What are you drinking ?

[jt]

Ok, so What Are You Brewing was a hotty, as topics go.

Now I'm 15 pints into a keg I only filled on Tuesday and wondering if anyone else has a favourite at the moment ?

It's my second brown with US-Oh05 and it's better than the forst, maybe Ikept the temps down a bit during the scorcher we had in januray

[Soren]

I wondered the same thing when I had it at the Hop last year. Think it was "Red Neck Ale" they told me...?

[BeerNZ]

Red Neck Amber...

[David Wood]

I thought the Maximus was 7.1% this year... At least that's what I was told at Malthouse.

[colin m]

yep 7.1% - at least thats what Nature Boy told me.

[vdog]

Snap - RNA and Maximus for me too! I'm glad you didn't drain the keg - but I did... Must have got there in the nick of time, because I managed two pints and it blew dry when the very next one was poured (and tipped out).

[Martin Bridges]

Stalker!

[Greig McGill]

You're just lucky you didn't end up with a KERRET up your NOUGHT!

But yes, it was a GREAT NOIT! Phil was not well...

[Stu McKinlay]

Dogfish 90IPA - a little old but firkin awesome!
Rasputin - really really good "standard" RIS. I preferred where Gonzo was going but Gonzo tastes like it wants to be fresher.

Armageddon and Renaissance IIPA today. Neither quite hit the Dogfish 90 level but the 'geddon is slipping down ok. Renaissance a little sweet but pretty well made for a first crack at the beer and using a hop I'm really not sure about.

[JoKing]

I thought that the 90min IPA was quite the interesting beer - it had this massive "Kahlua" note from start to finish. I'd not even hazard a guess as to how they get it in there... but it was in there in abundance. Not as hoppy as I expected - and as such detracted away from the "style" however - a great beer nonetheless. Not sure I'd call it an IPA though.

[Stu McKinlay]

Not sure what you mean about Kahlua but i laughed my head off... as i read this I was drinking a very fresh strong brown Belgian ale I recently brewed... milk chocolate, a little banana , spice and caramel - it had kahlua and coke written all over it!


Yeh yeh, I agree with your main thought though: IPA/IIPA is a stretch. It's in that cricle of delicious beers that are pushing out in the direction of Imperial Amber/Red rather than IIPA. I found Dog90 to have plenty of caramel and just a little chocolate and melanoidin toastiness in the finish that definitely pushed it out past the pale bracket.

It's funny what people get from the beers. I've noticed Greig has loved a few beers (Racer 5, Ruination) that I thought really suffered on the journey and had become overwhelmingly soapy (too much late/dry hopping and not enough bitterness to age well).... whereas he thought this one had suffered and I thought it had enough backbone to still pull it off at this age. It takes all sorts I suppose...

They've all been bloody well made though, and I'd love to try them fresh.

[Matthew]

This is one of the things I love about food and beverages. It's along the idea of 'one man's rubbish is another man's treasure...' take 5 people and give them the exact same drink or meal and more often than not you'll get 5 different reviews. We all interpret flavours and textures differently.

[Greig McGill]

Yeah, trying them fresh will be the key I think. I just wasn't sure what to make of the 90 minute. And yeah, that Kahlua thing... I thought it was more maltesers, and Alexandra thought chocolate milk, so we were all in that sortof ballpark. The more I think about it after the fact though, the more I want to try it again and see if Kahlua was the right answer. It was certainly not a flavour I've ever struck in any beer before. Deeply weird.

Stu: I'm a really inconsistent rater. I did love Ruination. Thought it was just so quaffable - dangerous at that abv. The Racer 5 I was a little less happy with, but I could totally see the fresh beer in the aged one. I tend to rate higher when I can extrapolate out the fresh flavours. Also, other than what I call barley sugar, and you call jellied fruit (oxidised/tired is my guess at the cause), there was still so much fresh hop present in Racer 5, so it impressed me on that level. The 90 minute was just so unusual that I have no idea what it would be like when fresh beyond interesting.