Vic X-mas In July 2009 Tasting Thread

[Wonderwoman]

:icon_offtopic: SORRY GUYS

Hasnt cardboard flavour got some to oxidation ????

to keep this thread on topic, please see: http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...mp;#entry489184

 

[brettprevans]

beerdingo dunkleweizen

cracked this open only knowing that its was yours dingo. didnt look at what type of beer it was. i'll admit that the dark wheat threw me. finally worked out that i was getting a bit of honeyed bubblegum and wheat (ie the weizen part). i think the dark grain overpowers the wheat for my palate. seemed to be a bit of something lacking in the middle of the tongue. lots of flavour on the sides. saaz cleans the beer up nicely. colour is consistent with the amount of cara in the recipe. maybe a bit of sweetness left in there. could be more carbed, but ok. very little head or retention.

well made beer. not sure id make it but am enjoying drinking it. so its a personal preference thing.

 

[WarmBeer]

1 - Peel's Sump Oil Black Beer

Wow, a meal in a glass. Blacker 'n the ace of spades. Full on roasted malt aroma. Can only get a subtle hint of the yeast.

Nice medium mouth-feel, not too heavy or syrupy, with good combination of bitterness from the hops and black/roasted malt tannins.

As others have said, a little "chewy" to start off with, but as the glass has warmed up, the sweetness is coming out, and it's getting very more-ish. Will be awesome with a couple of months ageing.

Only problem is, what beer is possibly going to have any taste at all after finishing this bad boy?

 

[Brewmeister70]

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.

I think warmbeer captured it well when he said it reminded him of the yeast character found in Coopers - it doesn't appeal to everyone for sure but at least you've now had the opportunity to try something that you may not have forked over five-dollars or so for an import that is of questionable freshness.

Whatever that yeasty character is, I've found it exists in all the handful of Kolschs I've been able to try though. You could always replace the authentic yeast with a lager yeast and come up with a refreshing Munich Helles? I might just give that a go to gauge the difference...

Cheers for your honesty Seemax. It's fun just to try so many different brews even if some don't appeal to your palate.

Thanks again for your input,

Brewmeister70 :icon_cheers:

 

[Leigh]

17. Brewmeister70 - Kolsch

With all the positive reviews, this beer had a lot to live up for, and I think it met everything that I expected!

Not going to critique this beer, only to say that IMO so far this is the best beer of swap! Such a clean, crisp taste that only gets better and richer as it warms (not that it warmed much, drank it far too quick)...



On another topic, the GB SMASH wort that I brought home from the swap has fermented out, will be kegging/bottling tomorrow for sampling on the weekend!

 

[seemax]

Cheers for your honesty Seemax. It's fun just to try so many different brews even if some don't appeal to your palate.

Thanks again for your input,

Brewmeister70 :icon_cheers:

No problem. I like to tell it how it is and hope others do they same, all on friendly terms of course... I would hate for this to become personal!

Totally agree about the fun part, not only do you get to sample 25 odd different home brews, but you also get great feedback, plus the added bonus of endless banter on the forums

 

[donmateo]

5. Brendo - LCBA clone
pours clear golden straw, dense off-white head
plenty of hop aroma, citrusy, fresh, and some malt sweetness
malt sweetness in the middle and overlying hops thoughout
fresh hops bitterness dominant but reserved
overall impression - clean, fresh, well balanced, delicious

2. Fents - Bitsa Pale Ale
pours a golden amber with large dense off-white staying head
some malt sweetness with moderate hop aroma
sweet at the start carried forward by a firm, assertive and lingering hop bitterness
would love a couple for some roast beef, potatoes and gravy
overall impression - well made, assertive and satisfying

with the standard so far, i get a warm fuzzy feeling knowing i still have so many left

 

[brettprevans]

beerdingo dunkleweizen

....honeyed bubblegum and wheat (ie the weizen part.....

nfi what drugs i was on last night. banana is what i was tasting not bubblegum. now that ive got my brain in gear it actually chnages the beer for me. it works. still not u0p their in my top styles of all times but that flavouring is now making sense to my somewhat sleep deprived brain.

 

[Fents]

nfi what drugs i was on last night.

i have a fair idea

 

[Wonderwoman]

hi guys,

I'm not going to post tasting notes on each of the beers as my tasting "skills" are clearly not as advanced as some others on here, ie I don't know all the wanky terms yet or how to look for them yet

anyway, I thought I'd just tell you which ones I liked...

favourites so far:
brendo's LCBA - this is my number one favorite (so far).... and I can't find the recipe?! am I blind? I looked through the recipes thread and couldn't see it

in no particular order
fourstars - AIPA - wow! amazing hop aroma
fents - Bitsa IPA - very tasty
peels - black beer - HWDMB said it's he's favourite so far. It took a while to grow on me, but I was loving it by the end, so much so, that I'm making a batch of black beer this weekend

most of the other's I've enjoyed, but I can't think of them now off the top of my head - will have to consult my notes at home.

I've only come across two that weren't to my taste so far:
Hutch - californian common - I'm not sure what this style should taste like, but I found it had a strong 'solventy' aroma and taste.
Don Mateo - Hefeweizen - i'm not really a fan of this style to start with and the banana flavour was way too strong for me, but HWDMB said it was a good example of a hefeweizen

 

[Leigh]

I found a good way to learn the lingo is to print out the notes of everybody here...that's what I did with my first couple of swaps. Even this swap I have read others reviews when I can't identify something.

