Vic Xmas In July 2008 Tasting Thread

[Wardhog]

Someone had to do it, and I'm buggered if I'm waiting for someone else to do it. I hooked in today.

16. DoppelBrewer - Doppelbock
What a good start to the swap. A delicious beer - not that I know what a doppelbock is, but I thoroughly enjoyed this beer.
Malt, malt and more f$^%ing malt. Hint of biscuit/toasty character about it, no hops to speak of except for bitterness - but this is par for the course in doppelbocks.

A great beer, now 'fess up - you didn't come here for constructive criticism on your beer, did you? You came to show off.

 

[chris.taylor.98]

Well being slightly anal retentive, I'm going to try drink them in number order.

1. Peels - Kinda Porta

Some caramel and coffee flavours coming through (the coffee is particularly good). Subtle English style hops flavour, with a good bitterness towards the finish to balance it out.

Very dry finish and highly carbonated ( possibly accentuating the dry finish somewhat ).

I think if you toned down the carbonation a bit it would really round out some of the malt flavours a bit more ( but then I really like my malty beers ).

I would probably consider this to be more or a brown ale then a porter, although there is some overlap between the styles.

This beer just keeps getting better and better as it warms up. Really great session beer. Very reminiscent of the great Scottish Ale you did for the XMas case swap last year




(as a footnote, does not do well as a keyboard cleaner)

 

[Barramundi]

geez you blokes are keen i havent taken my cases out of the car yet ...

 

[Wardhog]

geez you blokes are keen i havent taken my cases out of the car yet ...

What's more I've just knocked off :

20. mortz - Munich Dunkel

Clean. Very clean. A nice amount of roasty there, possibly too much for a Munich Dunkel, more like a Schwarzbier. No faults to be found anywhere, another very good beer.

 

[therook]

Fellas, take note don't drink No 4 until at least another 3 Weeks

Rook

 

[chris.taylor.98]

2. Fents - Some sort of US Lager

Fents, I reckon you are full of shit.

This beer is way too good to be considered a US Lager style.

Aroma had a slight grainy, sulfur note, with some malt sweetness and just a hint of floral hops.

High carbonation that accentuated the hop bitterness beautifully, giving a well rounded finish.

Some malt sweetness and subtle hop flavour coming through in the flavour.

All round this beer is a real winner.

 

[Cummins]

Ok, it has begun.
I must agree with what Chris has already said here.

1. Peels - Kinda Porta

Very nice caramel, toffee aroma. Body is nice with a good malt, subtle hops and a realtively dry finish. Very enjoyable, very sessionable.

2. Fents - US lager

You've done well with this fents. High carb and bitterness that is balanced nicely with a fresh hop finish.

22 Voota/Quintrex Coffee Stout

I have tried both versions of these. I would say vootas is a more agressively coffeed version, quite dry with intense coffee flavour. More on the experimental end of the scale and quite intense, definately not a sessional brew but enjoyable in small amounts (if you like coffee). I got the quintrex version in the swap, there is quite a bit more difference than I would have expected. Coffee is there but very subtle, I found it quite light bodied, not much hops there, light in the finish. Very smooth easy drinker for a stout, but I think you need to pump a bit more coffee in there next time for a coffee stout!

 

[Cummins]

[combined reviews by cummins/voota/choppadoo]

5. Hutch - London (not the) Best Bitter
Aroma.. nice caramel maltiness/biscuity with a hint of acetaldehyde (green apple) according to some.. fruity esters to others... with an agreement that it is quite pleasant. German altbier malt character. Low carbed but suitable for an english bitter. Good clarity. Not much yeast character.


6. Andreic - Irish Dry Stout
"Wasn't that dry. I dont know, it was just like, um, I dont really remember it that well" - Voota (just after finishing)
Good roastiness. Nice beer here andreic, very clean can't pick any faults with it!

That's another great contribution from both you guys, impressed.

 

[Cummins]

8. Chris Taylor - Weizenbock Att

Nice candy banana aroma. Maybe a few too many of these ones.
Nice body and warmth. A little overcooked on the esters and a bit intense.

 

[Cummins]

7. Some Bloke - Beer

Floral slightly grassy hop aroma. A hint of yeast there as well. Cloudy but who gives a ****. Nice body but could be a bit drier and hoppier, go a bit more bitterness and carbonation and you might give the mongrel a run for its money. That was a ripper.

 

[Cummins]

3 - Harold

Can definitely smell the chinook in the aroma, a little unpleasant (not trying to be rude there, just a personal preference against chinook). HOWEVER, once it hits the mouth that is irrelevant because the flavour is fantastic. Very well balanced beer with the munich, good carbonation, tastes slightly more bitter than your anticipated IBU's suggest? A bit low for my preference for an APA [assumed style], but I'm sure this is the IBU's and hop presence you were aiming for so great job!

