This is a throwback to what we just arent getting in NEIPA’s much anymore, its hazy as hell, its big hops flavour and its soft as hell. This is really good, like when the NEIPA thing started before NEIPA just became big hops and Hazy became it own thing for some reason…The soft mouthfeel is there which is sorely missed with this style now days. The blood orange is definitely there, its hard to say if theres rind/pith or its all the hops or what. Theres definitely some malt character in there, maybe crystal or something sweetish going on that just melds well with the bitter. This is a very good “old style” NEIPA style beer.
Wolf of the Willows – The S’Mores Man Toasted Marshmallow Nitro Amber Ale. 6.2% 355ml can. Biscuit malts, real roasted marshmallows, vanilla, Mork organic cacao nibs. Dark amber kind of cloudy colour, a big head because I should have used a pint glass. Caramel slightly biscuit malt and “lagery” yeast smell. Taste is slightly sweet and vanilla, great biscuity flavor, not cloying in anyway, extremely smooth. The biscuit character is just fantastic. More vanilla/marshmallow, and maybe cacao arrives in the aftertaste as you sip. The biscuit character is the winner here. Very nice.
Dainton Brewery – Fudge Dredd Double Choc Fudge Porter. 8% 355ml can. No ingredients listed. Big thick brown head, viscous pour, smells like molasses and roasted malts. Taste is a big dark malt hit, slight burnt black malt character, cocoa more than chocolate, a sweetness like molassess, slightly boozy. Theres bitterness but its balanced with the darkest malt flavors and the alcohol. This is big and very rich, not as sweet as I expected from the fudge in the title. Nice.
Brookvale Union – Spiced Rum Ginger Beer & Vodka Peach Iced Tea. 4% and 330ml cans each.
Brookvale Union is 4 Pines Brewing making pre-mixed drinks, and they aren’t bad according to these two. The spiced rum ginger beer is not bad, could do with more spice and ginger beer heat. The rum isnt very noticable after a while but seems apparent on the first few sips. Extremely drinkable.
The Vodka Peach Iced Tea though is excellent, it is exactly like Liptonice Peach Iced Tea but carbonated, the peach flavour is strong and good, you can really taste it and also smell it from a distance, the tea is there just like it is in Liptonice, and you cant taste the alcohol. This was excellent and I hope they make more Ice Tea varieties. Again, extremely drinkable.
Finally got one of these. Brewed 12/5/20, drinking on 13/6/20, so unsure how much effect that has.
Praline – Oak aged cacao, hazelnut and vanilla stout. 5.8%
La Sirene lists this as Colour 5/5, Bitterness 1/5 and Decadence 5/5.
Its…interesting. On first sip I was not impressed, but this just keeps developing. Its a dark, very dark, opaque and turbid pour, with a small tan head, very light carbonation. The nose is cocoa, dark roasty malts and a hint of wild yeast funk. The taste is initially cocoa but followed up very fast with a noticeable wild sourness I assume from the barrels, that is melding with the dark malt bitterness. No noticeable hops. Theres vanilla that hangs around and after a few more sips the woody and rather dry barrel character comes out. The more sips the more the sourness transforms or is overtaken by the barrel and a red wine-like oakey dryness even on the lips. Still cocoa, still this lingering vanilla, still dark malts, all the aroma still there, but its a big red wine cabernet-like dry puckering oakeyness. I imagine super-fresh there would be more chocolate and vanilla character, but this was still very nice.
About 80% Golden Promise, 20% Shepheards Delight, A heap of Cluster for bittering, then Styrian Golding and Cluster through the boil and also for dry hopping. Used Kveik yeast slurry from a previous beer. Cloudy, unfiltered or cold-crashed.
This was a dry crisp, almost pucking from the bitterness, not overly bitter like pine resin or tastebud destroying IPA, just a good strong bitterness like a extra powerful UK or Aussie ale. Some lemon/citrus from the kveik, some woody ashyness as well. Sweetness and bready malt, a dry cola taste? Very good, very interesting and complex.
OK, Bottled this on 26th and couldn’t wait to give it a go. Its not fully carbed bu…its very very damn good.
Big nice as hell head on pouring, it has that hop character I wanted, dank but crisp(?) sharp, fast then kinda hangs around. It has the Landlord hop character i like with a little bit more funk. Its good.
The nose is very dark rye, red wine. Some generic Belgian smells (fruits) and some dank.
There is an orange rind thing going on. even a roasted orange rind(???) if thats a thing. (Kveik, Nelson?)
The malt character is very nice, its balancing what I imagine could be too much hops, but theres a sweetness that pops up between the first sip bitterness and the outgoing on the tongue, its maybe the Shepherds malt?
The hops are explained above but
There is a “cola” taste which Shepherds supposedly does and it may be whats accentuating other flavours earlier – orange for one. I imagine this would suck with more carbonation.
As I said its probably not fully carbed but for what Im tasting now It doesnt need much more.
Decided due to weather, and due to wanting to use this particular yeast, and wanting to make a beer, I would make a beer with Kveik yeast (WLP4045 Sigmunds Voss Kveik)
Nice!
