Secret Santa Reviews 2020!

[samale]

‘twas me hohoho

Thank you for sending, do you mind sharing your recipe

 

[Oneflewover]

Well I have to say, I've done very well with my secret Santa beers this year. I'm drinking a Chinook Citra Pale Ale currently.

Reassuring pop upon opening the bottle (I do like swingtops) and poured with a lovely fluffy white head. Aroma of piney resin, citrus and tropical fruits - lovely. More citrus in the mouth with an assertive pithy grapefruit bitterness. Clean yeast and just enough maltiness to give some complexity to support the hops. Very well brewed santa!

 

[phildo79]

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.
View attachment 38350
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.

That was mine. Glad you liked it. Yours was one of the last bottles drawn from the keg. It's all gone now and I doubt I will be making it again as the grain bill was a mother-effer.

 

[alefric LeHendz]

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

You're very welcome, I'm glad you enjoyed it

 

[SamBrewster]

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

Thanks for this kind review, glad you all liked it. Raspberries and no wheat

 

[Oneflewover]

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.

18 litre batch.
My notes suggest I was shooting for OG 1.099 (I got 1.095) FG 1.017 (I got 1.025). Should've been 10.6% ABV, but I obviously didn't get there. 25 IBU, 33 SRM.

5.2kg pilsner
1.1kg light Munich
230g special B
100g carafa 3
Amber candy syrup made from 1.2 kg beet sugar
90 min mash at 64C (single step)

60 minute boil
15g Magnum @ 60
20g h. Hersbrucker @ 30
30g h. Mittelfruh @ 15

I didn't record the water profile I was after, only that I added 4.5g calcium chloride, 3.5g table salt and 0.5g gypsum to the boiler, and 15ml CRS to the mash - oops!

WLP530 Abbey @ 19C rising steadily to 23C after initial fermentation over.

 

[MickDundee]

After being too full on Christmas Eve after my take away, and being on the wine yesterday, I’m finally trying my beers tonight.

First up is the 6.2% Mild Ale. It’s definitely not what I expected - I’m pretty certain this is actually an English IPA and I suspect the brewer is having a laugh calling it a mild (although I’d kind of gathered that from the ABV)

It’s poured nicely, very little head at first but built quickly as I got to the top of the glass. The retention on the head was good. It’s gold, bordering on amber and has a slight haze.

It’s nicely balanced between the malt and hops with a nice fruity English yeast ester coming through with a firm bitterness as the backbone which holds it together nicely.

It was a very nice beer. I don’t make many English beers but I am planning to do a few more and this is a good inspiration.

 

[MickDundee]

Now on to beer number 2 - a black IPA, weighing in at 6%. I think there was a nucleation point in the bottle/beer somewhere because it let off a lot of foam. I suspect it’s hop debris or something because the carbonation is spot on.

Everything else about the beer is good and ticks all the boxes for a black IPA. It’s a lovely black colour and the aroma is mainly citrus (I’m sure in picking up some Simcoe but I’ve had a cold recently so my sense of smell might be messed up). Taste wise, there’s hardly indication of the dark malts (which is what you want in this type of beer), it’s all typical American IPA citrus and pine with a hint of tropical fruit. There’s just a hint of a roasted flavour in the bitterness which complements the hop bitterness.

All in all another very nice beer. I’m very happy with both my Secret Santa beers this year.

 

[DavidHatton]

Well I have to say, I've done very well with my secret Santa beers this year. I'm drinking a Chinook Citra Pale Ale currently.

Reassuring pop upon opening the bottle (I do like swingtops) and poured with a lovely fluffy white head. Aroma of piney resin, citrus and tropical fruits - lovely. More citrus in the mouth with an assertive pithy grapefruit bitterness. Clean yeast and just enough maltiness to give some complexity to support the hops. Very well brewed santa!
View attachment 38355

Glad you enjoyed the brew, thank you for the words, another great year of swaps.

 

[DavidHatton]

My second is a tasty 5.9% chinook and citra pale.
Well carbed, clear with a nice light citrus aroma. Comes through more orangey in the flavour with some malty back up.
Very clean with decently assertive bitterness makes this very drinkable.
Another Xmas cracker, thanks santa!

View attachment 38196

Cheers Dan, happy you enjoyed the brew, thank you, here's to another great year of swaps

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Nobody's spoken up yet as the brewer of this one I received (small bottle with a red cap marked 'S')... @MickDundee was it one of yours?

