Vic X-mas In July 2009 Tasting Thread

[donmateo]

27. Wardhog - Vienna lager
pours amber brown with low fast disappearing head
light, sweet malt aroma, some hop aroma too
medium malty, medium bitter, sweet at the start balanced by the hop bitterness
dryish, clean drinking, perhaps just at the end some possible fermentation issue suggested
overall impression - nice, quite sessionable.

13. CM2 - Kenzie Dunkle (munich Dunkle style)
pours a medium dark brown, dark red tints
some dark malt on the aroma, and something else, almost dark toffee
light at first on the palate, firms up quickly, malty with some pronounced earthy and smooth hop bitterness
sweetness towards the end, but finishes with an earthy hop
overall impression - although on the sweet side, smooth hop bitterness lingers. Nice desert beer for me.

 

[Fourstar]

6. sappas - Better Red Than Dead Irish Ale

Deep cooper in appearance with a smooth filmy micro head. Aroma very clean, no diacetyl aromas, some sweetness, nutty MO type aromas coming through.. no fermentation faults. very clean.

Full mouthfeel with medium-low carbonation.. very clean on the palate, some butteryness/slickness. im assuming this is from the crystal malts. The sweet crystal is offset by nuttiness from MO or roast malts, some roasty characteristics in the aftertaste with smooth bitterness, i get hints of an Ashy tobacco flavour/aroma in the back of my throat... quite interesting. Sweet crystal maltiness lingers as does the nuttiness in the aftertaste.

Well made beer Sappas, fine example of the style. well done! not to mention its going down a treat!

Cheers! :icon_cheers:

 

[Wardhog]

7. Rook - Wazza's 3 shades of stout

I'm really coming to appreciate stouts. Why wouldn't I when I've got a stout like this to drink?

Lots of lovely roast presenting in coffee-ish form, nice and full body against clean and balanced bitterness. Great job, Rooker.

 

[Brewmeister70]

#7.Rook's Stout


OMG... How much toffee and toast did you manage to squeeze into this?! Deep brown colour, low head (off white) and low carbonation.

Roast and toffee are there on the nose, almost like a caramel hard toffee in character. If there are any hops there late in the boil, their influence is swamped by the toffee thing going on. Medium intensity malt aromas - complex.

The beer has a solid bitterness that lingers but this seems balancing when the big caramel character close to dominating the flavour. There are loads of deep-toasty chocolatey-malt flavours happening in this.

I honestly can't tell if it is crystal malt that creates the toffee flavour or residual diacetyl but tend to favour a combination of diacetyl and crystal malt because the body is still quite light and it is reasonably dry. There is a fruitiness in taste as it warms - I'd guess you're using an English yeast with more character than the Irish strain.

My impression is that this beer would only improve with more time to come together after being bottled. When was it bottled and how was it primed, Rook? I've very much enjoyed your beer but would love to know what it would taste like if I had left it for another couple of weeks at least. Too bad for me! I hope you've got a personal stash waiting for the perfect time to crack...

You mentioned this is Warren's recipe. Where do we find it, Rook?

Cheers,

Brewmeister70 :beerbang:

 

[Fourstar]

8. wonderwoman - Goldilocks (mexican cerveza kit with golden syrup)

Golden to orange, thin lacy head. Aroma, nothing but golden syrup/primary school fete toffee stall aroma... very clean fermentation profile, no faults.

very low carbonation, medium mouthfeel. Low bitterness with uber sweet 'fete toffee' flavour. i dont know if i love it or hate it. SWMBOd tried it, all she could say was 'apple juice, sparkling apple juice'. In a way, shes sort of right, but not. its got the flavour of apple juice, but its not like a poorly made beer/cider beer. I think the perception of the golden syrup makes it very cider/apple like with its sweetness.. faux cider if you will.

I guess that goes down well with you wonderwoman. Faux cider with your faux meat at the swap?!?! (did you even bring any vege burgers?)

seriously, if this wasnt with golden syrup it would be a A+ ale/lager cerveza. The golden syrup detracts too much from being a bog standard lager/ale clone, or a beer for that matter. To being well, something different, strangly unbeer like.. but good... (im confused.)

