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Author Topic: 2016 Spring Swap - Official Thread  (Read 49915 times)

Offline klickitat jim

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Re: 2016 Spring Swap - Official Thread
« Reply #255 on: May 10, 2016, 10:47:44 am »
Yup, its getting nice out. Time to start brewing beers that can or need to sit in primarily a little longer. Saisons, sour beers... But first I'm doing a couple more lagers and a couple more IPAs

Offline jeffy

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Re: 2016 Spring Swap - Official Thread
« Reply #256 on: May 11, 2016, 06:07:07 pm »
I am finally having the first of Morticai's homebrews, the 2015 Maple Barleywine.
He also sent some homemade maple syrup, so we made savory French toast for dinner, with sliced French bread, cherry wood smoked bacon and some poblano peppers in the mix.  Mmmm, good....
The beer poured with little to no head, but left persistent lacework in the glass, so it wasn't highly carbonated, but had enough CO2 to offset some of the sweetness.
It was a bit cloudy, amber colored.
Maple aroma and flavor was light, but I would expect that since it is a highly fermentable sugar.
This was a very full bodied beer with a strong malt sweetness (mostly caramel with some dark bread flavor) and a noticible alcohol warmth.  It had a significant hop flavor - not citrusy, but more spicy, and a sweet and bitter finish.
Overall impression was of a very fresh American Barleywine and it accompanied the French toast well.
I am looking forward to comparing it to the other version he sent, the 2012 edition.
This was a very big beer, with strong but clean alcohol flavors, high hop flavor and bitterness and strong malt flavor.  Again, I am really looking forward to the older version to see how it aged.
Jeff Gladish, Tampa (989.3, 175.1 Apparent Rennarian)
Homebrewing since 1990
AHA member since 1991, now a lifetime member
BJCP judge since 1995

Offline erockrph

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Re: 2016 Spring Swap - Official Thread
« Reply #257 on: May 11, 2016, 11:37:35 pm »
I've been battling a nasty combo of allergies and a cold lately, so I haven't been doing much imbibing lately. I finally did get to sit down with some of Pete's Mixed Berry Melomel:

The color is amber/ruby with decent clarity and good legs. On the nose I get an even mix of berry notes (raspberry preserves jumps out in particular) and honey aromatics. There is a familiar sweet woody-spice note (I tend to pick it up as cinnamon, but it's not quite that). I pick up on that same aromatic quite often from the wildflower honey from my local apiaries. There is a bit of alcohol when you swirl up the glass and take a deep inhale, but that dissipates rather quickly.

At this point I'll interject and mention that the only still meads I've had are semi-sweet or sweet, mostly melomels from Moonlight Meadery or my own meads in a similar vein. The aroma of Pete's melomel is very similar to Desire from Moonlight, as a matter of fact. Needless to say, I was totally caught off guard when I took a sip and found that this was quite a bit drier than I was prepared for. I literally said WTF out loud in an empty room.

After the initial perception mismatch, I went back in with a more prepared palate. The mead is not bone-dry, but it is much closer to a red wine than a dessert wine. The berry character is there, along with some tannic berry-seed character. There is not a huge honey flavor (although it present). That woody note is still there and pairs well with the red wine vibe. The finish has some blueberry skin and more fleeting honey notes.

This is a really nice mead. I still have a bit left and I look forward to enjoying it with a meal. It certainly would be a nice substitute to a jammy red wine like a Red Zinfandel. Another great one, Pete!
Eric B.

Finally got around to starting a homebrewing blog: The Hop Whisperer

Offline pete b

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Re: 2016 Spring Swap - Official Thread
« Reply #258 on: May 12, 2016, 06:29:41 am »
I've been battling a nasty combo of allergies and a cold lately, so I haven't been doing much imbibing lately. I finally did get to sit down with some of Pete's Mixed Berry Melomel:

The color is amber/ruby with decent clarity and good legs. On the nose I get an even mix of berry notes (raspberry preserves jumps out in particular) and honey aromatics. There is a familiar sweet woody-spice note (I tend to pick it up as cinnamon, but it's not quite that). I pick up on that same aromatic quite often from the wildflower honey from my local apiaries. There is a bit of alcohol when you swirl up the glass and take a deep inhale, but that dissipates rather quickly.

