RIS swap - Professor Frink's Beers

[Professor Frink]

It's a little late, but here's my thread.

Beers were sent to:
olllllo
ScubaSteve
Brewt00l

Each person got 2-22 oz'ers of RIS and a 12 oz. of Barleywine, brewed June 2007. Enjoy!

 

[ScubaSteve]

Hey There-

Prof Frink sent me 2 x 22 oz. of his RIS and 1 x 12 oz. bottle of his Barleywine.

First, the RIS:

The label was superb, Frink had some great attention to detail with this, giving the beer a total "cold war" "product of USSR" feel. Opened with a nice "pfssst" and a hazy dense cloud of co2 settled in the bottleneck. Carbonation on the pour was appropriate. Beer was served a bit cold at roughly 48F. Up front, the beer tasted very basic in pH...the mouthfeel was neither too thin, nor was it too heavy. The roasty flavors kicked in shortly thereafter, and some slight raisin and plum showed up as well. Alcohol was easily detected.....it definitely had a nice warming feel to it. Overall, a pretty good beer. If I could do it all over, I'd let her warm up a bit....and I'm sure there would be lots more character to this beer.

Next, the Barleywine:

Man, this was a hellaciously good barleywine! Again, I had to complement Frink on his labels, this time he had an image of a field of grain with his "Lazy Dog Brewery" name across it. This beer opened with a nice hiss, and carbonation was actually quite present. I got a solid inch of head at first pour....this dissipated shortly thereafter. Aroma was wonderful....it had a grainy, bready, alcohol scent that was really inviting. Mouthfeel was a bit on the heavy side, but the alcohol's bite kind of balanced that out. This beer had a fantastic bready, grainy quality to it, that totally meshed with the alcohol and carbonation. I've had several commercial examples, and I either felt that they were too boozy, or they were not boozy enough. It went down REALLY smooth, and was a total pleasure to drink. SWMBO liked this beer so much, I thought she might leave me for Professor Frink ! Frink, you gotta send me the recipe for this!

 

[brewt00l]

RIS - (I will update the review if other samples provide additional/different results)
Appearance: Black body poured into my stemmed tulip results in a thin layer of fine dusty tan & mocha carbonation that hangs around the rim through out the glass. Dark brown highlights when held to direct light.
Aroma: Chilled, the beer exhibits a rather faint roasty coffee aroma. As the glass warmed, a fuller aroma developed with the usual RIS compliments of roast, coffee, sweet malt/caramel and faint alcohol.
Flavor: While cold this brew was all coffee, somewhat one note. Again, warmth really brought out the best in the beer. While the roasty coffee flavor was still dominant, you now have sweet caramel malt, burnt sugar/molasses with some faint dark fruit. Finishes with a nice lingering bitterness & warmth.
Mouthfeel: Chilled this brew was thin and somewhat watery. Brought up to proper temp, the body firmed to a moderate level. Low carb but within style.
Overall: This was like drinking two vastly different beers....chilled, the majority of excellent aspects of the beer are hidden from your experience. The beer really opened up as it had a chance to warm & breath in the glass.

 

[olllllo]

RIS Served at 52F
Aroma:
Faint plum choco fruitiness.
Slight alcohol.

Appearance:
Bottle poured nicely.
Black color with thick khaki head. Head lasted throughout session.

Flavor:
Sweet and dark fruityness with a slightly solventy alcohol flavor much like plum wine.
Finishes with a bitter cocoa dryness that I find to be pleasant. Beer has a Belgian-like complexity.

Mouthfeel:
While I feel that the carbonation is right on, the body is not as full as I would prefer. It does not have the velvety character or texture asked of the style.

Overall:
While I feel that there is a complexity depth and enjoyability to this beer, the combination of body and alcohol make this beer less accessable than it could be and would be thing I would look to improve upon.

Were there any problems with the fermentattion temperature?

 

[Professor Frink]

RIS Served at 52F
Aroma:
Faint plum choco fruitiness.
Slight alcohol.

Appearance:
Bottle poured nicely.
Black color with thick khaki head. Head lasted throughout session.

Flavor:
Sweet and dark fruityness with a slightly solventy alcohol flavor much like plum wine.
Finishes with a bitter cocoa dryness that I find to be pleasant. Beer has a Belgian-like complexity.

Mouthfeel:
While I feel that the carbonation is right on, the body is not as full as I would prefer. It does not have the velvety character or texture asked of the style.

Overall:
While I feel that there is a complexity depth and enjoyability to this beer, the combination of body and alcohol make this beer less accessable than it could be and would be thing I would look to improve upon.

Were there any problems with the fermentattion temperature?

The fermentation temperature may have been a little warm, but I think my issue with this beer was my efficiency. I bought the all-grain kit from AHB, but later realized that the recipe was calculated for 75% efficiency, while my system usually is under 70%. I think that may be why it was lacking body. Lately I've been double crushing my grain and it's been giving me better efficiency numbers.


ScubaSteve, here's the Barleywine recipe, I pitched onto a cake of Wyeast 1056.