Vic. July 2015 Case Swap Tasting Thread

[idzy]

I've already carbed yours up. It was delicious. Very smooth.

#1 Idzy's Rye IPA - I poured from a height as suggested & everything went well.

Man, that thing is UNCTUOUS!!! It ticks all the boxes & I liked it, but couldn't drink a lot of it.

Thank you for the feedback Gents, most appreciated! :beerbang: :super:

 

[Grainer]

Ah... Now you've made me go & re-read the chapter on Wit Biers again.....If you want to read my copy of Rajotte's book, you're welcome, as long as it boomerangs, as it's part of a complete set.

From my re-reading (it confuses the hell out of me every time I've read it), making wits was historically a very complicated process involving four different worts: one hopped, two un-hopped & a 4th that was hopped with the "spent" hops from the first-runnings. The boiling times varied, from 60-90 minutes. I don't think we need to go to such lengths as homebrewers. We're so used to using well-modified grains & long boils these days, the traditional stuff seems to get pushed aside in the quest for clear beer.

'Glad to hear you're using unSalted wheat & oats, 'though.....

I'm not 100% on this, but you might find that the Wit yeast & Forbidden Fruit yeast are one & the same. More research required there...

And don't forget the spices - that was something I noticed was absent in your swap beer (maybe because of age?).

Had heaps of orange and coriander... and it was a new batch.. the Hops took overI think.. I used Zythos, which is a very strong flavour hop

 

[BradG]

Very late reply; I love the original karate kid and dances with wolves

 

[mofox1]

Alrighty, bunch of notes somewhere....

1. Idzy - "The Repeat Offender" Rye IPA
Undercarbed, but yes, still delish. Similar to my Rye IPA I dry hopped with Casc + Chinook....

22. Damn - American Brown: Labelled #043 JBROWN
Umm - this was at the end of an evening and I didn't write notes. Was great, from memory (same one as at the swap?), but vastly different to mine. Maybe more of an ashy roast? More hops too. Good stuff

9. Curly79. APA with home grown Victoria hops. 2nd ever BIAB. Fingers crossed.
Fingers worked mate - great drop. Very light - not massively hoppy but in balance with the malt. Very sessionable, I could imagine a carton of this on a bush weekend disappearing quick.

11. Midnight Brew - The Explorer (Dark Ale III) American Brown
Dipping into the Septembers already. BUT you did say I could drink now. So I did. Nice american hop aroma & flavour. This was a *very* pretty drop - deep red to brown. Still transparent (just!) in my Pilsner glass. Light body and long lasting head. Very easy drinking.... a little too easy.

And now it's back to my own for a while... but AJ - you're only a week away.

 

[mofox1]

Oops missed one.

14. Grainer - Californian Tropical Orangy-White IPA

No stranger to contraversy, grainer has managed to whip up a storm with this brew. Once you open the bottle though, you'll find yourself in typical oasis of calm... No flamesuits needed!

Seriously though, this one poured a great head, had a fresh citrus nose and a slightly sweet/caramel orange underlying fresh citrus hop flavour. Body was[\b] light, and reckon that might have been a good thing. Too much malt would have made the orange overly sweet.

... I thought it was a tasty wee drop... Am I too easy to please?

h34r:....

 

[Curly79]

Cheers mofox. I threw a fair amount of Victoria flowers in the mix but as you said it's not that hoppy? Will try some more next time. Might try dry hopping some too. [emoji106]

 

[Nullnvoid]

So with the exception of the swap I was sort of going to have a month off drinking, and then I decided to stick a screw into my thumb and needed a beer. As a result I have started on -

1. Idzy - "The Repeat Offender" Rye IPA

Mine was really under carbed. However it qaa delicious. I can't give anymore detail than that.

I recommend drinking this beer after sticking a screw in your thumb. 9/10

 

[manticle]

Getting a screw in the thumb was the universe telling you what a **** idea a month off is.

 

[Nullnvoid]

Yeah it certainly looks that way. Won't make that mistake again . The drinking not the screw into thumb

 

[Curly79]

Yep. It pretty much served you right mate.

 

[Midnight Brew]

1. Idzy - "The Repeat Offender" Rye IPA

Enjoyed while cooking/eating a steak sandwich.

Poured a dream from a height. Solid firm bitterness with a pungent but pleasant aroma. Really worked in nicely with the malt leaving a slightly sticky mouthfeel but very satisfying.

You've done a great job of creating a beautiful IPA, must say I'd be pretty happy with this if I was to purchase it or brew it!

