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

[MrC]

I'd recommend bottling some if 330ml also.  It helps make the stock last longer and depending on your ABV 500ml can be too much if you have other beers to get through first.  I find I like to have another beer before having a RIS to build up my palate.  I also find that I treat beers like that like gold and 500ml can be too much to give away to someone that probably won't 'Get It'.

 

 

[jt]

Pallette building Mr Cherry, I must try more of that

330 ml bottles would make the batch last longer, though each sample would be smaller, bit of a trade off isn't it.

I must admit that when I tried the 330 of Matthews I wished it was a 500!

[Chad Keven]

home brew strawberry wine gnarly no sophistication whatsoever! petrol

[MrC]

Had a couple of 500ml bottles of Bookbinder recently and was tasting great!  I loved Bookbinder in 2009 but it just wasn't doing anything for me in 2010.  It seems to be back on form for 2011.  From my own experiences with Riwaka over that time I wouldn't be surprised if the if the different harvests of Riwaka were to blame.  The yeast character seems more pronounced now too which I really like, reminds me a bit of S-33.  Such a complex little beer.

 

Welcome back old friend :)

[denimglen]

Moa - Ten Year Beer - Cherry 'Lambic'

 

Wow.  What a disappointment.

 

Aroma - For one, where are the cherries?  Is this a cherry 'Lambic' the same way Tui is an IPA?  As it warms there's an unpleasant amount of ethyl acetate that's out of balance with everything.  There's some pleasant oak notes there, I'll give it that.  Only the slightest hint of sourness.

 

Flavour - Ok, first there's no cherry aroma (I'd let it get away with that, I'm a brewer too, I know things don't always work out as planned..) but now there's no sourness!?  Have they ever had a sour ale out of Belgium or did they not get any further than the Wikipedia article on the subject?  This beer is way sweet, and it has brett in there.  It's also quite highly carbonated already.   If people take the bottle's advice of aging this for ten years I hope they do so in an underground bunker - this could be a seriously dangerous bottle bomb.

 

I'm not one to complain openly about beers usually, I'll suck it up and get on with it.  But it's really disappointing when you pay $30 for a bottle of beer that doesn't live up to what it's labeled to be.  Doubly shit when you stupidly buy one to drink and one for the cellar.  I really REALLY hope no one buys this as their first 'Lambic', if so it would be a tragic introduction to the style.

 

And to be somewhat nit-picky.  This isn't a Lambic as it wasn't brewed, fermented, or bottled in Pajottenland region.

[Christian]

I'm glad you didn't wait 10 years before discovering this!

[Kieran Haslett-Moore]

I have only had a barrel sample so far so can't really comment on the finished product. But at a wider level I do have serious reservations about them labeling it Lambic. Apart from it not coming from the Senne vally more importantly it wasnt produced in anywhere near the way a Lambic beer would be.

 

The 10 year beer is the St Josephs wort , fermented i believe with both the Westmalle yeast and a Wyeast Lambic blend. Then aged in a barrel with cherrys. When we tasted the barrel sample it was over 12% , its now less than that so I suspect its been back blended a little. I'm sure Dave will correct me if I'm wrong.

I think they were setting themselves up for a fail labeling it a Lambic.

[Raffe]

Is it possible then that this beer was named by the Moa Marketing Dept, rather than the Brewing Dept? 

Slightly rhetorical question there. 

[Dan Filihiahekava]

Tonight I'm drinking a homebrew PA tonight dry hopped with a healthy amount of Nz Cas and Mots.....In a better mood now.

[Dave W]

Nice, I'm having a homebrew NZIPA

super alpha and a touch of Savin, then some more hopping in the fermenter with savin and Motueka. 

 

580grm's of hops in a 38L batch.........

As "bitter bitch" is taken i call it "The EX"

[Steph]

I think you need to keep the one for the cellar for a few years.  My impression on drinking some yesterday was that the beer has been released way too early.  It is only hinting on what it might become. 

 

I could smell the bret, but I know there are other funky yeasts hiding out.  I thought there was definitely enough sweetness for them to come out over the next few years.

 

I didn't get any ethyl acetate but it is a big beer...Not as big as it used to be.

[JoKing]

Thanks for the heads up Denim... I was thinking about giving this a crack: I am a serious sucker for sour beers.

 

Chur bo'