Autumn Forum Brew ‘n’ Swap Reviews

[Caramel Ox]

Last one for me from @SMP Brewery pretty lively but no accidents.

This has the most traditional stout type flavour of any I’ve tried, it is roasty bitter, a lot of alcohol. A good drink to sip thank you!

 

[pilgrimhudd]

My final one, boo, I've really enjoyed these.

@samale imperial stout.

As opposed to the other one I thought there was a problem with this on when pouring, seemed pretty flat, no head at all really but actually perfectly well carbonated.

Mild roasty aroma.

Flavour initially roasty, then some Caramel/toffee like flavours. My initial thought were that it tasted like a stronger Guinness but its better than that.

Mouthfeel, medium to full bodied.

Overall, my favourite of the two you sent, this is dangerously drinkable, it's hardly lasted 20 mins. It hides its 8.4% remarkably well. Lovely beer, thanks for sharing.

Sos for the dreadful pic

 

[samale]

My final one, boo, I've really enjoyed these.

@samale imperial stout.

As opposed to the other one I thought there was a problem with this on when pouring, seemed pretty flat, no head at all really but actually perfectly well carbonated.

Mild roasty aroma.

Flavour initially roasty, then some Caramel/toffee like flavours. My initial thought were that it tasted like a stronger Guinness but its better than that.

Mouthfeel, medium to full bodied.

Overall, my favourite of the two you sent, this is dangerously drinkable, it's hardly lasted 20 mins. It hides its 8.4% remarkably well. Lovely beer, thanks for sharing.

View attachment 92268

Sos for the dreadful pic

Glad you enjoyed them. The lack of head is due to the fact I ran out of gas. First beer was bottled conditioned the second was of the keg. It's interesting you enjoyed the second more

 

[samale]

My final one, boo, I've really enjoyed these.

@samale imperial stout.

As opposed to the other one I thought there was a problem with this on when pouring, seemed pretty flat, no head at all really but actually perfectly well carbonated.

Mild roasty aroma.

Flavour initially roasty, then some Caramel/toffee like flavours. My initial thought were that it tasted like a stronger Guinness but its better than that.

Mouthfeel, medium to full bodied.

Overall, my favourite of the two you sent, this is dangerously drinkable, it's hardly lasted 20 mins. It hides its 8.4% remarkably well. Lovely beer, thanks for sharing.

View attachment 92268

Sos for the dreadful pic

Glad you enjoyed them. The lack of head is due to the fact I ran out of gas. First beer was bottled conditioned the second was of the keg. It's interesting you enjoyed the second more

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Glad you enjoyed them. The lack of head is due to the fact I ran out of gas. First beer was bottled conditioned the second was of the keg. It's interesting you enjoyed the second more

I actually thought the 10% was a bit too strong for me, I must be getting old !

 

[SMP Brewery]

This has the most traditional stout type flavour of any I’ve tried, it is roasty bitter, a lot of alcohol. A good drink to sip thank you!

As someone who has never had a commercial version, in fact the only ones I’ve had are from the swap, is that a good or bad thing?

Glad you enjoyed it.

 

[Caramel Ox]

As someone who has never had a commercial version, in fact the only ones I’ve had are from the swap, is that a good or bad thing?

Glad you enjoyed it.

I don’t think there is a reference beer for the style? I expect all are different. I have also never had a commercial one but I did pick up a can today by coincidence.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

The bjcp guidelines give quite a wide range of taste/flavours etc for imperial stout.

 

[Alastair70]

I’ve still got two to go, apologies to the brewers, I’ve been away or working a lot of weekends recently and 8% plus beers haven’t sat nice with the schedule.

It’s inky black, and poured with a tan head that hang around too long. The aroma is big, dark fruits mainly, plum and raisin with dark chocolate notes. The flavour follows, a lovely balance of chocolate roast and complex dark fruits. It’s got a hint of residual sweetness that is balanced with a moderate bitterness. Nice brew, any Special B in the grain bill?

