The pairings for the fall edition of BKB beer swap
So these are the pairings, any questions as to their origin can be found in the previous BKB swap thread.
brewchez ships to e_mott9
emott_9 ships to bruguru
bruguru ships to TSchoolman
TSchoolman ships to Brewski
Brewski ships to thirsty
thirsty ships to sewer_urchen
sewer_urchen ships to andrew jensen
andrew jensen ships to Hogarthe
Hogarthe ships to ricka182
ricka182 ships to deafcone
deafcone ships to ruralbrew
ruralbrew ships to brewchez
So see who you are receiving from, and send that brewer a PM with your address, or a PM with your email address and communicate that way. However you feel most comfortable.
Then package up and get shipped out by 9/30. Remember variety is best if possible!
Please reserve this thread for now, and comment in the previous one. Once we all start receiving our beer, we can then comment here about what we think of the whole concept.
Prost!
Another reminder that when you receive your package of goodness, to be sure and refrigerate at least one day before cracking open- this will allow the CO2 to get back into solution where it belongs, giving the intended carb level.
Don't procrastinate, get your packages out with good variety, but most important- get them out!!
Review #1 - Thirsty's beer's - Russian Imperieal Stout and Blonde Moment.
I have to admit, I feel like I got the lucky draw in getting Thirsty's beer. I've only tried two and look forward to the other one's. So far they are both well developed and could be sold at any bar I go to, and since I spend a lot of time drinking microbrews that's certainly saying something.
Stout - as he's stated this deservedly has won him several home brewing competitions. This is an excellent stout and holds it's own against any I've drank so far. I love stouts, and this has a nice creamy taste with the little coffee undertones. I don't want this to sound like a bs wine tasting review so I won't go overboard with the "oaky, pairs well with beef, fish and chicken, as well as pasta, bread and hungryman frozen dinners" comments, but this one is an A+! At first I thought it was just a bit under carbed but now I recount that decision as stouts are more like milk shakes anyway, and it by no means tasted flat.
Blonde Moment - belgian blonde - very good beer, well spiced, but just a tad too sweet for my taste. Though, with the other belgian blondes I've had it's quite good. My wife said it best, "it tastes like the stuff you sometimes put on ice cream...uh...caramel" So I'm guessing this one is heavy on the caramel malt, but I liked it. If it were my brew I might cut down a little on the sweetness, if it is, indeed, caramel malt I might cut the ammount of that by a bit. But that is my humble opinion and I'm sure this beer would meet most peoples standards without further tampering. The spices used were great and it did not have any bad yeasty flavor in spite of the little floaties, The high carbonation level of this beer suited it well too.
Cheers brotha! Really great stuff, and I'll continue to post with my opinions about the rest of the shipment. I hope the rest of you out there are enjoying your shipments or will be recieving them soon. I just sent mine out yeasterday as I had to wait to get paid to get them over to UPS, AJ should be recieving them soon!
As the brew master said himself, don't procrastinate, there are thirsty brewers out there just waiting by the mailbox for a pacage of treats from afar.
Review #2 - Amber Ale - This is the coveted, incomperable, highly duplicated Mac & Jack African Amber. Most of you have brewed a batch of your own so I'll keep it short; I can see why this thread is 24 pages and running. Love the slight orange taste to it. Not too sweet, not too bitter, still tons of flavor. My kind of beer! I don't know if the orange subsided (If I read this right it was brewed in March of '09) because I don't have a fresher batch to compare it to and I've never had the orriginal. But great stuff!
One thing I have noticed is the force carbed bottles foam up a lot more when I pour into the glass. Don't think that will be the case with the porter.
Thirsty - a thought on this Amber - if you can get your hands on a used bourbon barrell this stuff would be incredible if aged in it for a couple months! Of course you'd have to brew a rediculous amout of it, but that wouldn't be a bad thing.
sewer_urchen wrote:
One thing I have noticed is the force carbed bottles foam up a lot more when I pour into the glass. Don't think that will be the case with the porter.
Thirsty - a thought on this Amber - if you can get your hands on a used bourbon barrell this stuff would be incredible if aged in it for a couple months! Of course you'd have to brew a rediculous amout of it, but that wouldn't be a bad thing.
Older beers can sometimes grow a bit in carbonation. If there is ANY fermentables left, even just a 1/4 point, it may take several months, but still eventually get fermented, leaving a bit more carbonation. If you drink your bottled batches in 2-3 months you may not ever see this. Wait a year or more and it may be there. On the flipside, sometimes carb is lost over time as well. When I force carb, my system may be carbing at different volumes due to the temp in my garage for that season. So they will vary.
As far as oaking the mack n jacks, you will get an example of that with the vertical epic porter clone I included for you, that not only has the oak, but vanilla and orange as well. Also well aged, so these flavors are subtle.
Thank you for the great reviews!!
thirsty wrote:
Thank you for the great reviews!!
