Secret Santa Reviews 2022

[Kentish Mike]

Apologies to my Secret Santas for the very delayed review!
I was very blessed to recieve three great beers!

The first to be drunk was the "Six States NEIPA"
This was a fantastic beer, opening with a strong hiss and well carbonated with a head that stayed till the end (which to be fair wasn't that long). The colour was a bit darker than I expected but I liked the hazy appearance. The aromas and flavours were full of fruity/juicy hoppiness and a good bitterness. I really enjoyed this and wish I had more!

The second beer was "An Ernest IPA". Opened with a slight hiss and poured with just a little head that dissipated fairly quickly. Beautiful colour. Strongly hoppy and not too bitter with some maltiness made this very drinkable. I made a similar beer lately, but I think this was a better brew than mine.

The last but by no means least was the "Honey Broon". I was excited to try this one as it's not something I've had before. A very soft hiss on opening and no head despite quite a vigorous pour (though my glassware might be at fault tbf), the colour was a lovely ruddy brown. The aroma was sweet and very malty, as was the taste and just enough bitterness to balance it. I could definitely taste the honey malt and it went down smoothly. Very moreish! A great winter beer, I'd love to have a try at brewing next year!

Big thanks to my Santas for the treat. This is the first time I've participated in a swap and really enjoyed it, despite the postal issues. Thanks @Alistair for organizing, and once again, sorry for my delay in posting my reviews!

 

[Kentish Mike]

Apologies to my Secret Santas for the very delayed review!
I was very blessed to recieve three great beers!

The first to be drunk was the "Six States NEIPA"
This was a fantastic beer, opening with a strong hiss and well carbonated with a head that stayed till the end (which to be fair wasn't that long). The colour was a bit darker than I expected but I liked the hazy appearance. The aromas and flavours were full of fruity/juicy hoppiness and a good bitterness. I really enjoyed this and wish I had more!

The second beer was "An Ernest IPA". Opened with a slight hiss and poured with just a little head that dissipated fairly quickly. Beautiful colour. Strongly hoppy and not too bitter with some maltiness made this very drinkable. I made a similar beer lately, but I think this was a better brew than mine.

The last but by no means least was the "Honey Broon". I was excited to try this one as it's not something I've had before. A very soft hiss on opening and no head despite quite a vigorous pour (though my glassware might be at fault tbf), the colour was a lovely ruddy brown. The aroma was sweet and very malty, as was the taste and just enough bitterness to balance it. I could definitely taste the honey malt and it went down smoothly. Very moreish! A great winter beer, I'd love to have a try at brewing next year!

Big thanks to my Santas for the treat. This is the first time I've participated in a swap and really enjoyed it, despite the postal issues. Thanks @Alistair for organizing, and once again, sorry for my delay in posting my reviews!

 

[Begbie]

@Kentish Mike and @Moe - The Six States NEIPA was my brew. Thanks so much for your great reviews, I'm over the moon. The recipe was from Jon Finch's Beer Craft, scaled down to an 11L batch, and tweaked to suit available malts:

3k Pale Ale
150g Pale Wheat
50g Crystal Extra Light
150 Flaked Oats

Hopped and dry hopped with Citra, Galaxy and Mosaic.

I still need to work on reducing oxidation, which is why I think the colour has changed over time. My 5L mini keg was purged with CO2 prior to filling, then again when full, and it retained the bright orange colour that it fermented out with. Most of my bottles lost the colour, which is what @Kentish Mike seems to have discovered. I think I'll need to purge all my bottles in future too. Is that what others do when bottling NEIPA's? They do still taste great at the moment, and I only have a few bottles left. I'll definitely do this one again in the summer.

Oh, and thanks again to @Alastair70 for organising, and sending a replacement bottle for me to enjoy!!

