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

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coldcrash1

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Drop your reviews in here for beer #8.

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
 
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Aroma: Fresh and sweet doughy malt and honey upfront, odd pull, but reminiscent of Hawaiian sweet bread. Very clean yeast character and light earthy hop aromas. I dig.

10/12

Appearance: Clear gold body (until I poured the dregs in and snapped the shitty pic :p) with a small fizzy head that receded to a ring around the rim of the glass.

2/3

Flavor: More sweet malt upfront with drying and floral hop character in the finish. Clean fermentation character. Very balanced and smooth.

15/20

Mouthfeel: Medium body and moderate-low and prickly carb.

3/5

Overall: Almost finished the damn thing before I could get all my thoughts together! Very easy drinking and clean on this 80 degree “fall” day. Sweet malt made itself known in both the aroma and flavor without the impression of residual sugar.

7/10

37/50
 
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Aroma - great malt presence, crispy lager yeast aroma, can’t say that hops come forward but don’t expect it 9/12


Appearance - crystal clear, a shade darker than macro lagers, golden hues all over, white head fades to a rim around the glass 3/3


Flavor - pretty sweet malty flavor coating my mouth, nice subtle bitterness, clean yeast character and a nice clean finish 13/20


Mouthfeel - coats entire mouth with sweetness, not cloying but definitely not dry, low to med-low carbonation 3/5


Overall Impression - a tad too sweet to be the crushable helles that I can drink all day long. For a “first attempt” this is a great beer though, lager character come right through 7/10


35/50
 
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4A

Aroma: bready and malt forward up front. Little bit of a light hop presence. Smells like its going to be a light, easy drinking beer. 8/12

Appearance: as clear as it gets, nice job. One finger of head. 3/3

Taste: medium sweetness up front, getting a nice buiscut/bready flavor. Very well balanced. Finishes dry which i think compliments the sweetness. 16/20

Mouthfeel: low to medium carb. Slighlty watery but that shouldnt be out of the ordinary. 3/5

Overall: dangerously drinkable beer here. Give me a six more please. This would be perfect on a hot summer day. Could use a little more carb next time, but overall, its a smooth, tasty, easy drinking lager. I finished it in 5 minutes i think. 7/10

37/50
 
Aroma: Grainy, bready malts up front. A light noble hop aroma. And I'm picking up a little of an apple-like ester that's just out of place. Mostly clean aroma though and otherwise appropriate for style. (9/12)

Appearance: Goldenrod in color, and with good clarity. There's just a little bit of haze, but that might be my fault for pouring in a little of the dregs. Head formation and retention seem just a little bit weak (2/3)

Flavor: Freshly baked bread and raw grains. Very nice malt character, maybe just a touch sweet. Bitterness and spicy/herbal hop character are dialed in for the style. There's again a little bit of fruitiness that is out of place. Certainly not as estery as most ales, but definitely also not quite as clean as I'd look for in a lager. (14/20)

Mouthfeel: Feels just a touch full on the palate, I think either slightly higher attenuation or a little more carbonation could give it a little more of the crispness that I'm looking for. (3/5)

Overall: Very much enjoyed drinking this. Great malt character for a helles. A little less esters and a little tweak to the mouthfeel and this would easily be in the 40s. (7/10)

35/50
 
Aroma 7/12
Clean Pils malt, slight waft of ester on the nose, sweetness.

Appearance 3/3
2/3 - soft carb with a ring of bubbles that clings to the edge of the glass like foam washed upon a bed of kelp. BJCP calls for a full whitecap on a winter’s morn so minus one for that (I'm writing this from the coast).

Flavor 12/20
Clean pils malt flavor with a slight hint of clean, grain sweetness, and a tiny bit of dms (appropriate for style). No noticeable hop character hurts this one a bit, I would like to see a noble spice to back up the clean grain taste. There is a hint of esters that comes through on the first sip, which might be less noticeable if there was more going on flavorwise.

Mouthfeel 3/5
BJCP calls for a medium, or husky body, this is more of a Kate Moss than a Kate Upton.

Overall Impression 6/10
Enjoyable and drinkable. Could have used a bit more hop character but overall a solid effort. I'm an ester hater so that also hurt the score a little bit.

33/50
 
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