Tuesday 27 May 2014

Tasting Notes: Quarter Session Bitter

Here’s some quick tasting notes for the Ordinary Bitter I brewed a few weeks ago.  Its a lovely beer, one of the best bitters I’ve brewed I think.  I don’t know how much of that I can attribute to the water treatment, but it certainly didn’t hurt.  I finally ordered a pH meter, which should take some of the guessing out in future.

Quarter Session BitterAppearance: Reddish tint.  Hazy as expected (I forgot to add the whirlfloc).  Nice thinnish but lingering head with decent lacing.

Smell: Slight spiciness from hops, then nutty caramel notes from the crystal malt.  Some dark fruit as well. 

Taste: Slight sweetness and spice, followed by some subtle fruitiness with the malt.  Firm, lingering bitterness, but not too harsh.  Keeps bringing you back for gulp after gulp.

Mouthfeel: Carbonation is spot on.  It would taste much better from a cask, but this is one of my best efforts for a ~3.5% bitter.  Not too thin, but doesn’t pretend to be a 5% beer either.

Drinkability & Notes:  Shame about the murkiness---it would have been a beautiful beer if it was bright---but still very happy with this one.  You have to let it warm up a bit before opening it, but if you do it reminds me of plenty of beers I’ve drank back home.  The bitterness from the WGV is a little brasher than you’d get from EKG (higher cohumulone perhaps?), but it works well here.  Very drinkable.  If I wasn’t so busy with work at the moment, these would have all gone by now.

[By the way, if Ordinary Bitter is your thing, Boak and Bailey put a great post up about Boddington’s today.]

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