Two weeks ago, I had a Bourbon County Brand Stout. Holy christ, that will take down anyone. But it is the closest thing you can get to real bourbon. I'm actually hoping I can find the variations.
That sounds like something I need to try.
I tried Shock Top End Of The World Midnight Wheat and was pleasantly surprised. It does miss its mark as far as what it seems like they were aiming for, at least from its description, but it was better than expected, even if that is not really an achievement. Also, it does happen to be one that I feel should be drank from a glass and not the bottle.
No, it was. It was an Anheuser-Busch TAP TAKEOVER!!
That is amazing.
Has anyone had Heady Topper? It's made by Alchemist in Vermont, and it's rated #1 on BeerAdvocate. I'm thinking I may have to make a pilgrimage in the future...
No, I asked them. The guy who does purchasing literally laughed at the question. The only reason they have an Alchemist product at all (their GF beer) is because it's contract brewed in New York. Alchemist has no distribution here.
Ah! Yeah Waterford VT isn't that far. I'd be up for a beer tour of Vermont one weekend. You should check out Zero Gravity too. I hear they've got some good brews too: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/9784
No, I asked them. The guy who does purchasing literally laughed at the question.
Some how I am reminded of asking for 120 Minute IPA the day after they got some in stock at my local beer store. >>
120 is like the most frustrating scavenger hunt in the world. It's not like Westvleteren 12 or Utopias where you expect it to be ludicrously rare - it's just a regular beer! Sort of regular, anyhow. But I mean, I can get World Wide Stout reliably. 120? I have to wait in line and/or jump people.
Of course, the slides don't include my expounding on the topics addressed - but I can give you the gist of the connections:
1) Romans and Greeks document at least 3 use-cases for grain beverages: remedies/medicines; "zythum" or "cerevisia"; and wine-like beverages that use grain as a base. Also document grain preparations which could be used to produce grain beverages.
2) Both the Talmud and a 4th century Greek alchemist document a method for making "zythum" - which is analogous to "cerevisia" - and those methods involve significant herbal additions and sourdough hard-tack processing.
3) Old English sources establish relationships between "ealu" (the root of the word "ale") and "cerevisia" - which is "zythum" - and their use in herbal remedies. Those same sources draw a link between "beor" (the root of "beer") and "hydromel" or "mulsum" - words which refer to sweet fermented honey beverages.
4) Viking-era artifacts and language fill in the rest: Viking "breads" appeared to be small unleavened biscuits whose composition mirrors descriptions given by Pliny (1). The biscuits would likely have been used in a manner similar to that documented later (2). This would make something analogous to "ealu" (3), which I call "brauth."
Viking "ale," whose use-case is analogous to the Old English "beor" (3), would likely follow a similar production pattern - using honey as the driving agent of fermentation.
Separate from this, I also have a redaction of the basic recipe that I extrapolated as a result of this research:
I would just like to emphasize that I have had to translate works from 6 different languages (4 of which are "dead") in order to figure this shit out. Ancient Greek is a huge pain in the ass. Not as bad as cuneiform, though. Fuck that nonsense.
The next step is to start looking for a legitimate place to publish this. I think EXARC may be my best bet.
Watch your beers people! The most "sickest" beer I've seen yet. Apparently the Brettanomyces is supposed to break it down when it's at this state, but yeesh. I've learned a lot about what people do to make Saisons or Gueuzes.
Also, in some beer updates...
Met the Terrapin brewer, who was a really cool guy. He made one of my favorite beers ever with Midnight Depth Charge. I really fell in love with Terrapin after that, because the tasting introduced me to Wake-n-Bake and Hopzilla. Bought a four-pack of WnB to age.
I haven't been buying many good beers lately. Virginia Brewery Blue Mountain has really been disappointing me, as well as Founders because I haven't found any beer that matches the quality of their porter or oatmeal stout.
I've been trying lots of beer lately, really going out of my way to try some stuff. I've had moderate success, but I've had some real winners lately.
Gueuze Tilquin is the finest gueuze I've ever had. It's balanced, farmy, and just sour enough without going overboard. I had it with French Onion Soup with Farmer's Market Mozzarella on top. It has a bit more tang to it, so it really complimented the beer.
