Our man Derek Springer at Five Blades Brewing, was the first to answer the call to do a beer swap. Derek sent us a great Vienna Lager. John sent out one of his own. We taste them side by side this week. Its Brew Dudes Homebrew Swap Exchange #1!!!
Vienna Lager is a quiet style that doesn’t get much airplay. Namely because you just don’t see a lot of commercial examples. Some of the most classic examples commercial come from Mexico of all places. I was always under the impression that beers like Dos Equis and Negro Modelo were Vienna Lagers. A quick look at the 2015 BJCP doesn’t even list these as examples anymore… go figure.
Any how many of our dedicated readers will know that John has done quite well with his Vienna recipe. This time he brewed it with a combo of the Mexican Lager yeast strain and a more traditional Lager strain. This beer has a subtle toasty malt aroma with a hint of nobel hop character.
Derek’s homebrew was very similar with a slightly more fruity presence and somewhat cleaner over all than John’s. Both had a great malt flavor carried with that gentle noble hop character. The dividing difference between the two was Derek’s use of a touch of melanoidin vs. John’s light hand with the Munich malt. I found both homebrews to be pretty interesting and hard to pull apart. I would certainly drink 2-3 pints of either. I can’t say that I liked one over the other. (Maybe that’s a cop out being our first publicized exchange.) I will say that they are both excellent examples. I was amazed that the color of both was so spot on with each other. Both brilliantly clear. Interesting to see the color so close and being achieved by slightly different routes in the recipe. Derek’s Vienna Recipe Page
If we never do another exchange again, I’ll be vary happy to say we did this one.
Good thing for you dear reader is that we have more coming.
Want to get involved. Want to try some Brew Dudes homebrew and swap some with us? Keep checking in as we’ll announce another swap in the near future.
In the meantime, BREW ON!
Derek Springer
Thanks for the great review, guys! I look forward to the rest of the Homebrew Swap Exchange series 🙂
Here’s the quick writeup I made about the review:
https://www.fivebladesbrewing.com/brew-dudes-vienna-review/
Lyne Noella
I am a follower of Derek’s Five Blades blog as well as a member of his homebrew club, the Society of Barley Engineers. Since reading Derek’s post on Vienna Lagers, I can’t wait to give this a try! I have since been sampling Vienna Lagers and learning everything I can about this style prior to brewing.
John
Thanks Derek – appreciate the feedback!
John
Thanks Lyne – we have been brewing this style of lager for 3 or 4 years now. Definitely one of our favorites.