The Beer Thread

[dfitzo53]

Picked up some not you father's ginger ale today. Going to try it with vodka and with whiskey. Will update with results. Maybe.

Thoughts?

[daveakl]

Thoughts?

Drank it with Blood Oath, Gentlemens Jack, and Jim Beam.

On its own it is very good. Not super sweet or overly ginger tasting.

Liked it the best with the blood oath but it was very good with the other two.

I'll probably stick to a ginger simple syrup or regatta as my normal mixture but as a treat I definitely will drink/use it again.

Edit....never drank it with vodka. Only have a habenaro one in the house right now and that didn't sound good together.

Edited January 3, 2016 by daveakl

[skinfan2k]

anyone here been to frisco in columbia?

[China]

'For the sake of science': Researchers taste 125-year-old beer

 

After being found at the bottom of the Halifax Harbour last year, scientists have cracked open a 125-year-old bottle of Alexander Keith's -- but so far reviews about its contents have been mixed.

 

Amateur treasure hunter and scuba diver Jon Crouse pulled the half-filled, green glass bottle, with its cork still intact, from the silt in three-metre deep water in November.

 

...

 

Naturally, Crouse was curious about the bottle's contents, and wondered if the more-than-century-old Keith's was still drinkable.

 

While the treasure hunter was adamant that he didn't want to taste its contents, he and local bar owner Chris Reynolds sought the help of scientists at Dalhousie University to analyze the cloudy, straw-coloured liquid.

 

Professor Andrew Macintosh, who specializes in fermentation research, said that the team looked at its density, colour, bitterness and pH levels, and the tests indicated the bottle was still filled with beer -- an India pale ale -- and not seawater.

 

Macintosh said the beer shared similar characteristics with modern Keith's, including a 4.3 on the pH scale (beers typically range between four and five).

 

It also registered a 15 on the International Bitterness Units scale, which Macintosh said is higher than what is found in many industrial, large-scale production lagers.

 

With all scientific research out of the way, there was only one thing left to do: Cheers and drink up.

 

Reynolds, who is the co-owner of the local craft beer bar Stillwell, was impressed.

 

"It tasted surprisingly good, and surprisingly like beer," he said.

 

Reynolds described the vintage brew as acidic and bitter, with some hints of cherry and oak.

 

Meanwhile, Macintosh offered a starkly different assessment after he tried the ancient beer "for the sake of science."

 

"You wouldn't want to drink any of it," he said. “It's terrible for a sample that's been sitting on the bottom of the Halifax Harbour for 100 years."

 

He added that the brew had an "odd, meaty" flavour, with lighter tree fruit notes and a distinct bitterness. Macintosh also said it had a "very strong odour," that "wasn't altogether pleasant," like a burnt barrel with sulphur in it.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[d0ublestr0ker0ll]

Blue Moon Gingerbread Spiced Ale is really good. Definitely recommended.

[Cooleyfan1993]

Ginger beer is pretty good. Mix it with vodka and lime juice, oh boy. **** got me drunk pretty fast.

[Kosher Ham]

Ginger beer is pretty good. Mix it with vodka and lime juice, oh boy. **** got me drunk pretty fast.

 

Ginger Beer... most likely it was the vodka. Never liked the taste of ginger beer personally. 

[Cooleyfan1993]

Ginger Beer... most likely it was the vodka. Never liked the taste of ginger beer personally.

Yeah the vodka made it a whole lot better. Tried ginger beer without vodka a few days after that...spit that **** right out

[TK]

Ehhh. This was ok. Not that impressed with it. Aftertaste switches between an orange soda & wine cooler.

[China]

Nitrogen brings a new element to Sam Adams beer

 

Looking over a display the other day at a South Shore liquor store, three employees stood with their hands on their hips. “Nitro?” one asked, looking over a trio of new beers from Samuel Adams. “You mean like Guinness?”

 

Sort of. Guinness makes arguably the best-known nitrogen-infused beer. Poured into a glass from a tap or a can, the liquid billows onto itself, forming a frothy white head atop a jet-black beverage. Drinkers rarely think about the texture of their beer. It’s simply fizzy. But nitrogen slows down the bubbles, resulting in a creamy texture. Harsh flavors like bitterness are muted.

 

You can pour any beer through a nitrogen tap, and some Boston bars save one or two taps for rotating various brews. Portable nitrogen beers are rarer, limited to English beers like Boddington’s Pub Ale and American craft one-offs like Oskar Blues Old Chub NITRO. One untechnical explanation as to why: It’s hard to get the nitrogen into that little can.

