Some weeks ago we brewed two different recipes for Boddingtons, in an attempt to find a recipe that was close to our memory of Boddingtons brewed in the Strangeways Brewery in the 1980s.
We had two recipes, one from Orfy and one from Seymour. Thanks to the guys on Jim’s Beer Kit Forum for helping out with these.
They have now been in cask for 3.5 and 1.5 weeks respectively. On Wednesday we had a first side by side taste and here are the results.
Colour
The recipes calculated the colour as 5.7L (Orfy) and 11L (Seymour). When racking them I thought the Seymour recipe looked darker, but when they were pulled through the beer engine into the glass it was kind of hard to tell any difference. Maybe the Orfy brew was a little lighter. Look at the photo below to see what I mean.
I think both recipes missed the colour a bit – I remember Boddingtons being lighter. More a yellow colour. If we re-brew, one of the main things we’ll be aiming for is a lighter colour.
Aroma
The Orfy brew was much closer, in my opinion. There was even a whiff of that straw/hay aroma that we remember from Boddingtons. The Seymour recipe didn't have that – all it had was a bit of green beer hint. So perhaps this is a slightly unfair comparison since the Orfy brew has been in the cask two weeks longer. I still think Orfy won it.
Head
Both had a good white creamy head. The Orfy recipe might have been a bit whiter, but there was not a lot in it.
Head retention was great in both beers.
Flavour
As with the aroma, I think the Seymour recipe suffered from tasting a bit green. The Orfy recipe on the other hand wasn’t exactly as I remember Boddingtons, but it was pretty close.
Overall Conclusion and Next Steps
For me, the Orfy recipe had the edge on the Seymour recipe in all areas. If we brew it again, I’d like to get the colour lighter. Since the calculated values in the recipes were so different (5.7L and 11L), I can only think that we got some kettle caramelisation that darkened the Orfy brew. I’d be mindful of that second time around.
It’s been an interesting experiment, and I think with the Orfy recipe we have something that is pretty close to Boddingtons from the 80s.
Left: Orfy recipe; Right Seymour recipe.
FWIW I remember Bodds being lighter too - good luck with getting the colour right and with any minor flavour tweaking you might experiment with. Looks like a very drinkable first attempt though!
ReplyDeleteThey are both way too dark.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Way too dark. If we re-brew these recipes, we'll need to probably make them half as dark. I remember Boddingtons as a golden straw colour.
DeleteTry beer smith free trial on the web. it tells you exactly how to adjust your recipe to get the colour you want and even shows you the colour. Amazing site
ReplyDeleteThanks Iain. I use BrewPal on the iPad which does something similar. Not tried BeerSmith.
Delete