Beer.


 
I don't understand the super hoppy beer craze in the U.S. Imports are never like that. I enjoy one occasionally. I used to be a beer snob but these days more often than not if I'm drinking a beer it's probably Bud Light. Shiner Bock is also a favorite. Generally, I rarely drink anymore. My hangovers are monstrous. I've got a college buddy who opened up a brewery in N.C. and their plan was to focus on Old World style brews, but you pretty much have to have an I.P.A. these day.
 
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Lynn Dollar said:
I would be careful to look for the " brewed on " or " packaged on " date on the All Day IPA ( or really , any hoppy beer ), its on the outside of the 15 pak . It doesn't age well on the shelf. The hops degrade. Founders is either good about shipping fresh beer here to Oklahoma, or its a big seller, but six months is about all I allow for hoppy beers.

This pic is of two Dales Pale Ale , brewed by Oskar Blues in Colorado. Dales is a hopped up pale ale, has IBU of 65. Beer on the right came from a small package store, brew date said it was six months old. Beer on the left came from a high volume package store and was less than two months old. Easy to see the six month old beer had already changed greatly from what the brewer created. And it tasted like it. BTW, Dales Pale Ale is one of my fav beers, right behind bourbon barrel aged stouts.

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I had never heard of Dale's Pale Ale before.

I used their beer finder. Apparently they are everywhere near me.

Where exactly will it say the brew date? So I know where to look.
 
On a 15 pak, it will be on the carton, usually in a corner. If its a six pak of cans, it will be on the bottom of the can. If the beer is in a bottle, it will be printed on the bottle somewhere, it can vary.

Most brewers that sell 12 or 15 paks in cardboard cartons, will print it somewhere on the outside. But some don't. I've never found a date on a Stone IPA 12 pak, I take my chances and find out after I get home and look at the bottom of the can. But with Stone Brewing, I've never been disappointed. They are very conscience of their product not being fresh.

Oskar Blues is one of the original craft brewers in Colorado, which is a state filled with great craft breweries. Probably more brewers there than any other state, cept maybe Oregon. They make a great Imperial Stout called Ten Fidy, that can also be found barrel aged.

BTW, refrigeration will delay the degradation of the hops. But few beers are refrigerated from the fermenter tank to the package store shelf for most states. It varies with the distribution system in each state.
 
I like an ipa every once in awhile. Kinda depends on what food I'm having with it.
I bought a 12 pack of "Castaway ipa" by Kona brewing company & it was just awful. Bitter, bitter beer. Tried my best to get through them but just couldn't do it. Gave the rest to my "hop head" friend. First time I ever "waisted" beer...
 
Lately , I've probably bought more farmhouse ales , than any other style. Especially if they're dry hopped. But they're hard to find, its not a style a lot of brewers produce.

We have a local brewery, Prairie Artisan Ales, that does some really good dry hopped farmhouse ales. They are lighter, crisper, less oily than a heavily wet hopped beer, with ABV's from 4 to 7%. Boulevard in Kansas City has been brewing Tank 7 for quite a while now, its a great farmhouse with an ABV of 8.5% , I always have that in the fridge.

I like All Day IPA while I'm smokin meat, cuz its only 4% ABV. I can have a few of them and still function :) And Prairie Artisan Ales brews a farmhouse ale called ERA , that's also 4%, a good session beer.
 
Yeah, I've had the Tank 7 for years.

I also tried Boulevard's Panic, but it was just ok.

Near the end of 2013 or 2014, there was a promo where if you bought the Boulevard variety pack, then you'd get a Boulevard pint glass.

I didn't want make that purchase at the time, so I thought I would do it next time.

When I went back to the store a few weeks later, the promo was gone.

In terms of taste, what does dry hopping vs. wet hopped do? I had a wet hopped recently. It sort of had a "wet" finish. Not sure if I liked it enough to seek it again. Or it could have just been the way that one was made. Not sure.
 
Dry hopping is adding the hops into the fermenter, after the wort has been boiled and transferred to the fermenter. Normally, hops are added during the boil. In the boil, the hops secrete oils, which is why double IPA's and Imperial IPA's have so much viscosity or body or however ya wanna describe it.

