Festival Landlords Best Bitter Review

[bombercountybrewer]

Festval Landlords Best Bitter Review

Started this one off today after reading some good reviews of other Festival Ales and dropping into my local home brew shop in Lincoln. Dont know if I am allowed to mention them by name but they have been very helpful to me as a beginner.

The instructions included in the kit are quite comprehensive and easy to follow. Obviously a fair bit of thought has gone into the kit and it comes complete with two sachets of extract, yeast, hop pellets, brewing sugar for kegging/bottling and a straining bag. At £24.95 it was a couple of quid dearer than say a Woodfordes kit but it does have some added extras.

I have made it with tap water treated with a quarter of a campden tablet. The extract dissolved readily in three litres of boiling water and then topped up to 23 litres and in with the yeast. Not too much of an aroma at this stage but the colour looks promising being a pale copper.Not too worried about the limited aroma as the hop pellets go in at 5 days which should boost that.
Ive been running around the house with a thermometer trying to find somewhere warm enough for fermentation and suprise, surprise its ended up in the airing cupboard! I may have to invest in a brew belt at some point so the towels dont get relegated to the wardrobe..

Apparently this is supposed to be a take off of Timothy Taylors Landlord, I didnt know that till I bought it, but thats a local brew and one I really enjoy so fingers crossed.

Will keep posting as it develops and if all goes well I may look at bottling some and entering it at the Spring Thing!

 

[andybrew]

hi

I've had this in the barrel for 5 weeks and it's a great pint, in fact i was so impressed i've just got another one on for xmas. saying that this is my first brew so not much to compare with except a few bottles my mate have brewed. Try to leave it in the bottle/barrel as long as possible it gets better with time unfortunately mine almost all got just as it's getting to its best

 

[parker]

I have had the Golden Stag in bottles for over three weeks had a sneak taste well a pint and it is superb. Citrusy mouthfeel and a strong hint of grapefruit. This will go to the top of the class and her indoors likes it too!!!

Re comments about TT being like Landlord below is what I received from Ritchies when asking about if they were based on such brews...

Our new Festival range is loosely based on popular British beer styles the recipes have not been based directly on any individual commercial beer. The themes and the names are again loosely based on the sort that would be most at home in real ale house or at a beer festival and are by no way there to imitate a specific brand of beer.

I also have Landlord bottled over a week now and is still a bit cloudy......that matters not it is the end product that counts.

 

[Crunchie]

Hi,

Like you all I've been impressed with these Festival kits. I've got a barrel of Landlords Finest conditioning as we speak and although it still needs a couple of weeks more conditioning a sneaky tester has shown it's gonna be a great brew.

I've also got the Pilgrims Hope brewing nicely in the fv and should be barreling that this weekend too.

I'll let you know how that goes :)

 

[bombercountybrewer]

Well put in the hop pellets last night.

Fermentation has been good from the start and shows no sign of letting up which is good.

OG was slightly light at 1040. If it gets down to the suggested 1009 that will put it at 4.1 rather than 4.3 but we will wait and see. I havent bothered measuring OG before and am using my starter kit hydrometer so dont know how accurate it may be !

Temperature is a little under 20 degrees so I may need a little longer than the 10 days to ferment out completely. I am not concerned too much about the max ABV but I have had a couple of brews that have turned out a little sweet which I guess may be that they havent completely fermented out ?

Resisted tasting as yet but looks good, great colour, aroma is building and overall looks really promising.

 

[happyhiker]

Made this kit a few weeks ago, brewed as per indtructions and had no problems with it. ABV 4.1%. Lovely ale with a citrius tang. Wish i had left it to mature a bit longer as it is now 4 weeks and taste great, shame i only got 5 pints left LOL. Would defo brew this again.

 

[Crunchie]

Barrelled the Pilgrims Hope yesterday. Had a cheeky taster as you do when syphoning and this also has great potential. Hope I can be patient this time and let these beers condition fully.

