Mike continues his series of brewing the same beer so that we can have an English Yeast Comparison. Three different strains were used in this round of his tremendous Brown Ale. We tasted each of them to learn more about the qualities of the selected strains. Check out this video for our reactions to each.

Tasting Notes on These English Yeast Strains

Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire Ale Yeast – Of the three, we liked this one the most. The aroma was invitingly malty and it produced the most balanced hops/malt flavors of the beers. It fermented cleanly and the finish was dry. If I had a larger pour, I would have focused more on this pint than the others. Very tasty!

Wyeast 1275 Thames Valley Ale Yeast – This beer had the estery notes in its aroma that we believed were yeast-derived. The flavor had a mineral quality to it that was nice and true to English styles. I wonder if this beer would do better with a dry hop addition of East Kent Goldings to bring out more hop aroma and flavor to the beer.

LalBrew Nottingham English Ale Dry Yeast – We have brewed with Nottingham a bunch and we were surprised at how this strain performed as compared to the other 2. There was not much aroma at all. I found it to have a butterscotch note and it coated my mouth as I drank it. There was a presence of diacetyl in this beer that was not a part of the other beers. Not a bad beer, just not as good when compared to the others.

Hope you enjoyed this installment of the English yeast comparison. Let us know your experience with these yeasts and if you have ideas for other stains in the comments below.

BREW ON!