At this point I'll interject and mention that the only still meads I've had are semi-sweet or sweet, mostly melomels from Moonlight Meadery or my own meads in a similar vein. The aroma of Pete's melomel is very similar to Desire from Moonlight, as a matter of fact. Needless to say, I was totally caught off guard when I took a sip and found that this was quite a bit drier than I was prepared for. I literally said WTF out loud in an empty room.

After the initial perception mismatch, I went back in with a more prepared palate. The mead is not bone-dry, but it is much closer to a red wine than a dessert wine. The berry character is there, along with some tannic berry-seed character. There is not a huge honey flavor (although it present). That woody note is still there and pairs well with the red wine vibe. The finish has some blueberry skin and more fleeting honey notes.

This is a really nice mead. I still have a bit left and I look forward to enjoying it with a meal. It certainly would be a nice substitute to a jammy red wine like a Red Zinfandel. Another great one, Pete!
Thanks for the review Eric. Its funny because I almost "warned" you that we often make our meads dry and the ones I sent you are no exception but I didn't want to give you too much info up front. I have gathered from some of your posts about mead and cider that you have a sweet tooth and my tastes run opposite. I almost never eat dessert and enjoy cooking eating savory food but hate baking cakes etc. I don't think I have ever found a commercial mead that I didn't find too sweet. In fact I know that Moonlight Meadery is well regarded but everything I have tried from them is cloying, again to my tastes.
So the red wine thing is exactly what this is meant to be. This is essentially our house table wine and we have a bottle of this with dinner pretty often. I would say that 95% of our meads drink like wine due to our tastes. We drink a lot of berry melomels that are red wine like in the winter at cellar temps and a lot of chilled white wine-like meads in the summer: peach, pear, cyser, wild grape, dandelion etc. We occasionally make a sweeter, higher alcohol spiced elderberry or spiced cyser for sipping in front of the fireplace in the winter
 Like all of our melomels this one (raspberry, elderberry, blackberry, blueberry) is made from fruit that we harvested or foraged on our land or nearby and either honey from our hives or an apiary a few miles away.
Don't let the bastards cheer you up.

Offline brewinhard

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Re: 2016 Spring Swap - Official Thread
« Reply #259 on: May 12, 2016, 06:42:22 am »
I've been battling a nasty combo of allergies and a cold lately, so I haven't been doing much imbibing lately. I finally did get to sit down with some of Pete's Mixed Berry Melomel:

The color is amber/ruby with decent clarity and good legs. On the nose I get an even mix of berry notes (raspberry preserves jumps out in particular) and honey aromatics. There is a familiar sweet woody-spice note (I tend to pick it up as cinnamon, but it's not quite that). I pick up on that same aromatic quite often from the wildflower honey from my local apiaries. There is a bit of alcohol when you swirl up the glass and take a deep inhale, but that dissipates rather quickly.

At this point I'll interject and mention that the only still meads I've had are semi-sweet or sweet, mostly melomels from Moonlight Meadery or my own meads in a similar vein. The aroma of Pete's melomel is very similar to Desire from Moonlight, as a matter of fact. Needless to say, I was totally caught off guard when I took a sip and found that this was quite a bit drier than I was prepared for. I literally said WTF out loud in an empty room.

After the initial perception mismatch, I went back in with a more prepared palate. The mead is not bone-dry, but it is much closer to a red wine than a dessert wine. The berry character is there, along with some tannic berry-seed character. There is not a huge honey flavor (although it present). That woody note is still there and pairs well with the red wine vibe. The finish has some blueberry skin and more fleeting honey notes.

