I just pulled and consumed the first pint pulled through the Ruakura Campus Club's brand new beer engine.
It was Kid Chocolate - I'm informed it's the last bag in the country. Still tasting great. A sublime experience.
Laphroaig and Hallertau Porter Noir, I also infected my Old Ale with the dreggs of the bottle, hopefully theres enough Brett alive in there to munch down...
The Porter Noir was really nice, a bit thin for a Porter but awesome sweaty cherry aroma and just a hint of sourness in the taste, yummy!
I had a couple of glasses of my own barley wine the other night and it's continually changing. It's 6 months old now and has just reached full carbonation (well half of the bottles have). It's starting to taste quite nice and as I was drinking it I picked up a smokey aroma which is weird seeing as there isn't any smoked malt in it. It was a welcome aroma to the beer and it's now got me thinking about a smoked barley wine.
Anyone here ever brewed a smoked barley wine? If so, what did you think?
There are 2 things that I brew once a year, Barleywine & Mead. I won't brewing them 'till later in the year but I'm seriously thinking about a smoked barleywine for my 2009 batch.
LOL! I haven't done it yet. I'll happily flick you a bottle when (or if) I brew it.
My taste in beer seems to have changed over last couple of months. I've been tasting as many different styles as I can and I can now appreciate the beers that I've previously struggled with.
I'll start something in the recipe advice thread so you can advise.