[klickitat jim]

Dang Jim, dang.  Drinking the Brett Saison now.

Presents with an amazing dusty pineapple aroma. (While that sounds weird, it's exactly what I want in a Brett Saison.) Honeycrisp apples, juicy blood orange, a touch of lemons, and bit of white pepper follows in the aroma. Myles nailed the descriptor that I couldn't: lavender. That's why it reminds me of Boulevard's Saison-Brett. Lavender.

Flavor follows the aroma, with a light honey flavor behind all of the things I described above. Med-low bitterness. Some sort of floral in the mid-palate. Finish is dry and lavender/honey/pineapple lingers into the aftertaste.

Light body, but medium mouthfeel. Perfect. Med-light carb. No warming or astringency.

Wow, what a beer. Myles says thank you (as do I). I only wish I had another. I know exactly who I would share it with.



Curious, can you tell me more about the Brett in here and the time frame? I just finished a beer nearly exactly like this, so I'm curious as to how our processes compare.

Well, what a relief! We really like that one too. Inspired by a guy across the river who has a really good commercial saison brett. But mine is really rednecked up. Not very authentic in nature. I also made one alongside the blond which is red by way of a little carafa

The blond
6 gallon batch 1.057
11lbs pils.        (2oz carafe II special for the darker version)
145 for 120 min
90 min boil
14g German Magnum @60
1 lb cane @ 15
3oz Hallertau Mittelfruh @ wirlpool 170f for 30
Wyeast belgian saison 3724 at 65, ramped to 90 over 5 days
It stalled at about 1.010 so I pitched a pack of bret lambicus wy5526, no starter.
I moved it to a spare closet. In about a month it had reached TG about 1.002/3 if I recall. Bottled it up as is, no bottling yeast.

Side note: I crashed and gell fined these beers. It seemed to work fine at the time, but in retrospect I think the gell grabbed tiny bits of pellicle which dont seem to want to fully settle. I will be skipping gellatin from now on with any pelicle beer.

These have become locked in repeater recipes for me. Im making more next june. And going to make one with kaffir lime leaves at flameout... trying to keep it real subtle. mmmm cant wait.


So, I have a six pack of the blond and the red waiting for me to decide if they might do well in 28A against all those other specialty beers...

What do you think?


By the way, the dunkel sucks. Dont waste much time on it. Sent it kinda thinking some help would be nice but since then ive learned the issue.

[AmandaK]

Seeing these last couple posts reminds me of the fact that I am a bad swapper. I shared @AmandaK s wedding toast beer last week with the SO and a friend. It was poor timing as it was later in the evening, I did not take any notes and really only remember that we all enjoyed it. Thank you again Amanda, everything you sent was wonderful and I hope to get to that level eventually, with a lot more practice.

No worries, Frank. I'm happy to know that it was shared and enjoyed - that was the original purpose behind the beer, so it is still doing what we intended.    Now that I think about it... I believe the first 40+ bottles of those batches (blended 2 10g batches together for the wedding) went in the same manner at the reception. 

[AmandaK]

So, I have a six pack of the blond and the red waiting for me to decide if they might do well in 28A against all those other specialty beers...

What do you think?

For NHC? I'll probably be entering a very similar Saison-Brett (w/ Boulevard dregs), so it would be neat if we could compete on the National stage. I say do it!    It certainly is a beer that I would push to mini-BOS and with the right judge panel, should place.

I was hoping to have a separate Wild category for NHC, but now it seems as if I can send 3 different beers (I have all of the categories ready right now) and then have to compete not only against myself but against all of the bombs of the speciality category. I'll have to weigh that out once we know how many entries we can have.

[klickitat jim]

So, I have a six pack of the blond and the red waiting for me to decide if they might do well in 28A against all those other specialty beers...

What do you think?

For NHC? I'll probably be entering a very similar Saison-Brett (w/ Boulevard dregs), so it would be neat if we could compete on the National stage. I say do it!    It certainly is a beer that I would push to mini-BOS and with the right judge panel, should place.

I was hoping to have a separate Wild category for NHC, but now it seems as if I can send 3 different beers (I have all of the categories ready right now) and then have to compete not only against myself but against all of the bombs of the speciality category. I'll have to weigh that out once we know how many entries we can have.

Right on. I'll do that. Thanks!

