Vic Xmas Case Swap 2008

[chris.taylor.98]

8 Maple - Irish (more brown than) Red Ale

I am going to start by saying that if you the only problem you can find with the beer is the colour then you are a long way ahead then most of us

And to be true I could not really fault this beer.

Sweet caramel in the aroma

Good balance with the hops to offset the sweetness.

Medium bodied with some of the grain character coming through.

Really loving that Irish Ale yeast, and getting a big hint of that butter scotch/carmel which may be attributable to low levels of diacetyl (which is certainly perfectly acceptable in this style).

Must say that I have never been a big fan of this style until trying the homebrew versions.

This is certainly heads and shoulders about anything you can buy here in oz.

 

[chris.taylor.98]

1 Reg - Golden Ale

Lots of citrusy hop goodness in the aroma.

Nice persistent white head.

Bready malt sweetness in the aroma.

Slight yeast phenolic

Some fusel alcohols coming through

Very dry and slightly thin bodied which seems to be over emphasizing the bitterness, and also some of the hop derived tannins.

Think if this beer had a bit more body and with out the fusel alcohol you would be on to a real winner here.

 

[superhero]

Hello All,

Next is #20 Haysie's Belgian Ale. I'm gonna pretend it's a Belgian Pale Ale!

Colour is amber, aroma is of medium fruit, sugar sweetness and what smells like hops. Carbonation is good and
taste is super fruity with a medium spicy/hoppy flavour and medium-low bitterness. This was a very interesting
and enjoyable beer. Well done Haysie. Didn't really want it to end. I shall have to try this Ardennes yeast.

That's all until next time. Happy tasting.

PS. I couldn't be fagged looking up the style guidelines so I don't know if it's a good Belgian Pale Ale

 

[brettprevans]

Citymotgue - Tried this 3 weeks ago, what i can remember about this beer was that it had lots of chocolate flavour and was nice and clean to drink. I also tried you bottle labelled from 2007 that you left and it was equally as good.....you make good dark beers Bretto
Rook

Glad you liked it Rooky. I left an additional 2 or 3 botles at your place for your drinking pleasure. maybe the roast will settle down with a little time

 

[Maple]

OK, Finally made a start into the case swap beer last night, and first up was:

12 mortz - Australian Pale Ale

Without knowing who or what it was, thought I'd try a totally blind go at this, here are the things I wrote down:
Visual - Pours well, initial head is low but present, a bit hazy, straw colour, appears nicely carbonated.
Smell wise - something...not sure what, not a bad something, just can't tell what it reminds me of, again, not an off or bad smell
Taste - cool, carbonated high, initial slight bitterness which increases to become a very sharp bitterness. can't detect any malty flavours, finishes super dry. The dryness probably accentuates this sharp bitterness.

Looked up that this was and could then see that indeed this reminded me of a CSA. I think it may be a touch to bitter, but would be interesting to do a side by side with a CSA. Nice work Mortz.

 

[Maple]

Another one whilst watching the cricket:

21 Wardhog - Great Aussie BlandAle

Again, here are the notes without seeing what it was
Visual - A slight bit of haze or stirred up yeast, initial head that fades quickly, light straw to golden straw colour, appearing to be low in carbonation.
Smell - I'm useless at this sense - smells like beer..
Taste - Crisp and dry, but not too dry, just nice. a slight floral or perfumey taste that is not objectionable at all. hop flavour low but is balanced. Could have these for the rest of the day.

Now seeing it was the GABA, it all makes sense! Awesome result Wardy, i could go these for the rest of the test match.

 

[Maple]

and the cricket is still going, so another one up:

22 Leigh - Pale Ale

Beautiful clear pour, good head initially, nice carbonation level, nice golden orange hue.
Smell - again, get beer on the nose...so far so good
Taste - C- Hops, love em. top marks. cascase/columbus/chinook combo? nice balance, hop forward American Pale ale. Very clean.

Thoroughly enjoyed.

 

[haysie]

Hey, Happy New Year Everyone 2009,

After 10 days of mega swill it was nice to return ,

ripped the lid of #21 (Haraold) dark roasty not over the top though, needed a snow skid to clean the head from the glass, some "sort" of fruitiness didnt need to be there, bloody good beer.

# no namer, honestly no # no name, I could be very wrong but belgian yeast character stood out, little malt no hops (is this my beer ) heads up to the no namer

Haysie

spelling

 

[haysie]

Yes, I did notice things other than the medicinal flavour and wondered what they were, but there was definitely an unpleasant medicinal/bandaid sort of taste to it.

very ditto, re wardy comments. I am a sceptic re the plastic and the individual taste of the consumer. I have no doubt this guy is a "superbrewer". horses for courses (glass) :beer:

 

[Leigh]

and the cricket is still going, so another one up:

22 Leigh - Pale Ale

Beautiful clear pour, good head initially, nice carbonation level, nice golden orange hue.
Smell - again, get beer on the nose...so far so good
Taste - C- Hops, love em. top marks. cascase/columbus/chinook combo? nice balance, hop forward American Pale ale. Very clean.

Thoroughly enjoyed.

Close, chinook, cluster and cascade. Glad you enjoyed it.

 

[Maple]

25 beerDingo - pale ale - All Grain - Galaxy hops

Lovely malty flavour, nice hop flav/aroma, great colour, a bit hazy, perfect carbonation and a nice fluffy head that lasted for the glass (only a minute or two...)
Great serving.

