You read that right - a freakin’ case bitches! Nice having a birthday and a kick-ass brother who is a homebrewer. Least I can do is tell you about them.

For my birthday I received a case of Fool Circle home brew beers. 6 types, 4 of each. In the case were the following:

• IPA
• Saison
• American Brown Ale - the ABA Grand Experiment
• Peach ABA
• Amarillo Amber
• Helmut - the “Small Beer”

Go and check out Brian’s notes and comments about all of them….

OK!! you’re back! Since there are 6, these will be briefer.

IPA

The IPA was a golden amber that had the sweet, sticky hop smell that I look for. This was not a monster IPA as far as Alc% is concerned but the hop profile was aromatic and big. I like my hoppy beers to introduce themselves, get to know me, kick off their shoes. This one did just that. It was well balanced considering the amount of hops. It had the great hop “sticky” factor. That would not make sense unless you have had it. It was nice and enjoyable.

Saison

I like farmhouse ales, and this did not disappoint. I was good, but I did find the sweet to spice ratio a bit off for my taste. Perhaps it was the time since it was brewed and the flavor profile changing. It was a slower drinker for me. It warmed on the way down.

American Brown Ale - the ABA Grand Experiment

This was a project to brew to recipe and create a Brown Ale in the ABA style. It was a fine brew and very very drinkable. I like brown ales, a type that seems to be forgotten or too often compared to porters. It is not a porter. This brew was pleasant to the palate and went down very smooth. I could have a few of these. This brew has won some awards and you can tell. Of course, for the competitions, with their effort to brew to style, and Bri and Garrett’s specific work and skills, I am not surprised it has faired well.

Peach ABA

This is more of “mad scientist” brew for Brian. The idea should work and create a pleasant sweet result. Well, overall I think the brew (or what you got of it) was nice, especially the finish. I think the peach sweet came through at the end of the taste and lingered nicely on the tongue. I did have 2 out of 4 bottle of this gush when opened. Brian discusses this on his site.

believe this beer (the PABA) was ‘digged’ hard because it was a ‘gusher’. I have a theory on why the PABA has become a gusher of a beer: I feel as if I should have moved the beer to a tertiary fermenter to let the peaches completely fall clear since I peached the ABA during secondary thus voiding the potential for the effects of the secondary fermenter, and because the beer had not fallen mostly clear a significant amount of sediment was carried over to the bottles, thus giving increased nucleation sights for the carbonation to escape suspension in the beer, leading to a gusher. I feel as if this beer did not have off flavors, was not infected, and was thoroughly tested by drinking 18 of them in one night, thank you Erik & Robert.

I think it had a nice complex flavor. It seemed to taste more chocolaty than the ABA. Perhaps the peach sugars enhanced the malt profile. It reminded me of the brown ale answer to Magic Hat’s #9.

Amarillo Amber

This was my wife’s favorite,drinking 3 out of 4 of them. I thought this was well balanced and “clean” for lack of a better term. Catherine thought they were delicious and “helped” finish them rather efficiently.

Helmut - “Small Beer”

The small beer was a bastard child of his Imperial Stout brew - named Vader; thus the Helmut naming convention. I really like this brew. I mentioned to Brian that this reminded me of a “fat mild”. I like session brews and this gave the impression of that from its mouth feel and taste, though it was a tad more potent (Brian and confirm that - it may not be). It made me long for a nice “table mild” to roll through an evening and drink a whole bunch of them on cold winter night shooting the shit with friends.

There you have it! 6 FC brews - one case! I know - you are jealous.

Thanks Brian - I am happy to help get rid of extra inventory any time!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 5th, 2007 at 1:23 pm and is filed under Beer.