Vic Case Swap Xmas In July 2010 Tasting Thread

[manticle]

Anyway back on topic

24: Siborg: Amber ale

Pours clear amber with fluffy head. Small amount of lacing. Aroma of crystal malt.

Carbonation moderate, sherbert mouthfeel (good - I like that sherbert feel in my beers). Does give me a tiny bit of burpiness so maybe a touch higher than I like but I've said it many times - my taste is for lower carb.

Flavour is good - not oversweet, not over bitter. It's very balanced - no one thing seems to be favoured. If I were to suggest improvements to the beer it would be to pick an element and push it a bit more - whether hop bitterness, maltiness or hop flavour as nothing is quite standing out at the minute. Personally I think the beer would benefit from either bitterness or roastiness more than over the top hop flavour.

No major flaws that I can pick though - no real off flavours or any of that shebang.

There is a slight hint of caramel at the finish. Definitely a keeper and a tweaker - I reckon push the caramel and melanoidens and balance with a good dose of bitter and brew it again. Could be a great house ale.

 

[zebba]

Other than that, a well crafted beer Zeb! :icon_chickcheers:

Thanks mate. I had another one last night, and you are bang on about the serving temp. The tester I had pre-swap was in the fridge for about 45 minutes before drinking, so it was still warm (being PET and taking longer to cool). The one I had last night was cold, and straight from the fridge was disappointing - the bitterness appeared heightened, and the malt was non-existant. I let it warm for half an hour or so (also having the benefit of letting it de-carb a bit) and it was far better, ie. the beer I wanted to submit and thought I was submitting!

So the lesson here folks is to let it warm up. I edited the wiki to state as much.

And re: the american hops - I put them in to freshen the fuggles up a bit, and I think it worked. When I first trialled the recipe I thought the fuggles were a bit much for most peoples tastes. I couldn't bring myself to drop the fuggles too much, cause I love them so much, so instead I added some (not much) late cascade for the non-fugophiles

 

[Fourstar]

"honest feedback" to style I guess? carry on... I`ll shoot ya a pm to say mine aint to style
When I taste other swappers, do I taste against a style? or how I found it? I think ya being a little bit up yaself 4star.

c'mon mate. I'm tasting it as its presented to me. To style, not to style, it doesnt matter. Style is irrelevant as the details im putting in my notes are not style centric if its not presented to me as a 'styled beer', take Zeb's for example. On the other hand, if somone presents me a 'bohemian pilsner' and has the audacity to call it that and its as dry as a German pils and has no saaz characteristics, i'll tell em its not a bohemian pilsner but may be a well made 'pilsner'. Im not here to belittle them but to educate and give honest feedback. There is nothing gained when you are an ostrich with your head in the sand. I dont think that being arrogant or 'up myself' buddy. You know me better than that.

If it tastes like a great bohemian pils, they will also get great feedback! Its not because im tasting it like a competition but becasue im tasting it as its supposed to be a bohemian pilsner/presented to me. Am i making any sense? I dont know, i kinda feel confused now.


Put it this way, if it was presented to me as a 'pilsner' or even more broadly a 'euro lager' the style part of it goes completely out of the window. The more precicse you present a beer to me, the more precise i will be with my feedback.

e.g haysies beer

feedback: good beer! :drinks:

hehe.

Thanks mate. I had another one last night, and you are bang on about the serving temp. The tester I had pre-swap was in the fridge for about 45 minutes before drinking, so it was still warm (being PET and taking longer to cool). The one I had last night was cold, and straight from the fridge was disappointing - the bitterness appeared heightened, and the malt was non-existant. I let it warm for half an hour or so (also having the benefit of letting it de-carb a bit) and it was far better, ie. the beer I wanted to submit and thought I was submitting!

So the lesson here folks is to let it warm up. I edited the wiki to state as much.

