If you have ever read any brewing book that mentions strawberries, it is likely followed by something about fresh being the only way to drink it. Even my number 1 book, Radical Brewing, states something along the lines of, "strawberry lives best as a memory-drink it fresh."
I brewed a Strawberry Blonde back in April as a beer for the wife. Wife then got pregnant, so didn't drink anything more than a taste here and there. Plus she really doesn't like beer (I am determined to find one she likes though!). Anyway, as soon as it's carbed, it's decent. Kind of a peppery tone to it, but also really tart. I would have to say the aroma really made up for any flavor deficiencies. It smelled delicious!
I had other beers kegged, so I left the blonde to sit in the kegerator. My BMC friends would visit and take a pint here and there and they would rave about it. I still just let it sit.
For Thanksgiving, we went to some friends' house. My MIL just bought me some flip top bottles, so I bottled a variety of my beer and brought it. Well, the punchline to this story is that the strawberry blonde got really good. The strawberry flavor has either intensified or the tartness just subsided. It's not cloying or anything, just really nice. Now I only have about 48oz of it left.
My point is to ask if anyone else has experienced this with fruit beers using fruit that is "weak". Peaches, black berries, strawberries, etc. I was hesitant to brew any other beers with these fruits, but I may now.
The other cool thing about this beer was when I had the beer in secondary with the berries. It looked like strawberries and cream, then after racking I noticed that the strawberries looked dead. I mean they were gray. All the color seemed to go right into the beer.
I brewed a Strawberry Blonde back in April as a beer for the wife. Wife then got pregnant, so didn't drink anything more than a taste here and there. Plus she really doesn't like beer (I am determined to find one she likes though!). Anyway, as soon as it's carbed, it's decent. Kind of a peppery tone to it, but also really tart. I would have to say the aroma really made up for any flavor deficiencies. It smelled delicious!
I had other beers kegged, so I left the blonde to sit in the kegerator. My BMC friends would visit and take a pint here and there and they would rave about it. I still just let it sit.
For Thanksgiving, we went to some friends' house. My MIL just bought me some flip top bottles, so I bottled a variety of my beer and brought it. Well, the punchline to this story is that the strawberry blonde got really good. The strawberry flavor has either intensified or the tartness just subsided. It's not cloying or anything, just really nice. Now I only have about 48oz of it left.
My point is to ask if anyone else has experienced this with fruit beers using fruit that is "weak". Peaches, black berries, strawberries, etc. I was hesitant to brew any other beers with these fruits, but I may now.
The other cool thing about this beer was when I had the beer in secondary with the berries. It looked like strawberries and cream, then after racking I noticed that the strawberries looked dead. I mean they were gray. All the color seemed to go right into the beer.
