1834 Norwich Porter Review #IHP2014

I brewed this beer on February 25 as part of the International Homebrew Project organised by Velky Al of Fuggled fame. The recipe was for a porter originally brewed back in 1834.

Aroma: starts with cocoa when it's cool but as it warms it brings a fairly strong cherry aroma that verges on Dr Pepper. There's also tobacco, some earthiness, musk, roast and sweet malt. Very inviting.
Appearance: Blacker than black. Slight hint of red on the edges that shows it's very clear even though it's pretty much entirely opaque. Thin but dense head that lingers.
Flavour: very full flavoured! There's a roast flavour that you'd expect from a beer with heaps of black and brown malt but it's balanced with quite a significant amount of hop flavour, a mix of tobacco, herbal and something else, woody is the adjective I have but it doesn't quite do the job. There's also a malty sweetness that manages to avoid being too cloying. There's also a decent bitterness there but it isn't oppressive at all.
Mouthfeel: the carbonation is intentionally fairly low and it works well for this beer. I'd probably be reasonably happy drinking this one without any carbonation at all. Very full, smooth body. Some dryness from tannins and lingering bitterness in the back but nothing too crazy.

People in the 1830s had some delicious beer
to drink

To me porter is one of those tricky styles; easy to brew a solid version but really hard to brew something memorable. I think it's often that they lack nuance and depth. That makes this beer all the more impressive because it's crazy delicious and complex! I'd love it if a local brewery produced this regularly - I'd be a happy customer. They really knew what they were doing back in the 1830s, at least when it came to brewing porter. I've got a bunch of other recipes from Shut Up About Barclay Perkins and this has inspired me to keep working through the list.

Just about every part of this beer has been turned up to 11 and yet somehow the result is balanced. The epic level of bitterness is there but so is a balancing body and sweetness, the aroma is huge and the crazy amount of black and brown malt manages to sit alongside and complement the hop flavour. Even better, at only 5.6% it's a pretty extreme beer that remains easily drinkable and doesn't do too much damage. With the nights lengthening and the cold of winter approaching it's going to be nice to have some of this to keep me going.

I didn't quite hit the target OG of 1.066 and FG of 1.022 but it wasn't too far off with 1.065 and 1.023. The huge body that comes from the residual sugars means that the crazy 82ish IBUs isn't an overwhelming, mouth destroying bitterness but merely a pretty hefty but balanced addition to the beer. I suspect that if others brewed the beer and achieved a higher level of attenuation the beer would take quite a while to age into the high hop levels. I used WY1028 because it was the English yeast I had on hand and as far as I can tell it worked superbly but I'm interested in what other people used. I was a bit worried that it would attenuate the beer too much but in the end it only achieved 63.2% apparent attenuation rather than the 73-77% advertised - I guess that's what mashing at 69C gets you.

Given the differences between the ingredients then and now - Maris Otter is a new variety of barley, Fuggles a newer hop variety than this recipe, brown malt is a different beast today and hops are dried quickly and stored cold - it's hard to know how much this beer has in common with the original version. The history nerd in me would like to try a truly authentic version but the drinker in me is very happy with the version in my glass.

Next time: I'm not sure if any changes are actually necessary. I would be interested to try a couple of different strains of yeast and maybe East Kent Goldings but that's really just to see what happens rather than because anything needs to be different.

Thanks Velky Al for arranging this project! Consider me locked in for next year's brew whatever it will be. It's been fun to be part of things and I'm looking forward to reading about how everyone else went with theirs.

Tasting: Hansard's Delight Red IPA

Hansard's Delight was brewed with and for my mate Luke on January 4. It was inspired by Little Creatures' limited run brew called Shepherd's Delight.

The label I made for Luke's embarrassment

Aroma: Pine, sweet fruit, juicy, flowers. Bready malt. Some toffee and roast that complements the hops.
Appearance: Fairly dark but clear, deep red heading towards black. Red highlights. Thick, sticky and slightly off white head.
Flavour: Generous hop flavour, plenty of juicy berry flavours which mingle nicely with the malt. Some herbal flavours going on in there as well. Clean finish. Fairly restrained bitterness. A little bit much sweetness, possibly too much malt.
Mouthfeel: fuller mouthfeel than I'm looking for in an IPA, good low-medium carbonation level, no astringency.

Red like it says on the box

I don't know why it is but Red IPAs or their equivalents seem to be so hot right now in Australia, or at least so hot last year. Two of the best IPA style beers I had last year were Mountain Goat's Fancy Pants Amber Ale and Monster Mash's Hopped Out Red. They were probably the freshest commercial IPAs I've had and I'd love to get my hands on them again. Little Creatures' Shepherd's Delight was also a good showing in the genre although it wasn't quite up to the standards of the first two.