 

[brewhaha]

Decided Boxing Day was also Secret Santa Day. My present was "El Capitan", a 6.8% oatmeal stout.

Poured with a lovely fluffy head & carbonation was spot on for a stout. Lots of chocolate & coffee rounded off with an oatmeal cookie flavour. The alcohol is not noticeable in the taste but I got a nice boozy warmth as I drank more.

Really lovely beer all in all, perfect for a stormy evening. Thanks Santa (& thank you again for sending another bottle)!

 

[MickDundee]

Nobody's spoken up yet as the brewer of this one I received (small bottle with a red cap marked 'S')... @MickDundee was it one of yours?

View attachment 38377

Nope, it wasn’t mine. Both of my beers have appeared in this thread already.

 

[Cwrw666]

First up is the 6.2% Mild Ale. It’s definitely not what I expected - I’m pretty certain this is actually an English IPA and I suspect the brewer is having a laugh calling it a mild (although I’d kind of gathered that from the ABV)

Glad you liked it Mick, that's one of mine.
Recipe from the Durden Park book. Rigden's of Faversham 1836. Actually quite a low ABV for a `mild' from the period. You just have to remember that what was called a mild in the 20th century isn't necesarily what was called a mild in previous times. Mild just meant it was intended to be drunk when quite young.

 

[Leon103]

Glad you liked it Mick, that's one of mine.
Recipe from the Durden Park book. Rigden's of Faversham 1836. Actually quite a low ABV for a `mild' from the period. You just have to remember that what was called a mild in the 20th century isn't necesarily what was called a mild in previous times. Mild just meant it was intended to be drunk when quite young.

Toddlers running around sipping a lovely mild comes to mind

 

[MickDundee]

Glad you liked it Mick, that's one of mine.
Recipe from the Durden Park book. Rigden's of Faversham 1836. Actually quite a low ABV for a `mild' from the period. You just have to remember that what was called a mild in the 20th century isn't necesarily what was called a mild in previous times. Mild just meant it was intended to be drunk when quite young.

Thanks. I enjoyed it quite a lot, definitely more than if it was a modern mild. It was definitely my kind of English ale.

 

[NPi]

Toddlers running around sipping a lovely mild comes to mind

Pint of mild for the child

 

[Clint]

Sounds suspiciously like that so called "breakfast" stout...
Where in the 1700's the gentleman of the house would start his day with 12 pints of breakfast stout, give the servants and the dog a sound thrashing then make way to work...which would start with a business meeting ...in the ale House consisting of flagons of foaming nut brown ale and a full side of beef.
Sounds idyllic!

 

[big yogi]

This is the mystery beer that someone sent me, no idea what it is or who it's from but it's really interesting. It's surprisingly difficult to figure out even what style a beer is sometimes, but I'm guessing a red IPA? It's interesting because I was getting a lot of fruity, lemony (and interestingly strawberry) US hops on the nose but flavour wise there's an earthy hop flavour that's very English, along with the citrusy flavours. A nice biscuity malt flavour, maybe a touch of Munich in there, and a nice assertive bitterness in the finish. There's an interesting rustic quality to this, almost like you'd get from a farmhouse type beer but it's subtle, and I'm not sure where it's coming from.

Whatever it is it's really delicious so thanks to whoever sent this, and I'm really intrigued to see the recipe details :hat:

This can't be the same beer that i tasted on the Thursday, just before you sent out the Santa swap addresses ha hah.

This one belongs to me, I made it from grains and hops that I wanted used up.
I used Maris otter, wheat malt, porridge oats, special b and rice hulls, hops were Summit for bittering and Amarillo, Citra, Magnum, for aroma also lactose and mangos.

We all know how hard you work on getting all the Secret Santa swaps, you also know who your receiving from.
I thought sending this would be a total mystery for you.

I am my own worst critic when it comes to my beers, I only decided to send it to you when I sampled another bottle a few days later, which was too late for the secret Santa.
I am glad you enjoyed it, my son also said its one of my best beers that i have made.

 

[ChrisT685]

So before the madness of a festive Zoom call with my brother's family last night, I tasted my secret Santa beers.

First up was a really pleasant Pale which came with no note etc but I really enjoyed it. It was really nicely carved and poured with a good head. Not overly hoppy, it tasted clean and went down a treat. For ID purposes, it came in a Cooper's PET bottle. Thank you !!!