Blind Taste Test on my first batch vs...

saw and bought the new full sail FS pub series ("nut brown ale") today. i've always liked full sail because they seem under the radar (in Oklahoma), as far as bars and restaurants are concerned, but they deliver bottles that are affordable and somehow, at the same time, variant and medium-high abv. like the last one i had was a darker lager that was 7% and delicious to a "meh" lager guy (me). so i'll buy any limited release from full sail, even if it says "we fermented full bedpans and bottled them."

anyway, i picked up their new "nut" brown today, first time i'd seen it. i chilled one for me and one for my wife. we poured it. smelled it. its nose was exactly like my first batch ever (a "nut" brown), which kind of creeped me out, 'cause i didn't follow the recipe. i added molasses, a little more hops at varying points, a pinch more grain...

so it, the full sail "nut brown ale," also TASTED very similar to my brown. my wife said ours tasted better. whatever, she's my wife, and she's not quite as obsessive about beer as i am, though she appreciates it equally. she would tell me if something sucked, and she pointed out that my brown was "better."

i took my last bottle of brown, which i had promised to a friend/bartender, along with a bottle of the full sail brown. we had a blind taste test. three out of three preferred mine. keep in mind that these are people who have hounded me to save them a bottle of my first batch because they know beer.

anyway, the full sail brown was lackluster compared to their usual 90 day ltd brews, but it feels good for my first batch of beer to be liked so much. my RIS is maturing well, too, but this makes me feel like i'm doing the right thing - being new but intuitive, deviating from the first recipes, feeling out what i want or what someone else thinks they want me to brew and then making a beer they'll like more.

anyway, my first five gallon batch has unanimously beaten the new full sail brown in a tiny, blind taste test. hope this post hasn't been too vague or redundant. it feels good.

oh, in primary i have my first recipe of my own. it was secondary rack-thirty a couple days ago, but i'm feeling it out. if this is anything like cooking food, i'm not sweating it. i think my intuition is good, but soon, when i upgrade, i'll have to be more disciplined, adhering to processes, etc. but for now, this is outrageous fun.

your brown ale was probably not shipped from oregon and left to set on the liquor store shelf for months before it was cooled quickly and drank. i would lean towards the freshness of the homebrewed brown ale being the "better" factor. being a fellow okie i can attest to the handling/shipping of our beers as a big problem. we are limited on selection because many companies will not ship their product warm, so we are left to choose from the few that will jump through the asanine shipping hoops. if you are looking for good beer in the tulsa area, check out Bier Garten in jenks near the riverwalk. they carry every beer that can legally ship into our state. its a great spot! at any rate, keep up the good work and good luck with your upgrade.

Glad your beer stands the test. Blind testing should help prevent the usual bias people have with their own or friends' brews.
Sorry you have to deal with poorly stored/shipped beer in OK. Makes a big difference.
Full Sail isn't anywhere near the best Oregon has to offer (their standard brews are 'meh' and they're generally looked at as okay in Oregon, they contract brew some crappy beers for BMC too), but at least they have something you liked. As you noted, their seasonals are much better than their standard beers.

is that freddy pimpin' biergarten? anyway, i bet full sail also didn't use a turkey fryer with aluminum brew kettle, it probably wasn't their first batch, and it's one of the "only available for 90 days" ones. my beer has now been bottled for about 55 days and stored at variant but room temperature-ish, well, temperatures. and it has only gotten better each sequential time i've drank it.

also, it's winter. full sail's beer was clearly not shipped in high temps. but go ahead, try poo on my pride party. anyway, i'm aware that shipping and storage cooling issues in OK are something people think is a thing, but i'm pretty skeptical and have yet to hear evidence that it's a major factor. hell, look at texas - they keep some of their beer chilled at stores and have some warm, on display. i like to call the pansy breweries who won't ship here because of chilling laws "cinderella beers" (i'm looking at you, new belgium.). so... if fat tire stays out until midnight, it turns into pauper? does that sound like a good beer to begin with? although, if you're right, maybe that's why there's such a notable difference between liquor store red stripe/blvd/blue moon/modelo, etc than gas station (sarcasm). most of those "3.2" beers end up being closer to regular strength than many people think when you consider the abv/abw formula or whatever (3.2 abw is roughly supposed to translate to 4 abv).

to the second guy, i really don't think we have it so bad here. "waaaah, i have to wait half an hour to drink my beer!" give me a break. buy a half pint of crown maple to sip while you wait for it to chill. oh, and dude, i know there are better breweries in oregon. i know some people are rogue haters, but they make some of my favorite beers. and caldera's amber is neck-and-neck for my favorite amber with COOP ale works' (OKC) native amber (and COOP has to deal with our sludgy wasteland hillbilly storage!)

in short, i don't think i was that careful with temperature control during fermentation or once bottled as the first guy suggested to have an edge over full sail's beer. i don't think it's a "fresh vs. prolonged storage" issue either, for the reasons i said above and the fact that i'd bet my brown would be even better in april or may were there some left.

