Yearly Archives: 2014

Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA

In the previous post I reviewed Dogfish Head’s 60 Minute IPA, so today it is time for their 90 Minute IPA. The bottle I have isn’t super fresh, but it was bottled in the end of March 2014, so hopefully it will still be in good shape.

dogfish_head_90_ipa

  • Brewery: Dogfish Head Brewery
  • Country: USA
  • Style: Imperial IPA
  • ABV: 9 %
  • Size: 355 ml
  • Bought from: Online
  • Beer Advocate
  • RateBeer

I wasn’t extremely impressed by the 60 minute IPA, so am not getting my expectations up too much, since the 60 minute IPA should be a ‘dumbed down’ version of the 90 minute, which was first released two years earlier in 2001. As the 60 minute IPA, this beer has also been hopped continuously (i.e. small additions of hops are added throughout the boil, instead of e.g. an addition at the beginning and end of the boil) throughout the 90 minute boil. The beer is 9.0% ABV and has a IBU level of 90. Again, I don’t have much ‘official’ information on the ingredients in the beer, but from what I’ve gathered from around the internet (homebrew forums), the malt bill consists of English pale ale and TF amber malt, the beer is hopped with a mixture of Warrior, Amarillo and Simcoe, and it is fermented with a Ringwood-related yeast strain. So, will the 90 minute IPA live up to the hype?

[easyreview title=”Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA” cat1title=”Appearance” cat1detail=”The beer pours crystal clear, and with a glowing golden-orange color. A huge fluffy white head is formed, despite the quite careful pour. The foam head collapses slowly, and leaves large patches of lacing along the glass. A really nice appearance (very similar to the 60 minute IPA)!” cat1rating=”4.5″ cat2title=”Smell” cat2detail=”The aroma is a balance between crisp hop tones, with citrus, resin and floral hints, together with a caramelly and bready maltiness. Not much alcohol is detectable. The aroma could be slightly stronger, and I would personally prefer slightly more hoppiness, especially in an Imperial IPA.” cat2rating=”3.5″ cat3title=”Taste” cat3detail=”The taste begins with a sweet maltiness, lending hints of caramel, honey and biscuits. The maltiness is not as toasty as the 60 minute IPA, despite this one also containing the relatively toasty flavoured Amber malt. The hop flavours are surprisingly muted, with only the slightest hints of tropical fruits (primarily pineapple), resin and citrus (grapefruit). The finish is also sweet and only mildly bitter. Am I really drinking an Imperial IPA? This tastes more like a(n Imperial) Red Ale. I like malty IPAs, but this was way too sweet and malt-dominated even for me.” cat3rating=”3″ cat4title=”Mouthfeel” cat4detail=”The beer has a moderately full body and moderate carbonation level. The sweetness really pulls down on the drinkability, and this wouldn’t be my first choice for a thirst-quencher a warm day like this. The flavours stay in the mouth for a long while though.” cat4rating=”3.5″ summary=”Again I was quite disappointed, as this was way too sweet and had way too little hop flavours and bitterness for my taste. I feel the beer would be more balanced if the bitterness level was cranked up slightly more. Maybe even 4 months is too long for a beer like this? Perhaps I would prefer Dogfish Head’s darker beers more?”]

Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA

I haven’t posted anything for a while, since I’ve been on vacation (including a two week trip to Berlin and Amsterdam), but I thought I’d review a beer I bought a while ago. I will be having a short break in homebrewing as well, since we are moving our garage brewery to a new location, and we need to do some renovating before it is ready to use. During the summer I’ve though brewed a couple of small batches (IPAs) on my old cooler + 20 liter kettle setup, which I’ll write about later. I also organized a single hop tasting with 9 beers a little over a month ago, which I hopefully will have time to write about at some point. Anyways, to the beer, which has quite a reputation in the craft beer world.

dogfish_head_60_ipa

  • Brewery: Dogfish Head Brewery
  • Country: USA
  • Style: American IPA
  • ABV: 6 %
  • Size: 355 ml
  • Bought from: Online
  • Beer Advocate
  • RateBeer

