VIC 2013 July Case Swap - tasting thread

[Midnight Brew]

#4 Meathead - DSGA/Stout

Really black deep black in colour, chocolatey notes on the aroma, thin head that dissipates quickly.
This beer is very silky on the mouth feel and not actually overly roasty, really smooth chocolate flavour. Not overly bitter either, with a great residual sweetness. Im drinking this at ambient 15C ish and its going down a treat. Could easily have a session on these.

One critique I do have is some kind of mouse **** on the bottle cap. Have no idea how it got there or what it is but the beer tastes fine.

How long did you age this?

 

[Yob]

Bwahahaha!!! Didn't find the rest of the mouse in the bottom of the bottle?

 

[meathead]

Don't say it to loud or everyone will want some!

Not aged long maybe 6 weeks

 

[Edak]

Austin: Crikey! This coffee smells like ****!
Basil: It is ****, Austin.
Austin: Oh well then it's not just me.
[Drinks coffee.]
Austin: It's a bit nutty.

 

[Midnight Brew]

Don't say it to loud or everyone will want some!

Not aged long maybe 6 weeks

Great beer regardless. Well done mate.

 

[manticle]

14:damn: belgian golden strong.

Pours clear gold with dense, white moussy head.
Aroma of orange oil and soap.

Flavour: apple, pear, soft bread. Gentle lingering bitterness. Some slight warming alcohol. High carbonation.

I know this is a first attemp partial and I have to say you pretty much nailed it. No extract twang, lovely soft belgian notes, great head retention and lacing.

Could benefit from more ageing but sterling effort in my books.

 

[meathead]

Pours clear gold with dense, white moussy head.
.

I think we might have a plague?

 

[Grainer]

3. Fikuss – Dunkelweißen - Ready to drink

So when will this be ready.... will be soooo disappointed if it is flat.. This was the one I was looking forward to ...

 

[manticle]

I think we might have a plague?

That's why I have cats

 

[Grainer]

10. Shane R - Black Saison
 - Ready to drink.... BEWARE.. its a boy .. hopefully I was just an unlucky one.

Its a boy.. holy carbonation Batman.. it flowed like a river .. up and out of the bottle .. poured some out and it kept on going LOL... at first looks when I finally got it into the glass, it was a nice deep colour, however this was marred by the fact there were heaps of floaties in it from the sediment cake and it was very hazy... had to pour it into 2 glasses cause the bottle kept overflowing..unfortunately I lot about 1/3 of a bottle to the sink.

Noted that this is the first time I have tried a Dark Saison. at first glance I saw heaps of sediment consistent with the over flowing and breakup of sediment. Smells nice with wheat/dark malt and fruit behind it and maybe some pepper. Thinking that it would be highly carbonated first mouthful and it was a nice smooth feel but very alright on carbonation... I would have liked to see a bit more body in it in comparison to the other Saison I tried the other night.. This one was not as crisp as well

Cant say Im a fan, but I stated that of the other Saison.. dont think there totally my thing...and as I stated I am no expert on Saisons'

Grainer

Amazing we have zero gravity here.. so can put glasses against the walls LOL

 

[manticle]

Possibly you got one of the last bottles in the batch. I usually reserve those as tester bottles. Excess particulate matter often results in gushing.

 

[insane_rosenberg]

10. Shane R - Black Saison
 - Ready to drink.... BEWARE.. its a boy .. hopefully I was just an unlucky one.

Its a boy.. holy carbonation Batman.. it flowed like a river ...

Grainer...

Apologies Gainer, cheers for seeing past this and offering a review.

 

[insane_rosenberg]

Possibly you got one of the last bottles in the batch. I usually reserve those as tester bottles. Excess particulate matter often results in gushing.

This particulate comment has grabbed my attention. I dry hopped this brew, and following this point I think I should be paying more attention to my process.

 

[DarkFaerytale]

10. Shane R - Black Saison
 - Ready to drink.... BEWARE.. its a boy .. hopefully I was just an unlucky one.

Its a boy.. holy carbonation Batman.. it flowed like a river .. up and out of the bottle .. poured some out and it kept on going LOL... at first looks when I finally got it into the glass, it was a nice deep colour, however this was marred by the fact there were heaps of floaties in it from the sediment cake and it was very hazy... had to pour it into 2 glasses cause the bottle kept overflowing..unfortunately I lot about 1/3 of a bottle to the sink.

