Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.

[ahammel]

Drinking a bottle of Rochefort 10.

Oh. God. Yes.

Man, I've got a great liquor store literally around the corner and I'm two blocks away from a Belgian beergeek bar. I really have no excuse not to try all the Trappists. New life goal.

[roband]

I could see this particular part of mod madness being upsetting for some

[folkhero]

I could see this particular part of Puppetmaster madness being upsetting for some

I know. Everyone knows that Natural Light is the adult beverage for classy, sophisticated folks like me.

[Bakemaster]

Troll troll troll, troll puppetmasters!

They're really into trolls.

[Telchar]

Had an IPA at Deschuettes (sp?) in downtown Portland last night that didn't bludgeon me to death with hops, which I appreciated. There porter is pretty good too but I don't drink porters enough to compare it.

I also finally had the Midas beer from DFH. Not bad.

[jobriath]

I could see this particular part of Puppetmaster madness being upsetting for some

The word substitutions are absolutely made for this thread. I'm laughing his arse off.

[Bakemaster]

Oh, I've bought a six-pack of Sierra Nevada's Ruthless Rye IPA and been drinking it (of course). My curiosity finally got the best of me. I don't really know how to distinguish what's to do with rye and what's not to do with rye, but it's a decent IPA at least.

[mercutio_stencil]

Butts, I've bought a six-pack of Sierra Nevada's Ruthless Rye IPA and been drinking it (of course). My curiosity finally got the best of me. I don't really know how to distinguish what's to do with rye and what's not to do with rye, but it's a decent IPA at least.

Buy a bottle of the Bulleit rye whiskey, that should give you a pretty good impression of what rye is supposed to taste like. I don't remember it coming out to strongly in the Ruthless, but it was still a rather tasty beverage.

[mosc]

Man, I've got a great liquor store literally around the corner and I'm two blocks away from a Belgian beergeek bar. I really have no excuse not to try all the Trappists. New life goal.

6/7 are pretty easy. The last one will take some doing...

[ahammel]

Man, I've got a great liquor store literally around the corner and I'm two blocks away from a Belgian beergeek bar. I really have no excuse not to try all the Trappists. New life goal.

6/7 are pretty easy. The last one will take some doing...

Yeah, looks like Westvleteren will require travel. Oh well, three down...

[Dark567]

6/7 are pretty easy. The last one will take some doing...

Huh, I have had all seven without realizing it. Granted Westvleteren was very much planned, but I have inadvertently had all the others.

[Whitekiboko]

Yeah, looks like Westvleteren will require travel. Oh well, three down...

No, just a buttload of cash later this year.


http://www.brewbound.com/news/westvlete ... ted-in-u-s

[Whitekiboko]

Huh, I have had all seven without realizing it. Granted Westvleteren was very much planned, but I have inadvertently had all the others.

I'm curious when Mont des Cats will get their own equipment.

[ahammel]

Yeah, looks like Westvleteren will require travel. Oh well, three down...

No, just a buttload of cash later this year.


http://www.brewbound.com/news/westvlete ... ted-in-u-s

Still requires travel for me: Shelton Bros. (the lucky distributers) don't operate in Canada, so far as I can tell. Poking around, though, it seems that it's sometimes sold legitimately in Vancouver as well, so I'll just have to keep my eyes peeled.

It'll be 4/7 tonight: just picked up a bottle of Westmalle Dubbel.

[mosc]

I'd also recommend St. Bernardus. It's not techincally a Trappist Bier after they standardized the requirements in the 90s but besides the religious meanings, it's pretty much the same quality. I particularly like the Triple, which is a very unique "medium" belgian style. It's much lighter than the quads like the Rocheford 10 you drank yet much richer and deeper than the belgian blonds (leffe, or "blue moon" style if you know what that is).

And as I commented on here before, I failed my taste test differentiating Westvleteren from the much more commonly available Delerium Nocturnum. Even as a card-carrying beer snob, I could not correctly identify which was which. The difference is very slight. That's not a knock, I think Nocturnum is one of the very best beers in the world.

[Whitekiboko]

Bernardus used to be called St. Sixtus.

I like doing side by sides (of the same number) of the two breweries when I can get my hands on Westy...

