Vic X-mas In July 2009 Tasting Thread

[scott_penno]

1. Peels - Black Beer

Flicked through comments made by others about this and I almost feel it must be a different beer. Either that or the couple of extra weeks conditioning has made a massive difference. Opened the bottle and poured. Black beer is an understatement. Black. Pitch black. Pours with a generous coffee colored head. Roast malt type aromas. Maybe even a hint of coffee. Upon tasting it's all chocolate. Smooth, almost velvety. Nice body and well balanced with bitterness - never would have guessed there was 45IBU's in there. I'm not a a big fan of stouts but I thought rooks was the best stout I'd ever had until I tried this (sorry rook). This will be one of the next two beers I brew. Two thumbs up.

3. Beerdingo - Dunkelweizen

Never had a Dunkelweizen before and wasn't sure what to expect. Smells like malt and tasted like malt but there was something in it - either the yeast or the hops - that left a taste that wasn't to my liking. Anyway, left it to warm up for a while and it definitely agreed with me more the more it warmed up. Well made beer, just not to my liking. No offence Beerdingo.

 

[hairofthedog]

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*

did you actually measure the head leigh or is that a guesstimate :lol:

 

[Fourstar]

did you actually measure the head leigh or is that a guesstimate :lol:

Accurate nonetheless!

 

[Leigh]

did you actually measure the head leigh or is that a guesstimate :lol:

My guesstimate...but my precision is spot on

 

[Leigh]

10. Q - "Mildly Challenged" dark mild

I really enjoyed this beer Q, very interesting colour! Appears very dark on pouring, but is a dark bronze when held up to the light!

Around a 12.54 mm head Lovely sweet aroma. Tatsing has a very balanced mix of maltiness, chocolate and roastiness that I thought was just right!

Cheers Q

 

[beerDingo]

I've been real slack with my reviews. New building at work, and everyone can see my monitor.

Can't remember them all, as I don't take notes. But from memory the standouts for me have been (in numerical order):
Hairofthedog - Dortmunder export
sappas - Better Red Than Dead Irish Ale
Rook - Wazza's 3 shades of Stout
mcook - American IPA
Hutch - California Common
Kleiny - Traditional Bock

The partials/kits I've tried have been pretty good (for kits n bits).

CM2, your beer wasn't carbonated up at all really, but was OK otherwise. Chris Taylor, i drank yours too warm to give it a proper tasting, I was really thirsty, but again enjoyed what I could taste. Wardy, I tried yours last night. When I opened the bottle, I didn't like the aroma, but once i poured it and started drinking, i liked it. Would have preferred the IPA you gave out at the swap, but still an enjoyable beer.

Sorry to all others that are not mentioned. But been drinking them randomly, and also when drunk, so unable to give proper reviews, as taste buds were shot, or couldn't remember.

Woohoo, Friday 5:15. Time to go and finish the rest of the swaps!

 

[Wardhog]

26. Neill's Malty English Ale

This is a cracker of a beer. I could tell I was going to enjoy it the second I opened and got a whiff of it. Clear as a bell, lovely malty smell, lovely balanced malt and bitterness. Not a flaw to be found.
Excellent work, Neill. Did you post the recipe?

 

[Leigh]

24. Don Mateo - "Way out Weizen" - Hefeweizen

This one was nicely carbonated with a decent head that dissipated to foam quickly. Quite cloudy (yeast?), and big strong sweet banana flavours. Unfortunately I can't stand bananas so this beer did not appeal to me. Apart from the banana flavour, it was a fine beer.

7. Rook - Wazza's 3 shades of Stout

Poured well with a thick head that dissipated to just a ring of bubbles around the edge of the glass. Lovely roasty aroma. Quite dark, but not as black as peels beer.

On tasting, oh my god, what a beautiful beer! Lovely perfectly balanced roast, slight chocolate and a hint of coffee! While some of the other porters and stouts had me close, I think this beer has converted me to the dark side of beers! This could be a beer I have on tap over winter at my place! Top 3 of the swap for me!

 

[Neill]

glad you liked it wardy, i think it will mature well, seems to be improving now. Recipe is in the thread, just a kits and extract thing with some light hopping and good fermentation control. Going to do it again soon with some spec grains i think!

 

[Hutch]

8. wonderwoman - Goldilocks

The Golden Syrup had me slightly apprehensive, but I was quite surprised with this beer. Good flavour and aroma from what seems like Cascade and Chinook (very "C" hop), though I reckon it could certainly benefit from a little more malt character to back it up. The golden syrup also lends a sort of acrid/tart aftertaste in the back of the mouth that detracts from an otherwise very well made beer. Fermentation is clean, clarity/carbonation/head retention all good. You've done a great job turning this kit into a very well made beer. I reckon if you subbed the Golden syrup for a mini-mash with pale + Munich you'd have a top beer.

