Brandon O's Graff Tasting Notes.

Guys,

Could you try to describe the taste, the flavor the aroma of this Graff cider?

thanks

Yel

There is much written about it in the recipes section under cider. You'll see the graff thread there.

I reed the thread but I would like to get tasting notes from other people who have done some...not only tasting notes from Graff's Creator

Yel

Ah, I see. AZ IPA would be a good person to ask. Coasterine has made some too, I guess I would try pm ing them.

I've tried both Apfelwein, and Brandon's Graff. I prefer the graff by quite a bit. That being said, I modified the Graff quite a bit (no hops, as I have no local sources, added 1l of rasberry juice, and 3 cups dextrose).

From my experience (given the above), Graff is much smoother much sooner, and has much more apply taste. It came out much sweeter than the apfelwein by far (my graff finished at 1.012, whereas my apfelwein finished at 0.996 -- mainly because of the beer vs wine yeast, I imagine).

The malt adds a great character to the drink. It is more silky in the mouth instead of watery. Same difference in mouth-feel as wine vs beer.


Take my drunken tasting notes for what you will .

taste: incredible - full, yet light apple flavor (if that makes any sense), with some good malt background. What I mean is that you get the apple taste, but not in an artificial way like with some commercial ciders that are obviously backsweetened with HFCS and other fake flavors. Very balanced malt/apple taste

flavor: IMO, mild flavor - as you drink it you say "wow this is a good cider, wait, it's kinda like a fruity beer, wait it's like a cider." Very clean flavor, no harsh alcohol flavor that some other ciders have, even at a young age.

aroma: slightly applely, very faint hop aroma - aroma is not the stong point of this drink (not a negative, just a fact).

I love graff!

to compare graff to the legendary EdWort's apfelwein is apples and oranges IMO - apfelwein is a very dry white wine tasting cider/wine - graff is malty and smooth.

Heck, I love them both, but graff is grain to drinking in as little as 3 weeks!

very nice, thanks for your comments..exactly what I needed to start my first 5gal batch of this

Yel

The great thing about graff is that is doesn't need to age in the keg for 6-9 months for the apple flavor to come out. I did the original recipe and finished the keg off in about 1.5 weeks. The apple flavor comes out real strong just was I was looking for after mowing the lawn. The other great thing is that since you are using grains you can tweak to just the right taste for you. I don't like hops too much so I don't use any. I am using the sweet mead yeast this time where last time I used the 3068 wheat yeast. I am only using 1lb of DME this time and at some point down the road I am going to use a little honey for that crisp clean finish that I like in my beer.

The beauty of this wonderful drink is that you can tweak it to make it your own, just like a beer. All who have tried my batches of Graff have liked it. Now for tasting notes, well I think Brandon O' described it best in his Graff thread. Sligthly malty, slightly hoppy, with some good apple flavor.

Just returned from my LHBS with all the goods to make a batch of Graff. Going to give it a go tonight.

I'm curious what hops you decided to use? I made a batch recently with 8% AA Cascades and it was pretty bitter. It's mellowing out now after a couple of months. The malt is starting to come through, but there's not any sweetness to it. Unfortunately, I just went ahead and powered through the whole batch. I'm keeping a 6're around to test once a month.

Pickled_Pepper said:

I'm curious what hops you decided to use? I made a batch recently with 8% AA Cascades and it was pretty bitter. It's mellowing out now after a couple of months. The malt is starting to come through, but there's not any sweetness to it. Unfortunately, I just went ahead and powered through the whole batch. I'm keeping a 6're around to test once a month.

Click to expand...

The hoppiness subsides greatly in time. I used 1oz of 3% bittering and at 3 weeks carbonating it was too hoppy for me. But after another month the hoppiness wasn't hardly noticeable. It's been 4 months now and it's still a great drink on a hot afternoon.

....BUT, Scubadad, A you a member of Pinelands Brewers? I f so I live very close to the brew house.