This is a really nice mead. I still have a bit left and I look forward to enjoying it with a meal. It certainly would be a nice substitute to a jammy red wine like a Red Zinfandel. Another great one, Pete!

 Like all of our melomels this one (raspberry, elderberry, blackberry, blueberry) is made from fruit that we harvested or foraged on our land or nearby and either honey from our hives or an apiary a few miles away.

That is so cool. Can I move in?

Offline erockrph

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Re: 2016 Spring Swap - Official Thread
« Reply #260 on: May 12, 2016, 07:04:45 am »
Its funny because I almost "warned" you that we often make our meads dry and the ones I sent you are no exception but I didn't want to give you too much info up front.
<snip>
 Like all of our melomels this one (raspberry, elderberry, blackberry, blueberry) is made from fruit that we harvested or foraged on our land or nearby and either honey from our hives or an apiary a few miles away.
It was cool to taste this one "blind". I definitely picked up the raspberries in the aroma and blueberries in the finish. It will be cool to retaste with a bit more info the second time around.

I'm assuming that this was made with "wildflower" honey rather than varietal honey? It was pretty cool to pick up some of the same "terroir" that I get from my local wildflower honey down here.
Eric B.

Finally got around to starting a homebrewing blog: The Hop Whisperer

Offline pete b

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Re: 2016 Spring Swap - Official Thread
« Reply #261 on: May 12, 2016, 07:21:11 am »
Its funny because I almost "warned" you that we often make our meads dry and the ones I sent you are no exception but I didn't want to give you too much info up front.
<snip>
 Like all of our melomels this one (raspberry, elderberry, blackberry, blueberry) is made from fruit that we harvested or foraged on our land or nearby and either honey from our hives or an apiary a few miles away.
It was cool to taste this one "blind". I definitely picked up the raspberries in the aroma and blueberries in the finish. It will be cool to retaste with a bit more info the second time around.

I'm assuming that this was made with "wildflower" honey rather than varietal honey? It was pretty cool to pick up some of the same "terroir" that I get from my local wildflower honey down here.
Yes, "wildflower", and yes there is likely similar forage near you as near me. Dandelion, clover, fruit trees (including wild cherry, shad etc.) in the spring/summer harvests and goldenrod, clover, asters etc. in late summer/fall. Did I send you a sample of our honey?
Don't let the bastards cheer you up.

Offline pete b

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Re: 2016 Spring Swap - Official Thread
« Reply #262 on: May 12, 2016, 07:22:06 am »
I've been battling a nasty combo of allergies and a cold lately, so I haven't been doing much imbibing lately. I finally did get to sit down with some of Pete's Mixed Berry Melomel:

The color is amber/ruby with decent clarity and good legs. On the nose I get an even mix of berry notes (raspberry preserves jumps out in particular) and honey aromatics. There is a familiar sweet woody-spice note (I tend to pick it up as cinnamon, but it's not quite that). I pick up on that same aromatic quite often from the wildflower honey from my local apiaries. There is a bit of alcohol when you swirl up the glass and take a deep inhale, but that dissipates rather quickly.

At this point I'll interject and mention that the only still meads I've had are semi-sweet or sweet, mostly melomels from Moonlight Meadery or my own meads in a similar vein. The aroma of Pete's melomel is very similar to Desire from Moonlight, as a matter of fact. Needless to say, I was totally caught off guard when I took a sip and found that this was quite a bit drier than I was prepared for. I literally said WTF out loud in an empty room.

After the initial perception mismatch, I went back in with a more prepared palate. The mead is not bone-dry, but it is much closer to a red wine than a dessert wine. The berry character is there, along with some tannic berry-seed character. There is not a huge honey flavor (although it present). That woody note is still there and pairs well with the red wine vibe. The finish has some blueberry skin and more fleeting honey notes.

This is a really nice mead. I still have a bit left and I look forward to enjoying it with a meal. It certainly would be a nice substitute to a jammy red wine like a Red Zinfandel. Another great one, Pete!

