It has been a while since I’ve done a bit of tasting and trying some new beers, but a couple of weeks ago I came across a great lager (Curios Brew) and that flared my interest to try some good lagers. We got a couple of great beers to taste at home: Goose Island IPA and Brooklyn Lager (both American). Also on the menu – the much awaited Black Ale BIAB.
I’ll start with the Black Ale BIAB:
This one is a total fail! Probably my first truly failed beer – we poured it down the drain – that bad! First thing first: colour is great, as planned. Aroma is also as planned with great results from the hops and they way they worked in the beer. Last but worst – flavour: at first taste it is similar to the Black Ale from extract but quickly it turns extremely bitter with a terrible metallic and bitter after taste. From the mash point I had a feeling this BIAB experiment has gone all wrong and in the real test it did. Fortunately I know exactly what the mistakes were:
1. The water wasn’t fully filtered to pH wasn’t well balanced.
2. Mashing reaching temperature that are way too high and resulted in too malty taste.
3. In that mashing process I went for a 60 minutes mash but added all the grains at the same time, that was a mistake. I think mashing should have been for the Pale Malt with the dark malts added much later (probably in the last 15 minutes) to not get the over bitter taste.
I will try to do that specific brew again, but I think I will need to play with BIAB a little more and get the process more polished. Oh well, no harm no foul.
Now for the better beers:
I’m usually not a fan of lagers, but recently getting to know some great lagers that a re a far cry from the mass produced, easily available lagers. Back to the Brooklyn – what a great beer! Malty, full of flavour with 5.2% ABV. Sadly the bottle didn’t say much but the Brooklyn site gives all the information you need. The beer is aromatic with a dark amber colour. I loved the round maltiness is showed while still giving those hoppy hints everywhere – very recommended! To bad it is expansive to get in the UK.
Goose Island IPA:
My wife is a real lover of IPA, so when we saw an IPA we don’t know in the store it was an easy decision, especially after I learned that the Goose Island IPA is a prime example for a restored English IPA, and what a surprise! It is the first time I’m trying an English style IPA and I have to admit, it works better for me than the American style. Great body with a slight malty taste while staying dry enough to be an IPA. The hops are strong and present but bot super bitter (55 IBUs) as you get with American IPAs. The hops have almost a sweet finish to them, probably from the Goldings hops. The Goose Island is a great introduction to English style IPA and I will try and find more of them, or maybe even try to make some.
So that was a nice little tasting session despite the disappointing result from the BIAB. I will work on the BIAB process and will try again. I’m also glad to meet the idea of high quality lagers with a malty body and dry hopping. The English IPA is now on my list to try and find and even try and make!
Any other interesting beer recommendations there?