March Swap - BierMunchers Junk

Beers sent:

American Wheat
Belgian Wit
American Pale Ale
Oatmeal Stout

Ugly Kettle Pale Ale

The appearance is orangy-copper, with a 1 finger head which dissipated somewhat quickly. Very clear, but not crystal clear. No sediment. Very nice looking indeed.

A wonderful hop aroma is present. Very flowery. Sweet and malty background. Not much citrus aroma. SWMBO says it smells like "a meadow".

The taste has, what I would consider, a perfect balance between malt & hops for this style. Lot's of different hop flavors. No citrus but there is a nice piney hop flavor. While the recipe states that the IBUs are slightly low for the style, I think the bitterness is spot on.

Mouthfeel is light, well-carbonated.

Overall I really liked it! A solid pale ale that would be nice with a variety of food and by itself. Refreshing, clean, very floral. I really like how all the hops were added toward the end of the boil. I will have to try that technique.

American Wheat

This one has a light gold, yellow color. Very cloudy, with a somewhat smallish head. Is not as carbonated as I would have expected.

Very slight wet cardboard smell on the nose. No banana or cloves, that's a good thing for this style. Very neutral smell.

The flavor is low on bitterness. Somewhat sweet, but is dry on the finish. Smooth and easily drinkable. The oats give it the slightest bit of astringency. Not quite as wheaty as I would have expected.

The mouthfeel is very good. It's smooth and the carbonation is prickly. I get an almost numbing sensation after swallowing.

Overall this one is an easy-drinker, smooth beer, that's refreshing and approachable. I felt like it could have used a little more wheatyness (the grain bill only has 25% wheat). The oats give it a nice mouthfeel, but I'm always cautious using oats in light, delicate beers. You may want to experiment with Wyeast 1010 for this one.

Truth be told this was my least favorite of the four (but it was still pretty good).

Belgian Wit II

A cloudy gold with a smallish, but nice looking head. Carbonation bubbles small and constant. It almost glows.

Very very textbook wit aroma. Fruity, orangy, wheaty. Less clovy than a hefe-weizen. Some slight banana. This one is going to be good, I can feel it.

The taste is.... oh this is great. This is what a wit should taste like. Orangy sweet, coriander is well balanced. Spicyness is present but not overpowering. Yum.

Smooth and light mouthfeel. Carbonation could be just a teeny bit higher.

Overall, this was my favorite of the four. This is a great wit! I have to make this! You knocked this out of the ball park. Glad you sent a 22oz bottle.

Oatmeal Stout

This one comes out deep, deep brown in color, with a small yet audaciously lingering tan head (I let this sit in the glass for a while, and the head just sits there as a very thin tan layer). Held it up to the light, and I can see it is clear. It looks very inviting.

Malty nose with a wonderful oat character. Low and mild roastyness. Nice!

The flavor is a light roasty malt profile. Sweet, but turns just a tad more toward dryness on the aftertaste. Mellow and absolutely delicious. Somewhat complicated, but I'm having difficulty picking out the biscuit malt... whatever you did, you did right.

Creamy and full-bodied mouthfeel. It could stand to be just a slight bit more silky, but it's very close to perfect. I'm liking this one a lot.

Overall, this oatmeal stout is honestly better than most commercial examples I have tried. This one could be interesting on nitro.....

Biermuncher, any chance of getting a look at the recipe for that Wit?

Brett,

Thanks for the feedback. The wheat was kind of a "hurry-up" beer for a fund raiser function about a month ago. That's why I sub'd in oats instead of flaked wheat.

Like you said, it's enjoyable to drink, but up against the others it really didn't stand out.

BakerStreeBeers said:

Biermuncher, any chance of getting a look at the recipe for that Wit?

Click to expand...

Here ya go...

Batch Size: 11.00 gal
Boil Size: 13.69 gal
Estimated OG: 1.055 SG
Estimated Color: 3.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 15.0 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
10.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 43.5 %
10.00 lb Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 43.5 %
3.00 lb White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 13.0 %
1.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [6.90%] (40 min) Hops 15.0 IBU
1.50 oz Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
2.00 oz Orange Peel, Bitter (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
2 Pkgs Belgian Witbier (Wyeast Labs #3944) Yeast-Wheat

Drank the first of the beers I received last night. The SWMBO and I enjoyed the Wit with dinner. It was quite good, exactly what I would expect from a Wit. Spot on all around, color, flavor, aroma, everything was excellent.

Drank the Pale Ale tonight and thought it was excellent. The color was good, had a nice hop aroma, the flavor was a little less hoppy and a little bit more sweet/malty which I thought was great. It was just a really good to style Pale Ale.

clemson55 said:

Drank the Pale Ale tonight and thought it was excellent. The color was good, had a nice hop aroma, the flavor was a little less hoppy and a little bit more sweet/malty which I thought was great. It was just a really good to style Pale Ale.

Click to expand...

Thanks Clemson...

I've got your PB stout on deck for a session this weekend.

I hope its ok I just got my results from a recent competition and they thought the PB might have been infected. Lets hope it was just those 2 bottles.

Drank the american wheat tonight. It was very good had a slightly sweet flavor but very mellow and easy to drink. I really enjoyed it.