Homebrew Review #1: "IBU-tiful"

Since I'm doing the whole local brewing scene, I thought I'd share a review of most recent homebrew: "IBU-tiful," which is an IBU-tiful learning experience, if nothing more. This is only my second homebrewed batch, so I was not expecting a whole. I won't bore you with the details of how we brewed it, the recipe or the mistakes made and laughs enjoyed, so here's my review:

Stock Photo of IBU-tiful: 3/6/2014 (not the sample reviewed)

Appearance (2): Way over-carbonated (seemingly). Poured into pint glass, carefully and slowly. 3 inch head of cream/beige color. The head on this beer does not disappear. Three minutes after pouring and it’s still two inches thick. Opaque, lighter amber to rustic brown color.
   The beer itself isn’t ugly, but the head retention has created a pile of clumped foam in the beer that is extremely unpleasant to look at…

Aroma (3.5): bready sweet malts, faint hop scent of spicey, piney, earthy variety.

Flavor (3.75): Bitter up front. The sweeter malts (are not present)/give way to fruity hops: tropical, some pineapple notes. At the back of the palate the malt sweetness returns and leaves a temporary lingering of a nicely balanced malt/hop effect. The scent and flavor do not match very well. Perhaps this has to do with the aroma hopping of Fuggle, which is very distinctly different from the bittering/flavoring hops we used (Warrior, Simcoe, Amarillo).

Mouthfeel (3): Carbonated, but not as much as one would anticipate prior to tasting (based on head retention). After letting it sit for a few minutes, the bubbling ceased. However, it is certainly over-carbonated for an IPA.

Overall (2.75): Not sure what to think here. The first few I had, when fresh, were delicious. They were overpoweringly bitter up front, but finished smoothly with notes of pineapple and citrus fruits. The malts weren’t as noticeable, which allowed the hops to really shine through.
This beverage is about a month older and has lost a lot of hop character (as expected) but is far from what I tasted awhile back. It’s not necessarily terrible, but I’m not exactly as proud of it as I was a few weeks ago: Drink Fresh if brewed again.

Perhaps I’m being a bit harsh here as others have enjoyed it and this is only the second batch. I really enjoyed it fresh, but I’m having doubts now. Looking forward to the next batch. Lots to learn from and to look toward the future.

Averaged out, my second batch of homebrew receives a 3.00. This isn’t terrible, but I’m sure there is a tad bit of bias here. The biggest lesson learned is how to approach bittering, flavoring, and scenting hops.

I still have some left to share, if you’d like one and I’ll be seeing you soon, let me know.
Cheers and thanks for reading,

KevBot