A little while ago, I mentioned in a post that I had bottled a batch of Home Brew, but that was really about it… Never talked about how it turned out, whether we were happy with it…
And well, that’s because we weren’t…
It was a pale ale style, around 7%ABV, hopped with Mosaic and US Cascade, and a little Citra in the dry hop… We opened a bottle last Monday, and it was looking pretty promising at first; it poured golden amber, a little hazy, but relatively clear for a Home Brew. With about a finger and a half of creamy white head. The aroma was fresh and hoppy, pungent and fruity with just a little bit of “dank”. No overt off aromas, but a little less vibrant than we had hoped for… All in all, so far we were feeling proud of ourselves …so far…
But when we took a sip, it was flat, no carbonation whatsoever… which just seemed to make everything a little underwhelming; as if the flavour was there, it was trying to be a good beer, it was just let down by that pesky lack of carbonation…
Why am I telling you all this? Celebrating our failure almost two weeks after the fact…?
Because last night when I was just about to finish work I got a call from Harley, telling me I needed to head over to his place for a beer when I was finished …who am I to turn down an offer like that!? “You have to try our Home Brew! …It’s good!” He tells me, and again, how can I refuse that…
It starts out just the same as last time, good looking beer, that smells pretty fresh and hoppy. But there’s something a little different… It’s fresher, more enticing… The nose is dominated by tropical fruits, mango, passionfruit, pineapple, a little citrussy grapefruit, far more fruity and vibrant. In the mouth the carbonation is still a little soft, but it’s almost as if there is juuuuuuuust enough there to lift it, bring out some of that hoppy goodness that we were trying to acheive. But it still just wasn’t quite there…
Since I heading round to a mates place for a beer, I felt it only fair to bring one along too. And it just so happened that we had a new one to try: the
Image Courtesy of garageproject.co.nz
Garage Project Aro Noir. A hoppy stout from the golden boys of the Wellington beer scene. It poured almost completely black, just a little tinge of mahogany around the edges, and about a finger of off white head. The aroma was far hoppier than expected, grassy and dry, notes of coffee and chocolate were there, but not in the forefront as you’d expect. In the mouth it’s much the same, lighter body than we were expecting for a 7%ABV stout, but with some tasty dark roasted malt character, mostly coffee flavours… finishing with quite a bit of hoppy bitterness …for me, possibly a little too much of that hoppy bitterness…
A decent beer, one I would say give it a try… But not my favourite stout… Too much hop, left me wanting a little more stout…
As usual though …love the artwork!
beyond beer pong 