Oh, and apologies about the curtains and if they have put anyone off their beer tonight.
Reviews of Member's Homebrew
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Calum
Vossy's Oatmeal Stout
This was great beer. As soon as I poured it I was getting that nice sweet coffee bean aroma. I also thought I could detect a malt whisky smell (perhaps like a Speyside that has spent its time a Bourbon Hogshead). If you are ever up then pop in and I'll pour you a glass of what I mean
The appearance, as you can see, was fantastic. It was a deep red and on lifting it up to the light there was definately no haze (you must have sent me a faulty one Vos ). The head was magnificent, fairly tight but after the initial youthfulness died back but it kept life all the way down.
On tasting, the initial thing I noticed was the nuttiness of the dark grains that gave way to a lushious sweet malt and dark fruit. The oats, although not too pronounced, gave a creaminess that contributed to a lovely mouthfeel. There was a relatively high carbonation but this helped leave the palate fresh after visit.
Overall this was a lovely beer. The balance of the dark grains, sweet malt,creamy velvet mouthfeel and a quenching bitterness certainly holds this up as a beer I would return to again and again. I would love to taste this straight from the cask as I think that would be treat
This was great beer. As soon as I poured it I was getting that nice sweet coffee bean aroma. I also thought I could detect a malt whisky smell (perhaps like a Speyside that has spent its time a Bourbon Hogshead). If you are ever up then pop in and I'll pour you a glass of what I mean
The appearance, as you can see, was fantastic. It was a deep red and on lifting it up to the light there was definately no haze (you must have sent me a faulty one Vos
). The head was magnificent, fairly tight but after the initial youthfulness died back but it kept life all the way down. On tasting, the initial thing I noticed was the nuttiness of the dark grains that gave way to a lushious sweet malt and dark fruit. The oats, although not too pronounced, gave a creaminess that contributed to a lovely mouthfeel. There was a relatively high carbonation but this helped leave the palate fresh after visit.
Overall this was a lovely beer. The balance of the dark grains, sweet malt,creamy velvet mouthfeel and a quenching bitterness certainly holds this up as a beer I would return to again and again. I would love to taste this straight from the cask as I think that would be treat
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J_P
Calum's Old Grumpy
Firstly I'd like to say sorry for the lack of any pictures of Calum's beer this is due to two things
1) In my rush to get this into my glass I stirred up some of the yeast
so couldn't do it justice with the camera
2) It was gone before I could get to the camera anyway
The pint came out of the bottle a lovely dark toffee brown and had a lovely tight head that is still stuck to the side of my glass, as a northerner this is important to me not least because it proves I washed the glass properly It has a glorious sharp bitter hoppiness that I wouldn't normally have expected from a beer this dark this is a major plus point in my book. I recognised the hops from pints sampled in my local but I couldn't tell you what they were without looking at the recipe. I wish I could tell you more but alas I was too busy enjoying the pint to take notes on it
This pint has given me food for thought as I've primarily associated hoppiness like this with a light beer, Calum has conclusively proved my assumptions wrong which only goes to show I have a lot to learn - I do hope the H&G have some Amarillo hops in. Cheers Calum
P.S. Quick question - Calum / Vossy did you use any sort of pH5.2 stabilser at all?
Edit: I have a theory that I can taste what I think is 5.2 stabiliser, If my theory is correct then I reckon Wez used 5.2 too and I'm guessing that Mysterio didn't although it was a dark beer so I could be wrong. The reason I mention it is that I can taste a very subtle soft taste in the back of my nose when I've swallowed the mouthful that I can't taste in my own beers.
Firstly I'd like to say sorry for the lack of any pictures of Calum's beer this is due to two things
1) In my rush to get this into my glass I stirred up some of the yeast
so couldn't do it justice with the camera2) It was gone before I could get to the camera anyway
The pint came out of the bottle a lovely dark toffee brown and had a lovely tight head that is still stuck to the side of my glass, as a northerner this is important to me not least because it proves I washed the glass properly
It has a glorious sharp bitter hoppiness that I wouldn't normally have expected from a beer this dark this is a major plus point in my book. I recognised the hops from pints sampled in my local but I couldn't tell you what they were without looking at the recipe. I wish I could tell you more but alas I was too busy enjoying the pint to take notes on it This pint has given me food for thought as I've primarily associated hoppiness like this with a light beer, Calum has conclusively proved my assumptions wrong which only goes to show I have a lot to learn - I do hope the H&G have some Amarillo hops in. Cheers Calum
P.S. Quick question - Calum / Vossy did you use any sort of pH5.2 stabilser at all?