This is the first time I try a beer from Dogfish Head, which is a brewery I quickly came across during my early days of my ‘beer hobby’. The brewery is one of the larger craft breweries in the USA (founded by Sam Calagione in 1995), is known for their unconventional beer, and it has featured in various TV shows (Brew Masters) and documentaries (Beer Wars) about beer. Their 60 minute IPA was released in 2003, and it is an IPA that has been hopped continuously (i.e. small additions of hops are added throughout the boil, instead of e.g. an addition at the beginning and end of the boil) throughout the 60 minute boil. The beer is 6.0% ABV and has a IBU level of, yes, 60. I don’t have much ‘official’ information on the ingredients in the beer, but from what I’ve gathered from around the internet (homebrew forums), the malt bill consists of pale ale and TF amber malt, the beer is hopped with a mixture of Warrior, Amarillo and Simcoe, and it is fermented with a Ringwood-related yeast strain. My bottle was bottled in the middle of March 2014, so it isn’t super-fresh, but still fresher then many US beers you find around here. The beer sounds interesting on paper, but does it live up to the hype?

[easyreview title=”Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA” cat1title=”Appearance” cat1detail=”The beer pours crystal clear, and it has a deep golden color (with some slight hints of orange). A massive fluffy head is formed during pour, and it collapses slowly, leaving drapes of lacing along the glass. A really nice appearance!” cat1rating=”4.5″ cat2title=”Smell” cat2detail=”The aroma is mostly hop-dominated at first, featuring tones of pine resin, mango and candied citrus zest. You can detect a slight maltiness in the background, contributing with tones of caramel and freshly toasted bread. As the beer warms up, the maltiness becomes more and more evident. Not the typical West Coast IPA aroma that one is used to.” cat2rating=”4″ cat3title=”Taste” cat3detail=”The taste begins with a bready maltiness, with tones of toasted malts and caramel. These are then joined by an earthy, dank, resiny hoppiness. Some citrus and tropical fruits hide in the background, but I assume Amarillo dominated the dry hops, while Simcoe dominates the kettle hops. The finish is semi-dry and during the first sips, the bitterness seems surprisingly low for an IPA. The flavors are quite well balanced, but wished there was slightly more bitterness and a little less of the maltiness present, as it feels more like a hoppy amber ale at the moment. As the beer warms up, the bitterness level seems to increase a bit.” cat3rating=”3.5″ cat4title=”Mouthfeel” cat4detail=”The beer has a moderate body and carbonation level, and it is quite easily drinkable. However, the combination of toastiness and bitterness draw away from it slightly. This would not be my first choice for a thirst quencher on a warm summer day.” cat4rating=”3.5″ summary=”Overall a great beer, but it didn’t really live up to the huge expectations. This was a malty IPA that had more focus on toasted malts than caramel. The hop profile (with more weight towards resin, earthiness and dankness) fit the toasty maltiness well though, as I feel really fruity hops tend to clash with toasted (and roasted) malts. I have a bottle of 90 Minute IPA as well, which I will be trying next. Hopefully it impresses me more!”]

Tasting Impressions: R&H Wedding Pale Ale

rh_wedding

Yesterday I bottled the Pale Ale I brewed for my friends’ wedding. The beer had been cold-conditioning in the keg for 1.5 months, and had now become crystal clear. Gravity had dropped to 1.010 from the original gravity of 1.053, giving an ABV of 5.5%. This was exactly what I was aiming for, so hopefully the taste is nice as well. The beer pours crystal clear and with a golden-yellow color. A slight white-colored head is formed (quite a careful pour though), and it leaves drapes of lacing along the glass as it collapses. A nice appearance, but the foam head could be slightly bigger. The aroma is mostly hoppy, featuring some grapefruit, pine resin and floral tones. A slight hint of caramel in the background. The aroma is very clean, with no hints of alcohol or yeast. Promising!  The flavour begins with a light bready maltiness and some hop tones join in as the beer lingers in the mouth. The hoppiness is mostly citrus, pine needles, grass and meadow flowers. The finish is semi-dry and has a moderate bitterness. Quite nice as a whole. There are slight tones of alcohol present at first, but these disappear as the beer warms up. I personally would like slightly more bitterness, but I think as a ‘crowd-pleaser’ this will do good. The body is quite light and the beer has a moderate carbonation level. It is very easy to drink and refreshing. Should have brewed an even bigger batch. Overall I am very happy with this beer, and hopefully the bridal couple and guests will like it as well!

