Back to Basics Brew Review

[tubby_shaw]

I will review these in the order that I received them :thumb:
First up muddydisco's Caveman brew

The beer was supposed to be supplied in these labelled bottles

Unfortunately due to a mix up it was supplied like this :grin:

The bottle opened with a gentle hiss that belied the generous carbonation in this beer, the sediment was well compacted and it poured with a fluffy light tan head, that unfortunately didn't last very long.
The beer was very clear and although dark had a lovely red hue when held to the light.

The initial aroma was of earthy hops and caramel, this is a very full bodied beer and on the initial taste it was liquorice caramel toffee, there was then a full frontal assault of hop bitterness which was very smooth but lingered in the mouth.
Finally this was quite a strong beer and I certainly knew I'd had a drink

 

[Muddydisco]

:lol: Not strong just a big beer of 7% by rough medieval calcluations.
Not bad for something thrown together with no scales or electric or gas!
Just goes to show what can be done with nowt

 

[tubby_shaw]

Last night I tried Alemans Back to basics brew
It was supplied in a very well presented bottle

With very informative labels

The bottle opened with a gentle pop rather than the loud "Crack" you would normally expect from this type of bottle which gave me the impression that this was a beer with low carbonation.
The beer poured well giving a a light tan head which quickly dissipated leaving a fine lace that lasted to the end of the glass.

The pop on opening the bottle was deceiving as this beer had good level of carbonation, the colour was "Black as the Ace of Spades"
The aroma in the glass was overwhelmingly of roast malts with very little discernible hop aroma.
On tasting there is very little sweetness and then a massive attack of complex tangy bitter liquorice and old leather flavours which slowly diminish leaving a gentle hop bitterness.
This is a very complex beer that has an intriguing array of bitter flavours, I thoroughly enjoyed it

 

[tubby_shaw]

The last of the back to basics reviews and last to be received is Vossy's beer
The beer arrived in a plain bottle

But it was easy to see how Vossy had identified it :thumb:

The bottle opened with a gentle hiss and released just a wisp of CO2 and poured with a bright white head, which contrasted beautifully with the deep red mahogany colour, the head subside slowly and was still evident at the end of the glass, the carbonation was spot on for the beer style.

There were generous aromas of grapes and dried fruit on the nose.
The mouth feel was superb and there was a long sweet introduction to the beer with some banana hints that lead into a pleasant resinous hop bitterness, the balance of the beer was spot on to my tastes.
Another truly brilliant beer that I enjoyed drinking

 

[Wez]

Brill!

Great to see quality AG beer produced without any brewing kit, an inspiration to anyone wanting to try AG :thumb:

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Sorry about the late review Aleman, I was saving it....
What can I say??? If this is back to basics I want to go back too.. This is one of the best stouts I've ever had the pleasure to taste, thanks' Aleman.
I removed the cap to reveal a perfectly carbonated bottle conditioned brew providing a good hiss and the old smoking gun effect. The first taste from this awsome brew was a beautiful liquorice taste then it had roasted/chocolate notes. It's a brew that was also well hopped to produce the that cheeky bitterness we all love after the roasted taste had gone.
It commanded beautiful head to start with but disappeared to a fine covering until the final mouthful.

I'd say it's one of the best beers I've had. 10/10
I'd love to go back to basics, maybe in "H G wells" time machine to see how you made it Lol :rofl:

BB

 

[Aleman]

Thanks for the reviews, I'm glad it was appreciated and exceptionally disappointed that I only made 4L of it For those interested There is no need to use Herbert George Wells' Time machine, as the Recipe and method used is described in the back to basics thread . . .The Ushers Stout in the Durden park book is a real winner, and being honest I knew that before setting out to brew it. (Wibblers Brewery in Mayland brew it as Crafty Stoat . . . well worth looking out for it if you live on or near the Dengie)

 

[Vossy1]

Soo sorry to have missed this review first time round t_s, and thank you for sampling my beer.
It looks like the bottle got to you as the ones I tasted did, which wasn't a bad thing
I'll go and have another look at the recipe and see what was what.

I'm pretty sure this beer made me re-evaluate using US-05 for bitters as it seems quite capable of producing fruity notes when fermented at higher temperatures, something I wasn't expecting from 05, but was a pleasant surprise.