Foresters - Woodland Secret Review

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Foresters kits are a brand by Pops Homebrew shop in Cheltenham. Every time I go in, he talks about selling them on the Internet and eBay, but I've not seen them yet, so if you want one you'll have to visit the shop.

I've done several of these kits before, and these are consistently the best kits I've made: they ferment right out, and the taste is just awesome, just like the best well-kept real ale from a decent pub. They're 2-can kits (variations of Coopers malt extract), plus yeast and one or two muslin bags of hops (2 with this kit). A bit more expensive than your average kit (£28.99) but worth it IMHO. They recommend fermentation at higher temps than usual (28C) but I always do mine at room temp (21c) and they work out fine, just takes a bit longer. The larger bag of hops with this kit only just fitted in my pan:

woodland_hops_small.jpg


OG was 1042, was down to 1014 after a week but stopped bubbling (probably cos the temp in the house is down, due to this awful summer), I gave it a stir and off it went again, down to 1010 after 13 days. Transferred to keg and bottles last night, had a cheeky sample and it tastes just great already, a bit sweet like 6X but I'm sure this will mellow. In fact, the reason I bought this kit was that he had a sample brew in the shop and it tasted very similar to Doom Bar :D . Have very high expectations, and know I won't be able to keep my hands off it, so will report back when it starts to clear :thumb:
 
A week in the keg and I couldn't wait any longer. Still cloudy and a bit young, but what an awesome pint - tons and tons of flavour, I can't believe this is home brew. To put it into context, this is my 15th kit and it knocks spots off everything else, aparts from the other Foresters kits I've tried. The additional stage of boiling up some hops really makes a difference. This is not just one of the best homebrews I've ever tasted, it's one of the best beers I've ever tasted :D Just wish the Internet did taste and you could all try this, a cross between Doom Bar and Uley Old Spot :D

Gonna do one of the BrewUK Extract kits after this, to see how it compares. http://www.brewuk.co.uk/store/beerkits.html

woodlandsecretsmall.jpg
 
I've just finished my last bottle of the Woodlands - I can usually have some semblence of self control, but the Foresters are too good! I have had to resort to storing them at my partners house rather than at mine....to give them a chance to condition.
 

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