Time to decide.

[snail59]

As my brewery build progresses ive decided to find out what I do & don't like. A trip to my local Beer supermarket this mornong has produced these.

From left to right.
Wells Banana Bread Beer, Youngs Double Choc Stout, Crabbie's Ginger Beer, Wolf Wistle, St Peter's Honey Portter & Wolf's Lavender Honey Beer.

I will be tasting these to find out just what kind of Beer's to brew once im up & ready to go.

I also got my hands on these.

Echt Veldensteiner Landbeir. I know I wont be brewing any of this it's bloody horrid not to my taste at all, but at £1 a bottle they were cheap enough to buy just for the swing top bottles

 

[artyb]

which ''beer supermarket' ...?

would like some of those swing tops....

 

[snail59]

which ''beer supermarket' ...?

would like some of those swing tops....

This one Arty

http://www.beersofeurope.co.uk/

They sell off the out of date stock cheap and the swing tops were in there today couldn't turn them down at a quid a bottle. Contents is dam awful. Shame they only had 14

 

[Sean_Mc]

I tend to buy two or three beers a month, just to compare my brews to commercial ones.
Like the look of the banana bread beer, never tried it yet though

 

[TheGhosty]

st peters brewery is a local of mine and i find they ale very nice so be interesting to see what this one is like : :drink:

 

[unclepumble]

I love St Peters beers they are allways very nice not tried the honey porter sounds :thumb: :drink: , I am not a fan of the banana bread, the chocolate stouts alright but never seen the other two,

Get the german stuff in the slug traps in the garden and make some use of it.

UP

 

[TheGhosty]

Have just realised this is near me i can feel a family day out to kings lynn coming on!!

 

[snail59]

Now please realise I am not a qualified beer taster and all comments in this thread are my own opinion and judgement is made based on my own personel tastes. Oh and Mrs Snail is testing them with me.

So first up is the Banana Bread Beer from the Wells Brewery.

This opens with a pleasent hiss and the smoking gun CO2 whisps. The first thing to hit you is the Banana Bread smell (which made me smile) then there is an aroma of hops that follows (no idea as to the hops used). It is well carbonated and gives a good head which soon calms down. So far so good. Now the taste. Oh dear. There is a back taste of Banana Bread but the over powering taste is the hops & the bitterness and not to mine nor Mrs Snails likeing. For me the Banana should have been the dominent taste with the hops acting as backup. For the two of us this is a dissapointment. Now im sure there are those who have & those who will drink this and say ummm nice whats he on about but as I say at the begining these are only the un educated ramblings of me & Mrs Snail. Beer

 

[Aleman]

So first up is the Banana Bread Beer from the Wells Brewery.<snip>There is a back taste of Banana Bread but the over powering taste is the hops & the bitterness and not to mine nor Mrs Snails likeing. For me the Banana should have been the dominent taste with the hops acting as backup.

I wish I had got the hop bitterness for methe Bannana was overpowering and just made me certain of one thing.




Bananas have no place in beer :twisted:

 

[unclepumble]

For Me the only beer that should have any flavour or smell of bananas is a wheat beer, as a result of the yeast.

Banana bread beer should be kept in Wells bloody deep ones!

UP

 

[snail59]

OK ding ding seconds out round two.

Wolf Brewerys Whistle. 4.7%abv

Again this opened with a pleasing hiss and the CO2 smoke. A nice redish colour and not as much carbonation as before( which is not a bad thing). Nice head which soon subcided and continued as a light laceing right to the end (see im getting the hang of the terminology). A nice hop aroma (according to the label its late addition american cluster hops). A slight hint of citrus lies beneath the hop bitterness but does not try to overpower. The bitterness seems to melow (not that it is over bitter at the start) as you get down the glass. A pleasing enough beer that I would not turn down if offered but would not go out of my way to make my 1st choice. In summery a drinkable beer but does not have the wow factor for me.

 

[snail59]

Iv'e done my jobs for the day, tested the new boiler, racked off a raspberry-strawberry-loganberry tea bag wine & cleaned 14 swingtop bottles. So it's time for a beer.

Young Choc Stout. 5.2%abv

Again this opens with a hiss and CO2 smoke lingers inside the neck of the bottle. The chocolate smell arrives followed with a pleasent aroma of hops. Now you will notice the glass is not full that is because Mrs Snail insisted hers was poured straight from the bottle and not from my glass. The beer has a nice dark colour and would not pass a fek test. The head is a nutty brown and calms to form a laceing that climgs to the glass all the way down. Now neither me nor Mrs Snail are stout lovers but this realy hits the spot. There is a chocolate taste mixed with a slight hop bitterness and a nutty coffee under currant. None of these over power and to me are well balanced. Mrs Snails reaction was OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH nice make some NOW. IF THERE IS A CLONE RECIPIE OUT THERE FOR THIS i WANT IT. It is not a session drink but it is a beer we would drink on a regular baseis when you feel like a pint of something different.

