Weave
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And many years ago, got to go to a beer tasting w/ Michael Jackson. That dude knew his brews.
Now that would be cool.
And for those of you not in the know, he's not talking about the sequined glove wearing, monkey owning, little boy diddlin' Michael Jackson. He's talking aobut a rather famous author and expert on all things beer and whisky.
At least that's who I hope he's talking about. :blink:
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Braedon, that beer is all about tones of fruit and dark malt. When you see words like syrupy to describe it, they are referring to mouthfeel more than sweetness. I suppose that a syrupy mouthfeel combined with notes of dark fruits could be mistaken for sweetness on the tongue but I am very sure that beer is fermented quite dry. To give a wine example, think of how a jammy pinot noir might taste if it was very low in tannins. It is a dry wine that might be mistaken for sweet because of the fruity, jammy flavors. Similar concept with 3 Philosophers, fruit notes without risidual sweetness.
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Interesting. Not what I would expect from reading its notes.
I noticed you mentioned FB Scotch Ale. Funny thing is that I've never tried theirs, though my 'Sabre Beer' after games at Pearl Street was Lord Stanley Scotch Ale. Man I miss that beer.
These guys are real beer snobs and this is what they have to say about it. Alot of them reach a bit too much with their descriptions but there are enough common thoughts to give you a pretty good idea of what the beer is like. Overall they are a pretty reliable source for beer tasting notes.
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Ok, never had it but know about it. I'm not a sweet beer guy, so I'm hesitant. Give it to me in comparison to Sam Cherry: as sweet, not as sweet, or apples and oranges?
Also, would you consider this an all night beer or more of an aperitif?
Apples to oranges. It is a Belgian Quad in style and very high alcohol for a beer. It is rich and dark and has hints of sour cherries but loads of dark fruit flavors too. But not sweet. Closer to sour really. It is a blend of 10% sour Belgian lambic so there is no real underlying sweetness. If anything, it finishes a touch dry. Definitely NOT an all night beer. If memory serves it is close to a 10% ABV beer. Think brandy snifter and lightly chilled.
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for starters, you should search out a book called travels with barley by ken wells - he's a newspaper reporter (WSJ, i think) who talked his way into a boondoggle down the mississippi to review and contemplate america's beer culture - specifically the phenomenon known as the beer joint, and its eternal guardian, the beer goddess. it's not a page-turner, but it does have a ton of interesting information on how and why we consumer our beer in the states.
I own many a beer book, but not that one. I'll keep an eye out for it.
I second your support for Cream Ale, and I encourage everyone to drink Genny products -- drink and eat local, I say.Amen brutha. Sing it loud from the mountaintop.
Best beer I've had this year, but about which I am conflictedDogfish's Apri-Hop (that may be a misspelling) IPA.
Seasonal, and it's done for this year, but what a remarkable beer. Amazing.
My problem being, I watched some show that the Dogfish chief genius did on the Travel Channel (Sam something?), and I found the guy to be an annoying douche.
Douche isn't strong enough of a word to describe Sam Calgione but he makes some amazingly good beers. And more than a few amazingly overrated ones too.
Beer I'm Most Apt to Order When OutI always ask if there's any Flying Bison on tap. Always. My preference goes in this order: Rusty Chain, Aviator Red, Lager. All great choices.
Beyond that, I will look for a Southern Tier product - generally the IPA. I'm a fool for IPA's, to be sure.
I AM a beer snob when I go out to eat. I frame where I go out to dinner by the drink choices they offer and I rarely eat where I am not happy with the drinks available. Beer is an important part of my dinners out so I always ask for craft beers (unless its wings, good ole American/Canadian macros are great with wings), and local craft beers are better still. If I'm in Vermont, I'm drinking Vermont beers, same in Tennessee, Ohio, or wherever.
I love IPA's but I don't stick too close to them. Too much else out there to enjoy. I will say that when I've got friends at the house, IPA's are the most common pour.
