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8 Wired Fresh HopWired

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  • Brewery: 8 Wired Brewing (Brewed at Renaissance Brewing)
  • Country: New Zealand
  • Style: American IPA
  • ABV: 7.3 %
  • Size: 500 ml
  • Bought from: Barley Wine, Copenhagen
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Tonight it is time to drink yet another beer that I brought home from my trip to Copenhagen in August. I have definitely postponed drinking them for way too long, so am trying to slowly make my way through the hoppy beers before they become way too old and bland. 8 Wired is a project by the Danish brewer Søren Eriksen, currently living in New Zealand. I’ve tried one of their beers before, HopWired, which was a nice IPA hopped with New Zealand hops. Today I will be trying the fresh-hopped version, i.e. a beer that has been hopped with undried hops, and it the case of this beer, the hops have been picked from the bines the same day the beer was brewed. Fresh-hopping or wet-hopping lends a fresher and grassier hop flavor to the beer, and I have liked the two fresh-hopped beers ([1] and [2]) I’ve tried earlier. I think this beer was brewed in April, making it over 7 months old now, so hopefully it still packs some of that fresh hop flavor. It has been brewed with Gladfield Pale, Crystal, Munich, and Caramalt malts, and hopped with Pacific Jade (dry), Motueka (fresh), and Nelson Sauvin (fresh) to an IBU of 70. The beer has been fermented with Wyeast’s 1272 American Ale II. I love it when brewers post detailed information about their brews on their webpage! Cheers!

[easyreview title=”8 Wired Fresh HopWired” cat1title=”Appearance” cat1detail=”The beer pours with a hazy orange-amber color, and almost no head is formed even though the pour is quite vigorous. The slight head as an off-white color, and it clings quite well to the glass. Not the most appetizing appearance, but could be worse.” cat1rating=”3″ cat2title=”Smell” cat2detail=”The aroma is dominated by a fruity hoppiness, with tones of candied citrus, pineapple, papaya, mango and slight resin. Surprisingly little of the typical ‘Nelson Sauvin’ aroma. Caramel tones are evident in the aroma as well. Nice aroma and quite well preserved for a beer this old and for one that has traveled around the world.” cat2rating=”4″ cat3title=”Taste” cat3detail=”The fruity hoppiness from the aroma is very present in the flavor as well, with it taking the lead together with a slight caramelly maltiness as the beer enters the mouth. The hop flavors are more resiny and herbal in the flavor, but there is still a good deal of the citrus and tropical fruits from the aroma. Not much grass tones, as I would have expected, but perhaps it is the age, since from my own experience with my homebrews, grassy tones from massive hopping tend to decrease as the beer ages. The finish is quite dry and bitter initially, but a slight sweetness still remains in the mouth as the bitterness dies down. The balance is good for an IPA, with a good representation of hop flavors, bitterness and maltiness. I can’t remember exactly what the ‘normal’ HopWired tasted like, but I think it had more of the typical ‘Nelson Sauvin’ tones, while this was more leaned towards generic tones of tropical fruits, which I actually liked more! Really tasty!” cat3rating=”4.5″ cat4title=”Mouthfeel” cat4detail=”The beer has a medium body and carbonation level, and it is quite easy to drink. Not perfectly smooth, as the beer initially feels slightly ‘prickly’ in the mouth.” cat4rating=”3.5″ summary=”Overall a very good IPA, and I am a little sad I didn’t drink this immediately after I bought it. There was still plenty of hop tones left in the aroma and flavor, but I can just imagine what it was like in the fresh beer. I think the tropical fruit tones played very well with the (slight) caramelly sweetness from the malt, and the bitterness kept the balance in tact. The appearance and mouthfeel wasn’t perfect, but that didn’t draw much from the enjoyability of the beer. Hopefully I will get to try more beers from this ‘phantom brewer’. Luckily I still have 8 Wired’s iStout in the beer cabinet, and am really looking forward to trying it as well!”]

