Postal Bottle Swap 2

[nicowk]

seriously impressed by all the labels

 

[Sonnal]

What I like about this bottle swap is the variety of beers that I have received. Some are styles that I probably wouldn’t buy. The following two fit into that category.

But firstly an apology. I had taken photos of the beers but when I came to upload them I found that I had managed to change the auto setting and the photos didn't come out plus I had drunk the beers by the time I had noticed so couldn't take any more
I did manage to get a shot of the empty bottles though:

Pretty Floral Bonnet Firefly Beers
Elderflower Blonde Ale (love the label)

Gorgeous sweet elderflower aroma on opening the bottle and pouring. I got a good initial head but, as said in the notes, it did disappear but left some nice lacing around the glass.
Lovely light golden colour that really said ‘drink me’. So I did! And I was very impressed, a lovely hint of elderflower that was neither overpowering nor too sweet. A really well balance refreshing beer. I wouldn’t change much but some wheat may aid the head retention.

Gold medal Sonnal



Bragdy 666 Brewery
Biere de Garde

Alcoholic spiciness on the nose giving a hint of malt and sherry.
Nice strong flavour showing some sweet malt with raisins and alcohol coming through. I was struggling to put my finger on all the flavours and even went as far as checking the note in the GH book. I must say I can picture you brewing this in an artisan farmhouse in the Welsh countryside.
A great beer with a strong flavour. Top marks
Ps. The yeast was worth it

Gold medal Cwrw666

Thanks for the review DA. Glad you enjoyed it. It's still very young but I liked it so much that I've already brewed a bigger 20l batch for the kegorator. I've added some torrified wheat to help with head retention although it tends to stick around a bit more when you force carb with co2 anyway.

As a result of the swap I'm planning on buying some of that packaging and doing this again. Great idea, as I've said before.
Many Thanks.
Gilly

 

[MyQul]

seriously impressed by all the labels

Wait till you see mine. Then you wont be :lol:

 

[dad_of_jon]

just sampled dad's_ale's armadillo pale.

1 finger head of carbonation. spot on. clear light golden colour. very effective hopping, it doesn't slap you in the face with hops, you know they are there and it's such a delight. I've not tried an armadillo and perle ale before, but by golly i'll be on the lookout for those in the future. DA's ale is smooth and refined rather than brash and it went down too easily and quickly. For me it's a perfectly hopped session pale ale and reminded me of one of my favourites I had at the 2015 Swansea bay beer festival. It should be noted that I don't generally go for pale ales, because I like a slap in the face with my beers, but this was sublime & delicious, probably the best pale I've had.

Keep up the good work DA. :thumb:

Your RIS is being posted tomorrow.

 

[Dads_Ale]

just sampled dad's_ale's armadillo pale.

1 finger head of carbonation. spot on. clear light golden colour. very effective hopping, it doesn't slap you in the face with hops, you know they are there and it's such a delight. I've not tried an armadillo and perle ale before, but by golly i'll be on the lookout for those in the future. DA's ale is smooth and refined rather than brash and it went down too easily and quickly. For me it's a perfectly hopped session pale ale and reminded me of one of my favourites I had at the 2015 Swansea bay beer festival. It should be noted that I don't generally go for pale ales, because I like a slap in the face with my beers, but this was sublime & delicious, probably the best pale I've had.

Keep up the good work DA. :thumb:

Your RIS is being posted tomorrow.

Cheers DoJ glad you enjoyed it.
I didn't go too mad with the hops on this one as it was the first time using Armadillo and I read that they can be overpowering. I did pay extra and got the latest harvest direct from the states, got stung for tax so they had better be nice 😀

 

[Notlaw]

Cheers DoJ glad you enjoyed it.
I didn't go too mad with the hops on this one as it was the first time using Armadillo and I read that they can be overpowering. I did pay extra and got the latest harvest direct from the states, got stung for tax so they had better be nice 😀

Where was that from DA? Have you got a link?

 

[Dads_Ale]

Where was that from DA? Have you got a link?

Sure it was Yakahima hops or valley ore something like that.
I bought 900g which started off not too bad but by the time you add shipping and VAT they were fairly dear.
Also not sure if I am imagining this but did see a note recently saying that could not export leaf hops outside USA. I will need to check in this.

 

[Cwrw666]

What I like about this bottle swap is the variety of beers that I have received. Some are styles that I probably wouldn’t buy. The following two fit into that category.

But firstly an apology. I had taken photos of the beers but when I came to upload them I found that I had managed to change the auto setting and the photos didn't come out plus I had drunk the beers by the time I had noticed so couldn't take any more
I did manage to get a shot of the empty bottles though:

Pretty Floral Bonnet Firefly Beers
Elderflower Blonde Ale (love the label)

Gorgeous sweet elderflower aroma on opening the bottle and pouring. I got a good initial head but, as said in the notes, it did disappear but left some nice lacing around the glass.
Lovely light golden colour that really said ‘drink me’. So I did! And I was very impressed, a lovely hint of elderflower that was neither overpowering nor too sweet. A really well balance refreshing beer. I wouldn’t change much but some wheat may aid the head retention.

Gold medal Sonnal



Bragdy 666 Brewery
Biere de Garde

Alcoholic spiciness on the nose giving a hint of malt and sherry.
Nice strong flavour showing some sweet malt with raisins and alcohol coming through. I was struggling to put my finger on all the flavours and even went as far as checking the note in the GH book. I must say I can picture you brewing this in an artisan farmhouse in the Welsh countryside.
A great beer with a strong flavour. Top marks
Ps. The yeast was worth it

Gold medal Cwrw666

That's the kind of thing I always manage to do.
Anyway, thanks for the positive review. Personally I haven't really made my mind up about this brew yet. I've had a few bottles but actually think I preferred the taste when it was just bottled.
Still, I've got 39 bottles left - by the time I've drunk them all I might have changed my mind.
Looking forward to the next brew I made using the trub from this one - same strength but with a bit of cherrywood smoked malt in there as well - it's just about ready to bottle.

 

[F00b4r]

My bottle of this has just arrived and it sounds like I am in for a treat so am going to leave it for a few days to settle. The packaging is fantastic and I would highly recommend it for anyone wanting to send a glass bottle through the post.

 

[Dads_Ale]

I'm still going :)

Peckham Brewery
Wolf Whistle Bitter

Although this was labelled Ordinary Bitter I was keen to give it a try as imo this is one of the most difficult styles to get right, especially with a low abv of 3.5%. I thought it would better suit a handled glass :)
Nice ‘phut’on opening and poured with a good head which hung around for a while and then left some nice lacing on the glass. Initial aroma was a pleasant malty freshness, no overpowering in your face hops.
Drinking gave a good balance between sweetness and bitterness. Again nothing overpowering but plenty of body. Nowhere near as thin as some commercial beers I have tried at this abv. One problem was that just as I was trying to place all the flavours the glass was empty :drink:..oops..

A nice session bitter MyQul and one I would be more than happy with if I was served this in a pub. :thumb:

 

[Dads_Ale]

Perfect day for beer reviews :drink:

Druons Hand
Belgian Dark Ale

Thought it was only fair I bought out the Kwak glass for this one:

A Dark Abbey Beer with a 7% abv.

A lovely sweet aroma with a hint of the hop fruit and alcohol coming through. Good carb and nice head.

Tasting gave a lovely sweetness, close to liquorice, coming through courtesy of the dark malts. The hops and alcohol (surprising for a 7% ale although I know I’ve drunk a glass full :)) were subtle but added to a well balanced ale.

I didn’t check the recipe until after I had drunk this one but was pleasantly surprised to fine it was based on a Coopers Dark Ale kit with additional malts and hops. I see this is a popular international recipe and after tasting it I can see why.

Top marks Baggybill. :thumb:

 

[Notlaw]

Is that table made from a brake disc? Or is it a flange (ooh-er missus)?

 

[Dads_Ale]

Is that table made from a brake disc? Or is it a flange (ooh-er missus)?

Triumph 750 brake disks:

A mate was going to get some Porsche ones so as we could make some more and sell them for lots of money :). Trouble is he fell out with the garage :-?

 

[Notlaw]

Triumph 750 brake disks:

A mate was going to get some Porsche ones so as we could make some more and sell them for lots of money :). Trouble is he fell out with the garage :-?

Very nice, I like that sort of thing, utility I can't see the missus agreeing

 

[baggybill]

Perfect day for beer reviews :drink:

Thought it was only fair I bought out the Kwak glass for this one:

Love the glass, first time I've seen one like that!

Printer ran out of ink (yellow) hence the washed out looking label

Had a beer the other night which I thought was quite similar - Leffe Brune (750ml bottles in Asda @ £2.50). Lot more clove but reminded me of this.

Glad you enjoyed it as I did yours - must be a great feeling seeing the postman arrive with all the unique beers for you :party:

 

[LarryF]

Triumph 750 brake disks:

A mate was going to get some Porsche ones so as we could make some more and sell them for lots of money :). Trouble is he fell out with the garage :-?

When your table's that cool Dad you don't need to chill your beer. :thumb:

 

[Dads_Ale]

And still they keep coming :drink:

Coffee Stout

This one gave me a chance to use my new, expertly crafted, stout glass. Designed to create the ultimate tool for enjoying stout beers :)

This beer had good carbonation and a lovely tight, dark head. The aroma gave an indication of a sweet stout, with the dark malts and a hint of liquorice coming through.
The taste gave a balance between between bitterness and a liquorice type sweetness, roast flavour was subtle and not overpowering. The body was surprisingly light for such a dark beer and I found this an easy beer to drink (too easy :)). The coffee added another subtle flavour that started to get more pronounced the more I drank.

Another great beer that I thoroughly enjoyed drinking. Nice one Robin54 :thumb:.

 

[Notlaw]

And still they keep coming :drink:

Coffee Stout

This one gave me a chance to use my new, expertly crafted, stout glass. Designed to create the ultimate tool for enjoying stout beers :)

This beer had good carbonation and a lovely tight, dark head. The aroma gave an indication of a sweet stout, with the dark malts and a hint of liquorice coming through.
The taste gave a balance between between bitterness and a liquorice type sweetness, roast flavour was subtle and not overpowering. The body was surprisingly light for such a dark beer and I found this an easy beer to drink (too easy :)). The coffee added another subtle flavour that started to get more pronounced the more I drank.

Another great beer that I thoroughly enjoyed drinking. Nice one Robin54 :thumb:.

Drinking at quarter to nine in the morning. Hardcore. Hi five brother.!

 

[Leon103]

And still they keep coming :drink:

Coffee Stout

This one gave me a chance to use my new, expertly crafted, stout glass. Designed to create the ultimate tool for enjoying stout beers :)

This beer had good carbonation and a lovely tight, dark head. The aroma gave an indication of a sweet stout, with the dark malts and a hint of liquorice coming through.
The taste gave a balance between between bitterness and a liquorice type sweetness, roast flavour was subtle and not overpowering. The body was surprisingly light for such a dark beer and I found this an easy beer to drink (too easy :)). The coffee added another subtle flavour that started to get more pronounced the more I drank.

Another great beer that I thoroughly enjoyed drinking. Nice one Robin54 :thumb:.

Is the glass any good?

 

[Dads_Ale]

Is the glass any good?

I must say I like it. The shape allows you to pour a nice head and you get good aroma. I do have a bit of a glass fetish though with probably over 300 scattered around the house:) The glass is very thin so you have to be careful handling.

It came as a set of 3, one for IPA beers, one for American wheat beers and one for stouts.
The wheat beer glass is on p9 of this thread. Unfortunately the pictures with the IPA glass didn't come our but here is a link to the set:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00UCVD7IY/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20