Vic 2017 Xmas Case Swap - Tasting Thread

[technobabble66]

Hey, fwiw, I think the super long mash times shouldn't negate the high initial mash temp too much (depending on roughly how slowly it drops, of course).
I believe the beta will still be largely denatured kinda quickly. So I think you end up with great efficiency, with a lot more alpha action and a bit more beta action.
So I'd guess you might drop just an extra point or 2 at FG, but still maintain a big mouthfeel from all the unfermentables. At least that's the impression I get.
I've done 1-2 looooong mashes (eg: 8hrs) and so did some more detailed reading on what (should) happen, re: enzyme lifespan/survivability, final result on fermentability, etc - just to make sure it'd still make good beer.

Interestingly, I think if you started at, say, 69 then quickly dropped it to, say, 63 after ~5-10 mins, you'd probably end up with a super low FG, but if you let it slowly/naturally drop in temp it has this almost magical effect of locking in general characteristics of the high temp, as if you'd maintained that temp the whole time. Plus a fair bit more efficiency and a slightly drier finish
2c

 

[Mardoo]

23. Danscraftbeer - Summer of 59. Draught so its good to go.

Wow, twang! As DJ_L3ThAL said. Like this:



Actually, I reckon this would go down the old throat hole real well in watering hole in a hot, dusty far-eastern New Mexico town listening to a bit of Hank Williams Jr. It wasn't my thing yesterday, but clearly that's personal preference, and possibly timing. I had polished off a rich stout a couple hours before, and I was actually in the mood for another. I did the close-my-eyes and choose though. Should have saved it for the right time and place, like that watering hole. It's amazing how much of flavour is influenced by other aspects of perception. I thought it might be a lager fermented too hot until I had a look at the rest of the tasting thread. The big brutish bitterness, alcohol and twang had a saloon-style punchup in my mouth and bruised my very effete and sensitive palate Now I'm wondering whether I should brew with the 059, which I have a couple vials of.

Thanks for the beer Dan. Although it wasn't my thing at yesterday's time and place, neither is the BJCP, and there seem to be plenty of fans of that lot.

 

[laxation]

i'm drinking my #23 tonight as well!

we got let off work early because of the super dangerous drizzle, so thought I'd better enjoy a really nice beer - and this is!
this is what i would call - a beer. doesn't aim for too much, and does not disappoint. just a good beer.

 

[technobabble66]

23 - Summer of 59 Aussie Bitter, Danscraftbeer

View attachment 110121

App
Small loose head, fine lacing deep golden hue, almost completely transparent.

Aroma
Sweet honey malt, maybe a light floral fruitiness.
Slight hint of a spicy undertone.

Flava
Sweet pilsner honey tones with a strong bitter aftertaste, slowly followed by final hint of cane sugar sweetness.
Light mouthfeel, but still has a certain satisfying “fullness”.
Carb level seems ~good. But comes out a bit too quickly. Bitterness a bit too high for me, i’m afraid, but that’s not necessarily a negative.

Overall
Very tasty start to the swap beers. Really interesting effect in this - similar to what Deej said, not sure what is from the sugar or yeast, and/or what the yeast is acting upon to produce these differences. I’d suspect this’d be best as draught, and ice cold on a stinking hot day - partly as the somewhat thin dry body might hold the carbonation better.
Great malty honey tones shine through, possibly aided by the residual cane sugar flavour. Not sure i can pick anything like a maize element in this, though maybe that’s what’s bringing out the sweet honey-malt element.

——————————
FWIW:
By comparison, mine (#3)

View attachment 110122

seems a bit like beer water. Not necessarily in a bad way, but seems very light. Has a more deep-malty element, again much more subtle, rather than the strong honey-malt of dan’s - maybe that’s brought out by the maize flakes.
Mine’s definitely carbed less - ok, but maybe on the very low end of ok.
Dan’s also has a sweeter element to it, along with the honey-malt element being more prominent, plus a much more bitter lingering element.
Quite remarkable for fairly similar beers, there’re some striking differences - obviously from those small differences in the recipe. I’d probably say one comparison is i could drink mine like water, whereas Dan’s feels like you’re drinking a solid beer - more maltiness (though that lighter honey-like maltiness) & heavier mouthfeel.

 

[technobabble66]

4 - Deej, Macleod Bitter

View attachment 110123
View attachment 110124

App
Semi-transparent, but fairly opaque. Deep golden hue.
Massive loose head

Aroma
Not picking up much on the aroma, but that’s just my nose after 2 previous beers similar to this. A subtle honey-malt element. Maybe a slight earthy citrus element from the hops.

