THBF Secret Santa - The Results Thread!

[BarnsleyBrewer]

I WANT TO BE LOVED

 

[bobsbeer]

Just think John. You still have something to look forward to. The rest just have happy memories. :

 

[Crastney]

Here's my review.
I recieved this incredibly well packed:

it opened with a fizz, and poured well, got some head.
it looked great in the home brew forum glass.
swmbo said that it's definitely been made by someone who knows how to brew beer (I think the implication there is that I don't!)
my pallatte is terrible so I can't really give a good review only to say that it tasted lovely, and felt a lot stronger than the the 3.8% that it said it was. perhaps a little bitter for my tastes but perfectly drinkable.
it kept it's head, and was lightly carbonated. It didn't taste anything like the pint of Guinness that I thought it would taste like, and all the better for it.

 

[DirtyCaner]

Evening Folks,

Well, I finally got round to sampling my Secret Santa beer as seen in photo:-

I let the bottle stand in the cold for over a week to allow to settle. On pouring it was a cloudy, muddy brown colour. There appeared to be no carbonation and very little head formation which quickly dispersed (my glass was rinsed out with water prior to pouring as always). The nose had a toffee malty character, akin to a barley wine. The body was a little thin and watery, and a slightly acrid bitter aftertaste that lingered on the tongue. However, there were also some particles floating throughout the beer. With no carbonation I didn't really enjoy this pint.

Santa, I'm sorry if my comments are a little harsh, I don't doubt that you put a lot of care and effort into your beer. I am being 100% honest. I wondered if perhaps the seal had failed in the cap and that is why there was no carbonation? Or perhaps the brew had become infected or partially oxidised somewhow? I don't know, but I think something went wrong with my bottle along the way.

I would be interested in hearing the recipe, I really liked the toffee nose and flavour that I got hints of but as the beer was completely flat this did not make for an enjoyable pint.

DirtyCaner

 

[Aleman]

I sampled mine on Christmas Eve, but due to a cock up was unable to put the pictures up until today.

I got an English Ale at 5.2% . . In a coopers pet bottle, it arrived some time ago so was put in the beer store to cool and settle out. From squeezing the bottle I knew it had a good degree of carbonation. Fill Level was a little low, I'd raise it up to 1" from the top of the bottle.

It had excellent head formation, and was an amber colour, so spot on for style so far. Image does not do it justice as it was clearer than this but as you can see was well carbonated . . . Too much for my tastes so I knocked out some of the carbonation with my trusty pocket beer engine. . . . This gave me a fruity aroma, with hints of melon and lemon . . . with an undertone of malt.

Taste wise . . . An incredibly bitter hit full of citrus and pine resin, way over bittered for style, and I suspect from the flavours that few if any English hops were used, this would do better as an American Amber or American Ale.

A Very hop forward beer with some malt notes, not a beer I would buy again in a pub i'm afraid, I was tasting hops an hour after drinking it. . . . Not saying it was a bad beer, but not really my thing

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Still no Santa for BB....

 

[PD]

ask Rob to pm your sendee

 

[jonnymorris]

A Very hop forward beer with some malt notes, not a beer I would buy again in a pub i'm afraid, I was tasting hops an hour after drinking it. . . . Not saying it was a bad beer, but not really my thing

Sending your brew to Aleman... that was always going to be a tough sale.

 

[RobWalker]

If you havn't sent or received your bottle, please PM me and i'll try to sort out the stragglers. It's about the right time I reakon! In a week or two I will be posting who had who so you can tear each other to pieces :

 

[Asalpaws]

Sent mine but not seen it yet? Maybe the post Baboons had it....

 

[keith1664]

Sent mine but not seen it yet? Maybe the post Baboons had it....

Same here, hopefully it arrived ok and I'd like to know what the recipient thought of it, is anyone still sitting on theirs?

 

[calumscott]

With the added benefit of a bump...

...I'd like to say a big thank you to Rob for organising the Secret Santa. I think it has been really well received across the board, great fun and something that should IMO become an annual event.

So :hat: to Rob. Thanks!

 

[fbsf]

Indeed - many thanks Rob - it's been a blast and one I'd love to do again.

And (drum roll please) Santa has been especially nice to me and sent me another bottle - and it was so well wrapped there was no way on earth a nuclear explosion, let alone the RM Baboons were going to break it! Many thanks Secret Santa - you didn't have to do this, but I really appreciate it!

I'm going to let it settle until the weekend, so expect a report then...

 

[calumscott]

Santa has been especially nice to me and sent me another bottle

Christmas spirit right there! :hat: and :thumb: to your Santa!

 

[evanvine]

ask Rob to pm your sendee

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't BB the "sendee" and the mystery man the "sender"? :wha:

 

[calumscott]

ask Rob to pm your sendee

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't BB the "sendee" and the mystery man the "sender"? :wha:

No correction required... you are right.

 

[PD]

that the benefit of a good education. posh nottingham bugger

 

[stevie1556]

Here is my review, although a little late. I did have pictures, but I can't find them :cry:

I received a well packed Coopers plastic bottle (best way to post them in my opinion, especially after seeing some smashed bottles on here). It was a Black IPA. It poured very nicely with a smallish head, although it may have had a bigger head if I had a pint glass. It smelt a bit like liquorice, very clean. I don't really like liquorice, but it did smell good so I tried a small sip first. I found the Black IPA very very drinkabke and it sidnt last too long. The taste reminded me of Guinness, very clean, great taste, nice aftertaste. Whoever brewed this should be very proud of themselves and I thank you greatly for a wonderful drink! :

 

[evanvine]

that the benefit of a good education. posh nottingham bugger

No, it's wasting time doing crosswords!

 

[loppy]

Happy new year home brew forum,here goes my secret santa review.
I recieved my package well before Christmas well packaged and intact.
Was hoping to get a nice all grain brew as i have never tried one and was curious to see what
the difference was :pray: .So i held my breath opened up my package and found a bottle of wine inside,blueberry and nettle t bag wine 12% to be exact.I must say at first i was a little bit gutted :evil: ,but after the initial shock wore off i thought to myself well give it a go and see it might be good stuff at least it would get me more drunk than a pint of beer and i knew the missus would like it
cause im always making fruit wine and the like for her.
Anyway didn't get to drink it over Crimbo as i got sick with that nasty gastric bug going around vomiting with a side order of the scoots!
So all better now and thought darts final tonight with a nice bottle of secret santa wine.
Cracked open the bottle and poured my first glass the missus didn't want to drink that night swilled it around as you do and had a good smell of the contents and first impression was loads of fruity slightly sweet and very pleasent on the nose.
Then i had my first taste and was very pleased with what i had recieved from my secret santa very well rounded blueberry
flavours,didn't get much nettle in there not that i would know what nettles tasted like this wine is slightly on the sweet side but not sickly sweet at all just nice and fruity.so i asked the missus to try it and that was it,had to go and get another glass out of the kitchen for her cause she was loving it.
I think this wine has had a good conditioning time as all the flavours were lovely and mellow and well rounded.
This wine tasted better with every glass and was sad to see the end of the bottle as i would have loved another one.
Would definitely love to try and make this recipe for drinking in the summer.
So thank you so much secret santa for my first bottle of wine in 2013 and what a great one it was. :hat:

Edited by admin to insert the image :thumb: