This post is one in a series following six brewers collaborating to each make a small adjustment to a single recipe in order to improve it, then pass it along to the next brewer. We hope to learn more about the art of recipe creation as we see how other brewers approach the same recipe. The rest of the comparison tastings for this series can be found here.
The recipes for the beers being compared below are as follows:
| Iteration 8 | Iteration 9 | |
| Base Malt 2-row | 68% | 68% |
| Specialty Malt 1 | 10.2% Victory | 10.2% Victory |
| Specialty Malt 2 | 7.5% Roasted Barley | 7.5% Roasted Barley |
| Specialty Malt 3 | 1.7% Chocolate Malt | 1.7% Chocolate Malt |
| Specialty Malt 4 | 7.5% Flaked Barley | 7.5% Flaked Barley |
| Specialty Malt 5 | 5.1% Pale Chocolate | 5.1% Pale Chocolate |
| 60 min. hop | Nugget: 44.3 IBUs | Nugget: 43.2 IBUs |
| 5 min. hop | Centennial: 6.8 IBUs | Centennial: 6.7 IBUs |
| Yeast | White Labs Irish Ale Yeast (WLP004) | WYeast 1450 Denny’s Favorite 50 |
| OG | 1.075 | 1.065 |
| FG | 1.012 | 1.023 |
| ABV | 8.3% | 5.5% |
Taster: B. Crochet
Iteration 8, when poured, had a nice head to it. Iteration 9, out of the bottle, didn’t have the head like 8 did. When poured from the keg, it was certainly there. I attribute that to my bottling method (laziness got the best of me and I just used a growler filler). The carbonation level in both was just right. Iteration 8 had a nice dark tan head color, as did iteration 9, as expected, since I hadn’t changed the grain bill. Both poured a very dark brown in color.
Left: Iteration 8 | Right: Iteration 9
Iteration 8 had the usual suspects for a stout when it comes to aroma. Notes of coffee, chocolate, and a general “roastiness.” Iteration 9 was extremely similar. I didn’t really detect a difference between the two.
Iteration 8 had an acidity to it that was hard to get past. My only idea about how to attribute that is from the increased alcohol. Iteration 9 had a nice malty character to it without being cloying. The hops were definitely present in both, but hard to find in iteration 8.
The biggest difference to me was the maltiness present in 9 that just wasn’t there in 8. I think it was an improvement, but I feel like that was very attributable to that acidic character in 8. I didn’t want to just change the grain bill yet again, and I wanted to see if we could get a more dramatic change from the yeast.
Taster: C. McKenzie
Both Iterations 8 and 9 poured black with decent-sized, tan heads. Iteration 8 had slightly better retention than 9.
The aroma of Iteration 8 was one of chocolate and coffee with a hint of smoke. There was also a somewhat sweet-smelling note that reminded me of marshmallow. Iteration 9 had a less pronounced aroma that 8, but there was still notes of coffee and chocolate. The hop aroma actually came through a bit in this beer, and I noticed some floral and citrus notes in the nose.
Iteration 8 tasted of chocolate, burnt marshmallows, and cherry. Although the hop aroma didn’t come through as much in this iteration, the flavor of the hops did, and I noted hints of citrus in the taste. Iteration 9 was smooth and thick, with a richer matliness. I did not note any coffee flavors in this iteration, but I did perceive chocolate and citrus, perhaps with some other dark fruit notes in there.
Overall, Iteration 9 was richer in maltiness, but it was still nowhere near as intensely roasty as this beer was when using US-05.