Dry hopping adds hop aroma and flavor, without the oils.

If a person is adverse to hops, then I can't imagine there's much available in American craft beers. Even the old stand by Sierra Nevada Pale Ale has 36 IBU. Would almost be forced to buy the Belgian style, or a Scotch Ale. I've seen several stouts with IBU's over 50. Prairie Artisan makes a stout that is on everyone's Top 100 beer list, called Prairie Bomb, and it has 65 IBU's.
 
I'm currently enjoying a Ballast Point Fathom IPA right now. I usually have 3 or 4 partial sixers in my fridge at any given time.
Like someone posted earlier, I prefer beer flavored beer, but I'm liking the hops more and more!
And don't you DARE try and give me a fruity or pumpkin flavored beer!
Uh uh. Ain't happening!
 
Lynn Dollar said:
Dry hopping is adding the hops into the fermenter, after the wort has been boiled and transferred to the fermenter. Normally, hops are added during the boil. In the boil, the hops secrete oils, which is why double IPA's and Imperial IPA's have so much viscosity or body or however ya wanna describe it.

Dry hopping adds hop aroma and flavor, without the oils.

If a person is adverse to hops, then I can't imagine there's much available in American craft beers. Even the old stand by Sierra Nevada Pale Ale has 36 IBU. Would almost be forced to buy the Belgian style, or a Scotch Ale. I've seen several stouts with IBU's over 50. Prairie Artisan makes a stout that is on everyone's Top 100 beer list, called Prairie Bomb, and it has 65 IBU's.
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There are a ton of interesting beers that aren't hoppy, check out Anchor Steam, Dead Guy Ale, Fat Tire. I'm surprised to see SNPA @ 37 ibu, must be the cascade hops 'cause Dogfish Head's 60 minute IPA seems much milder than SNPA hop-wise - that's one I'd give to anyone who's used to fizzy yellow beer. I'm a fan of Hazelnut beers, a little more-so than nut brown ales - some are better than others as it seems the hazelnut flavor can be added as an extract or some other way where it seems artificial or less enjoyable anyway.

My cousin's husband has really been kicking butt with his brews lately. He's been working on batches of what he calls a California Common - whatever it is, it's nice & crisp (his description - my description is delicious). He's also turned out some good (and some bad) barley wines - I'm not a fan of that style, but he's made one batch of BW I do like.

An old employee made a beer that tasted like his CA Common, but he added ~20 limes or so - that didn't last nearly long enough.

I'll have to read the rest of the thread - I just popped in here :)

.....and yesterday: I drank 3 Bush-Light beers - they tasted like an aluminum can.


Phil Perrin said:
I'm currently enjoying a Ballast Point Fathom IPA right now. I usually have 3 or 4 partial sixers in my fridge at any given time.
Like someone posted earlier, I prefer beer flavored beer, but I'm liking the hops more and more!
And don't you DARE try and give me a fruity or pumpkin flavored beer!
Uh uh. Ain't happening!
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I didn't appreciate hops until my first brew-day......then I started appreciating them more & more. Early on I had a friend who worked at a brewery & we always had a pantry full of micro brews - we called them headache beers back then. Then I went to visit a friend whose roomate was a beer/alcohol rep/distributor, and then friends would bring over assortments of unusual beers.... I drank them but told them they were wasting their time/money on me.. I was just a little behind their curve.

Phil: have you tried any lambics?
 
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Hops just for hops' sake or to raise the IBU rating are a waste of time. Gotta be balanced, there's no point IMO in drinking silage. My favorite IPA is Sweet Child O' Vine from Fulton Brewing here in Minneapolis. Bell's over in Kalamazoo also has an awfully good double IPA called Hop Slam. My tastes generally run towards the English malty styles.

Phil, I won't argue that the whole pumpkin thing in the fall is overdone (pumpkin spice must flow!) Tilion Brewing (half a mile away) released a firkin of their honey weiss that was aged in secondary on ginger & lime zest that was really, really good last weekend. They've made several batches aged on fruit, and one of the things that I've appreciated is that they've tried to balance the beer & the fruit, rather than a completely fruit forward flavor profile.

Drink what you like. If that's Pabst Blue Ribbon, so be it.
 