 

[Cummins]

9 - Barra - 1 grain 1 hop

What is this mysterious grain and mysterious hop you speak of?? Couldn't find it in the recipes thread. Our random stabbing is pale malt, possibly german pils? qutie a honey malt aroma & body coming through, backed up by a nice level of carb and solid, dry bitterness. Well balanced for a 1G1H brew. Guessing at an english hop possibly target? Great work mate, very nice beer.

Very impressed with the quality of brews so far!

 

[Cummins]

10 - Haysie - Oatmeal Stout

Good bitterness, roasty, alcoholy, oily. Dont know if this is k&k well done or AG. Either way its definitely a nice stout but difficult to spot the oatmeal. Not much experience here with oatmeal, but as a stout its good. Good stout. Bitter, roasty and shit. Some dickhead is singing about jesus on TV.

 

[Quintrex]

10 - Haysie - Oatmeal Stout

Good bitterness, roasty, alcoholy, oily. Dont know if this is k&k well done or AG. Either way its definitely a nice stout but difficult to spot the oatmeal. Not much experience here with oatmeal, but as a stout its good. Good stout. Bitter, roasty and shit. Some dickhead is singing about jesus on TV.

you lot (i presume) are beer drinking machines! pick the uni students on holidays

 

[chris.taylor.98]

8. Chris Taylor - Weizenbock Att

Nice candy banana aroma. Maybe a few too many of these ones. View attachment 19795
Nice body and warmth. A little overcooked on the esters and a bit intense.

Thanks for the feedback Cummins, but for the chemical symbol illiterate ( ie me ) can you please tell what there was a few too many of.

Guess I have fallen in the trap of taking competition feedback too seriously.

Last weizenbock that I brewed I was told there was almost no weizen character so I did purposely try to make it more prominent this time.

I attempted to do this by cranking up the temp in the first 12 hours ( at about 22C ) but then fermented it out at 18C to reduce the fusels.

 

[brettprevans]

I better pull my finger out and get tasting.

24. Leigh - Golden Ale
Top effort on the Golden Ale! great colour, head and carbonation. Taste was mellow and just a hint of up front hops that bordered between bitterness and late addition hops (was there any cascade in there?). Perfectly balanced as you couldnt tell it was 9.5%. great effort. Could have drank it all night.


PS My effort (13) needs another week to fully carb. I tried one on the weekend and was slightly undercarbed.

 

[Barramundi]

9 - Barra - 1 grain 1 hop

What is this mysterious grain and mysterious hop you speak of?? Couldn't find it in the recipes thread. Our random stabbing is pale malt, possibly german pils? qutie a honey malt aroma & body coming through, backed up by a nice level of carb and solid, dry bitterness. Well balanced for a 1G1H brew. Guessing at an english hop possibly target? Great work mate, very nice beer.

Very impressed with the quality of brews so far!

cummins and others , firstly apologies for not yet getting the recipe into the thread ,
the malt was simply joe white traditional ale malt and the hop was northern brewer , glad you think it turned out ok i havent even tried it myself yet ... oh and the yeast, it was wyeast london ale III

 

[Quintrex]

Thanks for the feedback Cummins, but for the chemical symbol illiterate ( ie me ) can you please tell what there was a few too many of.

Guess I have fallen in the trap of taking competition feedback too seriously.

Last weizenbock that I brewed I was told there was almost no weizen character so I did purposely try to make it more prominent this time.

I attempted to do this by cranking up the temp in the first 12 hours ( at about 22C ) but then fermented it out at 18C to reduce the fusels.

I'm guessing cummins was meaning isopentyl acetate, which gives a banana aroma/flavour.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isoamyl_acetate

Unless he just means it was too estery!

Ah well
Cheers
Q

 

[AUHEAMIC]

Fents lager Havent made a lager for 50 batches or so but this beer has made me think why? Total enjoyed it.

 

[Cummins]

Quintrex you are exactly right with both the uni student on holidays comment and us hitting up wikipedia to find what the banana ester was.

Chris, I'm sure the beer was very to style but yeah it was just a bit to intense for our personal preference I guess.

BTW we gave up after number 11 which is absolute rubbish! Brewed by some useless muppet obviously.
Sorry guys but mine is pretty fucked basically by some unusual infection. If anyone can tell me what that taste is it would be appreciated. Dont be shy, drink up. I know where it came from (a borrowed fermentor) that possibly has contained some wild yeast brews.