PS. Realized as I was transferring the photo from the camera that the bottle is out of focus. Oh well.

Mikkeller 10

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  • Brewery: Mikkeller (Brewed at De Proefbrouwerij)
  • Country: Denmark
  • Style: American IPA
  • ABV: 6.9 %
  • Size: 330 ml
  • Bought from: Barley Wine, Copenhagen
  • Beer Advocate
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This evening I thought I’d taste through a pair of beers brewed with a large number of different hop varieties. Five different hop varieties is the most I’ve ever added to one beer when homebrewing, and that was already pushing it when looking at the flavor it produced, since more hop varieties lead to a more muddled and generic hop flavor, making it harder to pick out the nuances brought by the different hop varieties (think of it as adding spices to a soup, you have to find a good balance and can’t add everything in your spice cupboard hoping to make a good soup). First up is Mikkeller’s 10, an American IPA brewed with 10 different hop varieties. These ten are (as listed on the bottle): Warrior, Simcoe, Centennial, Cascade, Chinook, Amarillo, Nelson Sauvin, Nugget, Tomahawk, and East Kent Goldings. An interesting blend, mostly focusing on the American citrus hops, so am expecting lots of grapefruit, resin, floral tones, exotic fruits, and slight herbal tones. Was not able to find any information on the IBU, but am assuming it is in the 60-100 range. The other ingredients are Pilsner malt, Cara-crystal, Munich malt and Oat flakes (ratios should be 67-11-11-11 % according to this post) and an American-style yeast. Let’s see if this Mikkeller is a magnificent masterpiece or muddled mess!

[easyreview title=”Mikkeller 10″ cat1title=”Appearance” cat1detail=”The beer pours with a slightly hazy amber-orange color and a fluffy cream-colored head is formed, that collapses quite quickly leaving behind oily patches of lacing along the glass. ” cat1rating=”4″ cat2title=”Smell” cat2detail=”The aroma is sweet and fruity, featuring mostly tones of peach, grapefruit, orange and pineapple. You can definitely feel the presence of crystal malt, as it lends a sweet caramelly note to the aroma. Surprisingly little resin and pine, but maybe it is present in the flavor instead?” cat2rating=”3.5″ cat3title=”Taste” cat3detail=”The flavor is quite similar to the aroma, beginning with a slightly sweet, caramelly and bready maltiness, that is joined by a citrusy and fruity hoppiness, lending mostly tones of citrus, peach, pineapple, and a slight dankness. I would never be able to pick out the individual hops from this if I hadn’t known them before tasting the beer, and having tasted it I feel that 10 different hop varieties is a bit too much, as the hop tones are quite muddled. The beer finishes semi-dry, with a moderate bitter bite, that could perhaps be a little stronger. The flavors are quite balanced, but maybe the hop flavors could be a bit stronger (this beer is about 8 months old, so it has probably lost a bit of potency). Not bad, but nothing spectacular.” cat3rating=”3.5″ cat4title=”Mouthfeel” cat4detail=”The beer has a smooth and medium-full body and a medium-low carbonation level. The beer is easy to drink and feels nice in the mouth.” cat4rating=”4″ summary=”Overall an interesting beer, but nothing I would buy again. I will also make sure never to use this many hop varieties in any of my own beer, since the large number made a surprisingly muddled and uninteresting hop profile. I’m a bit scared to try the next beer.”]

Mikkeller Hoppy Lovin’ Christmas

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  • Brewery: Mikkeller (Brewed at De Proefbrouwerij)
  • Country: Denmark
  • Style: American IPA
  • ABV: 7.8 %
  • Size: 330 ml
  • Bought from: Alko, 5.23€
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Christmas beers have made their annual debut at Alko, and you can find the list of this year’s Christmas beers here. I’m usually not that super excited about the Christmas beers, but I bought a couple of bottles from the list. First up is Mikkeller’s Hoppy Lovin’ Christmas, an IPA brewed with ginger and pine needles. Sounds quite interesting and hopefully the spices aren’t overpowering. Have had a couple of ginger-spiced beers before and they are usually a bit over-the-top, but pine needles in beer is new to me. The beer has been brewed with Pale Ale and Melanoidin (these are starting to become one of my favorite malts) malts and hopped with Magnum, Amarillo, Columbus, Centennial and Citra to an IBU of 66. On paper this sounds awesome at least! Let’s see how it does in reality!

