Xmas Swap Review Thread

strange-steve · Dec 24, 2017

Greetings swappers. Well the time for beer tasting has finally come, so don't fill up on the bucks fizz and mulled wine. Get your favourite glass out of the cupboard, grab a notepad and pen, and crack that bottle open!

Post your reviews here and don't forget that we love pictures. A thorough, in depth scrutiny isn't necessary, but if you can give a brief description of the flavour and aroma then please do so. The tasting period is 24th December to 1st January so please post your review sometime between those dates if possible.

Cheers : cheers:

Dads_Ale · Dec 24, 2017

Here we go.

I received a swing top bottle labeled West Coast IPA, 8.1%.

I have been looking at it for a couple of weeks now while it has been sat in the cool. I am well impressed that I managed to resist the urge to open it until the official tasting window :lol:

8.1% wow this could be a monster and it was quite a large bottle :whistle:, bodes well for later :drunk:

The bottle looked more than a pint so it gave me the opportunity to use one of my extended glass collection (apologies for it being a Greene King one :whistle:)

Anyway on with the tasting:
The beer had cleared well following the shake up during delivery. Opening gave a satisfying hiss and it poured a treat with a nice, tight head.
Initial aroma gave a good fruity hoppy note, really drawing you in to try a taster.
There was no getting away from this being a high strength beer but this is beautifully balanced by the intense, but not overpowering, hop hit.

I am still sipping this while typing and it is getting even better :)

If I got this in a Craft Beer pub (or any other pub come to that) I would be well happy.

For me it is 10/10 and :hat: to the brewer.

The only criticism.. I need the recipe:lol:

MickDundee · Dec 24, 2017

I opened my bottle last night because we did th Christmas shopping and something needed to come out of the fridge.

ItÃ¢â¬â¢s a 5% liquorice saison. I was a little apprehensive about it because IÃ¢â¬â¢m not a massive fan of liquorice.

Colour - lovely amber colour, nice head with outstanding head retention!

Aroma - spicy, hint of citrus, much less liquorice aroma than expected

Mouthfeel - very dry, with an almost fluffy but very pleasant mouthfeel.

Taste - a little spicy on the tongue, high carbonation. Hint of liquorice masks citrus and pepper flavours a little making it taste more Belgian than Saison.

Overall I was very pleasantly surprised that it was such a nice beer, I was expecting to have to grin and bear it but I really enjoyed it.

IainM · Dec 24, 2017

Right, I'm currently quaffing a bottle of Citra Crusade, a 5.5% grapefruit infused IPA. With a name like that all I want is a big fruity, pithy grapefruit hit, and I knew I'd get it as soon as opened the bottle and gave it a sniff. Appearance is hazy gold, with a thin white head that dissipates quickly, wafting up a mouth-watering fresh hoppy aroma, plenty of grapefruit. In the mouth there is moderate carbonation, more grapefruit with tropical fruit in the background, accompanied by a sharp but not overpowering bitterness, and a hint of sweet maltiness which comes through at the end, balancing it out perfectly. 10/10 for this beer. If I'd ordered this at a bar, not only would I be happy to drink it, I don't think I'd be drinking anything else. Honestly, if grapefruit was the goal, then this is a great success. It's better than Elvis Juice, and leagues better than Belhaven Twister Grapefruit or the M&S Grapefruit IPA. I'd like to see the recipe! :hat:

stevey · Dec 24, 2017

I received a bottle of Silver Fox Bladdered Blitzen, a 4.4% Festive English Bitter.

On opening a satisfying hiss revealed a decent level of carbonation.

When poured, it had a creamy head, which although dissipated laced on the glass and remained until I finished it.
It was a lovely dark copper colour and had cleared nicely (my photo doesn't really do justice to the colour).

On tasting, it was sweet to start, then spicy. I'm not very good at identifying flavours, but here goes: I tasted cloves, liquorice and caramel, altogether it reminded me of brandy soaked Christmas pudding.

I really enjoyed it, it went far too quick and the different flavours were amazing. Great job 10/10.

pvt_ak · Dec 24, 2017

IÃ¢â¬â¢m supping the first of my two:

Experimental Christmas Ale - Brown Ale at 4.7%

On opening , a nice little hiss, and then a smack of cloves hit me, and then a hint of toffee. I knew straight away this was a Xmas feast.

Appearance is good, living up to itÃ¢â¬â¢s brown ale character , lovely clarity , gentle carbonation with little head.

Taste is a bit addictive - kept on going back for more ! Toffee nutty flavour , and then the more I went down the glass started to get some fruitiness coming through. This would make a cracking dessert beer for tomorrowÃ¢â¬â¢s Xmas pudding ! The cloves are still dancing around my mouth ! Not too bitter, not overly malty.

