RateHomebrew - I’ll Take the First Six Responses

Got mine yesterday, let the rating commence!

Pretty sure mine came yesterday but are at my APT’s leasing office. I’ll pick up tomorrow. How long have they been conditioning at this point?

Box arrived. Can’t wait to try these.

Bottle #1.

Poured a hazy deep orange color with a creamy eggshell head. Excellent retention. Aroma was bready malt with bits of caramel, floral hops and faint citrus. Flavors were clean, well rounded and smooth, caramel, earthy grains, light citrus, grape, smooth bitter finish. Mouthfeel was medium with plus carbonation that calmed towards the end. Clean, malty, bitter. Great recipe.

Bottle #3.

Appearance same as bottle 1. Big fluffy head, same great retention. Appears more carbonated that bottle 1. Aroma was much more fruity, lots of esters, muted floral hops, almost has a light Belgian touch to it. Flavors were fruity, bits of caramel, light lemon, lively mouthfeel with plus carbonation. Lots of fruity yeast esters from top to bottom. Light bitter finish.

Bottle #2.

Even bigger head on this one. Seems the carbonation goes up each time. This one was more similar to 3 in the yeasty presence. Aroma was big fruity yeast esters, spice, like light clove and mace, Flavors were malty and slightly sweet with lots of fruit, big yeast presence is hard to get by. Light lingering bittersweet fruity finish. Lots of grape. Fizzy carbonation.

All in all I thought bottle 1 was much more clean, bottles 2 and 3 were very yeast driven with big time esters.


Not often do you get an opportunity to do something like this. Thanks a ton bitbucket.

Bottle 1:

Hazy golden with a finger of off-white head. Moderately estery with a touch of earthy hops in the nose. Mouthfeel was light to medium light with noticeable, but lazy, carbonation. Initially an acetic influence is noticed. This is followed by a bready and slightly sweet malt influence. Low to medium low hop bitterness in the back end. I am suspicious of Brettanomyces in this beer. It does not make it a bad beer, per se, but it does distract from the other characteristics of the beer.

Bottle 2:

Hazy golden with a finger and a half of off-white head. Slightly estery with a moderate earthy hop character. Medium mouthfeel with appropriate carbonation. Solid initial hop character with a sweet malt backbone followed by a goodly amount of bitterness. As this beer warms, I start picking up a very small amount of the acidity that I did in the first beer. It is less distracting than the first, but it is still there. More bitterness and minerality also become apparent upon warming.

Bottle 3:

Slightly hazy golden with two fingers of off-white head. Very little ester with moderate earthy hop character. Light to medium mouthfeel with solid carbonation. Bitterness in the beginning with only a wisp of crackery malt followed by more bitterness and some minerality. A slight butterscotch note can also be appreciated. This beer certainly becomes more bitter as it warms and the butterscotch character fades into almost complete obscurity. Malt sweetness is more pronounced as it warms as well.

Bottle 1 showcases the most yeast character
Bottle 2 has the fullest body
Bottle 3 is the clearest of the lot and the most carbonated

Sorry for taking so long to post, I was trying to get together with a friend and compare notes on these brews. We finally got to it last night.

Bottle L - Super foamy pour with a copper amber color, slightly hazy. Nice malt body, ready with earthy hop balance in the taste. Aroma has some noble hop and citrus notes.

Bottle M - Not as foamy, body was the same color. This one threw us for a loop, as the aroma was all acidic lemon, grape. The taste was similar, heavy carbonation bright and tart flavors. I couldn’t remember what yeast were used and we thought for sure this was a sour yeast.

Bottle N - Same pour as M. Very clean aroma, light citrus hops. Nice body, clean malt profile, but we were still getting some tartness in the taste. We made sure to wash our glasses after each tasting, just to be safe.

Not sure if something happened with M & N, we preferred the L bottle as it had a great mix of aroma and body.

Thanks for bottles!

Originally posted by dchmela
Sorry for taking so long to post, I was trying to get together with a friend and compare notes on these brews. We finally got to it last night.

Bottle L - Super foamy pour with a copper amber color, slightly hazy. Nice malt body, ready with earthy hop balance in the taste. Aroma has some noble hop and citrus notes.

Bottle M - Not as foamy, body was the same color. This one threw us for a loop, as the aroma was all acidic lemon, grape. The taste was similar, heavy carbonation bright and tart flavors. I couldn’t remember what yeast were used and we thought for sure this was a sour yeast.

Bottle N - Same pour as M. Very clean aroma, light citrus hops. Nice body, clean malt profile, but we were still getting some tartness in the taste. We made sure to wash our glasses after each tasting, just to be safe.

Not sure if something happened with M & N, we preferred the L bottle as it had a great mix of aroma and body.

Thanks for bottles!

SpringsLicker replied via beermail. His response was:

My #1 would get the highest RB rating

As for entering them as an ESB in an NHC comp - lower score.

2 & 3 had detractors that were very minor. You really had to taste side by side to pick them out. But #1 had the best balance, pleasant fruitiness and finish.

Originally posted by bitbucket

Originally posted by dchmela
Sorry for taking so long to post, I was trying to get together with a friend and compare notes on these brews. We finally got to it last night.

Bottle L - Super foamy pour with a copper amber color, slightly hazy. Nice malt body, ready with earthy hop balance in the taste. Aroma has some noble hop and citrus notes.

Bottle M - Not as foamy, body was the same color. This one threw us for a loop, as the aroma was all acidic lemon, grape. The taste was similar, heavy carbonation bright and tart flavors. I couldn’t remember what yeast were used and we thought for sure this was a sour yeast.

Bottle N - Same pour as M. Very clean aroma, light citrus hops. Nice body, clean malt profile, but we were still getting some tartness in the taste. We made sure to wash our glasses after each tasting, just to be safe.

Not sure if something happened with M & N, we preferred the L bottle as it had a great mix of aroma and body.

Thanks for bottles!

The bottles I sent were labeled 1, 2 and 3.

I’m guessing 1 = L, 2 = N and 3 = M?

Originally posted by dchmela

Originally posted by bitbucket

Originally posted by dchmela
Sorry for taking so long to post, I was trying to get together with a friend and compare notes on these brews. We finally got to it last night.

Bottle L - Super foamy pour with a copper amber color, slightly hazy. Nice malt body, ready with earthy hop balance in the taste. Aroma has some noble hop and citrus notes.

Bottle M - Not as foamy, body was the same color. This one threw us for a loop, as the aroma was all acidic lemon, grape. The taste was similar, heavy carbonation bright and tart flavors. I couldn’t remember what yeast were used and we thought for sure this was a sour yeast.

Bottle N - Same pour as M. Very clean aroma, light citrus hops. Nice body, clean malt profile, but we were still getting some tartness in the taste. We made sure to wash our glasses after each tasting, just to be safe.

Not sure if something happened with M & N, we preferred the L bottle as it had a great mix of aroma and body.

Thanks for bottles!

The bottles I sent were labeled 1, 2 and 3.

I’m guessing 1 = L, 2 = N and 3 = M?

Sorry about that, yes 1/L, 2/N and 3/M. I don’t know why I missed that. Yeah, we had something funky going on in 2 of the bottles. I didn’t have the yeast notes with me, so we thought you might have thrown a sour in there. I know a lot of people who would have loved the sour version.