Beerswap 2007 - OhioBrewtus' brews

29 - Ordinary Bitter​

Uncapping / Pouring / Aesthetics: Nice light hiss and a great head to follow. Good carbo. Nice dark orange-red colors, with some cloudiness.

Aroma: Whew, not what I was expecting. This is why I mixed this one up with the Pale Ale. This is more like a pale ale than the pale ale was. I get copious hops here, just filling the glass with grapefruit. I've used Sorachi Ace before and thought that it was about as grapefruity as it gets, but this beer gives a new meaning to "grapefruity hops". Altogether fresh and floral, though, with a touch of malt trying to shine through.

Palate: Wow, the grapefruit just keeps going. Pretty amazing, if you ask me. This is one of the freshest-tasting beers I've had...it's light, cleansing, not weighty at all. The fruit has tons of floral flavors as well, with nary a flaw to be found. I just keep going back and sniffing it, then taking a small sip and savoring the whole experience. This one holds together quite nicely, and really works as a pale ale. The only beer I've had that holds a candle to the freshness and grapefruitiness of this guy is Yards' pale.

Proximity to the Style: I'm not sure what hops you used here, but if I didn't know better, I'd say that you switched the caps between this and the pale ale. The grapefruity hops push this far away from bitter category and more towards american pale ale.

Overall Impression: You continue to impress! Not the very best you've done, but it's up there. I guess the only thing that I come away wanting more of is maltiness and a bit more complexity. Not that it's a one-trick-pony by any stretch, but the grapefruit does tend to overshadow some of the other elements. If I were you, and were a little less honest, I'd just tell people this was my pale ale, and that my pale ale was the bitter. This is awesome beer, some of the most refreshing I've had, and what I want to know is, what's your hopping sched look like?

SCORE: 39/50​

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24K - Kiltlifter 70​

Uncapping / Pouring / Aesthetics: Slight hiss, about normal. Good clean carbonation with an off-white head that lasts maybe 30 seconds. The color is very dark caramel, with some reddish-brown edges.

Aroma: This is malt city, baby. Even without the legend, I know which one this is. It's almost like a brown porter, but not so much roasty as it is malty. There is virtually no hop aroma, but I pick up figs, caramel (lots of it!) and chocolate amongst the biscuity melanoidins.

Palate: Creamy, bready, caramelly goodness all up in here! :rockin: This seems darker and richer than your last kiltlifter, but it's no worse for wear. This is simply one of the maltiest beers I think I've had. What's interesting, though, is that it's not really sweet. Oftentimes, maltiness goes hand in hand with sweetness, and it can come off a bit cloying, but not here. Gotta love the dark, dried fruit in the background too.

Proximity to the Style: The malt flavor is so strong here, which is a bit off-style, but I prefer it. The color might be a little dark for a 70. Otherwise, spot on.

Overall Impression: One of my favorite brews coming out of your operation. I think it's only gotten better since the last iteration, though I'd stop right there if I were you. Any further and you tread on brown porter territory. It's bursting with malt and dark fruit, with no esters or hop aroma to distract from the scottish character. If it's missing anything, it's that peaty earthiness, but it might be there underneath the explosive malt. Regardless, I wanna brew this.

SCORE: 42/50​

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9J - Jingle Hell​

Uncapping / Pouring / Aesthetics: Good hiss, intense carbonation on the pour resulting in a nice bright white head about 1.5" high, that lasted for a minute or more. The color is about halfway between a wit and a copper ale, just the richest orange color with yellow edges and some grayish tones.

Aroma: Man, blast me with orange peel and coriander and throw in that malty sweetness to boot. This is why I love this beer. There is a subtle hop aroma, nice and floral/fruity to accompany the orange peel and coriander notes. I also get some clove aroma. There's a peppery note that suggest grains of paradise, but I don't know if you used any. The yeast esters are subtle but observable.

Palate: This is where it really gets good. The sweet malt surrounds your tongue like silk and brings on the orangey citrus flavors. The spice is not as noticeable as it was in the nose, but it's still there. The esters show themselves as well. This is silky, creamy and complex, without being weighty or clumsy. Like I said last time, this is what Bell's 8000 wants to be. An imperial wit that it still complex and agile and structured. The carbonation is great, and the finish has a slight wheat tartness.

Proximity to the Style: There's no real style guide for imperial wit (there should be, I love this style). But if there were, I imagine this would be just about in the middle of the guidelines.

Overall Impression: I won't regurgitate what I said when I reviewed your last batch...all I have to say is that this is one sick mf'er. I'd take pride in this beer if I were you. It's not without blemishes, but very few are...and the blemishes here are obscured by the complexity and strength of this brew. Keep it up, don't change your recipe.

SCORE: 45/50​

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Evan! said:

if I didn't know better, I'd say that you switched the caps between this and the pale ale.

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Not much chance that they were switched. The Ordinary Bitter bottles were labeled as I capped them and put them away.

The bitter is the darker one of the two.

I've had your Pale Ale, and you've had mine - our thoughts differ in what an APA should be, and that's ok.

Glad you enjoyed them and thanks again for the detailed reviews!

I've got a Robust Porter on tap now that I'll have to see if I can work BM's bottling method on to get you a bottle or two. I'm quite happy with it.

FYI - I'm pretty sure that the 'plastic' aroma and taste on the Hop Kölsch came from some bad hop pellets. I took everything I had left in the freezer at the time and found a way to use them. Some of them were of questionable age and freshness.

SAII - Summer Ale​

Uncapping / Pouring / Aesthetics: Good hiss, nice white head that dissipates rather quickly. The color is orangey and pretty cloudy. Woulda thunk this was another wit...

Aroma: Pretty spicy. Not sure what yeast you used, or if you added any spices (a la Sam Adams summer ale), but they are definitely up front here. The hop aroma is moderate and balanced, with floral, earthy notes in front of the subtle citrus and spice.

Palate: This does kind of remind me of Sam Adams or Allagash's summer ales, but there's a bit more sweetness here. The malt is balanced and the hop bitterness is nice and refreshing. I get some wheat character, which also might account for the cloudiness. It presents itself as a bit of tartness in the back end (that's what she said). The mouthfeel is creamy but not weighty, and there is a moderate amount of carbo. Could use more to cleanse the sweetness from the palate, but the hops work okay for that.

Proximity to the Style: While not a BJCP style, I have had wheaty summer ales before (like the two aforementioned examples) and this is pretty close to those.

Overall Impression: I've never been much for summer wheat ales like this (I'm just assuming there's some wheat in there, but I might be way off base and it's just chill haze and the tartness is from something else). I'm usually of the mindset to just make a witbier, and given how many great wits you've put together, I'd say just stick with those. Not that this is a bad beer by any means...it's actually very well made aside from the uncharacteristic roundness in the palate. It's just that your witbiers are typically much better, and wits are a "better" style for this purpose IMO anyway.

SCORE: 34/50​

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ohiobrewtus said:

Not much chance that they were switched. The Ordinary Bitter bottles were labeled as I capped them and put them away.

The bitter is the darker one of the two.

I've had your Pale Ale, and you've had mine - our thoughts differ in what an APA should be, and that's ok.

Glad you enjoyed them and thanks again for the detailed reviews!

I've got a Robust Porter on tap now that I'll have to see if I can work BM's bottling method on to get you a bottle or two. I'm quite happy with it.

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Oh, dude, by no means do I think that my pale ale is "what an APA should be". Mine's lacking in the hop flavor/aroma department. When I first bottled it, it was full o' hops, but it's quickly dissipated. I prefer your pale and thought it was closer to style regardless of how "british" it is. But what about the bitter? That's one great beer, and I wanna know what your finishing hops were, because it's super-grapefruity.

ohiobrewtus said:

FYI - I'm pretty sure that the 'plastic' aroma and taste on the Hop Kölsch came from some bad hop pellets. I took everything I had left in the freezer at the time and found a way to use them. Some of them were of questionable age and freshness.

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Agh, that's too bad. I'm still trying to figure out what's up with my Chimay Tripel.

BTW, sorry I took so long getting these posted. I didn't have the legend and didn't wanna post any more mistakes until I knew what I was talking about.

Evan! said:

Agh, that's too bad. I'm still trying to figure out what's up with my Chimay Tripel.

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Why, what going on with that brew?

I'll try to post recipes for the Kiltlifter, Ordinary Bitter and Jingle Hell (PM) tonight. The APA recipe is in my sig.

The Summer Ale is indeed a Wit. Almost an identical grainbill to all Wits that I do but with lemon peel and grains of paradise instead of orange peel and corriander.

ST - Spare Tire Amber Ale​

Uncapping / Pouring / Aesthetics: Good hiss and nice apparent carbo on the pour. Good whitish-tan head that lasted for a few seconds. The color is a caramelly reddish color, very purdy!

Aroma: Great earthy/floral hop aromas with some crystal grain and honey notes as well. Nice, clean, a touch of esters but nothing to worry about. Not terribly intense.

Palate: A nice richness that isn't necessarily sweet. There's some maltiness but it's subtle. There is also a very nice bready yeast character to complement the malt. The hops here are balanced, but I'd like them to be a little more pronounced. A bit of spiciness, probably from the yeast, is also evident, and shows a touch of pepper. There's a touch of honey/caramel back there too. The hop bitterness is a little intense but works. Mouthfeel is a bit silky but the carbonation cleanses the palate nicely.

Proximity to the Style: A very nice amber ale. I'm not a big fan of ambers myself, but this is well-done and pretty balanced.

Overall Impression: Again, not my favorite OB brew, but as is typical, it's a well-made, impressive beer. It's got a touch more complexity than your standard amber ale, which is nice, but I'd also like some more hop flavor (just personal pref). The honey is nice to round it out, too.

SCORE: 37/50​

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ohiobrewtus said:

Why, what going on with that brew?

I'll try to post recipes for the Kiltlifter, Ordinary Bitter and Jingle Hell (PM) tonight. The APA recipe is in my sig.

The Summer Ale is indeed a Wit. Almost an identical grainbill to all Wits that I do but with lemon peel and grains of paradise instead of orange peel and corriander.

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I left them both in primary for like 16 days because I was busy. Shouldn't be a big deal, but when I racked to secondary last week, the Roche was awesome....and the Chimay was weird. It had this VERY subtle plasticy taste and there was a weird bitterness that it left your mouth with, almost like when you bit into orange pith. I tasted another sample last night, and it seemed better than before, so I'm optimistic. I think it needs time to mellow. I can't imagine what happened. It was great at about 7 days after pitching. I think I'm just worrying for nothing and it'll turn out fine.

I didn't pick up the lemon peel---which is funny, because that blueberry lemon beer you did was ALL lemon---but I thought I got the paradise grains' peppery note. What yeast did you use?

Evan! said:

I left them both in primary for like 16 days because I was busy. Shouldn't be a big deal, but when I racked to secondary last week, the Roche was awesome....and the Chimay was weird. It had this VERY subtle plasticy taste and there was a weird bitterness that it left your mouth with, almost like when you bit into orange pith. I tasted another sample last night, and it seemed better than before, so I'm optimistic. I think it needs time to mellow. I can't imagine what happened. It was great at about 7 days after pitching. I think I'm just worrying for nothing and it'll turn out fine.

I didn't pick up the lemon peel---which is funny, because that blueberry lemon beer you did was ALL lemon---but I thought I got the paradise grains' peppery note. What yeast did you use?

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You used White Labs Trappist on the Chimay, right? Was it a new vial or washed? Did they both maintain about the same temp during fermentation (different strains do different things, but in the same environment I wouldn't think that one would be any more than a couple of degrees +/- of the other)? Hate to state the obvious, just trying to help you work though the possible causes.

If it were me I don't think that I'd be too worried about it. Beers like that really need to sit in bottles for a couple of months before they really get good, so I'd probably just chalk it up to green beer and the different yeast strains and feel pretty confident that it will end up fine after it's been in bottles for a while.

I use WLP400 on all my Wits.

Yeah, it was the WLP500, brand new vial. Same recipe, same brewing techniques, same temps. The Chimay did take a little longer to get started, but I think that's because the Roche got a head start because it was in a smackpack. I'm with you on the RDW thing...but it was still a shock when I first tasted it. It smells incredible, though, and tasted better last night than it did a week ago. The Rochefort, on the other hand, is phenomenal.

Some of you have asked for recipes. I posted Kiltlifter, Jingle Hell and Ordinary Bitter recipes tonight.