And re: the american hops - I put them in to freshen the fuggles up a bit, and I think it worked. When I first trialled the recipe I thought the fuggles were a bit much for most peoples tastes. I couldn't bring myself to drop the fuggles too much, cause I love them so much, so instead I added some (not much) late cascade for the non-fugophiles

when i pulled mine out i thaught it was too warm until i checked it. I recon it got close to ambients (17deg) before it really started to open up. I agree, nothin wrong with fuggles mate, i think they work better as a late kettle gift over dry hopping with them. Some would say they work well as an early bin addition! haha

Nice tobacco and earthy woody damp forest characters! :icon_drool2:

The dry hopping made it something different. the strang floral notes i was getting. kinda like jasmine. As for cascade, dont tell the naysayers its a dervitive of fuggles! Or maybe we should to help drop the prices! :beerbang:

 

[Wardhog]

#5 - Supra Jim - American Amber

In light of the above discussion, I would like to state up front that I mean every word of this, and I'm sure you'll agree once you get around to this beer.

This beer is f#&king excellent.
Pours great, looks great, tastes great. Looking at it, you wouldn't expect the whack of citrus hops you get, but it certainly delivers the American hop flavour. Great mouthfeel, great finish, great everything - cannot think of something I would do to improve this beer. Maybe you should play around with different varieties of hops when dry hopping just to see what they're like.

I'm glad this beer was excellent and I could not find fault with it, I'm not sure what to say any more if I do. :blink:

 

[wakkatoo]

#3 Fourstar's Festivity Ale (AIPA)

Great copper colour and a big hop aroma straight out of the bottle. Poured a nice head that reduced relatively quickly but is lacing the side of the glass all the way down.
Get a nose and mouthfull of hops each sip gulp but is in balance with the malt. Definate alcohol warmth at the end but I don't think it detracts at all - just reminds you not to drive after a bottle!
Love a hoppy beer and this one delivers.
Nice work fourstar

 

[seemax]

#4 ESB




First beer for the night, along with some ginger/soy tofu and udon noodle soup!! Talk about mixing styles!!

Brilliant clarity, low slightly off white head. Deep copper colour.
Caramel, malt aroma... but not much in the way of hops.
I'm only picking up the caramel/toffee flavour, not much in the way of biscuit or nut.
The bitterness and sweetness seem to coincide on my tongue really well.

These last few months I'm really turning to UK styles and for me this is a great example. Personally I can't detect the astringency, but the warmth of the ethanol is certainly present.

Nice work.. and A+ for the label !

 

[Fourstar]

20. Cocko - APA

Deep copper to mahoganhy in appearance. A light thin tan head. Mixed citrus and fruit salad aromas w/some grassy hoppiness apparent but expected. I'm also getting mild spicy hints of onion too. low fruit esters also detected with some sweet malt and toast. A big and bold malt fills the palate as perfect support for the hop salad of citrus and spicy evergeen notes. The malt is melanoiden rich and counterbalanced with caramel sweetness. a nuttiness lingers in the finish with creamy malt. The body is moderate to full and moderate carbonation.

Beautiful beer Cocko! very well crafted and a cracker of a malt bill! Observing the colour on pour i had to double check it was an APA and not an AAA. after tasting and writing these notes, the more it sits better as an AAA IMO time for a name change i recon! :icon_drunk: .

The rich malt characters and balanced malt and hops compared to what you would get in a typical APA. Either way Pale ale or Amber ale im happy to kick back and sink a few pints of this on any night of the week.

Beautiful beer cocko. Well done!

 

[manticle]

Thanks seemax. Glad you enjoyed it.

 

[Cocko]

20. Cocko - APA

Deep copper to mahoganhy in appearance. A light thin tan head. Mixed citrus and fruit salad aromas w/some grassy hoppiness apparent but expected. I'm also getting mild spicy hints of onion too. low fruit esters also detected with some sweet malt and toast. A big and bold malt fills the palate as perfect support for the hop salad of citrus and spicy evergeen notes. The malt is melanoiden rich and counterbalanced with caramel sweetness. a nuttiness lingers in the finish with creamy malt. The body is moderate to full and moderate carbonation.