[Footballandhops]

Well here is my long due review of the beers mchrispen sent to me. I am not a BJCP judge and will not even begin to pretend that I can describe a beer at that level. My beer knowledge comes from a mixture of the BN session, sour hour, the Jamil show, brew strong, this forum and brewing classic styles. With that said...

The rye saison was delicious, very smooth with no hints of warming alcohol for a beer just under 10%. Fruity phenolic characters typical of the French saison strain which is a beast of a yeast. I would have bought a few bombers of this if it were a brewery offering.

The quadruple was another very smooth big beer. I got hints of plums, raisin, with what I perceived as a malty backbone. I don't remember there being much in the way of yeast phenolic character and spice. A very good beer all in all.

The braggot was very different. My first taste of what a beer fermented with a considerable amount of honey actually tastes like. I have to admit that when I opened this bottle it was getting late into the evening on a weekend that I had some old friends from college come into town. I enjoyed it, and my wife would also tell you that I enjoyed it. It actually inspired me to buy a gallon of honey from my uncles bee farm that I am looking to formulate a braggot recipe for.

All in all this guy knows his way around some potent beers that could get you in trouble if you didn't realize how strong they were!

[mchrispen]

Hey thanks! Happy you enjoyed them!

That braggot is pretty divisive. I have one friend that spit it out - and another that keeps asking for more.

Cheers!

[Wort-H.O.G.]

Tonight cracked surfinmikeg's rye porter. Poured jet black, with thick three finger tan head, that slowly dissipates to solid one finger. Aroma is roast with notes of coffee and vanilla. Very smooth, well attenuated with subtle  rye contributions. I let this one warm up to mid 40's and glad I did. The  rye and roast with vanilla in background meld together perfectly. Great beer on cold winter night- well done.



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[ynotbrusum]

Jeffy's Old Ale - a great beer that my description will not do justice on:

Dark and Murky brown, thin beaded head that dissipates on pouring; aroma of dark figs and prune, along with slight overripe pears and sherry (slight oxidation? Definitely not to a distraction level nor impermissible); flavor has Special B-like caramel with light roast and boozy hints on the initial sip, settling into residual sweetness that comes from the alcohol, I suspect, but appreciable like a fine, well-aged wine.  Mouthfeel was rich and full bodied, lightly tingly on the mid tongue and mildly warming, leaving a little twinge in the gums.  Overall a very complex and satisfying flavor profile - not your neighbor's barley wine, the aging brought out its best and settled out any shortcomings that may have been there younger.  I would enjoy this as an after dinner companion to an apple cobbler or with a big roast beef dinner or even better, with some venison back straps sautéed in garlic and onions.  It would stand up to either - or as I enjoyed it, all by itself.

Well Done, Jeffy!

[69franx]

I want one!

[jeffy]

Thanks, Jerry.  That beer was a pretty old Old Ale.  It was a club project - we made 10 barrels of wort at Tampa Bay Brewing Co. from a winning recipe and split it up amongst everybody.  The sample I sent you spent some time in a bourbon barrel and picked up some Brett somewhere along the line.
Sometimes I really like this beer for complexity and dark fruit and sometimes I think it tastes like soy sauce.  I'm glad you got the former.

[coastsidemike]

Tonight cracked surfinmikeg's rye porter. Poured jet black, with thick three finger tan head, that slowly dissipates to solid one finger. Aroma is roast with notes of coffee and vanilla. Very smooth, well attenuated with subtle  rye contributions. I let this one warm up to mid 40's and glad I did. The  rye and roast with vanilla in background meld together perfectly. Great beer on cold winter night- well done.



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Hey Ken, I'm glad you liked it.

[klickitat jim]

I think we are probably about done with Swaptoberfest '15. If there's still more thats cool, keep posting.

Was it worth while?

Other than botching the lineup so some folks ended up with one on one exchanges, anything you'd suggest changing?

I'll aim to fire up another one in the Spring. Hopefully between NHC shipping time and actual NHC?

[toby]

I think it was worthwhile despite that I've only had a chance to drink one of them (haven't had a chance to touch the stouts with three separate competitions happening in late October and November).  I would do it again.

[pete b]

I have no suggestions to make it better, I thought it was great. Thanks!

[HoosierBrew]

Yeah, I enjoyed it again and would keep participating.