If i think bulmers, i think thumbs up. if i think corona with golden syrup.. i think... strange. Confused much? :blink:

 

[chris.taylor.98]

27. Wardhog - Vienna lager

Nice clean amber to straw colour. White head.

Can smell some esters, lots of malt sweetness, little bit of grain character, no hops.

Flavour much the same, with a pleasing and noticable bitterness (although not so much to be out of character for the style) and dry finish. Pleasing grain character.

Wardy you have picked one of those really difficult style to perfect due to its delicate flavour profile. Can detect a slight issue with the flavour and suspect it is either very low level astringency or very very slight acetaldehyde. If its the latter then this beer is going to be even better in another 3-6mnths time.

Think this is being very picky though and is getting better with every mouthful.

As always another great beer Wardy. :icon_cheers:

 

[[email protected]]

16. Chris Taylor - Red Weizen : Really nice, banana aroma, with some cherry thrown in for good measure. Distinctive dunkel-weizen up front flavor without that overt weizen like wheat beer yeast and bready texture that can be often present (and IMO usually detracts from the other flavors). Not a hop-driven beer, nor should it be, I reckon there is more to be gained by playing around with the malt bill, as there is already that lovely yeast derived aroma and flavor which indicate a healthy fermentation. For my palate I think it is missing a hint chocolate in the malt flavor to round out the palate, but that's just a personal preference, and may not be the intent. Reasonably dry for style. A top beer to start watching the ashes with.

:icon_cheers:
Cheers
Mal

 

[Hutch]

:icon_offtopic:
....*******s! I'm fcuking stuck here in Korea reading all your reports, and all I can get my hands on is generic asian mega-lager, and ****** Starbucks frapamochachinos. Grrr!

...and no Ashes on TV. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Hopefully back amongst the swap-beers this weekend.
I'll keep checking this thread, if only to continue resenting you all Happy times.

 

[therook]

#7.Rook's Stout


OMG... How much toffee and toast did you manage to squeeze into this?! Deep brown colour, low head (off white) and low carbonation.

Roast and toffee are there on the nose, almost like a caramel hard toffee in character. If there are any hops there late in the boil, their influence is swamped by the toffee thing going on. Medium intensity malt aromas - complex.

The beer has a solid bitterness that lingers but this seems balancing when the big caramel character close to dominating the flavour. There are loads of deep-toasty chocolatey-malt flavours happening in this.

I honestly can't tell if it is crystal malt that creates the toffee flavour or residual diacetyl but tend to favour a combination of diacetyl and crystal malt because the body is still quite light and it is reasonably dry. There is a fruitiness in taste as it warms - I'd guess you're using an English yeast with more character than the Irish strain.

My impression is that this beer would only improve with more time to come together after being bottled. When was it bottled and how was it primed, Rook? I've very much enjoyed your beer but would love to know what it would taste like if I had left it for another couple of weeks at least. Too bad for me! I hope you've got a personal stash waiting for the perfect time to crack...

You mentioned this is Warren's recipe. Where do we find it, Rook?

Cheers,

Brewmeister70 :beerbang:

Thanks Brewmeister and Wardy........Yep it's wazza's recipe and i do normally use US56 as the yeast but had a yeast cake of 1469 ready to use so i dumped it on that.

I don't have a stash but Wazza and i have a Stout brew off plan for the future so i might do a bigger version of it and put it aside.......I'll put your name on one Brewmeister

I'll put the Recipe in the recipe thread later on

Rook

 

[seemax]

1. black beer

Used motor oil or beer, who could tell Thick brown initial head which only lasted a few sips. Fairly low bitterness for my mouth, with nice blend of choc/roast and crystal. Tasted very dry like a lager. At first it was here nor there, but towards the end it really grabbed me, I suspect as it warmed. A little more IBU's would have really done it for me. Nice work.

17. Kolsch

My first ever kolsch... it poured bright and clear with bubbles ala-champagne! Reminded me of fizzy apple cider. I was expecting something along the lines of a german pils... but oh...what a surprise... my first thoughts were sweet and sour, obviously the profile is yeast driven and I can't say it was particularly pleasing. It's a similar reaction to the phelonics of wheat beers... i get a very brief refreshing hit, but then a long lasting after taste.