Tasting Impressions: Summer Wit

I kegged and bottled our Summer Wit around two weeks ago, so today I thought it was time to try a bottle. This was one of our stranger experiments, as the basic wheat beer malt bill, was hopped with large amounts of galaxy, spiced with lemongrass, lime peel and Szechuan pepper, and fermented with WLP566 Saison II yeast. We had some huge problems with fermentation temperature, as first it dropped to around 16 degrees C after 24 hours, when we forgot to turn on the heater, and after that it rose to around 32 degrees C, as the sensor probe had at some point fallen from the fermenter to the cooler concrete floor (thermostat set at 24C). Hopefully this is drinkable at all. We were aiming for a refreshing and easy-to-drink beer for the summer. Let’s see how it does!

summer_wit

The color is pale yellow, and almost has a grey taint. The beer is hazy, as the style calls for. A firm white head is formed, that stays on top of the beer for a while, leaving nice drapes of lacing along the glass as it falls. Overall, the appearance is pretty spot-on for the style. Really inviting a warm summer evening as this. The aroma is really fruity, featuring a blend of yeast-derived esters and lemon-like tones, which I believe are from the lemongrass. The lime peel, and why not even the Szechuan pepper, could also be contributing to the citrus aroma. The aroma features some spicyness as well (more of the phenolic kind), which the yeast has brought with it. An interesting and quite refreshing aroma, but it somehow feels a bit off (the lemon tones and yeast products makes me think of the traditional Finnish sima). While the aroma was dominated mostly by the fruity tones, the flavor instead begins with more spicy notes, combined with a honey-like maltiness. The fruity tones become more evident as the beer lingers in the mouth, lending lemon, grapefruit and even some slight resiny hoppiness. The finish is surprisingly sweet, even though this finished with quite a low FG. Perhaps a result of the Saison yeast. The bitterness level feels quite low, even though the calculated IBUs were around 40. Pleasantly surprised about the flavor, mostly because the fermentation temperature rose to whooping 32 degrees C during peak fermentation. The body is light and the beer has a medium carbonation level. Despite the light body, it doesn’t feel thin and it still leaves a slightly sweet impression. Nothing spectacular, but should be a nice thirst-quencher for the summer.

Tasting Impressions: Summer Blonde

The Summer Blonde I brewed in the beginning of April had been in a keg for almost a month, so I decided to put it into bottles yesterday. The gravity ended up at 1.011 and I measured an alcohol content of 5.78% ABV. I would have preferred it slightly drier and with slightly less alcohol, so if I ever brew this again, I will aim for an OG of around 1.045. Anyways, time to try it!

summer_blonde

The beer pours with a slightly hazy yellow-orange color. The color could be slightly lighter, but it is not something that bothers me. A white head is formed, but it collapses quite quickly. It does leave some drapes of lacing along the glass though. Not much to complain about other than the color. Could maybe be a little clearer as well? The aroma is slightly malty at first (some grainy and bready tones), but it is quickly joined by some fruity yeast esters. This fermented at quite cold temperatures, but the yeast still seemed to have produced lots of esters. In the background you can find just the slightest citrusy and floral hop tones. Not sure if the aroma is typical for a Kölsch (I used WLP029 German Ale), as I’ve never tried a traditional one before. The flavour is quite similar, and begins with some malty and bready tones. They feel slightly tart somehow. The flavour transitions into a slight fruitiness with an underlying citrusy hoppiness. The finish is semi-dry with a moderately light bitterness. Overall, a very easy-to-drink beer, that could perhaps be slightly cleaner. I would also have preferred slightly more hop presence, but that would probably put it out of style.