Thanks WW.
Hutch.

 

[Fourstar]

18. Kleiny - Traditional Bock

Clean, malty sweet, toasty/nutty malt aroma with a deep brown appearance and a smooth pillowy head.

Med Carbonation with a full mouthfeel. Rich Deep Maltiness, strong melanoidens, digestive biscuit, nutty with a slight chocolate flavour going on. Slightly sweet in the finish. Very low lingering bitterness, masked mainly by the malty sweetness... Im drooling melanoidens. I notice a small amount of alc warmth too. Considering I usually pick up solvents very easily, Im impressed! At 7% this would usually be crawling with solvents but to me but its very clean.

Seems like you had a very clean ferment Kleiny! Very impressed. if I could get my lagers this clean Id be a very happy man!

As this warmed it turned from being the above to more of a raisin and freshly baked cake aroma/flavour profile. It became very chocolaty to me with the malt getting stronger and stronger. Awesome beer Kleiny, you are now in my top 3! Yep, someone has been bumped! I think I might do my 1st Bock for the Xmas swap! (Probably not the best beer to-do for the heart of summer hey!) maybe Ill sleep on it!

Cheers mate for the AWESOME BEER!

 

[Kleiny]

happy you rated it 4stars, now just to brew the munich helles for the xmas swap and see how it stacks up.

Kleiny

 

[[email protected]]

#6 sappas - Irish Ale - Approachable aroma, well formed head. Brown, more dark than light, in color. Nice hearty flavor, alot of malt, a bit a fruit, just enough bitterness. Reasonably clean finish, but enough lingering flavor to last until the next chug. Nice quaffer, well suited to the colder months.

:icon_cheers:
Cheers
Mal

 

[Wardhog]

18. Kleiny - Bock

This thing is all about the malt, and it's really well done. It's got that uber-toasted-malt kinda taste to it, with suggestions of raisin. Chuck a gentle warming alcohol into the mix, and it's a good beer for a cold day. Well done, Kleiny.

 

[Wardhog]

3. Beerdingo - Dunkelweizen

I think there might be a bit of DMS in this one. Promising beer otherwise, Dom.

 

[Wardhog]

? - Wonderwoman - Goldilocks

I will admit to being hesitant about this beer when hearing it had golden syrup in it. But, it works. This is a good beer.
Nice, clean ferment with no obvious issues. I'd probably wind back the flavour hop a bit. It comes across a little bit too strong, it lends a really winey character to the beer that is a little bit out of place.

This would be a great summer beer if you wind back the flavour hops a bit. Keep the golden syrup, it works. Good job on thinking outside the square and making it work.

 

[Wardhog]

One more, why the hell not. I'm on babysitting duties for the next 3 weeks, so I won't get to do much sampling...

20. WarmBeer - Franken-Mild

There's a slight astringency in the finish to this beer. Everything is spot on for a really good mild until after you've swallowed the mouthful, then there's an aftertaste that lets it down. Keep everything else and sort out the astringency and it'll be a cracker.

 

[brettprevans]

20. WarmBeer - Franken-Mild
didnt get much off this one. no particular flavours. but in saying that, i could have drunk this all night. its was so easy drinking. it was a bit odd there was flavour up front but after a few seconds the flavour seems to dissapear.

10. Q - "Mildly Challenged" dark mild
loved this. loved it. no idea why but i loved it. strange almost misty smoke flavou from the choc, and then a welk balanced malt and bitterness. top beer.


4. Hairofthedog - Dortmunder export
no idea what it should it taste like. big bitterness and made me think english bitter, but slight butteryness. thick bodied lagerness. not sure.

 

[chris.taylor.98]

16. Chris Taylor - Red Weizen

So smooth, so creamy. Perfect creamy head, and nothing but sweet yeasty smells.
Having never had this style before, I can't comment on the colour, but it's great to have a change from the usual dark-brown that the majority of this particular swap has brought. Bubbles are tiny, would love to know how you achieve this.
Now it's warmed up a little, it has lost the initial sweetness that lingered afterwards.
An eye-opener to a quite different style, thanks Chris.

A bit slow at monitoring this thread.

Not sure about the small bubbles. I carbonated the whole batch at 22C for a week in a temp controlled environment, so that might have had something to do with it.

Glad you liked it.

 

[[email protected]]

#10 Q - Mild - Pretty good. I haven't tried this style much before, but this one seemed a bit fuller bodied, nice and malty, a bit of coffee, chocolate, roasty stuff going on, quite tasty. Maybe a bit like an extra special mild (or is that just a dark bitter?). Anway, nice beer.

:icon_cheers:
Cheers
Mal