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

[Stu McKinlay]

Mike's Mild (aka "Organic Ale") - delicious underrated session ale that does not need more hops!
Sierra Nevada Glissade - wow, spicy hopped up maibock. It was showing a wee bit o' age but I liked this a lot.
Graeme Mahy's "Gula" Imperial Stout - let's hope we get this commercially soon. Fantastic beer, more of a FES from the drinking perspective but that is the way I like them (drinkable rather than soy sauce!!).
Old 95 - dangerously good.
1812 - very dry but delicate and beautifully btter.

Some Yeastie Return to Magenta, Yeastie PKB, Eastie Fiesta Imperial Red (just hitting its straps now - imperial new world ESB???) and the last of my Eastie Rid of Me Dry Stout..

[Reviled]

Tried Glens Belgian Pale Ale last night, and not normally being a fan of Belgians I wasnt sure if I would like it, man, was I wrong!!

Poured a deep amber colour with amazing clarity, slight phenols on the nose, mainly clove, dry biscuit taste on the palate with a really dry malt accenuated finish! Awesome stuff!! Cheers for the taste Glen :o)

[denimglen]

All good mate.

Personally a bit too much yeast character for me - especially in such a small beer (by Belgian standards anyway).

I pitched it and then read that the yeast can be lager-like (aye?) so freaked out and let it free rise a bit after a day. Next time I'll keep it steady and hopefully it'll be a bit better. Yeast was WY3655 Schelde, pitched at 19 'free-rise' to 22C.

[Reviled]

I actually really liked the yeast character, and it did have a crisp like mouthfeel to it which I guess could be perceived as lager-like? Thats probably what I liked about it was that it was crisp and dry and not sweet and cloying like alot of Belgians can be...

[Michael]

Harrington's Wobbly Boot

I do not remember whether I liked this the last time I had it, but I do like the bottle I have tonight. I taste a definite coffee note in their, and a good mouthfeel exists on the beer as well. :)

[jt]

Three pints of the Coopers experiment - it's nearly over thank the Brewing Gods
The keg is dead but one bottle remains

I'm glad I did it, but I wish it wasn't a keg full, maybe I would've been better off bottling it and having every now & then.

Looking forward to cleaning the keg, flushing the lines and a warm cascade ale

[Chris Banks]

"it's nearly over thank the Brewing Gods" LOL that many apples jt you wont see the doc for ages!!!

Last night a bottle of Lagunitas Hop Stoopid Ale very nice 102 ibu and 8% very satisfying indead got my hop fix for the evening!

[jt]

There's still that one bottle left Chris.
I was going to offer it to Mr Cherry, but it could always be first bottle up at Queens Birthday if you haven't been keeping up with your 5+ a day
And we could make sure that you have the largest glass at the table ?

[Matthew]

I'll have the pear cider ready for Liz' Birthday tasting too. We could do a side by side? :P

[jt]

Sounds a plan - never knowingly tried one Matthew so I'm looking forward to it

We still need to pick a day - Saturday, Sunday or Monday ?

[JoKing]

I just had a 330ml bottle of the Imperial IPA that I brewed at White Cliffs Brewery for them over here in Taranaki. It's a 9.5% big beer with some intense bitterness. My impression was that she was a bit rough around the edges... but then I suppose 140 IBU will do that to a beer. We used organic floor malted Optic barley - which holds up quite well against the hopping. There is a background sweetness throughout the drink, but you can't really be fooled by it as the Chinook bitterness really attacks the palate upfront and it is relentless until some sweet dry hops take over. The beer finishes resinous with Simcoe and then some citrus and peach notes end the drink with a very long lingering bitterness.

[Bambule]

Sounds great, I'm enjoying that chinook aggression myself at the moment. Where can we try this beer? Outside of Taranaki that is.