Edit: I have a theory that I can taste what I think is 5.2 stabiliser, If my theory is correct then I reckon Wez used 5.2 too and I'm guessing that Mysterio didn't although it was a dark beer so I could be wrong. The reason I mention it is that I can taste a very subtle soft taste in the back of my nose when I've swallowed the mouthful that I can't taste in my own beers.
Last edited by J_P on Wed Nov 28, 2007 10:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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J_P
Wez's Grumpy Bum
Wez's fears about a lack of fizz proved unfounded as the beer emerged from the bottle a lovely golden / copper colour with a nice head on Sticking my nose in the glass I can smell sharp floral hops that are very refreshing there is also quite a malty smell that comes through too, "well dur" I hear you groan, this is something I find quite different to my own ales of a similar colour, it's really nice. It's almost the same aromatic maltiness I've tasted in some Belgian Tripels - what's the secret Wez? If I'm honest there was a slight touch of haze in there 
but this in no way detracted from a really good pint.
I can see this one getting an outing in the summer it's a perfect BBQ or post allotment evening pint.
Who'd have thought that two grumpy pints could make a grumpy sod smile so much - Cheers Chaps!
P.S. What yeast did you use?
Wez's fears about a lack of fizz proved unfounded as the beer emerged from the bottle a lovely golden / copper colour with a nice head on
Sticking my nose in the glass I can smell sharp floral hops that are very refreshing there is also quite a malty smell that comes through too, "well dur" I hear you groan, this is something I find quite different to my own ales of a similar colour, it's really nice. It's almost the same aromatic maltiness I've tasted in some Belgian Tripels - what's the secret Wez? If I'm honest there was a slight touch of haze in there but this in no way detracted from a really good pint.I can see this one getting an outing in the summer it's a perfect BBQ or post allotment evening pint.
Who'd have thought that two grumpy pints could make a grumpy sod smile so much - Cheers Chaps!
P.S. What yeast did you use?
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Wez
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Calum
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J_P
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J_P
Bang goes my theoryCalum wrote:Nope, unadulterated Fife water.P.S. Quick question - Calum / Vossy did you use any sort of pH5.2 stabilser at all?
Glad you enjoyed the beer.
Mind you I'm tucking into some Hooky Street and it tastes totally different to how it did last week 
I'm not too sure it's because of the different beer I've been drinking or the fact it's changed in the bottle, my money is on the former although it could be down to the Bombay mix I'm munching on 
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Wez
No 5.2 stabiliser here, my water treatment consists of 1/2 crushed campden tablet in mash and sparge water and usually 1tsp CRS in the mash to get the PH down to ~5.2If my theory is correct then I reckon Wez used 5.2 too
It must've been the added trauma mine had getting to me that made it fizz up more!
I'd have just loved to see the IT guy's face when he thought his new laptop had arrived and got 3 bottles of homebrew instead 
I'll use plain boxes next time -
Wez
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J_P
It's always the ruddy same just as I'm getting to the end of my stock I'm really enjoying it! After comparing and contrasting it with other folks brews I have a new found confidence in my brewing abilities and this ale seems to personify that feeling for me. I compared it favourably to hobgoblin when I first started drinking it now I'm comparing hobgoblin favourably to Hooky Street
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Calum
I used to like Hobgoblin but I seemed to get a few that were skunkedJ_P wrote:It's always the ruddy same just as I'm getting to the end of my stock I'm really enjoying it! After comparing and contrasting it with other folks brews I have a new found confidence in my brewing abilities and this ale seems to personify that feeling for me. I compared it favourably to hobgoblin when I first started drinking it now I'm comparing hobgoblin favourably to Hooky Street
Why do marketing people insist on clear bottles? 
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Vossy1
, there's always going to be one unlucky sod..might as well be me -
J_P
Simple it's Style over Substance any day of the week with those folks, trust me I work with people like this. AS a techie I occasionally have to fend off the odd cry of "burn him" and "he's a witch" but as long as you distract them with something shiny and they're generally pretty harmlessCalum wrote:Why do marketing people insist on clear bottles?
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mysterio
Sorry J.P. I use 5.2 in everything I brew, especially the dark beers where I use more if anything (to help counter the acidity of the darker malts). I've not found it to impart any flavours personally.Mysterio didn't although it was a dark beer so I could be wrong.
Calum & Wez, I'm looking forward to sampling your beers this week