Beautiful beer Cocko! very well crafted and a cracker of a malt bill! Observing the colour on pour i had to double check it was an APA and not an AAA. after tasting and writing these notes, the more it sits better as an AAA IMO time for a name change i recon! :icon_drunk: .

The rich malt characters and balanced malt and hops compared to what you would get in a typical APA. Either way Pale ale or Amber ale im happy to kick back and sink a few pints of this on any night of the week.

Beautiful beer cocko. Well done!

Thanks heaps for your feed back mate!

The aroma is over done and was unplanned [Dry hopped while a little boozed.. yeah I know, ME boozed!], but again appreciate any feedback! Especially yours when it is with such detail! I now do a happy dance!

Colour is based on a SNPA... maybe was heavy on the dark crystal! anyway..

:icon_cheers:

 

[seemax]

#3 - Festivity Ale

Finished this off after manticle's ESB and wondered why I'm feeling a little happy... then searched and found the OG's!!

It was good... very good... it went down so quick I didn't really take any mental notes. Hops hops hops, a real patchwork of aroma and flavour.

I didn't really expect less tho

 

[Fourstar]

Colour is based on a SNPA... maybe was heavy on the dark crystal! anyway..

SNPA? Dont you mean Sierra Nevada Mahogany Ale? :lol:

#3 - Festivity Ale
Finished this off after manticle's ESB and wondered why I'm feeling a little happy... then searched and found the OG's!!

hehe apologies! I didnt expect it to end up at 7% but still in balance. I aded a touch of sugar to help counteract all that crystal and ended up bumping the FG down a little. :kooi:

 

[WarmBeer]

#3 - Festivity Ale
It was good... very good... it went down so quick I didn't really take any mental notes. Hops hops hops, a real patchwork of aroma and flavour.

hehe apologies! I didnt expect it to end up at 7% but still in balance. I aded a touch of sugar to help counteract all that crystal and ended up bumping the FG down a little. :kooi:

Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!

I (inadvertently) picked up one of the alternate "4* Wheat". Not that I'm at all anticipating being disappointed by any of Fourstar's beers, ever, but stop telling me how awesome the one that got away is h34r:

 

[Fourstar]

Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!

I (inadvertently) picked up one of the alternate "4* Wheat". Not that I'm at all anticipating being disappointed by any of Fourstar's beers, ever, but stop telling me how awesome the one that got away is h34r:

lets just hope its not soured like the one i tasted with dave from greensy was! h34r:

 

[Cocko]

18. mcook - American Pale Ale

Poured clear, very clear!

darker head and very resistant to fading.... Lacing is painting the glass!

Aroma is perfect as it keeps you smelling... it is fresh aroma like when you open a tube of tennis balls, galaxy perhaps?

Flavour is freshness, keeps ya going back to check.

Overall balance, IMO, is perfect and a F&CKING great beer - not just saying, I am saying I would be proud if I brewed this!

Will be looking up the recipe for this one to find out why I like it so much!

mcook - be proud and you should brew another batch, keg it and drop it off to me for a full assessment

Nice mcook.... very nice.

 

[zebba]

Shimple - Northern Lights Hog Ale

Poured a lovely colour with very nice clarity. The head was small, but firm, and it lasted the whole glass, which surprised me 'cause the carb was fairly low (which was a good thing I felt). No lacing... 'Cause the head left a blanket going up the glass! Very impressive looks, IMO.

Label says AIPA, but I really got more of an EIPA feel from it. Bitterness was well balanced (another reviewer said sweet, I didn't get that at all), and left it feeling dry on the palette. Majority of the flavours were what I would usually associate with an english IPA though - estery,malty, and earthy. Looking at the recipe, I'm rather surprised I got this.

Overall, I'm sorry to say, it wasn't entirely to my tastes. The bitterness was bang on, the body and presentation were great, but there was something about the smell that turned me off it a little. I think a <5min addition or a dry hop would turn this into a very nice beer. Having said that, I've had a number of well regarded commercial IPA examples that I've had the exact same criticism of, so I'd be leaning towards this being a personal preference rather than a flaw.

