Vic Xmas Case Swap 2008

[Fents]

sorry guys i am drinking the swaps just not doing reviews. all beers i've had so far hjave been very drinkable to say the least! biggups.

 

[brettprevans]

slack Fents!

#2 Mark.M Nelson Sauvin Summer Ale:
nice head, very clear with a little haze. slightly peach coloured. nice body, more bitter than Ive tasted the NS used before and it wasx a nice change. took a little getting used to but then decided that im definitietly making this. great summer ale. thanks Mark.

#23 Johnno APA
love a cascade bitter. fantastic. actually 34IBU is less than i thought it was, so maybe its the horizon (I havent had it before). great clear beer with an ok head. went down so easily. great APA. really tasty. if I had a keg of it i would have hooked into it last night

 

[[email protected]]

mcook - Belgian Pale Ale

A good beer. There's some interesting (that's good "interesting", not a euphemism) flavours, most notable for me was the yeast character, a mild fruitiness that faded away into bitterness. It tricked me into thinking this was an APA loaded up with an American C-hop when I first tasted it without knowing what it was. Chris is right about knowledge influencing perception.
Unfortunately I haven't had any BPAs before to have a yardstick for this style, so I'll just say it was an enjoyable beer and if you ever find yourself drowning in the stuff, I'll dive in to save you.

Glad you liked it. This was my first taste of a BPA too, wish I had more, but I only do 23L batches so only a couple of bottles left. Will definetly try this again next year, probably as a starter for a dubbel or tripel.

 

[Leigh]

I just sampled my first beer :icon_drool2: , thanks again Leigh for the delivery and p/up.

Gee, that was quick! My swap beers still haven't made the fridge h34r: , but that saison was very good last night while mowing the lawns/paddock :icon_cheers: By the end of the bottle I was looking for another!

 

[tim_mortensen]

#12 Mortz (australian pale ale)

nice clear pour with a good head, medium malt flavour heading towards a dry finish with a med hop content, i reckon you could up the hops a bit in this and have a really nice beer, (thats my view).

Thanks Kleiny,

got the same response in VicBrew (different batch), thought another 5 IBU would be good. Yet when I tell people that an Australian Pale Ale made with the Coopers yeast can handle up to 45 IBU of Pride of Ringwood, bittering only, the reaction is often one of disbelief...

Got to make a start on the case swap soon.

 

[apd]

#7 Chris Taylor's Mild Loved the chocolate flavours in this. Thanks Chris.

#10 Superhero's Belgian Wit Great cloudy wit appearance. Barney Banana aromas and flavours. Great even as it warmed up while I was pottering around the garden. Thanks Superhero.

#12 Mortz's Australian Pale Ale Pours wonderfully bright. Got a touch of what I think are fusel alcohols. There was a solvent-like aroma and flavour. Others haven't mentioned this so maybe my taste buds need recalibrating. Thanks Mortz.

Andrew

 

[beerDingo]

Johnno, #25 is my beer. I wasn't 100% that I was #19, and no-one had the sheet of paper. So, I went #25 so i didn't conflict with any other number.
haha Kleiny, maybe not too far off though :icon_drunk:

 

[chris.taylor.98]

15 Quintrex - Saison de votre mre

Not sure how much longer you want us to age this one for Q but here is my experience upon opening the bottle ...



... it helped to have the sink at running distance.

If mcooks Belgian Pale Ale was a gusher this one was the Niagara Falls of gushers.

Needless to say I did not get a very good impression of the initial aroma. But when it did finally calm down enough to drink.

Very aptly described as "farmhouse ale" aroma. Some straw, grapefruit, low malt, very spicy.

Very cloudy (due to suspended yeast), slightly tart and bitter, very dry in the finish

Some noticeable alcohol.

This beer actually reminded me a lot of Super's wit, but with a touch of grapefruit.

Slight hint of vanilla and some more malt sweetness coming through as it warmed up.

Was there by any chance some coriander in there Q?

As always can rely on you to take us out the limb with something we wouldn't normally get much exposure to ... thanks for the experience.

 

[Barramundi]

15 Quintrex - Saison de votre mre

Not sure how much longer you want us to age this one for Q but here is my experience upon opening the bottle ...

View attachment 23103

... it helped to have the sink at running distance.

If mcooks Belgian Pale Ale was a gusher this one was the Niagara Falls of gushers.

Needless to say I did not get a very good impression of the initial aroma. But when it did finally calm down enough to drink.

Very aptly described as "farmhouse ale" aroma. Some straw, grapefruit, low malt, very spicy.

Very cloudy (due to suspended yeast), slightly tart and bitter, very dry in the finish

Some noticeable alcohol.

This beer actually reminded me a lot of Super's wit, but with a touch of grapefruit.

Slight hint of vanilla and some more malt sweetness coming through as it warmed up.

Was there by any chance some coriander in there Q?

As always can rely on you to take us out the limb with something we wouldn't normally get much exposure to ... thanks for the experience.

given that fenton and myself experienced a bottle of this actually blow the arse out of the pet id guess its ready for drinkin about now ...

 

[reg]

Ned
Was that before or after your car and the ditch became friends?

:icon_chickcheers:

 

[Barramundi]

was long before reg,,, the night before while sitting peacefully around the campfire kegs at the ready glasses in hand we both heard a pop and looked at each other as if to say did you hear that ? sure enough upon investigation a PET had blown its rear end out ...