Flava
A flava explosion compared to the aroma! Really nice “continental” herbal element mixing with the subtle malt & cane sugar flavours. Nice balance of sweet and mild bitterness. Subtle lingering bitterness.
Very high carb. After the carb drops out, it’s got a nice mouthfeel - light but decent.

Overall
Great beer - somewhat halfway between Dan’s and mine.
Possibly the best hops element in this one, of the 3. Spalt??
The carb level is waaaaaay over the top - maybe you should’ve saved some of the carbonation from this for the Westy12…
Overall the best balance of all the elements, of the three 059 beers.
Perfect for drinking while watching a doco on robotic *** dolls.

 

[technobabble66]

NB: I can't access the pics I've just attached, so NFI wtf is going on with that. Hopefully some mods can sort it out [emoji6]

 

[TSMill]

I had my first case swap thing,
All the beers were looking fine.
Made a selection in my head.....

I was expecting something I could smash down half a dozen of in front of the footy....the Aussie beer I remember stealing from my Dad when I was a kid, and that's not what I got.

To me it tasted more an English pale, brewed right on the limit of its temperature range, and for my personal tastes, a little too much lingering bitterness. There seemed to me a slight woody taste in the background, will be interested to see if that comes through in the other 059 beers.

It's fair to say this beer left it's mark on me......or more specifically on my Caesarstone bench, where I found a mirror image of the cap 23 this morning.

Wife's review...."not really my thing"....but beer in general is not her thing. She also added "tastes like beer", which is a positive review.

All up, an enjoyable start to the tasting journey.

 

[laxation]

Having midnights house ale today (no 11). It was nice at the swap, but it is so much better on a cold day like this, instead of being near 40 degrees! Beautiful beer, two thumbs up. I'm not very good at explaining how a beer tastes but I like this one

I have two check boxes, 1. Does it taste like beer? And 2. Did I like it?
Yes to both.

 

[TSMill]

Wife's review...."not really my thing"....but beer in general is not her thing. She also added "tastes like beer", which is a positive review.

I have two check boxes, 1. Does it taste like beer? And 2. Did I like it?
Yes to both.

Just to clarify we are not married.

 

[Mardoo]

BTW, I thought carb and head on Danscraftbeer’s beer were perfect. Lovely, pure white meringue head that stuck around for a good while.

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

11. Midnight Brew House Ale

Pours cloudy, with an orange hue about the light colour. Tight off white head that dissipated to a thin ring lacing the glass. It actually looks like an IPA if you haven’t sniffed or drunk it yet. Aroma is slightly phenolic, wouldn’t have said Belgian if I didn’t read it was Ardennes, would’ve thought a Saison yeast fermented cool but that shows my inexperienced palate at work.
Flavour is where it’s at with this one, another very well balanced beer and it’s very clear why this is your house ale Cam, great beer. This is the beer that has shown me why proper carbonation rates matter, as the lower carb of this just ties it all together I think.
So I typed the above and I’m already half way through the long neck, whoops. Thanks heaps for sharing, I agree with Mike that it is even better on this quasi-winter evening listening to the rain pondering what is for dinner.

Glad I grabbed a second one of these when there were a few leftovers

View attachment 110140

 

[AJ80]

2. Mardoo treacle Stout

Picked this one given it is sub 10 degrees outside and I've got the fire lit (new record there - not done that in December before).

Pours a rich velvety black with a thin tan head that is just lingering. Smells like any good Stout should - burned toast with a hint of coffee. Mouthfeel is great with a perfect low level of carbonation. Plenty of body and the treacle just comes through and melds really well with the roasty toasty stouty goodness. I'm really enjoying this one. This is a ripping beer and what a way to open the swap! Any chance for a recipe Mardoo? Thanks for sharing!

 

[technobabble66]

11 - Midnight Brewing, House Ale

App
Tiny head, fairly tight, steadily fades. A quick swish brings up a nice tight head that sits for a few minutes. The magic of a quick swirl!
Deep golden amber, semi-transparent.

Aroma
Definite Belgian funk, slightly saison-esque. Maybe a slight piney-fruity element, but might be my imagination. Was expecting more hoppiness, but not really getting any.

Flava
Moderate sharp bitterness through the whole palate - start, middle and a lingering finish. Moderate mouthfeel - so a light dry element blends well with a slightly more full element, so achieves a good balance.
Slightly low carb level - is awesome, helps bring out the flavour of the beer. Go the Low!!
General malt sweetness, without being particularly distinct - not in a bad way, you could smash this by the truckload, but still feel like you’re drinking a flavoursome beer. Belgian flavours not so prominent compared to the aroma, fairly subtle, other than the sharpness of the bitterness & a slight funk.
Slight subtle fruitiness mixed in there.