 

[Siborg]

Anyway back on topic

24: Siborg: Amber ale

Pours clear amber with fluffy head. Small amount of lacing. Aroma of crystal malt.

Carbonation moderate, sherbert mouthfeel (good - I like that sherbert feel in my beers). Does give me a tiny bit of burpiness so maybe a touch higher than I like but I've said it many times - my taste is for lower carb.

Flavour is good - not oversweet, not over bitter. It's very balanced - no one thing seems to be favoured. If I were to suggest improvements to the beer it would be to pick an element and push it a bit more - whether hop bitterness, maltiness or hop flavour as nothing is quite standing out at the minute. Personally I think the beer would benefit from either bitterness or roastiness more than over the top hop flavour.

No major flaws that I can pick though - no real off flavours or any of that shebang.

There is a slight hint of caramel at the finish. Definitely a keeper and a tweaker - I reckon push the caramel and melanoidens and balance with a good dose of bitter and brew it again. Could be a great house ale.

I was thinking it could have done with a bit more bitterness, and I think I got the dark and medium amounts the wrong way around. Next time I try it, I'll add more dark crystal, and less medium (ie swap the amounts around). Maybe try a higher AA bittering hop, or just some more POR, maybe move the flavour addition back a bit to get some more IBU's out of it.

Just to harp on the reviewing etc again: I personally think its great to get a wide range of perspectives. We have certified beer judges, experienced brewers, experienced drinkers and people who just love a good beer and may not necessarily have a great deal of experience. I think that each persons view is invaluable regardless of their background as we are all brewers and are each offerring our opinions of each others beer.

 

[manticle]

Maybe play around with some munich or melanoiden or a single decoction instead of just adding more crystal? Keep the hops the same but just add a touch more for the bittering addition.

My suggestions only obviously - just needs a bit more layering or complexity somewhere.

 

[Wardhog]

Just to harp on the reviewing etc again: I personally think its great to get a wide range of perspectives. We have certified beer judges, experienced brewers, experienced drinkers and people who just love a good beer and may not necessarily have a great deal of experience. I think that each persons view is invaluable regardless of their background as we are all brewers and are each offerring our opinions of each others beer.

Well said. I will continue to give feedback as I have been doing.

If I'm familiar with a style and you present your beer as one of them, I will hold your beer up against what I know of the style. I'm no BJCP judge, so my comments have a higher likelihood of being wrong than those who have been through the training. Assign whatever worth you think appropriate to my feedback.
If there are no parameters for me to work in, my feedback will be purely subjective. Did I like it?

If you would prefer not to have public feedback, let me know. Otherwise, public is the default choice.

 

[[email protected]]

...

Overall balance, IMO, is perfect and a F&CKING great beer - not just saying, I am saying I would be proud if I brewed this!

Will be looking up the recipe for this one to find out why I like it so much!

mcook - be proud and you should brew another batch, keg it and drop it off to me for a full assessment

Nice mcook.... very nice.

Thanks for the kind words. Glad you enjoyed it!

Cheers
Mal

 

[[email protected]]

Chapter 9

It all started to go fuzzy when I was axe kicked in the head by a 6'10" Somoan witch doctor while sparring at my weekly Tae Kwon Do class. Hardly remembering the drive home, I found myself slumped on the couch face to face with dead monkey wearing a party hat. Then I realized it wasn't real, and instead just a picture stuck on a bottle. Luckily I had a glass in my left hand and poured the contents in it. The glass was now filled with a deep amber fluid with a frothy white top which smelled suspiciously like beer. A subliminal message from the television informed me to drink the beer, so I did. The aroma reminded me of a Biere De Garde from France, and the taste was nice strong mix of malt and bitterness with a Saison like hint in the background. Feeling satisfied I savoured it to the last drop. Then the undead party monkey came to life and gave me an almighty headbutt and it all went blank.