After his last brew, and actually on the tail end of while it was still being enjoyed, Rob (a.k.a. StubbornMan) mentioned that he was brewing a bitter. Having rushed to get clean bottles back to him so he could bottle everything on time, I was anxious to taste another example of a bitter. I gave him plenty of 22 oz. “bombers” this round of filling so he wouldn’t have to collect as many (and I figured that would mean more home brewed beer for me, HA!). With every chance I have to try one of his brews, I get closer and closer to buying my own set of home brewing equipment to give it a try myself.
From BeerAdvocate: “The Bitter style came from brewers who wanted to differentiate these ales from other mild brews, enter pale malts and more hops. Most are gold to copper in colour and are light bodied. Low carbonation. Alcohol should be low and not perceived. Hop bitterness is moderate to assertive. Most have a fruitiness in the aroma and flavor, diacetyl can also be present. These are traditionally served cask conditioned, but many breweries have bottled versions.”
I don’t think he has a name for it yet, but that doesn’t matter… Lets just cut to the chase, shall we?
The Review (Drinking Notes)
Appearance (20%) – A steady rush of carb bubbles allowing a consistent 1-finger off-white head to top a cloudy copper body. If this were filtered it would probably receive the best marks for appearance I’ve given in awhile.
Smell (20%) – Noticable sweet fruity hops on the pour smells like a pear or a mild apple, the pale malts and some roasted notes are picked up on a closer sniff.
Taste (40%) – A quick striking citrusy character hides quickly behind the toasty buttery mid. A delicious wooded fruity flavor finishes it out.
Mouthfeel (10%) – The buttery toasted flavors tend to stick to the palate, rather than the pale malts or bitter hops. It burps as a light wood. Reminds me of Autumn when the leaves are changing and you can taste the sweet dryness in the air, before it gets too cold.
Drinkability (10%) – Very enjoyable, and probably the best brew yet to come out of StubbornMan’s home brewery. It had a lot of character, nice flavor variation over the range of 40-50 degrees in temperature. If he had to repeat it, I’d probably recommend adding a bit more of the citrusy hops to it so that taste lingers a bit longer than the first swish around the mouth.
The Scores
All categories are given a rating on a scale of 0 to 5; where 5 is Excellent, 4 is Good, 3 is Average, 2 is Poor, and 1 is Terrible. Beer is rated based on the style and particular tastes of the reviewer.
Appearance – 4.5/5.0
Smell – 3.5/5.0
Taste – 3.75/5.0
Mouthfeel – 3.5/5.0
Drinkability – 4.5/5
TOTAL = 3.90 (B+)
Tags: Beer, English Bitter, homebrewing, Stubborn Man
Tags: Beer, English Bitter, homebrewing, Stubborn Man
When not spending time behind a computer screen bringing you his latest blog posts; you might catch him playing video games on his PC; eating/cooking something in the kitchen of his house in Northwest Georgia; watching movies from his Netflix queue; volunteering for the Boy Scouts of America; fueling his wilderness interests by hiking, camping, backpacking, rafting, kayaking; sustaining his established hobbies in Amateur Radio, videography, photography, or music; running his DJ business with his brother as a partner; or hanging out with his friends doing any number of fun activities. 