Vic Xmas In July 2008 Tasting Thread

[haysie]

Finally had a shot at a few tallies after a hard day,

Andre`s stout, was really good, enjoyed too the last mouth full.

Chris`s weizenbock, clean clean pilsner clean, no where near enough "weizen" for me, horses of course, this is probably the cleanest beer i have i drunk thus far (out of 6) very enjoyable.

All in all, 2 great beers.
Thanks Chris Thanks Andreic

 

[mark_m]

Hi Fellas,

Some tasting notes are a bit blurry from earlier in the week, but here goes:

10 Haysie oatmeal stout - nicely balanced, not overstated stout, thoroughly enjoyable

13 CM2 Schwarzbier - first crack at this style for me, if this is a typical example, I'll be trying it again

14 65Bellet Best brown ale - somehow mised getting a bottle in my case, pity, after the squirrels foot bitter, was looking forward to it

19 Alvin Ng - APA, sorry Alvin, something nasty re infection issues, better luck next time

21 Superhero - milk stout, an absolute cracker.

22 Quintrex - coffee stout, shared this one with a couple of mates this evening to universal acclaim. Inspired me to add a litre of coffe to the 6 litres of kit stout I have lingering in a party keg. First sample is promising, if not in the same league as an ag alternative.

24 Leigh - golden ale, lovely quaffer, a great effort to produce this from a kit

Again guys, thanks for the beer - I love these swaps

Cheers

Mark

 

[AUHEAMIC]

Barra's beer went down last night in about two gulps. It's that kind of beer.

 

[Wardhog]

Hairofthedog - Pilsner.

One of the beers of the swap, for mine. Clear enough to watch footy through it on the couch (but it still didn't make Fremantle look any better). Light, refreshing, hoppy - keep doing this Troy, it's a winner. To go from excellent to sublime, maybe a very small percentage of the malt bill could be somewhere between light and medium crystal - mainly for sweetness rather than colour. Probably the best looking beer of the swap.

Quintrex/Voota's Coffee Stout - There's two different beers that come under this heading, one with more coffee than the other, right? I definitely got the one with more coffee.
When I tasted CM's porter, I said I could taste roast roast roast and coffee. This is coffee coffee coffee and roast. This is Bizarro CM Porter. No off flavours anywhere, I suppose this is an excellent example of a coffee stout, never having had one before. I don't know if I'd walk a mile for another one, but it was certainly interesting.

EDIT : I think I've been short changed a 65Bellett beer too. Was looking forward to AG Squirrel Foot. NOT HAPPY :angry:

 

[AUHEAMIC]

EDIT : I think I've been short changed a 65Bellett beer too. Was looking forward to AG Squirrel Foot. NOT HAPPY :angry:

Hey Wardie

I was lucky enough to score one on the swap day. If you are comming to the AGM tomorrow we can share it

 

[Wardhog]

Hey Wardie

I was lucky enough to score one on the swap day. If you are comming to the AGM tomorrow we can share it

Yep, I'm coming. Not gonna miss it now that there's Gav's bitter available.

 

[AUHEAMIC]

Wife and Kid?

 

[chris.taylor.98]

21 Superhero - milk stout

Roast dominated aroma, with a some malt sweetness, and some yeast derived esters coming through

Licorice up the front of the pallet with coffee in the finish, and a strong bitterness to finish it all off. Very noticeable alcohol presence.

The low carbonation adds to the creamy mouthfeel.

Surprisingly for a milk stout this has quite a dry finish probably due to the high bitterness.

In fact did not really notice much of the "milk" sweetness coming through at all, but none the less a fantastic stout for a cold winters night.

 

[Wardhog]

Wife and Kid?

Nope, just me (Fents is an outside chance).

 

[andreic]

13- Citymorgue2 - Pride of Porter (Honey Porter)

Black, red-brown head. Lowish carbonation. Aroma had some roast, and something sweet. Tasted a little roasty, slightly bitter, with a sweet, drying finish. The finish is quite distinctive - very drying/puckering with a lingering aftertaste - I assume this is from the honey?

Thanks for the beer!

cheers, Andrei

 

[brettprevans]

yeah im thinking its the honey. it occurred to me that i forgo to pasturise the honey (ie nuke it for 10 min), and it was a wild blossum honey. maybe i picked up some sort of infection? also i used POR hops as finishing hops for a twist. recipe is posted. glad people like it. i was a little worried as I hadnt actually made thisd before and thew IBU are a bit high for a traditional porter.

 

[hairofthedog]

9 barra 1 hop 1 grain easy drinking ale clear as a bell lightly hopped could easy smash a keg of this on a sunny day

 

[brettprevans]

Rook - Amber

even though your living in the past with cats (08 is the year of the Hawks!) great beer mate. slightly sweet in the middle of the palate then trailing off to a nice biterness (assume thats the crystal caramalt and amber). rgreat colour. good during winter or summer i recon. really enjoyed this.

