As others (Dude, Yuri, etc) mention, I'm trying to be as objective as I can possibly be. Even though I am a bit inexperienced in judging, I'm trying to "be the critic" not the "yes-man". Bear in mind at all times that regardless of what I write, I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to taste others' homebrew and provide feedback.
Scottish Walnut 80/-
12oz bottle with unmarked cap. Appropriate fill level. Some blackish "sediment" on bottom. (More on this in a sec) Opened with a very slight "pfft". Served at about 38F as my fridge is a tad cold, but also let it warm up to estimated mid-40s for second round of reviewing.
Anything in green is speaking specifically to style (9C), the black comments are my opinion.
Aroma: Malty and warm, but not alcohol-hot. Low but present fruitiness, no diacetyl, low-to-no hop aroma.
10/12 | 10/12
Appearance: Poured with thin but creamy white-to-offwhite head that quickly dissipated. Nice amber color, eyeballed it at around 10-11 SRM. Very hazy. A few odd "dark flecks" - possibly bottling related?
1/3 | 1/3 - longer secondary or gelatin could have easily gained another point for clarity.
Flavor: Tart and minerally at first. Part of this may be the different water profile from your region "confusing" my taste buds. Not a bad minerally sensation at all, just different, I liken it to a highly minerally British ale. Nice malty base with a strange "tartness" that persists. Toffee notes. Needs more nuts.
12/20 | 15/20
Mouthfeel: Thin, moderately undercarbonated, but not flat. Astringency present - either from undercarbing or from the walnuts, I'm not sure. Finished very dry, perhaps mash a couple degrees higher for some residual sweetness?
2/5 | 3/5
Overall: I like my Scottish ales a little undercarbed, but this is a good example of "makes or breaks" the beer. Not a bad drinker at all, and astringency notwithstanding, this beer has no major "defects" at all. Just not quite perfected yet, but a great base beer to keep improving on. I would possibly 1.5x to 2.0x the quantity of nuts.
5/10 | 6/10
30/50 - Could easily jump 10 points by correcting the astringency/undercarb scenario, and eliminating the "black sediment", and perhaps mashing 2deg higher.
35/50 - Oddly enough, this is the first time that my "opinion score" on something has ever been harsher than judging to style. Part of this resulted because the minerally dry finish, minus the astringency, is actually more appropriate for a 80/- than I remembered! We're all guilty sometimes of wanting everything to be bigger than it is. My opinion of an 80/- will always be somewhat "warped" by the huge caramelly toffeey tastes from the Odell's 90 Schilling. Either way, congrats on two decent scores!
Re: Black sediment... It's weird, I don't know how to describe it. It looks like dark, almost-black seaweed-y residue. There were 5-6 of these little "particles" present - I *think* I can see them in one of the two other WSA bottle but not in the SPBA bottles. Possible causes could be a bit of kraeusen that got racked into the bottling bucket, a bit of remnant "gunk" in the bottle that didn't get cleaned, or perhaps a side effect of the Carb-Tabs, I've never used them myself. I didn't taste it, yeh I know, I'm a wuss.
I think it's definitely the exception not the rule so I wouldn't stress yourself over it, but I would just keep a watchful eye next time just to see where the defect might be coming from.
If it's Carb-Tab related, I would think about building a BierMuncher Bottle Filler - it's how I bottle almost all my batches now - keg it, force carb it, BMBF it. I ruined a 5g batch of American IPA because I used the wrong jar of priming sugar - 1.7 vols for 2.5 gals instead of 2.8 vols for 5 gals. It's supa-flat! So to prevent that mistake, I try to BMBF where I can.
One final note, I
could tell this was my recipe (That makes me so excited!!!!!!), and that we just happened to make "opposite" mistakes - wherein I mashed too high, fermented too high, carb'ed too high, and got a color way too dark, yours was too modest. Thinner than an 80/- should be, astringent, undercarbed.... Honestly if we could just brew this together we might accidentally create the perfect, most harmonious nut beer ever made!!!!
In the mean time, lets both keep tweaking this. I think a bit more wheat malt (while it would make it even hazier) could help with head retention, I had problems there too.
BREW ON BROTHA!
