Hive Door Ale (Batch 02) - Tasting

GOOD NEWS: The other evening I tasted this again - at 44 days in bottle - and the chlorophyll taste mentioned in the below review is almost gone. Not nearly as noticeable, and really, mainly only in the tail and aftertaste. I'm gonna sit'm down a bit longer and see if it doesnt disappear all together.


27 days in bottle

Appearance - 1.5 finger head, not much retention; golden ale, bronze highlights; murky with slight yeast

Smell - Grassy, hops, slight pepper, hints of honey as it warms

Taste/Mouthfeel - Nicely carbed malty intro into suddenly harsh chlorophyllesque bitterness, dispersing into hops, finally into nice sweet, peppery notes; but then after taste brings back the grassy taste - not terrible, but definitely off a bit.

Drinkability/Notes - OK batch except for the crazy chlorophyll bite; still enjoyable, but not as scrumptious as batch 01 - numerous factors I am thinking could be the cause of the off flavor. I dont think it has anything to do with not using quite as much honey as 01. Second factor would be that I used Turbinado Sugar versus Clear Belgian Candi Sugar. I dont think it's that either. I think it's the hops. "How To Brew" mentions that chlorophyll notes can come from storage issues, and also hops. I am thinking it could be that some of the hops I used were from the 01 batch (though stored in freezer) - but also, I used some different hops than the initial recipe, plus some Saaz plug I had in the freezer. That said, I also did something stupid out of my excitement, after coming home from a Christmas party one night, really wanting to take areading (knowing it almost time to rack), I tumbled the fermenter and though not much of the beer escaped, and nothing got in to contaminate, what did happen most likely, was that any hop residue that was pushed up by the fermentation probably got worked back into the brew, so when I racked it, some of the hop residue got in there as well. This is a POSSIBILITY. Outside of using different hops (b/c store didnt have all the same), this one also fermented at cooler temps (68ish) than the first run (74ish). I think this brew is more like a Saison, so it may work better at higher fermentation. Just a few thoughts. I look forward to trying it again, and matching that first run. Good thing I have good notes. Brew and learn.