Kevin's lemon: Tasting

Cracked the 8oz test bottle on Kevin's Lemon tonight, even though its only been bottled for 8 days, it spent many days at ambient temp hi 70s/lo 80s, so I knew it would be adequately carbonated.

Which it was, probably just north of 3.0 volumes. 1/8th inch of yeast sediment (alot) apparent on the bottom of this test bottle. Cloudy and lemony golden color. A typical pour straight out of the fridge cold, produced a big fluffy head which stuck around, even though its only been in the bottle for such a short time. The yeast stayed put in the bottle, with a steady even pour. This beer looks pretty spot on for what I was going for.

Cool. I expect the head to build more structure, get tighter, denser with more time and conditioning.

Despite the low FG (presumed, still haven't measured it...sigh) and high carbonation, it still had a smoothness to it, likely from the flaked oats.

Just what I was going for. Its really fun when that happens...

Nice, full and satisfying, but still quenching and refreshing. Obvious spicey Belgian character in the nose, but when you sip, the flavor matches the nose to a tee. Given the big yeast-derived spice contribution and the restraint of quantity of actual spices used, you simply cannot pick out the origin of these flavors (a good thing).

Hops are MIA, barely there to balance any residual malt sweetness. I might up the IBUs about 8-10 next go around. Maybe a late Saaz addition to add another sublte aroma dimension.

But, maybe not...its pretty good as is.

I do hope it will continue to improve, and I hope Kevin will be pleased with this ale, borne from the inspiration of the lone lemon his tree produced.