English Barleywine Vertical Tasting - 2021

The last 7 Memorial days I have brewed up an English Barleywine beer which was largely inspired by the vintage release model for the famous Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine.  One of the best things about brewing a yearly beer like this is being able to taste it over time to evaluate the impacts of aging (this is a beer that ages very well with it's sweetness and high alcohol) and then also comparing the various vintages.  Unlike the Sierra Nevada version, I am brewing a different recipe every year (or with at least some variation if the same recipe happens to be used).

As expected, I have thoroughly enjoyed doing these tastings and have found that they get more interesting every year as a new beer is added (you can read about previous vertical tastings here:  2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, and 2020).  I've resisted reading my previous reviews to hopefully give a fairer assessment of each of these beer.  The number of beers to taste becomes more and more of a factor - both for keeping the palate working properly and from an alcohol consumption standpoint.  Last year I barely made it through.  This year, for the first time, I think I'm going to have to spit out the beer (I'll drink the beer not used in the tasting at a more leisurely pace so it will not all go to waste).

I've typically been drinking half the batch of beer and then saving the other half for these tastings so I should have a good 24 years of beer for tasting each one of these batches.  I'm 42 years old so, hopefully have many, many more of these tastings in me.

Vertical Tasting:

• 2014 Version:
• Overview
• Brewed with Maris Otter and 3 lbs of assorted light crystal malts.  I was hoping for a light colored beer - got a bit darker than I'd hoped.
• Fermented with S04 and Nottingham
• The beer fermented all the way down to 1.016 from 1.101 which is 11-12% ABV
• I aged half the beer on oak that had been soaked in Brandy.  I tasted the brandy one last year so this year I'll do the plain
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:
• Fruity ester and caramel.  A bit wine like in the aroma. Boozy
• Appearance:
• Reddish-brown and clear.  Pours with a thin layer of foam that quickly fades to nothing
• Flavor:
• Dark caramel and sweet bready flavors along with a subtle fruit flavor.  The finish has a bit of bitterness and is countered by a hit of alcohol and a strong and rich caramel and chocolate flavor.
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium-light bodied and pretty dry.  Goes down very smooth with noticable warming alcohol
• Overall:
• Very richly flavored and complex - the finish in particular is very interesting.  The malt flavors are really the stars of the show here.
• 2015 Version:
• Overview:
• Brewed with Maris Otter, Vienna Malt and down to 2 lbs of Crystal.  Still was trying for a more pale beer but ended up darker.
• Used Wyeast 1968 London ESB Ale Yeast
• Beer fermented from 1.096 to 1.006 for 12-13% ABV
• Aged with 1 oz of pre-boiled oak cubes
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:
• Fruity ester is strong - sort of overripe apple or maybe a cider.  Maybe get a bit of caramel a bit further in the background along with a bit of booze.  Maybe some honey as well.
• Appearance:
• Dark gold in color and pretty clear.  Pours with a finger of head that quickly fades to a thin ring.  Has a continuous cascading of bubbles from the bottom of the glass
• Flavor:
• Sweet bready malt with a fruity ester character - sort of apple like again.  Has a bit of bitter kick on the finish which is balanced by dark caramel flavors that linger along with that fruity ester
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium bodied with a bit of sweetness.  Fairly smooth with some alcohol warming
• Overall:
• Boldly flavored and very complex.  The finish is very nice.  Malt flavors are the star here but the ester has a fairly firm presence as well
• 2016 Version:
• Overview:
• Brewed with Maris Otter, 3 lbs of Rye Malt, and 1.5 lbs Double Roasted Crystal 120 L
• Fermented with Wyeast 1335 British Ale II
• Beer went from 1.093 to 1.012 which is 10-11% ABV
• It ended up forming a pellicle during aging although I never really picked up any flavors I'd attribute to wild yeast or bacteria
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:
• Has a spicy yeast character along with a raisin-like flavor.  Also has a dark caramel and graham cracker aroma
• Appearance:
• Dark Reddish Brown.  Poured with a 1 finger head that fades down to a think layer over several minutes
• Flavor:
• Sweet bread, caramel, graham cracker and chocolate.  Pretty boozy in the finish.  Has a bitterness that is balanced by a really sweet and tasty maltiness.  Maybe has a little fruity ester in there but it is far in the background
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium-full bodied and fairly sweet.  Pretty smooth drinking
• Overall:
• Really nice bold flavors and a good complexity - very rich.  Malt really the star on this one.
• 2017 Version:
• Overview:
• Brewed with 2 Row and Golden Promise as base malt and 5 lbs of white wheat malt.  Only used 4 oz of Crystal.  This finally achieved my goal of a pale barleywine.
• Fermented with Wyeast 1335 British Ale II again
• I'd wanted to get a fairly sweet barleywine on my previous version but had kept on getting more attenuation than desired.  This time I finally got one to stop at 1.034 (from 1.098).  So this is an 8-9% ABV beer.
• The beer was aged with 15 oz of Rum soaked golden raisin along with 0.5 oz of oak
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:
• Very fruity aroma - white wine like.  A bit of overripe fruit as well.  Maybe some honey in there as well.  Think I get a bit of bready malt aroma in there too.
• Appearance:
• Pours very clear and golden in color.  Has a 1 finger head that fades to a thin ring over a few minutes
• Flavor:
• Sweet and fruity flavor hits first followed by a light bready flavor and a small bit of caramel.  The finish is very lightly bitter and is quickly overcome by sweet bready malt that lingers along with some fruit.
• Mouthfeel:
• Full bodied and pretty sticky on the palate.  Drinks smooth
• Overall:
• Complex and interesting with some nice flavors.  Has a pleasant balance of fruit and malt
• 2018 Version:
• Overview:
• Brewed using a historical recipe for Eldridge Pope's Hardy's Ale from the Shut Up about Barclay Perkins Blog
• Used a mix of 2 Row and Maris otter, 3.5 lbs of Flaked wheat, and 1.5 lb of crystal
• Used Nottingham yeast and, per instruction, allowed it to ferment in the 70s.  It was an agressive fermentation which produced a very strong and estery aroma.  The beer didn't turn out to be overly estery fortunately.
• Fermented out to 1.030 from 1.105 for an ABV of 10-11%
• This was the most aggressively hopped beer so far (7.5 oz of low alpha acid English hop in the boil) with an IBU target of 84.  Was very bitter just after fermentation but this had settled to a nice balance after 6 months of aging.
• Aged the beer on 2 oz of boiled and toasted oak
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  
• Dark malt and caramel aroma - cookie like.  Light fruity ester character in there as well
• Appearance:
• Dark gold in color and clear.  Pours with a 1 finger head that is slow to fade.  Leaves some lacing
• Flavor:
• Sweet rich bready malt, some toast and dark caramel.  A bit of fruity ester in the background.  The finish has medium bitterness that is balanced by the rich malt flavors that linger for a bit.  A little boozy
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium bodied and lightly sweet.  Smooth drinking.  Warming alcohol is detected
• Overall:
• Complex with bold flavors.  Malt is the star of the show
• 2019 Version:
• Overview:
• Brewed using a historical recipe for Eldridge Pope's Hardy's Ale from the Shut Up about Barclay Perkins Blog
• Used a mix of 2 Row and Maris otter, 4.5 lbs of Flaked wheat, and 1.5 lb of crystal
• Used WLP 099 Super High Gravity which is supposed to be Eldridge Pope's house strain
• Fermented from 1.120 to 1.010 which is a crazy 16% ABV
• Hopped with 8.5 oz of Fuggle
• Aged with 1 oz Cabernet soaked Toasted Oak
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:
• Fruity ester character - overripe fruit.  Some booze in there.  Maybe a bit of caramel as well
• Appearance:
• Dark gold and very clear.  Pours with a 1 finger head that fairly quickly fades to a thin ring 
• Flavor:
• Fruity ester and sweet bready and caramel malts.  A bit of toasty flavor in there as well.  Has a chocolate character too it.  Gives the impression of sweetness.  Finishes with a medium bitterness that is balanced by rich dark malt.  Some booze in there as well.  Maybe get some hop flavor out of it as well
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium-full bodied and fairly sticky.  Smooth drinking with warming alcohol
• Overall:
• Very rich and complex beer.  Has a very nice combination of malt and yeast character
• 2020 Version:
• Overview:
• Brewed using a historical recipe for 1940 Truman Stock 1 from Shut Up about Barclay Perkins Blog
• I ended up using Vienna and Melanoiden Malts with the idea of replacing the "high dried malt" called for (may have been way off base on these).  Recipe also used a lb of Invert #3
• Used 7.5 oz of Cluster and Fuggle in this batch
• Fermented with Wyeast 1028 London Ale which is supposed to be the Truman brewery's house strain
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:
• Caramel with toasted bread and a bit of fruity ester.  Some booze.  I think I get some herbal hop character in the mix as well
• Appearance:
• Reddish brown and fairly clear.  Pours with a 2 finger head that slowly fades and leaves lacing on the glass
• Flavor:
• Sweet bready malt and dark caramel character.  Some fruity ester in there as well.  Also get chocolate and some booze.  Get some hop character in there - herbal and grassy.  There is a medium bitterness on the finish balanced by sweet malt
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium full bodied and a bit sweet.  Smooth drinking
• Overall:
• Complex and boldly flavored.  This one has a nice contribution from hops and yeast

