Got around to getting the Big Brew Day beer packaged up.
Opening the fermenter it sure smells like a wheat beer
Was planning to bottle, but my bottling bucket split at the valve.. but we had a mini keg on hand. Only a 2.5 gallon so we needed a couple of bottles as well.
Was kind of surprised that it wasn’t as bitter as I expected. That ounce of Chinook in a 3 gallon should have had some oomph behind it. But it’s pretty tame. Bitter for sure, but I think it should have been more.
Tastes pretty good now, but will wait a week or so before doing a real review. And by then the Red IPA should be in keg and ready as well.
The Farmers markets will be up soon, so we will be switching the focus more on cider and wine, and pickling things
It was Big Brew day this past Saturday. I didn’t brew one of the National recipes but I did brew.
Threw together a mini batch of White IPA. Or something close to that. Had to sub in Fuggles for the Saaz. And used a Saison yeast. But these all should go with a basic 50% wheat grain bill.
I’m ready to get the second tasting of the 2019 Evanta Malbec under way. Bought this wine last April from Aldis and stored it in the basement for a year.
Here is a link to the tasting notes from last April when it first came out. But to give a quick run down.. I thought it was a decent wine, but very new tasting. And thought that another year would help it alot.
I’m out here in the garage studio where we drank the first bottle, and I even have the same “glass”. My pickle jar. so lets go.
Got the cork pulled, and wow. Concord grape all up at you. In the glass its very dark, beyond red. The Concord is quite strong yet, and also a chocolate note, like dark chocolate. these two aromas really play good together. A couple of swirls and a bit of horseyness is coming through. This wine just smells fantastic.
Ok getting into the taste. The first thing that grabs you by the face is the tannins. Omg. That is no doubt the most tannic wine that I ever had. So much so that it really is difficult to concentrate on anything else.
But, behind that is a bit of those Concord grape notes, but not nearly as much that there is in the nose. and none of that awesome chocolate or the barnyard stuff. The taste is completely different than the aromas.
The biggest taste I get is Bing Cherry. Not black cherry, or tart cherry. Bing cherry. and that wouldnt be so bad, if the tannis didnt take over so bad.
Its not dry, in fact the body is quite nice. More than medium for sure. But its not sweet either. I’m not sure if its oxidation, but it has something not right with it. All of the flavors are muted, or missing, but yet has a taste of fusels or something near that.. that was not there in the first tasting last year.
I’m just gonna come out and say it, I’m not a fan of this. its smells great, but between the cottonball tannin and the lack of any substantial taste, I could not recommend this to any one. I would have given a nod to the fresh batch tho.
Well, this did not come out anything like how I expected it to. Pretty dissapointing. I dont think it was a product of poor aging conditions. Its been in the dark and around the mid 50sF..
I do have one more Aldi wine aging yet. How ever, I do not have any notes on it. So it will be more of a straight up tasting review. but that will be further down the road,, I need to regrow my tastebuds after this one.
9stripe Brewing 