When I was planning the recipe I was uncertain about whether I'd get the red colour I was after and whether the hops would achieve what I wanted, a combination of light fruitiness with a bit of extra bite. Fortunately both those aspects of the beer ended up pretty much exactly as I intended which was a nice confidence boost. It's very approachable with a good, refined hop presence for a first pass at the recipe. As I've mentioned before, getting better at crafting recipes is one of my priorities for this year. It's pleasing to get one close to spot on with the first try. That said, I've got ideas for how to improve it.

If I was only going to make one change, I'd probably turn the malt down a bit. It's nice but there's a bit much malt flavour and at times it can feel a bit overwhelming. Blending the Golden Promise 50:50 with Australian pale malt or something like that. I think I'd also enjoy it a bit more if it was a little more dry, at the least it'd be more drinkable. If I was being really picky about it I think I'd also lighten the colour a little bit and perhaps fiddle with the ratio of Columbus and Centennial in the dry hopping stage. That sounds like a lot of changes but they're still keeping the beer fundamentally the same. The changes are all tweaks to wring the most out of what's already there rather than change too much about it.

Next time: Reduce the malt flavour a bit by shifting to a 50:50 Golden Promise:Australian pale malt blend, dry it out a bit more, slightly lower the Columbus and increase the Centennial in the dry hopping. I'd probably also make it a touch lighter in colour.

Tasting: Dave's IPA (aka Huw's Magical Mystery IPA)

Huw's been a regular brewing assistant over the last 4 months or so. Without him, I would never have been able to get the wedding and birthday beers done. After all his brewing experience over the last few months he's kicked off on his own and brewed his first solo beer, an extract and specialty grains IPA.

Aroma: Pine, lychee, passionfruit and pineapple.
Appearance: Pale gold, good, sticky white head and a decent amount of haze that seems to be partly from yeast and I'm guessing some from the dry hopping.
Flavour: The hop assault hits first, fruit and pine and some spicy hop business. That's followed by a restrained light cracker flavour from the malt and finishing with a bitterness that lets you know you're drinking an IPA. Not much sweetness, it's nice and crisp. The flavours work very nicely together.
Mouthfeel: Mouthfeel on the light side, carbonation not too effervescent, the absence of most of the malt makes it feel lighter even though the actual FG is 1.015.

Wow! What a first effort! It took me ages to brew a beer this good and Huw's managed it on his first go. He's managed to brew it well, ferment it cleanly and has produced a crisp, drinkable IPA with a range of flavours that cohere nicely. I'd never have guessed it's an extract brew if I didn't already know.

It's good to see Ella and Galaxy working nicely in combination. One of my goals this year was to get to know our locally grown hops better and this is a good start. There's some of the characteristic Galaxy passionfruit and a slight dankness but it's not overwhelming Ella at all. There's a pine quality which is the dominant part of the the aroma

As an IPA it's pretty much just what I like. The malt is taking a back seat and the hops are doing their job well. It doesn't have that hop sweetness that can be a problem for some fruity IPAs, it just finishes crisply with a nice bitterness. It's not what many people would describe as balanced but the balance is just what I like in an IPA.

Next time: There isn't much to be picky about with this beer. I guess working on the clarity would be one thing. If I was going to change anything I'd probably increase the dry hop rate to the same as the flame out addition to give the aroma a little more pop.


For reference, the recipe:

Huw's Magical Mystery IPA (23L batch)
OG: 1.061
FG: 1.011 (1.015 measured)
IBU: 54
EBC: 9
ABV: 6.7% (6.1% measured)

90% light dried malt extract
4% NFH Crackerjack (biscuit malt)
6% corn sugar

23 IBU of Aramis @ 60 min (any clean bittering hop is fine)
2.1g/L of Galaxy @ flame out (16 IBUs with a 20 minute hop stand)
2.1g/L of Ella @ flame out (15 IBUs with a 20 minute hop stand)
1.3g/L of Galaxy @ dry hop
1.3g/L of Ella @ dry hop

US-05 yeast

Tasting: Brewdog Hardcore IPA Clone

This was the Hardcore IPA clone I brewed for Jason's birthday back on December 14. This tasting was on the 27th February. No photo because it was dark and I was lazy.

OG: 1.082
FG: 1.020
IBU: 86
ABV: 8.3%

Aroma: Pine, resin, sweet malt. Some floral aroma too. No alcohol detectable.
Appearance: Verging on red, very clear and with a nice sticky white head that lingers.
Flavour: Intense. Layers of malt and resin. Pine again and some passionfruit. Some husky malt happening at the end. The alcohol is very well hidden.
Mouthfeel: A little more full than the original, with a lowish-moderate carbonation. Assertive but not rough bitterness that lingers in the aftertaste.

