We tried the Oceania IPA over the past couple of nights. Its a cracking refreshing IPA that has highlights of spicy limes with a sherbety brightness while chilled. As it warms another layer of tropical fruit starts to come out to play. Its bitter and its still young. It is a tad overcarbonated but we are happy to live with that. All in all, its a great beer and can hold its head up anywhere!
While we were there we thought it was time to try my Kingsland Dark IPA for comparison. It has mellowed nicely and is smooooooooth as silk with a sweet chocolate thing going on in amongst the hops. Outstanding and now officially moreish.
So that's two excellent beers that can stand up anywhere. I think it's time to change direction on the beer brewing! With this in mind i asked one of my brewpals at JBK if he could send me a sample of his Saison Dupont yeast from a brew he was completing. Very nice man and this he duely did. The Saison yeast is descended from a red wine yeast so is nothing like my favourite 05 yeast. The Saison needs to be fermented at 30 to 35 degrees to achieve its best profile. I am a cold fermenter with my US-05 yeast and i am not(normally) set up for artificially heated beers.
Maybe i should say i 'wasn't' set up for these beers. One inverted glass vase, one lava lamp base with bulb and a digital thermometer and i am off and running with a nice wee microclimate boosting the yeast sample up to something useable for a 5 gallon batch!
This is one of the things i like about beermaking. It doesn't have to be fancy to get it to work! I am going to put together a simple recipe for the Saison. it will use the remainder of the belgian candi sugar i made a few months ago. I am aiming for a lowish ABV(4.5%) highly refreshing Summer drink with an Apricot overtone. I've never made a Saison before so it's going to be fun. I'm off to Turkey tomorrow to buy dried Apricots, I will update on my return. Cheers!
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