 

[brettprevans]

16 - DoppelBrewer - Helles Bock

great beer. didnt know what to exect or exactly what specifically i was tasting. really well structered beer. reminds me of a greek beer I drank at The Press Club. really enjoyed this the more i drank of it. full bodied but well balanced.

 

[chris.taylor.98]

22. Quintrex/Voota - Coffee Stout Vootas

Woo hoo ... another stout

Aroma contains coffee coffee and more coffee (slight vegetable aroma coming off the coffee as well)

Not much roast coming through the aroma either.

Fairly low carbonation. Nice tan coloured head

Dry finish and quite bitter.

Some vegetable in the flavour which tastes suspiciously like ground coffee. Slight phenolic, gives a sort of smoky aftertaste, which became more noticeable as it warms up (also noticed this one was trying to climb out of the bottle when left on its own).

Noticeable alcohol.

Questions was the coffee added in the boil, or in the fermenter for this one?

10 minutes later, and all I can taste in my mouth now is coffee.

 

[andreic]

yeah im thinking its the honey. it occurred to me that i forgo to pasturise the honey (ie nuke it for 10 min), and it was a wild blossum honey. maybe i picked up some sort of infection? also i used POR hops as finishing hops for a twist. recipe is posted. glad people like it. i was a little worried as I hadnt actually made thisd before and thew IBU are a bit high for a traditional porter.

no... I don't think my bottle was infected. I certainly had no trouble finishing it

 

[Hutch]

2 more...both the other night, so tasting notes were not as detailed as usual...

10. Haysie- Oatmeal Stout

Prominent dark roast malt, dry and subtle oily texture. Wholemeal bread sort of aroma (interesting character coming from the oatmeal). Decent carbonation, large bubbles and poor head retention (I wonder if this is a product of the oatmeal, or just suds on the pint glass!).
Hints of green apples, with some evident dry-yeast character coming through, although reasonab;y clean fermentation.
Possibly too much roast barley for my liking, with no sweetness to balance (I'm hopeless with stouts though).
Nice effort, and interesting to try this style for the first time. Thanks Haysie.

13. CM2 - Honey Porter

Is this really a porter??? It's as dark as night, with brown head, and plenty of roast character all the way down (500gm carafa special II is a lot, though it doesn't impart nearly the same level of burnt aroma as the roast barley). Bitterness was at a good level for mine, and the POR/Cascade combo is unusual as a late-hop addition in a Porter (though added an interesting hop character). I didn't really find the honey to be too assertive, though it did leave an interesting lingering sweetness, which sat nicely with the highish alc%. Reasonably clean alcohol, though acetaldehyde is evident, especially noticeable if you smell the bottle dregs when it's warmed-up (again suspect the US-05 as the culprit).
So, a well made "strong honey stout" for want of a fictitious BJCP style name , and well done on turning a kit into such a good beer.

 

[hairofthedog]

2 fents u.s lager light clean & refreshing drank it with a non homebrewing friend (luds) who was notably imprest a good summer smasher :chug:

 

[chris.taylor.98]

4. Rook - Amber Ale

Now I know Rook said to leave if for 3 weeks, but in my defense I did have it in the hot box (18-26C) for the week and a half, and Amber Ale is one of my favorite styles. Even so I would suggest that this one be left for a little bit longer, as the carbonation level was still quite low.

Aroma - plenty of malt caramel garnered with a healthy dose of hops and some fruity esters.

Flavour - Good level of bitterness with a somewhat dry finish. Lots more hops ( presumably cascasde ) tempered with some sweet caramel on the front of the pallet. Also a slight honey flavour coming through.

Very clean (and clear ) with a slight apple flavour coming through, although this is probably attributed to my "early" consumption of this beer while it is still conditioning. Next time I will follow the brewer's instructions .. no really .. I really will.

Really top effort Rook.

 

[Wardhog]

6 - Andreic - Irish Dry Stout

Another well made stout. Nice levels of roast, a good winter beer.


3 - Some Guy - "Harold"

This beer was named Harold instead of being labelled an APA because it was not going to fit into the APA style, though APA would be the nearest style to it. It did start off as an APA with a sizable chunk of Munich, but I didn't want the brilliant hop flavour/aroma, I wanted to make an ale that was more of a session beer, and to make a beer that was a good beer to drink rather than a competition entry.

I have learnt some things from making this beer :

1. Gelatine finings + maturation measured in months make for remarkably clear beer - I have rushed all my beers in the past.
2. Chinook should not be used so extravagantly. This was a 50/50 mix with Cascade, maybe it should be 75/25 or even 90/10.
3. You can never, ever, ever have enough Munich malt.


Only Rook's beer to go. Still dark on missing Gav's bitter.