Warmbeer,
As for my Real Ale, shame about the kit twang, damn hard to get rid it! I've got a few bottles left, suspect it will improve in a few months. It was a good opportunity to use up all the leftovers of my UK hops. No EIPA left but I'm about to bottle an AG amber ale which has been cold conditioning for 4 weeks... and tomorrow I'm brewing an American IPA based on Fourstar's grain bill with a mix of chinook, cascade and amarillo ... delicious!!

 

[Fourstar]

and tomorrow I'm brewing an American IPA based on Fourstar's grain bill with a mix of chinook, cascade and amarillo ... delicious!!

Sounds :icon_drool2:

This is the hop profile i have planned for palealemania for my AIPA entry. 50.3IBU, LOTS of late/dry hopping with some sharp bitterness.... mmmmm! not showing the malt just yet, but it will be fuller and slightly sweeter than my case entry to balance that sharpness. (Hint: similar to Lagunitas IPA recipe done on can you brew it.)

25.00 gm Magnum [12.50%] (60 min) (First Wort Hop) Hops 33.7 IBU
15.00 gm Centennial [9.70%] (20 min) Hops 9.2 IBU
15.00 gm Cascade [7.80%] (20 min) Hops 7.4 IBU
20.00 gm Cascade [7.80%] (0 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
20.00 gm Centennial [9.70%] (0 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
20.00 gm Cascade [7.80%] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops -
20.00 gm Centennial [10.00%] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops -

 

[seemax]

I think my recipe was a touch over 6% each of JW Cara/Munich ... and I have a small amount of Tomahawk to use up, so I'll probably aim for 70IBU, should balance well.

Have you ever tried a late hopping IPA? First addition at say 20mins? I tried it on Dr's Golden Ale at around 30IBU and found it develop small levels astringency/tannins. Given the high bitterness of IPA's perhaps it may work better, of course it will mean using large amounts of hops!!

Planting my first chinook rhizome this spring... would love to grow a full set of US hops!

 

[WarmBeer]

... and tomorrow I'm brewing an American IPA based on Fourstar's grain bill with a mix of chinook, cascade and amarillo ... delicious!!

You chucking a "brewie" (just like a "sickie", only with a higher purpose) tomorrow? If so, nice one!

Any time I get a week day off work, I get the not-so-subtle hint that I should be spending more "quality time" with the kids. Geez, the kids can look after themselves, I want to spend quality time with my fermenter!

Cheers,

Brett

 

[Fourstar]

I think my recipe was a touch over 6% each of JW Cara/Munich ... and I have a small amount of Tomahawk to use up, so I'll probably aim for 70IBU, should balance well.
Have you ever tried a late hopping IPA? First addition at say 20mins? I tried it on Dr's Golden Ale at around 30IBU and found it develop small levels astringency/tannins. Given the high bitterness of IPA's perhaps it may work better, of course it will mean using large amounts of hops!!

I'd suggest doing a bittering additon of 1/2 your ibu's with a smooth hop, e.g. magnum, horizon etc and the rest 20mins and less if you want a big hop flavour. if you tried to completly hopburst an IPA @ 70IBU, you'd be asking for big $$ in hops as you would probably use around 250g in a standard batch.

with the 6% cara/munich you mean JW Caramalt and Weyermann Caramunich? if so, niice! you really need the sweetness in the AIPA to cut trhough the resionous hops/high AA hops. balances it out well.

 

[Wonderwoman]

8. wonderwoman - Goldilocks (mexican cerveza kit with golden syrup)

Golden to orange, thin lacy head. Aroma, nothing but golden syrup/primary school fete toffee stall aroma... very clean fermentation profile, no faults.

very low carbonation, medium mouthfeel. Low bitterness with uber sweet 'fete toffee' flavour. i dont know if i love it or hate it. SWMBOd tried it, all she could say was 'apple juice, sparkling apple juice'. In a way, shes sort of right, but not. its got the flavour of apple juice, but its not like a poorly made beer/cider beer. I think the perception of the golden syrup makes it very cider/apple like with its sweetness.. faux cider if you will.