Noted that this is the first time I have tried a Dark Saison. at first glance I saw heaps of sediment consistent with the over flowing and breakup of sediment. Smells nice with wheat/dark malt and fruit behind it and maybe some pepper. Thinking that it would be highly carbonated first mouthful and it was a nice smooth feel but very alright on carbonation... I would have liked to see a bit more body in it in comparison to the other Saison I tried the other night.. This one was not as crisp as well

Cant say Im a fan, but I stated that of the other Saison.. dont think there totally my thing...and as I stated I am no expert on Saisons'

Grainer

Amazing we have zero gravity here.. so can put glasses against the walls LOL

sediment was insane in mine as well, it was about 1.5cm thick on the bottom of my glass, luckily, mine was not a gusher

 

[Midnight Brew]

#1 Manticle - Brown Porter

Straight from the garages cold floor, unrefrigerated and 12C. Clear deep brown in colour with a chocolately notes on the nose.
First sip and wow! Chocolate, sweet, slight upfront bitterness, back bone, complex, sessionable, perfectly balanced. I love this beer!

Good way to warm up tonight. Great beer mate, is the recipe in the database? I absolutely have got to have something like this on hand heading into late autumn next year.

 

[meathead]

15. Edak - Pirates American IPA


I didn't get the hop flavor I was expecting, but this is a great easy to drink beer
Great balance, I could drink a billion of these
But why have a billion when you could have.......a million

 

[manticle]

#1 Manticle - Brown Porter

Straight from the garages cold floor, unrefrigerated and 12C. Clear deep brown in colour with a chocolately notes on the nose.
First sip and wow! Chocolate, sweet, slight upfront bitterness, back bone, complex, sessionable, perfectly balanced. I love this beer!

Good way to warm up tonight. Great beer mate, is the recipe in the database? I absolutely have got to have something like this on hand heading into late autumn next year.

Cheers.
I have a porter in the recipe db but it is not this one. I'll hunt up the recipe -might be in the WAYBIII? thread but also on our sick laptop.
Glad you liked.

 

[Charst]

Technobabble: Two fat ducks

Cloudy Amber with a lacy head fading.
sweet soft and creamy, get more of what i think is simcoe despite the recipe being motueka dominant.
not as much lemon lime note as id expect from motueka beers is had and made, If its motueka then i should be ripping out the flowers i have cause the smells really nice.
full in the mouth, could be a touch thinner for a session ale but finishes dry enough.
Nice lingering bitterness not too much just to balance.


cheers

 

[technobabble66]

Hooray, someone finally tried mine - i thought it'd take weeks for anyone to get to number 22.

Thanks for the review, Ash. Feedback always v welcome. :icon_cheers:

Not sure why it's still cloudy. The BRY-97 doesn't seemed to have cleared as well as normal. Any other reason that could occur?? I mashed for a long time, so i'd be surprised if there was any starch.
I assume the sweetness is from the mashing - i tend to err on the higher side. However it did sit at 66-67°C for a long time. Could the hops add a sweetness to the flavour?

Yeah, i think i picked-up the simcoe mainly in the flavour (i snuck in a sample stubbie on the weekend). No idea why, though - i chucked in a fair whack of Motueka & dry hopped it for 2+ weeks. I've never tasted Motueka, except Yob's IPA on the Swap Day (awesome! btw). I gotta admit, it seemed kinda similar to Simcoe (daughter of S, i think) just a bit more mellow & fruity or something. So maybe this over-lapping combo produces a more rounded, mellow spectrum compared to straight Simcoe - only we're much more familiar w Simcoe, hence we're looking for another distinct hop flavour to pop up & assume all of what we're tasting is due to the Simcoe. I'm pretty new to trying to taste individual hops, so i could easily miss this sort of stuff. If my bollocky explanation is roughly on the money, then it suggests Simcoe+ Motueka are a no-brainer combo that greatly compliments the impact of each. Thoughts?

Lacing & head, or lack there of, is a bit annoying. I did a 76°C 10min rest to try to bring that out. Only seems to have worked a bit. Boo. Wtf? Is 76°C too high? Is 72°C the best temp for lacing/head?
Yeah, i'm gonna have to drop my mash temps in another batch or two to see if i can get a more sessionable beer going. Am i correct in thinking that's the main variable to achieve this?
The first mouthful i detected a bit of biting bitterness, then it all seemed to blend in kinda well. So i was v keen to see how everyone else found the bitterness...

Not that anyone really needs to see this recipe, but for reference/comparison, i logged my recipe in a thread (i had some questions!):
http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/72226-first-attempt-at-dsga/
Entry#8 onwards.

PS: apologies to the 20 follow-up questions :lol:

 

[manticle]

72 for glycoprotein rest.

Combine it wih a 55 rest for 5 mins at dough in and watch the magic happen.

