Xmas Swap 2018 Review Thread

[Oneflewover]

The first of my 2 beers is 'chrimbo juice', a 6% DDH (whatever that is!?) Pale.

Low level of carbonation, guessing it's been bottled from keg? Lots of citrus on the nose, then pine and tropical fruit. Guessing citra and Simcoe, posssibly Amarillo too?

Lingering bitterness that clears the pallete and makes you want to go back for another swig.

Very enjoyable, congratulations and thanks to the brewer/ Santa :hat:

 

[Leon103]

@Leon103 @Ciaran12s

The Big Ring IHL was my creation. Thank you for the kind review and I'm really glad you both enjoyed it. It was indeed bottled from a keg and this was my first attempt at doing that, so I'm glad it made it to you in good condition.

It's inspired by Camden Town Brewery's IHL and is hopped like and American IPA but has a Pilsner base and is fermented with Saflager W-34/70. It was lagered at 2C for around a month before being bottled and sent. The darkness comes from a little Munich.

The dry hop was fairly large at 150g in 12L and despite the lagering it hasn't cleared. I never fine as my wife is vegetarian.

Recipe is below if you are interested. Happy Christmas! :)

View attachment 17029 View attachment 17030 View attachment 17031

I saw the Camden one when doing some research
Recipes looks good. Will give it a go some time

 

[strange-steve]

This is the second from my sender, a Coconut Wheat Beer.

This is a really interesting beer, and I love coconut so this is right up my street. The coconut is very noticable without taking over and it's another very beautiful looking beer. I was pleased to recieve a rather unusual beer, and it's going down nicely, so thanks again :hat:

 

[Ghillie]

My Santa very kindly sent me two beers so this is the first one, a Saaz Lager.

Despite organising the swaps I genuinely can't remember who sent me this, and rather than check I thought I'd stick to the spirt of this and keep it secret.

The first impression was that this is a beautiful looking beer. Very pale straw colour and extraordinarily clear.

This drinks really nicely, light bready pils malt flavours. Quite a lot of residual sweetness due to the low bitterness level. This went down rather well after a big lunch so thank you very much and I'm looking forward to the second one :hat:

That's one of mine Steve, as was the coconut pale. Glad you liked them and have a very merry Xmas

 

[brewhaha]

Thank you, it was a lovely beer!

Was there any Dill in it or was that a red herring??

I see that Dill is also a flavour descriptor for Sorachi Ace.

Yeh it was just the Sorachi, no added dill. The last version had a huge dill aroma but just didn't materialise this time.

 

[Leon103]

My second swap was a Blackies Dry Iris (I think they meant irish) stout.

Lively presented in a swing top bottle, it was nice to get a full pint for a change.

Dark black that poured with a thin tan head. A lovely example of a stout. Nice chocolate aromas, not too bitter which I often see in homebrew stouts.

Really enjoyed this. Thanks Santa.

 

[IainM]

Drinking my Russian Imperial stout (i think, lost the bit of paper, that's what it tastes like)
Vely nice..
Super rich, almost salty soy sauce initial mouthfeel giving way to more complexity.. getting some nice spicy notes that meld with the alcohol. A finish of liquorice and toasty roast flavour.
I'm guessing a pretty complex grain bill went into this. It reminds me of my Kate the Great clone of a few years back which had an absurd grain bill. I'm maybe imagining a bit of Oak in there, but could well be just the complexity of malts on offer. Could also be a touch of something like port or bourbon but i think that's just my experience of making similar Beers.
Also reminds me of a bier de molen affair i can't remember the name of now.
Yup, really decent beer. No off notes at all. Personally im leaning towards lower bodied expressions these days but this is perfect as a warm up to crimbo excess. Now that half a glass is gone it's starting to open up some black berry and currant. Yer. Yeeer!

Glad you liked it! No oak, but spot on about the complex grain bill, with melanoidin and special w amongst the usual suspects.

 

[IainM]

Just supping a bottle of Turkey Chef's Breakfast Bitter, a very quaffable 3.6% bitter. Pours clear with a white head, letting off an unmistakably English bitter aroma. A very nice beer, perfectly balanced between dry and sweet, bitter and malty, yeast character coming through as the beer warms up. Cheers to whoever sent me this, very nice to have a refreshing bitter after all the heavy rich food!

 

[Martybhoy]

This was Teddy's Stout, which I have not long finished. I took it out the fridge for about 20 mins so as not to be too cold .

Nice bright head, not the dark tan you sometimes see in stouts. Perfect carbonation and body. Yeast was glued to the bottom of the bottle.

A lovely sessionable stout, not too roasty. But nice and clean. Similar to an Irish stout.

I struggle to brew stouts so I was glad to receive one in the swap, and really enjoyed drinking this.

I'd be delighted if I could brew a stout like this.

Thanks and well done to whoever brewed this.

 

[AleofWight]

My second swap was a Blackies Dry Iris (I think they meant irish) stout.

Lively presented in a swing top bottle, it was nice to get a full pint for a change.

Dark black that poured with a thin tan head. A lovely example of a stout. Nice chocolate aromas, not too bitter which I often see in homebrew stouts.

Really enjoyed this. Thanks Santa.