 

[therook]

9 Hair of the dog - cumquat wheat

High carbonation and Big head.
Pale and cloudy as expected being a wheat beer, aroma, i had no idea what i was smelling but what i tasted i really liked. This is a top beer Troyo and would love to have a crack at making this down the track. A nice beer to be had sitting back beside the pool on a warm day.
Thanks mate

20 Haysie- Some sort of belgian
Lovely copper colour. Low carbonation and little head ( maybe this is the style ), nice light spices and well balanced with the malt. It gave me a warm feeling, what level of alcohol is this Hasie? I could also detect chocolate. Not a bad beer

23 johnno - American Pale Ale
Deep copper colour with some nice malty flavours and of course Hops and more Hops.
I was sitting back in bed drinking this as a night cap. It did end up putting me to sleep

Enjoyed these 3 beers Friday night

16 Brewmeister70 - Pre-prohibition American pilsner
Opened the bottle to this great gushing noise so there was no wonder that it was way over carbed. Huge bloody head....if only i was a beer :icon_cheers:
The head on this was 3 inches over the top of the glass. nice pale colour with a touch of chill haze. IMHO this was a fantastic easy drinking beer, for a bloke that slept with my iron ( still trying to work that out ) you have done brilliantly. Lovely balanced beer. This is up there with one of the best for the case.
Top Darts

10 Superhero - Belgian Wit
Your right Superhero, nothing like a Hoey, i was really looking forward to this beer and after pouring it my expectations didn't change, cloudy and nice aroma. but as with Troy, the flavour was to over powering for me, i drank the bottle okay but i couldn't have this as a session beer, i don't know if it was the orange or the cinnamon or something else it was just to much for this skinny old bloke. Excellent lacing of the glass and i'm sure many people will like this beer

2 mark_m - summer ale-leave
last for the night was from the bloke who doesn't know how to make a bad beer, unfortunately i'm not a real big fan of all nelson sauvin hops but didn't mind this one as much as i thought i would. Excellent colour, carbonation, head and really good bitterness for my palate.

another good beer mark

Rook

 

[brettprevans]

20 Haysie- Some sort of belgian
didnt pick this as a belgian. more like a pale ale i did a while back (but thats probably the ekg coming through - i love ekg). Mine had Morgans Caramalt and Amber Malt, 30g EKG @ 45 min, 15g @ 20 min and 15g @ 5min. wyeast1098

minimal head which disappeared quickly, low carbonation but i think it worked well. meduim body and nice dark amber colour. I drank this sitting on the step last evening watching my little girl play with the dogs and thought that it was like drinking an old friend. solid effort. must palate must to brutish to detect the belgian characteristics though. sorry.

 

[haysie]

#4 Rook Bitter,
Tried this one not much over room temp, very sad to see the end of it, nice and clear, laced head, perfect carbonation, smooth bitterness, just the right amount of hops. A slight "something"? bit the nostrils, I couldnt pick what it was, similar too "sherbet".
I reckon it was great, and always good to see the efforts i.e labelling. Well done Rook. Merry Xmas

#3 Summer Ale,

Probably not a good choice on my behalf too crack this one on a cold ****** Melbourne arvo, moreso after drinking Rook`s bitter at room temp.Chilled it right down, first pour looked brilliant.. then farrrrrrrkk............ hops were all over me,biting, itching nostrils, palate, throat, wow..........farkkkk. I had these Nelson Sauvignon ones a while ago and hated them, I think I still do. I did finish the bot and liked the dryness, however the hops made me squint and itch too much. All in all, obviously Nelson is "out there" and no bad stuff I could detect, clear as a bell. Onya Mark. Merry Xmas

 

[johnno]

Well I have drunk most of these and whilst I am not the best at taking notes i do have very short ones upon initial tasting.

So far the 2 standouts for me have been 2 mark_m - summer ale and 4 Rook - Pommie Bitter.

cheers
johnno

 

[haysie]

edit, above post

#2 Summer ale

 

[hairofthedog]

#3 Moonee Robust Porter

like a heavyweight boxer big , black , strong with a powerful finish & thick as a brick would be a good beer to finish off a session on a winters night :beer:

 

[chris.taylor.98]

11 Fents - Hallertau Ale

Very low carbination, slightly hazy, sweet worty aroma, some hops but struggling to come through with the low carbonation.

Lasting bitterness, also possible phenolic/medicinal issue in flavour, some hops but hard to pick as hallertau, although comes through more as the beer warms up. Slight acetic taste.

Slight alcohol warming.

Sorry Fents but think the phenolics where a bit too strong for me in the bottle I was trying, although I must admit sometimes I find it hard to separate hop phenolics from other phenols.

Would be interested to see how this one went with a bit of aging. There is a good chance it would settle down into a very decent beer.

I see that others have had greater appreciation for their bottles, so could be an issue with my bottle or that I am just an overly fussy bastard.

Interesting hop choice Fents.

 

[reg]

#7 Mild

I am really enjoying this beer and will definently be making this beer in the future.
The roasty flavours and low bitterness make it quite enjoyable and an easy drink.
I could sit down and have a bet on the horses, watch collingwood win on the telly with a pint or two of this and life couldnt be much better.

Thanks Chris

 

[reg]

6 Cummins - Imperial Alt

I really enjoyed this beer as well
It was sweet and very non offensive