Tasting - Special Bitter (Updated 5/12/2020)

Brewday Notes
Brewday Video

Appearance

Not sure what is going on with my Wyeast 1318 culture.  After a few very brite beers, clarity has dropped off dramatically.  The Special Bitter is moderately clear, however I would expected better given the extended cold conditioning time.  Head retention is ok but drops off the quickest of all the Classic 10 beers thus far.  The colour is amber, perhaps bordering on copper.  Honestly, I am a little disappointed in the appearance.  Hopefully the beer will continue to clear which should allow some of the colour highlights to shine through.

Aroma

Aroma is quite malty.  Pale Chocolate malt is easily distinguished.  Definitely some toffee and caramel notes. I'd describe the hop aroma as subtle.

Flavour

The yeast massively under-attenuated (60%) leaving more residual sweetness than intended.  This turn out to be a happy accident because the beer is over-bittered.  Without the residual sweetness, I do feel as though the bitterness would have been overwhelming.  Again the Pale Chocolate and Crystal malts come through in the taste but I am finding there is an unpleasant sharpness.  You might even describe the bitterness has harsh.  It's either the hopping rate, the Challenger hops or perhaps something is going on with my kettle salts.  Too much gypsum?  Maybe...

Overall Impression

Steve L - "It's good man."

Wife - "Needs more carbonation."

My least favorite of the brews thus far.  Fingers crossed the beer improve with time.  My biggest issue is that it's too bitter which is unfortunate since I do feel the underlying malt profile has potential.  If comparing Special with Ordinary bitter,  the Ordinary wins hands down.  Rate it 4/10.

Update - May 12, 2020 - The beer has shown improvement with additional conditioning time.  The malt profile has come forwarded nicely and the underlying harsh bitterness has dissipated somewhat.  The clarity has not improved much which is unusual but I'll take improvements in taste over appearance any day.  Still a far cry from the Special Bitter I had envisioned but I will bump the rating slightly, 5.5/10.