5. hairofthedog - super dry nelson pils - hair x-case on cap ready to drink

Great to try a Nelson home brew finally. I bought a whole heap of hops after trying the Knapstien beer, and now have no idea what to do with them.

This one has a real kick to it, and if you like your beers bitter then this is one for you. I must admit that I'm more into the less bitter beers, but never the less this was still a well crafted beer.

Great hop flavour with the Neslon's distinctive passion fruit coming through in both flavour and aroma. Very clean tasting, no detectable flavour flaws.

A little bit on the hazy side, but nothing that a bit more time would not take care of.

Really strong bitterness all the way through the palette.

Medium body, low carbonation, did not find it particularly dry in the finish, although the bitterness might give some impression of it being dry.

My only suggestions would be to try and wrap that sledge hammer bitterness in a bit of velvet to try and dull the impact slightly, and up the carbonation a bit. Did you use the Nelson as bittering hops as well? (Guess it is a bit hard with a 12-13% AA hop). I know there are some things you can do with water chemistry to help in this regard although I have never played around with it myself.

 

[Hutch]

19 - Chris Taylor's American Amber Ale

Not much wrong with this one!
Deep amber / Chocolate with slight haze, rich creamy head that has lasted the whole way down - and I drank it VERY slowly. Perfect carbonation.
Lovely American hop thing going on there (quite subtle actually), lingering toffee and sweet alcohol, very clean ferment - what yeast was this?
I can't believe you bittered this with POR - I'll never say a bad ting about POR again!

A perfect "wet-weather" beer methinks.
Top job Chris. My favourite so far.

 

[andreic]

am i the only one who didn't get a bad taste from fents beer? i thought it was good, must have been distracted.

No - I didn't get the bad taste. The aroma and taste were similar to the only other Koelsch I've had. Maybe you and I are the ones with "bad taste" :huh:

Its interesting to see how people pick up different tastes... part of the fun!

cheers, Andrei

 

[andreic]

Sorry, I didn't read that... I just love hefeweizens as fresh as possible so just threw it in the fridge and drank it. It seemed to me that you got mostly different esters to banana coming through, banana was pretty subtle imo. Which yeast did you use? I recently fermented a weihenstaphener wheat yeast at 23c and got plain banana juice, another one fermented with the same yeast at 20c was heaps more balanced, but I still reckon it had a touch more banana than yours. It's tricky balancing those esters I reckon, thats one of the reasons I was so impressed with your beer, it was just spot on for balance.

Yeast was Whitelabs Hefeweizen WLP300. Got one more yeast starter stubbie left from the original test tube - then its on to a a Wyeast equivalent.

No tastings for me tonight - I had 2 longecks of Coopers Pale Ale to consume so I could use the dregs to get a starter for my next beer going!

Andrei

 

[hairofthedog]

5. hairofthedog - super dry nelson pils - hair x-case on cap ready to drink

Great to try a Nelson home brew finally. I bought a whole heap of hops after trying the Knapstien beer, and now have no idea what to do with them.

This one has a real kick to it, and if you like your beers bitter then this is one for you. I must admit that I'm more into the less bitter beers, but never the less this was still a well crafted beer.

Great hop flavour with the Neslon's distinctive passion fruit coming through in both flavour and aroma. Very clean tasting, no detectable flavour flaws.

A little bit on the hazy side, but nothing that a bit more time would not take care of.

Really strong bitterness all the way through the palette.

Medium body, low carbonation, did not find it particularly dry in the finish, although the bitterness might give some impression of it being dry.

My only suggestions would be to try and wrap that sledge hammer bitterness in a bit of velvet to try and dull the impact slightly, and up the carbonation a bit. Did you use the Nelson as bittering hops as well? (Guess it is a bit hard with a 12-13% AA hop). I know there are some things you can do with water chemistry to help in this regard although I have never played around with it myself.

yer chris i did use nelson for bittering 12g its nelson the hole way through 100g in all

 

[DarkFaerytale]

4. Spillsmostofit - Belgian Dumb Blonde - Numeral FOUR on the bottle cap. Drink whenever - I recommend after a bottle of cheap red wine.

Good colour, but a little on the flat side.

