I was stuck with Speights Summit last night at a BBQ. It's like normal speights with half the ingredients except the sugar... I'm pretty sure the single hop I tasted was green bullet. It had that steinlager after taste.
I had a bubba keg (3.8L) of my Yakima Moster's Baby while listening to Fleetwood Mac as they played live down here in New Plymouth.
Mate. The crowd was going mental - and the baby monster never tasted so good. I got absolutely shit faced on the stuff - and woke up feeling pretty good yesterday. I can't remember a hell of a lot around bed time on Saturday though... I think I comatosed.
Had a few homebrews at my sister's 40th on the weekend. Then cracked a 1.5L magnum of Moa Imperial Stout later in the evening... it's a bit like an Imperial version of Mackeson Stout. Very different from what I expected but pretty unique... I'm looking forward to another look over Xmas (and have a few for much longer term cellaring).
Hiya Beer Ledgend. The magnums are only available direct from the Brewery. Email me on info@moabeer.co.nz and I will get one off to you. They are $25 +freight each.
Stu, interesting comparison with the Mackeson's. I always found Mackeson's to be quite sweet and full since it has lactose added. It was the version made by Carib Brewery in Trinidad when I was making Heineken and Guiness Foreign extra in St Lucia. The Moa RIS is very dry (1010-1011) in comparison. The Magnums did have 6 months in some new oak which has really mellowed it. It has certainly smoothed the roast characters and bitterness (90 IBU!) and acentuated the chocolate and mocha charcters.
I did... but it was SO mellow that it very much took me by surprise. It was far too easy to drink. And for a beer that has finished at 1.010 still has a huge amount of sweetness - though I'm sure the jump from <4% bitters would have highlighted that perception. I'm sure that I'll get a another chance or two to evaluate it further with one of the other 5 magnums that I have left ;-)
I've only ever tried the low gravity Mackesons out of the UK. Tried it a few times now.
I'm pretty sure the Caribbean version of Mackesons is a 4.9% milk stout. Besides Trinidad, the other small breweries on each of the islands tended to brew the Guiness Foreign Extra stout at ~7.5%. Its seen as quite a "manly" beer and popular with Rasta's (a good mixer????). Remind me next time we meet to tell you about it as it is one of the least interesting beers to make.