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But back on topic: What would be a couple good brands to try for a rookie drinker looking to broaden his horizons and learn to appreciate their flavors?
You've been almost exclusively a light beer guy so a segue into craft beers from there can be a little challenging. Wheat beers are a good start. They get a rep as being girly beers but I guarantee you that there a plenty of manly-men in Germany and Belgium where those styles started that would kick your arse if you told them their wheat beers are girly. Sam Adams Summer Wheat is a good start. Shock Top by Budweiser is a credible version of a wheat beer too, as is Blue Moon. Also, if you can find it try Leinenkeugel Sunset Wheat. Another place to start is with Summer Ales. They are usually lighter flavored ales. Most microbreweries make one and they tend to be on the lighter side. Sam Adams Summer Ale is a start. Saranac Summer Ale is another. It is a little bolder in flavor but look for Southern Tier Hop Sun as well. And Sam Adams light is an option. Not sure how a typical lite beer drinkr would like it but it is definitely lighter than their other beers.
How about this as a change of pace.... do you drink coffee? If you are a coffee drinker you can relate to the flavors found in stouts so try a Guinness.
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Great Flavored Beer from my region (and a tie in to the Whisk(e)y thread:
It's a dark ale aged in old bourbon barrels with whole vanilla beans.
It's also delicious. Definately a "dessert" beer.
I've had that one. I agree, it is delicious. We vacationed in Lexington last year. Discovered it while I was at Keeneland watching a race on opening week. Brought a few 4 packs home with me. Great beer to enjoy with a cigar.
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What about "After sex" beer? "4:20 beer? Beer u buy when you know the alcoholic is on the way?
Let's hear 'em. I bet you've got opinions here.
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Let's discuss favorite beers.
I'll start off by labeling myself a beer geek, NOT a beer snob. That will be evident early in this post. I cannot pick a favorite beer. I can't even pick a favorite style of beer. There are so many varieties that it would take a lifetime to acquire and sample them all. And I am doing my damndest to try. I'll start by saying what I don't like. I don't like fruit flavored beers. Well, *most* styles of them anyway. There are a few Belgian styles that use fruit that I enjoy. And I don't like German styled wheat beers either. They have a background banana and clove character that I don't care for in beer. Pretty much everything else style-wise has tasty representatives that I will gladly consume. For me, beer is a situational beverage. So I guess if I am going to talk about favorite beers, I need to list favorites as they pertain to different situations.
Summer thirst quenchers
My first choice for a beer to have after (or during) yard work or lounging on a hot and sunny day like today is Genny Cream Ale. It is light enough to be thirst quenching yet has more flavor than Bud, Miller, Coors. And for those of you young uns that's never had a Genny Cream but heard awful things, put away your bias and try one side by side against a Bud/Miller/Coors. There is a reason it used to dominate the beer market around here. I think you'll be pleasantly suprised. Also on my list is Southern Tier Hop Sun from down in Jamestown, NY. Like the name suggests, it has lots of crisp hop flavors but is light on the palate and low-ish in alcohol so it won't beat you up on a day where you're likely to dehydrate anyway. My honorable mention here is Labatt's 50 ale. Soft and thirst quenching but has a nice finishing Cascades hop flavor.
Beer to drink with Summer barbeque food
I like a light refreshing beer with my ribs or Chiavetta's chicken but I want something with a bit more flavor than a cream ale or typical American/Canadian lager. For pairing with summer foods I like a Belgian style called Saison. They are soft and dry but have a bit of a spicy character to them. My favorite is made by a NY brewery called Ommegang. Their Saison is named Hennepin. And it is delicious with Italian sausage w/ peppers and onions or grilled pork tenderloin, yet has the backbone to stand up to a ribeye steak.