[ahammel]

Tuborg or not Tuborg?

Not Tuborg. That is all.

Digging into an Ayinger Celebrator Dopplebock instead. It's fuckin' awesome.

[Belial]

So I had a chance to try Dogfish Head's Ta Henket the other day. Which is beer brewed in the ancient egyptian fashion involving fermenting a bunch of loaves of emmer-wheat bread in various stages of baking by way of native wild yeast.

It was delicious. Apparently kemetic beer tasted a lot like a belgian. Of course, this version was minus the chunks that the real stuff had, but even so.

[mercutio_stencil]

So I had a chance to try Dogfish Head's Ta Henket the other day. Which is beer brewed in the ancient egyptian fashion involving fermenting a bunch of loaves of emmer-wheat bread in various stages of baking by way of native wild yeast.

It was delicious. Apparently kemetic beer tasted a lot like a belgian. Of course, this version was minus the chunks that the real stuff had, but even so.

That's impressive, I've heard nothing but bad things about the original Ninkasi Ale.

http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/nn ... civil.html

[clockworkmonk]

Oh the pleasures of living in Austin right now. The Whiskey Barrel Aged Double Pecan Porter is currently available.

[Роберт]

That looks delicious. Have you had many 512 beers in general? I want to know if that's a "must check out" brewery for my area. The had several that sounded good.

[bigglesworth]

Tuborg or not Tuborg?

Not Tuborg. That is all.

Tuborg is a nice clean, refreshing lager. Nothing wrong with it.

[ahammel]

Tuborg or not Tuborg?

Not Tuborg. That is all.

Tuborg is a nice clean, refreshing lager. Nothing wrong with it.

I thought it was pretty meh. A little watery and corn-syrup-y. I'd much prefer an Urquell or, better still, one of these. All the same price at my liquor store.

[roband]

Not a great lager IMO. Not that I'm a massive conness.. coneiss.. Not that I'm someone who knows anything about lager. But it's only slightly better than Carlsberg or Carling in my eyes.

[bigglesworth]

And it's only slightly more expensive than Carlsberg; it's to be expected.

[roband]

True. It's still not drinkable

[bigglesworth]

Well, it's certainly not worth shipping across the Atlantic. It's a great example of the style though.

[Роберт]

Just tried a regular 512 Pecan Porter. It was good. Now I want the Whiskey Barrel Aged Double Pecan Porter.

[Dark567]

So I had a chance to try Dogfish Head's Ta Henket the other day. Which is beer brewed in the ancient egyptian fashion involving fermenting a bunch of loaves of emmer-wheat bread in various stages of baking by way of native wild yeast.

It was delicious. Apparently kemetic beer tasted a lot like a belgian. Of course, this version was minus the chunks that the real stuff had, but even so.

Interesting. The two Dogfish Head's Ancient Ales I have had were pretty bad(Midas' Touch was one). I figured we have gotten a lot better at brewing in a couple thousand years. I'll have to try that one though.

[TheAmazingRando]

Am I the only one who thinks Rochefort 10 is too sweet? Or most quads, for that matter? Generally speaking, I can't go much sweeter than Delirium Nocturnum before I wish I was just drinking a strong Belgian pale instead.

[Belial]

So I had a chance to try Dogfish Head's Ta Henket the other day. Which is beer brewed in the ancient egyptian fashion involving fermenting a bunch of loaves of emmer-wheat bread in various stages of baking by way of native wild yeast.

It was delicious. Apparently kemetic beer tasted a lot like a belgian. Of course, this version was minus the chunks that the real stuff had, but even so.

Interesting. The two Dogfish Head's Ancient Ales I have had were pretty bad(Midas' Touch was one). I figured we have gotten a lot better at brewing in a couple thousand years. I'll have to try that one though.

Interesting. When taking recommendations from me, bear in mind that I liked Midas Touch, though it was an interesting flavor to get my head around because it didn't quite correspond to any style I was familiar with. Same with Theobroma (the ancient south american offering): I don't expect a beer that light to taste that chocolatey, it was just strange. Ta Henket is similar: it echos of a few different styles (including the aforementioned belgian taste from the yeast) but doesn't quite fit.