 

[snail59]

Time for a BEER.

Wolf Brewerys Lavender Honey Beer. 3.7%

Do all commercial Beers open with a hiss and CO2 smoke. Nice hop aroma and appears to have the same hop smell as the Whistle & Wells Banana Bread. Light Golden colour in fact you might say it is honey coloured. Well carbonated giving a good head that soon subcides into a light lacing that clings to the glass all the way down. There is no hit of Honey to the nose. This is a realy nice Beer. Hoppy but not overly bitter like the Banana Bread Beer was.. There is a bitterness but it is pleasent and the bitterness fades on the back of the tounge to leave a hint of honey taste. Both myself and Mrs Snail like this and this is a style of Beer I would like to brew.

 

[monk]

So first up is the Banana Bread Beer from the Wells Brewery.

Just picked one of these up yesterday, to sample and review for my blog (excuse to drink weird beer). Sorry to hear you didn't like it. That certainly helps you in figuring out what you like/don't like though. Plus, it would've been a bummer had you enjoyed it, as homebrewing with bananas is no doubt a major pain in the butt.

 

[snail59]

So first up is the Banana Bread Beer from the Wells Brewery.

Just picked one of these up yesterday, to sample and review for my blog (excuse to drink weird beer). Sorry to hear you didn't like it. That certainly helps you in figuring out what you like/don't like though. Plus, it would've been a bummer had you enjoyed it, as homebrewing with bananas is no doubt a major pain in the butt.

Be interesting to hear what you think Monk.

 

[snail59]

Now this could be were I spout even more tripe than I already have.

This next beer was chosen for two reasons. I liked the Bottle & I have never knowingly drunk a Porter.

St Peter's Honey Porter. 4.5%

Now im unsure as to what to expect as I have no real idea as to what a Porter type Beer is. It opens with a gentle hiss and a faint ghostly wisp of CO2 smoke. A gentle aroma of chocolate & coffee with a subtle hint of hops greats the nose. It pours to reveal a dark mahogany redish brown coloured Beer with a brownish tinged head. This first gives the impression of a stout type beer but the first taste tells you it realy is not a stout or a bitter. The taste of this beer is excelent. The first thing to appear is a taste of real straight from the hive bees waxy honey then a subtle coffee, Chocolate taste is mixed with a very light hoppyness. There is no real bitterness to this beer but that does not mean it is sweet either it is just oh I dont know it's just nice. No it's more than nice it's very nice. So iv'e gone from not knowing what a Porter is to being a fan of them. well this one at least.

 

[snail59]

Just had the Bottle of Crabbie's Ginger Beer.

Oh Dear big dissapointment. Very SWEET and over carbonated. Ive not been happy with my own attempts at an alchoholic Ginger Beer but they were better than this. Wont be getting another one of these.

 

[monk]

So first up is the Banana Bread Beer from the Wells Brewery.

Just picked one of these up yesterday, to sample and review for my blog (excuse to drink weird beer). Sorry to hear you didn't like it. That certainly helps you in figuring out what you like/don't like though. Plus, it would've been a bummer had you enjoyed it, as homebrewing with bananas is no doubt a major pain in the butt.

Be interesting to hear what you think Monk.

Ouch. I tried this one the other night and was not impressed. The aroma is great, but the flavor was, exactly as you mentioned, way overshadowed by a harsh hop bitterness. I'm no pro beer taster or brewer, but I really think that when they brew a beer like banana bread, or pumpkin ale, they should let it have more body and maltiness, and a real de-emphasis on the hops. Just my personal opinion. I wrote about it, and Batemans Multigrain, on the blog.

 

[snail59]

As it was such a hot day today I decided to take Mrs Snail for a ride out in the car so we could walk the dog in the shade of one of our local woods. Now by coincidence it just so happens to get to the one I had chosen we had to go past the local Beer Supermarket. Well it would have been rude not to call in on the way back wouldn't it

So this weeks homework will be.

From left to right. Gwatkin's Blakeney Perry Cider (Mrs Snails choice), Purity's UBU, St Peter's Old Style Porter and Bath Ale's Gem.

 

[Bru4u]

I'm loving this Snail :thumb: