Secret Santa Reviews 2020!

[UKSkydiver]

Here is my first review of two: Wee Heavy at 8.8% which I had with my Christmas dinner.

Opened with a very light pfsssst. Maybe a little under carbed, but the note with it says keg conditioned so I’m not sure how that comes across to the bottle. I’m also not sure what the style ‘demands’. A couple of my own brews have had similar carbing to this. I poured from a reasonable height to ensure a good foam.

Appearance: Dark brown, to ruby when held up to the light. Cream / tan head. Excellent clarity. Head dissipated but not at all flat.

Aroma: Dark fruits and booze.

Taste: Rich. Malty and sweet. No hoppy bitterness. A warmth at the back of the throat from the alcohol. Has a very light syrupy mouthfeel, coating the mouth, if that makes sense.

Overall: A lovely brew. These are the sorts of beers I love to drink. Dark, malty, rich. I would be very very happy if I were served this in a commercial setting and I will be up the bar for another!

Thank you Santa and well done on a great beer. Cheers

 

[UKSkydiver]

Got a bit excited on the pour and overshot the last bit. I can only apologise for the wasted beer, there is no excuse.

The beer itself is well balanced, lighter than I was expecting from a 6.5% stout. Has a smooth chocolate backbone to it with the slightest sour note at the end which cleans the palette out nicely and brings you back for more. A decent beer that would make anyone grab a second. It is a real treat to be drinking the beers made by this forum.

Thank you very much.

It has been left out as my child's offering to the real Santa. Let's hope it appeases his blood lust for another year...

Chocolate Stout

Great hiss on opening the bottle, poured with a decent light tan head that dissipated fairly quickly. Carbonation level is spot on, low to medium, I’m definitely dialing back the priming sugar in the future.

Toasty malts fill the nose on pouring and invite you in for a good gargle, I do love stout! First sip does not disappoint, dark malty toasty grains fill the palate then the deep chocolate flavours come in rounding everything off. The finish is long rich and dry, with chocolate in the foreground.

The full bodied and generous mouthfeel is balanced perfectly with the dry finish. I could drink a bucket load of these Top job by the brewer, thank you very much.

@Broken Toe @Alastair70

<Raises hand>
That was me wot brewed them.

Maybe not surprisingly this is the Forum Christmas Brew Chocolate Stout thread.

Thank you for your kinds words and I’m glad you enjoyed my efforts.

Cheers

 

[SteveH]

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My second Santa beer is a Belgian Golden strong. I was really happy to receive this as I am a fan of Belgian beers, so good start. Although it's not a style I'm particularly familiar with, Duvel is I think the only commercial version and I don't think I have had a homebrew example.
Cool bottle.appearance seemed a little dark for a golden strong, more of amber colour. Carbonation seemed a little light by Belgian standards. Nice fruity aroma with a Belgian yeast Character that I have smelt before, wyeast 3787 maybe? Used it in a Dubbel and smells and tastes similar. Nice and dry with good level of bitterness. I like the fact that it's dry and it seems as though you had a good fermentation as it's smooth and easy to drink even with the the high Abv. Thanks for sending, I did really enjoy it, just maybe a few extra bubbles for me. Happy Christmas

Thanks for the review @dave_77, glad you enjoyed it!

The yeast was WLP550, the La Chouffe strain, full recipe is on @strange-steve review thread if you're interested.

Agreed re the colour and carbonation, I'll definitely aim to adjust both next time, I used some Munich which I thought was the light variety but evidently not!

Merry Christmas!

 

[Oneflewover]

I am enjoying my 11% quad I was kindly gifted, the fire is roaring, dinner is in the background, this definitely has the ambiance going for it!
Its a very deep brown colour pours with little head and mostly clear. Aroma of very rich dark malts, brown sugar, dates, alcohol and a bit of a earthiness.
Taste very similar to the aroma. Super flavourful, rich, sweet and coating that lasts a long time. Rich malty and a hint of fruit, sherry like if anything. There is a plenty of alcohol but it's not overdone. At the end there is a bit of the earthiness in the flavour I got in the aroma, I cant decide if it's a yeast driven thing or from the hops, but it adds a nice complexity to the beer. Bitterness is lower but still balances although I would not say it is bitter, just mellow. I wish it had a bit more carbonation, although that would make it easier to drink which at 11% this should be savoured as a sipper. It's definitely getting better as it warms up.
Thanks for sending this secret santa!

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This was from me unless I'm very much mistaken. I didn't quite nail this beer, and for some reason I did get uneven carbonation across the batch - sorry! I wonder if the earthiness is from some chocolate rye, it was just noble hops and WY3787. Cheers

 

[Oneflewover]

My second secret Santa is a Quadruple. This is not a style I’ve ever tried before so wouldn’t know how true to style it was from experience. However, a quick skim through the BJCP guidelines seemed to suggest it was a very good example. The top opened with a hiss followed by some foam trying to creep out of the top. Poured with quite a lot of fizz and was very effervescent in the glass but with very little if no head. I hope I didn’t have a dirty glass that killed it but this didn’t spoil anything about the beer apart from appearance. Im not the best at describing aromas and flavours usually but this had Christmas cake all over it for me. Dark fruits, brown sugar and alcohol, but all coming together to make a very nice drop of beer indeed. The alcohol content was very evident which ensured this was sipped and not gulped which is just how it should be. Even my wife commented that it lasted me a long time! Having tried this I would now quite like to brew this myself in a small batch just to have a few bottles put aside for those special occasions. I loved it. Thanks Santa.

Reckon this is mine. Glad you enjoyed it. I think it was a decent effort, but not in the same league as my last quad disappointingly. And yes the lack of a luscious foam is particularly galling. Cheers

 

[mitchmalt]

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First of my secret Santa..a "teddog" IPA.
Bottle opened with a nice hiss...beer pours with a nice head. It's got chill haze from my freezing brew shed..
Aroma is what I like..lovely hoppy tropical. It's really crisp with a firm bitterness,full on hops!! It actually tastes quite familiar to a commercial beer I've drank loads of! In fact it's very close to Punk IPA!Yes, definitely!! To me anyway...
Whatever it is it's a well made beer,right up my street...
Excellent kick off for the proceedings!
Thank you very much..

Cheers Clint
That was me, Amarillo and Citra in that one, glad you enjoyed it, thanks for the kind words!

 

[mitchmalt]

My second beer I'm enjoying after my meal. A stout at 6%, I've only started appreciating darker beers recently but this is a really good stout.
It poured really well and no sediment at all. The aroma definitely that of coffee and a subtle smell of cocoa. I wish I had a mug of this when I woke up instead of my coffee. The carbonation is perfect.
The flavour is a prominent taste of coffee but not overpowering, it's smooth and not overly bitter which is pleasantly surprising as you'd expect it to be very bitter with how much coffee flavour is running through it.
Hats off to the brewer and merry Christmas

That was me, made that stout a few times, this one was finished with half a bottle of bourbon in the bottling bucket for added festiveness!
Thanks for the kind words.

 

[mitchmalt]

First off, really sorry I didn’t get a photo of the brew, I’m afraid it totally slipped my mind in the post turkey haze! The beer was labelled as a mystery smash, and the challenge was to name the ingredients. The malt might have been tricky but for the label on the bottle, so I’m thinking Munich! The hop is a lot harder.....There was a definite bitter finish so I’m thinking a good portion early in the boil, and there was not give away aromas. I am guessing English, possibly Challenger. Anyway, nice refreshing beer after lunch, thanks very much.

 

[mitchmalt]

My second beer was ‘His old Red coat’ and was sampled by a committee of four family members. All four really enjoyed this beer which is an achievement in itself! Apologies for the lack of photo, but a light pink clear beer with a small head, perfectly carbonated. There was disagreement as to the fruit. I thought Raspberry, but my wife and sister in law thought Strawberry! Either way this was well attenuated crisp beer. I think a good portion of wheat in the grist, but the clarity suggests otherwise? It had been siting in the garage for a good period though. Well brewed and much enjoyed. Thanks

 

[dave_77]

Thanks for the review @dave_77, glad you enjoyed it!

The yeast was WLP550, the La Chouffe strain, full recipe is on @strange-steve review thread if you're interested.

Agreed re the colour and carbonation, I'll definitely aim to adjust both next time, I used some Munich which I thought was the light variety but evidently not!

Merry Christmas!

That's really interesting, I haven't used the whitelabs version of that strain, but used wyeast Ardennes and Imperial Gnome regularly for Belgian Pale. I have noticed that the wyeast & imperial versions are slightly different. Imperial seems slightly cleaner and sometimes I have almost got a slight hammy aroma from Ardennes. The whitelabs version seems different again, although could be just variations in fermentation and recipe

 

[Broken Toe]

So my second beer was an Imperial Stout at 9.5%

Nice hiss when opening and poured really well resulting a beautiful light brown head.
The aroma reminded me of chocolate and raison and a bit of sherry. Carbonation was spot on and the taste was complex, giving notes of chocolate, molasses and raisons. the alcohol was definitely there but did not overpower the other flavours.
Not a style I try very often but this one was definitely a winner. Great flavour and a lovely balance.

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That was mine. Glad you liked it. It's coming up to a year after brew day now and has started to come together. Same I'm down to my last two bottles.

Thanks for the feedback

 

[-Bezza-]

This was from me unless I'm very much mistaken. I didn't quite nail this beer, and for some reason I did get uneven carbonation across the batch - sorry! I wonder if the earthiness is from some chocolate rye, it was just noble hops and WY3787. Cheers

Ping me the recipe if you don't mind. As I said, I want to brew something strong and Belgian soon ready for next Christmas.

