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631

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: East Coast vs. West Coast IPA - A Bitter Divide.

« on: January 24, 2010, 08:31:59 am »

...At least partly because of Ballantine IPA's legendary status in American brewing, the style has been attempted in recent years by numerous microbrewers.

Attempted is the word. 
I am forever spoiled, with Bally IPA having been my go to beer from the late 60's  right up to the mid 80's when they stopped making it to the original specs.
It outclassed every IPA being made today by any brewer, big or small.  A few have come close, and I'll keep tasting them, but I haven't handed out any victory cigars yet.

Meantime, my experiments with the homebrewed version continue...

632

Wood/Casks / Re: Wood aging with cubed oak or spirals

« on: January 17, 2010, 06:30:34 pm »

I like cubes (especially light or medium toast Hungarian oak) because that's what I'm accustomed to, they are easy to bake or steam-sanitize (a must do step for me),   and ultimately because after 20 years of using them,  I know what to expect from them  in terms of quantity and exposure time.  Whatever you use, it does take some experimentation to find that "sweet spot". 

American oak is fine but you do need to be especially careful with it...it's so easy to overdo it.

The key with any oak though is to take it easy.  Too much is really cloying (though of course, it boils down to personal taste in the end...you really have to find what you like).  But I've tasted some very good homebrews that would be great ones were it not for overdone wood character.

The secondary is a good place to add the wood, though if you have keg equipment, that is really the best place to do it.  You really do need to monitor the infusion of the oak flavors though.  Too much really can be quite unpleasant.

633

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: What's your Favorite Style of Beer?

« on: January 16, 2010, 07:42:59 am »

I have two favorites...on practically opposite ends of the flavor spectrum:

IPA (plenty bitter and aromatic but without any grassy late hop flavors).
Scotch Ale/Wee Heavy.

In truth, I  like most traditional "styles" except Belgian and Wheat beers, but the two types I've mentioned are beers I can enjoy anytime.

634

All Grain Brewing / Re: To dilute or not to dilute

« on: January 13, 2010, 12:56:56 pm »

...Is there a definition out there for classic American malt liquor?

It's such a weird category, and the name 'Malt Liquor' is apparently only a result of antiquated post prohibition (often on a local level) alcohol laws, so it probably shouldn't even be recognized as it's own "style" (like a lot of other categories too...but that's for another thread   ).  

I guess it has come to mean high alcohol beer regardless of the fermentation method (with the ghetto beers pretty universally having a very high adjunct-to-malt ratio as well).

But really, with beers like Optimator, Oktoberfest, and other more real "styles" being labeled as 'malt liquor' in some jurisdictions, I personally feel it makes the term pretty useless in general.

I'd just call it a strong lager...that's what it is before you dilute it, and that name covers it better than anything else.

As far as "to dilute, or not to dilute" (from the lost version of Hamlet, no?)    that's a decision only you can make...and it depends entirely on what you want to drink. 
As for me, I'd leave it alone.

635

The Pub / Re: The Nostradamus Effect, 2012, Armageddon?

« on: January 10, 2010, 01:40:21 am »

How could I watch Fox news?

Fox News is reason enough to turn the TV off.
Fox News is reason enough to not even own a TV.

636

All Things Food / Re: Samuel Adams Boston Lager GLASSES

« on: January 08, 2010, 11:30:17 pm »

Interesting design, but still doesn't beat a classic Nonick or a simple straight sided glass.
They look funky, but I don't buy into the commercial hype and the nonsense about concentrating aromas etc...please, spare me. 

Bt really, the main thing that bothers me about them is bars that use them, and selling the clearly short measure as a pint pour.  At pint prices. 
Pretty tacky.

637

The Pub / Re: The Nostradamus Effect, 2012, Armageddon?

« on: January 07, 2010, 12:33:34 pm »

...It was funny to see the reactions of the journalist when he laughed in their face. They kept prodding him but he told them to just go back and relax.

...and have a homebrew?   

638

The Pub / Re: The Nostradamus Effect, 2012, Armageddon?

« on: January 07, 2010, 09:10:46 am »

I've watched a few of these shows and while the information is certainly a crock of shrit, they do have some kind of goofy entertainment value (at least in small doses).  Just to hear the voiceover narrator guys reading this nonsense with such conviction and seriousness is a testament to their skills even if the subject matter sounds like self parody.

I do wonder, however, when exactly the once decent History Channel became the Speculation and Hoax Channel.  And in recent weeks, it has also feature an awful lot of quasi-religious tripe. 
Watching a glass primary fermenter on the first day after pitching is far more interesting.