This was my first attempt at cloning a beer and I guess it's moderately successful as a clone. It's not something that has interested me at all in the past but over the last couple of months I've turned around on that. It's a measure of where my brewing is at and a chance to learn from the recipe formulation of the pros.

The big difference between this one and the original Hardcore IPA is the extra sweetness and body that came from the lower than expected level of attenuation. I did everything right in terms of pitching rate and yeast management so my hunch is that I just need to alter the process a little and mash at a lower temp. Aside from that it seems pretty similar to how I remember the official version but with lots more hop aroma. I guess that's got to do with the suffering that a Brewdog goes through as it's shipped to the other side of the world. I think I've got one more bottle left so I'll try to track down a commercial one and see how they actually compare.

As a beer rather than a clone it's pretty good, definitely one of my better brews. It's very balanced and the resinous bitterness is very satisfying. There's plenty of malt from the Maris Otter and when it was fresh the hop aroma was climbing out of the glass. If I was going to brew my ideal IIPA I'd prefer a drier version but with a similar balance but this is very nice nonetheless.

At the request of Jason and Luke and so I can try to get it exact for my own satisfaction I've got two more shots at this one planned for later in the year. I'm looking forward to seeing if I can get it right.

Tasting notes: Morrison English Bitter

In light of The Local Taphouse's Hottest 100 Australian Craft Beers of 2013 in which Tasmania failed to place a single beer, I'm working my way through the range of available Tasmanian beers. There are 7 microbreweries in the state and I'd like to survey the scene systematically and get a proper sense of what the state has to offer.

First cab off the rank:

Morrisons English Bitter
4.2% ABV

Aroma: In a word: delightful. Orange, mandarin and marmalade mix nicely with the malt, the calling card of Styrian Goldings. It's also giving fruity esters that reminds me of when I've used the Wyeast 1968 strain. Could be wrong about both of course but not about it being delightful.
Appearance: Hazy orange with a thin head that reduces to a few wisps before long but leaves something behind most of the way down the glass.
Flavour: Lovely malt, it reminds me of the Golden Promise I've been using lots over the last year. There's a little crystal there too and the hops finish what they began in the aroma. Orange peel, mandarin and juicy citrus.
Mouthfeel: Carbonation on the lower side of medium. Low/medium body.

I first tried this beer sometime in 2012 and since then it's been one of my favourite Tasmanian beers so I'm not coming into this one with anything like neutrality. I'm very glad that it's just as good as I remember.

The success of this beer is in it's drinkability. The hops? Perfect. The yeast? Just the right level of esters and attenuation. The malt? The ideal canvas for this painting. It works so well as a whole. And while it doesn't really offer anything new or different, it is a damn good bitter. I could happily work my way through a carton of this which is pretty good considering that I love variety and wouldn't buy a 6 pack of most beers.

In fact, the only knock on this beer has nothing to do with any problems that the beer itself has. It's just that it's the best of a limited bunch. It's traditional and safe. It's extremely good but it's not doing more than that. It's not challenging anyone. There's always a place for very good beer and not all beer needs to be challenging or bold, but I want something more. A contender for the best beer in the state shouldn't just be very good. I want the best one to be interesting, creative, have some kind of x factor. It might be unfair to criticise it for not being something else but it exists in a context and in this context I want something more.

Actually, what I really want right now is some sourdough, pickled onions and a sharp and crumbly cheese to eat along with pints of this beer. I am a ploughman.

Tasting notes: Buck Mulligan Golden Ale

Brewed 22/11/13, bottled 07/12/13, tasting 07/01/14. No photo for this one because my brain doesn't always work and I forgot.

OG: 1.046

FG: 1.013

IBU: 25

EBC: 5.3

ABV: 4.4%

Aroma: ginger, kiwi, melon, pepper. Could be a nice aroma but it's a bit too aggressive. A victim of my rush of blood to the dry hops.

Appearance: cloudy and yellow. Pours with a sticky, dense head that lingers and laces down the glass.

Flavour: more of the ginger initially. Pleasant malt and some wheat. Light fruitiness in the finish. Overwhelmed by the hops.

Mouthfeel: probably the best part of the beer. Nice and creamy quality that I assume comes from the wheat. Carbonation just a little below average.

What I wanted with this beer was something very much in the character of Buck Mulligan, boisterous, clever and down to party. But instead I ended up with a blunt instrument of a beer. Way over-hopped and anything but clever. I guess this is what happens when you dry hop at stupid levels with a hop you haven't used before. It's not awful, just quite disappointing compared to what I had imagined.

I tasted the beer after primary fermentation was finished and there was little to no hop presence beyond a mild bitterness. I suspect the yeast stripped most of it out but it's also possible that uncarbonated, the aromas just weren't carrying. Without thinking too much about it I just chucked in a heap of hops in the hope that it would give a big, fruity aroma. What I got instead was a whole lot of spice, ginger and pepper. It settled down a bit over the month in the bottle before the wedding but it never fully recovered from my recklessness.

