Strange-steve's Homebrew Reviews

[JFB]

Cheers Steve, I'd agree totally with your comments
It had more cherry when it was young(it's not that old). I think I added them to early.
Next year's batch I'll sit on my hands a little longer let the beer mature and add a lot more cherry's.
Luckily I have loads of local trees that folk around here seem to ignore
The sour beer learning game is such a long learning curve that can go in some strange directions .
Thanks for tasting

 

[strange-steve]

Cheers Steve, I'd agree totally with your comments
It had more cherry when it was young(it's not that old). I think I added them to early.
Next year's batch I'll sit on my hands a little longer let the beer mature and add a lot more cherry's.
Luckily I have loads of local trees that folk around here seem to ignore
The sour beer learning game is such a long learning curve that can go in some strange directions .
Thanks for tasting

How much cherry did you add out of curiosity?

 

[Clint]

Today's beer is a Cherry Red Ale by @JFB, and I'm not sure I've ever had a homebrewed kriek so looking forward to this...

Aroma
Beautiful complex aroma combining sweet, sharp, fruity, funky, and spicy. The cherry comes through really nicely, very prominent with the distinctive delicious almond aroma. This takes me back to the Cantillon tap room.

Appearance
Stunning red colour with a fluffy pink head. Good head retention, nice lacing. Medium carbonation.

Flavour
Quite sharp up front with a clean, fruity, acidity that reminds me of lemon and sharp apples. No vinegar at all in the acidity. The cherry flavour is there adding to the fruitiness as well as a soft nuttiness, but it's more subtle than on the nose. The brett flavours again are fairly subtle, with just a hint of funk and there's a refreshing bitter hop flavour in the finish, which leaves a sort of drying, grape skin effect on the palate making this very drinkable, especially for a >7% beer.

Overall Impression
On my first sip I have to admit I was a little disappointed that the cherry wasn't as prominent in the flavour as it was in the aroma, but the more I drank the more I noticed it, and although I haven't seen your recipe this tastes exactly as I'd expect a kriek made with real cherries to taste like. As I mentioned, the aroma took me straight back to the last time a had a proper kriek which was in the Cantillon tap room, and I'll be honest the flavours are similar too, even their's doesn't hit you over the head with the cherry flavour as some of the "fake" krieks do in an artificial way. Tbis beer has that beautiful, clean, crisp, fresh fruitiness that is lacking in beers flavoured with syrups and the like. I feel like it is however missing just a little something that would make this really special. Don't get me wrong I absolutely loved this and it's much better than any attempt I've made at a sour beer, but I was craving just a touch more complexity from the brett flavours that would make this even better. That's just my subjective opinion though and I'm being a little harsh just because this is so good. The carbonation is maybe a tad low for the style but personally I rather like that, and otherwise I can't really fault it. This was wonderful so thanks for sharing mate and I look forward to the next one :hat:

Dracula special! Looks stunning!

 

[JFB]

How much cherry did you add out of curiosity?

As usual I took no notes! It was never the plan to add cherries when I first put this brew on.
I just stumbled on a local park with five cherry trees..
If memory serves me correctly it was two two litre ice-cream tubs.
Could be way out though

 

[IainM]

Hey Steve. It's been a while. After an involuntary 18 months brewing hiatus, I'm back in brew shed. Nothing to celebrate better than to taste the 16.2% imperial stout that has been cold conditioning at 5C at the back of my fridge for the last year and a half. I was saving it for a gathering or tasting session, but not much chance of them right now.

The faintest hiss upon opening, with a rich chocolatey smell, as a big impy should. Not much carbonation to speak of, so I poured it from a height to get a dense dark brown head from the tiny bubbles struggling through the viscous liquid. Loads of roast and speciality malts on the nose. First sip is thick, syrupy, big big stout. Massive bitterness and sweetness balancing out, almost overwhelming the palate, before subsiding into warming alcohol. This a BIG beer, but nice to sip and savour. A real treat. It could give anything from Pohjala or Nerdbrewing a run for its money, even if it wasn't 16.2%! Hats off mate, I never knew a beer could be this big, and to get the balance right and keep the yeast happy enough for it not to descend into fusal hell is quite a feat. Not sure I can do justice in returning the favour, but DM me your address and I've got a bottle of Flander's red with your name on it.

 

[Oneflewover]

Hey Steve. It's been a while. After an involuntary 18 months brewing hiatus, I'm back in brew shed. Nothing to celebrate better than to taste the 16.2% imperial stout that has been cold conditioning at 5C at the back of my fridge for the last year and a half. I was saving it for a gathering or tasting session, but not much chance of them right now.

