Final Tastings

 

Kitchen Sink IPA (Ustrzycki©2023)

After many long weeks, my beer is finally ready for tasting. Kitchen Sink IPA is ready to go. The project was definitely a success and the proof of this is in the headache that I am rocking on a Wednesday morning after sampling a wee too much of it last night.

I wanted to approach the review of my beer as subjectively as possible. It's really hard to get feedback on homebrewed beer because everyone wants to be nice and say it's amazing. Most of the time, the feedback I received was shock that I created a good beer. Of course, I created a good beer because I wouldn't serve you a bad beer. To evaluate my beer, I wanted to compare it to one of my favourite beers, Lone Pine IPA from Sawdust City. This would allow me to use a commercial example to see how my beer is stacked up.

Kitchen Sink IPA (left) vs. Lone Pine IPA (right) (Ustrzycki©2023)

Appearance:

Kitchen Sink IPA: 

My beer was burnished gold in colour and had a fluffy, off-white head which lasted long after Lone Pine's had subsided. The clarify was fairly cloudy but not hazy.

Lone Pine IPA:

Lone Pine was light gold in colour with a white head which faded quickly. It was much clearer than might but not brilliant and had a slight cloudiness to it.

Aroma:

Kitchen Sink IPA: 

My beer had a strong aroma of grapefruit with mango and pineapple notes. My wife said it smelled like a tropical vacation although I thought it leaned too much towards the melon-like smell for my liking. There were some light graham cracker notes from the malt but they were far less than the hop aromas.

Lone Pine IPA:

Although this is one of my favourite beers, I was shocked by how bad this smelled in comparison to my own. It gave off dank pine notes but had a rich malt balance to it. It was well-balanced but my wife said it smelled like old socks.

Flavour:

Kitchen Sink IPA: 

My beer had a strong hop flavour which overpowered the slight caramel malt notes. The bitterness was pronounced and lasted long after drinking. I definitely need to tone down those hops.

Lone Pine IPA:

Lone Pine has a strong hop flavour and a nice graham cracker balance. The bitterness was pleasant and wasn't too overwhelming but lingered through the finish.

Overall Impressions

Overall, my beer was excellent for something I brewed in my basement. It was something that I would gladly serve to my friends. However, it did have its faults. I definitely overdid it on the hops and I should probably tone it down next time. I'd probably use half the amount of hops in all aspects of the boil. I think that would give balance to the beer. Also, I might change the aroma hops up a bit. It was good but not exactly what I was looking for. I kind of like Lone Pine's smelly sock aroma so I might try to replicate that a bit (but not too much). 

In conclusion, I think that this is a hobby that I might do more often. Although it was a labour of love and I needed to do a lot of waiting, it was a great mix of art and science. I can definitely see myself doing more of this. There's a long way to go until I am perfect and there are so many great beer styles that I'd like to try. I look forward to experimenting more.