A good friend of mine wanted to get one more batch of brewing in before he moves far far far away to Mississippi and becomes a father. In a recent adventure, he stumbled upon a thai iced tea that was simply splendid. He decided to brew an extract pale ale with the thai tea. A pretty straight forward brew day, with only 1 hop addition of Galaxy at 60 min made this one of the easiest brew days I have had in a very long time. The tea went directly into the secondary fermentation after we brewed a strong cup of the tea. We brought it up to a camping trip and the keg went quickly.
appearance: a light orange brown color that is hazy. poor head
nose: a bunch of esters, but also a lot of tea and mint scents, kind of twangy
flavor: an earthy flavor that is a combination of the full flavored tea and the Galaxy hop bitterness, while dry, it is pleasant.
mouth feel: the tannin pushes the bitterness to a bit of astringency, but is still a very drinkable beer. medium bodied and needs more carbonation.
overall: not bad for an extract brew. next time, I would like to dry out the beer, ease up on the tea, and hop with an english hop like Willamette. 6.0 / 10