American Brown Ale bottle swap

[DoctorMick]

Drinking the American brown tonight.

Not had many brown ales so interested to see what the Americans do with them.

Pleasantly surprised. Was expected big hops but this is well balanced. Plenty of carbonation. Great head, yet to finish but I guess it will be there at the end.

I had a hot chilli earlier so taste buds are a bit off tonight. I guess you have used some choc malt?

I get earthy taste from it, spicey or is that the chilly. Slight floral aroma and after taste. Might be way off here.

Lovely drop and nice alternative to my usual hoppy beers

Quite a bit of chocolate in there, possibly a touch too much which is why it's so dark. I used an English esb yeast with it because I wanted the malts to come through quite strongly.

One of the hops in it is willamette which is a descendant of fuggle which would give an earthy/spicy flavour.

I like that it's not in your face hoppy but I think a bigger flame out addition would lift it a little.

 

[MyQul]

I'm also drinking this tonight.But tbh it wasnt what I was expecting. I've only ever had two American Brown Ales, one from Dad_Ale in a previous bottle swap and up until recently my local craft ale pub has has Arbor Ales Boomtown American Brown on tap for several weeks, so I've been drinking that.

What I was expecting was something citrussy probably made with one or more C hops and a clean taste made with perhaps US-05. But what I'm tasting is a really chocolatey rich and malty beer. Just to my tastes. I'm really enjoying it (dunno whether that's what you were going for?) You mention an ESB yeast? You can definately notice that it has a really silky mouthfeel. Unless hops as very prevelant, my palette isnt subltle enough to really pick out subtle uses of hops so I wouldnt have been able to pick out the variety without you telling me. I'm usually better at picking out malts.
I'm loving the amount of choccy malt in it but as you say it may be too much for some people/brown ale style and may be straying into brown porter territory? But for me this is no bad thing

There was a very big hiss when I opened it and a decent head but not overly so. But the lacing seems to be lasting all the way down, which I really like (ooh, I love a bit of lacing :mrgreen:). All in all this is a lovely beer. One that I could drink many pints of. Just not what I was expecting

 

[Leon103]

Quite a bit of chocolate in there, possibly a touch too much which is why it's so dark. I used an English esb yeast with it because I wanted the malts to come through quite strongly.

One of the hops in it is willamette which is a descendant of fuggle which would give an earthy/spicy flavour.

I like that it's not in your face hoppy but I think a bigger flame out addition would lift it a little.

I am getting good at this beer tasting lark

 

[MyQul]

I enjoyed DM's beer so much I think I may well have a crack at making it. I have all the same grains coming in a GEB order I places recently. Apart from choccy malt but I'm going to buy a 25kg sack of base malt soon so could add some choccy in with the order. I am in the final stages of culturing up the Fullers yeast strain. I dont however have any willamette but I have some other hops on order so could probably use those instead

 

[DoctorMick]

Glad you liked it. :thumb:

The yeast was very important to it but I'd imagine a fullers strain would be a really good sub.

If you switch out the willamette I'd try and use something earthy, I think that flavour works well against the malts.

I'll be upping the centennial to 50g next time to Americanise it a touch more next time.

 

[AlanManley]

Just sampled this tonight as a treat for bottling day.

It is delicious. Really decent mouthfeel (very envious) and a lovely chocolate caramel finish.

Very grateful for the swap! 😎🖒🍻

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

[Leon103]

Forgot to say I had drank the citra pale. Just like I remember it, lovely pint, glad to have this one all to myself. It has a nice roundness to it, not overbearing like some citra beers.

How did you get on with mine?

 

[DoctorMick]

Tried the black IPA before coming on holiday but didn't get a chance to post. I really enjoyed it, there was a good balance between the malts and the hops. It was maybe a touch too lively so I lost a bit in the bottle but it poured with a lovely fluffy head which lasted really well. I'm making a black IPA soon and if it turns out as good as yours I'll be very happy. I'll try the rosemary and simcoe once I'm back and have shifted some holiday weight. :lol:

 

[Leon103]

Cheers. Sent so many bottles out I can't remember who had what. Glad you enjoyed it

 

[MyQul]

My Smoked Porter is almost ready to send out to you, DM, a couple more weeks I reckon.

