I'm going for a blueberry cheesecake sort of flavor profile on my 2018 Xmas beer. With fruit flavored beers, I've noticed that it takes more than I'd expect to get flavor contribution, so I'm going to make my own puree from frozen fruit, adding 8lbs to this. The idea is to let this age for quite some time to reduce any overbearing flavors. We shall see.
Grains: Pale ale for base, Victory for bready component, Special B for raisin flavor, oats for body, carapils for additional density, roasted barley for coffee, chocolate for chocolate, lactose for body, brown sugar for points
Hops: Hopshot for bitterness, Mt Hood for flavor and aroma
Yeast: Wyeast 1056 as I have this on hand
Water Profile: Black full
Pours minimal head that dissipates quickly, color reminds me of Coca-Cola. Aroma is cranberry juice and fruit cake, slight bit of toasted bread. Flavor is quite strong sweet fruit, Sherry like flavor that has cherry and blueberry components that has an undertone of toasted wheat bread and ends with a little bit of alcohol. Body is a bit thinner than I wanted and there is a little bit of nucleation sharpness. Overall, the beer is very Christmas-y because of the Sherry flavor that has developed. I'm not sure if I had this in mind, and it may just be this bottle that has oxidized a bit to create these flavors. 4 stars for the complexity and Sherry flavor while still having some blueberry there, but perhaps being oxidized.
Pours almost no head but a ring of foam remains. Color is black but slightly red hued when held to the light. Aroma is gingerbread with a roasty malt. Flavor is blueberry and creamy malt with a definite spice presence, followed by a sweet crust flavor, ending with a breath of sweet malt. There is no alcohol presence. I would say that there is blueberry cheesecake flavor, though the spice flavor is a little out of place perhaps. This is a great Christmas beer, what I envisioned, so I'll give it 5 stars for that reason. I do enjoy the flavor of this one a lot.
Pours 1 finger of foam with a tan head. Color is black but slightly red hued when held to the light. Aroma is gingerbread with a roasty malt. Flavor is blueberry and creamy malt with a definite spice presence, followed by a woody, roasty alcohol note, ending with a breath of sweet malt. The alcohol is not fusel, just present, by which I mean I taste it but there's no warming really. The flavor is very complex. I would say this has gotten much better with age as the coffee flavor from the roasted barley has dissipated and left this as a fantastic beer. This is really a 5 star beer as it has achieved what I was hoping for.
Pours very dark brown to the point of being black, very little head. Aroma is roasted malt, coffee, cinnamon spice with some ginger, and some fruity tartness that could be blueberry. Flavor is sweet malt, followed by spice and sweet fruit, ending with a creamy and toasty breath. Body is heavy but not too rich, not like gravy. This is a very Christmas-y beer, though I wouldn't say that I quite achieved a really strong blueberry cheesecake flavor. There's no question that it is a dessert beer but it's missing something from being truly exceptional. I'll go 4 stars for now and, hopefully, waiting 6 more months yields more interesting flavor.
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We shall see.\n\nGrains: Pale ale for base, Victory for bready component, Special B for raisin flavor, oats for body, carapils for additional density, roasted barley for coffee, chocolate for chocolate, lactose for body, brown sugar for points\n\nHops: Hopshot for bitterness, Mt Hood for flavor and aroma\n\nYeast: Wyeast 1056 as I have this on hand\n\nWater Profile: Black full","ImageUrlRoot":null,"StyleId":"20B","StyleName":"American Stout","BatchSize":5.5,"BoilSize":7,"BoilTime":90,"Efficiency":0.67,"DateCreated":"\/Date(1518110763227)\/","BrewSessionCount":1,"MostRecentBrewSession":11309,"Og":1.091315,"Fg":1.03013395,"Srm":40.16261209720836,"Ibu":62.1482997469654,"BgGu":0.68059245191880169,"Abv":7.89235545,"Calories":323,"AverageRating":4.25,"TastingNoteCount":4,"Fermentables":[{"Per":"49","Amt":"10","Ppg":"37","L":"4","Use":"Mash","Id":"260246","IngId":"570","Name":"Pale