Hops: Citra, Galaxy, Magnum
Unfiltered
Reviews
WexiLahti
@ Teva Brew4 years ago
3.4
Hoppy Halloween and Kekri to all beer folks!
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I'll do now the second tastings/reviews of the three homebrewed IPAs that I wanted to see how their overall profiles have developed over a fairly short but decisive period. For better or for worse. My intention is not to dig into the details that much but rather to highlight the changes from the first tastings. If you're interested in more detailed analyses, please go to my first reviews that can be easily found in the respective beer profiles.
I tasted these IPAs on 10 October, i.e. at the age of ten days. I promised to reassess them at the age of 30 days. Today they're 31 days old. Close enough.
First, I have a triple dry-hopped IPA.
The color is still cloudy copper but with a creeping brownish tint that certainly doesn't make it any more attractive. Rather vice versa. The carbonation is now even bolder than last time and the emerging head is almost wild. The retention is still very long, and the retreating froth messes the glass everywhere.
The scent is now much more abundant than before. Citra and obviously also Galaxy are playing a key role here. The citrusy punch is unavoidable, releasing especially grapefruit and lemon but also bags of bitter grapefruit peel. Not sure if apricot is still to be detected, perhaps yes, but it can also be its dried version. A positive observation is that the fragrance is fruity but not necessarily piney, nor resinous. I would say that the nose likes the scent now better than last time.
The taste follows along the same lines as in the first time. Citrusy elements dominate, followed by a pinch of dried apricot. The taste profile is not particularly powerful now but it hasn't deteriorated either. Probably no recognizeable change.
The body is very similar to how I aseessed it last time. So is the finish. Not has even its duration improved.
The mouthfeel is also close to my previous analysis. A bit of powerlessness still disturbs me. Most likely this is not something that would drastically improve, if at all, according to the time of enjoyment.
Overall, I can't verify any major improvement other than the more pronounced fragrance. It has developed nicely. The carbonation has also gained a bit of strength. Otherwise the beer is identical to the younger version. My first score was 3.2. I raise it moderately to 3.4.
WexiLahti
@ Teva Brew4 years ago
3.2
Now tasting three homebrewed IPAs one by one. I hadn't planned to make IPAs at this early stage of homebrewing but decided, however, to take a step to the unknown side and see what happens. It's only beer anyway.
The first one is a "standard" triple dry-hopped IPA. The hops we used were Magnum, Galaxy and Citra, the two latter ones for dry hopping. The second beer will be a mango flavored Milkshake IPA, refined from this first "base" IPA. The third beer will be a very similar mango flavored Milkshake IPA but with some lemondrop chili to kick ass.
I'm going to also make an exception to my regular procedure by reviewing these three beers twice. I've been trying to learn from the internet when IPAs would be best to taste but got unfortunately a confusing image of the optimal time: some sources claim that the optimal tasting time would be at the age of four weeks from bottling whereas some others argue in favor of substantially quicker tasting at the age of one week only. Some still say that while an IPA is drinkable at one week, it will improve over the next few weeks until the quality starts to deteriorate. The few others have experienced deterioration already much sooner. Therefore, I'm going to taste these three beers today, at the age of 10 days, and again later at the end of October, i.e. at the age of 30 days or so.
Now that these IPAs are made initially from the second runnings of Sahti wort that contains a bit of rye malt as well, they certainly look darker than they should be. Oxidation is, of course, always a risk with IPAs but I'll verify in the course of review that oxidation is absent. I hope...
The beer pours cloudy copper. The appearance is, indeed, really appalling π but I'll be merciful to myself this time since we anticipated the darker appearance beforehand. The extrovert carbonation unleashes a latte-hued, fluffy head that exceeds two fingers. The retention is long although eventually the head descends downwards as a cute lacing on the surface. Merely a few minuscule dots remain on the wall of the glass.
I sniff the beer... This starts now to be exciting. And scary π¬ The scent is distantly fruity with lemon juice and grapefruit pulp. First I don't find anything else but later I start picking a faint note of apricot, as well. Overall, I must say that the fragrance is rather restrained.
The tongue can't wait to do its part. The taste is absolutely decent: I'm getting first grapefruit pulp, grapefruit pith and lemon zest. A bit of dried apricot accompanies in the immediate proximity. The palate is also somewhat softer than I expected, probably due to the oat flakes we used in the brewing. Still further, the taste profile is fresh, indicating the absence of oxidation π
Generally speaking, the gustatory universe first opens up like a bubble and then bursts down to a narrow tube if you get what I mean. This is pretty much all of it anyway.
The body is light to light-medium. It's surprisingly robust. The beer finishes with citrusy elements, such as lemon peel and pith, a small dollop of grapefruit juice and grapefruit peel. A grassy touch lands on the tastebuds later in the finish. The aftertaste presses citruses for the tastebuds to enjoy.
The mouthfeel is light but by no means thin. It's quite soft and smooth as well as fresh whereas crispness is moderate. Furthermore, the mouthfeel is a bit narrow and even powerless and, maybe hence, quite easy.
This is quite okay for our first ever IPA. Not even close to a wow but I didn't expect anything like that for 5.2 %. Triple dry hopping has worked fine but one day I'll surely use much bigger amounts of hops to really make a blast.
And one final word about rating: I try to be as honest as possible with our own beers as well: I rate them as if they were commercial. No need to overestimate, neither underestimate the product; the only part where I'm subjective now is the appearance that I forgive.
Interesting journey and it's only in the beginning. πΊππ»