Vic X-mas In July 2009 Tasting Thread

[hairofthedog]

Klieny i get that buttery taste your talking about but i think its a yeast characteristic rather than a fault not sure though as its the first time ive used wyeast 2124 but i do know thats the strain used in carlsberg & i definetly get that buttered flavor in there beer

& Q i think superheros milky is all the way back from 2 swaps ago :lol:

 

[Hutch]

Hutch Cal Common
Nice clean flavour, reasonably hoppy. did you use cal common yeast?

Hey Q,
I used WY2112 California Lager. Pitched big, and fermented at the lower end (16-17 degrees).
It took a bloody long time to ferment out, and I bottled with 2 carb drops per PET to try and give it a little more fizz ("steam").

...& Q i think superheros milky is all the way back from 2 swaps ago :lol:

...and a damn fine beer it was for memory :icon_drool2:

 

[Neill]

damn, sourness :-(

must have been an infected bottle leigh - sorry :-( maybe my cleaning skills weren't as good as i thought they were. No sourness in any of the other bottles i've had of it since the swap. my apologies.

 

[Fourstar]

7. Rook - Wazza's 3 shades of Stout

Ace of spades black with light wispy foam, some ruby highlights across the top of the beer. Light roast on the nose, some nuttiness too with light breadyness/creaminess.

Full chewy palate with high carbonation. Lots of roast hits the palate, nice rounded chocolate notes, finishes rather nutty/chewy with a smooth bitterness. aftertaste is nothing but coffee overtones with a munich like breadyness. Very toasty. Top notch beer Rook, hats off to you and warren. Although i haven't tasted the original, im sure yours is better! :lol:


Almost faultless to be honest. definitely no fermentation issues! The only thing its lacking (im being oerly pedantic) is some sweetness to balance off some of the roastiness, saying that if its a dry stout, its definitely on the money. A wisker from perfect balance. I can say for sure when tasting my dry stout with it (70% MO 20% flaked 10% Roast) it kills it for balance, mine is very roasty on the palate and nose and very dry.. leaves my tongue raspy not alot of complexity just roast and sweet maltiness, yours has all the above as mentioned, chocolate = winner.

great work... top 3 so far mate!

Cheers! :icon_cheers:

 

[WarmBeer]

21. Driveitlikeustoleit - Oatmeal Stout

Smooth, smooth, smooth.

A beautiful looking stout, with a dark-cream head that stays put. Not a whole lot in the smell, a little roasty character, but pretty neutral. First sip, and I'm in love. Beautifully smooth (did I already say that?) with none of the bitterness you can get from commercial examples.

This smooth beer went down faster than any of the other case-swap beers, and I usually tend to sip dark beers, even when they're smooth, it's just that good.

Top 3 in the case swap so far for me! Would give my left nut to be able to consistently brew beer this smooth.

Oh yeah, it was pretty smooth.

 

[therook]

7. Rook - Wazza's 3 shades of Stout

Ace of spades black with light wispy foam, some ruby highlights across the top of the beer. Light roast on the nose, some nuttiness too with light breadyness/creaminess.

Full chewy palate with high carbonation. Lots of roast hits the palate, nice rounded chocolate notes, finishes rather nutty/chewy with a smooth bitterness. aftertaste is nothing but coffee overtones with a munich like breadyness. Very toasty. Top notch beer Rook, hats off to you and warren. Although i haven't tasted the original, im sure yours is better! :lol:


Almost faultless to be honest. definitely no fermentation issues! The only thing its lacking (im being oerly pedantic) is some sweetness to balance off some of the roastiness, saying that if its a dry stout, its definitely on the money. A wisker from perfect balance. I can say for sure when tasting my dry stout with it (70% MO 20% flaked 10% Roast) it kills it for balance, mine is very roasty on the palate and nose and very dry.. leaves my tongue raspy not alot of complexity just roast and sweet maltiness, yours has all the above as mentioned, chocolate = winner.

great work... top 3 so far mate!

Cheers! :icon_cheers:

Thanks 4star, I'm glad you enjoyed it

Rook

 

[warrenlw63]

great work... top 3 so far mate!

C'mon Shane McGowan on the label was the clincher.

Warren -

 

[Fourstar]

C'mon Shane McGowan on the label was the clincher.
Warren -

It actually cost him 1st place!

 

[therook]

It actually cost him 1st place!

I liked the Cats scarf in the background 4star, that has earned you 20 brownie points.

Rook

 

[warrenlw63]

I liked the Cats scarf in the background 4star, that has earned you 20 brownie points.

Rook

That was to wipe up the excitement of yer stout. :lol:

Warren -

 

[Fourstar]

I liked the Cats scarf in the background 4star, that has earned you 20 brownie points.
Rook

Its been sitting there since the night of losing to st.kilda

Last week was terrible! Did you hear that our list last week was so poorly populated our VFL side had to call up some U-19 kid from the Murray division or something! Crazy!

