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**TUCK** · 03-11-2007, 03:49 PM

Paloney Ale

Notes:
Late-Extract Method Used

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This recipe is one of my favorites at the moment, I have brewed it 3 times before deciding on the final recipe.
I love it, it has a beutiful boquet of corriander and if you try you barely pick up on the sage. Then the honey gives a nice soft touch/roundness on your palat, with a medium bodied maltiness in the middle and strong bitter finish that does not linger to long and leaves a clean finish...mmmm....mmmm, taste GREAT TO ME, so how does is tast to you Kaiser, Evan and Hopfan. Please feel free to be brutally honest, I have thick skin so no worries.

Hope you guys like the local extras I sent you.

Evan! · 03-15-2007, 01:23 PM

Pour: Perfect hiss, nothing out of the ordinary.

Visual: Above-average bubble tightness and head retention. Purdy cool! A nice dark amber color, and relatively clear.

Aroma: Whah? Apples? At first, I thought my mind was playin' tricks on me, but when I offered some to my wife, the first thing that came out of her mouth was "mmm, apples!". And I'm not talking cidery here, I'm talking, autumn-fresh, crispy, crunchy, picked from the tree ten minutes ago, apple. How cool is that!? I didn't read the recipe completely before tasting this, so luckily I wasn't "on the lookout" for the sage and coriander. That having been said, as the beer warmed up, the apple character was joined by some herbal notes---that make sense now that I know the recipe. The hop aroma is subtle and clean, but right on the nose for an English Pale. This aroma is simply intoxicating...clean, crisp, crunchy, yummy.

Palate: The palate was faithful to the promises of the aroma. Not much else to say with regard to taste, because it all follows the above aroma description. Clean, crisp...apples and herbs and subtle hops. Could have used a bit more body and maltiness, but as Sean can attest to, I'm a malt fiend and I like full-bodied pale ales, so this is just a personal taste issue, as it was with Sean's. I think the honey, which ferments out cleanly, is partially responsible for this lack of malt character.

Proximity to Traditional Styles: If it hadn't been for the apples and herbs, this thing would have hit the English Pale spot-on. As it is, though, it's not really too close to the style, but in my humble opinion, I'm glad it's not.

Overall: Like nothing I've had before. This does apple better than the Floris or the Ephemere, and without any apple even added! This is pro brew, and I have no complaints (neither did my wife, who was surprised when I told her it was homebrew). If I had any suggestions, I'd say give it some biscuit malt or vienna or even munich next time, and maybe some carapils for body. But again, that's just me. There's definitely something to be said for a brew this light-bodied, but still this complex. I'm a fan!

Thanks for sharing, Tuck. Great Brew!

**Hopfan** · 03-16-2007, 01:41 AM

OK, I'm a fan of this one right off the bat. I didn't read the recipe prior to tasting either so that I could see whether I picked up on any subtleties.

Visual - A nice dark amber color. Great head that was amazingly tight. I continued to pour above the rim and it got to about 3/8" column of bubbles before it started to drop off to the side. Nice long lasting head too.

Aroma - I sensed a strong woody hop aroma right off the bat. Once it warmed a bit, I picked up on the fruity background and something that I couldn't quite pin down. Now, having read the recipe, it must have been the spices you added. Definitely piqued my interest. The initial hop aroma reminded me more if an IPA than an English Pale but once I detected the malt background it seemed more to the style to me

Palate - YES, I do like this beer! First taste also reminded me more of an IPA, but my beer fridge is in the garage and I have to keep it cranked in the winter to keep it running. Once it warmed a bit, I could definitely taste the fruity character. If I brewed this, I would use Munich and Cara Pils also to give it a maltier taste/feel but this was a very good beer. I would order this again if I were in a bar.

Overall - Excellent brew. I'm not a huge fan of trying to match to a style so I like the subtle surprises this one had to offer. Thanks for sharing

edit: BTW, thanks loads for the Sweet Water Brews. I used to travel in GA quite a bit and I always tried to get a taste of their beers. the White Ale has always been my favorite. You Rock!

**TUCK** · 03-19-2007, 04:48 PM

First of all I have to say I am tickled to death that you enjoyed my brew.

The feedback was awsome guys!

My first intentions were to make a clean, extremely hoppy ESB...then I got kinda crazy in the kitchen and started pulling ideas out of my a@@. It happened by accident to tell you the truth.

I also thought it needed a Little something else and never could pin down on it. Yet now with the ideas and input from your feedback I think I will try to bring a little more body character into play.

I will definitely update on my experience when new ingredients are added, and would encourage others to try this recipe while experimenting with recipe altercations .

Again thanks so much for the great feed back

Kaiser · 03-29-2007, 04:42 AM

Tuck,

Sorry it took me a while until I finally sampled your beer. I had a cold and didn't want to taste it during that time.

Reading the reviews of Evan and Hopfan shows me how unsophisticated my palate seems to be.

I found the head retention amazing. This head was very tight and just didn't want to go away. This might be a result of the late extract technique as a reduces boil time leaves more protein in the beer.

I couldn't make out the spices, but I think I found the honey as some part of the flavor reminded me of a honey pale ale I got from Dude once. There were no off-flavors present as well.

I couldn't make out the apples, maybe I should have read the other reviews before sampling.

All in all, this is an excellent beer. I'm not a big fan of overly hoppy beers, but I can certainly drink this one once in a while.

Thanks,
and also thanks for the GA micros that you sent. Glad they made it.

Kai