Bumble, Batch 2: tasting

Poured the 2nd bottle of bumble from batch 2 tonight.

The first 750ml bottle was shared with my great high school friend, Josh Demasi, a few weeks back; the ubiquitous Facebook finally paid dividends with an actual reunion with an old friend.

I recently had an Allagash White at a beer dinner at VeeVee, and was hoping for some parallels. At that time of the Josh-JC reunion, I think the bottle was just short of 2 weeks in to conditioning. I poured aggresively, pushed out a lovely even haziness, golden and creamy white head. But, when brought to the nose, it had an overwhelming, very powerful aromatic that he described as lemony, where for me, it was hitting the olfactory senses hard with a rose petal perfumey-ness.

No sir, I didn't like it.

Mouthfeel was a touch thin. Also had a sort of mild astringency and a whiff of higher alcohols on the breath after the exhale on the swallow. I wanted the fullness of the Allagash, I wanted the even, finishing crispness, but all I could focus on was that weird aromatic. Was it the coriander? no, I used the same amount as previously, and this coriander should only be milder, as its been sitting there in storage for a while. The tangerine? nope, it just didn't remind me of the fresh aromatics that were being emitted as I zested. The wicked expensive chamomile? Again, no...My mind was swimming, and I had to return to being present with my guest.

I bowed my head in a bit of shame, as Josh and I were reunited under the pretenses of a proper beer tasting + tasty fresh out of the oven flatbreads evening. I hoped for a seamless experience. While pot&kettle b2, the SPAb3, Leon, and RIS2008 made very strong showings, bumbleb2 pulled up lame, for sure. Oh well, work in progress, I hoped.

Josh finished the glass with a redemptive, "Well, it would probably be good in the summer time...right?"

hmmmm. maybe he was right, maybe a little time would fix what ailed this witbier.

Fast forward to tonight, about a month + in the bottles now. The pour revealed what again looked to be a proper witbier, if not 'white' enough...probably too golden.

That flowery aromatic was only maybe minorly (possibly) present, or existed only as a haunting fearful memory of bottle 1. Things seemed to have mellowed and smoothed over, very similar to what I remember the witbier of batch 1 eventually provided. I searched for finishing aroma hops, none to be distinctly found, though the just-enough bitterness was spot on. rolling spices and not-quite-full-enough mouthfeel. Perhaps the carbonation was set too high?

Still, the Allagash is still a towering standard to which I haven't even remotely (yet) approached. I think I'll simplify, add a much larger percentage of wheat.

And de-bumble it.

Yep, drop the honey.

The honey must be thinning the body substantially. So, that, coupled with the too high carbonation, is sort of leaving it in no-man's-land. So it will be not a honey witbier for the time being. So I can't, with a straight face, continue to give it bee inspired name. Right? But that's OK, I've actually tired of the moniker almost immediately after I coined it.

She sure is photogenic, though.

Stonginton Pale Ale: Batch 3, Tasting

Though its been a few months since I've brewed SPA, batch 3, I opened one of the last remaining bottles last week. Its been drinking fantastic since about 3 weeks from bottling, where it was still a touch green at 2 weeks. Even now, perhaps a month past its truly fresh aromatic and resinously hoppy peak, it has still garnered accolades from friends, both new and old... ie."one of, if not the best IPA I've ever had...and I've had a few".

Yeah, these sort of statements really do stick in brewer's head.

The small incremental changes of going with C40 vs. C60 + increasing to 1lb vs. .5lb did, in fact, improve the beer as I had hoped. Any implied biting (too) dry character from the first two iterations has now given way to a smoother, rounder mouthfeel. Just a touch of soft sweetness and light biscuit malt introduces each taste before giving way to the incredibly American hoppy profile. It still leads with that terrific fresh green nose, just-peeled grapefruit rind and floral aromatics. An unaggressive bitterness finishes, builds a bit after the swallow, but never punches too hard. This is an aroma first, and flavor 2nd, and bitterness 3rd IPA, and I think I like SPA just like that.

But, there's almost always room for improvement, and this beer still elicits plenty of criticism from its creator.

I will certainly back down on carbonation levels in the future, as the overcarbonation flaw simply cannot be resolved with a slow, high pour given the unbelievable head retention from the wheat and hops. I also think I'd retain more of the volatile aromatics throughout the beer over the course of its enjoyment if I didn't have to resort to such remedial tactics, and would have a softer, more inviting quaff, as well.

I will revisit the grist, hopping schedule, etc. once I have the carbonation more in line with where it should be.

Ultimately, however, this beer is one that really would benefit from cold crashing + kegging, as that Chico yeast strain combined with tons of late + dry hopping renders this a particularly hazy beer. IPAs really shouldn't sit around conditioning for extended periods of time...the clock is ticking! Of course, bottling with all that turbidity results in a significant sediment in the bottle, which can and does adversely impact the pour. I will usually leave 3-4 oz of the beer (!!!) in the bottle for fear of introducing that sediment, which ends up muddying up the whole experience, both visually, and flavor wise. This also means this beer travels very poorly, so the advantage of bottle conditioning the batch to have a six pack to take away, always at the ready, is diminished by all that sediment stirred up and into the beer. I would love to cold crash the whole she-bang before dry hopping to drop the hop flavor stripping yeast out of suspension, then return to room temp, then rack to a keg for immediately chilling, carbonation and storage, but until then I'll dream of others' clearer IPAs that aren't saddled with all that beer-robbing sediment and head ballooning carbonation.