Spillsmostofit - Belgian Dumb Blonde

sorry Chris i had to quote you

i opened this one up last night and it was deffinatly a boy for me, came up out of the bottle and the foam poured down the side, fantastic banana aroma when i first opened the bottle. once poured tho and after the head finally settled down i found the beer very dry, over carbonated and the banana had been replaced with a medicinal/vegital smell and i struggled to get through the whole beer especially once it started warming up

i know spills takes alot of pride in his beers and all the beers i had of his befor even the ones he thought were bad tasted good to me. unfortunatly tho seems i must have gotten a bad bottle, which is why i quoted chris in saying that it was under carbonated. so you guys that have not drunk it yet may want to put the bottle in the fridge just in case, i'm sure the rest will be fine tho.

sorry about that spills, still that belgian you gave me a glass of on the swap day was the best beer of the day, hope it wasn't the same one in this bottle or i'll be kicking myself

-Phill

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

It looks like DFT may have got an infection, which worries me. I'll have to think a bit about who other than me to blame for that!

I fermented this batch at just under 20degC. I was aiming more for one of those quasi-lager-ish blonde ales and thought the 1388 might give it an interesting twist, rather than aiming for a full-on Belgian. I think I should have named it differently, but I am glad people in general are enjoying it...

 

[chris.taylor.98]

19 - Chris Taylor's American Amber Ale

Not much wrong with this one!
Deep amber / Chocolate with slight haze, rich creamy head that has lasted the whole way down - and I drank it VERY slowly. Perfect carbonation.
Lovely American hop thing going on there (quite subtle actually), lingering toffee and sweet alcohol, very clean ferment - what yeast was this?
I can't believe you bittered this with POR - I'll never say a bad ting about POR again!

A perfect "wet-weather" beer methinks.
Top job Chris. My favourite so far.

Thanks Hutch, glad you enjoyed it.

Pretty sure I used the Wyeast 1056. I usually use this one for American style ales.

I was a bit worried about the POR so I made it finish slightly sweeter to offset it a bit.

Cheers

Chris

 

[therook]

Heres my weekend round up

Wardhog - ESB

This is a fantastic beer, nice and malty with good bittering, excellent head that lasted all the way to the bottom. It did tend to get sweeter as it warmed up.
A beer that i could easily drink 5 or 6 pints.

Well done wardy

Peels - Scottish Export

Never tried one of these before, but this is a fantastic beer and will deffinately be on the to do list for Winter. Great head and lacing all the way to the end. I'm not normally a smoke flavor person, but the mild taste of it was just enough with the other flavors for my pellet.

Excellent beer peels

Lavander - APA

Nice yellow colour APA, once again good head and lacing, nice mild hop aroma, what hops are in this? as i'm getting a Pineapple sort of taste.
Enjoyed this beer very much, sitting on the verandah in 35c heat

mark_m APA/IPA

One of the big guns for me so far.

Excellent excellent beer, absolutely loved it, i was interested to see how the Fuggles/cascade combo went and it certainly went well. Hop aroma and flavour was not over powering and it deffinately wasn't to bitter. The colour was a lovely orange colour.

Great beer mark.

Hutch - hair of the Dog-Flying Dog APA

I tried this just after mark_m's beer and thinking it couldn't get any better, well this one blew my jocks right off me arse. this is my gold medal beer. i dont know anything about styles and wouldn't even know if its close to style but i know what i like when it comes to tastes.
Fantastic colour, great creamy head and retained right through to the end, nice bitterness and i detect a spicy/ clovey sort of taste, could this be the yeast Hutch?
This is the premiership beer for me so far.

great beer hutch.


great beers everyone

Rook

 

[therook]

Forgot to add one

hairofthedog - super dry nelson pils

This had a nice colour to it, a thin head and nice hop aroma. I have never tried a Nelson hop beer before but is it normally a fruity sort of hop. Good bitterness and had a nice dryness to it. this would be a great summer drink.

thanks for the beer, very enjoyable

Rook

 

[brettprevans]

well guys I gotta say that Im really happy with the feedback Ive been getting (both the positive and 'needs improvement' comments). I think tht this is what its all about. Im very encouraged by the support, esp since I was worried about being a nonAG participant.

Fents - I liked your beer. maybe that says something about my taste (or apparently lack there-of )

Im planning on getting through a few of the swaps on the weekend with the old man. Will post our sh*tty tasting notes after.

 

[Fents]

driveitlikeyoustoleit - ACA

well champ you win for the clearest beer of the swap that i have opened so far, biggups on that.

Not much of a head job tho

would love to know what hope were used. nelson by any chance?

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

I'm just finishing off the kenzie ale that has gained so much praise.

My experience was different.

The first glass suffered from a definitely subdued hop aroma and tasted slightly off in a way I cannot describe (my lack, not yours). The second was so much better - and went down so much better - the aroma was more pronounced and enjoyable. The third had so much sediment in it I was disappointed. I am currently filtering it through my teeth in an attempt to regain the sensation of the second glass.

 

[voota]

Quintrex - Belgian IPA.

Quintrex had talked this down a bit, so I was ready for anything...