Overall
Fantastic beer, and, like Deej, i can also see why this is your house ale. Great balance of elements - dry but a slight malt sweetness, solid bitterness that lingers, but stays mild to moderate. Excellent flavour, though nothing in particular stands out as a dominant force. I’d definitely love to see the recipe for this one. FWIW, the Belgian elements seem remarkably similar to my Surprise! Belgian infection - i might check whether Ardennes is similar to 530 or 566. I’d be super happy turning this out as a house ale!

 

[TSMill]

Tonight, demonstrating the importance of penmanship, I decided I was going to drink the pussie dry!

......but first I received lots of head:

For anyone who thinks this post lacks wit, there's actually heaps.....because the lid tells me that in reality i am drinking droids Belgian.

After the initial pour this settled back down to a thick white mousse that I'm tempted to eat with a spoon like my kids babychinos, but settle for occasionally dipping my finger in. Nice amount of clove and perfect bitterness,
wish I could crack another for the evening session in the cricket.

Wife not a fan, but was tasting on the back of a glass of sparkling (also not a fan of my jokes).

 

[JB]

3. Technobabble66 - Rezza Bitter (WLP-059) 4.6%, drink now, but maybe leave an extra week.

Appearance
Deep amber is colour, slightly cloudy. Low carb, light head.

Aroma
Low aroma, hints of Aussie bitter, hints of a warm afternoon in Rezza, some gentle malt aroma.

Flavour
Light mouth feel, nice light maltiness, low bitterness, super smashable, could pound this till the cows come home. Do they have cows in Rezza?

Overall
My first of the 059s, light and smashable. This one would be awesome on a hot afternoon anywhere, not only Rezza. Thanks Techno

 

[technobabble66]

6 - Citra SMASH, Micbrew

App
Deep golden amber. Small tightish white head.
Semi-transparent.
Lacing? What's that?

Aroma
Classic Citra - fruity & wet-sock citrus.

Flava
Carb almost as low as a Westy12 clone in Macleod . Nice balance of malts & citrusy hops & mild bitterness.
The malt forms a nice backbone to lift up the Citra, while staying in the background like Cummins in a Marsh century
Nice moderate mouthfeel.

Overall
Straight-up i’d say this is an awesome smashable APA-style SMASH, just needs a little more carbonation.
Citra is ******* awesome, and i’ll cross swords with any that say otherwise. Slightly bested by Simcoe, but it’s a great hop by itself. I appreciate “wet-sock citrus” probably doesn’t sound great. But it is. Maybe like a slightly overripe orange … but good.

Would probably taste great with chicken wings…. If you had chicken wings…. Just sayin’.

Otherwise great watching Robin Hood chatting with Max Von Sydow. Or rather, Max von Sydow chatting with Robin Hood. Either way Citra ******* rocks!

 

[technobabble66]

3. Technobabble66 - Rezza Bitter (WLP-059) 4.6%, drink now, but maybe leave an extra week.
... Do they have cows in Rezza?
...

Yes, but not as you know it...

Thanks for the review, Jas! Always great to see the first dipping of the toe.
Yeah, i'm not sure what to say about this other than you could drink buckets of it, at least that's my impression. I'm keen to see how this rolls when it's a 35°C day. It tastes like beer water to me, but in a good way.

 

[technobabble66]

Just out of interest, are the beers by @TSMill (#21, Saison & Biere de Garde) ready to drink now?

 

[JB]

11. Midnight Brew - House Ale (Chinook flowers and Belgian Ardennes) - ready.

Appearance
Deep amber is colour, nice persistent carbonation, but low head as per preference.

Aroma
I love a good Belgian yeast aroma, although tamed you can pick the fruity esters coming through promising delicious yeast driven beer.

Flavour
Medium body, full mouthfeel, low bitterness, grapefruity spiciness from the chinook flowers, delicious yeast flavour, max awesomeness. Love a good Belgian & that's what we have right here folks.

Overall
Nice balance, nice flavour, nice low carb that persists all the way down, nice enjoyable beer. Ripper thanks Cam!

 

[TSMill]

Just out of interest, are the beers by @TSMill (#21, Saison & Biere de Garde) ready to drink now?

Sorry mate, think I updated the list simultaneously with someone else....yes they are good to go, bottled in September I think.