Rather than the usual beer people seem to be making with Kveik, usually lighter flavoured stuff to let the yeast character shine, I thought I would make a UK Best Bitter, a Timothy Taylor Landlord type beer, and use this yeast because its summer and it works well at high temps. Any Kveik yeast characteristics will be an interesting result.
Above is the recipe. 10lt beer, 30minute boil. It came out a bit low on bittering hops, but we shall see how that comes out. Timothy Taylor Landlord is usually pure Golden Promise, I thought I would try some Shepherds Delight malt for character, plus it sounded interesting (and the recipe started as a more pure Landlord clone with Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire Ale yeast).
Its about 1.035-ish, so Its going to be maybe 3.0% – 3.5% depending how the yeast goes.
19/1/20 – Its fermenting now, Was going very strong a few hours after pitching. Will post again probably on the weekend when its done fermenting.
EDIT: I checked it 21/1/20 and it was about 1.005.
EDIT: I checked it again 23/1/20 and it was about 1.005-ish, I moved it to secondary to get off the excess trub and also dropped in 5g each of Cluster and Styrian. Will probably bottle on 26th.
Rothaus Pils Tannen Zäpfle Brewer: Badische Staatsbrauerei Rothaus AG
A German Pilsner. Nifty bottle art. Exceptionally clear with a lovely big fluffy head. Lovely bready grainy “wheaty” nose and also very herbal and slightly hoppy notes, with that great lager funk in there. The taste is extremely well balanced malts and hops, giving a crisp and dry finish. Some nice malt aftertaste and a good hop bitterness lingers for the next sip. 5.1ABV is surprising. A great beer.
Weißenoher Eucharius Pils Brewer: Klosterbrauerei Weissenohe / Weißenohe Wirtshaus
Another German Pilsner. Much like the above, colour/clarity is amazing. Nose is very bready malty, lager funk more subdued here but still present. This one is much crisper/cleaner, The taste is more hops, theres is less malt but a far more focused crisp clean bitterness. Lovely lingering bitterness. This is actually fantastic.
Weißenoher Eucharius Pils
Früh Kölsch Brauerei Früh am Dom
A Kolsch, a big can. Nose is malts, very clean malts, very light hops, some yeast funk. Lovely clear gold and great foamy lasting head with amazing lacing. Taste is crisp malts? Nice malt flavour thats clean and fast very balanced with the crisp hops. Its dry but not fully dry, Its very clean , leaving a mild bitterness and no malt aftertaste. This is a very good Kolsch.
St Bernardus Prior 8 This is from Brouwerij St. Bernardus, its an 8% Belgian Dubbel. The St Bernardus stuff is just like best in class. Its a really good beer to drink, its one of the best, a definer of the style. You want a Belgian Dubbel, this is the standard. This one has a best by 2023. Id say its not been kept well, But its still very good. A light mouthfeel with big character, its all richness and dark dried fruit, not much alcohol feel if any, which is a standard for this stuff, sneeking it in. Its big on the nose, too, all that dark fruit and stuff, which is lovely. This is a great beer, a classic and a marker for its style.
I’m not one to be able to keep beers for a long time, let alone long enough to age. One of the few good local beer shops has been having a sale recently and a LOT of the stuff is just no-go, but they do have some darker stronger stuff that would keep or age, and it seems they are storing the stuff relatively well. The two I purchased, and their reviews:
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine 2017 Packages 23 Feb 2017 Drank 16 August 2019. Aroma is very rich, caramel, burnt sugar, dark fruits, plum pudding, prunes, figs, pumpernickle bread, malty, lovely. Appearance is a dark amber, slighly cloudy, slightly tan-ish head thats quite thick and lingers leaving thick tan lacing. Taste is initially a boozy indecipherable hit then straight into a big broad bitterness, bitterring hops and grapefruit pith. Then cocoa, burnt sugar, dark roast and black malts, a cognac-like boozyness, coffee grounds. very malty, very rich, no sweetness at all. Very big, very full on, then it subsides leaving a hoppy bitterness on the tongue before it becomes cloying or overbearing. That hoppy bitterness just lingers on. The mouthfeel is surprisingly light, slight viscosity that fades and a light carbonation. I do not usually enjoy Bigfoot very much when i drink it fresh – the year its made. I was lucky to find this at my LBS and its the first time I have had a barley wine with a few years on it. This was fantastic.
Sierra Nevada Barrel Aged Maillard’s Odyssey 2015 Bottled 2015 Drinking 21/8/19. Aroma is complex, rich, hazelnuts, cocoa and, dark roasty malts, coffee liqueur, rich fruit cake. Appearance is dark, opaque with a lingering though thin, tan viscous head. Taste is boozy, sweet, bitter dark malt, cocoa powder, chocolate, coffee and coffee grounds, vanilla, burnt sugar. Theres some oaky dryness. Any hop bitterness is very mild. Theres a fair bit going on though it is very smooth and rounded. Complexity increases as it warms and opens up adding red wine and dark fruits, the oakyness increases in both taste and smell. Mouthfeel is quite watery, theres a viscosity to it, low carbonation. This is very good. it has aged well.