 

[steveg]

Sorry...why the hell has no-one ever told me before how incredible home brewing is. On a whim, I bought a lot of cheap home brewing eqpt from the shop in Darlington, bought this kit 'Festival Landlord Bitter' and have just discovered probably one of the best session bitters I have drunk in last 10 years, also @ 50-60p a 500ml bottle. Followed the instructions although water tank cupboard running at a steady 18c so gave an extra 5 days fermentation. Warm conditioned for 7 days, been cool conditioned a week so far and first taster tonight. Abv feels about 4%. Two more weeks conditioning, one taster bottle per week of course, a little more maturing and going to drink the remaining 37 bottles over xmas. : Though ps. Also bought that Wherry kit as £18 in Wilkos, so hoping the same goodness will be ready for New Years!

 

[calumscott]

Sorry...why the hell has no-one ever told me before how incredible home brewing is. On a whim, I bought a lot of cheap home brewing eqpt from the shop in Darlington, bought this kit 'Festival Landlord Bitter' and have just discovered probably one of the best session bitters I have drunk in last 10 years, also @ 50-60p a 500ml bottle. Followed the instructions although water tank cupboard running at a steady 18c so gave an extra 5 days fermentation. Warm conditioned for 7 days, been cool conditioned a week so far and first taster tonight. Abv feels about 4%. Two more weeks conditioning, one taster bottle per week of course, a little more maturing and going to drink the remaining 37 bottles over xmas. : Though ps. Just bought that Wherry kit as £18 in Wilkos, so hoping the same goodness will be ready for New Years!

Hooked! :lol:

You have inadvertently brewed the way you should! 18C and the best part of a week longer than instructions will tell you...

Do the same with the Wherry and you'll have a cracking stock of really nice beer.

The dark side beckons...

 

[GabrielKnight]

I primary fermented Landlords finest for 10 days, adding the hops after 5 days as directed. I've siphoned into a polypin and primed for 10 days until the polypin has stopped expanding.

The brew tastes good, but it doesn't taste as expected at this point. It's more like an alcoholic grapefruit squash than a beer tbh!

Is this normal? Will those tangy hoppy flavours chill out after a few more weeks and how long should I wait before it's ready? I was hoping to serve it at Christmas.

It says to leave in a cool pace now. Is the fridge as good a place as any for the brew to rest?

 

[dagovenor]

i brewed this for my christmas ale and must say it turned out a little beauty! it was all gone by new year :drink: iv decided to work my way through these range of kits and now have a the golden stag on the go! i wil post once its consumable, i hold high hopes for it :

 

[Vossy1]

Welcome to the forum D :thumb: Greta to hear you liked your 1st foray, let us know how the GS turns out

 

[dagovenor]

I will do my friend, it looks and smells fantastic at the mo! But still some waiting to do yet!:sad:

 

[rpt]

Made this kit on Saturday - now in the brew fridge at 21C. I found rinsing the pouches much harder than tins but otherwise no problems. Hops due to be added on Thursday. Will report back once I taste it.

 

[dagovenor]

Its a good brew mate, really hoppy maybe a little over powering at first but as time passes the hops begin to mellow

 

[rpt]

I'm looking forward to seeing (or rather tasting) what difference the sachet of hops will make.

 

[mattrickl06]

I just started this one off on the 5th Jan (Saturday).

Made exactly as it said on the tin but just made up to 22l to ensure that i get a brew over 4%

From what i have read i think i will only use around 75% of the hops for the hop addition as i dont want it tasting too fruity :nah:

The wort smells and tastes really nice as it is and is a lovely golden amber colour - its a shame i am brewing it for my dad although i think a few bottles may go missing for testing purposes :-)

 

[dagovenor]

Landlords finshed product! Makes me thirsty just looking at it!:grin:

 

[mattrickl06]

Looks like a fantastic creamy head on there - bottle or keg? and how much priming sugar?

 

[skippy]

I was just about to write a review of the Festival 'Father Hook' kit but the above sums up more or less the brewing process I found with this kit.
I did find the SG a little low....but as said above I got it down to below 1009 so more than happy with that.
It also took 2 weeks to ferment out..which worried me slightly as I'd dry hopped it after 5 days so thought it may have come out a little too 'hoppy'.

The kits recommend 5 weeks conditioning but I had a sneaky half after 4 weeks.This is the part I always dread...did I keg it too soon?...were the brewing temps consistant enough.....has the barrel leaked?

It was absolutely fantstic!!! full of flavour,great mouth feel, nice head and smells superb!
Not quite crystal clear..but very nearly(and it is kept in the shed).
looking forward to sampling some more at weekend.