Do you want to brew one of the 12 beers of Christmas?

[gusty83]

Hey xcorpio is sharing some of the beers with me so i would like to give some feedback and also hear what you guys have to say so I don't open something prematurely or wait too long.

I tried the juniper rye bock tonight(JB). It had that typical sweeter rye flavor although very dry at the same time. Very strong, nice and clear, medium brown. I shared a bottle with 3 people and still felt it right away. Bubbled up a little more than it should when opened and the flavor is slightly intense. I would definitely wait just a bit longer on this even though it tastes great now. It actually reminds me of an old time soda in character. Almost like a moxie or homemade cola or something. great beer. thanks.

 

[biochemedic]

Xcorpia, so far you win in the presentation category.

+1! Very festive, and impressive to boot!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

 

[Xcorpia]

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[Willum]

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving.

 

[Nickdl578]

gingersnap...I'm interested..totally would brew that one.

 

[Scruffy1207]

Lol, our thread appeared in the thanksgiving newsletter. Happy thanksgiving everyone! Can't wait to get fine more packages, sending mine out next week. I haven't tried any yet, also when you get my beers, best leave them out to condition a tad more. I bottled on wed, it tastes promising. I first beer I'm pretty proud about (so far).

 

[usfmikeb]

Thanks to my wife, my boxes went out just a little bit ago. I'll send individual messages tonight with your tracking numbers, but everyone should have them within a week. I didn't put labels on bottles, but drew two red cherries on the bottle caps.

 

[sfrisby]

Just received Xcorpia's beers. My wife happened to be home and got the package while I was upstairs. First she says we like Xcorpia. I thought she meant because there were 6 beers in there, not just 3. Silly me, she was referring to the shipping presentation. We then open the package and pull out the beers. My wife takes it all in, recalls what my bottles looked like when I boxed them up, turns to me and says, "god, you are such a boy." And storms off...

 

[gusty83]

I tried the gruit and breakfast stout. Theyre both ready. The stout tastes like jagermeister when its flat and warm lol. That would be an awesome beer to age. Ive never had a gruit before but it felt really festive and christmassy. Real well done and very interesting style.

 

[usfmikeb]

Just received Xcorpia's beers. My wife happened to be home and got the package while I was upstairs. First she says we like Xcorpia. I thought she meant because there were 6 beers in there, not just 3. Silly me, she was referring to the shipping presentation. We then open the package and pull out the beers. My wife takes it all in, recalls what my bottles looked like when I boxed them up, turns to me and says, "god, you are such a boy." And storms off...

Yep, got a similar response from my wife. I think she may have wrapped Xcorpia's box before it went out today...

 

[Xcorpia]

Glad you guys liked it. I've had a lot of fun participating in this exchange . I had a bottle of my Berry Lambicky Ale Ver. 2.0 today after drinking 2 bottles of Stone Ruination. Tasted a bit off, but it might have been because my taste buds were in a coma with all the wonderful hops from the previous 2 beers. Anyhow, make sure your palate is clean before trying it.

 

[Xcorpia]

I tried the gruit and breakfast stout. Theyre both ready. The stout tastes like jagermeister when its flat and warm lol. That would be an awesome beer to age. Ive never had a gruit before but it felt really festive and christmassy. Real well done and very interesting style.

Breakfast stout? I think you meant Spiced Bourbon Stout . I'm waiting 'till mid December to taste the beer.

I'm really nervous about mine, especially the Gingersnap Ale since it was an experimental beer and its still green. I hope they're not that bad.

 

[Scruffy1207]

Breakfast stout? I think you meant Spiced Bourbon Stout . I'm waiting 'till mid December to taste the beer.

I'm really nervous about mine, especially the Gingersnap Ale since it was an experimental beer and its still green. I hope they're not that bad.

I'm in the same boat, I really hope this turns out well considering it was my second all grain beer. I cant wait to get your package, everyone has been racing about it. I get it tomorrow.

