Homebrew Wednesday - PyotrSidwell

I've never blogged about other peoples beer before, usually as I don't think my palate is good enough to find all the various aromas and flavours that other people seem to be able to find with pinpoint accuracy in the beers they blog about.

But, I had the pleasure of being included in a Homebrew Wednesday beer blog post by the brilliant @broadfordbrewer a few weeks ago, so thought it only proper to pay the idea forward to @PyotrSidwell of unfocusedbrewing with this beer.

Peter Sidwell is a member of the same homebrew group in Manchester that I am, and we do, on occasion, give each other bottles to taste. Both for simple enjoyment, and also for a hint of feedback. This is the most I've ever done, so forgive me Peter.

The beer is called Quintus, and it is labeled to be a 6.5% ABV 5 hopped, Hop-hazed IPA which gives the hops as being;

Cascade

Delta

Crystal

Willamette

Citra

So, a decent lashing of nice juicy hops that should work well into the style of flavours that I do so enjoy drinking.

I poured out the beer and I got a decent burnt orange, bordering on red beer with a very light and fluffy head.

It said that it was a hop-hazed beer, but I was quite impressed at how clear it was (and haze seen in the photo was due to the use of a flash on my phone, not so much the beer). The aroma from the glass was that of a decent US style pale ale, with definite cascade and citra vying for some amount of dominance, though that could be as I had been with my hands in some cascade and 366 earlier in the evening. There was also a nice back end hit in the aroma of some sweet alcohol and a touch of crystal malt. Really nice and enjoyable.

The flavour started out as a sweet fruit salad with a mid tongue creamyness such as you'd get from a strawberry and cream, or rhubarb and custard boiled sweet. This then followed onto the rear of the tongue (that would probably have something to do with fluid mechanics, and the flow of the liquid following the direction away from it's source, and along the path of least resistance) and gave a rather tasty sherberty bitterness at the back of the tongue before being finally swallowed up.

This beer had an interesting effect, post swallow, that I've only experienced with a few beers that use a shit load of hops, and are still pretty darn fresh. At the tip of the tongue, and on the lips, it felt quite dry and lip smacking. At the rear of the tongue, to each cheek, it felt like I had just eaten a really big, juicy fruit, such as a mango, and could still feel the juicy fleshy texture.

I'm not sure how good that is as a beer review, I hope it doesn't put anybody off drinking beer. To be honest, that's probably as near as I can get to putting down into words what I experience when drinking beer.