The malt was just right, the pilsner and wheat malts did exactly what they needed to. The creamy mouthfeel and the flavour was delicious. I think this beer could be a good version of the style with a better choice/application of hops. 

Next time: there's no need for dry hopping, just use a yeast that won't strip out the hop flavour/aroma. It could work very nicely as a vehicle for different single hops. 

Tasting notes: Playoffs Rye IPA

The Playoffs Rye IPA was brewed on December 28 for Jason's birthday BBQ, bottled on January 8. This tasting was on January 23.

OG: 1.062
FG: 1.012
IBU: 65
ABV: 6.6%

Aroma: Pine is the main impression then pineapple, mango, light floral notes, some sweet & creamy malt and a generic fruit aroma that's hard to pin down.
Appearance: Cloudy orange, dense white head that persists.
Flavour: fruity and sweet first up that finishes with some earthy rye flavour, some nice malt and a moderate, balanced (for an IPA) bitterness. A little yeastiness.
Mouthfeel: medium carbonation, probably a bit higher than I'd like it. A little chalky in the finish from the yeast in suspension.

I had high expectations for this beer and beneath the flaws, there's a nice IPA lurking. Unfortunately the cloudiness is a big problem. It harms the appearance firstly which is something I'd like to improve in my beers but much more importantly, it leaves a yeasty flavour and a chalky feeling in my mouth that seriously undermines the whole experience. The only bottles I have of this beer were the ones at the start and end of bottling and I'm not sure if these were particularly cloudy or if the whole batch was like this. Unfortunately, I didn't have the time to cold crash the beer to get it reasonably clear. Next time, that's a priority.

The hop aroma and flavour are good but not great. The Columbus is dominant and while I like what it brings to the table, I wanted something more from the combination. This isn't the hop profile I had the first time I brewed it and I suspect it's a matter of seasonal variation.

It does have some things going for it though. The bitterness is well balanced, the malt flavour is great although it could do with some more rye. The hop flavour is pretty good even though it's not quite right. It's a shame that the cloudiness compromised it, this beer should be so much better. If I have the time I'll brew it again for the NBA Playoffs and see if I can get it right then.

Next time: Clear the beer! Gelatine, cold crash, time, whatever. That's the big problem with the beer. I'd also increase the rye to 20%, other than that the colour and malt flavour is great. The hop combination isn't bad, it just doesn't do heaps. I think that's because the Columbus dominated the Citra and Amarillo. Next time I'd probably go for a 1:2:2 or 2:3:3 ratio.

Tasting notes: Mr Darcy Hefeweizen

Mr Darcy is a hefeweizen I brewed for my friend Adam's wedding on December 7 and bottled on December 21. This tasting was on January 14. No photo for this one because I was too busy drinking it.

OG: 1.043
FG: 1.011
IBU: 13
ABV: 4.2%

Aroma: Banana city, y'all! Of course there's banana. There's also a hint of clove and some decent wheat notes. There's no mistaking what it is.
Appearance: A thick, creamy white head with a cloudy yellow body verging on gold where the glass is a bit thicker. Beautiful.
Flavour: The clove gets a bit more space in the flavour of the beer. Banana, wheat and pilsner malt all tied up in a delicious way. The bitterness is very light and strictly complementary.
Mouthfeel: A creamy mouthfeel that somehow exists despite a moderately high level of carbonation.

There's a divide among people who like hefeweizens. It's between those who are fans of banana and those who love the clove. This beer would make the banana fans happy but would leave the clove fanciers wanting a more. As far as I can tell, this beer has no off flavours from the fermentation, the banana is not subtle but it's not out of control and the malt flavours are delicious. Overall, it's a good version of the style without quite hitting the Platonic hefeweizen. I think I'd like a little less banana.

The thing I really like about this one is what it looks like. Some people get weak knees at the sight of a beer that's so crystal clear you can read a newspaper through it. That's fine I guess but I much prefer the texture and depth of colour of a cloudy hefeweizen. Top that with a large, dense head and that's just about perfect. Weird since hefeweizens aren't even in my top 10 favourite beer styles.

It's a little embarrassing but I have always had my temperature controller set at the temperature I wanted to ferment at. For this beer it was 17 celsius. My temperature probe is taped to the side of the fermenter and insulated with some wetsuit material. I didn't take into account the heat developed during active fermentation and I've since read that inside the fermenter is generally a 2-3C higher than outside. So I was really fermenting at 19-20C instead of 17. Clever. That's where the banana was coming from and probably meant that the extra clove I was after was suppressed. Next time, Gadget.

