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Re: CranBeer

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akueck

akueck

Certified Mead Mentor
Certified Mead Mentor
Jun 26, 2006
4,958
11
0
Ithaca, NY
Re: CranBeer

Finally starting to slow down. Most of the fruit has fallen and activity is about 3 bpm. Beer is starting to clear to a nice purple-red. I'll let it settle down for another week, then bottle.
 
Re: CranBeer

Bottled this one last weekend. The disintegrated berries took up almost a gallon of space, we got about 4.5 gallons total. Probably the least interesting flat beer I've tasted. The berry flavors are well presented, though the first taste reminded me a bit of that grape cough syrup stuff I had as a kid. At least it's a cool red-purple color. I'll taste the first bottle in a week or so.
 
Re: CranBeer

Ok, time for first impressions, based off a not-quite-full and therefore not fully carbonated bottle:

:icon_thumleft:

It's good. Needs some more carbonation (duh), and maybe a little more time in bottle to let the fruit integrate more fully into the beer. But it's good. The aroma is awesome, tons of fresh fruity goodness. The flavor is hops and fruit, an odd combo at first but really nice once you get used to it. Not as deep of a color as I had hoped, though; it's more red than purple.

Was hoping to enter this into a competition next month, but they're not taking fruit beers (bastards!). So, there's the Alameda Co fair, entries due in April/May, that this will hopefully go to instead.
 
berry beer tasting

First official taste test: just finished my glass. It was good.

Color was dark red/purple. Nice and clear. The head was slightly purple-tinted and clung to the sides of the glass til the end.

Aroma was fresh berries plus some slight hoppiness.

Flavor was a light amber beer, some sweetness, low hops, plus strong berry flavors at the finish. The fruit flavors were juicy and fresh. Not too bad. Needs more hops maybe.

Overall, I liked it. Very refreshing and light. Good for those warm March days, but perhaps better for the summer. I'll definitely try fruit beer again. Next time I'll try to avoid the explosions though.
 
Re: CranBeer

Sent it to the fair for judging. Came back a 27.5. The judges liked the appearance (good color, clarity, and head retention) and thought it was well-balanced. The main complaint was some sourness (acetic acid). Next time, I'll be sure to not let it blow up and sit open overnight. :-\
 
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