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Ok, let's look at how beer is made, shall we? We already know that barley grows like any other grain. Then it's off to the maltster, a man practicing an ancient art. He is the font of all the goodness for both beers and whiskey. The basic process of malting begins by soaking the grain in warm water, and letting it start to sprout. When this happens, the developing barley plant produces enzymes called amylases. The important ones are the Alpha and Beta. Keep that in mind, I'll be back to it later. The maltster slowly kiln dries the malt, stopping any further conversion of the starches by the plant. These starches will later become wort. Once the germination has been stopped, all the malt is run through a giant drum, to knock the ends of the plant off. This is very important, because that little bit of plant contains a great deal of tannins. Tannins are also contained in the husk, but you need the husk later in the process. Now that you have raw malted barley, the maltster can begin his true task. Creating the varying types of malts that will impart various degrees of flavor to the beer. The darker the malt, the more bitter the flavor of the grain and the fewer FERMENTABLE sugars can be extracted from it in what is known as the "mash". The mash is the process in which the brewer, by controlling the temperature of the grains, extracts a beer which will have either a sweet, malty, heavy mouthfeel, or a thin llight dry mouthfeel. Stouts tend to be fairly low alcohol beers. Sometimes referred to as a session beer, because it is possible to consume a fair number of them prior to becoming insensate. The have a hearty rich mouthfeel, and the better ones will have an almost imperceptable coffee note at the back of the tongue. Guiness has an odd taste because they sour their mash. The allow it to become infected by lactobaccillus before the boil. It is an odd style, and I have never cared for it, but hey, slap a slick marketing campaign on it...... Guiness (and all stouts and all decent beers for that matter) has more calories than you might expect. There are no light stouts. Light beers are made using a great deal of easily fermentable sugars (corn and rice are the most popular) and tend to have little mouthfeel. There is nothing inherently wrong with guiness, but it is nowhere near a nectar. Something to boil bratwurst in or make barbecue sauce with maybe. But not a nectar. Drinking beer is about quality, not quantity. When I want to get hammered, I might drink a case of budmilloors to wash down some cheap rum, but when I want a good beer, I would never ever reach for a silver bullet. Try a Chimay Trappist Ale if you want a good beer. It should be served at about 55 degrees, and should be decanted (there is yeast in the bottom of the bottle) into a brandy snifter. The flavors will become more assertive as the beer warms, and you should be able to pick up hints of caramel and even apricot. GT Beer Geek |
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I don't care what any of you people say about cheap light beers, but it's Coor's Light for me every time and I don't regret it one bit. (Except this one time....but I swear she looked a lot better the night before....)
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I can get it in Knoxville, and it's damn good beer. ETA: Shiner Bock |
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My favorites:
Newcastle Killian's Bass PBR(but it has to be fresh) |
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Yep saw it in Lincon, Nebraska. |
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Rolling Rock is by far my fave. I used to drink a lot of Lone Star when I lived in El Paso. |
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Hacker-Pschorr, Munich-Edelhell Ale. I can't find it locally anymore In the pint bottles it's exactly what I want in a beer. Wish it was still available to me....
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Czechvar
Killian's Irish Red Guinness McEdwin's India Pale Ale Sierra Nevada Pale Ale |
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+8 |
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Lately I am most impressed with:
Flying Dog's Snake Dog IPA Unibroue Ephemere Cassis And a huge +1 to FREE BEER. |
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I don't believe that Guiness uses as much of the "expensive stuff" (Malt, not water you fools!) when they make their Stout as the better brands such as Sierra Nevada or Great Lakes Brewing. I'd bet that Guiness uses about the same amount of malt as the crap beers like Budweiser. That is, not a lot. |
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Bass, Sam Adams.
Believe it or not I like Bud. Great addition to chili too. I also like the Mexican beers: Corona, Modelo Especial, Bohemia, Negro Modelo, Sol, Pacifica. Don't like Tecate. However, Mexican beers are WAY overpriced. I can get Bass cheaper. About less $4/case. |
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wheat beers have a delicious, nutty taste.the name of the colorado microbrew i tried escapes me right now, though.
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Rolling Rock with food.
Shiner and Fat Tire for the taste. Durango CO has good eats and beer at the Brewery and Fredericksburg TX has ok eats and good beer. |
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We need ot organize an AZ big brew. I got a feeling that there are a bunch of brewers in AZ. Or maybe the next time Rock Bottom hosts a big brew, we could set up an Arfcommer area... |
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I drink a lot of Fat Tire Ale lately. I also like Grant's Scottish Ale. I like rich hoppy ales for taste, but am not above emptying PBR cans.
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If it's cold, I'll pretty much give it a go. I LOVE beer, plain and simple. Generally speakin' I like Anhizer Busch(spelling??) products but hell, beer is beer so pass a cold one my way and I'll drink it. Bad beer is better then NO beer at all. LOL. In Frith.
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Well hell ya. Me? I'm working on a case of Busch at the moment. It's a midwest staple! |
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+1 and they started selling it at the local Kroger here in Ohio! I was so excited because I thought I was doomed to average beer for the rest of my life or at least until I give up this idea of moving back "home". |
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Left Handed Brewery's Double IPA
Ruination Stone Imperial Stout Kilt Lifter Stone IPA Arrogant Bastard Black Butte Porter and finally... The beer TheRedhorseman brewed up. |
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For you Chimay drinker. (Yes Its awesome beer) Try this. Its made in NY and is as close as Chimay as yo can get. Just as good if not better IMHO.
www.ommegang.com/ |
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After experiencing a real Octoberfest in Munich in September. Tucher Hefe became one of my favs for a long time. |
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Quoted:
For you Chimay drinker. (Yes Its awesome beer) Try this. Its made in NY and is as close as Chimay as yo can get. Just as good if not better IMHO. +1. The best Belgian style from a micro I've ever had. La Fin du Monde out of Montreal is pretty good too. |
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I like a sixpack of canned piss as much as the next guy, especially at the weather gets warmer. But as a substitute for real beer, they are just a pale imitiation.
My favorite "case" beer: Good old Buttgeyser, though PBR is a fairly close second. My favorite "six-pack" beers: Smuttynose IPA Troegs Hopback Amber Ale New River Pale Ale Dominion Oak Barrel Stout Dogfish Head Raison D'etre Favorite "Single Bottles": Olde Suffolk Harviestoun Bitter & Twisted Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout Affligem Dubbel Unibroue Maudite "Beer is the proof that God loves us, and wants us to be happy" |
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