Patio beer with a cigar in the evening
Typically I am a whiskey drinker in the evening but there are plenty of beers that substitute well here, most of them high alcohol varieties. Belgian Quadruples pair well with contemplative moments. So do double IPA's, barley wines, big Scotch ales, and export stouts. I have two favorites. A Belgian style quad by Ommegang called Three Philosphers and a double IPA by Souther Tier named Unearthly. They are rich and chewy and have enough flavor to compete with whatever cigar I am enjoying.
Beers to go along with Fall sports and yardwork
I'm a traditionalist here. Oktoberfests are my style of choice when the leaves turn. I like Dundee Oktoberfest here. And Sam Adams Oktoberfest is also a very tasty version. Honorable mention goes to a hoppy harvest beer from Southern Tier called Harvest Ale. It is an amber hoppy ale brewed just for Fall.
Winter Beers
My beer choices tend to the dark and higher alcohol in wintertime. Stouts, porters, Scottish ales end up in my glass most frequently. I like Flying Bison's Scotch Ale best. Rohrback's Scotch Ale is damned good too. And Great Lakes brewing out of Cleveland makes a porter that can't be beat in my mind. Stouts don't start and finish with Guinness but it's never a bad choice if your out on the town. And Guinness is fairly low in alcohol so if you are driving have one of those instead of a bigger, more alcoholic beer.
Beers for Spring
I've got two. One traditional, and one that's fairly new on the market. Every Spring I have to buy a 12 pack of Genny Bock. Admittedly, it's not an award winning version of the style but it's release is one of the first signs of Spring and is a must buy for me. My ohter Spring fav is a seasonal from Sam Adams, Noble Pils. It is their version of a clasic Czech Pilsner and it is a hoppy, crisp, and full flavored pilsner. Great stuff to quaff on those warm Spring days as the lawn is starting to green over.
You'll notice that most of my choices are made nearby. There is a good reason. Unlike wine, beer is best drunk fresh, and you can't get any fresher than a beer in season that was made and shipped less than 50 miles away. Storage that is measured in months really does degrade the subtle flavors in beer. And if you haven't really ventured beyond Blue, Mich Ultra, or whatever your usual pour is, do yourself a favor and start to explore the other styles available. There is an incredible variety of flavors and styles out there.
Anyway, that's my long-wided post about my favorite beers. Let's hear a little about yours.
(yeah, it's a bit slow at work right now
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I don't know anything about fusels, but I can assure you that drinking large quantities of rot gut cane liquor in central america is a very bad idea for us soft bellied gringos.
Yeah, I know how that goes. It starts out as a good time. It gets late and you bring someone home. But in the morning you wake up with a beast of a headache, you smell like death, and that girl you woke up next to has an adam's apple. And you still don't want to talk about the tattoo. We've all been there.
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Assuming that they distill it to the same rules as the US (this may be a stretch) the distillate is only 80% ethenol. That other 20 percent can make a HUGE difference, smooth wheat Bourbons vs sharp rye Bourbons for example. I imagine having a sugar as powerful as cane would create some incredible congeners and fusel oils. in the ferment. I imagine yeast on crack.
I am reluctant to take this thread down the rabbit hole of fermentation science but the source of the sugar is irrelevant. Sucrose is sucrose, maltose is maltose, etc etc regardless of the plant it originated from. The yeast doesn't care what the source is, they only care that a short chain sugar is present to metabolize.
Congeners and fusels are probably the issue. All brewing yeasts throw fusels. For most strains how much fusels are produced is dependent on fermentation temperature. Hotter fermentation temperature = more fusel alcohol produced. And that may be where cane distillate gets nasty. Smaller operations may not bother with the expense of controlling fermentation temp in their cane fermentations. And it gets purt dam warm down in them thar tropics.
The whole idea behind removing the 1st and last portion of the distillate is to get rid of fusels etc. If they aren't doing that then yeah, nasty booze. But if they do dispose of the first and last runnings I see no reason why cane liquor wouldn't become every bit as smooth and tasty as any other distillate.
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My son turns 14 next month and plays guitar. It kind of forces me to keep up a little. Last week he informed me that he wants to go to Darien Lake and see the Uproar Tour featuring Avenged Sevenfold and Three Days Grace, Seether, along with a few other bands as his birthday present. It's one of those all day multi band concerts. He's too young to go alone in my opinion so I bought a seat for me too. It's been 20 years since I've last gone to a big name current band concert. All the shows I go to are in small venues or outdoor freebies. Should be a good time.
You are NOT gonna see my sorry ass in a mosh pit though.
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What you have is barrel aged cane liquor. Cane liquor is the drink of the masses in central america. It ranges from gasoline to somewhat drinkable in quality. Barrel aged is obviously a step up.
I spent some time in Costa Rica as a young man and drank some cane liquor. It is not good for you. The most interesting way I consumed it was as a shooter with a sea turtle egg dumped in it.
I'm curious why you would say that distillate made from cane is any worse for you than distillate made from malted barley? They only difference should be the source of the sugars consumed during fermentation. As long as the first and last runnings are abandoned the distillate should be no more or no less bad for you than distillate made from corn, barley, or potatoes.
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Here's another one by Black Country Communion. Joe Bonamassa is a guitar god.
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I would love for all you young whipper snappers on the board (and the old ones too) to toss me some suggestions. More rock than rap, and relatively clean is preferred. Fire away!
I try to keep up a little bit. My musical tastes are actually pretty diverse but old school bluesy rock brings me back every time.
How old is your kid? Maybe check out Avenged Sevenfold and Three Days Grace on youtube.
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I need to find the opportunity to more seriously explore Irish whiskey.
As if I *really* need that. :rolleyes: :P
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you made it past the one minute mark?
Yeah. :blush: At least I was able to escape early from whateverthehell that was that Crosschecking posted.
Here. This will make it all better. And she looks like a woman should look.
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on a major swedish-pop kick these days.
There's 3:05 of my life that I'll never get back.
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Jameson is my least favorite of the big names. It's entry level is basically undrinkable for me. Tullamore Dew is only slightly better. Bushmills is better yet, but the upgraded Black Bush is too sweet for me. As I said previously, Powers is th best of the entry level Irish whiskeys I have tried to date - perfect for filling that flask for cold weather events.
I'm home now so here's my thoughts on the older Jameson....
It's not a complicated whiskey by any stretch. It has that base Jameson background flavor. A touch sweet, a little fruity on the finish, a little more bite than it should have based on its proof as well. But it has more barrel character, a bit of spice and caramel. I was definitely mistaken about the peaty notes I mentioned earlier. They are not there. It does seem to have a subtle funky sherry note to it though. And it has a bit of an oily mouthfeel that I've never noticed in the base Jameson. I am pretty sure it is the same base recipe held longer in the barrel. It is still Jameson at its heart.
I guess I am reminded why it is 3rd fiddle in my place.
For whatever it's worth.......
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Isn't Dickel one of the original guys who started Jack Daniels, then decided to make his own? I remember hearing this somewhere.
No idea. The always accurate :rolleyes: Wikipedia makes no mention of it.
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Yeah, I've just seen so many writers argue that they belong in the category because the mashbill matches that of bourbon (>50% corn) and they are aged in New Oak Barrels at similar barrel proofs. But You can't pour a liquid through a 10' tall pillar of maple charcoal and not significantly changes the properities pre barrel. I guess I'm arguing with people who aren't even here...again...
JD is a bourbon according to NAFTA and The Truthiness of Wikipedia.
Admittedly, the difference in names of the two products is more about regional pride than big differences in the end result. Excepting that whole maple charcoal filtering thing, bourbon and Tennessee whiskey are about as similar as two types of distillate can get.
I haven't had George Dickel in ages but I recall really enjoying it. And it is always good for a giggle from a young waitress when you order it.
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I have, we are on bottle #2. The first bottle had the strong maple and brown sugar sweetness that the standard blend is known for, clearly we got the mash/age mix that provides the bulk of those notes. This bottle is much less sweet, and has a little more smoke to it, but still delicious. I am a little confused as to why the 4R has not caught on in the states until very recently. It was the third most popular bourbon in europe for a long time behind JB and MM*. It's been available in Northern KY, SW OH and SE IN for a while, but seems to be spreading now. By far favorite primary offering from any of the distilleries, and I think it stands up against some of the higher level offerings.
*(I don't count JD, though some do. I firmly believe that the Lincoln County process is a significant enough departure from standard aging that it makes it impossible to compare it to a "true" bourbon, and they would agree with me.)
4R hadn't caught on in the states because for a long time they weren't distributing it in the states. For several decades it was made for export only. They are only in the last few years starting to get widespread distirbution in the states. I don't care for their base yellow label offering, I can't put my finger on it but there is something about it that my palate doesn't quite agree with. But 4R Single Barrel and Small Batch are very nice to me. They are spicy, complex, and have alot of floral notes. Very full flavored whiskeys. Even the plain yellow label 4R is very full flavored.
Even JD doesn't call itslef bourbon. It is "Tenessee whiskey". Sez so right on the bottle.
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With the wife all knocked up and nesting (I've We've renovated our bathroom, built a nursary into a previously unused nook on the second floor, built a guest room in the basement, and replaced every sheet, curtain, and towel in our house...all in the past month.) I haven't found the time to sit down and have a glass out of the Four Roses Single Barrel that's been staring at me from our bar. Tonight may be the night. Just the thought has me all happy inside. :)
Have you tried your 4R SB yet or is the bottle new? We went to Kentucky last year on vacation and toured the 4 Roses distillery. Before then I was only dimly aware of that brand. I fell in love with 4R SB at that tour. Bought a couple bottles from that batch to take home and am now on my 3rd bottle of it (different batch though). Each batch is a little different. Long story - short, but they have a very complicated blending for their plain yellow label 4 Roses. They have 10 recipes that they cask separately to age and then blend them to the master distillers taste. Their single barrel bottling could come from any of those casks and any of the 10 recipes. And each recipe is distinctly different in flavor and character from the others. The master distiller chooses which one to use for their single barrel bottling based on what he thinks turned out the best. We got the opportunity to sample several of the different recipes on that tour and a couple differnet blendings of the finished product. It was very educational.
The Official Beer Appreciation Thread
in The Aud Club
Posted
For those of you who are not aware, McGregors Taproom is a huge deal in Rochester. They are well known for the diverse selection they offer on tap. Their Henrietta location has something like 125 taps. And last week they opened a location on Maple Rd in Amherst at the old Hooters site near UB. 86 taps right now. And their food is very good too. Something for everyone in there. I wish I were closer to home, I'd be a regular at the Maple Rd site.
Lots of variety in the opinions here. Nuthin wrong with that. Reflects the variety of flavors available.
I think I started right out of the gate as a beer geek but didn't "get it" at the time. A small group of us used to cross the border and head to Brewers' Retail during breaks in classes at NCCC. We bought Molson Brador and John Labatt's Extra Stock. I used to buy alot of Carlsberg back then too. It was probably my favorite when I was a young guy. But we also bought alot of stuff that we weren't familiar with just to try it, like a beer called Schooner (is it even still available?). It's funny, you couldn't buy beer in NY as an 18-19 yr old but you could cross the border, buy it, and bring it back legally. When I was asked what I had to declare I was upfront about it, "two cases of beer". Never had a hassle coming across. And I remember going to the Lafayette Tap Room in the late 80's, maybe 1990 and drinking Pete's Wicked Ale on tap because it was new and different. And there was always buckets of OV splits being drunk at the bars along the waterfront. And when Buffalo Brew Pub first opened? :wub:
I guess I've always had a love affair with beer.