Secret Santa Reviews 2023

[allotment_fox]

This one is mine & I'm so glad you enjoyed it as I'm pretty proud of it & have shared a few around this Xmas.

It's the strongest beer I've brewed by quite some margin & based on this recipe - Wheat Triplebock.

I brewed this in April & bottled it in July. I did a split batch - half as you've tried here & half was ages on bourbon soaked oak barrel chunks. Unfortunately, I can't get the oak version to carbonate otherwise you'd have had that one!

I have 6 or 7 bottles of each version left & they will be left to age & try every 6 months or so to see how they develop.

The kids helped with the wax seals, hence why you had snowflake stamps on the top!

Thank you for your kind comments, they genuinely put a smile on my face!

A 2nd Thank you and well done on the seals nice to have a family xmas project, good idea on the age , High ABV can only get better

 

[YeastFace]

The Philly Sour (and in this case the CML Sour 3.5) yeast never quite gets them as sour as I’d like either - as well as the Percy’s I added caster sugar because these yeasts like simple sugars in the souring stage but I’d still like it more lip-puckering!

Worth trying with some dextrose or liquid glucose? Was reading the Lallemand Best Practices sheet yesterday and from memory glucose is what those Lachancea strains favour for lactic acid production.

Think caster sugar is sucrose so ~50% glucose and 50% fructose.

I'm going to use some in a tart saison, so glad to hear it's not lip puckering without aiming for that as that's definitely not what I'm after.

 

[Begbie]

Both my offerings have now been reviewed and I'm over the moon with them. @dave_77 and @nidge - thank you for your kind words.

The Saison was brewed loosely on Jon Finch's recipe, using only pilsner malt, with coriander, black peppercorns and orange zest in the boil. Yeast used was MJ M29 Saison.

I actually doubled the amount of peppercorn, coriander and orange zest from my previous version of this and I think it's worked well.

Thanks again.

 

[MashBag]

View attachment 94105
Next is a bonus beer..thanks! Another porter but I'm not complaining!
Opened with a slight hiss,nice tan head on pouring which dropped but hung about leaving some slight lacing.
I'm getting slightly more bitterness in this one but not overly so,aroma is sweet malt but on drinking the aroma and taste combine to give a very subtle floral note. Hmmm...interesting!
Overall a very nice porter,I like the subtle finish! Just right on this miserable night in front of the fire!
Thanks!
Edit...dunno if there's a bit of a smokey finish in there too?

@Clint I had mine too last night too.

I picked up a smokey note too. Right on the edge of burnt, but defo the right side. Very complex. Smashing thank you

 

[nidge]

Both my offerings have now been reviewed and I'm over the moon with them. @dave_77 and @nidge - thank you for your kind words.

The Saison was brewed loosely on Jon Finch's recipe, using only pilsner malt, with coriander, black peppercorns and orange zest in the boil. Yeast used was MJ M29 Saison.

I actually doubled the amount of peppercorn, coriander and orange zest from my previous version of this and I think it's worked well.

Thanks again.

I said i could taste a hint of orange , no-one else could that tried it .heathens. cracking brew

 

[Leon103]

@MashBag and @Clint the saison and oorter were both mine.

 

[Twostage]

Had some help doing the SS reviews last night, both daugthers' other halves.

First up (sorry for the picture, New Year's eve, no time for quality control ) is an American Pale ale. Nicely carbonated, lovely creamy white head that stayed. Definitely tasted like an APA with a nice bittering and we all agreed we'd happily drink it in a pub. Worried that doesn't sound like a compliment, might sound better if I said we'd pay to drink it . Impressed with the carbonation as it was a keg transfer. Santa brought me a counter-pressure bottling gun that I'm looking forward to using. Hope its as successful as this.

Next up is a spiced cider. Must confess to having some trepidation over the strength (6.3%) combined with the spice angle but these thoughts evaporated when we tasted it. The spice was present but not overpowering in any way and the usual cider taste was there. None of us thought that it tasted too strong. We couldn't decide if that was good or dangerous as you could just neck it.

Really enjoyed the whole SS experience. Thanks for organising Alastair.

 

[MashBag]

@MashBag and @Clint the saison and oorter were both mine.

Didn't try the oorter.. Is that Belgium

 

[Leon103]

Didn't try the oorter.. Is that Belgium

Dutch

 

[WillFrites]

I sadly can't participate due to living in France, but thoroughly enjoyed reading all the reviews etc.

 

[allotment_fox]

Thanks for organising Alastair. loved the whole SS looking forward to taking part in other swaps in future
Both my beers were sent to @Twostage and @brewhaha

Thanks both for your kind reviews glad the beers travelled ok the APA was a pain cus I had a stuck sparge on the day also the bitterish brew was a use all the grain up end of season brew early in its drinking age did taste more of a bitter that mellowed out later on
Cheers and hoppy new year to all brewers

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

Apologies for the lateness in reviewing my bottles from Santa. I’ve been on a course of antibiotics . I had my first last night and will have the other tonight then leave my feedback.

