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

[Martin Bridges]

Pelican Bridal Ale 2008 - Another prize from BrewNZ. An awesome biere de garde from Oregon. Man I wish I could brew this. Superb multi-layered malt profile, rich fruit character, dry finish. Even my missus liked it.

Stone Imperial Russian Stout - Like eating christmas cake soaked in diesel, but in a good way. Like they say, with RIS there are no maximums, only minimums. Tons of dark fruits, treacle, molasses, roast & bitterness. Clings to the throat on the way down. A pint is perhaps a little too much. Amazingly the fingers still work. Only just though, time to retire. Will try to not trip over the 2 new cats on the way to bed.

[Martin Bridges]

The RIS is a major dehydrater though - I woke up in the middle of the night with the driest mouth I've ever had!

[Kempicus]

I haven't done this for a while....haven't been to this website for a while either...

Konig Pilsner
Wadworth Old Timer
Weltenburger kloster asam bock
Coronado idiot IPA
Georg Schneider's Weisen edel-weisse (even though it's organic)
Hacker pschorr oktoberfest marzen

i dunno if i'm gonna get through them though!

[Matthew]

Can't remember who I had a discussion with lately over darker styled beer. I'm not really one to go for a porter or stout or anything in that genre really.

Anyway, I grabbed myself a Tuatara Porter (figured it was a safe place to start) and thoroughly enjoyed it. Bit of coffee and a hint of honey/manuka smoke? Difficult to describe as I wouldn't say it's the same as bacon. Maybe from wood chips? Few dried fruits in there but pretty subtle.

I'm really enjoying Tuatara at the moment. They're good middle ground beer. I've had so many hops lately I'm finding Tuatara to be a good chill out and settle the palate down beer. Love the Pils and Hefe. Could do a Porter again. The Pale Ale's not bad either. Nice.

[Stu McKinlay]

Tuatara Porter is a hugely under rated beer in my opinion... it seems to work best in bottle. all of my best experiences have been poured from the glass. Maybe it's just that little bit of extra temperature, to bring out the nice mix of malt and yeast.

[denimglen]

Had dinner with the fams at Gal's tonight.

Bob Hudsons, Bellringer's, the Munich and BoPils all on form as usual.

Emerson's Hoppy Porter - still tasty as last time, although maybe a touch more watery than I remembered, still a great beer.

Yeastie Boy's Plan K - great, nicely balanced, very sessionable, I don't like the yeast strain though - too much of that ultra-clove/seaweed phenolic/ester thing for me - personal preference I guess, absolutely spot on otherwise.

[studio1]

Over in california -just been tripping out at the 'Bevmo' with 2 aisles of craft beer.

Last night I got through:
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Calico Amber Ale
Rogue Dead Guy
Rogue Brutal Bitter (awesome)
Stone IPA
Stone Ruination
Sierra Nevada IPA

[Dale]

Went to local supermarket yesterday and got my hands on some Armageddon and also found in there Yeastie Boys HM awesome can't wait to try it. Went down to the free house and they had Plan K on tap which I really enjoyed that yeast character coming through. Founders Show Stopper was also good but not as hoppy as I remembered for the festival a month back.

[Christian]

I got a rigger of Show Hopper yesterday from the brewery and agree it didn't seem as hoppy as at the beer fete - though that might be because I had it straight after a spiced stout. Still nice though.

I had HM on Friday - quite a complex and mixed experience for me - loved what the high abv added and the complex mix or hops - especially the Cascade - but I got an overpowering bitter aftertaste (from the Sauvin or Pacific Gem?) that didn't really do it for me - though it mellowed as I got through it.

[Stu McKinlay]

it probably is the most bitter NZ beer around at the moment.
but that bitterness won't be from sauvin or pacific gem... Cascade and Willamette made up almost 90% of the hops (pacific gem wasn't in there - guess you mean pacific jade... but there was only 150g out of 14kg of hops in that beer!)

[Christian]

Opps, I meant Pacific Jade - thought I tasted Blackcurrent but at that amount it looks like the effect would be minimal anyway.

Maybe it was the earthy Willamette. I've been making some pretty bitter home brews but bittering mainly with Southern Cross and sometimes a bit of Sauvin or Super Alpha so have likely developed my own NZ preference in the bittering department.

Think I might have to get another bottle for further 'evaluation'.

[Stu McKinlay]

yeh... if we went that way again I'm not sure Willamette would make the cut. Probably more Sauvin, or Motueka.