Secret Santa 2013

Brewtus said:

My review of X6,apologies for taking ages to reply.

Initially, on opening, nice little hiss which I wasn't expecting gven that the envelope said it wouldn't be as fizzy as some. Poured wth a little head, which lasted the duration, and crystal clear.

Firstly it is very well rounded, more so than most shop bought beers. Really nice mellow hoppiness, floral, something English I presume? Though the bitterness which lasts until next Christmas must come from something else?

All in all I thoroughly enjoyed this beer, my only complaint is that I served it at my default room temp and it could have done with a little chilling, nothing against the brewer whatsoever.

On opening the letter from Santa I am surprised to find that this is the brewers first own recipe, an incredibly worthy entrant in the event,

Thanks and happy new year.

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And this, as you may have guessed was mine. Thank you for a very great review and I'm very pleased you enjoyed it :)

The bittering hops are challenger. I believe I included the recipe if you would like to give it a go. One thing I forgot is that it's based on 68% efficiency but I massively miscalculated my boil off rate and as a result I ended up with a lot more weaker beer (not complaining as such!) so I was aiming for 5.4% ABV instead of the 4.45% that I ended up with.

Appologies for the late review - an African holiday and a bout of flu on return kept me from writing sooner! Both beers were consumed and thoroughly enjoyed on 23 Dec but unfortunately I did not take any pics!

1. X12 The Bitter End Ruby bitter
- It arrived is a 750ml bottle (thanks a mil Mr Brewer :thumb: ) and I enjoyed every last drop of it. I would never have guessed that this was a (double) kit bitter - it was really a stonkingly good pint, something I would gladly drink again. I started my brewing hobby with kits but I was never 100% happy with the results. I have also assumed that all kit brewed beer would be like mine but this is clearly not the case - The Bitter End was a great pint (and a bit). Thanks.

2. Unicorn's Horn bitter by JD (No number :? )
- This beer was another great bitter. I really like bold beers - either malty or very hoppy or big yeast derived flavours (or a combination of the three) - and the Unicorn's Horn was "unusual" as a bitter because it was quite malty and it had a lot of mouthfeel. The hops was typical EKG (I wonder what it would taste like to have the 60min Amarillo addition as a FWH :hmm:). It was a really, really nice beer and I would be happy to drink it again (and again and again).

Well done to both brewers and thanks for sharing your brews. I really did enjoy!

Lambert

Kinleycat said:

Review of X11; skinny wee heavy.
A well matured 7% strong scotch ale.
First thing first, whoever comes forward to claim this as their brew, you are a legend. This was absolutely sensational!!
Flavour wise it's packing loads of Munich malt, Maris otter, pale crystal, caramalt, dark crystal and chocolate malt.
Determining an overall flavour was difficult as every mouthful you noticed something different, firstly malty then a sweet coffee flavour took over
Unsurprisingly it had loads of body and kept a head through dinner and well passed the Christmas pud.
Reading through the brew notes, it was clear a lot of time and effort went into this brew and showed through in spades.
If I could come close to brewing something like this in time I would be delighted.
I'll hazard a guess our brewer has plenty of experience!!
Well done, that is a first class brew!!!

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Kinleycat - thanks for the nice review. And no, I don't have a lot of brewing experience. The year the beer spend maturing in the bottle has done a lot to cover all my brewing mistakes! :thumb:

Oh - and I need to appologise to the person who has received my other beer - an old english ale in a swingtop bottle. I've opened one of the bottles only AFTER I've posted yours and realised that the beer is NOT that great - too much molasses comming through. I'll leave it for another year...

Well it's a case of better late than never and I can only apologise for the delay in posting my feedback but, without going into details, it's been an extremely difficult Christmas & January and I've been unable to drink or to really get on line. I hope that the brewer who sent my bottle is not too upset at the delay but they deserve the feedback for their efforts and I repeat my apologies. I have finally been able to drink and to savour a drink in the last ten days.

So here goes with ST2, a Chocolate RIS. The tasting notes say it's between 8.5 & 9%, based on a Coopers Irish Stout with cocoa, DME & brewing sugar.
First off on pouring it is a very viscous beer and you can see it cling to the glass, settling comfortably with a good head.
On the aroma, there's a massive cocoa hit, with subtle burnt touches. On the taste there is an immediate chocolate flavour with both bitterness to start followed by sweetness. It's a smooth drink, robust but not overpowering. The head dissipates quickly and there is not a massive aftertaste. The viscosity is only slightly evident, but it's quite moorish and the chocolate notes invite you back for more, with just a little harshness at the very end which keeps you interested.
At the end, an excellent brew, strong but subtle and flavoursome.
Thank you!