 

[pmh]

My final SS beer...the bonus bottle. An easy to drink Ernest IPA. This was hopped with hops I'm not familiar with. The bottle opened with a nice hiss and poured well.....a good level of carbonation. It maybe had a floural bouquet, but quite subtle. Initially I wasn't sure when I started to drink this, but that quickly passed. This was a lovely IPA which went well with my evening meal. I was gutted I didn't have another couple to keep me going, had to settle for one of my bitters. This also hilighted the gentle flavour of the IPA which I didn't initially appreciate. Thanks for sharing . Thanks both Santas for some great brews, and thx Alastair for organising this again

Thank you for your kind reviews and comments @Nottsbeer & @Kentish Mike the brown ale wasn't meant to be a brown ale originally but the honey malt made it darker so completely changed the style and I completely under primed which really annoyed me, the Ernest IPA was brewed in November just in time to be sent off so was young in the bottle. Hope you both had a good new year and again thank you for your time to review :-)

 

[Justin Dean]

Let me be elf and send something for you. Leave it with me. HNY2023

Parcel is now delivered. Hopefully no breakage
Cheers Anna. Enjoy

 

[Justin Dean]

@Kentish Mike and @Moe - The Six States NEIPA was my brew. Thanks so much for your great reviews, I'm over the moon. The recipe was from Jon Finch's Beer Craft, scaled down to an 11L batch, and tweaked to suit available malts:

3k Pale Ale
150g Pale Wheat
50g Crystal Extra Light
150 Flaked Oats

Hopped and dry hopped with Citra, Galaxy and Mosaic.

I still need to work on reducing oxidation, which is why I think the colour has changed over time. My 5L mini keg was purged with CO2 prior to filling, then again when full, and it retained the bright orange colour that it fermented out with. Most of my bottles lost the colour, which is what @Kentish Mike seems to have discovered. I think I'll need to purge all my bottles in future too. Is that what others do when bottling NEIPA's? They do still taste great at the moment, and I only have a few bottles left. I'll definitely do this one again in the summer.

Oh, and thanks again to @Alastair70 for organising, and sending a replacement bottle for me to enjoy!!

I use Boel tap for counter pressure bottling. I batch prime in purged keg by adding sugar solution and then closed transfer from fermenter over solution in keg. Invert keg a couple times and then bottle and bottle condition

 

[DocAnna]

A bit ofan unexpected but lovely surprise yesterday when our postie arrived with a parcel with two Santa beers … which I’m guessing is the Best Elf Emergency Reserve Service in action . I’m working tonight and out to see Avatar late tomorrow so it won’t be till the weekend till I get to try them. I’m also going to avoid looking at the reviews as I’d like to enjoy them without preview! I’m particularly looking forward to the Smokey Joe beer . Thank you lots.

 

[Justin Dean]

Advise leaving the the last 2 centimetres in the bottle for rauchbier and both bottle conditioned

 

[Alastair70]

It's wrap up time, just one week later than planned. Thank you to everyone who joined in this year, 41 brewers swapped a total of 88 beers. American Ales were the big brew with 14 entered followed by 10 Stouts/Porters, 7 British or European Ales, 5 lagers and 4 Belgians.
A couple of beers didnt travel too well, which is normal, but there seemed to be more breakages this time round. As always, a special thanks has to go out to the little helpers @DocAnna, @Hazelwood Brewery and @Justin Dean who ended up having to elf himself in the end.
The spreadsheet breakdown is below. I'll run the swap next year (unless someone has a burning desire to take over) and will announce it 1st week of November.

Belated Happy New Year to everyone.

 

[Alastair70]