 

[AJ80]

21. Navarau Dark Porter

Now I'm certainly no style nazi and whether or not this is a true 'porter' doesn't really bother me (if I HAD to pick a style I'd say red ale). I'm more focused on whether or not it is a decent drop...and it certainly is! Rich, malty and very well balanced with a perfect level of carbonation. I could drink these all winter quite happily. This is a top notch beer. Well brewed mate. Very enjoyable.

 

[MartinOC]

#14. Grainer's Cal./White IPA.

Mate, are you sure you gave us the right bottles for this swap?? I was expecting a "Hoppy Hoegaarden".

The colour is dark (I was expecting white/opaque). Carbonation is HUGE!.

The nose is neither spicy nor hoppy. No obvious malt or wheaty characteristics. Perhaps I'm picking-up a bit of "burnt"/caramel?

Body is thin & over-attenuated for what I was expecting, so the bitterness is somewhat harsh. Flavour is similarly lacking.

There's obvious alcohol in the finish. Did you use a Belgian Abbey-style yeast?

Sorry, mate, it really doesn't float my boat. Again - are you sure you gave us the right bottles??

In the interests of fairness (& the fact that folks left excess swap-bottles for me... :beerbang: ), I'm having another go at this one as I type...

Definitely a BIG difference between this one & the first bottle I sampled. There's much more body & I'm actually getting the spices (albeit subdued compared to a "regular" Wit). Carbonation is also lower. It still strikes me more in Belgian strong-ale character than Wit & now I can see why it got a gong as a Belgian IPA at the MM comp. I reckon I must've just got a bung-bottle 1st time 'round.

Actually, quite well done, Grainer.

 

[AJ80]

1. Idzy - "The Repeat Offender" Rye IPA

Enjoyed while cooking/eating a steak sandwich.

Poured a dream from a height. Solid firm bitterness with a pungent but pleasant aroma. Really worked in nicely with the malt leaving a slightly sticky mouthfeel but very satisfying.

You've done a great job of creating a beautiful IPA, must say I'd be pretty happy with this if I was to purchase it or brew it! image.jpg

Drinking the same beer right now. Idzy, this thing is fantastic mate - really enjoying it. Full bodied from the rye, firm bitterness and a heap of hop flavour and aroma. The low carbonation and tight creamy head (poured from a height) reminds me of the hoppy IPAs the Wigg & Penn in Canberra would serve from time to time on the beer engine. Well brewed mate and would kill for the recipe!

 

[Nullnvoid]

Alright, thumb still hurts so it's into dj_lethals IPA!

Wow, that was delicious, carbed perfectly for my liking and the hoppiness was amazing. Well done on a great beer.

My girlfriend wants me to get the recipe, she loved it too.

Also it was quite deceptively strong, that sucker went straight to my head!

 

[Curly79]

1: Idzy's Rye IPA

Geezus mate. That stuff poured out of the bottle like Golden Syrup and tasted like heaven on earth! Absolutely love it!

 

[MartinOC]

7. Mofox's ABA.

I just got a call from my old man asking if I can get the recipe for this one & make him a batch! I've just copied the recipe for future reference.

He said that it had a definite "fruitiness" which he just loved. When pressed to describe it, he picked "grapefruit" (there's the Cascade/Chinook), but there was something else that he just couldn't describe (I'm guessing from the Burton yeast).

He gave it 9/10 (best score so far!!).

 

[Black n Tan]

15. Droid - fURQnELL lager/pils. So for starters pretty gutsy putting up a Bo Pils. This beers has great clarity but is under-carbonated so no head. There is a fruity sweetness on the nose and some in the taste: acetaldehyde?? Otherwise pretty clean. Hops are low, as is the malt, but the graininess is there. The beer is well balanced. This is a pretty good drop. Next time more hops and less fruitiness, and it will be an absolute cracker.

 

[MartinOC]

#9 - Curly79's APA.

BLECH!!! What plonker showed you how to do AG?? Must be a complete numbnuts!

Serously, 'though... Very VERY nice. Easy-drinking & dead clean. Absolutely no "process-faults" that I can detect, so whatever you're doing, stick with it!

I'm drinking this now & I'm getting a bit of "saltiness", which I've noticed in my own beers since I came up here & started using tank water, so it's either something in that, or I gave you a bum-drum & we're both over-doing the CaCl/CaSO4 treatments on such soft water. You previously said you put a swag of Victoria in this batch & it's not overly hoppy, so I'm guessing it's too much CaCl.

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

I don't know what a bum drum is and I don't think I wanna know either!