Xmas In July Tasting - VIC

[Grainer]

Black n Tan- "The Witches Cauldron" American Imperial Red Ale (partial stein beer)

Considering this is a partial Stein beer, I am thinking you went traditional and did this by putting superheated rocks into the wort.. What risks did you use?

Anyway here the review: Now I have never tried one of these before so this is all new.

Appearance: On the pour, crystal clear, good head retention, and copper head.

Colour: Deep Copper Red

Taste: Bold flavour profile, with sweet roasted carmel malts dominating the beer. The hops are definantly present, although I could not tell you what style and I would have expected a lot more of it considering it is an imperial???, my taste has dropped since my last lotto win LOL .. I am picking up strong pine from the hops ...Smells like a clean fermentation with no underlying infection. What percentage was it ? has no alcohol on the nose and not overly accentuated on taste. Maintained a little head throughout drinking.

Mouth feel: Good rounded mouth feel medium bodied, very pleasant and what I would shave expected.

Overall impression: was expecting a little more in your face beer, however very very nice.. wouldn't mind if you posted the recipe in the appropriate thread.. very worth drinking .. thumbs up .. :super:

 

[Black n Tan]

...The hops are definantly present, although I could not tell you what style and I would have expected a lot more of it considering it is an imperial???, ... What percentage was it ? has no alcohol on the nose and not overly accentuated on taste. ...wouldn't mind if you posted the recipe in the appropriate thread.. very worth drinking .. thumbs up .. :super:

Recipe is in post 31 of this thread. I agree there could have been more hops and that is the reason I decided to add some dry hops, but I think it is all overwhelmed by the malt (not that that's a bad thing). It was 6.9%ABV and 56IBU, neither obvious on the palate. i think it is more accurately a Red IPA (looking at the draft 2014 BJCP style guide), rather than imperial, but next time I might amp it up a little more.

 

[Grainer]

15. Camo6 - Rye AIPA - Ready to drink though a bit low carbed due to priming measure.

​Appearance: Slight Haze - reddish golden colour with small- medium head..

Smell: Bright citrus orange/lemon smell of hops ..dont know what sort of hops tho.. Quite pleasant.. smells clean

Taste: grainy rye with heaps of malt .. very long bitterness on the mouth.. not sure if this was intended.?? The taste is overwhelmingly more than the smell, burnt sugar/toffee in the background.. obviously a big beer taste. Lots of hops I am guessing in this.. yob will like this.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied - good to style being a IPA, very very slightly undercarbed, but still happy with it.

Overall impression.. Is what I expected from this style.. fit the bill for a hard day when I just want a beer and fall asleep

 

[Grainer]

21. AJ80 - chocolate vanilla stout - Ready to drink (please be gentle and drink this at around 10C)

Appearance very light on head.. I love head lol.. dark as a stout should be

Spell: sweet roasted malts - clean fermentation although I am not in the mood for this lol

Taste: For a stout it is very light on mouth feel and needs more mouthfeel..it is feeling more like a porter at tis stage.. has chocolate and caramel notes ..vanilla accentuates itself after u drink the beer,

Overall nice but a little out of style for a stout

 

[MartinOC]

2. Idzy's California Common.

Definitely a summer quaffer. Very light straw colour with a nice tight creamy head. Nice hop aroma (slightly minty? Northern Brewer?). Light-medium body, with a decent hop flavour up-front. Lingering, very dry finish, with bitterness perhaps a little harsh for overall balance.

7. Mofox - Citra APA.

Lovely copper colour. Head disappears pretty quickly. Low hop aroma/flavour (for what I'd expect for an APA). HUGE mouth-filling carbonation. Mouthfeel is medium-low. Astringent roasty finish, with no real "stand-out" hop character. There's obvious alcohol in the finish!

13. Damn - EIPA.

Slightly hazy copper (probably just chill-haze). Dominant caramel on the nose. Nice up-front sweetness (more caramel), with low carbonation (appropriate). Mid-palate fades-away nicely to a lingering bitter finish with more burnt caramel (is your brewery electrically fired?). Head-retention is poor, but you're going to expect that with a higher-alcohol, low-carb'd beer anyway. Nice one, but gimme more aroma hops dude!!

That's as far as I've got with the tastings to date. More to follow....

