All posts by micraftbeer

Homebrew Soulless Hop Pale Ale

This is a recipe kit from MoreBeer, sent to me to do a hands-on review.  It is intended to be a clone recipe of 3 Floyd’s Zombie Dust.  They call it a Pale Ale, but the bitterness level here puts it into more of an IPA category by my palate.

Bright and aromatic hop aroma.  Clean hop bite, followed by moderate malt sweetness, ending with lingering hop bitterness.  Overall fairly dry mouthfeel.  Hop aftertaste has some lingering bitterness.  Be sure you’re in a mood to pucker!

 

Brewed: 7/21/2020.  Distributed: 8/20/2020.

ABV: 5.9%   IBU: 55

Malts: 2-Row Brewer’s, Munich, Caramel 60L, Carapils

Hops: Citra

Yeast: Cellar Science Dry Yeast: Cali

Homebrew Hop Gatherer

This is a recipe kit from MoreBeer, sent to me to do a hands-on review.  It is intended to be a clone recipe of Sierra Nevada Hop Hunter.

Notable fresh hop aroma.  Slightly bitter hop bite at first, which is then followed by a clean bread-like malt taste, and finally some lingering hop bitterness.

 

Brewed: 7/12/2020.  Distributed: 8/13/2020.

ABV: 5.9%   IBU: 60

Malts: Xtra Pale, Flaked Oats, Caramel 15L

Hops: Bravo, Cascade, Crystal, Simcoe, El Dorado (hop oil)

Yeast: GigaYeast GY001 NorCal Ale One

Homebrew LLLL (Lora Lee 50 Lager)

This was brewed for the first time for Lora’s 50th birthday party, and hence the fun name.

Starts with a light sweet aroma.  Has a crisp bite at the beginning that spreads out to a broader hop flavor, then fades into nothingness.  It starts out fairly aggressive, but finishes smooth.  Kind of like an aggressively mellow beer.

 

Brewed: 6/26/2020.  Distributed: 8/13/2020.

ABV: 5.3%   IBU: 38

Malts: Maris Otter, Flaked Wheat

Hops: Calypso

Yeast: Wyeast 2206 Bavarian Lager

Rockford Obsession

Faint floral aroma. First taste is crisp with a slight sweetness to it. Aftertaste has mild hop character that grows over time. Near zero carbonation- not sure if that’s intentional or a packaging flaw. It’s good that it’s only 4.3% ABV since it goes down so smooth.

Second can had slightly more carbonation. The increased carbonation helps perk this up.

4 out of 5 stars.

Homebrew Down in the Cellar Keller

Lots of full-flavored malt in the aroma and taste.  Not overpowering, but can’t be overlooked.  Lager malt makes it go down smooth.  A version of a beer I made before that I loved.  But this time I had to substitute my recipe’s melanoidin malt for some aromatic malt.  It came out a bit more of a nutty malt flavor than the original recipe.

 

Brewed: 6/24/2020.  Distributed: 7/22/2020.

ABV: 5.0%   IBU: 58

Malts: Pilsner, Vienna, Cara aroma, Carafa II

Hops: Hallertauer, Northern Brewer

Yeast: Wyeast 2206 Bavarian Lager

Ellison 97.1 The Ticket DDH Hazy Pale Ale

Fresh floral hop aromas with a sweet yeast tinge. Flavor is super smooth, with a full taste bud awakening, but no harsh or bitter aspects. Hops are subdued and you can detect a hint of clean maltiness, which you can’t typically detect in hazy IPAs. Very refreshing and smooth.

I first came across this on draft several months ago and feel in love. I haven’t seen it in cans/bottles until just recently.

5 out of 5 stars.

Stone IPA

I’ve had this before, but never made an official review. Reviewed here on 7/8/2020, bottled on 6/3/2020, so still fresh.

Notable aroma of hop bitterness and malt. Crisp bite of hop bitterness, decent malt flavor without caramel sweetness. Lingering hop bitterness that is notable but not overpowering. But still don’t venture here unless you definitely like hop bitterness!

4.5 out of 5 stars.

Homebrew Lockdown Lager

Not the typical lager.  Reddish/amber color and strong bready malt flavors provided by the Munich malt.  The yeast gives it a quenching punch, with little detection of hops.

 

Brewed: 6/5/2020.  Distributed: 7/7/2020.

ABV: 5.5%   IBU: 31

Malts: Munich, Brewer’s 2-row, White Wheat, Caramel 20L

Hops: Magnum, Citra, Galena

Yeast: WLP830 German Lager