[easyreview title=”Mikkeller Hoppy Lovin’ Christmas” cat1title=”Appearance” cat1detail=”The beer pours with a slightly hazy golden-orange color and a massive white-colored fluffy head is formed, that collapses slowly leaving patches of lacing along the glass. The beer is bottle-conditioned, so the second pours contains some yeast.” cat1rating=”4″ cat2title=”Smell” cat2detail=”The aroma is dominated by fruity hops, featuring tones of pineapple, mango and citrus, together with resiny pine notes and ginger. The aroma is quite sweet as well, with some caramel notes in the background. A really nice aroma, but you definitely have to like (tropical) fruity hops to enjoy it.” cat2rating=”4″ cat3title=”Taste” cat3detail=”The flavor begins with a slightly sweet, caramelly and bready maltiness, that is quickly joined by a resiny, citrusy, pineapple-like and dank hoppiness. The hop flavors are strong and they dominate the palate. The taste finishes with a quite dry and bitter finish, giving room for a slight bite of ginger as well. Positively surprised that the ginger has managed to stay in the background, while it still contributes positively to the flavor. The flavors are well balanced for an IPA, with the moderately strong bitterness being coupled with the strong hop flavors and not too weak of a malt backbone.” cat3rating=”4.5″ cat4title=”Mouthfeel” cat4detail=”The beer has a medium body and carbonation level, and it is easy to drink. A really enjoyable and well put together beer.” cat4rating=”4″ summary=”A very nice ‘spiced’ IPA, where the spices are actually in the background and complement the hop flavors that are very present in this. Lots of tropical fruits, citrus and resin flavors in this, which I really enjoy. Maybe just slightly too much of the fruits if I have to find something to complain about. The bitterness level is good, and it is very well backed up by the maltiness contributed by the melanoidin malts. My kind of Christmas beer!”]

Homebrew: Bottling and kegging day

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Today I bottled the batch of American IPA that I brewed up a month ago with a friend. Bottling went smoothly (from the keg) and the beer tasted very nice already.

I also kegged the Black Lodge Imperial Stout, which was tasting really promising. Lots of roasted malt, coffee, and some dark fruit tones, together with a slight amount of heat (which I guess is from the chili). Gravity had dropped to 1.028, giving the beer an ABV of 9.3%. The beer will bulk age in the corny keg for at least two months, maybe more, before I bottle it.

Homebrew: Adding Oak Cubes and Vanilla to the Nightly Serenade Imperial Porter

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Sorry again for the inactivity, last week I started working at the PBL Brewing Laboratory at VTT, where I will be writing my Master’s Thesis, so have mostly been busy with work. This weekend I thought I’d devote some time for my homebrews, so today I have been preparing some bottles for finally bottling the apple cider I brewed about 6 months ago, which has been bulk aging in a corny keg the last 5 months. Will hopefully have time to bottle it tomorrow. I have tasted it on a couple of occasions during the summer, and it is quite tart, but it is slowly mellowing fortunately. Hopefully it will become enjoyable in the upcoming months.

I also added 50g of French Medium Toast Oak Cubes (which had been soaking in bourbon) and 2 sliced up bourbon vanilla pods to the Nightly Serenade Imperial Porter. I took a gravity sample, and it had fallen to 1.023, giving the beer an ABV of 7.5%. With the bourbon it should rise to about 8%. I tasted the gravity sample, and the beer featured a combination of coffee and dark fruit tones. I think this will need at least a couple of months of maturing to reach its prime.