Glad you liked it!, My first Stout brewed and my first taste of Stout too(maybe had a sip of Guinness about 25yrs ago) I liked it too so will definitely brew it again. Ps my Daughters name is Iris so must of been day dreaming.
Happy Christmas

 

[AleofWight]

First beer received was a Ghost Ship clone, lovely aroma on opening, nice and clear beer. Tasted very nice indeed and gave me some nice hoppy burps. Thank you Father Christmas.

Second beer was "Tookaters Tookaters"
Brown ale
Was prewarmed that it may be a gusher so opened with excitement over the sink, not bad at all just a steady lava flow.

A nice malty sweet(for me) beer that went down nicely, a little murky but I think that was the carbonation that stirred it up .
Thank you
Happy Christmas
Sorry no pictures as I was too busy sipping and making lunch.

 

[dan125]

Just supping a bottle of Turkey Chef's Breakfast Bitter, a very quaffable 3.6% bitter. Pours clear with a white head, letting off an unmistakably English bitter aroma. A very nice beer, perfectly balanced between dry and sweet, bitter and malty, yeast character coming through as the beer warms up. Cheers to whoever sent me this, very nice to have a refreshing bitter after all the heavy rich food!

Cheers Iain - glad you liked it.

 

[mitchmalt]

I had mine yesterday, and made notes, which I have managed to write up (see the pencil at the ready!)

5 Hours of soothing space doom.

5.6%

Poured a hazy pale colour with a decent head in the tulip glass, although that head fell quickly is could be roused easily with a swirl! The nose was very fresh with light hop aroma and for me a faint grass note. On the palate the malt gave a biscuit taste which was well balanced by the hops which provided a faint bitter finish. The outstanding feature was me was the mouthfeel which was very smooth and made you want to drink it quickly, which I did. The empty glass left some light lacing and with no off flavours detectable to me, this was a great session-able pale ale. Thanks a lot.

 

[mitchmalt]

View attachment 17035

This was Teddy's Stout, which I have not long finished. I took it out the fridge for about 20 mins so as not to be too cold .

Nice bright head, not the dark tan you sometimes see in stouts. Perfect carbonation and body. Yeast was glued to the bottom of the bottle.

A lovely sessionable stout, not too roasty. But nice and clean. Similar to an Irish stout.

I struggle to brew stouts so I was glad to receive one in the swap, and really enjoyed drinking this.

I'd be delighted if I could brew a stout like this.

Thanks and well done to whoever brewed this.

Cheers, that was me. This is the second time I have brewed this one, it’s a Maltmiller recipe that I changed a tiny bit so can’t really take full credit. Glad it arrived in good condition and that you enjoyed it. thanks for the feedback

 

[jceg316]

View attachment 17036 I had mine yesterday, and made notes, which I have managed to write up (see the pencil at the ready!)

5 Hours of soothing space doom.

5.6%

Poured a hazy pale colour with a decent head in the tulip glass, although that head fell quickly is could be roused easily with a swirl! The nose was very fresh with light hop aroma and for me a faint grass note. On the palate the malt gave a biscuit taste which was well balanced by the hops which provided a faint bitter finish. The outstanding feature was me was the mouthfeel which was very smooth and made you want to drink it quickly, which I did. The empty glass left some light lacing and with no off flavours detectable to me, this was a great session-able pale ale. Thanks a lot.

Thanks for the nice write up! It was made with homegrown hops and I'm quite pleased with it. Glad you enjoyed it too!

 

[Martybhoy]

Cheers, that was me. This is the second time I have brewed this one, it’s a Maltmiller recipe that I changed a tiny bit so can’t really take full credit. Glad it arrived in good condition and that you enjoyed it. thanks for the feedback

Hi Mitch, can I ask which Maltmiller recipe it was, and what you changed.

 

[dan125]

My first is 'Kaiser Saison'
Really enjoyed this - lively carbonation, dry finish and a mild saison pepperiness. Perfectly refreshing and super drinkable.
Great beer. Thanks Santa!

 

[Ajhutch]

This was my second beer from Santa @Ghillie a Saaz Lager. A beautiful beer, poured crystal clear (there’s still bubbles rising in the picture) and a very pale almost straw colour. A really clean lager, nicely bittered and very refreshing. I finished it in about 5 minutes and wanted another. Thanks Santa!

 

[RichardM]

First beer received was a Ghost Ship clone, lovely aroma on opening, nice and clear beer. Tasted very nice indeed and gave me some nice hoppy burps. Thank you Father Christmas.

.......

Thank you
Happy Christmas
Sorry no pictures as I was too busy sipping and making lunch.

Glad you enjoyed it. It proved popular with everyone who tried it

 

[Ghillie]

This was my second beer from Santa @Ghillie a Saaz Lager. A beautiful beer, poured crystal clear (there’s still bubbles rising in the picture) and a very pale almost straw colour. A really clean lager, nicely bittered and very refreshing. I finished it in about 5 minutes and wanted another. Thanks Santa!

Thanks @Ajhutch, I really appreciate your kind words.

That lager went into the keg inside 6 weeks using the Brulosophy lager method too.

Have a great Xmas!