Vic Xmas Case Swap 2008

[Quintrex]

Too late to edit, but this is part 2 of Leigh's Pale Ale.

That sour taste just got worse as the beer warmed up. I can't really put a name to it, but it made me tip the rest. Maybe someone else has come across that before and can give it a name.

Just drunk it too, and got the same thing I'd be interested too if a more learned palate can say what it is?

Q

 

[haysie]

Too late to edit, but this is part 2 of Leigh's Pale Ale.

That sour taste just got worse as the beer warmed up. I can't really put a name to it, but it made me tip the rest. Maybe someone else has come across that before and can give it a name.

I did the same, for me it was an unusual high bitterness that just tasted different, didnt seem right. I know that explanation is no help to Leigh so I will soldier on, its been a few days since that one>>>>>>>>>>

14, Carbed and climbing out the bottle, distinct dryness, could see the style yet couldnt pick it. Hops were equal too style and malt, yeast lacked character.


9, Was looking forward to this beer, Maybe Chris pumped it up too much , It really struggled in my glass, not a bubble, sickly skunky taste, 2 mouthfulls then tipped the lot. I reckon I got a bad bottle.

Cheers n Merry Xmas

 

[hairofthedog]

I did the same, for me it was an unusual high bitterness that just tasted different, didnt seem right. I know that explanation is no help to Leigh so I will soldier on, its been a few days since that one>>>>>>>>>>

14, Carbed and climbing out the bottle, distinct dryness, could see the style yet couldnt pick it. Hops were equal too style and malt, yeast lacked character.


9, Was looking forward to this beer, Maybe Chris pumped it up too much , It really struggled in my glass, not a bubble, sickly skunky taste, 2 mouthfulls then tipped the lot. I reckon I got a bad bottle.

Cheers n Merry Xmas

sorry haysie sounds like the PET bottle didnt seal properly :blink: as it had a fair amount of carbanation or you just didnt like it either way cheers :beer:

 

[Leigh]

Interesting comments guys...would love to know myself! Will drink one and let it warm to taste it for myself.

On the tasting side:

8 Maple Irish (brown) red Ale
I reallly enjoyed this one. Went really well with the lamb chops I had for dinner.

 

[[email protected]]

14, Carbed and climbing out the bottle, distinct dryness, could see the style yet couldnt pick it. Hops were equal too style and malt, yeast lacked character.

This pretty much matches what I experienced after opening another bottle last week (previously had some after only 3/4 weeks in the bottle and it seemed it bit more under control then). I think the Belgian Strong yeast has really dried this beer out further in the bottle as well as overcarbing it, so probably the wrong yeast for this style (though I guess I could have pushed the envelope of the style to the upper end in terms of flavor and gravity to compensate) ... lesson learnt for the future.

Cheers
Mal

 

[haysie]

sorry haysie sounds like the PET bottle didnt seal properly :blink: as it had a fair amount of carbanation or you just didnt like it either way cheers :beer:

Cheers, That beer was yessss, a PET lid fault. After all the good reports, no way could it have been that bad.


#10 Something nasty there, medicinal, band aids? I had a geek at the recipe and wasnt surprised it was a wit upon opening and having a whiff, when it touched the palate I got a hospital taste. Second mouthful confirmed this was bad either to my liking or a bug. Either way Cheers and thanks.

#11 Wow, nice peachy,fruity aroma from the bottle upon opening, very little carbonation, all in all seems really well balanced, nice beer, didnt wanna see the end of the glass. Cheers and thanks.

 

[[email protected]]

Had these on xmas eve with my father in-law...

#2 - mark_m - summer ale
Enticing aroma, nice medium sized head. Bitterness overides any maltiness. Quite easy to drink. Liked this beer, though flavor was quite simple for my regular palate. Quite clean also.