I went to a Firestone Walker night at a pub I occasionally go to, where they had Double Jack, Wooley Jack, Private Label Hefeweizen, Parabola, Sucaba, and The XVI Anniversary beer all on tap. Sadly, the Anniversary keg busted, so I didn't get to try that. Sucaba is probably in my top five favorite beers now, it reminded me of drinking a fine brandy with ester qualities and sweet hints of vanilla/caramel. I was really impressed with the Hefe as well, it's probably going to be in my Top 3 now. Sadly, I found the Parabola to be a slight disappointment because while it was made well and is incredible smooth/drinkable for it's ABV, I feel like it lacked a prominent flavor profile.
I also got to have Cellar Door on tap, which was really nice. The sage flavor is more sharp and the hops felt more abrasive in a good way. I'm really going to have to save a bottle and serve it up during Thanksgiving.
Also...
Removed image from beerstreetjournal.com, which is a malware-flagged site.
Worth the hype. Probably the best Imperial IPA I've had, especially because I tasted it first 10 days after it was brewed. Incredibly balanced with hints of grapefruit and pine. It also uses Falconer's Flight as the sole hop which I really gives the beer some great citrus qualities. Just from the label alone, I want to give Pete some of this beer.
Other than these, I can't say I've had many beers that have really surprised me all that much. Some breweries in Virginia have been letting me down, but there's always a new beer to buy every week. ^_^
I would definitely not mind having a lot of that in my mouth.
In other news, since I'm spending the summer in Wisconsin, I am discovering that they have a metric fuckload of awesome microbreweries, with about eight or so in reasonable driving distance.
I would definitely not mind having a lot of that in my mouth.
In other news, since I'm spending the summer in Wisconsin, I am discovering that they have a metric fuckload of awesome microbreweries, with about eight or so in reasonable driving distance.
New Glarus. Definitely take the time out to go to the New Glarus Brewery, they make exceptional fruit-based beers. My favorite beer podcast did an episode about them months ago, which really makes me interested in their style: http://thebeerists.com/the-beerists-31-new-glarus-fruit-beers/
New Glarus. Definitely take the time out to go to the New Glarus Brewery, they make exceptional fruit-based beers. My favorite beer podcast did an episode about them months ago, which really makes me interested in their style: http://thebeerists.com/the-beerists-31-new-glarus-fruit-beers/
Done them already, was actually a bit underwhelmed. I liked their pale ale quite a bit, but they make beer a bit too light for my taste. I find it interesting that that podcast really liked Serendipity, because pretty much my entirely family classed it as way too fruity and not enough like beer - almost to the point where it tasted like you were just drinking carbonated cough syrup. (Okay, it was better than cough syrup, but not something I particularly like in beer.)
However, there are a pair of brewpubs in the Madison area - the Great Dane and Vintage Brewing Company - which are both quite good. The Great Dane currently has, among other things, a pepper-flavored pilsner on tap.
The beer is straight up spicy, and tastes like you're drinking a good pilsner with chilies in it - it's awesome.
When I went to Vintage, they had on tap a bourbon barrel-aged Russian Imperial Stout. I'm not sure how to describe it - it's like you're drinking whiskey and beer at the same time, but the tastes combine quite well. The taste is so strong that you can't really do more than sip the beer, but with a beer like that you shouldn't be drinking faster than that anyways.
Comments
I tried Shock Top End Of The World Midnight Wheat and was pleasantly surprised. It does miss its mark as far as what it seems like they were aiming for, at least from its description, but it was better than expected, even if that is not really an achievement. Also, it does happen to be one that I feel should be drank from a glass and not the bottle.
This was the beer menu of a local pub last night.
I mean, except for the fantastic flavor text.
Has anyone had Heady Topper? It's made by Alchemist in Vermont, and it's rated #1 on BeerAdvocate. I'm thinking I may have to make a pilgrimage in the future...
https://docs.google.com/a/frontrowcrew.com/presentation/d/1neqawQugZ1pnE0IISPQcH3QVl4IbYPTIicclOvOzU_8/edit#slide=id.p
Of course, the slides don't include my expounding on the topics addressed - but I can give you the gist of the connections:
1) Romans and Greeks document at least 3 use-cases for grain beverages: remedies/medicines; "zythum" or "cerevisia"; and wine-like beverages that use grain as a base. Also document grain preparations which could be used to produce grain beverages.
2) Both the Talmud and a 4th century Greek alchemist document a method for making "zythum" - which is analogous to "cerevisia" - and those methods involve significant herbal additions and sourdough hard-tack processing.
3) Old English sources establish relationships between "ealu" (the root of the word "ale") and "cerevisia" - which is "zythum" - and their use in herbal remedies. Those same sources draw a link between "beor" (the root of "beer") and "hydromel" or "mulsum" - words which refer to sweet fermented honey beverages.
4) Viking-era artifacts and language fill in the rest: Viking "breads" appeared to be small unleavened biscuits whose composition mirrors descriptions given by Pliny (1). The biscuits would likely have been used in a manner similar to that documented later (2). This would make something analogous to "ealu" (3), which I call "brauth."
Viking "ale," whose use-case is analogous to the Old English "beor" (3), would likely follow a similar production pattern - using honey as the driving agent of fermentation.
Separate from this, I also have a redaction of the basic recipe that I extrapolated as a result of this research:
http://thedraughtsaredeep.wordpress.com/2013/04/18/brewing-with-egil-now-for-some-actual-brewing/
I would just like to emphasize that I have had to translate works from 6 different languages (4 of which are "dead") in order to figure this shit out. Ancient Greek is a huge pain in the ass. Not as bad as cuneiform, though. Fuck that nonsense.
The next step is to start looking for a legitimate place to publish this. I think EXARC may be my best bet.
Also, in some beer updates...
Met the Terrapin brewer, who was a really cool guy. He made one of my favorite beers ever with Midnight Depth Charge. I really fell in love with Terrapin after that, because the tasting introduced me to Wake-n-Bake and Hopzilla. Bought a four-pack of WnB to age.
I haven't been buying many good beers lately. Virginia Brewery Blue Mountain has really been disappointing me, as well as Founders because I haven't found any beer that matches the quality of their porter or oatmeal stout.
So this happened.
Gueuze Tilquin is the finest gueuze I've ever had. It's balanced, farmy, and just sour enough without going overboard. I had it with French Onion Soup with Farmer's Market Mozzarella on top. It has a bit more tang to it, so it really complimented the beer.
I went to a Firestone Walker night at a pub I occasionally go to, where they had Double Jack, Wooley Jack, Private Label Hefeweizen, Parabola, Sucaba, and The XVI Anniversary beer all on tap. Sadly, the Anniversary keg busted, so I didn't get to try that. Sucaba is probably in my top five favorite beers now, it reminded me of drinking a fine brandy with ester qualities and sweet hints of vanilla/caramel. I was really impressed with the Hefe as well, it's probably going to be in my Top 3 now. Sadly, I found the Parabola to be a slight disappointment because while it was made well and is incredible smooth/drinkable for it's ABV, I feel like it lacked a prominent flavor profile.
I also got to have Cellar Door on tap, which was really nice. The sage flavor is more sharp and the hops felt more abrasive in a good way. I'm really going to have to save a bottle and serve it up during Thanksgiving.
Also...
Removed image from beerstreetjournal.com, which is a malware-flagged site.
Worth the hype. Probably the best Imperial IPA I've had, especially because I tasted it first 10 days after it was brewed. Incredibly balanced with hints of grapefruit and pine. It also uses Falconer's Flight as the sole hop which I really gives the beer some great citrus qualities. Just from the label alone, I want to give Pete some of this beer.
Other than these, I can't say I've had many beers that have really surprised me all that much. Some breweries in Virginia have been letting me down, but there's always a new beer to buy every week. ^_^
In other news, since I'm spending the summer in Wisconsin, I am discovering that they have a metric fuckload of awesome microbreweries, with about eight or so in reasonable driving distance.
Also, just as I read about Pete's Big Hard Cock Ale, I heard about beer that was brewed with bull testicles. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/04/wynkoops-bull-testicle-be_n_2409712.html
However, there are a pair of brewpubs in the Madison area - the Great Dane and Vintage Brewing Company - which are both quite good. The Great Dane currently has, among other things, a pepper-flavored pilsner on tap.
The beer is straight up spicy, and tastes like you're drinking a good pilsner with chilies in it - it's awesome.
When I went to Vintage, they had on tap a bourbon barrel-aged Russian Imperial Stout. I'm not sure how to describe it - it's like you're drinking whiskey and beer at the same time, but the tastes combine quite well. The taste is so strong that you can't really do more than sip the beer, but with a beer like that you shouldn't be drinking faster than that anyways.