Ale - US","CustomName":"","Rank":"1"},{"Per":"10","Amt":"2","Ppg":"34","L":"28","Use":"Mash","Id":"260247","IngId":"35","Name":"Victory Malt - US","CustomName":"","Rank":"2"},{"Per":"10","Amt":"2","Ppg":"30","L":"180","Use":"Mash","Id":"260684","IngId":"161","Name":"Special B - BE","CustomName":"","Rank":"3"},{"Per":"10","Amt":"2","Ppg":"37","L":"1","Use":"Mash","Id":"260248","IngId":"152","Name":"Flaked Oats - US","CustomName":"","Rank":"4"},{"Per":"5","Amt":"1","Ppg":"33","L":"1","Use":"Mash","Id":"261995","IngId":"505","Name":"Carapils - Dextrine Malt - US","CustomName":"","Rank":"5"},{"Per":"1","Amt":"0.25","Ppg":"25","L":"300","Use":"Mash","Id":"260249","IngId":"51","Name":"Roasted Barley - US","CustomName":"","Rank":"6"},{"Per":"1","Amt":"0.25","Ppg":"34","L":"425","Use":"Mash","Id":"260250","IngId":"507","Name":"Chocolate - UK","CustomName":"","Rank":"7"},{"Per":"5","Amt":"1","Ppg":"41","L":"1","Use":"Late","Id":"260251","IngId":"545","Name":"Lactose - Milk Sugar - US","CustomName":"","Rank":"8"},{"Per":"5","Amt":"1","Ppg":"46","L":"10","Use":"Late","Id":"260252","IngId":"63","Name":"Brown Sugar - US","CustomName":"","Rank":"9"},{"Per":"5","Amt":"1","Ppg":"0","L":"0","Use":"Mash","Id":"260321","IngId":"116","Name":"Rice Hulls - US","CustomName":"","Rank":"10"}],"Hops":[{"Amt":"0.5","Type":"Pellet","Use":"Boil","Min":"60","Day":"0","AA":"25","Ibu":"29.7951535539075","Id":"278009","IngId":"116","Name":"HopShot","CustomName":"","Rank":"1"},{"Amt":"2","Type":"Pellet","Use":"Boil","Min":"30","Day":"0","AA":"6","Ibu":"21.9823813769632","Id":"278010","IngId":"20","Name":"Mt. Hood ","CustomName":"","Rank":"2"},{"Amt":"2","Type":"Pellet","Use":"Boil","Min":"10","Day":"0","AA":"6","Ibu":"10.3707648160947","Id":"278011","IngId":"20","Name":"Mt. Hood ","CustomName":"","Rank":"3"},{"Amt":"2","Type":"Pellet","Use":"FlameOut","Min":"0","Day":"0","AA":"6","Ibu":"0","Id":"278025","IngId":"20","Name":"Mt. Hood ","CustomName":"","Rank":"4"}],"Yeasts":[{"Atten":"0.67","Id":"72948","IngId":"193","Name":"Wyeast American Ale 1056","CustomName":"","Rank":"1"}],"Others":[{"Amt":"0","Unit":"each","Use":"Mash","Id":"50756","IngId":"12","Name":"Gypsum","CustomName":"","Rank":"1"},{"Amt":"0","Unit":"each","Use":"Mash","Id":"50758","IngId":"16","Name":"Lactic Acid","CustomName":"","Rank":"2"},{"Amt":"0","Unit":"each","Use":"Boil","Id":"50754","IngId":"29","Name":"Yeast Nutrient","CustomName":"","Rank":"3"},{"Amt":"1","Unit":"each","Use":"Boil","Id":"50738","IngId":"6692","Name":"Whirlfloc Tablet","CustomName":"","Rank":"4"},{"Amt":"2","Unit":"tsp","Use":"FlameOut","Id":"50739","IngId":"11","Name":"Ginger","CustomName":"","Rank":"5"},{"Amt":"1","Unit":"tbsp","Use":"FlameOut","Id":"50740","IngId":"7048","Name":"Pumpkin Pie Spice","CustomName":"","Rank":"6"},{"Amt":"8","Unit":"lb","Use":"Secondary","Id":"50755","IngId":"7933","Name":"Blueberry Puree","CustomName":"","Rank":"7"},{"Amt":"0","Unit":"each","Use":"Mash","Id":"51028","IngId":"7407","Name":"Baking Soda","CustomName":"","Rank":"8"},{"Amt":"0","Unit":"each","Use":"Mash","Id":"51029","IngId":"6511","Name":"Salt (NaCl)","CustomName":"","Rank":"9"},{"Amt":"2","Unit":"each","Use":"Primary","Id":"51262","IngId":"37","Name":"Vanilla Bean","CustomName":"","Rank":"10"}],"MashSteps":[{"Heat":"Infusion","Temp":"156","Time":"60","Id":"36576","IngId":"9","Name":"Saccharification Rest","CustomName":"","Rank":"1"}],"Steps":[{"Id":"84031","Rank":"1","Text":"Mash with 7.5 gallons with 4.5g gypsum and 2.25 baking soda"},{"Id":"84032","Rank":"2","Text":"Sparge with 2.5 gallons with 1.5g gypsum, 0.65g NaCl, and 1.1mL Lactic"},{"Id":"84033","Rank":"3","Text":"Double the yeast nutrient"},{"Id":"84023","Rank":"4","Text":"Lactose and Brown Sugar will be put in last 10 minutes of boil"},{"Id":"84022","Rank":"5","Text":"Spices go in during whirpool"},{"Id":"84034","Rank":"6","Text":"Oxygenate for 1 min and again 12 hours post-pitch"},{"Id":"84035","Rank":"7","Text":"Integrate blueberry made from frozen fruit when racking to secondary"}]}
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