Our March meeting was hosted by Pat Sullivan at his incredible home in Trumbull. Sully is an incredible host, and we were treated to a beautiful spread of food, including corned beef burnt ends that were absolutely delicious. The meeting was very well attended, and the beers were flowing throughout the evening. Eventually we settled in for the judging portion of the meeting – notes are included below.
11A – Bitter – Cam L. (38/50)
Aroma 8/12 | Appearance 3/3 | Flavor 15/20 | Mouthfeel 5/5 | Overall 7/10
Slight caramel, slight grainy note. Perhaps a light corn-y quality? Touch of sulphur. Light floral hop. Bubbles, long lasting head. Pale, clear. Upper end of bitterness, quite dry. Lacking a little bit of sweetness/malt support. Quite easy to drink. Good carbonation. Good body.
15A – Irish Red – Dave K. (25/50)
Aroma 5/12 | Appearance 2/3 | Flavor 10/20 | Mouthfeel 3/5 | Overall 5/10
Caramel, toasty… but quite a bit of a solvent note to it (nail polish remover). A touch of potato famine. Not clear, but the color is beautiful. Caramel, bitter… minerality on the finish. Nice light toast at first – really nice . Solvent character carries through to flavor. Bitterness lingers. Not very smooth. hits a lot of the right notes, but the solvent + minerality impacts the drinkability.
5D – German Pils – Mike D. (34/50)
Aroma 10/12 | Appearance 3/3 | Flavor 12/20 | Mouthfeel 3/5 | Overall 6/10
Light dry cracker, touch of honey, citrus-floral hop presence… could use a little more noble hop aroma maybe? Saaz is the dwarf planet of noble hops… like Pluto (thanks Andy!). Straw, quite clear. Very clean fermentation. Astringency? A bit aggressive. Good clean malt presentation – honey wheat bread without being sweet. Good hop presentation. Astringency definitely impacts flavor. Flinty… can we detect that? What is flinty? Astringency impacts it here too. Still quite tasty. Could be a water thing.
11B – Best Bitter – Walter (38/50)
Aroma 9/12 | Appearance 3/3 | Flavor 15/20 | Mouthfeel 3/5 | Overall 8/10
Toasty, bready. Some sulphur, but the good British kind, not that bad stuff. Light caramel/marmalade. Very British. Quite proper. Beautiful clarity. Lovely. Dry and bitter (but not overly so), but really nice malt carrying it through. Impression of sweetness, but not a sweet beer. Toffee. Nice layers of flavor. Perhaps a touch of acidity as it warms? Bitterness and sweetness run in parallel, apparently (Santi). Quite full bodied, a bit more than medium. Might be a bit too much of a beer for a best bitter. Might be better served as an ESB.
4B – Maibock – Jim L. (39/50)
Aroma 7/12 | Appearance 3/3 | Flavor 16/20 | Mouthfeel 5/5 | Overall 8/10
Love the aroma. Hops are hiding a bit of the malt presentation. A little boozy, more than just light. Gets stronger as it warms. Tea-like character. Honey-like sweetness. Gorgeous beer. Brilliantly clear. A lot going on. Rich malt, very bready. Well-attenuated, quite drinkable. Not too sweet, but gives a bit of that impression. Good carbonation, light alcohol. Really great. Hard to find places to give it to improve. Try one fewer hop pellet? – Santi
6A – Marzen – Mike D. (43/50)
Aroma 9/12 | Appearance 3/3 | Flavor 18/20 | Mouthfeel 4/5 | Overall 9/10
Smells very good. Really nice toasty malt. There’s something there that’s not malt… solvent? Some nice maliard character. Deep red. Beautiful. We like the flavor a lot. Rich malt. Paul could drink a shit load of this. Easy to drink. Sweetness doesn’t linger. Maybe the slightly bite way back in the finish. Just a beautiful beer. Great mouthfeel.
6C – Bock – Jim L. (44/50)
Aroma 10/12 | Appearance 3/3 | Flavor 17/20 | Mouthfeel 5/5 | Overall 9/10
Raisin/prune/dates… lightly supporting the malt. No real hop presence. A light touch of alcohol. Great bready malt profile. Looks like beer. Gorgeous clarity. Quiet sweet, more of the sweet dark fruits. Maybe a touch of a belgian character? Toffee, toasted bread. Could it use more malt complexity? Doesn’t finish sweet… but perhaps could be a bit more attenuated? Finish makes it really drinkable. Quiet smooth. No astringency.
C1B – Beardsley 2024 – Steve V. (33/50)
Appearance 6/6 | Bouquet/Aroma 6/10 | Flavor 14/24 | Overall 7/10
Good Apple quality… but there’s an ACV character. Not clean here… smells more like an English cider? Apple skin for sure. Fresh cut apple. Could be some oxidation, leading to some acetic acid perhaps? A little nail polish? Sharp. Slightly cloudy appearance. There’s something just weird about the fermentation (Steve V). Pleasant tartness. Not clean. Something wild here. Good tannins. Apple skins. Apple flavor is quite nice. It’s nice – but more English than a clean heirloom cider. Acidity is quite soft… MFL? Would score it a lot differently (higher!) if it was entered as an English. Quite drinkable.
28C – Apricot Sour – Andy T. (43/50)
Aroma 10/12 | Appearance 3/3 | Flavor 16/20 | Mouthfeel 5/5 | Overall 8/10
Intense aroma. Tons of fruit, some pit/spicy/cinnamon/clove notes. Definitely alcohol present. Some solvent, perhaps. Could be the alcohol? Legitimate to ask where’s the beer? Holy apricot. Dried and fresh. Sour! Dry! The apricot just shines here. A real food beer. Quite a lot going on. Hard to judge! Is it too much? It’s a style allowed to have no bubbles, much to the chagrin of Paul H.
