Well Done

Writers: AmajoS, Yvonne
Date Posted: 26th May 2019

Characters: Tou, Gallid
Description: It's time to taste the apprentices' assignments.
Location: Vintner Hall
Date: month 11, day 13 of Turn 9

Journeyman Tou often remarked that the first ingredient in any
brewer's toolkit was time. Vintner, brewer, distiller-- the best
products took time, good ingredients, and practice. The assignment
he'd set his apprentices was only now coming to an end, five sevendays
later. "Gentlemen! Notebooks out. Tasting is as much a part of the
process as the brewing and I want you to take detailed notes for
_everyone's_ beer. Got it?"

"Yes, Journeyman," came the dutiful reply.

Tou kind of liked the way they sounded in chorus. "Tap your kegs and
pour two small glasses, just enough to taste by. The rest you can
taste yourself, thoroughly, later." He winked.

Gallid had two kegs in front of him, one marked 'original' and one
marked 'citrus.' He tapped both, pouring beer from each into the four
tasting glasses he'd gotten. The original was a pale amber color,
while the citrus was a deeper shade. He was excited to get feedback on
the alteration. He hadn't even tasted it himself yet.

Tou made his way around the room, but he made sure to visit Gallid and
his two kegs half way through. Starting with Gallid or ending with him
migh provoke too much resentment from the other apprentices. This way,
he could comment on Gallid's initiative without making too much of a
big deal about it. "So," Tou said, stopping in front of Gallid. "You
took this assignment one step further, Gallid. I'm impressed. Can you
please explain what we have here?"

Gallid cleared his throat nervously, he still wasn't used to speaking
in front of groups of people, and said, "Well, here in this keg," he
touched the one marked 'Original,' "I brewed a recipe my grandfather
told me about."

"This one is the same recipe, only augmented with citrus."

"Excellent. Let's try your original blend first." Tou picked up the
little glass, swirled it, and raised it into the air. "Good colour and
clarity, and you've got a decent head. Visually it looks appealing."
He put the glass to his nose to smell it. "It smells sweet, with a
hint of biscuit and a light, hoppy citrus note." The Journeyman turned
his attention to Gallid. "I want you to try it first. Tell me what you
taste."

The apprentice picked up the tasting glass and took a sip. The recipe
called for an abundance of hops, so that was what he tasted first,
with just a hint of a sweet, fruity taste. The malt was an
afterthought, almost. "I taste the hops, journeyman."

"Which varietal did you use?" Tou asked.

"Mostly Galena, but I mixed in some Cobb." He didn't give the rations,
though he'd written them down in the notes for the assignment. It was
his grandfather's recipe, and he didn't want the whole class to know it.

Tou nodded. An unusal mix, but not unheard of. It gave him a little
more faith in Gallid's family recipe. "A bit of citrus to balance out
the bitter from the Galena. So, the beer starts on a hoppy note, and
how does it end...?"

Gallid thought about it and said, "There's a bit of a fruity taste,
but at the end you can pick up the malt."

"Let's see." Tou tasted the beer himself. After a moment, he set the
glass aside and turned to Gallid. "You're right. The initial taste is
a bit hoppy and carries the characteristic Galena flavour, but the
Cobb smooths the Galena out with a hint of citrus. This is a very
accessible beer. End notes bring out that sweeter, malty flavour --
the biscuit I smelled -- underlain by a hint of fruit. Berry, I
think," Tou decided. "Well done. Now, taste your second batch and give
me the flavour profile for that."

This was going to be the real test. He'd had confidence in his
grandfather's recipe and he'd followed it step by step, so he hadn't
been too surprised by the positive reaction to it, but he'd changed
the recipe and now he was about to find out how it went. Pretending he
wasn't as nervous as he felt, the apprentice picked up one of the
tasting glasses he'd poured the citrus blend into. He took a sip.

It was good! He almost grinned, but controlled himself at the last
minute. The citrus was definitely stronger in this one, which was to
be expected as there had been a slight citrus taste to the original
from the hops, but there was also a sort of tangy-sweetness which
complimented and actually enhanced the malt flavor as well. He rather
thought his grandfather would have approved.

"The citrus comes out stronger," he began. "And the fruitiness has a
tangy-sweet taste now."

The Journeyman raised the second glass and tasted it. "The citrus you
taste is from the citrus you added, not just the hops. Well done! The
tricky part with citrus flavoured beers is keeping the oils from the
citrus from going off while you brew. This is why we usually cover
citrus beers with the Senior Aprpentices. Well done, Gallid. I look
forward to seeing your testing notes." He set the glass aside, and
moved on to the next of his apprentices to taste their beer.

Well done! He'd gotten a 'well done!' He was going to pass this class
and earn his senior knots in record time. Then, he work twice as hard
and be the youngest Journeyman as well, see if he wouldn't!

Last updated on the June 3rd 2019

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