TBHC 8 - Virgin Free for All - Entry #10 Review Thread

[coldcrash1]

Here’s your thread for beer #10 reviews.

Scoring should give consideration to how much you enjoy the beer, as well as the beer’s adherence to the declared style and the presence/ absence of any technical flaws. After all, this is a competition to showcase our brewing skill and ability, and adherence to prescribed parameters is a great way to showcase that. But what’s the point in brewing a technically perfect true to style beer if it’s not also enjoyable to drink?

Feel free to refer to the BJCP Scoresheet for guidance and descriptors.

And here’s a link to the BJCP style guidelines for anyone who wants to brush up on a given style.

For entries without any declared style, you can assume the brewer would like their beer to be judged 100% hedonistically.

50 total points

Aroma/12
Appearance/3
Flavor/20
Mouthfeel/5
Overall Impression/10

 

[Mugatu]

First ever BJCP-style review. So take with a grain of salt

Aroma: Sweet maltiness with a very slight bready note. Earthy and Pine Hop notes. Not tons of aroma but could be due to my Chicago-winter runny nose (literally almost got lightheaded trying to detect aroma) 9/12

Appearance: Deep Gold or Amber color, long lasting white head, probably not the clearest czech lager to ever be produced but not a hazeeee bro either 1/3

Flavor: Some caramel/honey sweetness, not a ton of yeast character (which I think is a good thing for this style), and I detected some diacetyl / fruity esters (but again, that's to style). A little more hop bitterness than I typically like in my czech lagers but very piney and earthy (simcoe or german hop?) 15/20

Mouthfeel: Light-medium or medium body, good sweetness, but a good amount of either hop or carbonation burn 3/5

Overall: Definitely crushable, I would be very happy with this one. A little boozier and hoppier than I would've expected from the style but tasty enough to take down six or more in a night 8/10

Total: 36/50

 

[More Betterness]

Aroma: Floral and earthy hops and light caramel. Bit of green apple. Although I know they are appropriate in the style in small amounts, fruity esters give a similar impression to an ale ferment. Bit of oxidative character.

8/12

App: Amber/dark gold body with a bone white head. A bit darker than typical for the style. Relatively clear with a slight haze.

1/3

Taste: Mild malt and bitter hop character. Hop flavor leans further towards pine than the earth and spice I typically get from European hops, but I don’t mind it! Light honey on the finish. Higher levels of esters than I would expect once again in the finish.

11/20

Mouthfeel: Soft and airy with a lower than usual carb for the style and a medium body. Think you drilled the water and it would have been fiyahhhh with a bit more carb.

3/5

Overall: Interested to see process here! Ticked a lot of boxes of the style, but if I had to guess maybe fermented a little hot? Also interested to see if you might have used American hops!
6/10


29/50

 

[axeman91821]

Aroma: Slight caramel present. Stronger presence of earthy to piney hops. The hop character blends with a bit of acetaldehyde and yeast esters. Too much fermentation derived aroma. (7/12)

Appearance: Orange rather than a degree of gold, so slightly too dark for the style. That darkness may be being emphasized/enhanced by the degree of haziness that's present. Head formation and retention are both great. (1/3)

Flavor: Malt profile features some more bready notes (which I'd expect for the style) than the nose, but there's still maybe just a little more caramel sweetness present than normal for the style. Hop bitterness is sharp. Finish is more dominated by the hops, with less fermentation character than the nose. (13/20)

Mouthfeel: A little more chewy/full bodied that I'd like, though the carbonation level seems appropriately spritzy for the style. (3/5)

Overall: Not a bad effort, and a drinkable beer. Biggest issue for me is the amount of fermentation character present. I would also note the amount of malt in the flavor profile and that the beer just comes across as a little bit bigger/richer/more intense than I'd anticipate for 3A. On the plus side I thought both the carbonation and balance of hop bitterness/flavor were pretty spot on. (6/10)

30/50

 

[ShawDeuce221]

Aroma - first thing that hits is hops, a bit catty, a bit of booze when swirled 7/12


Appearance - golden like a west coast IPA, nice white head that sticks around for a bit a slowly recedes to a rim around the glass 1/3


Flavor - great bittering presence, spicy hop character, maybe a late hop or dry hop in there, malt richness is great, a hint of booze on the back end 13/20


Mouthfeel - good body, tad high on the carb 3/5


Overall Impression - while this is a fine beer I just wouldn’t label it as a Czech lager. It didn’t have any lager yeast character to it as the hops were main stage. 5/10


29/50

 

[Ziggy]

Apologies for the **** photo. Cant seem to get my phone camera right.

Aroma: estery sweetness and citrusy hops up front. Citrus dominates the nose. 5/12

Appearance: hazy, cloudy, light orange. 1/3

Flavor: slightly sweet. Bitter honeysuckle. Mildly bready and estery. Not strikingly lager-like. 9/20

Mouthfeel: medium to high carb, thick mouthfeel. 2/5

Overall: this is not a bad beer at all. It has a pleasant hoppy and citrusy aroma and smooth taste, but its miles away from any kind of lager. 4/10

21/50

 

[dimensionx]

Aroma 4/12
Big time fruity esters with some oxidized sweet malt character, and citrus/earthy hops backing it up.
Appearance 2/3
Golden with hued with a hint of orange/red, slightly hazy with a very vigorous head.
Flavor 7/20
Flavor is dominated by the fruity esters and some acetaldehyde, citrusy hop character holding it down as well, a bit oxidized but not too bad. Style guideline says that some unfermented malt character is acceptable but this seemed like too much or maybe a bit heavy on crystal malts. Sweet malt character together with the esters hurt this one for me.
Mouthfeel 4/5
Medium bodied and very carbonated, seems accurate for the style.
Overall Impression 5/10
The hop character was definitely the highlight here, but it seems like there was a fermentation issue that caused a few problems.

22/50

 

[tosh1]

As someone who has been following along, i have to say people
Are slow to sample and post this round. It seems this round has really dragged it out.

Some of the beers might have been better a few months back at thia point.

 

[dimensionx]

As someone who has been following along, i have to say people
Are slow to sample and post this round. It seems this round has really dragged it out.

Some of the beers might have been better a few months back at thia point.

That is a totally valid point.

 

[tosh1]

Not a criticism, but for sure an observation. I followed all the original posts as I love this kind of set of posts, but it seems not to have ignited for even the people who send and recieved things.

 

[dimensionx]

Totally. Unexpectedly moving in the middle of the competition didn't do my review timeline any favors, but yeah, seems like lots of others are in the same boat. I would be curious to see any recent reviews of my beer because I ****ed up and drank them all already.

 

[tosh1]

Totally. Unexpectedly moving in the middle of the competition didn't do my review timeline any favors, but yeah, seems like lots of others are in the same boat. I would be curious to see any recent reviews of my beer because I ****ed up and drank them all already.

Learn your lesson. Send me more of your beer. Totally srs.

 

[dimensionx]

Learn your lesson. Send me more of your beer. Totally srs.

Hah, limited supply since I moved down here and got rid of all my gear. I’ve got a couple sours that might be good in a month or two. Damn THP got me down again. I hate that ****.

 

[coldcrash1]

Appearance: Opens with an assertive hiss. Lively carb demands a slow pour, eventually yielding a crystal clear dark gold to orange with a fluffy bone white head. Gorgeous beer, even if a bit dark for the style. 2/3

Aroma: Prevalent hop aromas reveal themselves even as I pour: candied lemon, pine, a hint of cat piss. Not what I’d expect for the style, but I must say I already ****ing love this beer. 8/12

Taste: Bready malt and citrus are well integrated. Definitely some fermentation character coming through, more than I’d expect in a lager. Still though, I enjoy. Maybe just a bit of wet cardboard? Probably my bad for not opening sooner. 15/20

Mouthfeel: That fine and creamy carbonation pushes it a bit fuller than typical. 3/5

Overall: Wood bang repeatedly. Hits a few of the style points but also is a stark departure in some ways. Interested to hear more about this beer- process, ingredients and intention. 8/10

Total: 36/50

 

[liquiddegenerate]

So, this was my entry and my first stab at a lager. I rarely brew to style and usually go with what I like. I initially was going to stick to style guidelines but said eff that. Here's the recipe:


(Link to media)


I think the ferm issue was that I started it on the warm (65) side to get it going quickly but was at the low 50s the rest of the time.