 

[UKSkydiver]

Last up was the 8.7% Belgian Red which had a beautiful Amber colour and distinctive toffee/treacle notes which belied how strong it was until I got about half way down the glass and it started catching up with me

But it remained pleasant all the way to the bottom and I rarely go for stronger beers these days, so it was a pleasant surprise.

I just had my Belgian Red and unfortunately I think mine was oxidised. First swig was incredibly bitter, second swig was definite sherry, third swig I decided I couldn’t drink anymore. It’s a shame, and just one of those things, because it looks like you enjoyed yours.

@Griff097 @MickDundee These were my brews.

@MickDundee I'm sorry you had a duff one.

Both were in PET bottles and both were counter pressure filled from the corny in the same timeframe. We have been drinking the same brew from the corny over Christmas without issue. Both bottles were as clean as each other and sanitised prior to filling. So I don't know what went wrong. Really sorry.

I know there was some further discussion about inconsistencies with counter pressure filling and PET bottles, so might be that - I've not had a lot of experience with PET and CP so I can't say.

In any case, for those that might be interested, this was my Leffe Radieuse clone

And as ever - thanks to @Alastair70 for organising again.

 

[tondy79]

In any case, for those that might be interested, this was my Leffe Radieuse clone

This Radieuse clone is on my list to try, though I have also never tried a real Radieuse..

 

[UKSkydiver]

This Radieuse clone is on my list to try, though I have also never tried a real Radieuse..

I think I commented on my brew days thread on this.

My impressions were that it was caramelly with little to no hop character, which is not an issue for me.

There is a bit of fuselly heat in there, but nothing too harsh. Might have been my ferment regime.

I don't think my brew had any / much Belgian character. It was my first time using Flushed Nun, so I'd probably change for Monk next time.

But, hey, what do I know?

 

[Kentish Mike]

My apologies to my secret Santas for taking so long to post my reviews!
It's been an uncommonly busy Christmas with young children and hosting family from overseas. I finally got around to drinking the 4.2% milk stout on NYE.
It was delicious! A very slight hiss on opening, and no head despite a vigorous poor. I got lots of roastyness with toffee and treacle and a bitterness that I thought was more from the malt than hops this was balanced with a tangy lactic sweetness. Very drinkable and thoroughly enjoyed! My wife thought it tasted quite similar to the black sheep milk stout. I saw the other bottle reviewed in this thread and it looked to have a beautiful head so think mine might have been a little under-carbed. I also noticed that my glass wasn't perfectly "beer clean" so that can't have helped.
Thanks very much for sending it!

 

[Kentish Mike]

Annoyingly I've now come down with a bit of a head-cold/severe incapacitating man-flu. I have lovely looking California Common that's been staring at me from the back of the fridge for far too long, but I want to wait until I can smell and taste properly again before enjoying it!

 

[MickDundee]

@Griff097 @MickDundee These were my brews.

@MickDundee I'm sorry you had a duff one.

Both were in PET bottles and both were counter pressure filled from the corny in the same timeframe. We have been drinking the same brew from the corny over Christmas without issue. Both bottles were as clean as each other and sanitised prior to filling. So I don't know what went wrong. Really sorry.

I know there was some further discussion about inconsistencies with counter pressure filling and PET bottles, so might be that - I've not had a lot of experience with PET and CP so I can't say.

In any case, for those that might be interested, this was my Leffe Radieuse clone

And as ever - thanks to @Alastair70 for organising again.

Don’t worry about it, I’ve had similar issues with counter pressure filling - the best Helles I’ve ever brewed only scored 17 in the Scottish National comp last year for the same reason

 

[MashBag]

Nicely carbonated. Easy drinking. Biscuit notes. Nice fluffy head. Thank you Santa

 

[starseeker]

My apologies to my secret Santas for taking so long to post my reviews!
It's been an uncommonly busy Christmas with young children and hosting family from overseas. I finally got around to drinking the 4.2% milk stout on NYE.
It was delicious! A very slight hiss on opening, and no head despite a vigorous poor. I got lots of roastyness with toffee and treacle and a bitterness that I thought was more from the malt than hops this was balanced with a tangy lactic sweetness. Very drinkable and thoroughly enjoyed! My wife thought it tasted quite similar to the black sheep milk stout. I saw the other bottle reviewed in this thread and it looked to have a beautiful head so think mine might have been a little under-carbed. I also noticed that my glass wasn't perfectly "beer clean" so that can't have helped.
Thanks very much for sending it!

Thank you for yours and SMP Brewery's very kind reviews ,
Very pleased that you both enjoyed my beers,

Cheers