[HoosierBrew]

This is not a test.  This is the real thing.
I cannot find a "direct" link.  It really should have copied and pasted into the frame, but no.
I will look into Tapatalk.

When you double click on one of your picture thumbnails in photobucket, it enlarges and then you see 3 or 4 different links on the right side, each with a different name. I use the link called 'direct'.

[jeffy]

Maybe it is different on an iPad, but double clicking does not get me any choices of links, only the one that does not seem to be successful so far.
Evidently Tapatalk has a lot of different versions.  If I go with that, which one should I use?  I mean, obviously not golf or whatever, but I don't see one specifically for our hobby.

[JT]

Drinking Jeffy's Coffee Imperial Porter.  I liked the original plenty good, this variant is even better. 

Aroma: all the dark chocolate from the imperial porter, plus a nice dark roast coffee compliment. 

Appearance: second verse, same as the first - dark brown with ruby highlights in the sun.  Persistent tan head lasts throughout.   

Flavor: less sweetness than the original.  Dark chocolate is still there, but with the added bonus of coffee.  As I type this I have already drained my glass.  What a great beer!

Mouthfeel: medium body as opposed to the full body of the original.  Higher attenuation no doubt, but spot on for drinkability. 

Overall impression: no campfire needed for this beer - I'd drink this any day, any time.  Awesome beverage, I'm so glad to have participated in this swap!  I just finished brewing a Cream Ale a few minutes ago and this beer really hit the spot!  Thanks Jeff!

[jeffy]

Drinking Jeffy's Coffee Imperial Porter.  I liked the original plenty good, this variant is even better. 

Aroma: all the dark chocolate from the imperial porter, plus a nice dark roast coffee compliment. 

Appearance: second verse, same as the first - dark brown with ruby highlights in the sun.  Persistent tan head lasts throughout.   

Flavor: less sweetness than the original.  Dark chocolate is still there, but with the added bonus of coffee.  As I type this I have already drained my glass.  What a great beer!

Mouthfeel: medium body as opposed to the full body of the original.  Higher attenuation no doubt, but spot on for drinkability. 

Overall impression: no campfire needed for this beer - I'd drink this any day, any time.  Awesome beverage, I'm so glad to have participated in this swap!  I just finished brewing a Cream Ale a few minutes ago and this beer really hit the spot!  Thanks Jeff!

Thanks.  I had more than a couple people recognize a green pepper flavor and aroma in this beer when presented at a recent club meeting.  I (and a lot of other folks) don't get that.  I like this version and am glad you do I too.
Plus, the photo is awesome.  Maybe one day I will learn how to post a photo......

[HoosierBrew]

Sounds like a great beer !

[JT]

Drinking Jeffy's Coffee Imperial Porter.  I liked the original plenty good, this variant is even better. 

Aroma: all the dark chocolate from the imperial porter, plus a nice dark roast coffee compliment. 

Appearance: second verse, same as the first - dark brown with ruby highlights in the sun.  Persistent tan head lasts throughout.   

Flavor: less sweetness than the original.  Dark chocolate is still there, but with the added bonus of coffee.  As I type this I have already drained my glass.  What a great beer!

Mouthfeel: medium body as opposed to the full body of the original.  Higher attenuation no doubt, but spot on for drinkability. 

Overall impression: no campfire needed for this beer - I'd drink this any day, any time.  Awesome beverage, I'm so glad to have participated in this swap!  I just finished brewing a Cream Ale a few minutes ago and this beer really hit the spot!  Thanks Jeff!

Thanks.  I had more than a couple people recognize a green pepper flavor and aroma in this beer when presented at a recent club meeting.  I (and a lot of other folks) don't get that.  I like this version and am glad you do I too.
Plus, the photo is awesome.  Maybe one day I will learn how to post a photo......

If there was any pepper in there it was complimentary.  Ship another and I'll reevaluate!

[erockrph]

I'm (sadly) on the last of the homebrew Pete B sent me. This one is a mead labeled Maple "Tej". I've never had tej before, but from what I understand it is an Eritrean/Ethiopian mead brewed with a bittering hop-like herb.

The Tej is a clear, pale-gold color with light carbonation and sticky legs. The aroma is initially herbal and woody, with soft honey sweetness in the background. When I go back in for a second whiff, the maple note shines through brightly.

At first taste the Maple Tej is off-dry with some herbal bitterness, balanced by a bit of acidity. I also get perfumy/floral honey character, and a faint carbonic/seltzery flavor. I don't get as much maple flavor as I do aroma, just a faint woody/maple character. The finish is great, lingering as a balance of herbal character, honey notes and juicy acidity all coming in and out.

I can't see myself drinking several glasses of this in one sitting, but it makes one heck of an interesting aperitif. This is the kind of drink that stimulates good conversation. Another great one, Pete. I remember you mentioning this one in some posts a while back, but I can't remember - what did you use for bittering herbs in this, was it hops or something else? Also, what was your ratio of maple to honey on this? It definitely comes across as a mead rather than a maple wine, but the maple is still quite prominent in the aroma.

Pete, thanks for sharing your beer and mead. They were all really enjoyable. I'm looking forward to the commercial brews next.

[erockrph]

I'm (sadly) on the last of the homebrew Pete B sent me. This one is a mead labeled Maple "Tej". I've never had tej before, but from what I understand it is an Eritrean/Ethiopian mead brewed with a bittering hop-like herb.