Homebrew: Sour Ale Update

I brewed a turbid mashed Sour Ale about 8 months ago, and it has been in the fermenting vessel untouched ever since. I still haven’t taken any samples from it, as I am afraid to introduce oxygen into the vessel (which could result in the production of acetic acid). Two months after brewing, a nice pellicle had already formed. Six months later, the appearance hasn’t changed much. The biofilm has taken on a slightly whiter appearance, and the size of the bubbles has decreased. After summer, I will add some blueberries and raspberries together with some dregs from a couple of 3 Fonteinen bottles. Will be interesting to try it (even though I’m not a large fan of sour beer)!

pellicle_2

Homebrew: Summer Wit

Yesterday we brewed up a 28L batch of a witbier/saison/pale ale hybrid. The brewday did not go smoothly at all, and we had a ton of problems with the mash (too low temperature, poor flow rate through the bed, and poor efficiency). I think most mash problems were a result of us using raw wheat. A cereal mash might have helped? The beer will most likely ferment very dry, since our mash temperature was really low for most of the mash (60-62 C). We couldn’t recirculate (and thus raise the temperature) throughout most of the mash because of poor flow through the malt bed. We also must have measured the sparge volume wrong, since we ended up with closer to 40 litres pre-boil volume, instead of the intended 30 liters. This resulted in us gaining 7 liters more wort in the fermenter, and a gravity of 1.046 instead of around 1.060-1.065. The problems did not end there, as we cooled the wort to around 23C, pitched a healthy starter of WLP566 Saison II, and set the vessel in the fermenting cabinet with the thermostat set to 24C. The next day I realized the heater was not on, and the wort temperature had dropped to 16C. I turned on the heater, and hopefully something drinkable will at least come out of this batch. The spice mixture (Szechuan pepper, lime peel and lemongrass) was smelling really nice and ‘refreshing’ at least. Hopefully it transfers well to the beer! We hopped the beer with Galaxy in ‘APA amounts’, so this should get a healthy amount of bitterness (~40 IBU) and some nice hop aromas to go with the spicyness from the yeast and the citrus from the spice mixture. Anyways, here is the recipe:

[beerxml recipe=http://beer.suregork.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/summer_wit.xml metric=true cache=-1]

Canned Imperial Stout? Ten Fidy and Cinnamon Rolls

It’s not every day that I get a chance to drink great craft beer from a can, especially not an Imperial Stout. Today is my lucky day, since my friend Ingo (of Sad Robot Brewing fame) was kind enough to bring me a can of Oskar Blues Ten Fidy (it was released at Systembolaget earlier this spring) when he was visiting Finland recently. I have really good experiences from trying some of their other beer (Dale’s Pale Ale, Deviant’s Dale and G’Knight), so have quite high hopes for this one. I baked some Cinnamon Rolls earlier today also (recipe inspired by the one found here), which I had planned to enjoy while sipping on the beer. Hopefully the flavours will complement each other.

oskar_blues_ten_fidy

  • Brewery: Oskar Blues Brewery
  • Country: USA
  • Style: Imperial Stout
  • ABV: 10.5 %
  • Size: 355 ml
  • Bought from: Gift
  • Beer Advocate
  • RateBeer

I don’t have much information on this beer, but what I’ve gathered from around the internet, it is an Imperial Stout, has an ABV of 10.5%, has been brewed with 2-row malt, chocolate malt, roasted barley, and flaked oats, and has been bittered to a whooping 98 IBU. There are some rumours floating around on homebrew forums that the name comes from the fact that the final gravity of the beer is 1.050 or perhaps 10.50 degrees plato, but it is more likely that FIDY is an acronym for Fuck the Industry, Do it Yourself (this was also what founder Dale Katechis stated in their Brew Dogs episode). Anyways, it’s not everyday you get to try this complex of a beer from a can, so am really looking forward to having a taste!

[easyreview title=”Oskar Blues Ten Fidy” cat1title=”Appearance” cat1detail=”The beer pours pitch-black and you can directly see the beer is very viscous. Almost looks like motor oil pouring out of the can. A tan-colored fluffy head is formed with the pour, but it collapses quite quickly, leaving brown drapes of lacing along the glass. Looks really delicious!” cat1rating=”4.5″ cat2title=”Smell” cat2detail=”The aroma is really nice as well, and I get tones of dark chocolate and vanilla in the beginning, followed by roasted malts and coffee. These are balanced by some sweet caramel tones, which hint the taste will be sweet as well. The aroma is rich and strong, even though I still have a slightly stuffed nose from just having a flu. Can’t tell at all that the beer is 10.5%, as the alcohol is well hidden behind the other flavors. Really nice and inviting aroma!” cat2rating=”4.5″ cat3title=”Taste” cat3detail=”The flavour is similar to the aroma, beginning with some roasted tones dominating. Here, the chocolate and vanilla aren’t as strong, rather I find that the roasty and toasty malt tones are in the center together with notes of coffee. Behind this you have a slightly sweet bready maltiness, that ends in a semi-dry and quite bitter finish. I prefer slightly sweeter Imperial Stouts myself, and I like how this one is balanced by the huge bitterness. Again, I can’t tell this is 10.5% ABV. I get a slight warming feeling in the mouth, but no boozy flavours. Really nice!” cat3rating=”4.5″ cat4title=”Mouthfeel” cat4detail=”The beer has a really thick and full body, which together with the low carbonation level makes this a great slow sipper. Not a beer to drink in the sun or as a thirst-quencher, but it definitely suits a cold spring evening as today. The roasty notes and bitterness draw away slightly from the drinkability, but the sweetness keeps them quite well under control.” cat4rating=”4″ summary=”Overall, a really nice beer, and one of the better Imperial Stouts I’ve tried. The flavours are complex and strong, but they come together really well, making a well-balanced and delicious package. The chocolate, coffee and vanilla notes make this a perfect dessert beer. This shouldn’t be oak/barrel-aged, so not sure how the vanilla notes have entered the picture, but they work really well! The high bitterness works well, but I think I would have preferred a couple of IBUs less. The beer paired well with the cinnamon roll, as the sweet, sugary and cinnamony notes complemented the rich and roasted flavors really well.”]

Homebrew: R&H Wedding Pale Ale

Today I brewed up a 40-liter batch of a relatively simple American Pale Ale. The beer will be served at my friends’ wedding in July, so I aimed for a beer that as many as possible would find enjoyable. This meant a relatively low bitterness, a moderately light body and alcohol content, and a nice hop nose. The malt bill consisted of only Pale Ale, Munich and Carapils malt. I hit a 73% efficiency, which meant that the OG was 1.053. Slightly higher than I had aimed for, but not a big problem. I mashed at 65C, which will hopefully produce quite a light body and dry finish, when fermented with WLP007. We bought a pH-meter recently (Milwaukee MW-102), and this was the first time I used it during a brewday. We have been plagued with some high beer pH values recently, and naturally one cause could be a high mash pH. This was the case, and I had to add a total of 12 g of 80% lactic acid to the mash in order to get the mash pH down to 5.35. The meter seems to have been a really good investment, and hopefully our beers will improve as a result. Post-boil pH was 5.26, which should drop to below 4.5 with a healthy fermentation. I hopped the beer with Chinook, Cascade and Centennial, with a hefty flame-out addition. IBUs should be around 30-35, depending on how much iso-alpha acids were extracted from the flame-out addition. I will dry hop with all three varieties once fermentation slows down. I pitched a 2-litre starter of WLP007, which should leave a dry finish, clear beer, and slight hints of fruit esters to complement the hops. I’m fermenting at 18.5C, for a slightly cleaner finish. I’m really looking forward to sampling this one in a couple of weeks!

[beerxml recipe=http://beer.suregork.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/rh_wedding.xml metric=true cache=-1]

 

Homebrew tasting

Last Saturday I attended a small homebrew tasting with a couple of friends, and we tasted through 12 different beers in total, ranging from light blonde ales to hoppy pale ales to imperial stouts to fruit-infused sour ales. It was a really interesting evening, and here are some quick tasting notes with accompanying pictures (beer are described below the pictures from left to right). I had a slightly runny nose during the evening, so my olfactory senses were not at their prime. Hence, the aroma descriptions will be quite limited.