I was a bit worried about it tbh. I put most of it into 330ml bottles (I'll be sendng you a 500ml bottle as I filled four of those) and have been regularly trying it out. For the first couple of weeks it had a strong liquorice flavour to it. I have no idea where this came from as I didnt add any liquorice, may be the bramling X hops I late hopped it with? But I tried a bottle out last night and the flavours are really starting to come together now. The liquorice is now a background flavour and other flavours are starting to come through

 

[DoctorMick]

My Smoked Porter is almost ready to send out to you, DM, a couple more weeks I reckon.

I was a bit worried about it tbh. I put most of it into 330ml bottles (I'll be sendng you a 500ml bottle as I filled four of those) and have been regularly trying it out. For the first couple of weeks it had a strong liquorice flavour to it. I have no idea where this came from as I didnt add any liquorice, may be the bramling X hops I late hopped it with? But I tried a bottle out last night and the flavours are really starting to come together now. The liquorice is now a background flavour and other flavours are starting to come through

No rush. I've had a few beers go through a liquorice phase which I'm not a big fan of, they always seem to come through the other end better for it tho.

 

[MyQul]

No rush. I've had a few beers go through a liquorice phase which I'm not a big fan of, they always seem to come through the other end better for it tho.

Thanks. I've never had that before. I really like liquorice but it was initiallly quite strong and I'm aware many people hate it (it seems to be one of those marmite flavours). I was wondering what was going on

 

[DoctorMick]

I've finally got around to trying the bottles I received...

First - @Leon103 - I can tell it's a nicely made beer, it poured beautifully, but rosemary in an ale just isn't for me, I can see why others could enjoy it hit the herbal taste wasn't to my liking.

Second - @AlanManley s American brown ale. Firstly, apologies because I think I cocked up the pouring and it came out very cloudy, almost mucky in appearance. The taste was good tho, I'm a big fan of this style.

Lastly. @Razor s wheat beer. I'm not a bit fan of wheat beers but I found this easy drinking, the wheat and yeast wasnt over powering like I often find. Only criticism is that it could have done with quite a bit more carbonation for my taste.

 

[AlanManley]

I've finally got around to trying the bottles I received...

First - @Leon103 - I can tell it's a nicely made beer, it poured beautifully, but rosemary in an ale just isn't for me, I can see why others could enjoy it hit the herbal taste wasn't to my liking.

Second - @AlanManley s American brown ale. Firstly, apologies because I think I cocked up the pouring and it came out very cloudy, almost mucky in appearance. The taste was good tho, I'm a big fan of this style.

Lastly. @Razor s wheat beer. I'm not a bit fan of wheat beers but I found this easy drinking, the wheat and yeast wasnt over powering like I often find. Only criticism is that it could have done with quite a bit more carbonation for my taste.

Glad you liked it. 😎🍻

 

[MyQul]

I'll pop the Smoked Porter in the post to you tommorow. The bottle hasnt got a label on (I dont have a printer), so just to remind you. It's basically the Smoked Porter recipe from GH's book but boosted to just over 6%. I added some golden syrup to help with the boost and the hops are Bramling X instead of whatever the books uses

 

[DoctorMick]

Just tried @MyQul 'a smoked porter...I was a bit nervous as I'd tried a smog rocket recently and didn't really enjoyed it but this one doesn't have the harsh smokiness I thought the smog rocket had. The smell is absolutely superb, poured with a beautiful brown head which is lasting well. It's a bit livelier than I was expecting but I like my beers gassy so it works for me. I'm still not confident enough to brew a full length batch of smoked porter but I'd happily have this again.

 

[MyQul]

Thanks for the comments DM. The smokyness has mellowed out quite a bit over the conditioning time, along with the mystery liqorice taste (I've been 'testing' a bottle or two each week).I've since discovered that, that liquorice taste is an ester from the yeast. I've never had it in any other beer before though.
I really liked smog rocket and that's what prompted me to make a smoked porter the first time I made it (what I sent you was the my second go at a SP).