Beerswap III: Orph's Oak IIPA

My three recipients each got 4 bottles of this beer. I hope you enjoy!

I'm so glad to see your thread, because I just now sampled your beer. My sampling partner took half, which seems about right because I swear I can feel that 6 ounces of beer!

Here we go:

Aroma: Clean, spicy aroma with no strong hops notes at all. It smells great but slightly understated. 9/12

Appearance: Gorgeous copper/red hued beer with a nice long lasting white head. Super clear, nice lacing and just beautiful. No haze, cloudiness or sediment. 3/3

Flavor: Well this is where it gets interesting. My first sip was amazing! It is an unusually rich well balanced beer with an oaky finish that is awesomely smooth. It obviously has a high ABV (I feel downright warm!) but there is no alcohol "bite" to it and it is slightly spicy. I don't know if it's hops that is giving that spice (I haven't seen a recipe yet) or a function of the yeast, but it is perfect in this beer. The oakiness is slightly tannic but in a good way. It tastes like it's been aged for smoothness. This is a flavorful beer with lots of complexity that is a joy to drink. Then I had my second sip- and I decided that I would drive cross country to have this beer again. It's awesome. I've never had anything exactly like this- Orpheus says it's an IIPA, but it is most definitely balanced and not over the top at all with hops. If anything, the malt backbone is one of the things I noticed right away. I don't know if it's "to style" because of this but I wouldn't have it any other way. 19/20

Mouthfeel: Smooth, rich, medium bodied beer that is almost creamy. It's got perfect carbonation. 5/5

Overall impression: OMG this is a great beer. This is better than most commercial/micro brews I've ever had. It's perfection in a glass. It's fantastic and absolutely world class. It is a pleasure and an honor to drink this beer. There is absolutely no way to improve on this. It's an amazing beer. 10/10

Orpheus- this is absolutely without a doubt the finest homebrew I ever had or could even imagine having. It's a perfect beer. Thank you so much for sending these beautiful babies to me. If you have the recipe posted, I'd love to take a gander and see how close I was on judging it. It's wonderful!

Wow Yoops, I'm speechless for once. Thank you so much for your feedback. The recipe is this one:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=42896

Hmmm. I thought the spiciness I tasted might be saaz or some phenols from the yeast. But I see that's not possible. My next guess then is the northern brewer for bittering combined with the centennial for dry hopping. I'm surprised that there is that much in dry hops- definitely don't taste them. Still, I can see why I say "balanced- more towards malt" because with an og of 1.089, 69 IBUs isn't much. I like it that way- that is NOT a criticism! It almost reminds me of an oaked AB without the bitterness, if that makes sense.

My husband tasted a roasted/toasted flavor (must be the toasted malt?) that I totally discounted when he mentioned it. I told him he was crazy- that it was the oak!

The oak is present but not at all overwhelming and I thought it was fantastic.

Orpheus's (Got Wood?) IIPA​

AROMA:
Fantastic. It's like stepping into a brewery built inside an oak cabin. Very malty upfront and the wood aroma is fantasic. I had my doubts when I saw it was an oak-chip beer. I shall doubt no more. Make no mistake. THis is not a smoke aroma...but a true wood aroma and very nice. Reminiscent of your grandma's foot chest made out of cedar.11/12

APPEARANCE
Beautiful amber color. Slight haze (to be expected as I didn't have the patience to wait). A beautiful head on the pour and even as I look at the last 2 inches in my glassm the lacing runs the full lenght.3/3

FLAVOR
Wow. WOw. WOW. For a 1.086 beer, this is deceivingly smooth. The sweet up front maltiness is immediately balanced with a sharp, flavorful bitterness. The oak flaovr is there all along...kind just for the ride. Doesn't over power and if you didn't know what it was...you'd stretch to guess. The best part is when you take a whiff just as you let the beer slide between your lips...what a concert of flavor and aroma. I really didn't know what to expect with this one. Now...I'm convinced that this is a class-act beer, that needs to be entered into a competiion immediately. A wood "hopped" beer doesn't sound likeit would be a quaffer, but I'm glad I have several more bottles of this. One of the best beers I've ever tasted.18/20

MOUTHFEEL
Great mouthfeel. Creamy ane crisp at the same time. Perfectly carbonated. The high malt content and the oak chips really add to the mouth feel.. 5/5

OVERALL
Very enjoyable beer. An eye opener for me. I'm not easily dissapointed, and even more rarely blown away by a beer...but this one certainly falls into the latter category.10/10

Overall, 47/50.

Nice job...I WILL BREW THIS

I just have to say again, thank you to you both for your wonderful feedback. It is so interesting to get another brewer's perspective on your beer. Your honesty, insight, and appreciation has both humbled and inspired me.

Orpheus said:

I just have to say again, thank you to you both for your wonderful feedback. It is so interesting to get another brewer's perspective on your beer. Your honesty, insight, and appreciation has both humbled and inspired me.

Click to expand...

Humbled you? HUMBLED you? OMG- it is the best beer in the world. You need to get arrogant about this beer. ARROGANT! It's awesome. It's fantastic. It's almost gone.