1

Tresk Brewery – Hemera Blonde Ale

The first beer of the night was a Blonde Ale brewed by Marcus, apparently inspired by this recipe. The beer poured golden-yellow and slightly hazy. Almost no head was formed, but that was probably because of the pouring technique. The aroma was really light and bland, with just the slightest hints of malt and citrus. Despite what it sounds like, this was actually a very good thing, since it fits the style well and there were also no off-aromas present, which are typically very easy to spot in these light beers. The flavor followed a similar suit, with light notes of caramel and grain, and minimal hints of hops in the form of floral and citrus tones. The finish was quite dry and a relatively bitter finish. Again, very little fermentation byproducts that disturbed the flavor. Body was light and the carbonation level was moderate. This was very reminiscent to the light bulk lagers. Overall, not a beer that I found particularly enjoyable, but it was well made and would suit perfectly as a thirst-quencher for the summer.

Tresk Brewery – Summer Wit

The second beer of the night was a Witbier, that was also brewed by Marcus. He used flaked wheat, coriander, black pepper and orange peel in it, and fermented it with WB-06 dry yeast. This one poured with a very hazy straw-yellow color that is very typical for the style. Again no head was formed, but that will again be attributed to Marcus’ pouring technique. Citrus (particularly orange) and a peppery spiciness dominated the aroma, but in the background there was a (for me) disturbing tone of ‘breakfast sausage’ (the kind you put on bread). I think the coriander and black pepper are the reasons for that. I tried a bottle of this about a week earlier, and then it had quite obvious tones of diacetyl as well, but they had now faded away. The flavor offered some slightly tart and bready wheat tones together with the spices and citrus. The finish was quite sweet (but this was bottled around 10 days before tasting I think, so could probably be priming sugar) and had only a mild bitterness. The body was again light and the beer had a moderately light carbonation level. Overall a refreshing beer, that had some slightly disturbing ‘off-flavors’. Maybe slightly too much spices?

Ilkka’s Pihka II American Brown Ale

The third beer of the night was a hop-bursted American Brown Ale, that I received from my colleague Ilkka. The beer was brewed with Maris Otter, Brown, Crystal 60, Chocolate, and Black malt, and hopped with Simcoe and Chinook. It was fermented with Conan yeast that I had cultured up from a can of Heady Topper. The beer poured clear with a light brown, almost copper-like color. A slight off-white head was formed. Surprisingly light-colored for a Brown Ale, and this could almost go for an Amber Ale. The aroma was a nice blend of some toasty and lightly roasted malt tones, and some resin-like tones from the hops. The beer had been in the bottle for almost a year when we tried it, so it was probably very different in aroma and flavor last year. The flavor began with some nice malty tones, featuring notes of caramel, biscuits, toasted bread, and coffee. These then combined with a surprising fruitiness (almost mango-like), which could be derived from the hops, the yeast or from a combination of both. The finish was semi-dry and featured a moderate bitterness. This was really nice and well made, containing no off-flavors or other disturbing notes. Could just as well pass as an Amber Ale, and was probably quite different when it was fresher.
2

Ville’s Mystery Beer I

The first beer of the second trio was a mystery beer (unlabeled bottle) that Marcus had received from his friend Ville over a year ago and recently found in his cupboard. We had no idea what to expect, and I have no clue even now what actually was in the bottle. The beer was very well-carbonated, and as we opened the bottle, the beer started to slowly gush out. We quickly poured it to our glasses, where it had a slightly hazy amber-orange color. A massive off-white head was also formed as a result of all the carbonation. The aroma was very rich and malty, with tones of dried fruits (raisins and dates) and caramel. Could this be a Barleywine or a Belgian Strong Ale? The flavor followed a similar suit, with an initial hit of caramel, biscuits, raisins and other dried fruits. A minerally astringency was also present, which I wasn’t very fond of. The beer was really sweet, and the flavor ended with a slight alcohol burn as well. A little too heavy on the carbonation, especially for a beer with such a full body. Overall, this was quite nice, but the astringency really pulled down the points for me. You could definitely tell this had been in the bottle for quite a long time from the oxidized notes.

