Tasting each others brew

That title sounds dirtier than it is. While staying with VelkyAl we tried each others home brew. I brought over 3 of mine which Al took notes of being well prepared as always. I did not take any notes but there was no need as Al had already done his cyclops report so I will just mention them quickly.
Al makes two batches of about 4 to 5 Litres and due to space etc he has to brew each individually so he can get two different worts with different gravity readings and so different results.

His first brew was the EDM which is Experimental Drak Matter (Praise to the Genius who named it :D). I had the second version which had the higher Original Gravity. This was a lovely beer, smoky but not enough to put me off. Al said on his blog that he would not be disappointed if he was served it in a pub and I have to agree with that. Unfortunately I believe they are all gone now.
We did not compare EDM to my other beers as they are different styles, although my BitterBock is a Dark ale, EDM is more complex in my opinion and if I am honest, I would rather have an EDM than a Dark Bitterbock I think. That said, I like my BitterBock (bad name) and have plenty of it to drink.

Next up was LimeLight which is a witbear with lime and coriander.
The first one was the original batch which I believe sat in the carboy for about 10 days. Unfortunately it was a little watery and after so many beers that day I could not even finish it. Not to worry, Al was not impressed himself and could not finish it either.

It was when we were doing our Eurovision of Wheat bears tasting that we tasted his second batch. Al did his back in so this one sat in the carboy for a few weeks which is how I always leave mine. He also used more priming sugar to increase the carbonation and this was a different beast completely. I was pretty impressed with this, especially after being so unimpressed with the first batch. It is amazing what a little extra time in the carboy and some extra primer did to this beer. Plenty of citrus and the coriander seed brings a whole lot of spice out and it tingles your tongue.
Al will be doing up his report on all our tastings as he took all the notes but we agreed on most points.
What was most interesting was that we placed the Carlow brewing company's Curim at the bottom of the list (we poured it down the drain) so both of our home brews were ahead of it, in fact they were in the middle and were on a par with each other. Mine was the more traditional HeffeWeissen but it was essentially a modified kit so it had a more malty base to it. To me, my beer was more drinkable in bulk in a hot day. Although Al's Limelight was more complex and a better beer in my opinion, I can just see myself drinking more of the traditional style than the spicy witbeer. It seems both of our wives preferred my one but that is because they do not appreciate the complexity of the limelight and the spiciness of it.

So overall, Al's wheat beer was better than my one but there are times I would rather drink mine, that said the choice between mine and the two highest rated Wheat beers and I would pour mine down the drain to get either of them. The reason Al had a better bodied beer is that from the outset he has used speciality grains and hops where as I have just modified kits, Sure the EDM was a kit but adding in speciality grains and hops makes a difference where as I was using small quantities of mystery grains/hops in T-bags style pouches so I did not know what I was putting in my beer and hoping for the best. I now have a large supply of ingredients so I am looking forward to my next brew day.