I really liked this beer. I drank it/gave it away pretty young (about 6 weeks), and it was still very good. The only thing I would have done differently in retrospect is to not boil the oak chips. What I did was boil them in a small amount of water to try to extract the tannins, and then drained away the water. Contrary to most of the other reviews, I found that I wanted MORE oak flavor. I might order this again, but I would try to steam the chips very mildly. Or just drop them in after primary. Mine came out to about 9% ABV. Overall, the beer was still fantastic and one of my favorites to date. I have since moved to all-grain. Thumbs up!

My first foray into mini-mash. This recipe is one of my favorites now. Doesn't really fit into any particular class of beer but it sure is tasty. Consistent results every time I have made it. Highly recommended.

WOW this produces a beer that is an explosion of BIG complex flavors. After bottling it takes about 3 months for it to really meld everything together. But was really interesting young as well I would be careful of your fermentation temps and with the amount of time you leave it on the oak about 4 days was plenty for my tastes.Hoppy Oaky Malty Delicious reminds me of Red Rocket just started my third rebrew of this recipe should be ready for Thanksgiving

After reading reviews both good and bad I thought why not and try it. As reviewed, many friends liked it and some did not. I found two six packs in the back of fridge almost 4 months after tasting and wow! Almost all my friends liked it and wanted more. Worth the wait!

This beer pushes the envelope for giving you everything. It is definitely hoppy, definitely strong, nice malt body. I think it was fantastic!! My wife thinks it is a little too much. Not really a quaffable summer brew. This one you need to sit, drink, enjoy and philosophize over.

This beer sounds like its been good for some, and bad for others- assuming of course everybodies process yielded the same tasting beer (unlikely!). I brewed this beer-waited about a week, so primary fermentation finished, then dry hopped for about 4 days (there is a great possibility to over dry hop this beer), and then racked 1/2 of it to a secondary on top of the oak chips for about another week (just bottled the other half). I put it on tap in my kegerator- waited about a week for carbonation. At first run and over the next few weeks it was a combination taste of too much oakiness and some rubberiness from overdoing it with the dry hops. I set the keg aside for 4 months and the overpowering flavors have started to mellow out and as a whole the beer meshed better. Definately a lot of complexity with this one- as the recipe description would suggest. The dry hop-oaky combo is at the forefront, and that's on top of a creative, medium to med-high bodied base beer. Drinkability can be a bit limiting. Maybed more experimenting could be done. Personally I would be more reserved on the dry hops and kick up the rye malt portion of the bill- as it doesn't quite come through like I had hoped it would. A beer worth trying. Unique if nothing else. Putting the craft in craft beer.

A big hit with all my friends. will make again soon

Bought this kit recently and read the poor review of it 3 days after purchase. Skipped the oak chips, but otherwise followed hopping instructions for secondary fermentation. It's quite young, bottled only 3 weeks ago. Tried one last night...it was worst thing I've had. Hope it comes along soon. Will rate a three til I know. Might end up 1 star. Had many great kits so far, but this isn't one.

Loved this beer. Recipe was easy. I skipped dry hopping and added all the hops during the boil and it came out great. Color is very attractive. So far 5/5 buddies LOVE this beer.

Man - I hate being the 1st to review this but an earlier review could have saved me some heartache. Read my rave review on their Oatmeal Stout! This however was a big waste for me. Everybody hated it - the oak chips were the predominant flavor and even without them I don't think I would have liked it. One of the few beers I've brewed in 15 years that actually got dumped in the yard after trying a bottle here and there over several months - it just got worse actually. They used to have an awesome Brown Ale mini-mash kit here that I thankfully kept the recipe sheet on so I can order the stuff alla carte. If you are ready to try a mini-mash definitely try the Oatmeal Stout here!