Which is why I like that series. It presents a lot of stuff that doesn't quite fit with the somewhat standardized and commonplace styles we've developed over the years. The only one so far that has utterly failed to make an impression on me was Cafe Jiahu. I wasn't angry at it, but I also just don't really remember it.

I think the whole "time passed, therefore we got better at it" thing is true in most respects. But in some cases, we didn't improve along all axes, we just changed along some: the reason we don't use emmer in beer anymore has nothing to do with barley making better beer (though that may also be true depending on taste) and has everything to do with emmer being a pain in the ass to grow. Which is why it's nearly extinct now compared to more commercialized grains: civilization moved over to things that were easier to cultivate because having enough bread to feed your populace is pretty important. And most pre-industrial brewers brewed with what was on hand from food production. So barley and wheat. None of which has anything to do with whether Emmer tastes good or interesting; in my experience it does. Same goes for the difference between using gruit vs hops as a beer-preservative. We switched to hops on the way out of the middle ages because it was easier to grow one plant than to use a mixture of herbs (and because it preserved better than that mixture), not necessarily because hops made better beer. (Though in this case, I agree with the change. Gruit beers taste interesting, but I wouldn't make a habit of them).

So I mean, some choices were made because they made better beer, some were made because they made more beer, or easier beer. Kindof like the macros using rice as filler.

One note on Ta Henket is that it's a lot weaker than most beer I'm used to. I think it was 2 or 3% ABV. Which just goes to the fact that there is a reason we use the yeasts we use in modern brewing. So in that respect, yeah, progress = better.

Well, also, the fact that we've developed the ability to filter out the soggy, bitter clumps of fermented bread. I really can't overstate that. Shit is nasty.

[bigglesworth]

Is 5%+ always better than 2-3.5%?

[Bakemaster]

Big difference between 2% and 3.5% but I don't think every beer has to be 5% or stronger. I'd be incredibly skeptical about anything below 3% actually being good, but hey, that's why the almighty Optimus invented the taste test.

[mosc]

Lower alcohol almost by design means less fermentation, less flavor transfer from the solid ingredients into the resultant liquid. Less taste. 3.5% is about as low as beer gets with a flavor we still would call "beer". 2.0% is going to taste like watery beer or like beer does when you chemically remove some alcohol (Non-Alcoholic beers). 2.0% would be approaching the line of not being encumbering as well. Not sure exactly where that line is but 2% is probably pretty close. In other words, you would be getting enough water such that the alcohol would have no effect on you no matter what quantity you drank.

[bigglesworth]

I guess I drink what would otherwise be classed as a 'light beer' (for its refreshing taste) as a 2.3% Belgian lager from Sainsbury's.

[Belial]

I was misremembering anyway, looks like it's 4.5%

Which, you know, is still pretty weak compared to the stouts and barleywines I tend to drink, but is not the weirdly low ABV I was remembering for some reason.

[Azrael]

Lower alcohol almost by design means less fermentation, less flavor transfer from the solid ingredients into the resultant liquid. Less taste. 3.5% is about as low as beer gets with a flavor we still would call "beer". 2.0% is going to taste like watery beer or like beer does when you chemically remove some alcohol (Non-Alcoholic beers).

There's an interesting resurgence with some craft brewers of the biere de table style. You'd be surprised at just how good those styles can be.

[jobriath]

Lower alcohol almost by design means less fermentation, less flavor transfer from the solid ingredients into the resultant liquid. Less taste.

Lower alcohol content means less fermentation, but I don't think it means less contact between the mash and the liquor. An ale I helped brew (in a microbrewery! class!) sparged the mash in one step then sent the liquor to the fermentation vessel. Fermentation could have been of any length, resulting in a wide range of alcohol contents, all for the same amount of mash-contact.

[Azrael]

Well, yeah. If you mix up the specific steps of brewing, like how the grain mash is strained/filtered off prior to fermentation, you can make all sorts of bad assertions.

[Dream]

3-3.5% is still very common in bitter. One of my favourite beers right now, Fyne Ales Jarl, is 3.8, and has all the flavour and palate weight of a higher gravity beer. It could be <3.5% and still be totally decent.