Oaky Smokey Porter Review

Aroma: A combination of oak chips and smoke, but dominated by oak. A bit one dimensional. Some toasty Munich malt in the background. Hop aroma is none. Sweetness is low.

Appearance: Very dark with some ruby highlights. Thick, persistent head with small bubbles.

Taste: Starts with some toasty and bready malt notes, crystal sweetness, and surprisingly only a hint  of smoke. Dark coffee or chocolate note as well. At the end, an oaky quality. Not super tannic or tart. The oaky quality is one dimensional, I find. Bitterness is moderate with some earthy hop character.

Mouthfeel: Pretty thick and chewy. Carbonation is low to moderate. Oak leaves a dry impression on the aftertaste.

Overall: OK. I wish the smoke came through more and that the oak character was more complex and subtle.Next time will use cubes of varying toast instead of chips.

Russian Stout 2 Tasting

My second Russian Stout is now 11 months old, and this time around it was done with the benefit of a kegging system with which to dial in the right volume of carbonation. However, since I would prefer not to have a keg of 10% beer in my 2-tap kegorator, I have bottled this beer using my new toy, a Last Straw counter-pressure filler.

Appearance: Deep black and opaque. Dark tan head which dissipates a little too quickly but leaves decent lacing.

Aroma: Malty sweet, roasted malts, moderate dried fruit like raisins or plum. Earthy and woody. Whiskey aroma, if any, is quite light. Hope aroma is low to none. I was hoping for more of dry-fruit notes from the WLP007. Aroma improves as it warms.

Taste: Like the aroma. Fairly sweet but not cloying. Roasty quality and sweetness well balanced, so that it's not acrid or over-roasted. Boozy and warming but alcohol is pretty smooth. Hop bitterness mixes well with the other flavors. Hints of wood blend well with other flavors. Maybe some dry tannic quality in the aftertaste. Complex and difficult to describe.

Mouthfeel: Thick and viscous but not as syrupy as Port wine. Carbonation is low to moderate.

Overall: An intense and complex sipping beer. Very pleasant as a winter warmer. No flaws or off-flavors as far as I can really tell. In my view this iteration is smoother than my previous one, as this beer is better balanced between the sweetness and roasty/acrid flavors. The whiskey / oak combo is very subtle and might not be detectable except if the drinker knows that whiskey / wood was added, which is not surprising given the intensity of the underlying beer style and the melding of the flavors.

 

Sourish American Review

Being too impatient to brew a real Lambic or Geuze, I brewed a pseudo-Lambic from a recipe from Amercian Sour Beers with the a substitution of yeast.

Appearance: Bright golden yellow with some yeast-haze. Smallish white head with retention enough to leave some white bubbles on the surface of the beer.

Aroma: Funky with some barn-yard like brett character. Lemony sourness is there too. A little bit of the cherry-like aroma. Overall the nose is intriguing but not strong.

Taste: Again like the nose. Slightly sour, funky, lemony.-rhind like. Really not as sour as I was thinking and hoping it would be. Not sure how to describe it. Does not have the cherry-like flavors of Flanders Red. The end has subtly fruity and tannic notes.

Mouthfeel: Prickly carbnoation, but probably not as carbonated as it should be. Light to medium-light body. Tannic notes in the aftertaste contribute to an impression of dryness.

Overall: Very pleasant funky and sour beer, with the very aggressive sourness that some lambics have. Not really sure how it would compare side-by-side to a "real" lambic. Will keep it around to see how the flavor develops over time.

For next time: Brew a Lambic using the "right" sour blend.
 

Oaked English Barleywine Tasting

Yesterday, in celebration of surviving the Massachusetts bar exam, I opened a bottle of Oaked English Barleywine that I brewed in early November 2011 and bulk aged for a few months on medium-toast oak cubes. The recipe is from Brewing Classic Styles.

I still intend to age this until around Thanksgiving at which point it will go well with the cold weather and heavy food. Perhaps I will let a six-pack age for a few years. However, this beer has not been stored properly, as it was aged in a basement around 65F-70F and taken on a 650 mile drive in the back of a U-Haul in late May. Apparently the best way to store beer is at a constant temperature of 40F or so. Oxidation may also be an issue. In theory, however, bottle-conditioned beers like this one are protected somewhat from the aging by the biological activity of the yeast.

A drink for sitting by the fireplace.

Oaked English Barleywine
11# English 2-Row Pale
0# 8oz Crystal 40L
0# 8oz Crystal 120L
Magnum bittering hops, Kent Goldings flavor and aroma.

Expected IBU: 66

3 gallon batch.

British Ale - WLP005 - Ferment at 68F.

Brewed 11/11/2011

Actual OG / FG: 1.092 / 1.022
About 9.8% ABV.

Ferment 4 weeks, transfer to secondary with .75 boiled oak cubes. Store 3-4 months.

Bottle with 1.75oz sugar and rehydrated Nottingham yeast.

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Take these notes with a grain of salt. I already had drank a few beers before this one and now I'm recalling what it tasted like last night.

Appearance: Slight brownish head that quickly dissipates but leaves some bubbles clinging to the side of the glass. Ruddy, brown color. Really hazy despite that this bottle was in the fridge for two weeks before pouring. Not sure if it is chill haze, yeast disturbed from the bottom of the bottle, or tannins from the Oak. The mud-like color is not appealing and I wish the head were a better.

Aroma: Complex. Sweet malt, dried fruit and moderate oakiness. Slight earthy hop aroma. Pretty nice.

Taste: Again complex. Sweet malty taste balanced by oaky tannins and dark fruit like raisins or plums. A little bit of hot alcohol particularly in the aftertaste. Hop bitterness is in there somewhere.

Mouthfeel: Sweet and a little bit heavy but not as syrupy as port wine. Low to moderate carbonation.

Overall: A complex, alcoholic beer with strong flavors of malt, dried fruit and oak. A sipping beer best suited for the cold winter months and paired with heavy food or as a desert beer.
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So I think this one will be pretty good as long as the sub-optimal storage conditions and potential for oxidation do not destroy the beer. I will write another post in November when this beer is about a year old.