Styrian Bitter tasting

If you want bright, punchy, "juicy" hops, look elsewhere. This beer isn't for you. But if you like hop flavor and bitterness and easy drinking beer, this is the one for you.

I brewed it on December 17, 2017, using the yeast cake from my brown ale. The brown ale was exceptionally clear after sitting in the fermenter since November 10 and I think the yeast sort of went dormant. Normally when I pitch fresh wort onto a yeast cake, the yeast starts fermenting it immediately. This one took close to 24 hours before things were really up and running. Initially there was a really odd fermentation as well. A krausen wasn't forming. Instead, the bubbles were floating to the surface and immediately dissipating, sort of like pouring soda. I got so worried that I impatiently pulled a sample with my thief and tasted it. Nothing wrong so I let it go. And a few hours later there was a normal creamy thick krausen on top. And I also had to install a blow off tube because it was seeping through the airlock.

I'm not sure how I thought of this beer. Perhaps I had read about Styrian Goldings somewhere and thought I'd try them? Whatever the thought process behind choosing the hops, the resultant beer is quite good, and I'm glad I used them.

It's not easy to describe the flavor. Some beers have flavors that are readily describable, others not so much. I've even heard of some hops tasting like chocolate. That's an interesting one. This one certainly doesn't taste like chocolate. What does it taste like? Maybe tea. Herbs. Grassiness. Maybe just the slightest flavor of lemon or orange juice.

Either way, they work well with in this beer, which is a real joy to drink. That was probably helped by the low ABV. The OG was 1.042. It was actually 1.046-48, but I added two 16 ounce bottles of water to the wort before pitching yeast (pitch #3 from the 1469 smack pack that fermented my ESB and Brown ale). FG was 1.014, probably owing to a mash temp in the 160s. I didn't intend to mash that high, but really didn't feel like waiting around with my cooler uncovered for it to cool off. According to Brewer's Friend, that calculates to a 3.68% ABV. This has to be the lowest alcohol beer I've ever brewed.

That's fine, though, because it makes it really drinkable. It's not thin. Good aroma, which matches the taste. Though sometimes I feel like I can detect a bit of funk in the aroma. When I kegged it, I noticed that some of the bubbles on the surface looked a little "dry," as if they were trapped below a thin surface of pellicle or something. Just to be safe, I went ahead and got a new smack pack of 1469 for the stout I brewed the same day.

Again, a really tasty beer and it seems like one I could call my flagship pale ale. I just love that it doesn't slam you in the face with bitterness, hop flavor, and sweetness. Yet it's not bland either. Just a really tasty, solid beer and a reminder that I need to keep brewing more session beers.

One other thing, the maris otter. I'm not sure if I can really pick it up or not. Sometimes, if I try it after it's warmed up a bit, I think I'm detecting some grainy, biscuity flavor that I assume Maris Otter tastes like, but I'm really not sure. I might have to make this one again with regular 2 row and see how it turns out. I had thought about doing a smash, but I didn't find the idea of a golden pale beer appealing this time. I've made a ton of those beers in my career and have ignore crystal malts during much of that time. It's time for a comeback!

Recipe:

5 gallons

7 lbs Maris Otter
.5 Crystal 60

1 oz Styrian Goldings (4% AA) at 60
1 oz SG at 30

Wyeast 1469.

This post has sat in my drafts for going on a year. This beer is long gone. I'm not even sure if I have any photos of it. It was a nice beer though. However, I brought it to a bottle share and I think only one person tried it. Homebrew -- at least a modest English bitter featuring restrained hops -- versus IPAs, sours, stouts and whatever else is all the rage is sadly not going to win out.