I recently completed my first cross-country homebrew trade, with Brandon who writes the Thirsty Zymurgist blog. I was pretty nervous to send my brews cross country to Oregon to be tried by someone I’d never met before, but I figured it was good practice for the Iron Brewer tasting coming up next week; what the heck!

Brandon sent me three of his homebrews to try; a Tripel, a Black IPA and an IPA – First up was the tripel.

Pours a lovely amber gold colour into the glass with a fantastic creamy head that holds up really well. It left very pretty lacing down the inside of the glass as I downed it A little on the hazy side for the style, but great carbonation. Nose held some notes of banana, spicy Clove and a little black pepper. Light on the hops, quite floral and perfumy (delicious!), with a sweetness to it.

Taste started out with some orangey citrus; paired with the sweetness of the malt, it’s almost reminiscent of marmalade on hot toast! Black pepper is there as well, balancing out any sweetness with some spicy. Great carbonation – perfect for the style, even after being bounced across the country by UPS! Nice hop bitterness on the back end. Mouthfeel was great, with a medium body that was rounded and creamy. Hides alcohol well, I could drink a tonne of this!

Yesterday I tried the American IPA. Pours a medium gold, with another deliciously fluffy looking off-white head. Leaves amazing lacing! Nice and clear, with only a teensy bit of haze.

Starts off with a wallop of piney hops on the nose; when I say wallop, I really mean it! I could barely detect anything else, although there is definitely a complementary grapefruit aroma as well. Not much in the way of malt yet.

Brandon, these were both delicious, well-crafted brews! I’m really excited to try the Black IPA later this week Thank you!