Vic 2015 Xmas Case Swap TASTING

[Mayor of Mildura]

5. Micbrew - Irish Red Ale
The bottle had fallen over in the box and it leaked. So i was left with half a bottle.

... Murky brown. Good carb . Clean aroma and taste. Touch of malt. Very nice. Not a style that I normally enjoy but this was a cracker. Cheers Mick.

 

[mudd]

I've had all but number 4. I won't do good tasting notes but will just do my top 5 favourites.
In no particular order:
3. MartinOC - weizen. Good carb and nice banana.
6. Mayor of Mildura - stouty stout. Very roasty and chocolatey.
14. Mudd - rauchbier. This beer has made me like smoke beers for the first time. I have hated any smokey beer until having this one. Now I want more.
22. Mardoo- 1954 pale ale. Very nice. Nearly my ideal beer.
23. DJ_L3ThAL - chestnut pilsner. Little too sweet but still very tasty.

Gateway smoked beer who'd have thunk it.

 

[Mayor of Mildura]

24. Host Spot - oh they were so generous!!!

I had the Belgian and the dark ale last night. Both very good. The Dark ale is the best of the three by a million miles.

 

[Grainer]

11. Midnight Brew (+ Bruce the old man) Amber Ale bottled 27.11.2015.

Appearance: Dark Amber/copper.. A little on the dark side. Very little head, with a brown tinge. Cloudy.

Aroma: Caramel sweet malts: Red malt characters present.

Taste: Up front bitterness & harshness dominates over the malts, but very much drinkable. Bitterness done not linger too much. Pine, Caramels and low fruit esters.

The aroma vs flavours are not well balanced and confuses the beer I think.. either go for malts or hops given the style. Not my type of beer, but well made on first impressions.

 

[Mayor of Mildura]

3. MartinOC - Whilst we're all getting apologetic, slightly undercarbed Weizen. Drink in a few weeks
Cloudy blonde. Fluffy head. Nice carb. Bananarific. Touch of malt in the taste. Very nice.

 

[Grainer]

No name?? - Sorry cant tell you who's it is.. I guess that is a good thing considering it may be infected??

Off white head, deep amber/copper very little hop aroma except sweet malts, very cloudy.

Strong alcohol, larger mouthfeel, Medium to high bitterness. Has a slickness to it similar an infection - Diacetyl?

 

[Mayor of Mildura]

No name?? - Sorry cant tell you who's it is.. I guess that is a good thing considering it may be infected??

Off white head, deep amber/copper very little hop aroma except sweet malts, very cloudy.

Strong alcohol, larger mouthfeel, Medium to high bitterness. Has a slickness to it similar an infection - Diacetyl?

Maybe 17. Whiteferret Red IPA Bottled 1-12-2015 ?

Mine had a sticky taped label.

Low carb. Muddy brown. Astringent and peppery . Little aroma. Alcohol that warms my belly.

 

[Mayor of Mildura]

15. Awesome Fury - APA Bottled 21-11-2015 ( I think. I got a stealth bottle too).

Darkish copper. Good foam. Touch of hops on nose. Clean tasting. Pretty easy drinking during the cricket. Cheers mate.

 

[AJ80]

#7 - B&T's Altbier.

Deep copper colour, brilliant clarity and great head retention. Nil hop aroma, but there is some malt sweetness on the nose. Not overly bitter and it is balanced well with the malt. Deep malty flavour and really enjoyable. Didn't really get the ashy/mineral/roasty thing myself. Great beer, thanks for sharing.

 

[Black n Tan]

Glad you enjoyed it. I am drinking one myself right now.

 

[AJ80]

11. Midnight Brew - Amber Ale

Wonderful Amber (duh) colour, slight haze and thin, but persistent head. Malt sweetness in the aroma (nil hops). Flavour is subtle hops with more malt sweetness. Low carbonation (which I love). Ripping beer mate, very enjoyable.