Took some small taste samples from the Unexpected Predator American IPA and Czech Mate Pilsner as well, which have been in kegs force carbonating and lagering. The IPA had a nice resiny hoppiness with a strong bitterness, coupled with a caramelly maltiness, but I think this will need a couple of weeks of maturing still. I will be bottling the IPA next week. The pilsner was a bit more interesting for me, since I haven’t brewed one before, and it featured lots of grassy and spicy hop flavours, coupled with a bready maltiness, and slight butterscotch tones (which I guess are from diacetyl). I guess I will leave this for 3 more weeks of lagering (it has been lagering for 3 weeks now, giving a total of 6 weeks of lagering).

Homebrew: Unexpected Predator – American IPA

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Yesterday I brewed up yet another beer, this time an American IPA together with a friend (Mats) who was interested in trying homebrewing. I currently have four batches fermenting, so there will be a lot of beer for the autumn and winter. Mats requested a citrusy and hoppy pale ale, so we brewed up a beer with a simple malt bill (Pale Ale, Munich, Crystal 10 and Crystal 60) and hopped it with Magnum (bittering), Amarillo, Cascade and Simcoe. The calculated IBU is only 49, but I’m certain the real IBU is higher (probably closer to 70), since after the flameout hop addition, the hops were steeped in recirculating hot wort for 30 minutes before the wort was cooled to pitching temperatures with the plate heat exchanger (took 5 minutes). We will dry hop the beer with around 100 g of hops after fermentation has slowed down. We pitched a 1.5 liter starter of WLP051 (this is my first time using this yeast), and hopefully it manages to ferment the beer down to around 1.015. Sorry, no pictures this time.

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Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye

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  • Brewery: Bear Republic Brewing Company
  • Country: USA
  • Style: American IPA / Rye Beer
  • ABV: 8 %
  • Size: 355 ml
  • Bought from: Gift
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I haven’t tasted any commercial beers made with rye before, only a homebrew by my homebrewing neighbor Juhani (thanks for the tasting, the beers were both interesting and tasty!), but I am very interested in doing so, since I have heard that the rye lends a spicy character that sounds intriguing. Bear Republic are a craft brewery from California, and have tried their Racer 5 and Big Bear Black Stout before which were really nice. I wasn’t able to find any official information on the ingredients used in the brew, but homebrew recipes circulating around the web suggests it contains Pale Ale, Rye, Munich, Wheat and Carapils malt, and Columbus, Centennial and Amarillo hops. The IBUs should be around 80, so this is bordering to an Imperial IPA. Lets see how it tastes!

[easyreview title=”Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye” cat1title=”Appearance” cat1detail=”The beer pours with a clear dark amber, almost brown, color, and a large, but compact, cream-colored head is formed, that slowly collapses leaving drapes of lacing along the glass. Beautiful appearance.” cat1rating=”5″ cat2title=”Smell” cat2detail=”The aroma contains both caramelly and malty tones, lending tones of a sugary and almost raisiny fruitiness, combined with a piney, resiny and even grapefruity hoppiness.” cat2rating=”4″ cat3title=”Taste” cat3detail=”The flavor begins with a caramelly maltiness, drawing to tones of brown sugar and again an almost raisiny fruitiness. These are joined by a resiny, grapefruity and dank hoppiness, combined with minimal peppery tones (is this the rye?). The finish is semi-dry and quite bitter. The flavors are quite balanced, and this beer definitely has a strong malt backbone to back up the bitterness. The alcohol is well hidden behind the complex flavors present.” cat3rating=”4″ cat4title=”Mouthfeel” cat4detail=”The beer has a medium-full body and medium carbonation level, making it quite easy to drink. This is definitely more of a slow sipper, but still very enjoyable.” cat4rating=”4″ summary=”A really nice beer, featuring a strong malty backbone combined with a resiny and dank hoppiness and a biting bitter finish. There were some spicy notes present which I guess are from the rye, and they fitted really well with the hoppiness of the beer. This beer really got me interested in brewing something with rye myself!”]