 

[Beezy]

Tried a gingerbread today. Not too bad. The body is a little thin and the spices are lingering even though I don't think there is too much. Its light on the carb on purpose but not sure if it's going to carb up a little bit more. It's been a little over a week since bottling. About 9 days.

 

[Scruffy1207]

Alright, Xcorpia wins. I love your labels, and that was a creative packaging idea. What program did you use to create them? Also my mom said, "Wow, look at that, your bottles look like s#$%, hers are nice."

 

[Xcorpia]

LOL. I just googled images, chose cool ones and pasted them into a 3x3 table in...wait for it...Microsoft Word. Yep, no Photoshop, no fancy programs, just good old Word. Then I used the text function in the drawing toolbar. For the back side labels I right clicked on the image and changed its brightness to make it seem like a watermark. I copied and pasted the cells and voila! Then I printed them in easy-peel self-adhesive paper.

I'm glad you guys enjoyed the labels. I hope you'll also enjoy the beer.

 

[midfielder5]

I'm glad you guys enjoyed the labels.

I have subscribed to live vicariously, ie I am here waiting for the beer reviews. Any one wanna post up a pic of the labels?! mmmm beer p0rn.
cheers,
Wendy

 

[Scruffy1207]

I have subscribed to live vicariously, ie I am here waiting for the beer reviews. Any one wanna post up a pic of the labels?! mmmm beer p0rn.
cheers,
Wendy

I'll post a pic in the morning, getting drunk off SNPA at ny friends house while watching Step Brothers ATM.

 

[Scruffy1207]

Heres the front labels

 

[midfielder5]

yeah those rule. thanks for posting, Scruffy

 

[spyder2723]

Just curious if anyone had received a package from me yet, it has been a week and a half and I want to make sure things are getting where they need to be, and the shipping place didn't give me any tracking info. Thanks!

 

[Scruffy1207]

Just curious if anyone had received a package from me yet, it has been a week and a half and I want to make sure things are getting where they need to be, and the shipping place didn't give me any tracking info. Thanks!

Not me yet. Btw I'm sending mine out today, sorry about the delay, I'll make sure it gets there by the 16th

 

[Xcorpia]

Just curious if anyone had received a package from me yet, it has been a week and a half and I want to make sure things are getting where they need to be, and the shipping place didn't give me any tracking info. Thanks!

Got mine the day before yesterday. Thanks!

 

[usfmikeb]

Just curious if anyone had received a package from me yet, it has been a week and a half and I want to make sure things are getting where they need to be, and the shipping place didn't give me any tracking info. Thanks!

Did you have four dashes on the bottlecaps?

 

[spyder2723]

Yep 4 dashes is me. Glad to hear they are getting out there.

 

[usfmikeb]

I think I received it last week. My wife's been opening the boxes in her zeal to see what I've received so far, and sometimes I don't know what I've received!

 

[Scruffy1207]

Yep 4 dashes is me. Glad to hear they are getting out there.

Cancel, I got it

 

[rhoadsrage]

Alright, I have about 12 days before I depart my full DBF and head to the land of watered down Folgers and cookies as far as you can reach. So I want to open some of the gems you sent. I will try to post a picture but feel free to post more reviews and pics of you have them. I was going to start at the top and work your way down but feel free to drink in any order. Let me know how they are drinking.

 

[KFH]

After dealing with a nasty cold that worked its way through everyone in the house one at a time, I've finally got my brew bottled up.

Well, half of it anyway.

I've decided to enlist everyone participating in this little exchange as taste testers/guinea pigs for two different spice combinations.

First is:

1 12oz can frozen apple juice concentrate
1tsp nutmeg
1tsp allspice
2tsp cinnamon

Second is:

1 12oz can frozen apple juice concentrate
1tsp nutmeg
1tsp allspice
1tsp cinnamon
1.5 tsp pumpkin pie spice.

Everyone will be getting 1 750ml bottle of each, shipping out either Wednesday or Thursday.

