Evan!
Well-Known Member
...and hops, too! 
He sent me an EF, a Belgian Pale Ale, a Southern English Brown and a Belgian Dark Strong Ale. And 8oz of Galena. Werrrrrd. Over the weekend, I tried the Belgian Pale Ale and the Southern English Brown:
Belgian Pale Ale:
I likes me some Belgian bottle yeast, so I dumped the entire contents into the glass, which cloudied it up quite a bit. Yellowish golden color, looked like a decocted hefe. I'm sure if I hadn't dumped the yeast cake into the glass, it'd be clearer. The aroma is very Belgian, slight hoppy note (more herbal/spicy than floral), and a characteristic barnyardy stink that I love. There's also a hint of over-ripe fruit, almost like there's some orange peel in there. The palate is pretty layered, with a twang---almost like there's either some wheat malt in there, or a touch of Brett. The stinkiness makes me lean towards the latter. There's a lot of fruit, with some "week old orange juice concentrate" thing in there. A little hop flavor, not too bitter, and a nice touch of acidity from the brett or whatever that is. Very balanced. It reminds me of some of those smallish Farmhouse ales that I get from Belgium. Very, very, very nice! Wifey demanded I get the recipe. Great brew, man.
Southern English Brown Ale
The pour reveals that it's overcarbed. A normal, less-than-vigorous pour method almost gives me foam to the top of my large Lucifer goblet. The color is very dark brown with ruby edges. The nose gives off a little bit of that oxidized metal aroma that is standard with overcarbonated batches, with a ton of molasses and chocolate aroma. Hardly any hop aroma. The palate is similar, and the carbonation kind of messes it up. I waited awhile so it'd offgas some more, and it got better, but you know how it is with overcarbed batches...not always easy to lose that flavor very quickly. Regardless, it seems a bit heavy-handed on the palate. Too much oxidized, beefy, molasses notes for a SEBA. Actually, it's unbelievably similar to my XXX Old Ale, and since I know OB did an Old Ale recently too, I almost wondered if he mislabeled it...but I also know that his old ale is like 9% ABV, and this wasn't that. It just had that treacle/molasses thing, which doesn't fit this style very well...and it seemed a bit too estery for a SEBA. Maybe it's just the overcarbonation? Just for comparison, I had a glass of my SEBA alongside it, and I gotta say: you really need to add that special roast to your recipe. It makes SUCH a difference. I'll send you some of mine when I reciprocate, so you can see what I mean. Also, to minimize the ester profile, I'd ferment with Notty as close to 60F as you can. Overall, though, if you uncap and decarbonate this batch, I think it'd be much better. Not that it's a bad beer outside of the overcarbing, just that it's out of style. I'd call it a low-gravity old ale.
Thanks for sending these...I'll review the BDSA and EF when I get around to drinking the.
He sent me an EF, a Belgian Pale Ale, a Southern English Brown and a Belgian Dark Strong Ale. And 8oz of Galena. Werrrrrd. Over the weekend, I tried the Belgian Pale Ale and the Southern English Brown:
Belgian Pale Ale:
I likes me some Belgian bottle yeast, so I dumped the entire contents into the glass, which cloudied it up quite a bit. Yellowish golden color, looked like a decocted hefe. I'm sure if I hadn't dumped the yeast cake into the glass, it'd be clearer. The aroma is very Belgian, slight hoppy note (more herbal/spicy than floral), and a characteristic barnyardy stink that I love. There's also a hint of over-ripe fruit, almost like there's some orange peel in there. The palate is pretty layered, with a twang---almost like there's either some wheat malt in there, or a touch of Brett. The stinkiness makes me lean towards the latter. There's a lot of fruit, with some "week old orange juice concentrate" thing in there. A little hop flavor, not too bitter, and a nice touch of acidity from the brett or whatever that is. Very balanced. It reminds me of some of those smallish Farmhouse ales that I get from Belgium. Very, very, very nice! Wifey demanded I get the recipe. Great brew, man.
Southern English Brown Ale
The pour reveals that it's overcarbed. A normal, less-than-vigorous pour method almost gives me foam to the top of my large Lucifer goblet. The color is very dark brown with ruby edges. The nose gives off a little bit of that oxidized metal aroma that is standard with overcarbonated batches, with a ton of molasses and chocolate aroma. Hardly any hop aroma. The palate is similar, and the carbonation kind of messes it up. I waited awhile so it'd offgas some more, and it got better, but you know how it is with overcarbed batches...not always easy to lose that flavor very quickly. Regardless, it seems a bit heavy-handed on the palate. Too much oxidized, beefy, molasses notes for a SEBA. Actually, it's unbelievably similar to my XXX Old Ale, and since I know OB did an Old Ale recently too, I almost wondered if he mislabeled it...but I also know that his old ale is like 9% ABV, and this wasn't that. It just had that treacle/molasses thing, which doesn't fit this style very well...and it seemed a bit too estery for a SEBA. Maybe it's just the overcarbonation? Just for comparison, I had a glass of my SEBA alongside it, and I gotta say: you really need to add that special roast to your recipe. It makes SUCH a difference. I'll send you some of mine when I reciprocate, so you can see what I mean. Also, to minimize the ester profile, I'd ferment with Notty as close to 60F as you can. Overall, though, if you uncap and decarbonate this batch, I think it'd be much better. Not that it's a bad beer outside of the overcarbing, just that it's out of style. I'd call it a low-gravity old ale.
Thanks for sending these...I'll review the BDSA and EF when I get around to drinking the.
