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HoppyBrewer also sent along his recipe sheets, but I didn't take a look at them beforehand. He had indicated that he was looking for an overall review of the beer, without putting it against a style. I'll admit that this made it a bit difficult to judge so I went with my impressions and what I would do differently (if anything), but since I wasn't measuring against a style I decided not to use a point system.
Opened the bottle and got a nice, quick hiss. Some head developed in the bottle but quickly stabilized. It poured excellently, a nice orange-gold color with a thin head that took some time to dissipate.
Aroma
- Distinctly Belgian
- med-high Belgian yeast aroma
- medium spiciness, not pungent
- low citrus aroma
Really pleased with the aroma, it has actually been sometime since I had a Belgian beer. Right off the bat, I'm thinking this is a Saison, the aroma is just too distinctive. It took me a while to get the hint of citrus as well, but it is absolutely there. The spicy aroma is very upfront and it covers up that citrus, but you can find it. Aroma isn't always a wonderful indicator of how good a beer will be, but honestly I felt like I was in for a treat.
Appearance
- Thin, tight head, takes a while to dissipate.
- orange-gold color
- good lacing
- hazy
Good appearance. There was some sediment, but I blame myself for that, since my pour probably wasn't excellent and I kicked up some yeast, no big deal, still a good looking beer. White head, tight bubble distribution.
Flavor
- Upfront Belgian yeast-spice flavor.
- Medium bitterness towards the end of the sip.
- low-none citrus flavor
- low-none sweetness, finishes dry
Great flavor, really enjoyed it. Right away there is that fantastic yeast flavor (Kind of reminds me of White Labs Saison II), and that yeast flavor carries through the middle of sip where the hop bitterness takes over and finishes out. Really well done. Only thing I would change here is that is may have been a bit too bitter towards the end. You come from a really nice rounded spice flavor to a bit too much bitterness, so lower IBUs or a FWH may be appropriate. Then again, as I'm sitting here sipping the remainder, I kind of enjoy it. I think my preference would still be for a more rounded bitterness, but this is pretty great.
Mouthfeel
- high carbonation
- light-medium body, leaning towards lighter, but not thin at all.
- Barely a hint of alcohol.
I had to search for the alcohol in this, you could easily drink a few of these and not even think about it. Good carbonation, good body, overall excellent mouthfeel.
Overall Impression
This is an odd segment to judge without a category, so I won't. What I will say is that this was a good beer. Not incredible, but really good. Nothing about it blew me away, but it was a good beer and I'm happy to have tried it. I still think it's a Saison.
So, some good notes. It was pretty great, easily commercial level, and if this was in a bar I'd buy it. Probably not a beer I'd go really out of my way for, but I could see myself being in the mood for something like this and I would totally get it. No noticeable "flaws" really, and really seems to work as a beer. My palate isn't really tuned to Belgian stuff, but this was just a great beer to have.
As for things I would do a bit differently, the flavor was a little one-dimensional. So that yeast flavor was very dominant, and then the bitterness at the end, without much else there. I'd have liked a little tartness or maybe more citrus in there, something to layer the rest of the flavors. I'd also round out the bitterness, but that is just me. The malt character was good, some sweetness.
Overall, this was great and HoppyBrewer should be proud! Awesome beer, I'm happy to have tried it. Way to go man, excellent beer! Honestly, I'd consider submitting this to comps and get some more feedback than just me, with some fine tuning this is on the verge of being a fantastic beer. Drunk Monk registration is February 20th!
Edit: Words
Posted 34 days ago.
Edited 34 days ago by Matt
Nice review!
Posted 34 days ago.
Thanks so much for the detailed review! You gave me some ideas of a couple of areas where I can look to upgrade/tweak my process.
I pick up on that bitterness as well. The first couple of sips is harsh to me but then as I drink more I don't notice it as much. My co-worker didn't notice it but he's really not intuned to picking out flaws.
I'm hoping to get a chest freezer and temperature controller with my tax refund. Hopefully, that will help keep my yeast in check.
Thanks again for taking the time.
Posted 34 days ago.
Anytime! If you ever feel like getting some feedback just let me know! I'm serious about entering Drunk Monk as well, it is going to be in Aurora so not too far from either of us really, and it will be a great place to get feedback.
And yeah, I noticed the same thing, after a few sips you don't notice the bitterness as much. I walekd away from it for a bit and tried it again, got the bitterness.
So what style was it? Just so I know.
Thanks again for sending it! Great beer!
Posted 34 days ago.
Well, I kinda missed the mark for competitions. I wanted something an American Pale Aleish. I was going for a moderately hopped drinkable pale ale with lots of aroma. I usually do 3 gallon batches and hate wasting hops, and don't have a sealer, so I usually try to put them all usually at flameout. This one had 2.5 oz added then. I know conventional wisdom says that no bitterness is added at flameout but I think I'm getting something there just don't know what. I'm also not convinced that the high carbonation level doesn't add to that as well. It was suppose to only be 2.6 volumes.
Regarding the yeast, it was BRY-97 which should have been a cleaner yeast. I don't have temperature control yet and this batch was fermented in my basement around 64-66ish.
Posted 34 days ago.
Wow. Honestly, that throws off basically everything I said. I could have sworn this was a Saison, that yeast flavor was so apparent. Maybe send a bottle to someone else so they can tell me I was wrong? Because I just looked at the recipe sheet, and I have no idea where I got those spicy notes from. But they were there!
Either I am terrible at this, or something funky happened with that yeast during fermentation. Both are equally valid answers.
Posted 34 days ago.
I don't think you are wrong. I think not having a style to compare would really throw someone for a loop.
I truly appreciate you taking the time to review it for me. I was really hoping to get feedback on the quality of the beer which is exactly what you provided. I felt like I had made some strides with my process towards the end of last year and it was nice to see some of that validated with your review.
Posted 34 days ago.
Well I'm glad it was useful in some way, and it was an excellent beer
Posted 34 days ago.
Well, you may have heard the true story of so-called global wine experts who were given white wine doctored with red color, and they gushed about the red wine characteristics of the wine (using red wine terminology), and I think there was another one where they rebottled cheap wine with premier labels, and got similar results.
It's got to be super hard to judge many light-to-amber beers without any style to guide you.
Posted 34 days ago.
Hey Hoppy, so I drank that other beer, also excellent, but got those same yeasty flavors. I think you should look into a swamp cooler, even if you just use a cooler of water.
Posted 34 days ago.
Edited 34 days ago by Matt
Thanks for the feedback. Yeah fermentation control is definitely something I hope to do soon. Maybe with this year's tax refund. Glad you enjoyed both. When I get my fermentation controlled, I'll send you a batch.
Posted 34 days ago.
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