The kit arrived a day early and I had some very helpful information from Balliihoo (thankyou), however after 5 weeks of maturing I'm not entirely keen on the taste of this beer. The beer itself is perfect, dark, Guinness-like with a beautiful frothy malt-coloured head, but I guess the liquorice flavour is an acquired taste. The quality should improve over the next week or so but I guess the liquorice flavour will still dominate the taste. Don't get me wrong I will drink every bottle of it but I wouldn't be keen on drinking three in a row. Fortunately I have a Woodforde's Wherry ready in a week (5 week maturation is in my opinion an absolute MUST.......and even better after 6!) so I can intersperse that with the odd pint of Nog so it's far from a depressing disaster. I can eat liquorice by the tub load but liquorice has its time and place and I for one don't like it fermented in my favourite drink: beer. Cheers and happy summer brewing. EDIT: Much better brew at 6 weeks maturation. Added 2 stars. The liquorice taste has toned down significantly and left a more satisfying flavour on the ol' palate. Now definitely a '3-in-a-row-beer'. It just shows you not to rush into drinking. I know it's hard looking at 40 beautiful bottles of maturing ale on the shelf for 5 weeks but stoicism rewards you with a quality beer and a better drinking experience. A cracking brew!
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I have tried many home made beers and this is great. Easy to make and has a real taste to it and easily matches, if not beats the porter type beers found in pubs. This is the second time I have had this and will make sure I always have some on the go especially in the winter months.
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I purchased one when I first started brewing and loved it so much I bought another , great kit
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I chose this for my second home brew from a kit - I fondly remembered it from holiday in Norfolk years ago. The instructions are practically idential with these kits it seems so the brew went without any problems: initial fermentation went much quicker than it indicates (done in under 4 days) but I think this was due solely to the warm June weather. I had a pressure leak during the second fermentation so had to charge the barrel with a gas cartridge, but otherwise everything went fine. The beer was at it's best about 3-4 weeks after the 2nd fermentation was complete so matured well: at this point as long as it was just below room temp (don't chill an ale like this) it was lovely. The head was surprisingly good at that point; it's very dark, I would say somewhere a dark ale and a porter. It's got a pleasant malty chocolate flavour and a bitter finish that's actually quite refreshing for such a dark beer. Recommended.
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Home brewing quality beer, full of flavour, has never been so easy. My full beer shed is the envy of all my freinds.
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The description says notes of chocolate, treacle... Spot on. If you enjoy your ale dark this is excellent. It seemed to finish fermenting within a week for me, still in the pressure barrel finishing but my sneak preview does not disappoint!
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This is always a firm favourite of my dads so have brought it for him around 3 times over the last couple of years. Always tastes great and each batch has been consistently tasty and great quality. This is his go to when asking for a homebrew!
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Woodforde's Nog Porter has a great flavour and this kit replicates that well. You do need the basic home brew kit to use this though unlike other kits you can brew in the box however everything else you need is in the box. Delivered in a reasonable time. Would recommend this but make sure you have the home brew kit when ordering.
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