20 Haysie- Some sort of belgian

Wow, nice use of the belgian yeast. any belgian I have attempted certainly does not meet the sessionability of this. Not 100% on this, but might do with a slightly higher carbonation level, everything else I find delightful. Like running through a rose garden with your tongue out (except for the thorns though).

 

[chris.taylor.98]

21 Wardhog - Great Aussie BlandAle

Very clear,

Interesting aroma

Really show that you can do a good beer with POR

Slight musty flavour not sure if it is coming from the hops or the yeast.

Really nice balance between malt and bitterness.

Would have liked it with a touch more carbonation.

Pretty close to a Cooper's Pale Ale

Good session beer.

 

[brettprevans]

#12 Mortz Aust Pale Ale
nice clean hoppy PA. very easy to drink. good carbonation.

? someones. thought it was #7 but thats Chris' and ive already tried his.
Belgian Pale? slight pepper/spice, a little bit of belgian chewyness. somne interesting yeast characters.

ive got superhero's and i think beerdingo's (unmarked?) left for tonightss drinking pleasure.

 

[brettprevans]

well it turned out to be #6 Cummins Imp Alt
full bodied aqnd flavoured. malty sweet caramel/toffee, good carbonation for the style. really enjoyed this. be great aged.

Superhero's Wit.
mine was fine, so aybe only some were infected? a nice wit beer wih some more interesting flavors coming out as it warmed it. nice and smooth. could have drank this all night

 

[superhero]

Hi All,

It was hot tonight so I cracked open #2 Mark_M's Nelson Sauvin Summer Ale.

What can I say, Passionfruit in the aroma, passionfruit in the flavour with only medium bitterness
and medium malt sweetness besides. It's a good thing I love passionfruit. Colour was yellow/orange
I think. The beer disappeared fairly quickly. It's the best thing for a summer's night. Well done Mark.
Keep up the high quality brewing.

What will be next?

 

[superhero]

Hi Thirsty Drinkers,

Next is #14 mcook's Belgian Pale Ale - Golden/orange in colour and cloudy with very good carbonation. Aroma of tinned fruit
and spice and upon warming, white bread. Taste of medium-low fruitiness/spiciness with low malt and very, very low bitterness
and no hop flavour. Body is medium and finish is quite dry. I would like to see more fruitiness next time to counter the
peppery phenols. A stronger malt backbone would be welcome too. Having said that the beer is still very drinkable and
has no obvious faults. Good work mcook. Keep brewing top hot weather beers!

Until next tasting ...

 

[superhero]

Hello People!

I tasted #25 (or should that be #23!) Johnno's American Pale Ale yesterday and
#12 Mortz's Australian Pale Ale today and enjoyed them both very much.

#25 Johnno's American Pale Ale - Amber in colour, carbonation is very good. Body is medium and finish
is fairly dry. Not much aroma to start but as the beer warmed up there was the characteristic citrusy hops.
Taste was medium-high with citrus hop flavour and bitterness, Malt took a bit of a backseat as it does
with this style. All in all a very good beer. Keep up the good work Johnno.

#12 Mortz's Australian Pale Ale - Dark amber in colour, carbonation was low and head disappeared very
quickly (maybe I should wash the glass better next time ). Aroma was of medium-low fruitiness (maybe
grapefruit) and medium sweet malt and medium hop aroma. Taste had medium-low malt, medium hop
flavour, medium-low fruitiness and medium high bitterness. Finish is quite dry (well done) and body is
medium-low. Enough of the technical details. I really liked this beer. It might even give Mr Cooper a run
for his money. It's as good as Cooper's Sparkling Ale and would be better if the carbonation with up just a tiny bit.

I'll taste my swap beer (#10 Belgian Wit) soon and see if it's a bit dodgy or it tastes like the rest of my stash.

That's all for now.

 

[chris.taylor.98]

#2 Mark_m - Nelson Sauvin Summer Ale

No need to guess the hop type.

Aroma plenty of hop filled pasionfruit goodness with a bit of grapefruit thrown in.

Perfect way to quench the thirst after a Melbourne heat wave.

Very clear, very clean, good balanced malt profile.

I have been kicking myself for not having an APA ready for days like this.

Great beer Mark, certainly lives up to the high standard you have set for other contributions.

 

[Leigh]

These are over the last few weeks, so getting a little hazey:

20 Haysie- Some sort of belgian
A very nice beer, very quaffable and certainly one I wish to try when I make the jump to AG.


21 Wardhog - Great Aussie BlandAle

Another great beer from this swap. Amazing how nice such a simple brew can be. Although this was a nice drop, I think it would still be too malty and too bitter for your average CUB punter...


17 Kleiny - ESB

Yum, yum and yum. This one got better as it warmed. I was dissapointed that I hadn't drunk this one at room temp to start with.


Four more caseswap beers to go and that's it for me!

 

[Maple]

OK, back onto these today after a bit of a hiatus.

Rook - Pommie Bitter
Nicely poured, slight bitter finish, totally great way to begin the afternoon while tinkering around on the brew rig! big ups rook!

Barramundi - summer wheat-
Pretty good follow-up to rooks, although a bit light on in the carbonation dept.

johnno - American Pale Ale
Now this was what i needed. a nice in-ya-face smack with the hop stuff. Quite a nice flava, but i might look to add a but aroma hopping. (and just a touch under carb'd, but just). a good quencher, just what i was looking for!

edit: seems I am immune to late cascade hops, just read Johnno's recipe...oh well, call 'em as i see 'em