Next time: ferment a couple of degrees cooler to lower the banana a little and let the clove come out a bit more. I'd also like try one or two different strains since all of my wheat beers so far have been with WLP300/WY3068.

Tasting notes: Johnnie Rico Pilsch

This was the first beer I brewed for Adam's wedding. Brewed with Huw on November 14, bottled on November 30 and this tasting on January 10.

Johnnie Rico Pilsch
OG: 1.035
FG: 1.009
IBU: 25
ABV: 3.4%

Aroma: Lemon wafts up from the glass. A closer inspection also reveals spice, honey, pils malt.
Appearance: It pours crystal clear and a sparkling pale straw-yellow colour with a dense and sticky white head. It looks very nice.
Flavour: Very clean flavours. Light pilsner malt sweetness with spicy Saaz, lemon, hints of honey and firm but smooth bitterness. There isn't any lingering aftertaste, it fades very quickly and demands another sip.
Mouthfeel: Fairly light mouthfeel, relatively high, prickly carbonation which accentuates the bitterness.

The Pilsch also goes well with cricket

I'm delighted with how this one turned out. It's spot on. So easy to drink, light and refreshing. It's perfect Summer beer. It wouldn't do anything for a beer geek obsessed with hops and exotic ingredients but it's a really nice beer. It feels weird and wrong to talk up my own beer like this but it's delicious.

The subtlety of this beer is what really makes it. Even though it's just using one malt (Weyermann Bohemian Pilsner) and one hop (Saaz), it's got a depth that goes far beyond that simplicity. It's a beer that rewards drinking, there's something new in each glass.

I spend an unreasonable amount of time reading about beer and brewing on the internet. I tend to read and then get excited and then write up recipes inspired by people's descriptions. The problem* is that some of these descriptions are really well written and they raise my expectations to the point where I get disappointed with the resulting beer. The Pilsch is one of those but fortunately it clears the expectations comfortably.

Next time: As far as I'm concerned this recipe is essentially spot on but it might be interesting to try it with a hop like Styrian Goldings or First Gold for an orange/mandarin dose of citrus rather than lemon.

* Using the word 'problem' quite loosely.

Tasting notes: The Lorax Pale Ale

This was the 3rd beer I brewed for Adam's wedding but the first I've gotten around to writing tasting notes for. It was brewed on November 30th and bottled on December 14th.

Aroma: Pine and passionfruit greet you at the door. There's a little dankness with them.
Appearance: Very nice clear gold colour with a couple of fingers of clean white head that diminishes slowly. Lots of happy little bubbles shooting to the surface.
Flavour: Nice maltiness that supports the hops but doesn't take away from them. With the hops there's a herbal quality there along with more of the same hop flavours as in the aroma.
Mouthfeel: Carbonation on the high side of medium and moderate bitterness for a pale ale.

The kind of quality photography I bring
every time

It's not high praise but this beer more or less does what it's meant to do. There are no fermentation-related off flavours or off flavours of any kind that I can detect. It's clean, the malt is good and the hops are decent. The problem is that the hops aren't exactly what I'm after. It's easy to find a good hop combination, it's much harder to find a great one. I have a hunch that the Simcoe I used was past it's prime. The overwhelming impression I get with the hop aroma and flavour is of Columbus. There's some Simcoe in there but it's not as assertive as it should have been. And the result is nice, but it's not stellar.

I'm pleased with the malt character. The Golden Promise and biscuit malt work really well together. It's not very prominent but it does let you know that it's there. I'm very happy with what Bill, my malt guy in Launceston, has produced. I hope he goes all the way and starts his own malting business one day.

It's a nice beer. A pleasant beer. At a wedding in a garden on a Summer's day, it's not far off from where it should be. But I'm drinking this in my bedroom on my own and it's a setting for a more critical assessment. If I bought this at a bottleshop I'd enjoy it but not be impressed by it.

Next time: Use hops that are absolutely fresh! Refine the combination or work out a different combination of hops in pursuit of that winning blend.

Quick tasting notes: Playoffs IPA 2.0, Export Stout 2.0 & Camp de Brains Saison

After another lull there's now heaps of stuff happening in my brewing world and I've got a bit of a backlog of posts to catch up on. First, the trip to Bruny Island. It was awesome as always. Relaxing, fun times catching up with mates and plenty of food and drink. The beers went down well and it was nice to be able to execute my plan and take 3 decent if not perfect beers to share.

Quick tasting notes:

The Playoffs IPA 2.0 was a bit disappointing. Not bitter enough and much darker than it should have been thanks to a shortage of light crystal malt at my local home brew shop. I also way overdid the flavour hops and they completely obscured the rye and other malt flavours. It wasn't awful to drink but it was a long way from what I wanted.