AleSmith IPA

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  • Brewery: AleSmith Brewing Company
  • Country: USA
  • Style: American IPA
  • ABV: 7.25 %
  • Size: 650 ml
  • Bought from: Online, ~8 euro
  • Beer Advocate
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I recently got hold of some beers from AleSmith (their IPA, Old Numbskull and Speedway Stout), and will be trying the IPA first. AleSmith’s IPA is the top-rated IPA at RateBeer and 9th-placed American IPA at Beer Advocate, so expectations are naturally high. I couldn’t find any official information on the ingredients used in the beer, but homebrew recipes floating around online suggest a malt bill consisting of 2-row backed up with light caramalts, and a hop bill consisting of Columbus, Simcoe and Amarillo. AleSmith’s webpage informs me that the OG of the beer was 1.072, meaning the FG should be around 1.016-1.017 to give an ABV of 7.25%. A surprisingly high FG for a West Coast IPA, but it should be right down my alley (as I’m not a fan of super-dry (I)IPAs). Of course there is no freshness indications on the bottle, but it should hopefully be quite fresh. Let’s see how it tastes!

[easyreview title=”AleSmith IPA” cat1title=”Appearance” cat1detail=”The beer pours with a slightly hazy golden color (some hints of amber), and a slight off-white head is formed with the pour. Some lacing is left along the glass as the head collapses.” cat1rating=”4″ cat2title=”Smell” cat2detail=”The aroma is mostly hop-dominated, with floral, citrusy (grapefruit and orange) and resiny tones present. There are some hints of caramel hidden behind the hops as well. I wonder if the aroma has suffered slightly on the way over from California.” cat2rating=”4″ cat3title=”Taste” cat3detail=”The flavor starts off with a honey-like and caramelly maltiness, that is joined by smooth tones of grapefruit, resin and pine. I feel the hop flavor is ‘raw’, i.e. it reminds me of the aroma of dried hop cones and that is a good thing, and it finishes off with a pleasant bitterness and a semi-dry finish. The beer is well balanced, and the components come together nicely, with the caramelly malt backbone balancing the hoppy flavors and the smooth bitterness fantastically. Still feel the beer is lacking a bit of freshness, as the hop flavors seem a bit subdued.” cat3rating=”4″ cat4title=”Mouthfeel” cat4detail=”The beer has a medium body and carbonation level, and it is easy to drink for such a big beer. The beer has a smooth and slightly oily mouthfeel.” cat4rating=”4″ summary=”Overall a great beer, combining a nice maltiness with tons of hop flavors in a easily drinkable package. Even though there was plenty of hoppiness present, it felt as if the beer wasn’t super fresh, which was a shame. Alesmith seem to know what they are doing, and it is not a surprise that this beer is highly ranked.”]

Green Flash West Coast IPA

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  • Brewery: Green Flash Brewing Co.
  • Country: USA
  • Style: American IPA
  • ABV: 7.3 %
  • Size: 355 ml
  • Bought from: Online, 4 euros?
  • Beer Advocate
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Green Flash Brewing have impressed me greatly, and I liked both their Hop Head Red and Imperial IPA (especially this one). Their West Coast IPA is one which I attempted to clone (well it wasn’t an exact clone, more of an ‘inspired by’) last summer, and I suspect I wasn’t even close to the original. This American IPA has been hopped with Simcoe, Columbus, Centennial and Cascade to an IBU of 95 (making this border to an Imperial IPA), so should be packed with citrusy and resiny hop tones. I couldn’t find any information on the malt bill, but suspect it consists mostly of Pale Ale malt and a hint of Light Crystal and/or Cara-pils. Let’s see how it tastes!

