24th of November 2009 - Barley Wine
8 people in attendance, Sara
brought up the question of how we should go about hooking up with the Oxford
Brewers. We generally agreed that we should do this but we would have to
ensure we had the right location and time. Possibly we could host a night
at the Queens and the Oxford Club could host a night later in the year.
As far as the beer went; 1 lager, 1 Belgian, 1 pale ale and a bitter leading the way to 6 Barley Wines. Michael brought his Reading Ale which was fermented with Nottingham but half the batch was secondary fermented with Brettanomyces. The difference between the two halves of the batch was incredible. The Brett beer was so much better balanced, better conditioned and, overall, better presented. There wasn't the expected "horse blanket" in the Brett beer but there was definitely a subtle sourness that balanced the beer beautifully.
As far as the beer went; 1 lager, 1 Belgian, 1 pale ale and a bitter leading the way to 6 Barley Wines. Michael brought his Reading Ale which was fermented with Nottingham but half the batch was secondary fermented with Brettanomyces. The difference between the two halves of the batch was incredible. The Brett beer was so much better balanced, better conditioned and, overall, better presented. There wasn't the expected "horse blanket" in the Brett beer but there was definitely a subtle sourness that balanced the beer beautifully.