 

[Yob]

though - i chucked in a fair whack of Mosaic & dry hopped it for 2+ weeks. I've never tasted Mosaic, except Yob's IPA on the Swap Day (awesome! btw). I gotta admit, it seemed kinda similar to Simcoe (daughter of S, i think) just a bit more mellow & fruity or something. So maybe this over-lapping combo produces a more rounded, mellow spectrum compared to straight Simcoe - only we're much more familiar w Simcoe, hence we're looking for another distinct hop flavour to pop up & assume all of what we're tasting is due to the Simcoe. I'm pretty new to trying to taste individual hops, so i could easily miss this sort of stuff. If my bollocky explanation is roughly on the money, then it suggests Simcoe+ Mosaic are a no-brainer combo that greatly compliments the impact of each.

FTFY - Motueka is NZ Hop Mosaic is the daughter of Simcoe and features quite heavily in that AAAIPA that has been doing the rounds.

:icon_cheers:

 

[Charst]

20% wheat in the grist could account for the haze techno. I wouldn't **** yourself about the head retention on this beer it wasnt lacking just fading slowly to a edges, whispy in middle, perfectly acceptable.
Lower mash temp will help thin out the body of the beer, but again it was perfectly acceptable, just fuller than what i consider sessionable.

 

[Grainer]

6. breakbeer - Black Nelson IPA

Hoppy and pleasant Aroma, black & brown crystal nectar from the gods, good clarity. you can already tell i liked this LOL
nice head with good colour
good bitterness and good body for me.

One major problem was that I went back to the garage and none of my bottles were labeled 6 :huh: .. would drink it over and over again.. :chug:

Grainer... by the way.. wats the best way to get you my logo for the sign ?

cheers

 

[breakbeer]

Thanks Grainer, glad you enjoyed it!

I'll PM you my email address to send your logo to

:beerbang:

edit: I put yours in the fridge last night, will be drinking tonight

 

[Midnight Brew]

#9 Wolfman - Malty Skunk Fart Ale

Highly carbonated, pours with about 6cm of head. Deep red/brown in colour, good lacing on the glass.
Aroma is crystal with a hint of roast but very slight.
Flavour is smooth but as it warmed up it dulled heaps which surprised me. Could be the carbonation, usually dont drink em that high.
Bitterness is smooth through and through. I didnt get anything from the yeast but could be overshadowed by the malt profile. Cold though is quiet sessionable.

Is this a brown ale? Also what inspired the name?

 

[Grainer]

5. Whiteferret - Oatmeal Treacle Stout Bottled 3/7/13 let it sit if you want tastes alright now.

Low carbonation, very little head, being an oatmeal stout I would have expected it to have a lot more body.. but the first time I have tried one.. having said that I really really enjoyed it. It had great caramel flavor and you could defiantly get that treacle flavour which add3d an element of sweetness.. it reminded me of my childhood... nice roasted hoppy flavour....

overall I liked it

 

[Charst]

Damn: Belgian strong

Pours nicely clear with a big foamy small bubbled head, lacing the glass as it fades to 5mm.
smells nice fruit esters and a tiny bit yeasty.
Whats the Alc%? if its to style it hides the grog very well.
nice flavours, creamy in the mouth and finishes dry.

nice rendition of a golden strong mate thoroughly enjoyed.

 

[meathead]

3. Fikuss – Dunkelweißen - Ready to drink

Agree with the carbonation comments
Drank easy enough nice flavours
Still good lacing around the glass

 

[user 25501]

Damn: Belgian strong

Pours nicely clear with a big foamy small bubbled head, lacing the glass as it fades to 5mm.
smells nice fruit esters and a tiny bit yeasty.
Whats the Alc%? if its to style it hides the grog very well.
nice flavours, creamy in the mouth and finishes dry.

nice rendition of a golden strong mate thoroughly enjoyed.

Thanks for the reviews so far guys. Manticle guided me with this recipe so thanks to him. I will take some credit as I followed his instructions fairly rigidly.
Estimated ABV 8.2% according to beersmith. I thought I got a bit of heat from the last one I had. Tempted to have another now but I've only got 2 left and I'm trying (struggling) to age them a bit longer.

 

[Edak]

6. breakbeer - Black Nelson IPA

Pours nice and dark with a nice creamy off white head that sticks like **** to a blanket to the glass, creating a work of art with my glassware.
Aroma of raisin, crystal and stone fruit (at least to my nose), very sweet smelling and lovely to put to the nose.
Taste is typical of the dark toasty beers, but with the added pounding of truly tasty flavour hops, a bit winey, like coffee and a sav blanc mixed together. Let's just say I like a good sav and love a good coffee, this is best of both worlds plu its beer!
Body is quite light, I mostly prefer a little more body but the balance in this beer is fantastic!

A big thank you to you glen