Drinking the Beer Made From Scratch

This was one of the most enjoyable beers I have made in a long while, but the true proof of whether I made it correctly is in the drinking, or if the ingredients were high quality.

Far from being a beer aficionado or brew master, I just like making beer at home because it has low emissions (a lot less than commercial beer), there is a lot of reuse involved (bottles, fermenter, etc), and it tastes great.  If it didn’t taste great, many home enthusiasts simply wouldn’t make it.

So lets cut to the chase, shall we.  The official Gavin verdict is that the Aussie Wattle Pale Ale is delicious!  Let me walk you through my experience.

I chilled the beer overnight so that it was about 4C.  There was very little sediment sitting on the bottom of the bottle.  When opened the bottle had that familiar hiss of CO2.

The pale ale decanted into the glass without excessive frothing.  The head was about right as well, and it was not excessively carbonated.  It was just about right.

As for the taste, it was light on the bitterness, and not too malty.  I think it is one of the better pale ales that I have made and sampled.  Very drinkable, and try stopping at just one bottle.  A few minutes before this photo was taken, I had just finished six long hours of painting, so I had a thirst that need quenching!  I stopped at two bottles, as this beer needs to be savoured, and not guzzled like some commercial crud.  It was a truly enjoyable beer.

Now, I can’t vouch for the rest of the BrewSmith kits, but if this one is anything to go by, I dare say you will get a similar result and a great tasting beer if you follow the instructions.  And don’t skimp on the sanitisation.  Remember that a brew is only as good as the care you took with sanitisation.  You only want one yeast in your brew, not a whole gang of wild ones that will give you off flavours.

The good news is that now I have tried this beer, I will purchase a few of the others that are available at the site.  If you want to start making beer at home, I highly recommend popping over to the BrewSmith site to get a better understanding of the entire process.  They even have video tutorials which are very helpful.

So who is going to give beer making at home a try?  Do you already brew your own, and what is your favourite?