Pours about as typical as you can get for a Belgian Triple, slightly hazed golden with a massive rocky white head.
Aroma is soo hoppy, loads of saaz (its oh so obvious) giving some soapy spicy notes (in a good/interesting way), some sweet malt manage to surface through the barrage of hops. A bit floral too, like roses or something. Perfect body for a belgian triple, bitterness is too high.. but not by much, I'd knock that back a bit if I were going to change anything.
Lots of hop flavour, but a lot of it comes across as spicy and not too out of style... actually towards the end it kind of dominates a bit. Finish is dry and hoppy.

Awesome beer, great to drink and very unique.

You seem to have some nice esters and bready malt going on there in the background, knock back the hops a tad (all of em') and let some of that though and I reckon you'll have an fantastic Triple, worthy of a few awards... but for what it is (a massively happy triple I hope?) I loved the stuff.

Cheers,

chris

 

[Fents]

I've tasted a Quintrex Belgian Triple. fell in love with it. <3

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

I'm now two-thirds of a glass through my bottle of Squirrel Foot Bitter. I can't be arsed finding out who made it.

If you'd told me it was a Southern English Brown Ale made by the pre-eminent brewer of such things, I would believe you. Bearing in mind I am not a judge's arsehole, I expect a bitter to be more bitter than this and so must mark you down...

Other than that, I can only tell you that I really like it.

 

[mark_m]

I love these case swaps!

So far, a really enjoyable batch of beers, a couple missing due to possible late confusion on swap day, but not complaining.

Some of my notes have been a bit vague, had an impromptu brew night on Friday with a couple of helpful neighbours, probably should have started tasting earlier in the night & probably should have left the sample of Quintrex's Trippel ive been saving (thanks Q) until later in the evening.

Being a "one trick pony" with AG at this stage, very impressed with the variety to hand.

1 Fenton's K.K. Kolsch - poured beatifully, nicely carbed, clean & tasty

3 Wardhog's ESB - have just enjoyed a glass as we speak, lightly carbed, nicely balanced, more malt driven than the hoppy APA's I've been inclined toward. Will have a crack at this one in the new year.

4 Spills Belgian Blonde - enjoyed , but as a contrast to the "in your face" hoppy ales I've been inclined toward.

5 Hairofthedog Nelson Pils - first exposure to NS hops, loved it, bitter for a pils but right up my alley flavour-wise

17 Hutch - Hair of the dog APA - another great beer, not big hop aroma up front, nice balance of bitterness with a good flavour follow through.

22 Wambesi - Honey wheat beer - I'm not a huge wheat fan, but enjoyed none the less. Definite honey undertones.

To anyone I've missed, I apologise, but all have been enjoyable beers in contrasting styles.

Cheers

Mark

 

[Quintrex]

Quintrex - Belgian IPA.

Quintrex had talked this down a bit, so I was ready for anything...

Pours about as typical as you can get for a Belgian Triple, slightly hazed golden with a massive rocky white head.
Aroma is soo hoppy, loads of saaz (its oh so obvious) giving some soapy spicy notes (in a good/interesting way), some sweet malt manage to surface through the barrage of hops. A bit floral too, like roses or something. Perfect body for a belgian triple, bitterness is too high.. but not by much, I'd knock that back a bit if I were going to change anything.
Lots of hop flavour, but a lot of it comes across as spicy and not too out of style... actually towards the end it kind of dominates a bit. Finish is dry and hoppy.

Awesome beer, great to drink and very unique.

You seem to have some nice esters and bready malt going on there in the background, knock back the hops a tad (all of em') and let some of that though and I reckon you'll have an fantastic Triple, worthy of a few awards... but for what it is (a massively happy triple I hope?) I loved the stuff.

Cheers,

chris

Ah cool, glad you enjoyed it, its was an experiment in using D saaz and columbus to make what I had hoped would be like a unique but somewhat similar style to De Ranke XX bitter or Chouffe Houblon Dobbelen IPA Tripel, but I had no idea what to expect from the D saaz!!!
They are something else!!!! Powerful as all get out!

My advice with it, to anyone who hasn't drunk it yet, is to play with the drinking temperature, I actually prefer it a little warmer.

Q

 

[driveitlikeustoleit]

Cheers Fents! I used Nottingham yeast, buggered the brew and ended up using a bit of gelatine to drop the protein. (Sorry Vego's).

Hops were cascade and saaz.

Just tried Peels Scottish Ale. What a cracker, 750ml doesn't last long when it's that good. Great head (we all love a bit!), lacing, tastes like a kilty sorta beer.

Kolsh was good too. Probably not quite to style, but a good beer.

Can't read these tasting notes too much, makes me thirsty :beer: