Last Three Beers from Ted

One of the best things about having this blog has been being able to connect with homebrewers across the country. Last year when I started this blog, one of the first blogs I came across was Ted's. In fact I had doubts early on if I wanted to do this blogging thing, but stumbling across some excellent blogs inspired me to keep at. I loved the great pics on Ted's blog, the detailed accounts of his adventures in brewing, and the variety of experimenting he did in his brewing, which I could relate to.
It was great to be able to exchange some beers with him. I was humbled by his reviews of my beers, and it was helpful to get some constructive feedback on some improvements I could make to my own beers.
With that being said, before going onto the reviews, I have to say that Ted's beers were outstanding. The detailed and meticulous notes on his site, are clearly reflected in his brewing. It impresses me when a brewer can nail both a "common" style, like his Brown Ale, and a more experimental beer like his outstanding Wild Blue. While I feel confident in my own brewing, I'm always looking to get better and Ted's beers are certainly inspiration for that. Check out my reviews of his first three here. I digress...onto the final reviews.
Nut Brown 2- I wrote in my notes: "Once again perfection as I've come to expect in Ted's beers." This brown ale pours a dark brown with ruby red highlights and a two finger tan head. Wonderful sweet, malty aromas with hints of chocolate and caramel. At first, great sweet caramel flavors followed by some nice nuttiness and chocolate tones. Just a solid nut brown ale, great carbonation and mouthfeel. Once again, a spot on brew.
Columbus IPA- While a lot of IPAs can start to blend together, this IPA separates itself with wonderful hop flavors and almost honey like sweetness. It pours a dark honey gold with a thick two finger light tan head. A citrus nose with honey and sweet aromas. Perfect mouthfeel, soft and and slightly creamy. Right away you notice the nice sweet hop flavor, not overly citrusy, but almost honey sweet. There is some nice bitterness, but it is quickly replaced by some nice caramel hints and a great syrupy-honey sweetness from the hops. Another flawless beer from Ted, sweet with delicate hop flavors, but nothing overdone or out of place. I could drink a lot of this beer!
Old Ale- This is a style of beer I've never had before, so I went into this with literally no expectations. This beer pours a muddy brown color, reminiscent of iced tea. A great sweet, fruity aroma with quite a bit of wild yeasitness present. My first thought was... interesting. Fizzy carbonation gives it some crispness in the finish. Light in body, but a great complex array of flavors. There's sourness, but nothing overwhelming, funky yeastiness, and quite a bit of fruit. Fruit flavors such as apricot, plum, raisin, as well as tamarind are present throughout. A very sweet beer, but has a nice smooth finish and is very well balanced. While it's not a beer I could drink regularly, it's so well crafted, nicely balanced and complex that it's impressive in its own right.

It was fun exchanging beers with Ted. The complexity and balance in Ted's beers, both in his experimental and more common beers, are on par with anything I could buy commercially. It gives me a good bar to set for myself. Hopefully we can do it again in the future.

More to come...
Salud!
Bearded Brewer