The Road Trip Export Stout was another re-brew. This time the changes I made really benefitted the beer. It was much more dry than the first one but still had heaps of body thanks to the flaked rye I used. Big and bold.

Camp de Brains Saison probably the crowd favourite. It turned out really nicely I think. It had a pleasant, soft malt flavour from the pils, wheat and rye malts to go with a smooth bitterness. A sweet malt aroma merged with something like strawberry and a little hop aroma. I'd like to try it again fermented at a higher temperature to give it a little more yeast character.

The beer was nice, the view didn't hurt either

Tasting: American Brown Ale

It's well and truly gone now but I found these tasting notes from a while back (20/7/12) and thought I'd chuck them up here so I have a record of it.

Aroma: It has a gentle hop aroma. Passionfruit, citrus, pineapple are the main players. There's also some sweet caramel and coffee in the background.

Appearance: It pours clear and a medium brown colour. A sticky, tight and long lasting head. I don't think of Brown Ales as the most pretty beers but as far as they go this one isn't bad.

Flavour: A mild hop flavour, again passionfruit and citrus are the main characters I can detect. The hop flavour merges nicely with the residual sweetness. Coffee/roast flavours from the chocolate malt comes out to play and there's a firm bitterness that lingers on the palate as the flavours clear. The flavours all play really nicely together and make this beer work well.

Mouthfeel: Creamy, medium carbonation, plenty of body and a light background sweetness. It works nicely with the flavour.

Overall: The aim with this beer was to make something accessible and drinkable. It worked! I found myself running out of it pretty quickly. It was an extract beer but certainly didn't suffer for that. The body along with the roasty flavours makes it a really nice wintery beer but still has the hop notes that hold out the promise of Spring. I can't think of anything I'd change and I'd happily brew it again if I was after an easy drinking Brown Ale again. 

Tasting: Playoffs IPA

I brewed this about a month ago as my beer for the NBA playoffs. It totally does what I want it to do and I think I'm going to need to get another batch of this into the fermenter soon because this one isn't going to last long.

It weighed in at 6.5% abv.

Glass full of IPA happiness

Aroma: Citrus, mango, floral and perfume aromas. It's big and hoppy and definitely inviting. There's a malty or honey sweetness to the aroma too.

Appearance: Light orange, I love that colour in a Pale Ale/IPA. There's a bit of haze that ideally wouldn't be there and a decent head that sticks around for quite a while and leaves its mark down the glass.

Flavour: The big citrus, fruit and perfume carry over from the aroma to the flavour with some rye and malt peeking out from behind it. Maybe also a herbal thing going on there too? There's a lingering, resiny bitterness that helps give this beer a bit of character and makes it a pretty complete package. Without it I think it would be a bit too cuddly and aromatic for its own good.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied and low-medium carbonation. It should carbonate a little more as it's only been in the bottle for a couple of weeks but even now it's got a decent mouthfeel. It's just nicely dry, pretty much exactly what I like in an IPA. The bitterness isn't out of control but definitely leaves its mark on the tongue and helps the dry perception.

Overall: The hops are so inviting and the flavour is just right, smooth and fruity but the rye and bitterness give it a little kick that lingers pleasantly and then calls for more. It's dangerously drinkable. I wasn't very satisfied with my Galaxy Pale and in general my Pales and IPAs have been a bit one dimensional, lots of hops and not much else. This beer has no shortage of hops but also carries enough malt flavour to make it a more complete beer. It makes me feel like I'm back in Seattle again. I'll be interested to see how this one turns out next time with hops that are more fresh and with some attention paid to the water chemistry.

Now, back to this LAL-OKC game...

Van Diemen Brewing - Hedgerow Autumn Ale

It's so exciting to be able to buy a sour beer that's been brewed in Tasmania! Van Diemen's 2012 Hedgerow Autumn Ale has hit the shelves. The label says that it's aged for 12 weeks on rosehips, hawthorn and sloe berries, partially barrel aged.


Aroma: Berries, some sweetness, strawberry, and definitely a sour edge. It reminds me a bit of the aroma of strawberries mixed with balsamic vinegar.

Appearance: I really love the appearance of this one. It's burnt red in colour with a light haze. Attractive. It pours with a two finger head that settles to a dense 1cm of foam, leaving sheets rather than lacing down the glass.

Flavour: Given the label and the aroma I was looking for sourness but what I found was only a very light sourness. The flavour is dominated by prominent oak and smokey, burnt notes. There's some delicate berry notes underneath that tease but it seems like the malt has been largely subdued by the oak and tannins. It just feels like it's missing a big part of what's meant to be there. I want more berries! Hmmm... perhaps currants in the aftertaste.

Mouthfeel: The beer dries on the palate which with the oak/char leaves an astringent taste and feel in the mouth. It has medium carbonation. I thought the beer as a whole might get better as it warmed up but though the berries came out more with a little warmth, the beer felt even more thin.