BenAgee, you sound like a nice guy. My post was not nasty and you came back with a bad attitude, sorry you must be having a bad day.
It was your fellow Okie who mentioned bad storage/shipping conditions but I would have to agree. Temperature in trucks and in stores, as well as UV from sun and fluourescent bulbs is rough on beer freshness.
If you look around/search threads you will see how many other people think that they brew better than the pros and are one step away from opening their own brewery. You are sounding a lot like those folks here. Just a natural thing for new brewers.
Glad you and your friends enjoy your beer, and you are enthusiastic about brewing. Keep it up.
For more feedback and pride you should enter some competitions.
What are you going to make next?

i feel a little embarrassed. i wasn't being nasty toward anyone, more being self-conscious and defensive about the "freshness" thing. however, the way i apparently came off was a result of my almost schizophrenic (actually ADD, but i pretty much only get online when i'm home from work, and i've had a drink or more, which kinda cancels out my meds) method of expressing my thoughts when my mind is racing. i do feel strongly about the exaggeration people seem to think regarding storage/shipping, but that wasn't directed at you guys, more so the phenomenon of people fixating on something i think is next to negligible. anyway, my thought process writes my posts, and it's kind of broken. so i apologize for any confusion or negativity perceived. i am well aware of and admit to being in the excited stage of a new brewer phenomenon, but i have no delusions that My brewery will ever open. i feel myself getting toward those thoughts sometimes and immediately fart in their faces and ground myself. but it is a lot to think about, so you kinda just have to filter those thoughts for realism purposes. anyway, sorry for ADD posting, no harm intended. i also noticed a typo (word left out) from my last post, so my ADD is reeeeally in the doghouse with my OCD.

Hey, we've all been there as new brewers and excited/proud/amazed about making good beer. With time you'll improve and refine your process and realize how much better your beers get compared to your first ones. Keep working on improving your beers so you and your family&friends can enjoy the fruits of your labor. Luckily on this website we can all socialize around the hobby and share knowledge to help improve our brews.

yeah, man, a lot of the stuff i learned researching was from these forums, before i was even a member. i know it's probably just a pipe dream, but i'm a 32 year old bartender with two degrees and two children. i feel like a lot of these guys who have been homebrewing for like thirty years probably had "careers" before they started brewing or at least knew what they wanted to do with their lives. if i could get a job making beer or even being a rep, i'd be happy. so no, i've never for a moment gone beyond the "jeez wouldn't it be cool to brew commercially" stage of excitement. but i do think oklahoma's a good market for new boutique beer, and working at restaurants you make some friends who have money and want you to succeed, because they're genuinely your friends. definitely not holding my breath, though. i don't feel right taking friends' money for a potential failed business venture, even if they don't care whether they make their money back. bottling oak chip RIS, maker's oak chip RIS, and crown maple (best liquor ever made. seriously, boners, yes multiple, just thinking about it.) oak chip RIS in like ten hours! wooooooooooooo!

<----not freddy

but i do appreciate the work he does in bringing the best beer we can get to a storefront for me to purchase. i will gladly give bier garten a shout out anytime i talk to a beer enthusiast that lives in the tulsa area. you seem to come off extremely defensive in your replies. not sure where anyone poo'd on your pride party, but you sound like a total nutjob. I will leave this horrible thread to die in agony...

haha, okay. i do sound like a nutjob sometimes, i'll admit. i could tell you were not freddy after i thought about the stuff in your post. felt bad for discrediting him by even entertaining the possibility he would say such BS.

one guy's responses to this make me feel insecure in different ways. i'll always put, up front, that i'm an idiot about most things. i am intentionally being as racy as my ocd allows, and you wouldn't believe the drugs they give to non-clinically diagnosed folks. honest folks. folks like you and me. anyway, the consistency of great beers i've made has made me cock-sure, assuming i learn all the chemistry stuff really fast. but for you, rest assured that you made me insecure to the point that i will do everything even more obsessively than i was predisposed. yes, "nutjob" doesn't begin to describe me. i probably suck.

anyway, you're obviously local, and we started weak foot forward, so teach me some stuff.

BenAgee - would you care to share your recipe with a fellow Okie (Durant, born and raised) now in NorCal? I actually love the Full Sail Nut Brown and have been drinking it more than any other since it hit the shelves. I think it's going away soon, so I'd love to get a recipe that is similar or better.
Thanks!
dp

I read the first couple of posts and sort of skimmed the rest.

My nut brown ale and other malt-centered beers tend to take the longest to mature of all the beers I've made. A brown ale or stout is not something I want to be drinking fresh. I want them to age and really let those flavors mature. And from my experience, it's the same with commercial samples of malty beers.

My nut brown ale is my favorite of that style of beer. I can't say the same for many of my other brews. Glad yours was the favored one.