 

[Scruffy1207]

After dealing with a nasty cold that worked its way through everyone in the house one at a time, I've finally got my brew bottled up.

Well, half of it anyway.

I've decided to enlist everyone participating in this little exchange as taste testers/guinea pigs for two different spice combinations.

First is:

1 12oz can frozen apple juice concentrate
1tsp nutmeg
1tsp allspice
2tsp cinnamon

Second is:

1 12oz can frozen apple juice concentrate
1tsp nutmeg
1tsp allspice
1tsp cinnamon
1.5 tsp pumpkin pie spice.

Everyone will be getting 1 750ml bottle of each, shipping out either Wednesday or Thursday.

Sounds interesting!

 

[usfmikeb]

Where are we on the last three shipments? I leave for Florida in a week...

 

[spyder2723]

Yeah I would say we are getting very close to the last day for shipment for me as well. I know in my case if the final three aren't out by tomorrow I would prefer to receive them sometime after Christmas.

 

[Scruffy1207]

Where are we on the last three shipments? I leave for Florida in a week...

Lots of stuff went on, you'll get your package on time. I'll make sure of it.

 

[usfmikeb]

Cool, just want to make sure I don't return from vacation to find boxes of frozen exploded beer bottles on my porch.

 

[Xcorpia]

Just wanted to give a heads up: the Berry Lambicky Ale Ver. 2.0 over-carbed, so immediately pour into the tallest glass you have. Sorry, don't know what happened. The SG only dropped only 2 points when I racked to 2ry, so fermentation was definitely done or so I thought. Maybe I made a mistake weighing the priming sugar. Flavor-wise I like it better than Ver. 1.0.

 

[sfrisby]

So, if im right, we are still waiting for Willum, Scruffy, and KFH. Scruffy and KFH have both posted here recently so all seems good there. But has anyone reached out to Willum? I was going to send a pm but first check if anyone beat me to it.

 

[sfrisby]

So a couple of comments. I'll probably break up into separate posts to help ID the content but since I am going to be gone the week of christmas, I decided to get a headstart on the 12 beers of Christmas by opening one tonight. Naturally, since it looks more inviting than any of our beers, I enjoyed a sample from Xcorpis' exotic elixers and capricious concotions with the Holy Gingersnap!

Since I happen to have a Gingerbread Porter on tap, I wanted to compare. I definetly think I learned something about Marris Otter. I used Marris Otter for the first time for my Gingerbread Porter and there is a similar flavor profile with Holy Gingersnap! Gingersnap is much lighter, not just IBU's but in body. Quite frankly, I found it much easier to drink than my own. I found it to be a very subtle and very pleasant flavor. I think everyone will throughly enjoy it. But maybe I'm biased, heterosexual male or not, you can't help but to get caught up in the beer partially because of the packaging. Thanks Xcorpia

 

[sfrisby]

Update on Belgian Quads....

I have now had 2 bottles each of the bourbon barrel quad and regular quad. The good news is, the sweetness that I mentioned in my note has mellowed some. Definetly won't call it a dry beer, but it is more drinkable that it was before.

Now the bad news. I have had two bourbon barrels and they are both the same so I know it wasn't a radom fluke, but they are flat as a board. Although I bottled both versions together and dissolved sugar together, somehow no sugar got in the bottling bucket. I don't know how that happened (regular is carbed fine) but it is what it is. If you have any carb tablets, I would suggest cracking it open, dropping a couple in, and sealing back up (you might want a new cap ). That is what I am going to do. Good luck.

 

[Xcorpia]

I just popped open a Juniper Rye Bock. Carbonation is perfect in my opinion. No head, medium light body. I get juniper in the nose. Honey flavor up front, caramel and bitterness in the end and a raisin/prune with rye after-taste. Very interesting! Thanks Rhoadsrage!

*edit* opened a second bottle. It has like a 3/8 head that dissipates in 5 minutes.

Enjoying it with a pomegranate. Yum!

 

[usfmikeb]

Looking forward to getting feedback on the dubbel, but I can tell its getting better with age.