 Like all of our melomels this one (raspberry, elderberry, blackberry, blueberry) is made from fruit that we harvested or foraged on our land or nearby and either honey from our hives or an apiary a few miles away.

That is so cool. Can I move in?
If your willing to work your ass off, yes. :)
Don't let the bastards cheer you up.

Offline erockrph

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Re: 2016 Spring Swap - Official Thread
« Reply #263 on: May 12, 2016, 07:28:06 am »
Its funny because I almost "warned" you that we often make our meads dry and the ones I sent you are no exception but I didn't want to give you too much info up front.
<snip>
 Like all of our melomels this one (raspberry, elderberry, blackberry, blueberry) is made from fruit that we harvested or foraged on our land or nearby and either honey from our hives or an apiary a few miles away.
It was cool to taste this one "blind". I definitely picked up the raspberries in the aroma and blueberries in the finish. It will be cool to retaste with a bit more info the second time around.

I'm assuming that this was made with "wildflower" honey rather than varietal honey? It was pretty cool to pick up some of the same "terroir" that I get from my local wildflower honey down here.
Yes, "wildflower", and yes there is likely similar forage near you as near me. Dandelion, clover, fruit trees (including wild cherry, shad etc.) in the spring/summer harvests and goldenrod, clover, asters etc. in late summer/fall. Did I send you a sample of our honey?
Yes you did. I haven't cracked into it yet, but I'm looking forward to it.
Eric B.

Finally got around to starting a homebrewing blog: The Hop Whisperer

Offline brewinhard

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Re: 2016 Spring Swap - Official Thread
« Reply #264 on: May 12, 2016, 11:15:34 am »
I've been battling a nasty combo of allergies and a cold lately, so I haven't been doing much imbibing lately. I finally did get to sit down with some of Pete's Mixed Berry Melomel:

The color is amber/ruby with decent clarity and good legs. On the nose I get an even mix of berry notes (raspberry preserves jumps out in particular) and honey aromatics. There is a familiar sweet woody-spice note (I tend to pick it up as cinnamon, but it's not quite that). I pick up on that same aromatic quite often from the wildflower honey from my local apiaries. There is a bit of alcohol when you swirl up the glass and take a deep inhale, but that dissipates rather quickly.

At this point I'll interject and mention that the only still meads I've had are semi-sweet or sweet, mostly melomels from Moonlight Meadery or my own meads in a similar vein. The aroma of Pete's melomel is very similar to Desire from Moonlight, as a matter of fact. Needless to say, I was totally caught off guard when I took a sip and found that this was quite a bit drier than I was prepared for. I literally said WTF out loud in an empty room.

After the initial perception mismatch, I went back in with a more prepared palate. The mead is not bone-dry, but it is much closer to a red wine than a dessert wine. The berry character is there, along with some tannic berry-seed character. There is not a huge honey flavor (although it present). That woody note is still there and pairs well with the red wine vibe. The finish has some blueberry skin and more fleeting honey notes.

This is a really nice mead. I still have a bit left and I look forward to enjoying it with a meal. It certainly would be a nice substitute to a jammy red wine like a Red Zinfandel. Another great one, Pete!

 Like all of our melomels this one (raspberry, elderberry, blackberry, blueberry) is made from fruit that we harvested or foraged on our land or nearby and either honey from our hives or an apiary a few miles away.

That is so cool. Can I move in?
If your willing to work your ass off, yes. :)

 ;D ;D.  I can forage with the best of 'em. Now where is that wild leek?

Offline pete b

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Re: 2016 Spring Swap - Official Thread
« Reply #265 on: May 12, 2016, 01:32:35 pm »
I've been battling a nasty combo of allergies and a cold lately, so I haven't been doing much imbibing lately. I finally did get to sit down with some of Pete's Mixed Berry Melomel:

The color is amber/ruby with decent clarity and good legs. On the nose I get an even mix of berry notes (raspberry preserves jumps out in particular) and honey aromatics. There is a familiar sweet woody-spice note (I tend to pick it up as cinnamon, but it's not quite that). I pick up on that same aromatic quite often from the wildflower honey from my local apiaries. There is a bit of alcohol when you swirl up the glass and take a deep inhale, but that dissipates rather quickly.