#5 Barramundi - summer wheat
Picked this as a wheat up front without knowing whose or what it was. Quite a plain easy drinking wheat beer with a bit of hop bitterness to follow up the clean wheat beer flavor. Could have easily drunk this in quantity.

#6 Cummins - Imperial Alt
Nice beer, full of caramel and roasted malt flavor. Went very well as the third beer after the previous two as we had just started eating a few sweets. I'm not at all familiar with the style, but this beer was one to savor. The finish had just the right amount of sweetness to fill the palate without sticking too much, making you want to take another sip.

Cheers all round and merry christmas,
Mal

 

[Wardhog]

brewmeister70 - American (?) pilsner

Try as I might, I just could not pour a non-icecream beer.
Once it settled down though, it was a nice drop. Nice malt levels with a large hop bitterness, maybe a little bit too much bitterness for me. No fermentation faults to be found.

PS. It's a bugger of a job to get it open when you tape the lid up like that.

 

[tim_mortensen]

Now I'm on holidays, I've been able to catch up on the swap beers. Notes are pretty general now.

Right now, drinking (my breakfast beer :icon_cheers: ):

#17 Kleiny - weizen
Nice aroma, clove and banana. Get a nice hit of cloves up front in the flavour, with a smooth malt in the finish. Bitterness just right. Really enjoying this beer for breaky!

#6 Cummins - Imperial Alt
Aroma, malt, flavour, malt, malt, malt. Perfectly malt balanced beer. I'm a big fan of malt balanced beers, have to check your recipe.

# 16 Brewmeister70 - Pre-prohibition American pilsner.
Bit overcarbed, but chilled down in freezer to pour, then let warm to taste. Agree with Wardhog, little bit too much balanced to the bitter for my tastes, though don't have the CAP style guidelines with me. Overall enjoyable on a warm summer arvo.

#2 mark_m - summer ale
Had this one a few weeks ago. My first taste of the Nelson Sauvin hops. A nice beer, but the hops a bit over the top for me. Tried the Napstein Estate lager after this, can see what you like about the hops, but I'd probably tone it down a bit (though I like malt balanced beers, so don't listen to me!)

# 8 Maple - Irish (more brown than) Red Ale
Had this one Christmas morning, very quaffable, nice brown ale with flavours of the irish red coming through, little bit more complex than a straight brown. Another great beer!

#14 mcook - Belgian Pale Ale
Had this straight after the swap, so it had not carbonated as much. Spicy aroma, with a delicate spiciness and pear coming through in the flavour. Clear pour, very nice beer. Doing a Belgian Blonde with this yeast now, so will keg this beer to remove yeast carbonation issues.

#1 Reg - Golden Ale
Another Christmas morning breaky beer. Similar to the James Squire Golden Ale, well done.

#10 Superhero - Belgian Wit
Unfortunately, too many phenolics in this beer, had to skip it, sorry Mikey.

#15 Quintrex - Saison de votre mre
Really enjoyed this, even if a bit different. A nice fruity aroma and flavour, with a bone dry finish, almost wine or cider like in the finish, no fermentation faults. Believe this is a hard beer to get the balance and dry finish right, so well done!

Really impressed with the quality so far, and good to try beers that do not fit into the style guidelines. Looking forward to the rest of them!

Cheers,
Tim

 

[Quintrex]

Ok tasting notes from the other day


9 Hair of the dog - cumquat wheat
Clear Fluffy head, attractive looking summer wheat
Full flavoured but balanced kumquat

Really enjoyed it

17 Kleiny Weizen

Nice Clove, very pleasant, one minor thing i would consider changing, is it tasted a trifle cloying maybe some more tartness or bitterness? Thats probably the only thing I would have done to make it more to my taste, but this was a seriously good weizen.

Nice one

10 Superhero - Belgian Wit
Fruity nose with what seemed like curry
Tasted like cardamom and citrus, had a funny mouthfeel(phenols?), I think just because of the spices that have been used to flavour this.
Probably would have been a great beer with less spices added.