UJ IPA (see recipe and notes here)

The second beer of this line-up was the IPA I brewed about a month ago. This had been in the keg for around a week at the time of tasting, so the beer was definitely still green at the time. I haven’t tried it since the tasting, so I have no clue how it has changed. The beer poured with a slightly hazy, deep yellow color. Again, little head was formed. The beer really exploded with hop aroma, and the double dry-hop seems to have done its job. There were tones of grapefruit, resin, and tropical fruits present, and they all seemed to jump out of the glass as you closed in. A really, really nice aroma. The flavor was similar, but here the hop tones were joined by a slightly sweet maltiness. Unfortunately, the beer finished slightly too sweet (1.015), and would probably have been better a little drier. The bitterness (75 calculated IBUs) didn’t feel that strong, and the flavors were quite balanced between each other. The beer had a medium body and carbonation level. Overall, I am quite happy with the beer, but it would probably have been better with less sweetness. I hope it dries out slightly in the keg.

Hobbe’s Tupla-Kustaa Double IPA

The final beer of the second line-up was an Imperial IPA brewed by Hobbe. I don’t remember any recipe-specific details about this beer, but it was apparently bottled quite long ago and was thus past its prime. The beer poured with a slightly hazy orange color, and again almost no head. Judging only from aroma, you would probably not guess that this was an Imperial IPA, as it was mostly malty with just the slightest hints of resin from the hops. The flavor began slightly tart and with a caramelly maltiness. There was not much hop character present here either, but the beer finished very dry and with a huge bitterness. Quite unbalanced unfortunately, and this was probably better much fresher. The beer had a medium body and a high carbonation level (this could have continued fermenting slightly in the bottle with time). This was definitely not my type of IPA, and I think it could have used much more hops late in the boil, for a larger presence in the aroma.
3

Tresk Brewery – Evil Twin Amber Ale

We continued with enjoying one of Marcus’ recent beers from tap (5L party keg). This was a hop-bursted Amber Ale, based on Jamil’s Evil Twin. I had tried this beer earlier, but from bottle, and then I really enjoyed it. The beer pours clear and with a copper color. A slight off-white head is formed. The aroma features mainly tones of caramel and fruits, and thoughts are drawn to candied citrus zest and pineapple. There were also some ‘raw’ hops tones present, lending hints of pine and resin. The flavor is also hop-dominated (Citrus, pineapple, resin, flowers), but featured some toasted, bready and caramelly malt tones as well. The finish is semi-dry and has a moderate bitterness. The beer had a medium body and carbonation level. Maybe slightly unclean, and could use a little more bitterness, but otherwise this was a really well-made and enjoyable beer.

Tresk Brewery – Koff Porter Clone

The second beer of this line-up was also brewed by Marcus, and he wasn’t really happy about this attempt of cloning Sinebrychoff’s Porter. He had fermented it with Wyeast’s Irish Ale, but through a combination of under-pitching it drastically and using a quite old smack pack, he warned us that is contained quite a lot of off-flavors. He hadn’t tried it for several months though, so perhaps it had improved in the bottle? The beer poured clear and with a dark brown color. The color was more of a Brown Ale than a Porter, but I haven’t had Koff’s Porter for a while, so I don’t know how close it was to the original. The aroma was mostly roasted malts and coffee, but in the background you could detect banana (isoamyl acetate) and disturbing sulfur-like aroma. It wasn’t at all as bad as I had expected based on Marcus’ warnings, but you could definitely tell everything hadn’t gone smoothly with the fermentation. The flavor mainly featured tones of coffee, roasted malts, and ash, together with a slight earthy hoppiness. The finish was quite dry and it had a moderate bitterness. There was something off in the aftertaste as well (slightly solvent-like). Not bad, but this could definitely be improved with more fermentation control and proper pitching.