Mouthfeel is great, the clove gives you a good mouth freshness too. I like the sharpness to this ale, itÃ¢â¬â¢s an easy drinker and one I could easily session on.

Very refreshing !! Many thanks !

Ajhutch · Dec 24, 2017

View attachment IMG_3485.JPG

Santa brought me a 6% American IPA. A very pleasant golden colour and you can see it threw an impressive foam which lasted the whole way down. The picture doesn't do justice to a very good clarity for a beer that I suspect has had a heavy dry hop.

Aroma is of tons of fruity hop aroma. It's ever so slightly grassy (again I imagine a big dry hop) but that is very much in the background and it's a very inviting aroma. The taste backs this up completely with very similar hop flavours. I'm thinking grapefruit and a bit of tropical, so putting myself out on a limb I'm going to guess a heavy presence of Cascade. There is just enough bitterness but it isn't overwhelming at all. The mouthfeel is spot on too, good carbonation and a supportive malt finish providing body.

This is a really very good beer, not that this is a high bar but it's way better than any IPA I've ever made. I had two pints of craft brewery IPA at ÃÂ£4.95 each in my local two days ago and this was certainly better than one and the equal of the other (which happened to be one of my favourite UK breweries). So very high marks from me. Thanks for sharing Santa!

And many thanks to Steve for the efforts in putting this scheme together.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

stan · Dec 24, 2017

popped my alestorm strong ale, well what can i say this is a really nice drink, i only have 2 ag brews under my belt so i am enjoying trying to pick out the different tastes and smells of the hops and grain. this one poured with a lovely head that lasted all the way down the glass with a really nice malty taste and aroma, at 6.7% it didn't taste alcoholic ( if that makes sense ) just a nice smooth mouthfeel and very easy to drink, you sir are an excellent brewer and I have a lot to learn :hat: anyway enough of my novice ramblings could you please just send me another half dozen bottles so that I can enhance my tasting skills lol :whistle:http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=11542&stc=1&d=1514146704

jceg316 · Dec 25, 2017

One of two:

Brixton porter

Lovely roasty flavours, smooth mouthfeel, some sweetness. A fantastic porter! Also I really like Brixton, so was very excited to receive this.

Two of Two:

Strong dark ale 1968.

Toffee, banana and a creamy texture. Extremely quaffable for a beer just under 7%, and a style I really like but rarely have. Sadly the photo came out really bad

strange-steve · Dec 25, 2017

Good work so far everyone, keep em coming :thumb:
Oh and if your beer has been reviewed already feel free to own up to it

Dads_Ale · Dec 25, 2017

strange-steve said:
Good work so far everyone, keep em coming :thumb:
Oh and if your beer has been reviewed already feel free to own up to it

IÃ¢â¬â¢ll own up to the Alestorm
Glad you liked it Stan :)

MickDundee · Dec 25, 2017

pvt_ak said:
IÃ¢â¬â¢m supping the first of my two:

Experimental Christmas Ale - Brown Ale at 4.7%

On opening , a nice little hiss, and then a smack of cloves hit me, and then a hint of toffee. I knew straight away this was a Xmas feast.

Appearance is good, living up to itÃ¢â¬â¢s brown ale character , lovely clarity , gentle carbonation with little head.

Taste is a bit addictive - kept on going back for more ! Toffee nutty flavour , and then the more I went down the glass started to get some fruitiness coming through. This would make a cracking dessert beer for tomorrowÃ¢â¬â¢s Xmas pudding ! The cloves are still dancing around my mouth ! Not too bitter, not overly malty.

Mouthfeel is great, the clove gives you a good mouth freshness too. I like the sharpness to this ale, itÃ¢â¬â¢s an easy drinker and one I could easily session on.

Very refreshing !! Many thanks !

Martybhoy · Dec 25, 2017

I brewed the Brixton Porter. Glad you enjoyed it jceg316. Whilst maybe not the best porter in existence, it was my first porter/stout that I had even a little success with.

Cheers for the kind words.

chub1 · Dec 25, 2017

Martybhoy1980 said:
I brewed the Brixton Porter. Glad you enjoyed it jceg316. Whilst maybe not the best porter in existence, it was my first porter/stout that I had even a little success with.

Cheers for the kind words.

I happened to brew this one a while back myself and was also pleasantly surprised:thumb::thumb::thumb:

strange-steve · Dec 25, 2017

This is the first of my swaps, and despite organising this, it was arranged in such a way that I don't actually know who this is from. It's Saison's Greetings at 5% ABV. Saison happens to be one of my favourite styles, and one of the few styles I brew regularly so I'm really interested to try this...

Aroma
Spicy and earthy, peppery phenols with a slight funk, a light fruitiness.

Appearance
Very pale straw colour with a slight haze, thin white head with good lacing. Medium carbonation.