 

[MartinOC]

23 - B'n'T's "Witch's Cauldron":

Not exactly "red", but more of a burnished copper. Head disappears pretty quickly. Caramel & a bit of chocolate apparent in the nose ('would've expect more up-front hops as an AMERICAN style..... h34r: ).

Obvious caramel & chocolate up-front, that carries-through. Medium-full mouthfeel & I get the initial impression it's going to have a lot of alcohol. Nice hop balance initially, nothing that stands-out as "THAT" hop & it gets a bit much in the finish, that's tongue-coating, almost resinous.

My God it's got some alcohol in the finish! That would also account for the lack of head-retention. Overall, a good one, but not one I'd want to drink a lot of unless I was on a quest for oblivion!

All that said, I'm into my second glass & it's kinda growing on me, but oh, my poor tastebuds!

 

[carpedaym]

Explosion warning: Remnants of bottle reading "Rye IPA, brewer: r055c0" or something. I didn't actually work out which swap # this was. It does say bottled 13/04/13 ???. Definitely received this swap, as it was the first swap I've attended..

I was out of the house, but my wife tells me our cat jumped on the blanket covering the crate and the bottle exploded. Thankfully she endured no injuries.

 

[mofox1]

Explosion warning: Remnants of bottle reading "Rye IPA, brewer: r055c0" or something. I didn't actually work out which swap # this was. It does say bottled 13/04/13 ???. Definitely received this swap, as it was the first swap I've attended..

I was out of the house, but my wife tells me our cat jumped on the blanket covering the crate and the bottle exploded. Thankfully she endured no injuries.

Bummer.. The one I opened was certainly well carb'd. But once you knocked some of the gas out it was a very nice drop.

Will be doing a rye ale at some point.

 

[Yob]

It was entry 19 initially, he pulled out but dropped the bottles off a few days or a week before the swap, I've bot heard from him actually, his swaps are still here.

Will cautiously open that one tonight with a towel over

 

[Camo6]

Bummer.. The one I opened was certainly well carb'd. But once you knocked some of the gas out it was a very nice drop.

I found similar. It was the first one I opened due to the date on it but I probably should have left it in the fridge for a few more days. However, it was very tasty but I was disappointed that I only salvaged one glass from it.

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

Read this and opened it (had it in fridge since the swap)... gusher. 10mins later still gushing out too. Will have a taste...

 

[carpedaym]

Thanks for clarifying how it arrived in my crate, Yob.

I will cross-post in the original swap thread as some recipients may not be getting updates from this one. (Probably should have put it there in the first place. :blink: )

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

Quite tasty though as camo says. Can taste the higher alc though, which takes away a bit from the hop show

 

[Grainer]

ohh i ll have to go to the shed and isolate it

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

While we're on the topic of gushers. Ive previously had an IPA do this after a year, are gushers something that typically take quite some time to fester and be noticeable?

 

[Camo6]

10mins later still gushing out too.

No wonder. Turn it upright you fool!

 

[AJ80]

Mystery bottle alert. I'm guessing Mofox1 as I don't have a number 7. Anyone?

 

[mofox1]

Mystery bottle alert. I'm guessing Mofox1 as I don't have a number 7. Anyone?

Looks like mine - VB twist top? Would have had a green masking tape label... apparently I wasn't savvy enough to use permanent marker on the lid.

 

[AJ80]

There's a smidge of green tape stuck to the bottle and it's a twist top. That's enough for me. Cheers mate.

 

[idzy]

Explosion warning: Remnants of bottle reading "Rye IPA, brewer: r055c0" or something. I didn't actually work out which swap # this was. It does say bottled 13/04/13 ???. Definitely received this swap, as it was the first swap I've attended..

I was out of the house, but my wife tells me our cat jumped on the blanket covering the crate and the bottle exploded. Thankfully she endured no injuries.

Thanks for the reads up, my one didn't make it home unfortunately. Went out to my car during unloading and was shattered all over my two back seats. Originally I thought I must have really hit a bump hard, but based on this may have been some extra carb in the bottle. Have unbolted and pulled my seats out, hosed em down and they are drying on the deck.

Always a really crap situation, as clearly there was no ill intention. Just another reminder for us all to be extra vigilant with the spot checks.