 

[brettprevans]

read others reviews when I can't identify something.

yup me too. and look at the recipes

 

[Wonderwoman]

thanks for the tips CM2 and leigh

I've been trying to learn from others comments on this thread - it's interesting how different some peoples tastes are

 

[Wardhog]

hi guys,

I'm not going to post tasting notes on each of the beers as my tasting "skills" are clearly not as advanced as some others on here, ie I don't know all the wanky terms yet or how to look for them yet

anyway, I thought I'd just tell you which ones I liked...

favourites so far:
brendo's LCBA - this is my number one favorite (so far).... and I can't find the recipe?! am I blind? I looked through the recipes thread and couldn't see it

in no particular order
fourstars - AIPA - wow! amazing hop aroma
fents - Bitsa IPA - very tasty
peels - black beer - HWDMB said it's he's favourite so far. It took a while to grow on me, but I was loving it by the end, so much so, that I'm making a batch of black beer this weekend

most of the other's I've enjoyed, but I can't think of them now off the top of my head - will have to consult my notes at home.

I've only come across two that weren't to my taste so far:
Hutch - californian common - I'm not sure what this style should taste like, but I found it had a strong 'solventy' aroma and taste.
Don Mateo - Hefeweizen - i'm not really a fan of this style to start with and the banana flavour was way too strong for me, but HWDMB said it was a good example of a hefeweizen

Another tip - please don't think of it what others are writing as 'wanky', or that you are not up to their standard of assessing a beer. Just say what you think you can taste, that's what they're doing.
With time, the terms they use will make sense to you and you'll probably start using a lot of them yourself. No-one is born able to wax poetic for 300 words about the aroma of a beer.

There is no right and wrong, give it a go. Describe what you can taste or whether or not it works for you. Fourstar's comfortable writing about all the things he can taste, I'd rather write about the impression I get of the beer - everyone's different. Don't be worried that someone's gonna call ******** on what you write, taste is subjective. If they do, well, it's they who are the ******.

You're doing the brewers in this swap a disservice by not giving feedback. You don't have to know how to fix their problem, but they're waiting to be told what needs some work.

24. Don Mateo - Way out weizen
Has all of the good weizen stuff going on - good yeast character, great head retention, high carbonation - but finishes a bit too sweet.

9. Seemax - Real Ale K&B
The bitterness stands out a little too strong in this for me. Being a kit, you have no say in the bitterness - consider steeping some crystal malts, as the malt/bitterness is tipped a bit too far in favour of the hops.
Sort that out and it'll be a cracker of a beer.

 

[Wardhog]

11. Leigh - "Plain Jane" lager

A very easygoing and quaffable beer, and very appealing visually. There's a small amount of green apple in there, but not too much. This'd go down well on a hot day.
Hand me a bottle of this over a CUB anything, any day.

 

[Brewmeister70]

Hand me a bottle of this over a CUB anything, any day.

Funny you should say that, Worthog... This reminded me of VB more than anything else (which is quite a compliment to Leigh, I think).

Cheers,

Brewmeister70 :icon_cheers:

 

[WarmBeer]

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.

 

[Leigh]

11. Leigh - "Plain Jane" lager

A very easygoing and quaffable beer, and very appealing visually. There's a small amount of green apple in there, but not too much. This'd go down well on a hot day.
Hand me a bottle of this over a CUB anything, any day.

Funny you should say that, Worthog... This reminded me of VB more than anything else (which is quite a compliment to Leigh, I think).

Cheers,

Brewmeister70 :icon_cheers:

Thanks guys. I was aiming for a beer to target my non-homebrew friends. Good to hear it tastes VB-ish in your eyes...maybe the next batch will fool a few of them!


27. Wardhog - Vienna lager

A very different beer. My bottle was a bit "soft" and poured with a wiff of a head. Golden amber in colour and very little aroma when first poured (at around 4-6 degrees). At this temperature there was a very mild maltiness at first, almost imperceivable. After taste was a little like "burnt porridge", but in a nice way (not sure how to describe that taste, burnt porridge is the closest I can think of) and quite strong.

After warming while I bottled and kegged the SMASH, the malt and hop flavours were more even between first entering the mouth and the after taste. I'd recommend drinking this one a little warmer (maybe 8-10 degrees?).

Overall another good beer Wardie.

 

[Neill]

2 - Fents Bitsa Pale

Very good fentsy. Top drop. Great mouthfeel, very complex and brilliant finish. Perhaps a shade bitter for me but I really am soft when it comes to bitterness. Loved it, didn't last long!

5 - Brendo LCBA Clone

Not an exact clone but bloody tasty nonetheless. After drinking fentsies pale i was a little unprepared for how nice this would be. I think it had more body than LCBA and actually a better aroma too. Top notch Brendo, really top notch. I kept smelling this before every sip, didn't want it to end. I can't see the recipe in the other thread - would really like to know the hop bill on this one for replication in an extract brew. I'm assuming it's AG?

 

[donmateo]

20. WarmBeer - Franken-Mild
pours a dark mahogany with a creamy light tan head
aroma - something fresh and sweet
first sip, definately some malt sweetness, difficult to put my finger on exactly what's there.
bit mingled without anything particular raising it's head. perhaps some more crystal ? or perhaps
the yeast didn't really bring a lot out.
having said that, there's absolutely nothing wrong with this beer and I could happily spend an afternoon
considering it one after the other.

10. Q - "Mildly Challenged" dark mild
pours a medium brown with low fast disapearing head
some sweet malt on the aroma, and another (molasses ?)
first sip, there's something, highly astringent, that really pounces on you here
not sure if it's the black malt, or the pacific gem, or there's a fermentation issue somewhere.
kind of a see saw going on, between sweet and astringent.
there's almost a smokey characteristic there somewhere
overall - a curious beer, not sure what I think, think i'm still on the see saw.