The Tej is a clear, pale-gold color with light carbonation and sticky legs. The aroma is initially herbal and woody, with soft honey sweetness in the background. When I go back in for a second whiff, the maple note shines through brightly.

At first taste the Maple Tej is off-dry with some herbal bitterness, balanced by a bit of acidity. I also get perfumy/floral honey character, and a faint carbonic/seltzery flavor. I don't get as much maple flavor as I do aroma, just a faint woody/maple character. The finish is great, lingering as a balance of herbal character, honey notes and juicy acidity all coming in and out.

I can't see myself drinking several glasses of this in one sitting, but it makes one heck of an interesting aperitif. This is the kind of drink that stimulates good conversation. Another great one, Pete. I remember you mentioning this one in some posts a while back, but I can't remember - what did you use for bittering herbs in this, was it hops or something else? Also, what was your ratio of maple to honey on this? It definitely comes across as a mead rather than a maple wine, but the maple is still quite prominent in the aroma.

Pete, thanks for sharing your beer and mead. They were all really enjoyable. I'm looking forward to the commercial brews next.

Remembered to take a picture this time!

[pete b]

Thanks Eric. The ratio of honey to maple syrup was 26# of honey to 4 gallons of maple syrup in a 25 gallon batch. Honey weighs about 12#/gallon so roughly 1:2 plus the water was maple SAP. That goes to show how much maple syrup is needed to come through. I used EKG instead of gesho root hence "Tej" and not Tej. It also had some black tea and vanilla beans. Lalvin D47 was the yeast.

[erockrph]

Thanks Eric. The ratio of honey to maple syrup was 26# of honey to 4 gallons of maple syrup in a 25 gallon batch. Honey weighs about 12#/gallon so roughly 1:2 plus the water was maple SAP. That goes to show how much maple syrup is needed to come through. I used EKG instead of gesho root hence "Tej" and not Tej. It also had some black tea and vanilla beans. Lalvin D47 was the yeast.

I thought I was getting some tannins. Black tea makes sense now, and the black tea/EKG sounds about right for the herbal character. Did you boil the hops or dry hop them?

[pete b]

Thanks Eric. The ratio of honey to maple syrup was 26# of honey to 4 gallons of maple syrup in a 25 gallon batch. Honey weighs about 12#/gallon so roughly 1:2 plus the water was maple SAP. That goes to show how much maple syrup is needed to come through. I used EKG instead of gesho root hence "Tej" and not Tej. It also had some black tea and vanilla beans. Lalvin D47 was the yeast.

I thought I was getting some tannins. Black tea makes sense now, and the black tea/EKG sounds about right for the herbal character. Did you boil the hops or dry hop them?

The hops were boiled then tea bags added to steep for 5 minutes I think then that was strained into the must.

[morticaixavier]

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.

The upfront hop charge in the 2012 might have been lower to start with. I really amped it up this year because so much of the bitterness had dropped out of the early vintages. I am not totally happy with the packaging on the 2015 as I bottled from an unrefridgerated keg and lost a fair amount of carb in the process.

[Joe Sr.]

Jim,

According to UPS, the second package has made it as far as the last one.

Let's hope it goes a little further.

JOE

[Hickory]

This is Eric's whitbread IPA which I absolutely LOVED. Poured in an imperial pint glass to fit the larger offering.

Appearance is a light yellow/gold color and is crystal clear. White head dissipated quickly after the pour, but bubbles were streaming constantly and carb was right up my ally.

Aroma was medium-low malty sweetness, with a very slight earthiness. The earthiness became more pronounced as it warmed.

Flavor was awesome. Initial taste was bitter and spicy, but by the third sip I could get a rich maltiness that balanced everything out. While the malt could be tasted, to me this was all about the hop flavor. Typical spicy/earthy flavors usually attributed to English hops, but cranked up to 11! 

I honestly can say I haven't tasted anything quite like this beer. The bitterness was somehow smooth but firm the entire time. I think the extreme spiciness from the hops intensified the perceived bitterness, to my enjoyment. And the amount of body and mouthfeel that was achieved at the lower alcohol level was surprising. If this was on tap at my local pub I could see it being the number one selling beer.
11/10.

[pete b]

This is Eric's whitbread IPA which I absolutely LOVED. Poured in an imperial pint glass to fit the larger offering.

Appearance is a light yellow/gold color and is crystal clear. White head dissipated quickly after the pour, but bubbles were streaming constantly and carb was right up my ally.

Aroma was medium-low malty sweetness, with a very slight earthiness. The earthiness became more pronounced as it warmed.

Flavor was awesome. Initial taste was bitter and spicy, but by the third sip I could get a rich maltiness that balanced everything out. While the malt could be tasted, to me this was all about the hop flavor. Typical spicy/earthy flavors usually attributed to English hops, but cranked up to 11! 

I honestly can say I haven't tasted anything quite like this beer. The bitterness was somehow smooth but firm the entire time. I think the extreme spiciness from the hops intensified the perceived bitterness, to my enjoyment. And the amount of body and mouthfeel that was achieved at the lower alcohol level was surprising. If this was on tap at my local pub I could see it being the number one selling beer.
11/10.

This seems right up my alley. I hope Eric chimes in with details.