I really need to get more, better beer glasses

Overall: What kills this beer is that as it beer dries on the palate it emphasises the tannins and makes it astringent. I want this beer to be amazing but it doesn't take me there.

My hunch is that it's ended up with a foot in two camps by not wanting to be too risky. The problem is that the char/oak that comes from the barrel ageing don't combine well with the dry finish. I think it needs to be either more sweet or more sour. The sweetness (just a little) would give it enough body and flavour to counter the oak, perhaps more sour might achieve a similar effect, at least it would give something else to focus on.

I'm a bit disappointed but hopeful that this will just be the first of many Tassie produced sour beers. Well done Van Dieman Brewing for daring to do it. I think I'll pick up another one and let it age for a while to see if it evens out over time.

Export/RIS tasting then and now

I was sorting through some papers and discovered my initial tasting notes for my Export/Imperial Stout. I thought I'd put them up together to compare and see how the beer developed.

October 2011 Tasting:

Aroma: Chocolate, caramel, raisin-like aromas

Appearance: Black! Almost entirely opaque with a hint of red around the edges when held up to bright light. A dark tan head, thick and tight. Not great retention but a thin layer remains all the way down.

Taste: Roasty, chocolate, some alcohol flavours present. Mild hop bitterness. There's some astringency, not much sweetness. Unpleasant, vegetal aftertaste.

Mouthfeel: It has a dry feeling, a bit over-carbonated. The combination of carbonation, alcohol and astringency leave a sharp feeling on the tongue/throat.

Overall: A mistake in lots of ways, this beer almost pulls it off but the mouthfeel and aftertaste lets it down.

March 2012 Tasting:

Aroma: Not much of an aroma, a little of the roast and some alcohol. Nothing from the yeast that I can detect, I used US-05 so that's not surprising. 

Appearance: Utterly black with a two finger, dense, tan head. 

Taste: Big, roasty, chocolate, coffee. It has a dark fruity thing going on too. It's got an obvious sweetness to it, probably too much, or rather, there's not enough bitterness to balance it properly. You wouldn't sit and drink a few of these, but that's not really what you're aiming for with something this big anyway. The astringent notes I had a problem with earlier seem to be gone and the aftertaste is good. The flavour is so big that the alcohol isn't really detectable in the flavour until it warms up to room temperature. 

Mouthfeel: Syrupy and dense. The carbonation is a bit higher than I'd like but it's not too far off. Some warmth from the alcohol. 

Overall: This mistake turned out pretty well. I guess it's more of a Russian Imperial Stout than an Export Stout. If I was doing it again and intentionally aiming at a RIS I'd turn the bitterness up a notch or two and the carbonation down slightly. I'd probably also use a different yeast to get some fruity esters doing their thing. It'll be nice to have this on hand over the coming winter and I'm keen to follow Luke's lead and use it in cooking.

I'm glad that I found those notes. It's helpful to see how much the beer changed over time and a lesson to be more patient. I was surprised to read that I'd described the beer as being 'dry'. It's certainly far from dry now. I'm guessing that the astringency and mild hop bitterness contributed to that perception and as they've faded the sweetness is on the rise.

Tasting: Galaxy Pale Ale

So the ill-fated Galaxy Pale Ale is now mostly in bottles. It's tasting pretty good although it isn't what I intended at the time. Fortunately I made several mistakes instead of just one. Each one added up to leave me with a beer that's somewhere in the Pale Ale/IPA vicinity so it's worked out well enough.

Galaxy Pale Ale

Aroma: very aromatic, floral, fruity, with a 'sharp' passionfruit aroma. It actually smells very similar to my Baby IPA which used Nelson Sauvin and Amarillo together. I'm quite relieved that it lost the 'dirty tea towel' smell that it had when I bottled it.

Appearance: pale golden colour, slightly hazy, 3cm head that left some lacing.

Flavour: assertive bitterness, some maltiness but it's largely buried in the hop flavour. The similarities to the Baby IPA continue with the hop flavour. Some citrus, some passionfruit, some resiny kinds of flavours.

Mouthfeel: the carbonation is just shy of medium and it suited the beer very nicely. It'll probably carb up a bit more, I'm drinking it with only 13 days in the bottle. It's quite dry and suits an IPA or Pale Ale pretty well.

Overall: Well, this isn't the beer that I intended to brew but it's still ok. Not amazing, but decent. If I was going to brew it again as a Pale Ale, I'd probably try to squash some more malt flavour into it and add some other hop varieties. This was my first time using Galaxy hops and they haven't wowed me. They're nice enough but not really doing it for me in a single hop beer.

As an experiment, I saved 5l in a glass jar and added some WY5112 Brett Bruxellensis to it. It's sitting in a dark cupboard and I'll see how that's doing in a few months.

