CS3 - Martin's KissKiss BangBang

[Martin Bridges]

English ESB

3.6kg Maris Otter
0.5kg Crystal 60L
0.5kg Munich
30g Roast Barley
Mashed at 67 degrees

25g Target @ 60 mins
20g EKGs @15 mins
20g NZ Styrians @ flameout
Dry-hopped with 20g NZ Styrians & 10g Target

Fermented at 19 degrees with Wyeast 1275 Thames Valley Ale

All feedback encouraged.

[Alasdair]

Thought I'd kick off the case swap with Martin's ESB.

The bottle was maybe three-quarters full, so probably a bit of lost carbonation on this one. It poured with no head, and very low, tingly carbonation. But fantastic clarity and colour - an appetising rich amber.

Low aroma, floral, hint of caramel, but with a background sharpness/tang. Quite thin mouthfeel - medium at first, but overall seemed quite thin for an ESB. What was the FG on this?

Lacked the malt flavours I was expecting - some caramel upfront, and a lingering MO breadiness on the finish, but not much else. Floral hop flavour, but with a background citric/sour note, and some grassiness.

I'm not sure it arrived in tip-top condition, but it's got a lot of promise. I felt the malt/mouthfeel needed beefing up. I can't diagnose the cause of the tangy flavour - maybe a hop/yeast combination? It reminded me a bit of the minerally notes I've got sometimes from 1028.

So a few tweaks and I think you'd have an excellent ESB.

Cheers Martin

[James P]

Kiss Kiss went bang bang for CHCH bound bottles, we lost one as it seems the cap is not on properly. The bottle on the right is the one that, when squeezed shows signs of a seal problem, the one of the left was the only one that didn't need a tighten. The box it was in took a beating too as the bottom was ripped, and has soaked up some beer.

[Stu McKinlay]

Ha ha!! Martin you stingy bastard... to think they call scots tight!

[Martin Bridges]

The Scots learnt all they know from the Yorkshiremen.

Sorry, you all seem to have suffered a bit from my crappy bottling technique.

I think I've just got myself relegated.

[James P]

I pulled the short straw for the the bottle with the poor seal being the organiser. It got only two sips, picking up a light mouth feel with a high sweetness, my nose is still a little blocked so there was no real malt aroma, rather it was skunked from the exposure I guess. The obvious flaws I put against the packaging rather than the brewing.

The bottle still had the old seal ring on it when the new bottle cap was out on, so I'm looking forward to your beer in the next swap Martin!

[JoKing]

I had this one last night too...

Very Bright - well done in getting a clear beer mate. Aroma was a bit thin, hints of malt... very subtle. A herbal aroma coming in late - could be from the dry hops.

Palate wis a bit light too - moderate carbonation. More hints of malt... sort of crystal... a bit of husky munich sitting behind there. There seems to be a fermentation character that took me a long time to put my finger on, and it reminded me of Green Bananas! Could be some Isoamyl Acetate from the yeast - but on the other hand... it could be any other range of esters combined with the Styrians... who knows?

Rather clean beer - good fermentation. For an ESB I would have liked a bit more body in there - and more all round grunt. But it probably turned out how you wanted... so if it did, you should be pleased because it's not a bad beer at all.

Cheers.

[Ally Mcg]

First of the CS beers for me.
Pours a whispy white head that dissapated fairly quickly but a lovely burnished amber colour with awesome clarity.

Not a lot of aroma, some malt/grain notes. I guess more munich based than MOPA having gone to smell both grains as I drank this. First sips tasted a little thin, with hints of sweetness and something fruity. After thinking for a bit the best i could get was raspberry coke.

There's a chalkiness to the palate and a slight bristle from the hops. Finishes astringent, which I'd guess is down to the use of the roasted barley.

Burp-wise i picked up some nice toasty notes.

Cheers for the beer!

[studio1]

My first CS beer. I had a hankering for an english ale after a big weekend of IPAs and Hoppy Pale ale.

Pours amber and beautifully clear with little head. Did you fine this? I wish my beers were this clear.

Drinking at 14c. A nice easy drinker. Light mouthfeel with a slightly dry finish. I like the yeast aroma - glad I just got a smack-pack of this yeast to try out. I was trying to connect with a certain taste and just read Joking's comments on green banana - I think that could be it.

Cheers - would love to try some more of your bitter off the handpump sometime.

[Stu McKinlay]

Very clean. Very clear. Slim. A little malt and less hop.
A very good NZ draught - and I mean that in the most respectful way... what NZ Draught could be. This is a well made beer with absolutely nothing to hide behind. Good work.

And on that NZ Draught thought, here's something more like what NZ pop music should be:


I'm not really a fan of the yeast (in anything slightly subtle) and I'm guessing you won't be either soon. Very well made ale and I can't fault the malts or hops you list. So where's the problem?

[denimglen]

Some nice fruitness from the yeast in this, but a little banana and sulphur too maybe, a nice caramel malt aroma behind that.

A little yeast spicyness in the flavour too, did you make a starter for this? Seems as though it may have been underpitched a touch, but I'm not familiar with that yeast and what it should do. Some nice floral earthiness from those EKGs coming through.

Nice and clear, head thins quickly but leaves a very nice, thick lace.

'tis a good beer, I'm just a bit sus on that yeast though.

Brew strong!

[MrC]

Enjoyed this beer on Saturday night a couple of hours after a lovely curry. We're going through a Star Wars phase at the moment so my kids quickly renamed this beer K2B2.

Pours a deep brown copper colour with a short lasting head and is very, very clear. Aroma is fruity, earthy, caramel & slightly toasty. I'm picking up some Belgain style phenol notes that are nice but I'm not sure that they'd be deliberate ;-) Also picking up sulphur and a vegetal, DMS character, parsnips maybe? Carbonation is nice, tastes just like it smells and seems well balanced. The bitterness is reminding me of the bitterness that denimglen's beer had, salt additions maybe? A slight slickness on the tongue. I think the malts are working well in this beer. A nice easy drinker with plenty of flavour to keep me interested all the way.

Very nice Martin. A well brewed beer but maybe some yeast/fermentation issues?

The yeast character reminded me of Mike's Brown Ale.

Cheers.

[Barry]

#3 for me
pours a brilliant burnished copper, a truly stunning-to-look-at beer. Soft off-white head that doesn't sit tall for long, but lingers to the bottom of the pint glass.
The nose is all malt, raisin, I'm getting some pear-like fermentation character not unpleasant at all.
It's got a good solid medium mouthfeel, silky smooth carbonation, caramel sweetness then a drying toastyness for a second before the hops cleanse ready for another sip.
If I was to fault the beer I would say that the malt/hops interplay could be a little more engaging, it doesn't possess that vinuous, marmaladey, moreish bittersweet character. But that's the challenge right? This beer is great - not perfect, but very nicely done.

Cheers Martin.