So, I found all the beers to be very good this time (especially the chocolate character I've started picking up which could be either grain, oak, or age).  Putting together rankings was very difficult based on this.  The beers are all complex and have their own subtle variations.  So difficult to do any of them justice even by themselves and impossible with this many.  I find myself repeating the same descriptors which are accurate but really don't tell the full story of the differences between each beer.  Still, ranking them is too much fun to pass up, but there is a bit of arbitrariness to it.

2021 Rankings:

1. 2014
2. 2018
3. 2020
4. 2015
5. 2019
6. 2016
7. 2017

This tasting was a real endurance test for my palate and my stomach.  Even spitting out the beer this was testing my limits.  I don't think I can evaluate 8 of these beers in a sitting and give good notes let alone assess them against each other.  I think next year I'll start doing a small number at a time and apply a scoring system to them for ranking purposes.  I'm going to also drink these blind and randomized so that my knowledge of the beer doesn't have as much chance of influencing my review

Raspberry Wine (2021 Version)

Summer is just about here and we're getting close to ripening a lot of new fruit on my large raspberry patch.  I have at least 100 lbs of fruit left over from last year so, to make room for this year's crop, it is time to brew up another batch of Raspberry wine - this will be my third attempt (read about 1st and 2nd).

I'll be following the same basic procedure as the last couple times.  I'll start with 2 buckets of frozen raspberries which should get me close to 5 gal of wine, add sugar to get the starting gravity somewhere close to 1.100, ferment on the fruit, then move to a secondary fermenter with some oak for months of aging (maybe something close to 11 months).  At the end I'll back sweeten the wine, which will have dried out to below 1.000, to something close to 5 brix or 1.020 - this helps the balance of the wine quite a bit.

The last couple I've oaked at a fairly restrained level (a couple ounces).  This time I plan to up that slightly (maybe up to something like 6 oz) to see how it does with more oak character.  I also intend to shoot for a bit higher ABV than last time - maybe something more like 15% ABV than the 12-13% I got before. 

This is a pretty easy and fun process to make this wine.  Raspberry are so expensive so most people will typically water down their wine a lot more than I am here with 10lbs of fruit per gal of product.  I think using this amount of fruit creates a product with a great intensity of flavor such that it's worth the time and effort that went into growing and harvesting it.

Recipe Details:

• 54 lbs of raspberry
• 13 lbs of table sugar
• 0.75 gal of Spring water
• 5.5 tsp Pectic Enzyme
• 2 packets of Red Star Premier Rouge Yeast
• Extras
• 10 campden tablet

Results:

• OG:
• 1.110
• Post-Fermentation FG :
• 0.996
• Back sweetened FG:
•  1.020
• ABV:
• 13.79%

Brewing Notes:

• 5/29/21:
• Moved 54 lbs of frozen fruit to 2 brew buckets

• Added pectic enzyme and campden tablets to the fruit

• Dissolved 10lbs of sugar in 3/4 gal of water.  Added this equally to each bucket

• Poured 3lbs of granulated sugar over the top of the fruit to offer the fruit a bit of protection while it thaws and to also see how well it dissolves in the released fruit juice (I'm interested to see if a procedure where no water is added could work).

• Let this thaw over night
• 5/30/21:
• The fruit has thawed and reached basement temperatures (low to mid 60s)
• Stirred in the small bit of sugar that hadn't dissolved over night

• Rehydrated my dry yeast in lukewarm water
• Pitched the yeast into the fruit and gave it another good stir

• 6/19/21 - The wine fermented out pretty quickly (maybe a week) and left the solids forming a cap.  I skimmed the cap off today and transferred to a glass carboy for aging.  I added 3 campden tablet with the transfer.  Aging this with 6 toasted oak sticks (0.75x0.75x6 inches).  The gravity is 0.996 at this point.