Thank you for the great beer! The reason I mentioned the Bourbon barrells is not just for the oak but the subtle whiskey addition to the flavor. Sebego Brewing every year comes out with a Bourbon Barrell Stout that he gets used bourbon casks from Jim Beam and it adds a hint of that aged whiskey taste. You could probably only get that flavor once out of the barrell but on this particular African Amber I think it would be awsome. I suppose you could just age it on top of oak and add a small ammout of bourbon right into the mix and get a similar effect. Just brainstorming, I think the Amber is certainly great as is. I'm going to try the porter tonight. Saving Liquid Stoopid for last!
Hopefully there has been dialogue established by now between both your sender and sendee. If you are expecting beer from someone and have not heard from them, it would be a good idea to send them a PM with your address to get things rolling.
Review #3 - Porter - ok so admittedly, Porter is not my favorite beer style, that said, by the end of the glass this one had grown on me. If it were Thirsty's bar I was sitting at, I'd probably order the stout a lot more. The oak and orange helped a bit. Like I was mentioning earlier, maybe this one would do well if you soaked the oak in bourbon before adding it to the fermenter, maybe I just want to see what that would do to beers, because this was a very flavorful beer. So skip the bourbon thing, it doesn't need more on the pallet. As far as porters go it's not bad. The only reason I probably didn't care for it is because I just don't care for porters. It wasn't a bad beer though. I like IPA's less, so I'm glad thirsty didn't send be a batch of IPA's and Barlywines, those are just too darn hoppy for me. This beer had a bit of a sharp flavor, so I'm wondering what could be done to smooth it out a little like the stout. I'd have liked it more if it were a bit smoother. Oh well, just my humble opinion. Liquid Stoopid is the only one left. Gonna crack that open tonight as I (this only happens once a year) cheer on both the Red Sox and the Yankees.
sewer_urchen wrote:
cheer on both the Red Sox and the Yankees.
BOTH?! BOTH!!!!!!!!?
I know it's wierd...but if the Yankees win than the Rays won't overtake the Sox for the Wild card spot...so, yes, I route for both the Sox and the Pin Stripes...I feel so dirty...
Review #4 - Liquid Stoopid - So I opened my last bottle of Thirsty's beer, and shed a teer...it was mostly flat...I removed my hat and had a moment of silence, and like a trooper drank it anyway. I'm not sure what happend here, or maybe it was your intention because this is such a strong beer that maybe it couldn't develop a lot of carbonation. Perhaps you reached the level of alcohol that killed off the yeast and there wasn't enough left to carb it. You didn't mention what yeast you used, but since with the 6 lbs of honey you could say this is a cross between a beer and a mead, you might want to try brewing this with a wine yeast, (I don't know if there is a barlywine yeast but that might work well too), like Lalvin D-47, which Brewski swears by for his meads as it leaves some sweetness. The honey flavor was a little too strong and made the beer extremely sweet. Through the honey I was able to taste the corriander and Orange Peel, if the honey taste was toned down just a bit or fermented out a little more I'd be drinking these all night. The wine yeast would make it easier to carb too. You must have used an ale yeast because there was just too much sweetness left from the honey that a wine yeast would have fermented out and it would have been more carbed. Again this is just my humble opinion but getting the humble opinion is what this swap was all about. It was fun! And I've been thrilled to try your brews, all of them! If I had to list them in order from my favorite to my least I'd list them like this...
1st place - Russian Imperial Stout
2nd - Amber Ale
3rd - Blonde Moment
4th - Liquid Stoopid
5th - Belgian Porter
Thanks for the beer man! I can't wait to participate in future swaps, my carboys are going to be full of cider for the next three months so I won't be able to do a December swap but Come February I'll be brewing beers again and will look forward to sending some to you.
Slanche!
sewer_urchen wrote:
I'm not sure what happend here, or maybe it was your intention because this is such a strong beer that maybe it couldn't develop a lot of carbonation.
This was bottle conditioned with wyeast 3787 high gravity trappist. I had some that were also force carbed, I had not drank a bottle carbed in quite some time, so there could have been some inconsistency. Sorry, wish you got one that fermented out and was effervescent.
Glad you enjoyed the rest!
thirsty wrote:
Sorry, wish you got one that fermented out and was effervescent.
Glad you enjoyed the rest!
Well, that's how it goes, no appologies necessary. I was honored to be part of this experiement and on the recieving end of your beers.
Cheers to the rest, hope your brews are en route or in the fridge. Can't wait to heer about how the rest of this swap happened.
So today is the deadline for shipping!!
If you have not yet shipped your package out to your respective receiver, this should take priority. A PM should also be sent to the shipper and keep them aprised on their situation. Please use some courtesy, and be prompt.
If a situation exists where you may need to be late, just make sure your receiver is cool with that.
Prost!
shipping mine tomorrow. wanted to give it a week to carbonate in stable room temp. receiver knows.
DC
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