Flavour
Lots of spice, a light, floral quality which reminds me of coriander seed. A nice light bready pilsner malt finish, well balanced with a clean hop bitterness. Not as funky as expected from the aroma, a crisp finish.

Overall Impression
A very yeast dominated beer, as it should be, loads of spiciness which is actually quite like a Belgian wit in its flavour profile. I'm curious what yeast was used in this. A nice clean and refreshing beer which went down a treat so many thanks and good job to the brewer of this.

jceg316 · Dec 25, 2017

strange-steve said:
This is the first of my swaps, and despite organising this, it was arranged in such a way that I don't actually know who this is from. It's Saison's Greetings at 5% ABV. Saison happens to be one of my favourite styles, and one of the few styles I brew regularly so I'm really interested to try this...

Aroma
Spicy and earthy, peppery phenols with a slight funk, a light fruitiness.

Appearance
Very pale straw colour with a slight haze, thin white head with good lacing. Medium carbonation.

Flavour
Lots of spice, a light, floral quality which reminds me of coriander seed. A nice light bready pilsner malt finish, well balanced with a clean hop bitterness. Not as funky as expected from the aroma, a crisp finish.

Overall Impression
A very yeast dominated beer, as it should be, loads of spiciness which is actually quite like a Belgian wit in its flavour profile. I'm curious what yeast was used in this. A nice clean and refreshing beer which went down a treat so many thanks and good job to the brewer of this.

Thanks for the detailed write up, seeing as saison is your speciality would you mind if I PM you for more detail?

yeast used is WLP 565, full recipe is here: https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/saisons-greetings-c14c7f but it's had just over a year to condition.

Oneflewover · Dec 25, 2017

strange-steve said:
This is the first of my swaps, and despite organising this, it was arranged in such a way that I don't actually know who this is from. It's Saison's Greetings at 5% ABV. Saison happens to be one of my favourite styles, and one of the few styles I brew regularly so I'm really interested to try this...

Aroma
Spicy and earthy, peppery phenols with a slight funk, a light fruitiness.

Appearance
Very pale straw colour with a slight haze, thin white head with good lacing. Medium carbonation.

Flavour
Lots of spice, a light, floral quality which reminds me of coriander seed. A nice light bready pilsner malt finish, well balanced with a clean hop bitterness. Not as funky as expected from the aroma, a crisp finish.

Overall Impression
A very yeast dominated beer, as it should be, loads of spiciness which is actually quite like a Belgian wit in its flavour profile. I'm curious what yeast was used in this. A nice clean and refreshing beer which went down a treat so many thanks and good job to the brewer of this.

I'm confused!! My beer was also called 'Saison's Greetings'' at 5%! I sent it in a Laphroaig bottle tube, and it was bottled in a flip top bottle. The review (albeit perhaps gilded in relation to my offering) sounded like what I had brewed too.

strange-steve · Dec 25, 2017

Oneflewover said:
I'm confused!! My beer was also called 'Saison's Greetings'' at 5%! I sent it in a Laphroaig bottle tube, and it was bottled in a flip top bottle. The review (albeit perhaps gilded in relation to my offering) sounded like what I had brewed too.

Ha yeah there was a little confusion, there were 2 beers called Saison's Greetings, but this one was yours!

MmmBeer · Dec 25, 2017

Santa kindly sent me a lovely box containing two 330ml bottles, Stouty McStoutface and Fruity McFruitface.

Stouty McStoutface 9%ish ABV

A beer that 'does what it says on the tin'. Deep black with a creamy head which lasted. Tastes of treacle, vanilla and a hint of liquorice on the aftertaste. Lovely beer and deceptively drinkable for a 9% abv.

Fruity McFruitface 7%ish ABV

Was curious to find out what style this beer was. Straw coloured, hints of grapefruit and lemon and a sour note. I'm no expert, but I suspect that this a Belgian style lambic or similar. Would be interested to find out exactly what it was.

Of the two I definitely preferred the stout, but thank you Santa.

MmmBeer · Dec 25, 2017

jceg316 said:
One of two:

Brixton porter

Lovely roasty flavours, smooth mouthfeel, some sweetness. A fantastic porter! Also I really like Brixton, so was very excited to receive this.

Two of Two:

Strong dark ale 1968.

Toffee, banana and a creamy texture. Extremely quaffable for a beer just under 7%, and a style I really like but rarely have. Sadly the photo came out really bad

The 1968 was mine, as you probably guessed it was based on the Shepherd Neame ale, but named after my year of birth (yes I shall be celebrating the 29th anniversary of my 21st birthday next year). It was a lot darker than I had intended as I underestimated the impact of chocolate malt, but I was satisfied with the end result.

Thanks for the kind review and have a merry Christmas

Xmas Swap Review Thread

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