Tuesday 23 March 2010

Cardamom Wheat RIP

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.


I have just tried the cardamom wheat from bottle and it is utterly pants, totally without appeal, beyond repair, beneath contempt. It smells like drain cleaner, is harsh, saccharine bitter and cloying. It’s the first beer brewed on the blog that I haven’t liked/loved. I know where I went wrong and my excuse is that as I usually deal with tonnes of material so when confronted with small quantities I can go over the top. In this case it was about 10 too many cardmom pods. I’m not going to bother repeating the brew as I am convinced that cardamom isn’t a beer-friendly ingredient, certainly not as the main focus of the recipe.

On the positive side, the latest batch of our Honey Spice Tripel is utterly awesome if I do modestly say myself. I’m sure that like every other batch of this beer so far it will sell out before it hits the shelves.


4 comments:

Ed said...

The beer might well be dire but sometimes when making weird shit a good long maturation can make a world of difference.

Kieran Haslett-Moore said...

Its like using really high alpha hops on a homebrew scale, the tiniest inaccuracy can create big differences.

Melissa Cole said...

I still think cardamom has possibilities but in a dark beer - think cardamom chocolate from Rococo

Stuart Howe said...

Thank you all for your kind words. I'll leave the bottles in cellar for a couple years and see if the Vim has metamorphosed into Westvleteren Abt.

Maybe a Stout with a suggestion of cardamom later in the year Melissa when I have come to terms with my grief.

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