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

I’ve still got two to go, apologies to the brewers, I’ve been away or working a lot of weekends recently and 8% plus beers haven’t sat nice with the schedule.

It’s inky black, and poured with a tan head that hang around too long. The aroma is big, dark fruits mainly, plum and raisin with dark chocolate notes. The flavour follows, a lovely balance of chocolate roast and complex dark fruits. It’s got a hint of residual sweetness that is balanced with a moderate bitterness. Nice brew, any Special B in the grain bill?

View attachment 92539

Who is it from Alastair lol

Looks yum.

Edit: seen it on the other thread. Scratch that

 

[Stu's Brews]

I’ve still got two to go, apologies to the brewers, I’ve been away or working a lot of weekends recently and 8% plus beers haven’t sat nice with the schedule.

It’s inky black, and poured with a tan head that hang around too long. The aroma is big, dark fruits mainly, plum and raisin with dark chocolate notes. The flavour follows, a lovely balance of chocolate roast and complex dark fruits. It’s got a hint of residual sweetness that is balanced with a moderate bitterness. Nice brew, any Special B in the grain bill?

View attachment 92539

Glad you enjoyed it. No special B in this one but I did layer a number of the Crisp crystal and roasted malts so possibly a similar effect.

Will post a full recipe when I get back from my latest travels. I'll also hopefully then find some time to review the beers I've received too.

 

[SMP Brewery]

Just realised I’ve not posted @Alastair70 beer, I must have fallen asleep after having it

It opened with just a slight hiss and poured with a thin head so I thought it was going to be under carbed but no it was was spot on, didn’t have that prickly taste that I found is one of the issues with my brew.

Got roasty notes on the nose and a hint of chocolate, nice mouthfeel not thin at all, didn’t taste alcoholic at all to me.

One first tasting it was quite bitter, but I did have another beer before so that might have contributed to that, full of roasty flavours and flavours I couldn’t describe as I’m not good at that but added to the complexity.

Thanks for sharing, another beer I enjoyed roll on next years brews.

 

[Alastair70]

Many apologies to @Nottsbeer for the tardy review. I’ve been canning it in work for the last month so I can have most of the next three weeks off and that hasn’t left much room in the schedule for beers that are sitting on the north side of 9%ABV.

I’d left it to come up to room temp before opening and as a result it was somewhat lively on the pour. I was beside the sink so no dramas, and it was definitely worth the wait.
It poured with a tan head that dissipated over 10 minutes or so. Deep amber with good clarity when held to the light.
Getting chocolate and dark fruit aroma straight off the bat. There’s a lot of chocolate and coffee roast up front on tasting, with some plum dark fruit in the background. Great mouthfeel and length of flavour as you would expect from such a big beer, bitterness levels are spot on. My only point would be the carbonation level was high for style. But, letting it warm up before opening sorted that out this time round, most of the excess CO2 would up in the kitchen sink and the beer loss was fairly minimal.

Great brew, thank-you for sharing. I’m looking forward to seeing all three recipes and I will get round to posting my own.

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Tonight I have gotten out @Stu's Brews award winning Belgian Dubbel.

The beer is a light to medium amber and absolutely crystal clear. Good head after pouring that lasted for a few minutes - after this it dissipated, but left some foam clinging to the glass. Carbonation is perfect. Higher side of light-bodied I would say.

It has a slight aroma when cold, that consists of light toffee and dark, dried fruits. The hubby says he gets banana as well.

Malt forward beer with a banana-caramel flavour upfront for us, with light bitterness. I get a slight alcohol note in this one. Not overwhelmingly Belgian which as I've mentioned previously, we prefer.

Very difficult to drink slowly and let warm up as it's so nice! Not heavy at all and goes down very smoothly. The body is just right and I would imagine that the beer is able to be enjoyed at any time of year. Reminds me of a good-quality commercial Marzen body wise.

Thanks very much Stu, much appreciated.