 

[seemax]

21. Driveitlikeustoleit - Oatmeal Stout

Smooth, smooth, smooth.
A beautiful looking stout, with a dark-cream head that stays put. Not a whole lot in the smell, a little roasty character, but pretty neutral. First sip, and I'm in love. Beautifully smooth (did I already say that?) with none of the bitterness you can get from commercial examples.
This smooth beer went down faster than any of the other case-swap beers, and I usually tend to sip dark beers, even when they're smooth, it's just that good.
Top 3 in the case swap so far for me! Would give my left nut to be able to consistently brew beer this smooth.
Oh yeah, it was pretty smooth.

Hey Brett..
Just polished off this little number and I too am suitably impressed. It's dark, smooth and roasty, but not in your face. I enjoy stouts and more recently porters but rarely brew them, however it might be time for a change. If you're interested, I might brew something along these lines next weekend (night time post kids bed time!)... you're most welcome to come over. The amber ale will be ready to go, and I have a cupboard full of misc. brews to polish off... there might even be a bottle or two of my Aldi WeetBix Wit left! I'll keep you posted.

Driveitlikeustoleit - any chance you could post your recipe? Didn't see it on the recipe thread.

 

[Leigh]

15. Fourstar - American IPA

Nicely carbonated on pouring. Reasonable head of around 7mm that quickly dissipated to a ring of foam around the edge. A little darker than I'd expect for a pale. Arome is all hops!

Tasted beautiful at 4 degrees. Very well balanced with extremely subtle maltiness and good hop bitterness. But boy does it pack a punch upon warming! All hops at 6-8 degrees! Much prefer it at 4 degrees.

Not a bad beer 4*

 

[Leigh]

damn, sourness :-(

must have been an infected bottle leigh - sorry :-( maybe my cleaning skills weren't as good as i thought they were. No sourness in any of the other bottles i've had of it since the swap. my apologies.

Don't stress Neill, mght just be my dodgy tastebuds

 

[Fourstar]

15. Fourstar - American IPA
A little darker than I'd expect for a pale. Arome is all hops!

IPA mate, IPA..
APA = SRM: 5 14
IPA = SRM: 6 15

Mine rang in @ 6.6SRM. Quite light in the grand sceme of things, but nothing near 3 SRM~ like your Aussie lager! Thanks for the kudos mate!

Cheers! :icon_cheers:

 

[brendo]

Hutch - Cal Common

This is the first time I have tried this style - so like a lot of others, I don't really have a good yardstick to measure it by.

That said, I really really enjoyed it. Great colour and really interesting hop profile with the US NB in there... woody and a hint of mint.

Nice clarity and very clean profile on the palete - no faults that I can pick.

I have to say mate - I was very impressed and enjoyed every mouthful. Unfortunately SWMBO also enjoyed this one, so there were fewer mouthfuls for me than I might have liked <_<

All in all... top work Hutch. I have some 2112 coming my way in the very near future, so it is highly likely I will give something similar a crack not too far down the track.

Cheers,

Brendo

 

[hairyson]

25. Benny's Lemon Ale
Im going to take a stab at the ingredients casuse you stumped us last night as to what we were tasting. It probably should have been colder when we drank it. so that may have also influenced what we tasted.
Cervesa kit with maltodex, some ultra light crystal and glacier or perle hops? not a lot of head and a bit more carbonation required but ok. slight thickness in body that was unexpected and only a hint of lemon at the end. Im guessing served at the right temp this could be a god summer beer as a thirst quencher, but I couldnt drink it as a sessional beer (again temp may have played an issue).
no technical faults that we could detect. be interested to see the recipe.

CM2, Fents -- one of the other Bitches (Breezy too) has posted a recipe here: Lemon Ale. Basically it's some sort of pale-bodied syrup, no maltodex but LDME (dried light malt extract), some Cascade/Amarillo for dry hopping, and whatever harvested yeast from whatever brew you're just racking/bottling. Too easy, and so quick.

We recently made another, but this time with one of those shitty limes instead from the 7-Eleven around the corner. I thought that it would make more of a difference than it did, but I don't think it matters too much what you use. Breezy has tasted more of them so might disagree.

Did you drink this one after other stronger-flavoured beers? It can get swamped pretty easily if it's not the first beer you taste.

Cheers,
Ben.

 

[Kleiny]

Im assured by rook that my No18 bock is right for tasting.

I will try and change the wiki too

Kleiny

 

[Fents]

mate i had it the other night and it was the goods.

 

[lucas]

#22 Lucas - Smoked Porter - Perhaps the beer of the swap so far for me. Subtle smoked roasted malt aroma. The taste was a fantastic mouthful of roasted chocolate, yet clean finshing with a nice amount of underlying bitterness. Taste was not unlike a bottle of Youngs Double Chocolate Stout I had recently, though for mine your's was a bit better.

cheers Mal! that's quite the complement I'm a huge fan of youngs DCS


16. chris' red weizen - I love it. such a beautiful banana flavour with a little extra malt flavour than your average weizen. it's been quite a while since I did a wheat beer and I've never been about to get much banana in mine, but this beer really makes me want to look up your recipe and follow it precisely. must remember to get some rice hulls though, last wheat beer I did I managed to snap my wooden mash paddle trying to stir it