 

[AJ80]

6. Mayor of Mildura - Stouty Stout

Well, never has a name for a beer been more accurate. This is definitely a stout Stout. Pitch black with a thin dark tan head that hasn't really hung around. Burnt toast and coffee of the nose (breakfast stout anyone?). Flavour reminiscent of more burned toast and bitter dark chocolate. Plenty of body in the beer too and loving the low carbonation level. Deep bitterness, but tastes in balance to me. Very enjoyable beer mate, top notch.

 

[[email protected]]

Hi all, I've recently moved to VIC from WA. Just started getting back into brewing. I used to do kit and kilo about 5 years ago and now I've started back up doing partial mash. Was hoping to get involved in the vic homebrew community. Are there clubs organising case swaps like this or is it all through AHB?

Cheers
Shaun

 

[Mardoo]

Welcome out this way Shaun,

The case swaps are just organised by local brewers. There are also some clubs that organise internal swaps. There are open competitions organised by clubs, and internal club-only competitions. There's all kinds of permutations. Have a look at this thread for the upcoming July 2016 swap. Whereabouts are you located, and I'm sure someone can recommend a local club or help you get in touch with some local brewers. The swaps are a damn fine thing indeed. Cheers!

 

[[email protected]]

I'm kinda living out of a suitcase at a friends house for now but hoping to find a rental in Northcote/Thornbury before a container full of stuff (including my brewing gear) arrives in a container in a week or two.

Sadly I'm guessing I won't be able to make it to the swap in Shepparton you gave the link to.

 

[Mardoo]

The next one after that will be in Melbourne in November/December, here's the thread:

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/index.php?/topic/88971-Vic-2016-Xmas-Case-Swap

If you find a place to land somewhere around Northcote the Merri Creek Mashers would be your closest club. You can contact them through their thread on this forum, or they have a Facebook page/group I think. There's also the Worthogs on the north side, but I don't know much more than that about them.

 

[manticle]

Worthogs are greensborough/diamond creek/eltham direction. Unless they've changed very recently, they meet at individual members' houses rather than a central point.

Merri mashers would be a definite for a Northcote region resident.

I'm no longer in Vic Slawson but I can vouch for the swaps being a great event - even if you attend as a non-swapper.

 

[Grainer]

Hi all, I've recently moved to VIC from WA. Just started getting back into brewing. I used to do kit and kilo about 5 years ago and now I've started back up doing partial mash. Was hoping to get involved in the vic homebrew community. Are there clubs organising case swaps like this or is it all through AHB?

Cheers
Shaun

Nah Mate.. clubs do case swaps as well..I know a few guys from Merry Mashers nd they are a good up and coming club.

 

[idzy]

Whoops! I just went & opened the other unmarked bottle (assuming it's Idzy's?) in a moment of panic/weakness.

There seems to be two alternatives to this - NZ Pale Ale & Weizenbock??

Anyway, the colour is very pale, almost like a Pils & carbonation is HUGE!!

The nose is definitely not wheat & if anything, smells a bit "extracty" & phenolic/infected.

Mouthfeel is low-medium & very much dominated by the carbonation. The malt flavour (no wheat detected) quickly gives-way to a definite & quite clean bitterness that then sticks-around in the after-palate. I think we can safely assume this isn't a weizenbock!

Aftertaste is a very nice balance of hop bitterness & flavour (I can't pick the actual hops themselves). There's some obvious residual alcohol here, too.

I just went for a second-pour from the bottle & noticed that there's a "ring of confidence" in the neck of the bottle, which probably explains the excess carbonation & phenolic/infected nose. Shame, as it's otherwise quite a drinkable/quaffable effort.

Given the infection (& if anyone else has one in their bottle?), I'd suggest drinking this one ASAP before it turns into a gusher.

My bottles were brand new unused ans should look pristine.

No weizenbock bottles in the swap. I changed it out and updated description in previous thread and this one, but the weizenbock lives.

In terms of carbonation, this was carb dropped in bottle from a slightly carbed keg so might be over carb'd. Hopefully not infected, but anything is possible.

 

[Grainer]

Had the same thing