 

[Stu's Brews]

Morning All,

Firstly a quick apology from me to those of you who have sent me beers. Since they arrived I seem to have either been out of the country or ill so haven't had an opportunity to review them yet. Fortunately I am on the mend now so will be starting to review this week, nothing like a few big beers to see you through the festive period!

I think everyone that received beers from me has now reviewed them, so as promised the recipes are attached.

Belgian Dubbel:
This beer won it's table and finished second in show at the Brew Like a Monk competition; the main criticism from the judges was that the ester profile was a bit out (too much pear drop / nail polish) so will see if I can tidy that up a bit next time. Otherwise, no changes planned.

Imperial Stout:
This was my first attempt at a really big beer and despite it only being a 15L batch I found it was a bit too much for the Grainfather to handle in a single infusion mash. Next time I will do a reiterated mash, which will hopefully get the OG and FG closer to where I wanted. Other than that, I may up the bitterness slightly to offset the expected reduction in residual sweetness. Have also been considering swapping some of the chocolate malt for more roasted barley.

 

[Caramel Ox]

Morning All,

Firstly a quick apology from me to those of you who have sent me beers. Since they arrived I seem to have either been out of the country or ill so haven't had an opportunity to review them yet. Fortunately I am on the mend now so will be starting to review this week, nothing like a few big beers to see you through the festive period!

I think everyone that received beers from me has now reviewed them, so as promised the recipes are attached.

Belgian Dubbel:
This beer won it's table and finished second in show at the Brew Like a Monk competition; the main criticism from the judges was that the ester profile was a bit out (too much pear drop / nail polish) so will see if I can tidy that up a bit next time. Otherwise, no changes planned.

Imperial Stout:
This was my first attempt at a really big beer and despite it only being a 15L batch I found it was a bit too much for the Grainfather to handle in a single infusion mash. Next time I will do a reiterated mash, which will hopefully get the OG and FG closer to where I wanted. Other than that, I may up the bitterness slightly to offset the expected reduction in residual sweetness. Have also been considering swapping some of the chocolate malt for more roasted barley.

Thanks for sharing- is candi syrup the same as rocks? Was the dubbel bottle conditioned or kegged?

 

[Stu's Brews]

Thanks for sharing- is candi syrup the same as rocks? Was the dubbel bottle conditioned or kegged?

Other than the syrup being liquid form they should be fairly interchangeable.

It was bottle conditioned. Can't remember off the top of my head how many volumes of CO2 I was aiming for but it seemed pretty spot on. Will see if I can dig out the number from my notes later if you want.

 

[nidge]

Morning All,

Firstly a quick apology from me to those of you who have sent me beers. Since they arrived I seem to have either been out of the country or ill so haven't had an opportunity to review them yet. Fortunately I am on the mend now so will be starting to review this week, nothing like a few big beers to see you through the festive period!

I think everyone that received beers from me has now reviewed them, so as promised the recipes are attached.

Belgian Dubbel:
This beer won it's table and finished second in show at the Brew Like a Monk competition; the main criticism from the judges was that the ester profile was a bit out (too much pear drop / nail polish) so will see if I can tidy that up a bit next time. Otherwise, no changes planned.

Imperial Stout:
This was my first attempt at a really big beer and despite it only being a 15L batch I found it was a bit too much for the Grainfather to handle in a single infusion mash. Next time I will do a reiterated mash, which will hopefully get the OG and FG closer to where I wanted. Other than that, I may up the bitterness slightly to offset the expected reduction in residual sweetness. Have also been considering swapping some of the chocolate malt for more roasted barley.

That's a long mash for the imperial 690min going to give this a go thanks

 

[Stu's Brews]

That's a long mash for the imperial 690min going to give this a go thanks

Whoops! That was a typo. Should have been 90 minutes. Although I am considering stretching it out to 120 minutes next time as it's such a big grain bill.

 

[nidge]

Whoops! That was a typo. Should have been 90 minutes. Although I am considering stretching it out to 120 minutes next time as it's such a big grain bill.

Will do the 120. Thanks again for sharing. Have a great 2024