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Dealing with disappointment
I figure the people here can understand this. It ends up as a haha joke's on you.
10 years ago i was in the Netherlands with my girlfriend. She suggested I try a Heineken Oud Bruin. i wasn't a beer drinker but she said it was very mild and sweet (and I have a sweet tooth). I tried it and thought it was great. The best beer I'd ever had (I'd probably only ever had 5 brands of beer so that's easy to understand). I have not had it since then, until last night...
Once I returned to Ohio I checked and could find no one who had heard of, let alone carried Oud Bruin. I started homebrewing in hopes of creating something similar. I wanted a dark, sweet session beer that I could drink like cola. I never found it and eventually stopped brewing beer.
Now, 5 years later I start brewing again and decide this time I'll do it. I did some research, tasted some new brew and learned what made Oud Bruin different. I've made 2 batches to try to figure out a recipe. And then decided I really have no idea what it tastes like anymore, it's been 10 years, all I have is a memory of what I was told about it.
No problem, I now know a few people in Europe because of other hobbies, including one in Amsterdam. I ask him to mail me some Oud Bruin. Last night: $80 and two weeks later I have 12 bottles. I'm giddy, anticipating tasting what I had built up for 10 years to be the best beer ever, but I have to wait for a bottle to get cold. Finally the time came...let's just say i was less than enthused about the taste. Very sweet saccharine/nutrasweet taste, no malt characteristics at all except color and a bitter hop aftertaste that was actually pretty well balanced by the sweetness. This is not what I remembered. This is not my end-all be-all of beers.
*sigh* I spent the rest of the night depressed.
Strangely enough, my first batch of test brew is actually pretty close to the real taste. Mine is stronger is every area (ABV, sweetness, and IBU) but it is pretty close. Too bad I'd already decided I didn't like it and moved on to another test batch.
I'm going back to my wheat beers while I try to figure out a recipe for what I thought OB tasted like.
Randy
Well look at the bright side, the original experience introduced you to a fruitful hobby! sucks you blew $80, I do not have a lot of experience with this style, and have never brewed one, but I would think the Heineken version would not be as good as Riva, which is the BJCP example of that syle. How has your luck been brewing this? It looks like you need a lambic fermentation and lots of time. Here is a link to an award winning recipe if it helps at all. http://www.mnbrewers.com/events/mashout … t.htm#4467
Dutch Oud Bruin and Flanders Oud Bruin are not the same style. Same name, completely different beers.
Randy
I have not heard of a beer refeered to as a Dutch Oud Bruin. The BJCP guidelines only have a listing for the Flanders Brown / Oud Bruin from Belgium...
If you figure it out, let us know what you came up with....
Yea, the Oud Bruin you're describing sounds a lot more like a Southern English Brown:
http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style11.php#1b
It's basically a dark & sweet mild ale. Although, check this out:
http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2007 … bruin.html
Gives a good recap of a Dutch Oud Bruin. One of the comments mentions it being more like a Sweet Stout than anything else. I'm thinking if you went with a low alcohol brown ale (technically this should be a lager) and added some lactose to it, you might get something more to your liking.
DT
dmofot wrote:
I'm thinking if you went with a low alcohol brown ale (technically this should be a lager) and added some lactose to it, you might get something more to your liking.
I'd thought the same thing and planned to do it for my second attempt, then left the HBS without buying lactose so i tried maltodextrose instead (the LHBS is about 45 minutes away so not really local). I have not tried that batch yet to know if it's closer to what I want.
The Perkins article you linked is one of the ones I found that explained the difference between the styles. I also thought that a southern brown ale would be close to what I want but the style guideline looks too malty. Austin Homebrew sells a Session Southern Brown kit that I think I'll eventually try: http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_i … s_id=11564
The other style I found that seems close (except for color) is Viennese Lager http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_lager
What I've tried so far:
Oud Bruin attempt 1 (1 gallon)
1 lb Pils DME
1/2 lb Wheat DME
3/4 oz nutrasweet
1/2 oz Tetnang (60 min)
1/2 ox Tetnang (5 min)
Safbrew S-33 yeast
This is pretty close in flavor, but too sweet and too high in alcohol. The color is also off, but I'm not really concerned about that. If I were to try it again I'd lower the nutrasweet to 1/4 oz, the hops to 30 minutes, and the malts in half. Maybe add or replace some of the pils with Amber or Dark DME to adjust the color.
Oud Bruin attempt 2 (1 gallon)
1 lb Pils DME
1/2 lb Wheat DME
1 oz maltodextrine
1/4 oz Tetnang (60 min)
Safbrew T-58 yeast
I am using an ale yeast in these to speed up the process. The intent was once I found something I liked I'd make a full 5 gallon batch and lager it.
Randy
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