In this week's update, Kristy and I hit the Terminus Hotel in Clifton Hill last Thursday to meet up with our mate Jimmy who works behind the bar, and sample some of the brews they have available on tap and in the fridge. Of course Kristy kept to the ciders (I quite liked the Kelly Brother's one they had), and I stuck to the beers.
I was lucky enough to see they had Mountain Goat Craig, and so, this time was able to make a couple of notes after my feeble attempt last time. I didn't remember to bring paper or pen again, but luckily Kristy and Jimmy could sort me out, so managed to note down that is had a good caramel taste with only a slight hop backpalate to cleanse.
Jimmy recommended I try the Brew Dog 5am Saint (as Damien did from Purvis), and have to say I was quite surprised by it. It has a dark caramel smell with a big toffee kick on the front of the tongue. There is a good meld from the malt to hop flavour, which lingers for a long time after swallowing. The aftertaste actually reminded me a bit like the Holgate Chocolate Porter, which must use a similar hop that works well with the sweet, dark, malt flavour. It also had a good medium body to it that worked well with the flavours.
Ok, one beer I have seen around for a long time but had never tried was the Tim Taylor Landlord Strong Pale Ale. It strong must denote flavour as the beer is only just over 4% alcohol. So, it starts with a nice caramel malt and this flavour hold on well through the beer when the beer is warm (10-12 degrees), but there is a dry and stringent hop finish that doesn't compliment the main flavour of the beer. This is worse the colder the beer is. So english ales are meant to be tasted warmer.
I also tried the 3 Ravens Uber Special Bitter (USB), which seemed to have a fairly uniform taste profile from start to finish, mainly coming from the dark malt. There is an easing of hops towards the end of the beer, but it didn't quite sit well with me. I am not sure if it is the type of hop used or the clash of hop and malt.
So, in big news, Stass and I have just put on a Russian Imperial Stout on the home brew. We made it with a lager can, dark ale can and a stout can, and added all 21g of yeast that came with the three cans...and we only made a 15 ltr batch, so could be quite intense. We do have video, but I can't seem to get them onto my imovie to put it together and up here. We have to wait 3 months before drinking once in the bottle, which will exactly get us to the start of winter...perfect timing!
Anyway that is it for now. I do have to say that one of my choc raspberry stouts exploded at 6am Sunday morning. In better news, both Stass and I will be heading out of town this weekend for some camping. Am sure a few home brews will be had while cooking on the bbq, and just hanging out at the campsite...very much looking forward to it.
Beef
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