Ville’s Mystery Beer II

It was time for another unlabeled mystery beer from Ville, this time contained in a majestic 75 cl bottle. The beer poured with a slightly hazy, amber-orange, almost copper color. This time, there was not a problem with over-carbonation, and thus with careful pouring, a minimal off-white head was only formed. The aroma was very similar to Ville’s other beer, featuring a rich and sweet maltiness, with hints of caramel, raisins and dates. There is quite a lot of alcohol in the aroma as well, suggesting this will be quite a strong beer. The flavor is similar, with loads of caramel and toffee, together with really pronounced tones of raisins, dates and other dried fruits. Almost no hops tones, and a moderately low bitterness. The flavor is really sweet and the beer finishes in a slight alcohol burn as well. The body is full and the beer has a moderate carbonation level. This beer was very similar to Ville’s other beer, but where the first felt slightly astringent, this one was a bit more boozy. Not sure about the alcohol content, but it could easily have been over 10% ABV. A nice strong ale, that was a little heavy on the alcohol notes unfortunately.
4

Tresk Brewery – 1AM US-05 Amber Ale

The final line-up began with a two year old vintage of Marcus’ first attempt at homebrewing. It was an Amber Ale, that was split into two and fermented with S-04 and US-05. I have tried both beers earlier at one of our beer tastings, and then we already thought they were past their prime. How would two extra years of aging affect the US-05 version of the beer? The beer poured crystal clear and with a deep orange color. A slight off-white head was formed. The aroma is quite mild, featuring some slight bready malt tones and a little caramel. Surprisingly clean, especially compared to my memory of the beer and the tasting notes from a couple of years ago. The flavor was also bready and malty, featuring very little hop tones. The finish was dry with a huge bitterness. Quite one-dimensional, but what else is to expect from this old of a homebrewed Amber Ale. The body was light and the beer had a moderate carbonation level. This was not at all as unclean as I had remembered it, but still, the beer really didn’t excite much.

Ilkka’s Vadelma-Mustaherukka-Mustikka Sour Ale

The most interesting beer of the evening was a homebrewed Sour Ale that I had received from my colleague Ilkka. He had fermented it with a range of bottle dregs, and aged it on some raspberries, black currants and bilberries. I’m not that big of a Sour Ale fan, and don’t have much experience drinking them, so I’m not sure how worthwhile these comments will be. The beer poured clear and with a deep red color. It reminded me of the appearance of cranberry juice. The aroma was dominated by a sourness, which I found was quite mild (so I suspect it was mostly lactic acid and not that much acetic acid?), together with some berry tones in the background. I thought the berry tones were mostly from the black currants, and couldn’t detect much bilberries. The flavor was really sour, but I have no clue how it compares to other Sour Ales and Lambics. The berries were slightly more present in the flavor, with the black currant and raspberry dominating. Despite the strong sourness, I thought the flavors were quite balanced and even seemed to find a minor sweetness in the finish. The body was light and the beer had a moderate carbonation level. I actually thought this was quite nice, despite the big acidity. I have my own pseudo-lambic fermenting, and think I’ll go with something similar when adding some berries for flavoring. I have another bottle of this base beer, that has been aged on cloudberries instead, and it should be interesting to compare the two.

Yetish Imperial Stout (see recipe and notes here)

The final beer of the evening was a bottle of our approximately 10 month old Imperial Stout. We oak-aged half the batch, but this bottle is from the plain version. This is actually the first bottle I try from this batch, but I remember the beer having a really pronounced chocolate flavor when bottling. The beer poured pitch-black and with a high viscosity. You could definitely tell this beer was going to have a full body based on the thick appearance. The aroma was dominated by the typical Stout tones, with coffee, dark chocolate, roasted malts, and even some raisins and dried fruits. The flavor was similar, with mostly roasted malts, coffee and chocolate tones. The chocolate wasn’t as in-your-face as I had remembered. Unfortunately, we all thought the beer was slightly tart, and I’m wondering if either the bottle was infected, or if the brewing water could have used more alkalinity. The beer was quite dry and had a quite high carbonation level as well (perhaps some extra fermentation in the bottle), which could have enhanced the perception of tartness. The finish was quite bitter as well, and I’m not overly happy with the beer. Hopefully the oak-aged version is better.