What we really need is a Three Stooges  and/or Laurel & Hardy Channel.

639

The Pub / Re: Beer Drinking Music !

« on: January 06, 2010, 09:35:44 pm »

For me, it's plenty of Buddy Guy & Junior Wells,  Flim & The BBs, Steely Dan, the fab 4, and a good amount of Procol Harum for good measure.  Especially the latter, which oddly, incorporates elements of all of the former.  Next to the fabs, probably my favorite band (and thankfully, still around after all these years making great new music!) 

I like a good dose of classical too...Bach, Chopin, and especially Handel and Liszt.  They're all dead. 
I won't hold that against them though.

640

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Solera beers

« on: January 02, 2010, 02:58:11 pm »

And as I see that you have a Ballantines logo as your picture, is your IPA recipe a Ballantines clone?

Long answer, probably belongs in a thread of it's own (your call, Denny!!... Let me know if it gets moved to a new thread.  I could write a whole book about Bally IPA)
In any case...
I have indeed experimented a lot coming up with a clone of the Ballantine IPA (still the definitive IPA  as far as I'm concerned).  I have tried several recipes from other sources but none seem to capture the intense but clean bitterness of the original...I suspect that some of the recipes out there were made by people who never really tasted the original (it was only brewed to the original recipe until the early-to-mid 1980's...it was thinned down after that, and disappeared altogether not too long after that). 
Most clones I've tasted weren't bitter enough or aromatic enough, and none of them had the full year of aging that is essential to the character of the original brew.

I've come up with two variations that come pretty darned close, except for the elusive,  intense aroma of the original...literally like sticking your head in a bag of fresh hops.    I've yet to have any other beer --commercial or otherwise-- that smelled so richly of hops.   According to those who brewed the original (40+ years ago), the brew was both dry hopped and dosed with a mighty helping of home-made (distilled at the brewery) aromatic hop oil.

So I'm still tweaking my recipe and have come close enough to make me want to continue the quest. 
I have found one thing for certain though...that year-long aging is a non-negotiable requirement.  It is definitely essential to the brew and makes a big difference in the bitterness factor...it is still intensely bitter after the year long aging, but without harsh 'green' notes common to most of the commercial IPAs out these these days. 

641

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Solera beers

« on: January 02, 2010, 10:48:54 am »

I'm thinking of doing a solera beer instead of a doing yearly BW

My yearly Xmas beer is a barleywine/old ale...and a solera of sorts.  I brew it every year, usually sometime between April and June, and add some reserved beer from the previous year's brew.   Each year's batch has at least 10% (sometimes a bit more)  of the prior year's batch added to it;  I've been doing it since 1989, so that means that as a result of the yearly additions,  this year's has a trace amount of that first 1989 batch in it!. 
I have also had success doing this with Sack Mead.

The idea to try it came from something in Fred Eckhart's old book.  It wasn't until later that I found out that Ballantine's Burton ale was also made by  a yearly topping up of well aged beer (a slightly ramped up version of their IPA)  that had been maturing in wood for anywhere from 10 to 20 years.

642

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: What kind of yeast do you use for a Wee Heavy

« on: December 22, 2009, 01:38:14 pm »

For Wee Heavy I've variously used (Wyeast numbers here for reference but have used White counterparts as well)  1968, 1728, 1098, 1099, 1056, and my house yeast (exact pedigree unknown). 
Any one of them is a great choice and every one of them has made really great Wee Heavy for me. 

Oddly, 1728 was my least favorite.  As I said, all were great...but the two most extraordinary ones (in my opinion and the opinion of most who tasted them)  were made with 1056 and 1099.
As always, your results may vary.

643

The Pub / Re: Buying the Pabst Brewing Company

« on: December 18, 2009, 11:01:43 pm »

Your bell bottoms will come back in style one day too.

...oh god...no...just shoot me...

644

The Pub / Re: 29 years

« on: December 14, 2009, 09:44:39 pm »

+ a billionty and eleven.  "Freak Out" is the reason I ended up in the rock'n'roll biz.

Denny...I kind of sensed that we had a lot more in common than a love of good beer.
Zappa was pure genius.

"We're Only In It For The Money" was the one that got me hooked.

645

The Pub / Re: Buying the Pabst Brewing Company

« on: December 14, 2009, 09:40:26 pm »

Maybe I should talk to Augie Pabst and get the real recipe and start a real revival.

Yeah...and bring back Pabst Bock.  'Twas one of my favorites 40 years ago in my college years.
Roasty, delicious, perfect for my even then quirky image  (I never drank 'normal' beer) ...and it was priced right.