7 Chris Taylor - Mild

I must admit when I tasted this the roastiness turned me off, however i persevered and after the 3rd mouthfull my mouth had warmed up to it and kept on enjoying it more and more as I got through the bottle. It's not a style I've ever tried before but i'm guessing its a pommie session ale and I can see why, very drinkeable, nice melding of toffee and roast flavours.

23 johnno - American Pale Ale

Nice balanced beer, Very enjoyeable example! thanks a lot

25 beerDingo - pale ale - All Grain - Galaxy hops -

Nice honey smell however would have struggled to pick this as an APA, seems like a good base apa maybe just some more late hops, I'd probably dry it out a bit more for my taste, but that's for my taste.

24 apd - ??
Sorry dude something seemed terribly wrong with this one. infected? horribly oxidised?

12 mortz - Australian Pale Ale
Smelt a bit banana-ish but tasted great, did you use recultured Coopers?. Nice example of an AusPA

22 Leigh - Pale Ale
Wow Passionfruit! As mentioned before though there was a strange taste and dryness to the beer that makes me think you might have had a wild yeast infection, that has dryed it out more than it should have and thrown out some slight tartness. Have you retasted a bottle lately?

14 mcook - Belgian Pale Ale
On the right track, I think the yeast has just kept on chewing away at this one though, dryed it out a lot and carbed it up extra high. Smelt like the duvel strain to me, i guess i'll check later. just one of those things that can happen with those voracious belgian yeasts.

21 Wardhog - Great Aussie BlandAle
Wow, we got halfway through the glass before we realised we were drinking it, inoffensive, I think you succeeded!

how has the beer gone over with your friends?

1 Reg - Golden Ale
Crisp, dry, picked up a touch of peach/apricot, sorry thats all I wrote down about this one.


Cheers for the beers guys, some crackers in there

Q

 

[Quintrex]

Hmmm,

23 people in the swap, 23 beers went to the swap, I only got 22 back, my case was missing my contribution, and 2 others are missing it. So how many have doubled up on beers?

BTW somehow I ended up with two of yours mate
that'd solve that mystery I guess

Q

 

[Kleiny]

Thanks everyone for the comments

Q Congrat's its an infected boy but you were expecting that

Well Thats it ive crossed the finish line on xmas day, I would like to thank eveybody for their beers. I did not throw one away and a high % were drinkable


Cant wait for the next swap :beer:

 

[Wardhog]

21 Wardhog - Great Aussie BlandAle

how has the beer gone over with your friends?

Hahahaha they didn't get to taste it. The batch was a little on the small side I think there was only 3 left over after the swap, so only you guys got to drink it (QA standard process means I had to sample at various points before releasing it into the swap). Whether that's good or bad is up to you to decide.

I don't think I'll bother with it again, the CUB drinkers I know don't want to change. Continuing attempts to convert them would be like trying to pin diarrhoea to the wall with a fork - bloody hard work, and even if I did succeed, I wouldn't ultimately see it as a victory. They'd just start drinking my beer - Let them wallow.

 

[Wardhog]

Haysie - Belgian Pale Ale

I really like this beer. Possibly a little too sweet, but finishes a bit sour on the palate with an excellent spiciness - is that the yeast's handiwork? A hint of liquorice in the aroma, no hops or malt to speak of.

Good job, a very interesting and enjoyable beer.

 

[Quintrex]

I don't think I'll bother with it again, the CUB drinkers I know don't want to change. Continuing attempts to convert them would be like trying to pin diarrhoea to the wall with a fork - bloody hard work, and even if I did succeed, I wouldn't ultimately see it as a victory. They'd just start drinking my beer - Let them wallow.

LOL

Q :icon_cheers:

 

[Leigh]

8 Maple Irish (more brown than) red ale - As everybody else has said, certainly a cross between a red and brown ale, but very nice nonetheless.