I guess that goes down well with you wonderwoman. Faux cider with your faux meat at the swap?!?! (did you even bring any vege burgers?)

seriously, if this wasnt with golden syrup it would be a A+ ale/lager cerveza. The golden syrup detracts too much from being a bog standard lager/ale clone, or a beer for that matter. To being well, something different, strangly unbeer like.. but good... (im confused.)

If i think bulmers, i think thumbs up. if i think corona with golden syrup.. i think... strange. Confused much? :blink:

thanks fourstar (I think :blink: )

I wasn't aiming for anything like corona - I don't like the stuff at all. I read in a thread somewhere that someone (might be crundle?) makes the cerveza kit with golden syrup, so I tried it thinking it could be something along the lines of a honey wheat beer (which I'm quite fond of). It turned out to be a very tasty (IMO) easy drinking beer that has recieved good feedback from friends who've tried it... hence doing it for the beer swap

but as to what style it is... I don't know...?

and I did have some soy suasages at the swap - they were wrapped in foil and chucked on the coals for a few minutes to cook

 

[Fourstar]

It turned out to be a very tasty (IMO) easy drinking beer that has recieved good feedback from friends who've tried it... hence doing it for the beer swap
but as to what style it is... I don't know...?

Yeah, it was nice, just abit sweet for me.. By the time i got 1/2 way through the glass i was done for on the sweet scale. As i said, it reminded me alot of 'primary school fete toffee cups' something i loved as a kid, now days, it would be one lick and im done. I think the uber sweet golden syrup turns it from being beer like, to sweet like a sweet cider/wine, but not a ciderish beer. (if that makes sense?)

BTW, how you managed to ferment that baby out with x amount of simple sugars is top work, really good ferment control and no detectable fermenation problems. From all the HB beers ive tasted, that seems to be the hardest thing (IMO) for anyone homebrewing to get right. Fusels in particular. Looks like you have nailed it on this one.. kept any fusels in check. thinking about it, golden syrup would be nice (in small amounts) in a belgian dubbel. Bump up the sweetness to offset the volatile alcohol aromas you usually get.

 

[Wonderwoman]

Yeah, it was nice, just abit sweet for me.. By the time i got 1/2 way through the glass i was done for on the sweet scale. As i said, it reminded me alot of 'primary school fete toffee cups' something i loved as a kid, now days, it would be one lick and im done. I think the uber sweet golden syrup turns it from being beer like, to sweet like a sweet cider/wine, but not a ciderish beer. (if that makes sense?)

BTW, how you managed to ferment that baby out with x amount of simple sugars is top work, really good ferment control and no detectable fermenation problems. From all the HB beers ive tasted, that seems to be the hardest thing (IMO) for anyone homebrewing to get right. Fusels in particular. Looks like you have nailed it on this one.. kept any fusels in check. thinking about it, golden syrup would be nice (in small amounts) in a belgian dubbel. Bump up the sweetness to offset the volatile alcohol aromas you usually get.

yeah the sweetness wont be to everyone's taste.

from a taste I had last weekend, this version of the recipe (with BE2 so I could make a larger volume without turning it into a light beer) seemed sweeter than previous batches made with only the kit, golden syrup and hops... at the time I thought it was just that the bottle fermentation wasn't complete, but I wonder if it's possible that there's more residual golden syrup in this version? I'll have to have another taste this weekend.

as for the fermentation control - not sure if I just winged that?

 

[Katherine]

You meant every bit of WW.... have you tried your first biab yet... surely that is ready?

 

[Wonderwoman]

You meant every bit of WW.... have you tried your first biab yet... surely that is ready?

um... sure I did... I'm just such a fastidious brewer... that's why it turned out well

:icon_offtopic: as for the BIAB I broke out a few bottles at the swap and HWDMB is now getting stuck into them. I'm pretty proud of it, but sometimes I can taste a "cardboard" taste on the finish - no one else seems to notice it... I might be crazy... :blink: sometimes I can't taste it... so I drink them and try not to look for the wierd taste...

hoping to do my 2nd AG this weekend, but i'm waiting on the grains to be delivered

 

[Katherine]

:icon_offtopic: SORRY GUYS

Hasnt cardboard flavour got some to oxidation ????