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.

Brewday: Pink Pony Bitter

When we lived in Sydney we had a tradition of gathering at my place on Friday afternoons with a bunch of the guys I was studying with. We'd sit around, have a few beers and debrief. It became the highlight of every week. Our terrace house was a pretty ugly shade of pink and for those Fridays it got the name 'The Pink Pony', a play on the White Horse Tavern. We are such nerds. Those Fridays were very special times for me. This beer is called Pink Pony in honour of those Fridays. I imagine spending hours with those guys, drinking it and talking and laughing.

This recipe is a product of my restless internet wandering. I've come across a few bitters brewed more or less traditionally but with New Zealand or American hops. I don't know if that's a trend in the UK or if it's just a few beers but I thought it sounded fun. As I was trying to figure out what to brew next with the ingredients I had on hand, I realised that something in this vein would be a good option.

The starting point for my recipe was Velky Al's Session 42. He's treated me right so far so his recipe seemed like a good launch pad. I decided go with Golden Promise as the base malt, to reduce the Victory a bit and add a few grams of roasted barley for some extra colour. So actually the recipes are reasonably different but they do share Victory malt. There was some Motueka in the freezer that I've been keen to try for a while so that became the unorthodox hop addition. I also added some left over Styrian Goldings @ 60 min to get the bitterness up to where it needed to be. Back in September I bought some WY1469 more because it's one of my favourite strains of yeast than because I had a plan for it. I haven't used it in a bitter yet so I'm interested to see how that turns out. Hopefully it's a good combination of ingredients.

Pink Pony Bitter (22L batch)

Exciting action shot: cleaning my BIAB
sheet 

OG: 1.042 (1.044 measured)
FG: 1.012
IBU: 35
EBC: 16.3
ABV: 4%

Recipe
91.5% Golden Promise
8% Victory malt
0.5% Roasted barley

24g Styrian Goldings @ 60 min
20g Motueka @ 60 min
35g Motueka @ 15 min
35g Motueka @ 0 min

WY1469


Method
Mash

• 10g CaSO4, 2g CaCl2, 2g MgSO4 to increase the calcium and sulfate levels and 2ml lactic acid for pH correction.
• Stepped mash of 64C (45 minutes), 72C (15 minutes) and a mash out at 78C.

Boil

• 60 minute boil with hop additions at 60, 15 and 0 minutes.
• Irish moss @ 15 minutes

Fermentation

• Chilled and gave a 60 second blast of O2.
• Pitched an estimated 190 billion cells of WY1469.
• Began fermentation at 18C and increased to 21C over 4 days.

24/01/14 - Brewed

10/02/14 - Bottled