Skimmed off lees

• 6/11/22 - Transferred this into a bucket fermentor in preparation for packaging - left a lot of solids behind.  Added 3 crushed campden tablets for this transfer.  Added 3.5 lbs of sugar to this one (did 3 lbs last time and 2.25 the time before).  Measured the gravity as 0.996.  I has a very potent flavor - sharp alcohol and pretty strong oak.  I don't think I'd want to drink this as is - hopefully the back sweetening will help.  I'll give this a month to age with the extra sugar and to drop clear again. 
• 7/24/22 - Bottled today.  Measured the gravity as 1.020.  Collected about 5.5 gal which netted me 57 bottles.

Dark English Mild Take III - Tasting Notes

I brewed up this Dark English Mild back in March and then kegged it in early April.  This is my third attempt at the style.  For those not familiar, as defined in somewhat recent history, it is a low alcohol, malt forward beer made to be consumed in quantity.  They are often dark and roasty but not as roasty as a porter or stout.  It is a beer you can find commercially here in the United States but you don't really get a "session beer" kind of price for them - makes so much more sense to homebrew and keg a beer like this.

I've been really enjoying this beer.  I have it on the keg with fairly low carbonation and serving at cellar temperature (12 PSI at low-mid 50s F) which really brings out the flavor nicely.  I think it's tasting great and the keg is starting to run low, so time to do a tasting.

Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• Smells of burnt toast with a bit of coffee.  Maybe a bit of caramel in there as well.  Very light bit of fruit character to it
• Appearance:
• Dark reddish-brown - petty clear when held to the light.  Pours with just a thin layer of head that fades to noting in a couple minutes
• Favor:
• Light roast and a slightly sweet bready malt flavor up front.  Finishes with a medium-light bitterness that is balanced by toasted and roast malt.  The roast lingers on the palate.  I don't really pick anything out that I'd attribute to hop flavor - maybe a slight herbal character to it.
• Mouthfeel:
• Light bodied and pretty dry.  Smooth drinking.  The lingering roast character on the palate calls on you to take another sip.
• Overall:
• A nice flavorful and fairly complex session beer.  It is light and easy drinking - having a couple of these in the mid-afternoon doesn't impact my ability to do some chores later which is nice.  I think it's a great style of beer and this is a very nice version of it.

American Pale Wheat Take IV - Tasting Notes

This is a recipe I've brewed 4 times now (2 in the last couple months since kegging).  It features a high percentage of Wheat and Citra Hops.  I very much enjoy the bold citrus flavors imparted by this hop.

For this batch I've gone with 8 oz of dry hop (this includes 2 oz of Amarillo) which is the most for these beers so far.  I split the hops in 2 batches:  One half at the end of fermentation (3 days) and the other half after 7 days.  On my previous batches I'd added half the hops to the serving keg.  I decided that might be causing some harsh bitterness/grassy flavor after my last hoppy beer so I opted for this new approach.

This beer has been in the keg for 3 weeks now and the hop flavor is holding up great.  I think this dry approach is very good and will use it next time.  Another potential difference from previous batches was that for this beer I purchased a small CO2 tank which I used to apply 2 PSI of gas during the dry hop and cold crash - this may have offered some extra protection from O2 that could have helped the beer - I'll also continue this approach

I can't say if this is really any better or worse than any of my previous batches or how the hop flavor compares.  I think the most I can say is if it's a good beer or not - which it is.

Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• Strong hop aroma dominates - is a citrus fruit (orange and grapefruit) and, a little fainter, piney character.  Has a bit of a sweet candy kind of character to it as well - also kind of reminds of overripe fruit.  Can't really pick out anything I'd call malt or yeast contribution here
• Appearance:
• Pours with a 1 finger head that fades down to a thin ring after several minutes - leaves lacing.  The beer is very clear and is a golden color
• Flavor:
• Sweet up front with a bold fruity hop flavor - citrus like the nose.  This lingers into the finish where it is balanced by a bit of bready malt character.  It has a medium level of bitterness that is then overwhelmed on the swallow by continuing hop flavor on the palate.  The flavor profile is overwhelmingly towards the hops in this beer but there is so much hop flavor that the bitterness is balanced by it  There is also a sort of vanilla like character in the mix in the finish
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium light bodied and pretty dry on the palate.  Smooth drinking without any hash bitterness
• Overall:
• Nice bold hop aroma and flavor to this beer with a good amount of complexity in the hop character.  I really like drinking this beer - the bitterness and dryness of it really call for me take another sip and to pour another pint.  Also a really easy drinking beer at 4.6% ABV.  I am pleased that the hop character has remained very strong after 3 weeks in the keg