Gyle 14 - Triskel Pale Ale - tasting notes

I’m finding the bottles a little too carbonated upon opening, they are foaming a bit, but the yeast isn’t being thrown up, so it’s all good at the moment. 

I saw this hop for sale at a ridiculously low price for a 5kg bale, when a local brewer (@MisterJK of @QuantumBC) made mention of it on twitter. I couldn’t help myself, and it was the first bale I bought (and not the last).

As it was the first time I had even heard of this hop, I wanted to brew a single malt beer to showcase the flavours of the hop, and see what I could get from it to use in the future.  I brewed solely with 5.34kg of Marris Otter malt to get a clean wort of  1.055 initial gravity.

I bittered with 20g of Galena (12% AA) at 60, then left the boil until the 20 minute mark when I started to add the Triskel (7.3% AA).

My hopping rate was as follows;

Hops
Number	Name	Amount (g)	Alpha Acid	Time (Min)	IBU
1	Galena	20	12.0%	60	25.0
2	Triskel	15	7.3%	20	6.9
3	Triskel	15	7.3%	15	5.7
4	Triskel	25	7.3%	10	6.9
5	Triskel	35	7.3%	5	5.2
6	Triskel	45	7.3%	0	0.0
7	Triskel	100	7.3%	dryhop	0.0
8					0.0
9					0.0
10					0.0
11					0.0
12					0.0
13					0.0
14					0.0
	Total Hops:	255		Total IBU:	49.6

I think, if I am to brew this again, I will add more hops throughout the boil,

I managed to get 21.25 litres of wort into the fermenter, so not too bad, this gave me a system efficiency of 71.2%, and the attenuation efficiency of the yeast was 81% so it finished at 1.010.

The beer has a golden straw coloured body with an off-white head that lasts through the drink. Due to the over carbonation, some of the yeast did get into the glass, so it’s not as clear as it is before the bottle is opened.

The aroma is quite light, but definite hints of spices and herbs, and a sweet strawberry and caramel as well, it works well.

The initial hit on the tongue is of a creamy fruits and herb, then the bitterness hits. It’s not really a big hit, quite a clean burst of bitterness, which then dries up and leaves a tart dry mouth that makes you want to drink more.

I of course, did, I am on my second as I write this. I was going to write about another of my beers, maybe I will after this one. Who knows?