After visiting the Tsitsikamma brewery, I had to try their other beers. I bought three of their beers, a normal ale, dark ale, and a grapefruit ale. These were three vastly different beers, and I had to say, they were so close to homebrewed style beers that I could not taste the difference. They were good, but they were rugged, hard, and not for the person who prefers a well rounded beer that will challenge you. These beers challenged me, but they were good, because even a bad beer is sometimes what you need!
So join me on this tasting journey of some interesting beers.
Tsitsikamma Woodcutter Ale
Pale Ale | 5% ABV | 35 IBUs
The first smell was 100% homebrewed ale; almost exactly like my own. It was hoppy with mild maltiness and some prominent yeast on the nose from the bottle conditioning. The pour was also a bit carbonated, definitely from too much bottle conditioning.
The first taste was also straight up hops and malt; but then a strong yeast aftertaste. It tastes exactly like my own home brews. It was a strong hoppy one, but the classic problem of adding too much hops, it had some grassy notes.
Tsitsikama Bains Black Ale
Dark Ale | 6.5 % ABV | 35 IBUs
There was an immediate roasted black malt maltiness overload on my nose; no yeast or hops. It was just the roasted black malt and it was delicious.
The first sip was full bodied roasted malt overload - again! It was like roasted coffee; black coffee chocolate. It was a lovely beer, incredible really.
The taste again was like my homebrew; but honestly, one of the best beers I have drunk in many moons. I was sad that I could not go back to buy some more of them.
Tsitsikamma Grapefruit Ale
IPA-style | 7.5 % ABV | 52 IBUs
The first smell was very strong grapefruit and hops, but again hops overload in the homebrewed style.
The first taste great balance between hops and malt, very bitter with only a slight sweetness. It was not the classic grapefruit in NEIPAs, instead it was a very big beer with more than 7 abv.
It had a nice and full bodied mouthfeel but sadly no real head retention or lacing. It was a good strong and big beer in the end!
After the long road, and some adventures, these beers landed very well.
I hope that you had some cold and good beers for #beersaturday.
For now, happy drinking.
All of the musings are my own, albeit inspired by especially that lovely dark ale. The photographs are my own, taken with my Nikon D300.