Booz Newz
So, with delight and a certain amount of trepidation, we have been sampling the first brew (or Nigel). There really is an enormous temptation to rush things along but we have learnt from past experience that there are things that you just cannot hurry. It was certainly tempting to transfer from the fermentation vessel to the conditioning vessel after only 24 hours cooling but common sense prevailed, and I'm sure that the beer has benefited from that further period of rest. Likewise we were tempted to rack off a firkin immediately to see just what we were dealing with, but we left it for a couple of days in the C.V. to mature and I'm glad we did. It never ceases to amaze me how a beer can change over such a short period of time. When first tasted the hop notes were aggressive, especially in the finish and it is only today that all the flavours have become rounded and satisfying with no sharp edges. The hop flavours are strong without being sharp and the nose has come through with some delightful floral notes.
What do we have then? We have a good quaffing ale that is a pleasing straw colour, fragrant and well hopped. At 3.8% it is bursting with flavour and appears to be well liked by all that have had a taste, even the hard to please ones who know what they are talking about! Having said all of this, we feel that it still needs some tweaking to approach the standard we have set ourselves. There's nothing at all wrong with it, it's just that it's only 95% right if we want to produce it as a permanent brew. We also feel that it would be a crying shame to chuck it down the drain. To that end, we have decided to release it in a very limited way and it will be called "Test Tipple". It should appear in a very few pubs in the next few days. Keep an eye on the "Beer Finder" to see where.
There is a second brew that will be transferred to conditioning vessel tomorrow and early reports are very favourable. We hope that this one will be our first proper brew called "Swift One", which we hope will be our standard bitter. It's been an exceedingly interesting couple of days and I look forward to hearing how the trial brew is received.
There's still poor old Neil in the brewery, working away at the cooling controls. Thanks Mate! Another missive in a couple of days.......
What do we have then? We have a good quaffing ale that is a pleasing straw colour, fragrant and well hopped. At 3.8% it is bursting with flavour and appears to be well liked by all that have had a taste, even the hard to please ones who know what they are talking about! Having said all of this, we feel that it still needs some tweaking to approach the standard we have set ourselves. There's nothing at all wrong with it, it's just that it's only 95% right if we want to produce it as a permanent brew. We also feel that it would be a crying shame to chuck it down the drain. To that end, we have decided to release it in a very limited way and it will be called "Test Tipple". It should appear in a very few pubs in the next few days. Keep an eye on the "Beer Finder" to see where.
There is a second brew that will be transferred to conditioning vessel tomorrow and early reports are very favourable. We hope that this one will be our first proper brew called "Swift One", which we hope will be our standard bitter. It's been an exceedingly interesting couple of days and I look forward to hearing how the trial brew is received.
There's still poor old Neil in the brewery, working away at the cooling controls. Thanks Mate! Another missive in a couple of days.......
