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

[Steph]

I had a huge time in New York, going to three great bars over two nights; Jimmy's No. 43, East Tavern and Barcade. I have the drinks lists from Jimmy's and Barcade. They are pretty awesome. I think I'll start with the notes from the vintage beer tasting at Barcade...I just had small tasters as some of the beers were seriously huge:
1. Flying dog Gonzo Imperial Porter 2005, 9.5% - bloody heck this was a huge beer. It was as black as black could be, very little carbonation and huge raisiny flavours. To be honest, I didn't drink the whole taster. The notes suggested pine, expresso and biter hops - maybe originally, not the 2005 drinking in 2010!

2. Avery The Czar 2007 RIS, 12.2% - this was quite a tasty beer with hints of coco and caramel. It had aged well.

3. Dog Fish Head Raisin D'Etre 2008, 8% - beautiful ruby amber in colour, possibly due to the beet juice!! I didn't seem to write anything about the taste but must have been like raisins!. All my notes are about the colour!!

4. Avery Hog Heaven 2004, 9.2%, Barley wine from Colorado. This seemed to have held up well and had strong barley wine, candy sugar and fruity notes.

5. He Brew Jewbelation 2008, 12%, dark brown oiley colour - notes suggest this is an American Brown Ale - I would say it was far too strong and too sweet. It had some sort of molassasy flavour.

[MrC]

Having a couple of Peak Brewery beers tonight:

Wheat Beer - I enjoyed this beer. I'm not a huge hefe fan but this one was quite nice.

IPA - Terrible! A drain pour! It smells like musty old granny smith apples that have been stored in an old gumboot and doesn't taste any better. For the price I paid I expected a lot better.

[Michael]

Mike's organic ale on tap...

Good beer.

It had some lovely coffee and chocolate flavors with a touch of raisin flavor, and a caramel nose from what I remember. I am not sure what style it was supposed to be, but it tasted like a mild with possibly an ever so slight hint to a porter. It didn't have much of a head, but that makes sense in this beer.

I recommend this beer if you can get it on tap.

[Martin Bridges]

Epic Mayhem - y'know, this stuff still doesn't do it for me. It's nice and all, it's just a bigger version of the Pale Ale that isn't Armageddon. Man I'm getting spoiled!

8Wired Hopwired - oh yeah BABY!

Then a vertical of 3 brews of my standard Saison:
v1 - Wy3711, brewed 17 months ago. Still plenty of fruit, a little sweetness. Creamy smooth.
v2 - Wy3724, had to finish off with US05. Watery crap.
v3 - Wy3711 again. Dry as a witch's tit. A little too thin.

I really really wish I could figure out what I did that made that first Saison so awesome.

Then a Bookie before bed. All the above shared with my Dad, which is well cool.

[Ally Mcg]

Some of my own Masque of the Red Death Mk II, which was brewed to go into Jokings Homebrew comp but I decided not to as i wasn't happy with it. Its muddy like a pond, real 0/5 for appearance. Not as good as Mk I,a little muddled and probably the worst thing I've brewed since my second or third beer and I'm half thinking about pouring the lot because i just don't like it. With the demise of pewter mugs I don't think I'll even be able to palm it off to my mates.

Think I'll ditch this pint and go and get a bottle of Hopwired from the fridge and feel better

[Matthew]

Few tasting today while brewing:

Flying dog imperial porter
Flying dog barley wine
Pink Elephant strong ale
Soren's smoked porter
Chris' APA

All very good, couldn't fault any of them.

[James P]

Had a BBQ over at a mates tonight, on his home brew. Took a half of Hop rocker... meh. Got home and blew two kegs dry trying to pour a pint... f**k.... Canadian Club and dry with Doritos now... time for some quick ales to fill the kegs.

[Soren]

skt bernardus 12. been a while since I had a really good belgian but this one takes the cake. hits all the right notes to the max with out being too much. they use the westmalle yeast right? I usually don't care much for that yeast but this one is spot on!

[jt]

North Welly Porter - hydrometer sample followed by fermenter dregs .... tasty way to end the afternoon, start the evening

[Matthew]

Just polished off a Renaissance Elemental Porter. Delish! One of the best porters i've had yet and it's now firmly got me in the groove for dark beers. Rich chocolate, touch of licorice and dark toffee. I was even getting some hop at the end but couldn't quite pick what it was.

[Stu McKinlay]

Yep, I've had Elemental quite a few times when it has been delciously hoppy. A couple of times it has been almost as hoppy as PKB. I imagine that, like PKB, the hop character comes and goes over time in a more of a wave pattern than a linear change. The dark malts definitely seem to react completely differently with hops than a pale ale.

[Stu McKinlay]

Harrington's Pig and Whistle - Excellent.