 

[Subtle Duck]

Dear secret santa, thank you for your beer.

The beer poured a mildly cloudy amber color with a thick white head that left lots of lacing. Very crisp with medium carbonation

Good nose, contains caramelised malts, citrus and grassy notes.

The taste was very good. Touch of bitterness, strong but not over powering piney and citrus flavors. Some caramel malts and grain. The after taste was still slightly hoppy. Can i have a guess at centennial hops?

Smooth and exceptionally easy drinking.

Bravo.

 

[Subtle Duck]

The house has calmed down a bit so it's time to try my imperial stout
Pours like thick black tar, really good carbonation. Nice tan head which lasts the full glass
Aroma I am getting dark chocolate, roast malt, some light sweetness.
Taste: full of body as expected, nice roast malt, dark nutty chocolate. It's like velvet, well judged bitterness.
Overall I am more than happy with this beer. It warms the throat half way down the glass. This is a real sipper, thank you for sending. I think I might know the sender of this one. Well done
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Hi samale,
This one was mine. Really glad you enjoyed it. It's about the 4th version of this recipe, the only worry was it's slightly young for an imp. But should age well.

 

[samale]

Hi samale,
This one was mine. Really glad you enjoyed it. It's about the 4th version of this recipe, the only worry was it's slightly young for an imp. But should age well.

Well I got it totally wrong then, I regularly swap with @phildo79 and it was very similar to one of his I had before. Do you mind me asking how you brew.
Thank you again for the swap it went down a treat

 

[Oneflewover]

Ping me the recipe if you don't mind. As I said, I want to brew something strong and Belgian soon ready for next Christmas.

I'll send / link you the recipe for the earlier version as it was undoubtedly better. In fact it won Feb (I think) forum comp, do the recipe might be in a thread somewhere. I spent more time on the candi syrup, taking it to a darker colour, and I think that this might have been a factor.

 

[Subtle Duck]

Well I got it totally wrong then, I regularly swap with @phildo79 and it was very similar to one of his I had before. Do you mind me asking how you brew.
Thank you again for the swap it went down a treat

Not at all, I currently brew batch sparged all grain (I havnt got round to learning fly sparging yet). With a diy cooler mash tun, diy copper manifold in the bottom and a butchered burco boiler with a second kettle element (from a wilco kettle). It's not fancy (replace fancy with shiny) kit but does the trick.

 

[Jakeyboi]

English pale ale

This beer poured perfectly clear, and a lovely golden colour with a small white fluffy head which quickly dispersed.
Aroma is earthy and very much like a lager, and much the same with the flavour, in a good way! I had a really hard time trying to describe the flavour of this beer. It’s very pleasant and refreshing, bittering is spot on, extremely clean, light and crisp something I could quaffe all night. Absolutely no off flavours that I can detect, which I find very difficult to do when making light beers.

It’s and expertly crafted beer.

Thanks Santa

 

[xozzx]

Just got round to trying the first of my 2 secret santa beers - I had a couple of lunchtime whiskys on xmas so thought it wouldnt be fair to judge the beers afterwards!
Im a big fan of dark beers and never tried an oatmeal stout.

Opened with a slight hiss, was worried that it was under carbed but poured very nicely and plenty of carb when drinking. Aroma was lovely - could smell the roastiness and very slight hop aroma in the background. Looked great with a decent head and very dark colour.

Taste - quite bitter, strong malty flavour and nice alcohol warmth at the end. The chocolate taste isnt very apparent but I think given time to age this will come through and smooth the beer out a bit.

Overall a very pleasant beer. Says kegged 11/Nov, I would say that in another 4-6 months this will be a fantastic beer. I find with stouts and porters the improvement with time is day and night and this beer is already very tasty, the bitterness is likely to decrease a bit with time and the chocolate come through to become a smoother more rounded beer. If you havent planned to age this I suggest keeping a few bottles back and trying them in 6-12 months, Im sure it will be amazing.

Thanks a lot for the beer, I really enjoyed it.

 

[Jakeyboi]

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Santa sent me two 330ml bottles of American Porter. It opened with a slight hiss and poured with a small mocha coloured head that quickly dispersed. Light malt aroma compared to British porters or stouts, may be a hint of toffee, very little if any hop aroma. Mouthfeel, medium body, carbonation is perfect for me, detectable but not fizzy. Flavour, as with the aroma, light roast malt, medium bitterness.
Very pleasant beer, I usually prefer pales, IPAs or bitter ales, but this fits the bill for a porter that I can enjoy.
Thank you Santa

First of the night for me. This is actually my second bottle of American porter.
Very nice, well crafted beer. Everything is balanced well. Thank you Santa
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‘twas me hohoho