At this point I'll interject and mention that the only still meads I've had are semi-sweet or sweet, mostly melomels from Moonlight Meadery or my own meads in a similar vein. The aroma of Pete's melomel is very similar to Desire from Moonlight, as a matter of fact. Needless to say, I was totally caught off guard when I took a sip and found that this was quite a bit drier than I was prepared for. I literally said WTF out loud in an empty room.

After the initial perception mismatch, I went back in with a more prepared palate. The mead is not bone-dry, but it is much closer to a red wine than a dessert wine. The berry character is there, along with some tannic berry-seed character. There is not a huge honey flavor (although it present). That woody note is still there and pairs well with the red wine vibe. The finish has some blueberry skin and more fleeting honey notes.

This is a really nice mead. I still have a bit left and I look forward to enjoying it with a meal. It certainly would be a nice substitute to a jammy red wine like a Red Zinfandel. Another great one, Pete!

 Like all of our melomels this one (raspberry, elderberry, blackberry, blueberry) is made from fruit that we harvested or foraged on our land or nearby and either honey from our hives or an apiary a few miles away.

That is so cool. Can I move in?
If your willing to work your ass off, yes. :)

 ;D ;D.  I can forage with the best of 'em. Now where is that wild leek?
Ramps are one thing I can't find despite lots of forest and looking hard. I have cultivated a little patch from some I bought at a local market but although they come up each year they are not multiplying.
Don't let the bastards cheer you up.

Offline Wort-H.O.G.

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Re: 2016 Spring Swap - Official Thread
« Reply #266 on: May 12, 2016, 02:10:33 pm »
JT's American wheat with rye.

waiting on the grist and yeast used-this is a very quaffable quenching American wheat. Great thick foam that slowly settles to nice thin cap. highly carbonated as I would expect from this style. nice golden yellow color and there's slight haze with no sediment. the esters are very slight yet the yeast dominates in aroma and taste. I'm not picking up very much rye-and that might have been the intent so no issue there for me. the body and mouthfeel is just right and the finish is nice and crisp with little tartness. this almost starts to remind me of a blonde....really enjoyed this beer. nicely done and good luck keeping this one for very long!





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« Last Edit: May 12, 2016, 02:16:26 pm by Wort-H.O.G. »
Ken- Chagrin Falls, OH
CPT, U.S.Army
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Harveys-Brewhaus/405092862905115

http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=The_Science_of_Mashing

Serving:        In Process:
Vienna IPA          O'Fest
Dort
Mead                 
Cider                         
Ger'merican Blonde
Amber Ale
Next:
Ger Pils
O'Fest

Offline brewinhard

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Re: 2016 Spring Swap - Official Thread
« Reply #267 on: May 12, 2016, 03:06:13 pm »
That looks delicious for my 80F May afternoon here in Western, NY!

Offline Wort-H.O.G.

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Re: 2016 Spring Swap - Official Thread
« Reply #268 on: May 12, 2016, 03:11:27 pm »
That looks delicious for my 80F May afternoon here in Western, NY!

its tasty. where in western NY..I grew up there.
Ken- Chagrin Falls, OH
CPT, U.S.Army
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Harveys-Brewhaus/405092862905115

http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=The_Science_of_Mashing

Serving:        In Process:
Vienna IPA          O'Fest
Dort
Mead                 
Cider                         
Ger'merican Blonde
Amber Ale
Next:
Ger Pils
O'Fest

Offline brewinhard

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Re: 2016 Spring Swap - Official Thread
« Reply #269 on: May 12, 2016, 03:14:50 pm »
Fredonia.  Just south of Buffalo by about 1 hr (50 miles). I live about 1.5 miles from SUNY Fredonia and about 3 miles from Lake Erie.   

Where did you grow up?