	Sent to​
@Alastair70	@Begbie	@Libigage
@Broken Toe	@Nottsbeer	@subtleduck
@Leon103	@Benfleet Brewery	@Stu's Brews
@Nottsbeer	@pmh	@Alastair70
@Benfleet Brewery	@H0PM0NSTER	@Jon1961
@samale	@RichardM	@phildo79
@Braumeister	@andyb13	@Begbie
@Begbie	@Moe	@Kentish Mike
@brewhaha	@phildo79	@RichardM
@Stu's Brews	@Tanglefoot	@Mash Monster
@andyb13	@pilgrimhudd	@Benfleet Brewery
@Hazelwood Brewery	@The-Engineer-That-Brews	@DocAnna
@Mash Monster	@Stu's Brews	@H0PM0NSTER
@The-Engineer-That-Brews	@Clint	@pilgrimhudd
@RichardM	@Leon103	@dave_77
@Justin Dean	@DocAnna	@brewhaha
@Cwrw666	@Libigage	@starseeker
@Tanglefoot	@Fazzer	@Justin Dean
@UKSkydiver	@moto748	@Griff097
@MickDundee	@starseeker	@The-Engineer-That-Brews
@phildo79	@nickjdavis	@pmh
@Kentish Mike	@Braumeister	@Broken Toe
@pilgrimhudd	@Justin Dean	@Oneflewover
@Oneflewover	@Cwrw666	@Tanglefoot
@nickjdavis	@Hazelwood Brewery	@MickDundee
@Clint	@SMP Brewery	@Cwrw666
@H0PM0NSTER	@dave_77	@Leon103
@DocAnna	@Griff097	@Moe
@starseeker	@Alastair70	@moto748
@SMP Brewery	@Mash Monster	@Braumeister
@moto748	@brewhaha	@Hazelwood Brewery
@dave_77	@Oneflewover	@UKSkydiver
@Libigage	@Jon1961	@nickjdavis
@Moe	@MickDundee	@samale
@subtleduck	@samale	@The drunken cyclist
@The drunken cyclist	@Broken Toe	@Fazzer
@pmh	@Kentish Mike	@Nottsbeer
@Jon1961	@AJA	@andyb13
@Fazzer	@subtleduck	@AJA
@AJA	@UKSkydiver	@Clint
@Griff097	@The drunken cyclist	@SMP Brewery

 

[Alastair70]

	Received from​
@Alastair70	@starseeker	@Nottsbeer
@Broken Toe	@The drunken cyclist	@Kentish Mike
@Leon103	@RichardM	@H0PM0NSTER
@Nottsbeer	@Broken Toe	@pmh
@Benfleet Brewery	@Leon103	@andyb13
@samale	@subtleduck	@Moe
@Braumeister	@Kentish Mike	@SMP Brewery
@Begbie	@Alastair70	@Braumeister
@brewhaha	@moto748	@Justin Dean
@Stu's Brews	@Mash Monster	@Leon103
@andyb13	@Braumeister	@Jon1961
@Hazelwood Brewery	@nickjdavis	@moto748
@Mash Monster	@SMP Brewery	@Stu's Brews
@The-Engineer-That-Brews	@Hazelwood Brewery	@MickDundee
@RichardM	@samale	@brewhaha
@Justin Dean	@pilgrimhudd	@Tanglefoot
@Cwrw666	@Oneflewover	@Clint
@Tanglefoot	@Stu's Brews	@Oneflewover
@UKSkydiver	@AJA	@dave_77
@MickDundee	@Moe	@nickjdavis
@phildo79	@brewhaha	@samale
@Kentish Mike	@pmh	@Begbie
@pilgrimhudd	@andyb13	@The-Engineer-That-Brews
@Oneflewover	@dave_77	@pilgrimhudd
@nickjdavis	@phildo79	@Libigage
@Clint	@The-Engineer-That-Brews	@AJA
@H0PM0NSTER	@Benfleet Brewery	@Mash Monster
@DocAnna	@Justin Dean	@Hazelwood Brewery
@starseeker	@MickDundee	@Cwrw666
@SMP Brewery	@Clint	@Griff097
@moto748	@UKSkydiver	@starseeker
@dave_77	@H0PM0NSTER	@RichardM
@Libigage	@Cwrw666	@Alastair70
@Moe	@Begbie	@DocAnna
@subtleduck	@Fazzer	@Broken Toe
@The drunken cyclist	@Griff097	@subtleduck
@pmh	@Nottsbeer	@phildo79
@Jon1961	@Libigage	@Benfleet Brewery
@Fazzer	@Tanglefoot	@The drunken cyclist
@AJA	@Jon1961	@Fazzer
@Griff097	@DocAnna	@UKSkydiver

 

[Cwrw666]

Thanks for all the work organising this. Much appreciated.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Here here - all round fantastic event