I was drinking a lot of Fat Tire earlier this summer. I haven't seen on the shelves at my local store. Here in Oklahoma, we have all new liquor laws going into effect Oct 1 and its got the distributors all screwed up right now. I know nothing about how that part of the business operates, all I know is our package stores have a lot of empty space and it won't get better till after Oct 1 .

And the maibock , Rogue Dead Guy was one of the first craft beers I fell in love with and I would grab a bomber of Double Dead Guy, when I could find it. Anchor Steam has an unusual history, with the open fermenters on top of the brewery. I still have a hard time believing that produced consistent beers, but obviously, it did.
 
Arun L. said:
I had Founders for the first time this year. The Kentucky Breakfast Stout.

It ranks up there with my other favorite stouts or porters.
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The Kentucky Breakfast Stout :) That's a heckuva introduction: I believe they add a 5th of bourbon to it!

I've made their "I eat danger for breakfast stout" (clone of founders breakfast stout) a couple of times (from their kit), the Kentucky is the same but adds a 32oz of 90 proof.

https://www.boomchugalug.com/downloadables/recipes/i_eat_danger_in_kentucky.pdf

I haven't had anything original from Founders, only clones, but if I could get a 15 pack for $15 like someone mentioned, I'd be all over it I'm sure.
 
Lynn Dollar said:
I was drinking a lot of Fat Tire earlier this summer. I haven't seen on the shelves at my local store. Here in Oklahoma, we have all new liquor laws going into effect Oct 1 and its got the distributors all screwed up right now. I know nothing about how that part of the business operates, all I know is our package stores have a lot of empty space and it won't get better till after Oct 1 .

And the maibock , Rogue Dead Guy was one of the first craft beers I fell in love with and I would grab a bomber of Double Dead Guy, when I could find it. Anchor Steam has an unusual history, with the open fermenters on top of the brewery. I still have a hard time believing that produced consistent beers, but obviously, it did.
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Lambics are the same - open air fermentation. No room for complaints about unusual liquor laws - UT will be dropping the BAC from .08 to .05 for a DUI.

I searched "California Common" and this popped up:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/style/132/

"
California Common / Steam Beer

Description:

The California Common, or Steam Beer, is a unique 100% American style lager. It's usually brewed with a special strain of lager yeast that works better at warmer temperatures. This method dates back to the late 1800's in California when refrigeration was a great luxury. The brewers back then had to improvise to cool the beer down, so shallow fermenters were used. So in a way the lager yeast was trained to ferment quicker at warmer temperatures. Today's examples are light amber to tawny in color, medium bodied with a malty character. Mildly fruity with an assertive hop bitterness.

Anchor Brewing Co. trademarked the term "Steam Beer" and as such all other beers must be legally referred to as "California Common."

Average alcohol by volume (abv) range: 4.0-6.0%

good stuff imo
 
I'll bet there is a minor difference between Anchor Steam and a lambic. I'd suspect Anchor Steam uses a specific strain of yeast whereas lambics use wild yeasts from the open air fermentation and the lambic brewers are notoriously superstitious about keeping their yeasts happy.
 
bigtime difference - no comparison. Lambics are like fruity-sour-tart wines (good, and sour not like a sour beer, but sour like a blood orange or sour patch kid..... not sour like bile (sry) like some nasty sour beers I've had. Anchor Steam (& CA Common) are clean, perfect beers. I could sure go for one right about now :)
 
Phil Perrin said:
I'm currently enjoying a Ballast Point Fathom IPA right now. I usually have 3 or 4 partial sixers in my fridge at any given time.
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How do you compare the Fathom to the Big Eye and Sculpin?

Several years ago, I wanted to see if I could tell the difference between the Big Eye and Sculpin. Only if I was paying attention, sometimes, could I tell. Otherwise, most of the time, I liked them both the same.
 
Arun L. said:
How do you compare the Fathom to the Big Eye and Sculpin?

Several years ago, I wanted to see if I could tell the difference between the Big Eye and Sculpin. Only if I was paying attention, sometimes, could I tell. Otherwise, most of the time, I liked them both the same.
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I haven't had the Big Eye or Sculpin. Yet. I'll let you know what I think.
If I remember, that is! :p
 
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