Tasting: Belgian Saison aka Pale Ale

Bron brewed this one for me and she did a great job! It started out being intended as a Pale Ale but I ended up using WY3725 so it turned out more along the lines of a Saison.

Bultman's Reserve

Aroma: Light aroma, yeast and a slightly sour tang. Some hop aroma as it warms slightly.

Appearance: Cloudy yellow with a pillowy white head. Some lacing down the glass.

Flavour: The aroma carries over to the taste. There's a pleasant tartness from the yeast and a mild hop flavour. The bitterness is present but not overwhelming. It lingers on the palate in a pleasant way. I'm attributing this to the first wort hopping. The malt backing could be stronger and I'd like the hop flavour and aroma to be a bit bigger, especially since it's morphed into a Saison.

Mouthfeel: Light bodied. Dry. Medium carbonation.

Overall: Refreshing and pleasant. It's a pretty subtle beer, something of a departure for me. If I brewed it again I might mash it a little higher and definitely hop it a bit more too. Still, it's a really pleasant beer and I think it's a good start to the Reserve. Now I've got to get going for the next couple of releases.

Tasting: Export Stout

Mistakes are becoming a theme here. Last June I brewed what I intended to be an Export Stout. I later found out that I'd stuffed up a calculation in converting the recipe and instead of 6.5% abv, my stout weighed in at just over 9%.

It wasn't nearly bitter enough, it had an astringent character and the aftertaste was not pleasant. I was disappointed and pretty much wrote it off. But it sat stored away, and as it sat it quietly improved.

One of my mates really enjoyed it, so I'd given him a few bottles of the stuff from time to time. He's been drinking it, cooking with it and having a good time. Anyway, he's been talking it up so the other day I cracked one and here are my notes:

Aroma: Not much of an aroma, a little of the roast and some alcohol. Nothing from the yeast that I can detect, I used US-05 so that's not surprising.

Appearance: Utterly black with a two finger, dense, tan head.

Taste: Big, roasty, chocolate, coffee. It has a dark fruity thing going on too. It's got an obvious sweetness to it, probably too much, or rather, there's not enough bitterness to balance it properly. You wouldn't sit and drink a few of these, but that's not really what you're aiming for with something this big anyway. The astringent notes I had a problem with earlier seem to be gone and the aftertaste is good. The flavour is so big that the alcohol isn't really detectable in the flavour until it warms up to room temperature.

Mouthfeel: Syrupy and dense. The carbonation is a bit higher than I'd like but it's not too far off. Some warmth from the alcohol.

Overall: This mistake turned out pretty well. I guess it's more of a Russian Imperial Stout than an Export Stout. If I was doing it again and intentionally aiming at a RIS I'd turn the bitterness up a notch or two and the carbonation down slightly. I'd probably also use a different yeast to get some fruity esters doing their thing. It'll be nice to have this on hand over the coming winter and I'm keen to follow Luke's lead and use it in cooking.

Berliner Weisse

I've never had the chance to drink a commercial Berliner Weisse. It's an old German style: low alcohol, sour wheat beer. To be honest, I'd never heard of it until sometime last year. However, thanks to the internet I have not only heard of it but also managed to brew one. It was a fun brew, my first all grain effort and first go at doing a sour wort.

I mashed it at about 68'C in the hopes of giving this low alcohol beer some body. The grist was 50-50 pils and wheat malt. Then the wort went into a spare eski at around 40'C. I chucked in a handful of grain and placed gladwrap onto the surface of the liquid to keep air out and closed the eski. It sat and festered for 2 days as the bacteria on the grain went to work on the wort. Then I boiled it, hopped it very lightly (~8 IBUs) and fermented it with US-05, aiming for a clean yeast profile and sourness as the star.

'JFK'
Berliner Weisse, 3.2% alc.
Brewed 12/11/11.

Aroma: Wheat, citrus and a pretty obvious lactic aroma.

Appearance: Pale straw, very pale and very clear. It pours with a large fluffy head that dissipates over 5 minutes leaving only a thin ring around the edge of the glass.

Flavour: Sharp sourness is the first impression along with prickly carbonation. There's a hint of citrus and wheat, lots of wheat. The finish is all about the malt, particularly the wheat.

Mouthfeel: Moderately high carbonation. Relatively thin body but still has some body. Doesn't finish too dry.

Overall: Not a complex beer but then that's not the point of this one. It's refreshing and easy to drink. It's worked well on hot days while watching the cricket. I tried it with some plum syrup which cut the sour and left the malt and sweetness of the fruit to do their thing. Worth a try. I'm happy with how it turned out although I'd really like to have something to compare it with. I'd like to try it again using Wyeast 3068 or using their Berliner Weisse blend and see how that goes.