THBF Secret Santa - The Results Thread!

[RobWalker]

so, received and drunk yesterday!

It was an IPA, not sure on the strength so I went easy! On pouring, a lovely coppery brown with decent head retention. First impressions, a really in your face IPA, my sender must know me well :

A quarter of the way down, I'm more than pleased. It has all the hop punch of a great ipa, spicy, piney and intense with a mouth watering hop aftertaste. The malt flavour is lovely and soft, just enough to lift the hops through, resulting in a massively drinkable beer! I would put this next to the likes of Oakham Citra, Stone Ruination or Tiny Rebel Baby's Got A Temper.

A massive hats off to the brewer, top work! I still can't understand why everybody's beer tastes softer than mine though :lol:

Thank you secret santa! :hat:

 

[keith1664]

My turn, this has had a good week to settle and a couple of hours in the fridge so it should be ready to go.

It opened with a nice hiss and poured with very little in the way of head, what there was dissipated very quickly, carbonation however was spot on.

In the photo it looks very dark but when held up to the light you see a deep copper brown, it's also nice and clear.

The note that came with the beer states that it's an Old Ale at 5.9%. It hit's the style. I have a cold at the moment but what I got of the aroma was mainly dried fruit with hints of malt and roast.
On tasting again lots of dried fruit. There's quite a lot of sweetness there as well, I suppose with this being an old ale I shouldn't expect lots of hops but if brewing it to my taste I'd use a few more hops to balance the sweetness.

It has however all gone now and I've thoroughly enjoyed drinking it, so thanks very much to the brewer.... Whoever you are.

 

[abeyptfc]

Merry Xmas folks, and to my secret santa sender!

I wonder what is under this Santa hat?

the beer has been sitting in the fridge since Tuesday and is nice and clear.

When opening there was quite a big psssssst and the beer started rushing out the bottle so I poured as slowly as I could, only got 3/4 out of the bottle and ended up with this.... p.s. anyone got a flake for that? managed to pour the rest in once the head died down.

In for the kill, after I got by the head I took a big glug.

quite sad I'm near the end, THBF glass on the go.

despite the carbonation it is still a lovely beer.I will try and best describe it but have never really done it before.
nose - it does have a sweet citrussy smell.
Tasting - very clean tasting with great mouthfeel, citrus flavours , hints of lemon,lime,orange/marmalade, I'm also getting a touch of honey. after each sip the different citrus flavours roll down your tongue and leaves a lingering sweet taste that makes you ready for another sip. what a cracking beer, I need the recipe for this.I would guess this is around 4-5%

cheers guys :

 

[calumscott]

I've decided that mine is staying in the stash until either Boxing Day or they day after on account of being mildly pissed tonight (I love auto correct) and too strung out tomorrow...

...can't wait to try it mind!!!

 

[kentmark]

Reading this thread I now wish I joined in. Like the suggestion to put a plastic bottle aside of each brew through the year ready for next crimbo if this happens again.

 

[RobWalker]

Theres rumours of an easter swap...but I'm not organizing it, too stressful! :p

 

[evanvine]

Theres rumours of an easter swap...but I'm not organizing it, too stressful! :p

Quite right too, your name isn't in big red letters!

 

[stevie1556]

Theres rumours of an easter swap...but I'm not organizing it, too stressful! :p

I don't mind attempting to organise an Easter one! May be hard to beat the great job you did though!

 

[The Goatreich]

Apart from the bad blood earlier this thread is brilliant! I wish I joined in. Well done everybody, next time I'll get involved if I have a brew at a suitable level of maturity.

 

[RokDok]

Theres rumours of an easter swap...but I'm not organizing it, too stressful! :p

I don't mind attempting to organise an Easter one! May be hard to beat the great job you did though!

Please,

Thanks

This has been a hoot

RD

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Mine's still a secret, not had owt yet...

BB

 

[graysalchemy]

Perhaps the sender is a tight wad yorkshireman as well. :lol: :lol:

 

[Frogfurlong]

Perhaps the sender is a tight wad yorkshireman as well. :lol: :lol:

It'll have been sent via Courier pigeon :lol:

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Perhaps the sender is a tight wad yorkshireman as well. :lol: :lol:

It'll have been sent via Courier pigeon :lol:

Be just my luck to drop on a duplicate of me... lol :shock:

 

[evanvine]

Perhaps the sender is a tight wad yorkshireman as well.

Yes, you tend to get that north of the Erewash! :whistle:

 

[Asalpaws]

Not seen mine yet, I definatley posted it despite being Welsh :)

 

[calumscott]

Ah... Christmas leftovers. Turkey, ham, cheese, crackers (the biscuity ones), pickles...

A decent beer is clearly required to accompany such fare. Fortune, it seems, has favoured me through the medium of Secret Santa having recieved what the label proffesses to be a Schiehallion clone. It's an odd beer is Schiehallion, being a cask conditioned lager, but it is an absolute belter of a brew, sublime to the last drop and with tons of punchy hoppiness...

...someone has attempted to clone a very good beer and a nailed-on favourite of mine. Big boots to fill!!

The beer is named after the mountain which is in itself famous for an early and surprisingly successful experiment to attempt to measure the mass of the earth. It's also an absolute joy and all at once a nightmare to climb, given that it has at least six "false tops" that make you think you're nearly there, then present you with yet another slog to yet another "summit". It's also the first place I ever looked DOWN into a jet fighter cockpit as it streaked through the glen a couple of hundred feet below me...

The bottle has been in my stash now for a week and a bit so was nicely settled and at pretty much perfect celar temperature. A good Pfffssst as the cap came off gave a hint of good lagery carbonation and a little citrus hint crept out, good omens.

On pouring, a nice head formed but it lasted only in the form of a thin film of bubbles, to be fair that did make it to the bottom of the glass.

Aromawise, there was superb citrus hops, and alcohol. This secret santa has decided to ratchet up the ABV a touch to just over 6% and it is there in the nose. No bad thing, the original has so much character that it could easily handle a bit more Oooomph.

Colour, pale, pale straw. A little haze, but that could easily be down to only a week to settle after a traumatic journey through the postal service, but could also be down to the wheat malt that Harviestoun use in the original being deployed in this clone.

The flavour is, well, brilliant. I've seen numerous recipes for this and they all seem to use different hops but mostly lager/pilsner friendly ones that I'm not too familiar with so I'm not going to hazard any guess as to what they were, suffice it to say they were beautifully balanced and there were plenty of them!! There was only the slightest, tiny hint of ale-ness to it which leads me to think that secret santa has paid very close attention to fermentation temperature and used a proper lager yeast.

So just like it's namesake mountain, it's a cheeky scamp, no real walk-in to speak of, just hits you with the full scale of the climb, and keeps you guessing right to the glorious end.

All in all, I could just go another one!!! One day, when I have the brewery fully built and have a proper fermentation environment, I'll be looking for this recipe for the beefed up Schiehallion. Well done secret santa for your beer... less well done in the hiding your identity department... :lol:

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Santa doesn't love me.... :sulk: :sulk: :sulk: :sulk:

 

[dennisking]

Santa doesn't love me.... :sulk: :sulk: :sulk: :sulk:

He's probably from Lancashire.

 

[graysalchemy]

Santa doesn't love me.... :sulk: :sulk: :sulk: :sulk:

He's probably from Lancashire.

:whistle: :whistle: