Latest beers from Evan!

So I got a crapload of beers from Evan today, and the first one that I grabbed was his West Coast Ale:


Appearance: Holy crap, I've never seen a bottle filled so full! It was literally 1/8" from the top of the bottle. It poured a nice dark amber in my tulip glass, almost bordering on brown until I held it up to light, at which time it's color and brilliant clarity became evident. Little to no head.

Nose: Just as I would expect from a WCA, this beer has a BIG hop nose with lots of American hop phenols. I've tried to achive this many times and I can attest that it's not easy to achive, good job!

Palate: The hop character continues into the palate, but it is overwhelmed by a sweetness that I can only guess is from caramel malt which was probably used to achieve the desired SRM. This is certainly still a very good beer, but after one gets a whiff of the nose, the palate is quite unbalanced towards malt sweetness. Hop bitterness is certainly detectable, but it is overpowered by the malt sweetness.

Overall Impression: This is still better than most commercial beers that I can get my hands on, so congrats once a gain on making yet another great beer. I could drink many of these as-is, but for it to really be a WCA I'd like to see it be a bit more hoppy or less sweet. Still a good beer, but either would make it even better, IMO. The nose screamed Arrogant Bastard to me, but the palate was very sweet. Not so sweet that it was undrinkable, but sweet enough that you may want to think about drying it out a bit.

Awesome, thanks for the quick revue turnaround. Yes, that's service indeed! I should have expected a "this isn't bitter enough" from the guy whose brewery is called Hophed, and whose flagship IPA has like 300 IBU's... I dump 14oz of hops into the DoW and you wuz like "whassdiscrap? Kolsch?"

Some day...some day I'll send you a beer that you will have to admit is too bitter.

And then, I'll have won.

Evan! said:

Awesome, thanks for the quick revue turnaround. Yes, that's service indeed! I should have expected a "this isn't bitter enough" from the guy whose brewery is called Hophed, and whose flagship IPA has like 300 IBU's... I dump 14oz of hops into the DoW and you wuz like "whassdiscrap? Kolsch?"

Some day...some day I'll send you a beer that you will have to admit is too bitter.

And then, I'll have won.

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It's not that it isn't bitter enough, it's that it was a bit too sweet. Did you use crystal to color this? I don't think that the hops needed changed at all. There is certainly bitterness there and the nose is friggin amazing, but the caramel-ish sweetness imbalances it a bit. If you want to keep the sweetness, add more hops to balance it out. If it were me, I'd leave the hops and shoot for a dryer, less sweet palate and finish.

I've never met a beer that was too bitter.

Hahaha, hey Evan!, should I send him one of my AIPAs from the RIS swap? I still have a full 2 cases sitting here in the closet, even after 10 months they're bitter as all hell!

Anywho - Just saw the quote in OB's sig, wandered over here, had a good laugh. Thanks guys.


Oh and... How's Hopacles '08 comin', OB?

ohiobrewtus said:

It's not that it isn't bitter enough, it's that it was a bit too sweet. Did you use crystal to color this? I don't think that the hops needed changed at all. There is certainly bitterness there and the nose is friggin amazing, but the caramel-ish sweetness imbalances it a bit. If you want to keep the sweetness, add more hops to balance it out. If it were me, I'd leave the hops and shoot for a dryer, less sweet palate and finish.

I've never met a beer that was too bitter.

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I know, I was giving you crap. Personally, I like the balance on this one. Yeah, it's got some malty sweetness in there, so perhaps it's not entirely to WCA style, but I likes it nonetheless. I used crystal 40 (12oz) & special B (8oz).

Anyway, regardless, it was all worth it to be able to keep a spot in your signature.

Evan! said:

I know, I was giving you crap. Personally, I like the balance on this one. Yeah, it's got some malty sweetness in there, so perhaps it's not entirely to WCA style, but I likes it nonetheless. I used crystal 40 (12oz) & special B (8oz).

Anyway, regardless, it was all worth it to be able to keep a spot in your signature.

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That is a lot of Special B. But, hey, my favorite specialty, so more power to you.

Parker36 said:

That is a lot of Special B. But, hey, my favorite specialty, so more power to you.

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oh, yeah, no doubt...but I've used more

Evan! said:

oh, yeah, no doubt...but I've used more

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What is the most you have used? I am tempted to go way overboard once.

Parker36 said:

What is the most you have used? I am tempted to go way overboard once.

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can't remember...might've used a whole pound a long time ago. I don't recommend it, though, unless you want a very sweet, plummy beer.

Chriso said:

Hahaha, hey Evan!, should I send him one of my AIPAs from the RIS swap? I still have a full 2 cases sitting here in the closet, even after 10 months they're bitter as all hell!

Anywho - Just saw the quote in OB's sig, wandered over here, had a good laugh. Thanks guys.


Oh and... How's Hopacles '08 comin', OB?

Click to expand...

Hopacles '08 is getting brewed this Friday. I worked on the recipe this morning, but I need to take an inventory of my hops tonight to verify that I have everything that I need and make the necessary hopbill adjustments.

Evan! said:

I know, I was giving you crap. Personally, I like the balance on this one. Yeah, it's got some malty sweetness in there, so perhaps it's not entirely to WCA style, but I likes it nonetheless. I used crystal 40 (12oz) & special B (8oz).

Anyway, regardless, it was all worth it to be able to keep a spot in your signature.

Click to expand...

Like I said, it was a damn good beer. I'd drink the shiznit out of it. My comments were based on it being a WCA, so take them for what they're worth. If anything, I think it was more like an over hopped East Coast Amber.

I haven't had a chance to try any of the other beers that you sent me yet, but I'll try a couple of them over the next few days and post in this thread.

Are you drinking the Olde Ale already or should I cellar it? I have mine aging in a keg and don't plan on touching it for at least another 5 months, so I wanted to get your recommendation as to whether or not it was ready to drink now.

Edit - Also, I'm guessing you cold crash for clarity? How long and at what temp? Now that it's winter I can kinda sorta cold crash in my garage. Hopacles '08 is going to need it.

Parker36 said:

What is the most you have used? I am tempted to go way overboard once.

Click to expand...

Evan! said:

can't remember...might've used a whole pound a long time ago. I don't recommend it, though, unless you want a very sweet, plummy beer.

Click to expand...

I love Special B and I use it frequently, but I don't think that I've ever used more than 12 oz. in a 5 gallon recipe before.

Weizenbock

Appearance - Poured with a nice 1 finger head, no apparent lacing. Dark Bron in color and mostly opaque with bits of matter that I'm guessing are from carb tabs.

Nose - Rich, Malty sweetness with a mild clove aroma. No hops present, no DMS, no diacytl.

Palate - Sweet malt and cloves up front, a slight hint of spicy hops present. Medium to medium-low in body with a slight alcohol presence as it warms.

Overall - Maltiness is present, but could be a bit stronger. The malt and clove share the stage in this beer. A good example of the style, although it would be a great beer if it were a bit more malty with a little less clove present. Overall a solid beer, Good job!

What yeast did you use and at what temp did you ferment?

Peach Cider

Appearance - About the color of Apfelwein with a bit of an orange tint to it. Mostly clear with large bubbles and carbonation appropriate for a cider.

Aroma - There is certainly peach present, but it's very subtle (which is good since I'm not a big fan of peaches). It has a lot of similarities to Apfelwein and the peach is a surprisingly welcomed flavor. Moderate-high carbonation.

Overall - I'll be the first to admit that I don't drink a lot of cider but I genuinely enjoyed this. The peach adds an interesting yet subtle flavor to a drink much like one that most of us here have made or tried at some point.

Munchner Dunkel/Bock

Appearance - Dark brown with ruby highlights, very clear and poured with little to no head.

Nose - Rich melanoidins, slight spicy hop notes. Typical and expected strong malty nose. Hints of biscuit and bread and a bit of chocolate become more present as it warms.

Palate - Slight noble spicy hop presence. Quite malty, as any bock should be. DO DMS, no discernable yeast phenols, very clean. Sweet up front and finished slightly dry. As it warms, the biscuit and bread notes come through in the palate.

Overall - To be perfectly honest I'm not sure what style I should be judging this beer as, but I'm not sure that it matters much. It's a great beer that I'd certainly classify as a bock, with a very clean profile for the strong malt focus. This was a great beer to critique sitting right next to the fireplace on a cold Ohio evening.

Old *****iewig Spiced Holiday Ale

Appearance - Dark brown to black in color with ruby highlights, mostly opaque. Poured with a 1/2 finger head. I'm guessing that you bottled this from keg, as the bottle was literally almost filled all the way up to the cap.

Nose - I'm getting nutmeg, maybe some allspice, possibly ginger and what I think is basil based upon the basil IPA that you sent me last year. With all of these spices it's a bit hard to tell if there is any hop aroma buried in there somewhere.

Palate - Medium body, medium-low carbonation. The palate is a bit sweet up front, and dominated by holiday spices in the finish, mostly by what I will continue to guess isthe basil. I'm also picking up what I can only attempt to describe as ginger.

Overall - This is a well made beer, but hoiday beers are never very high on my list of things to try. While it's certainly not my favorite style I can appreciate it for what it's meant to be and I will tell you that this beer is on par with all of the other commercial holiday beers (a dozen or so) that I've had and would stand up very well when compared with them side by side.

Southern English Brown Ale

Appearance - Dark brown to black in color, almost completely opaque. Poured with little to no head that dissipated quickly.

Nose - I'm getting some malty caramel sweetness, but that's it. No hops are present.

Palate - There is a hint of roast and a mild caramel sweetness that continues from the nose. Light bodied with medium-low carbonation.

Overall - I was expecting to find much more going on with this beer. There is a bit going on in the nose, but it's all pretty tamed. The palate didn't really have a whole lot to it other than the hint of sweetness. I know you said that you used some Special Roast in this, but I could only pick up a very faint hint of it in the palate and none in the nose at all.

I've certainly had (and made) worse, but this is far from the beers that you are capable of making.