Minutes from Sept. 19, 2024

Sunday, September 22, 2024

Meeting called to order (JB)
Interest in tasting glasses as a club
TG's Blackberry Kölsch
- Maybe turn up the CO₂ a little bit more
- Struggled to fill bottles without causing too much foam - solve this using a counter-pressure filler
- Blackberry taste is from an extract, a little muted
- Good, very subtle effect from the berries
- Whole vs. extracted berries (AW)
  - Maybe consider using whole canned berries instead of extract
  - Whole berries still have the seeds in the flesh of each berry
  - Can add a little woody note from the seeds
CB's Sierra Nevada pale ale clone
- Colors are pretty similar
- Theirs tastes a little more "minerally," probably because of how dry it is
- Temperature and carb levels are different
- Commercial beer seems a little crisper
- Hops in the clone seemed a little more subdued - less grassy
- Banana phenols are present in the homebrew
  - Fermented at CB's home room temp (no separate temperature control)
  - Guesses it was somewhere around 70-75 degrees
- Fermented really well
- Cold crashing would probably have helped
- Too long in the primary, a few weeks
BM's black-raspberry elderflower fermented something
- Same as a couple of meetings ago
- Still as thick as we remember - viscous
- Could've come from Pretentious (RIP)
AW's historical beer with wormwood
- Plenty carbed
- "Holy cow, that's a weird taste"
- Some tartness from the wild yeast
- Most of the flavor is from the crazy herbs
- Unusual tartness, almost grapefruit-like
- No more "musty socks" (we tasted this in the June meeting last time this was brought)
- Lime rind, hangs at the back of the palette
- Might be from the wormwood
- "Assertively bitter"
- Could benefit from some more sweetness
AW's commercial Brasserie Dupont (Belgium) saison vs. JB's Bickerdyke's saison
- JB's has some more sweetness
- AW's is a little hotter
- AW's has some diacetyl notes, which manifests as buttery notes
- Surprisingly similar
- AW's tastes maltier than JB's, but it's still drier
- Close enough that one could conceivably be a clone of another
TG's Blue Moon wheat vs clone
- Clone is definitely darker, but that's to be expected, since it's using an extract
- Might be a little coffee note
- Clone is sweet and fruity, but not very wheaty
- That being said, neither are very wheaty
SK's commercial Metazoa Brewing Co. Wicked Pawsome hazy IPA
- Hoppy
CB's homebrew cider
- Aromatic apple
- Considered throwing it out, but curious what brew club would think
- Early on tastings were awful, but it's aged quite well
- Something at the beginning that's strange, but finished quite nice
- Kind of like apple juice, especially on the nose, but you'll feel this one
- Some haze
SK's Voodoo Ranger Imperial Atomic Pumpkin spiced
- "Stupid beer"
- Bush beer
- Spices make it go down really hot
- Spice hides the alcohol heat, even though it's 8.4% ABV
- Too much spice
- "Hot pepper and Christmas"
CB's mead homebrew
- Regular ol' honey mead
- Honey from his own bee supply
- Experimental straight-to-bottle
- On a brewing forum, CB read:
  - Try going straight to the bottle (rather than separate secondary)
  - The forum poster also suggested trying it after three months
  - Maybe take what they said with a grain of salt
- Would let it go longer, but the taste is pretty good!
CB's skeeter pee
- Smells like solvents
- Smells like rubbing alcohol
- Zima?
Lesson of this tasting session: fuck D47