I really built this 100% Brett Drie/ 100% Nelson Hopped beer up in my head and I think it lived up to the hype. I was so excited about it that I gave it to several people to try, plus I poured it for a QUAFF meeting to all the members. It got very mixed reviews, but I think mostly because people were expecting tradition Brett flavors from the beer. I tried to explain how this was a primary fermented Brett beer and the yeast performs differently than when used in secondary. It was the last beer poured at the meeting so attention spans were limited. I am going to have another group of homebrew friends over on June 9th to get their opinions (if you read this and want to come email me, I'll be sharing a lot of beers written about from the last 2 years).
Throughout fermentation this beer was giving off great smelling tropical fruit flavors. My initial comment about smelling like POG (Passion Orange Guava) was dead on. And once I dry-hopped the keg with Nelson hops the flavors were even more intensified. I just kept venting the keg so I could smell it. The one issue I had with this beer was clarity. The Brett did not want to flocculate out of suspension. I cold crashed the primary keg and transferred to another keg. At that point I added some gelatin to help get better clarity and after the 4 or 5 beers then it started looking very nice (as shown in the pic above). I also think it helped to sharpen the flavors and got rid of a bit of hop astringency. See me detailed review below.
I will definitely be making more of these beers throughout the year and try new hop flavors and malt grists with my house Brett Drie strain.
Throughout fermentation this beer was giving off great smelling tropical fruit flavors. My initial comment about smelling like POG (Passion Orange Guava) was dead on. And once I dry-hopped the keg with Nelson hops the flavors were even more intensified. I just kept venting the keg so I could smell it. The one issue I had with this beer was clarity. The Brett did not want to flocculate out of suspension. I cold crashed the primary keg and transferred to another keg. At that point I added some gelatin to help get better clarity and after the 4 or 5 beers then it started looking very nice (as shown in the pic above). I also think it helped to sharpen the flavors and got rid of a bit of hop astringency. See me detailed review below.
I will definitely be making more of these beers throughout the year and try new hop flavors and malt grists with my house Brett Drie strain.