Tasting Newt Hearted 1.0

From The Happy Newt

Eye: Orange straw, considerable chill haze, nice head that leaves lacing with moderate longevity.

Nose: Juniper, rosemary, grapefruit, bread, very little yeast character but some alcohol as it approaches room temp.

Mouth: Big chewy body, low-medium carbonation w/ full on pour. Hop character similar to nose but muted behind a wall of bread and toast. Medium bitterness that is both balanced and drawn out by malt/body. Body confuses perception of definite dryness. The 'feel' of smoke on exhale that I get from Widmer's Hefe - I don't know how to describe it more accurately. Malt flavor is definitely the dominate character.

Brain: I love it. I really haven't had an American Pale Ale that I'd have over this. Certainly not as hoppy as was intended. This malt bill could handle much much more. I would like to do this again with all Vienna as base malt instead of split with american 2-row. And with a lager yeast as a cal common or just with tons of noble hops and a Bavarian/Czech yeast. If I were to alter it to match my original intent I would scale back the grist proportionally to get 3-3.5% abv and double the flavor and aroma hops.


A few bottles got left in a car that got too hot and the yeast dumped their diacetyl. It was then a piney piece of buttered toast and not that great but not horrible. May be worth remembering for a butter beer clone..


Here are the comments from the first taster.. this will contrast nicely with my glowing happy review.


Appearence: Cloudy, tiger-orange, little head.
Sniff: My sniffer is off today, don't smell much. Generally , not sterile, smell/lack of smell.
Taste: Bitter like a grapefruit, especially when cold. The citrus lingers for awhile then turns very bitter, more peel than fruit.
Generally: bright and newty! B+
Note: I'm eating dried currents at the same time. Takes out all the flavor. 
Mouthfeel: Covers this inside of my mouth like butter. 
Extranote: I took FishOil supplement before drinking. My burps are not fishy. Miracle.