Beerswap 2007 - Brewtopia's Beers

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Brewtopia

"Greenwood Aged Beer"
Joined
Oct 20, 2006
Messages
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Location
Seattle, WA
I sent beers out to Vermicious, knipknup and Yooper Chick. (I'll actually ship Yooper's next week) Recipe's are posted in the HBT Recipe Database.

Ginger Peach Wheat

The first of my “Tea” experiments, I brought 3.5 gallons of water to a boil, turned off the heat and added 3.5 oz of “Republic of Tea” brand loose leaf Ginger Peach Tea in a cheesecloth bag. I let it steep 5 minutes, removed the bag and used this as my brew water. I bottled from the keg using the Blichman Beer Gun.

Pale Rider West Coast APA

When I brewed this it was going to be a 40 IBU Pale Ale that I was going to pitch Brettanomyces in the secondary. Then I saw a 1 oz bag of Amarillo in the freezer and decided to toss them in. More in the style of an IPA than a Pale Ale but I already made the label so there you go. I Kegged this batch but bottled a 6 pack using Cooper’s carbonation drops. (No Brett either, I'll save that for the next go 'round)

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Cheers,
Don
 
Dude,

I tried both your beers last night and here's the lowdown...

Ginger Peach Wheat

First of all, awesome label, made me thirsty!

Appearance
Not much head. Clear body with no particles and nice blonde color - like the label.

Aroma
Heavy burnt molasses with very light hop profile. It was definitely a malt aroma.

Palate
Medium body that was creamy and soft. No funky stuff.

Flavor
Smooth peachy flavor but I didn't detect any ginger. The flavor was moderately sweet and moderately bitter but not overpowering like most fruit beers.

Easy to drink and nice. I kept reaching for more... Nice job. I rated it 31.

Pale Rider

Appearance
Average creamy off-white head with good lacing. The brew was a bit cloudy with some floaties hanging around. The color was a nice orange.

Aroma
Light malt, almost not detectable. However, nice heavy hop profile that was perfumery. I could tell this was going to be a Pale Ale!

Palate
Medium body with gritty finish. Average carbonation and pretty bitter. The bitterness was awakening.

Flavor
The flavor lasted quite a while, lingering long after the brew was gone. The bitterness was pronounced up front, in the nose and at the finish. Then it lingered some more. I like bitter so it did me right.

You might want to up some dark malts on this one to compliment the bitterness or change some of the bittering hops to flavor or even dry hop to reduce the bitterness while still capturing the hop profile. It reminded me of the Tongue Splitter brew (Williams brewing, I think?). I liked your Pale Ale a lot but it is not for the hop-wimps. I rated it a 32.
 
Ginger Peach Wheat


I sampled half of the Ginger Peach Wheat, as the other judge (my husband) wanted to play!

First, the appearance is wonderful. Great label and looks professional. Since it was bottled with a beer gun, there was no yeast layer on the bottom of the bottle. It is super clear and a beautiful light golden color. The head dissipated quickly, leaving no lacing on the glass. The carbonation level was very good.

Aroma: Very mild with no discernible hop aroma.

Flavor: No discernible hop flavor- balanced between malt and hops. There was an unidentifiable flavor we detected (must be the peach?) that was pleasant and mild. Very clean tasting, with no flaws detected. Surprisingly, it was not fruity tasting but tasted like beer with a mild, smooth flavor of "something".

Mouthfeel- crisp, mild, fairly thin bodied. Nice carbonation.

Overall impression- Pleasant light, crisp tasting beer. It was almost lager like in its "clean-ness". It would make a wonderful summertime beer. Very drinkable and enjoyable. It was gone way too soon. I scored it a 31.
 
Sampled both the Ginger Peach Wheat and the Pale Rider last night and here are the reviews


Ginger Peach Wheat

Appearance: Medium carbonation, traditionally I believe wheat beers are served slightly higher, but that just might have been my glass causing trouble. Light color with some cloudiness, but short of filtering the beer, this is to be expected with german wheat yeast.

Aroma: An absolutely gorgeous banana nose. The aroma is one of my favorite aspects of a german wheat beer and this beer hit it exactly. Good and strong at 40 degree temperature without any fading.

Flavor: Complex flavor. I could definitely detect the clove-like flavors from the yeast, but I had a harder time picking out the tea flavors. They may have blended together, but I think the yeast overpowered the tea.

Mouthfeel- A thin to moderate mouthfeel, as expected for this style.

Overall impression- The yeast flavors and aroma were perfect. I imagine that a good fermentation temp was what brought these esters right out. However, I could detect no tea in the aroma and I could barely taste something that I think was the tea. This was a wonderfully well-made beer, but I think that a tea flavor would be better show-cased by an american strain of wheat yeast. But if all you wanted was to accent the german yeast, then this was perfect.



Pale Rider West Coast APA

Appearance: Medium carbonation, perfect for this style with a good color.

Aroma: Medium to strong hop aroma. I believe I could pick out the cascade well, but it was blending a bit with something else that must have been the amarillo. (Just looked at your recipe, something is confusing my nose, but it may just be excessive drinking).

Flavor: Very bitter, not overwhelming, but it is definitely the first and last thing I taste. A moderate amount of malt flavor with some nice complexities from the hops. The balance is definitely towards the hops, I prefer a little more malt, but this is my own preference and does not reflect the West Coast style.

Mouthfeel: The malt flavor was moderate, but the mouthfeel was much higher. I imagine it was from the dextrine malt addition, I will have to experiment with it in my own beers.

Overall impressions: A very good beer. No fermentation off-flavors and the hops leant a nice blend to complicate the taste. A little bitter for my taste, but again, I know my taste isn't universal.
 
Pale Rider Pale Ale

I have not looked at the recipe, because I didn't want it to cloud my thinking.

Aroma: Citrusy aroma, very pronounced hops. I would guess cascade and/or amarillo hops in here. I don't really identify any other hops. No discernible malt aroma. Excellent for an IPA.

Appearance: Cloudy (chill haze?) and darker than expected, almost amber colored, with a long lasting creamy head that left beautiful lacing on the glass.

Flavor: Bitter upfront and lingering but nicely balanced with the malt and aroma hops. More bitter than expected but very nicely done. The hops dominate and are very nice. Maybe the bitterness could be balanced with some dryhopping or more malt, but I don't think it's a flaw at all- in fact, I like it that way.

Mouthfeel: Perfect body and carbonation. A great mouthfeel in an IPA.

Overall: Maybe it's because I love bitter beer and hoppy beers so I'm biased, but I thought this was a great beer. Nicely crafted. Although it was more bitter than expected, it was not unpleasant at all. On a night out, I would definitely order a few more of these!

(My tasting partner is not a big IPA fan, but he agreed with all of my remarks and enjoyed it, too). We scored this one a 39! Good job, Brewtopia.
 
I want to thank everyone for the excellent feedback. I have enjoyed sampling everyone's beers immensely and look forward to future beerswaps. This has been great fun. :mug:
 
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