Month: September 2012

Wye Valley – Dorothy Goodbody’s Golden Ale

Week three of BeerBods – this one’s much better than last weeks! 🙂

Aroma – Light malt sweetness, and fruity hoppy smells zinging off of this one.

Appearance – Light golden in colour and brilliantly clear. There’s wasn’t much of a head on it when I poured it out, and that soon disappeared.

Flavour – Sweet, but subtle maltyness, moderately bitter and finishes fairly dry.

Mouthfeel – Quite light bodied, but smooth and enjoyable.

Overall – A nice light blonde ale. Would be a great one to introduce people to good beer with.

Would I buy more? – I do think I would, it’s really quite nice – this would be a great session beer.

Single Hop IPA – Galaxy – Results

Here’s the results of my first attempt at an IPA. The brew day (and the bottling session) was a bit of a cock-up but thankfully the beer has turned out really well!

Aroma – A slight yeasty aroma (most likely due to the crud in the bottom of each bottle), but this is masked mostly by a really powerful tropical fruit and citrus aroma.

Appearance – If you pour it right and avoid getting any of the crap out of the bottles it’s a clear light orange/brown colour, with a creamy white head.

Flavour – Matching the aroma for big big fruit flavours – citrus, kiwi, banana and a sweet maltiness too.

Mouthfeel – Light to medium body, good carbonation.

Overall – This has to be the best beer I’ve brewed yet, and it’s a bloody nice IPA to boot – once you manage to separate the beer from the crud that is!

Would I brew it again? – Oh yes, I’ve already ordered another bag of galaxy hops!  This turned out way better than I expected, the next time i’ll make sure I have a better brew day and manage to bottle more…

Flying Dog – Snake Dog IPA

Aroma – Not really much of an aroma to be honest. Only very slight notes of malt/caramel and hoppy resin.

Appearance – Gold with an orange tint, and crystal clear. It also has a bright white head that stayed around nicely.

Flavour – Slightly malty, very piney and a medium-dry finish. Not really much of a citrus character, but a good medium-high hop bitterness.

Mouthfeel – Medium bodied and quite high carbonation giving a dry feeling in the mouth. There’s a slight warmth in the aftertaste.

Overall – An average American IPA. Drinkable, but not awesome.

Would I buy more? – It’s ok, I might buy another one in the future, but I don’t think it’d be a regular…

Cotswold Brewing Company – Cotswold Lager

Beer #2 from the BeerBods is a lager!  Not my favourite type of beer (by a long shot) but we’ll give this one a go…

Aroma – Only very slightly malty, a slight fruit note to it too. There’s not really a lot to it to be honest.

Appearance – Clear and very very pale straw in colour. The white head died off about 20 seconds after pouring…

Flavour – Crisp, dry, sweet and pleasantly bitter.

Mouthfeel – Light bodied with a most definite carbonic bite on the tongue.

Overall – A cold, light, refreshing lager.

Would I buy more? – Probably not. Not really my kind of beer to be honest, but quite a nice light lager…

Black Isle Brewery – Yellowhammer

So this is the first beer from the BeerBods case I got delivered the other week.  I have to say that this is a good first beer!  Nice and refreshing. 🙂

Aroma – Slightly hoppy and grassy, with a touch of citrus.

Appearance – Light straw colour, brilliantly clear, with a nice bright white head that lasted well.

Flavour – Matching the aroma, it has a light, hoppy, grassy taste. This is matched with a delicate malty flavour that’s slightly biscuity. It’s also quite dry, making it quite drinkable.

Mouthfeel – Medium-light bodied and quite well carbonated. The carbonation gives it a quite harsh bitterness, but it doesn’t distract too much from the flavour.

Overall – A light, refreshing blonde ale that’s really quite drinkable.

Would I buy more? – I would have to say yes.  It’s definitely one for a warm summers afternoon.