[easyreview title=”Green Flash West Coast IPA” cat1title=”Appearance” cat1detail=”The beer pours clear golden-amber, with a fluffy and long-lasting white-colored head, that leaves lacing along the glass as the liquid level falls. The second pour was a bit cloudier, as some yeast sediment managed to make its way to the glass.” cat1rating=”4.5″ cat2title=”Smell” cat2detail=”The aroma contains both some tones of sweet caramel and a fresh citrusy, resiny, floral and grassy hoppiness (similar tones to as when smelling a bag of dried hops). A really nice aroma, but it maybe feels a little subdued (‘tired’ bottle?).” cat2rating=”4″ cat3title=”Taste” cat3detail=”The flavor begins with the slightest hints of caramel, but it quickly becomes clear that this beer is all about the hops. Tones of resin, grass, earthy herbs and citrus can be found, and the flavor finishes with an aggressive bitter and dry finish. Even though the beer is very bitter, there is still lots of dank and citrusy hoppiness to back it up. It maybe feels a bit unbalanced, without a stronger malt backbone (but I guess that it what the US West Coast IPAs are famous for).” cat3rating=”4″ cat4title=”Mouthfeel” cat4detail=”The beer has a medium-light body and a moderate carbonation level. Quite refreshing to drink, but the huge bitterness withdraws some points. The huge amount of hops give a slightly oily feel.” cat4rating=”4″ summary=”A great beer, that didn’t quite reach the top. There was a great amount of hop tones in both the aroma and flavor, but the aggressive bitterness made it feel a bit unbalanced. Since Green Flash started just recently with date-marking their bottles, this one didn’t have any information on bottling dates. I suspect the bottle wasn’t super-fresh, but it still was very tasty. Diamond Beer have recently started importing Green Flash beers to Finland, so you should be able to find these in well-stocked pubs!”]

Evil Twin Cat Piss

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  • Brewery: Evil Twin Brewing (Brewed at Brouwerij de Molen)
  • Country: Denmark
  • Style: American IPA
  • ABV: 6.5 %
  • Size: 330 ml
  • Bought from: Online, 3.5 euros?
  • Beer Advocate
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Decided to begin the evening with a Danish beer in honor of the Denmark-Portugal football game. This is an American IPA by the Danish phantom brewer (i.e. Evil Twin doesn’t own a brewery of its own) Jeppe (twin brother of Mikkel(er)). Heavily dry hopped beers (especially those hopped with Citra and Simcoe) sometimes have tones of cat piss, and I assume that is what the brewer is hinting with the name of this beer. This beer has been hopped with Nelson Sauvin (which I used for my latest homebrew), so should (hopefully) have some tropical tones as well. Have tried a couple of Evil Twin beers before, some were really good, some were a bit strange, so am not expecting much from this one. Hopefully I’ll be positively surprised!

[easyreview title=”Evil Twin Cat Piss” cat1title=”Appearance” cat1detail=”The beer pours with a slightly hazy golden orange color, and a massive fluffy white head, that collapses slowly leaving some lacing along the glass.” cat1rating=”3.5″ cat2title=”Smell” cat2detail=”The aroma is fruity and floral, and the hops bring tones of mango, grass and herbs. There is just a hint of white wine in the aroma as well. The aroma isn’t very strong.” cat2rating=”3.5″ cat3title=”Taste” cat3detail=”The flavor begins with a bready maltiness, that is quickly joined by light hop flavors of tropical fruits. The bitterness is quite light as well, but it becomes more evident as the beer has passed down the throat. The finish is dry, and their is a slightly alcohol/solvent-like off-taste as well. Flavors could be stronger.” cat3rating=”3″ cat4title=”Mouthfeel” cat4detail=”The body is quite light and the carbonation level quite high, making it refreshing, but a little harsh, to drink.” cat4rating=”2.5″ summary=”An okay beer, but nothing more. There was some promising hoppiness in the aroma, but there was not much left of it in the flavor. The flavor was still mostly flawless (except the slight solvent-like off-taste). The high carbonation level made it a bit difficult to drink, and I actually poured out half the beer as I couldn’t finish it. Shame, since I really liked Evil Twin’s Yin and Yang.”]