SMaSH I Tasting

Sadly, I haven't been able to fit in a brewday since the one when I started this batch and the Timothy Taylor Landlord clone, which sadly seems to have succumbed to oxidation. While I hope to brew in the final days of 2015 (and the early days of 2016) in the meantime it was definitely time for tasting notes on my first SMaSH beer. At the extreme end of base malts, I can now say that I definitely understand the flavor impact of Munich II when formulating future recipes. The hops, however, were too sparse to really make a statement; I'll dial up those for future batches.

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Appearance: Deep amber, trending toward orange at the edges with solid red highlights. Just a little hazy.

Smell: Super malty, a little sweet, lots of dark bread crust. This is a melanoidin-rich aroma. No discernible hop presence.

Taste: Bread crust through and through, richly malty, but without any lingering sweetness. A hint of fruitiness maybe. Just a touch of neutral hop bitterness on the end, leaving an aftertaste of warm bread.

Mouthfeel: Full, heavy for such a low-alcohol (4.3% ABV) beer. Carbonation is medium-low; present without being prickly, it's a bit above cask level.

Overall: Honestly, not a bad malty beer. It's fairly one-dimensional, which isn't hard to believe given the grain bill and relatively neutral yeast. Unfortunately, I'm left with no idea what the Nuggetzilla hops have to contribute in terms of flavor or aroma. This is ended up being a real malt bomb, which really switches it up from my normal brewing habits. It certainly isn't hard to drink, but tends to be a low-gravity sipper.