The faintest hiss upon opening, with a rich chocolatey smell, as a big impy should. Not much carbonation to speak of, so I poured it from a height to get a dense dark brown head from the tiny bubbles struggling through the viscous liquid. Loads of roast and speciality malts on the nose. First sip is thick, syrupy, big big stout. Massive bitterness and sweetness balancing out, almost overwhelming the palate, before subsiding into warming alcohol. This a BIG beer, but nice to sip and savour. A real treat. It could give anything from Pohjala or Nerdbrewing a run for its money, even if it wasn't 16.2%! Hats off mate, I never knew a beer could be this big, and to get the balance right and keep the yeast happy enough for it not to descend into fusal hell is quite a feat. Not sure I can do justice in returning the favour, but DM me your address and I've got a bottle of Flander's red with your name on it.

Good to see you back on here and brewing again Iain. Hope all is well.

 

[IainM]

Good to see you back on here and brewing again Iain. Hope all is well.

Yeah all good. Had to replace the circuit board on the bulldog brewer, then got a new job in pharma, just before the pandemic, so pretty busy. Then the guys who came to do the patio sawed through my armoured cable. Too small a job to get a sparky to bite, so layed a new one myself last weekend. Got a boring ale bubbling away in the brew shed to get back into things, and now I'm tempted to put a big RIS onto the yeast cake.

 

[strange-steve]

Thanks @IainM for the review, and good to see you back on the forum mate :hat:

 

[strange-steve]

This afternoon I'm having a Bretted Bock/Doppelbock sent by @Oneflewover. My last bock had a slight (and unplanned) brett B cross-contamination so it'll be interesting to see how it's supposed to taste...

Aroma
Definite funky/barnyard aroma but also intensely fruity, ripe strawberries and aromatic lemon, and a hint of earthy dark chocolate. Very intriguing.

Appearance
Hazy orange/brown with a huge fluffy head. Excellent head retention throughout.

Flavour
A huge mouthful of melanodin type flavours straight away, not roasted but savoury, nutty, toasty flavours. The fruitiness comes through in the finish but more subdued than the aroma would suggest. Dry and biscuity towards the finish with an earthy brett flavour that is really pleasant.

Overall Impression
I was amazed on the first sip at how the aroma and flavour were like two completely different beers, I was really taken aback by the contrast. I was expecting loads of sweet fruitiness but there really isn't any hint of sweetness at all in the flavour, it's an almost savoury, intensely malty beer. We often incorrectly take the word "malty" to mean sweet but this is a perfect example of how the two are separate concepts. I suspect from the toasty malt flavours that the base beer was a fantastic bock and I'm wondering if you kept some without the brett? That isn't to say that it's worse off with the brett addition, it adds a layer of beautiful complexity and personally I'm yet to taste a brett beer that I didn't like. I think this is a winner, it's unusual but not so much that it becomes gimmicky or weird, the flavours all mesh nicely without anything clashing. The dryness in the finish makes it surprisingly refreshing, the mouthfeel is lightened too by the high carbonation, and I got the impression that it is probably higher in alcohol than the drinkability suggests, although there is no alcohol in the flavour at all. Another great beer mate, one to be proud of for sure so many thanks for sending this :hat:

 

[Oneflewover]

This afternoon I'm having a Bretted Bock/Doppelbock sent by @Oneflewover. My last bock had a slight (and unplanned) brett B cross-contamination so it'll be interesting to see how it's supposed to taste...

Aroma
Definite funky/barnyard aroma but also intensely fruity, ripe strawberries and aromatic lemon, and a hint of earthy dark chocolate. Very intriguing.

Appearance
Hazy orange/brown with a huge fluffy head. Excellent head retention throughout.

Flavour
A huge mouthful of melanodin type flavours straight away, not roasted but savoury, nutty, toasty flavours. The fruitiness comes through in the finish but more subdued than the aroma would suggest. Dry and biscuity towards the finish with an earthy brett flavour that is really pleasant.

Overall Impression
I was amazed on the first sip at how the aroma and flavour were like two completely different beers, I was really taken aback by the contrast. I was expecting loads of sweet fruitiness but there really isn't any hint of sweetness at all in the flavour, it's an almost savoury, intensely malty beer. We often incorrectly take the word "malty" to mean sweet but this is a perfect example of how the two are separate concepts. I suspect from the toasty malt flavours that the base beer was a fantastic bock and I'm wondering if you kept some without the brett? That isn't to say that it's worse off with the brett addition, it adds a layer of beautiful complexity and personally I'm yet to taste a brett beer that I didn't like. I think this is a winner, it's unusual but not so much that it becomes gimmicky or weird, the flavours all mesh nicely without anything clashing. The dryness in the finish makes it surprisingly refreshing, the mouthfeel is lightened too by the high carbonation, and I got the impression that it is probably higher in alcohol than the drinkability suggests, although there is no alcohol in the flavour at all. Another great beer mate, one to be proud of for sure so many thanks for sending this :hat:

Glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for the really helpful review. I had to have a couple before I got my head around it, but I like it. I sent one to @Nicks90 and he seemed to enjoy it too. I brewed around 18L of the base beer, and only bretted a gallon, so have plenty unbretted. Still lagering, but it's promising. Anyway, thanks again