GRAND TASTING SESSION!

My good friend Dave McCarthy is back from Alaska, so I thought it would be a good time to do a grand tasting session with a bunch of new beer and some old batches that have been in the cellar for six months.
First we tasted the kolsch I made with 100% Czech Saaz. I thought it was nice. The yeast used was the limited edition Wyeast kolsch strain. It was slightly fruity with that saaz spiciness's. The yeast flocculates very poorly so it still was hazy after 6 weeks in the fridge. Dave thought it had a slight chalky feel. I wasn't getting that at all. I liked the beer very much.
Next we tasted his chocolate raspberry porter, an extract beer. This was a Dave creation and not a memorable one. The beer had an alkaline taste from the chocolate that gave it a huge bite, despite the great raspberry flavor. Almost undrinkable!
Moving on we tasted the blueberry wheat. Dave really enjoyed this one, and said it was good. I still feel it needed more sweetness and body.
After that we tasted the two Fat Tire clones, neither tasted anything like Fat Tire. The oldest batch was based on the NB Phat Tyre kit. It was gross. Too much extract flavor. It was like drinking molasses. The other batch was an exact copy of the Beer Captured recipe for Fat Tire. I thought it tasted like a Newcastle Brown Ale. Dave liked it but said it was too malty. I agreed.
On to the IPA and Pale Ale, both of which I think are excellent batches. Dave really liked the IPA, said he could see it being commercially sold. I would have to agree. It has a great balance between hop aroma, bitterness and overall malt character. After tasting the Pale Ale Dave again said it had a chalky taste. I thought he was on crack! By far this is one of my favorites. It was made with all centennial. You get huge grapefruit notes that is balanced with the sweet malt character. These will be the first recipes I will try to duplicate.