12 Mortz Australian Pale Ale - Colour was very pale. Drank this one at carols by candlelight on Xmas eve. Was very dissapointed that I only had one bottle of it with me. Nice spicy flavour, just the right amount of bitterness, another very good beer.

14 mcook Belgian Pale Ale - Highly carbonated (bottle repressurised between drinks). A very pale colour. Drank this one a few nights after mortz APA, maybe it was the influence of Mortz's beer, but felt that the Belgian was missing something. While it was a very nice beer, quite dry on the pallate, I would have liked a bit more bitterness.

15 Quintrex Saison de votre mere - Highly carbonated, All head when poured real slow! Tasted like I was drinking some straight solvent.

16 Brewmeister70 Pre-prohibition American Pilsner - Another very pale beer. This one was also highly carbonated. A very nice beer with an interesting flavour profile...couldn't put my finger on what the stand-out tastes were.

I think I'm halfway through my swaps now. Standouts so far are Rooks pommie ale, cummins Imperial Alt and Mortz APA.

 

[chris.taylor.98]

6 Cummins - Imperial Alt

Toffee caramel, some malt sweetness, some hop spiciness, bready. I really like these malt driven beers.

Noticeable bitterness through to the finish. Slightly dry finish that stops it from coming across as cloying.

Very full bodied. Some noticeable malt sweetness.

Low to medium carbonation. Very smooth with some noticeable alcohol that adds a nice warmth to experience.

Goes well with the current "out of season" cold spell.

Slightly hazy with a slight tartness from the residual yeast.

I expect that this one would become even more spectacular over time.

Looking forward to the recipe so that I can dissect it some more.

 

[chris.taylor.98]

6 Cummins - Imperial Alt

Toffee caramel, some malt sweetness, some hop spiciness, bready. I really like these malt driven beers.

Noticeable bitterness through to the finish. Slightly dry finish that stops it from coming across as cloying.

Very full bodied. Some noticeable malt sweetness.

Low to medium carbonation. Very smooth with some noticeable alcohol that adds a nice warmth to experience.

Goes well with the current "out of season" cold spell.

Slightly hazy with a slight tartness from the residual yeast.

I expect that this one would become even more spectacular over time.

Looking forward to the recipe so that I can dissect it some more.

And one last footnote, I did detect some diatecyl as it warmed up. Fortunately I quite like diacetyl in low levels. Adds a bit more body and came complement some of these malty styles.

 

[Leigh]

22 - Leigh - Pale ale.

Another really good APA. Clear as a bell, tons of hop flavour, and slightly lesser aroma. Good job.

I don't know if it's what I had for dinner, but I'm left with a slightly sour taste in my mouth. Anyone else get that, or does lasagne throw the tastebuds out?

Too late to edit, but this is part 2 of Leigh's Pale Ale.

That sour taste just got worse as the beer warmed up. I can't really put a name to it, but it made me tip the rest. Maybe someone else has come across that before and can give it a name.

Just drunk it too, and got the same thing I'd be interested too if a more learned palate can say what it is?

Q

I did the same, for me it was an unusual high bitterness that just tasted different, didnt seem right. I know that explanation is no help to Leigh so I will soldier on, its been a few days since that one>>>>>>>>>>

OK, drank 3 stubbies of my brew last night, even let one get really warm by holding my hands around the glass, but I can't say I noticed a real sour taste. That could just mean I don't know what I'm tasting (likely), or it's like MSG, only some can taste it?

Agree with Haysie, bitterness is too high for the style (that's how I picked his comment).

I've heard of the alpha acids creating a "silky" mouthfeel with bitterness that is too high and unbalanced, I did note this as I drank the stubbies last night. Could this cause sourness?

 

[Leigh]

13 CM2 Mongrel black

Coffee, coffee and more coffee with just a hint of maltiness. Took a couple of mouthfuls to get used to the bitterness, but after that it has gone down a treat.

Another good beer from this swap!