 

The technology isn’t proprietary, but Boston Beer founder Jim Koch describes it as “difficult.” A tiny widget called a nitrogenator activates as soon as the can opens, pushing gas through the beer with a crack, whoosh, gurgle.

 

Samuel Adams is entering the nitro game with three beers. Nitro White Ale, Nitro IPA, and Nitro Coffee Stout are the company’s first stabs at nitro since the mid-1990s release of Boston Cream Ale. That beer was never canned. These are. They come in colorful 16-ounce cans with pictures of tiny bubbles cascading down the sides.

 

 

Click on the link for the full article

[twa]

coffee stout looks interesting

 

the Oskar Blues reminds me I haven't had a Ten Fidy in too long....darn good brew

[TK]

SAMs Club here was already carrying all three of them the other week. Like twa, the coffee stout seems interesting.

Picked up a Bayou Bootlegger from a Louisiana Brewer the other day at Krogers. Very close to a Not Your Fathers.

[DButz65]

You can pour any beer through a nitrogen tap, and some Boston bars save one or two taps for rotating various brews. Portable nitrogen beers are rarer, limited to English beers like Boddington’s Pub Ale and American craft one-offs like Oskar Blues Old Chub NITRO. One untechnical explanation as to why: It’s hard to get the nitrogen into that little can.

 

The technology isn’t proprietary, but Boston Beer founder Jim Koch describes it as “difficult.” A tiny widget called a nitrogenator activates as soon as the can opens, pushing gas through the beer with a crack, whoosh, gurgle.

 

 

 

While most remote beer systems (not a kegerator) use blended co2/nitrogen gas (most common is 60/40 (nitro to co2) and 50/50) you cant hook up a ale to a straight nitrogen line (which is 75% nitrogen and 25% c02) otherwise it would taste like complete crap.

 

Tiny widget? did he really say that? lol nitrogenators are big boxes installed with remote beer systems, which fill up a holding tank with nitrogen that stores it for use in the draft beer system. Jim Koch is a weird dude lol

[twa]

I think the tiny ones he refereed to are the ones in the cans like Guinnes has used

[Dan T.]

Will have to try the Sam nitro.

Had a glass of Breckinridge Vanilla porter on draft at the Mellow Mushroom in Richmond and really enjoyed it. Only quibble was I wish it had a bit more of a head to it. Looking to buy a sixer now for the next snow storm.

Edited February 6, 2016 by Dan T.

[TheGoodBits]

Will have to try the Sam nitro.

Had a glass of Breckinridge Vanilla porter on draft at the Mellow Mushroom in Richmond and really enjoyed it. Only quibble was I wish it had a bit more of a head to it. Looking to buy a sixer now for the next snow storm.

Sell outs

http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_29298392/breckenridge-brewery-sold-giant-anheuser-buschs-high-end

[twa]

Sell outs

 

 

Peasants 

 

Only reason I ain't sold out is they haven't hit my price ....yet

[Dan T.]

Sell outs http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_29298392/breckenridge-brewery-sold-giant-anheuser-buschs-high-end

Hmm. Honestly, I had not heard of Breckinridge before I had that porter in Carytown.

Interesting from that article...New Belgium, the Fort Collins, Colorado brewer of Fat Tire, is looking for a buyer, with a reported price tag of $1 billion. It has been amazing how quickly they grew into the fourth largest craft brewer in the country.

[chipwhich]

Hmm. Honestly, I had not heard of Breckinridge before I had that porter in Carytown.

Interesting from that article...New Belgium, the Fort Collins, Colorado brewer of Fat Tire, is looking for a buyer, with a reported price tag of $1 billion. It has been amazing how quickly they grew into the fourth largest craft brewer in the country.

 

Spending lots of time in CO, the second most craft beer brewery state in the US, Breckenridge brews are everywhere.

 

It's the new business trend.  Build a big craft following and sell to the big beer companies.

[DButz65]

Breckinridge is in northern va, we carry it, but there isnt much of a demand for it

[TheGoodBits]

It's the new business trend. Build a big craft following and sell to the big beer companies.

Big beer is in serious reaction mode to the wave of craft beer over the past decade or two. The current strategy, which I think is smart, is to grab up popular regional brands like Breckenridge and use their billions of dollars and established distribution channels to flood the market with that brand.

You figure there's a certain amount of money each year that is going to be spent on craft beer. If AB-InBev can flood the market with their brews and capture more of that, that's just eating away at the market share for the smaller breweries that aren't sell outs. Over time this impact will eat away at the craft beer business and naturally lead to less choice for the consumer.

For these reasons, I refuse to purchase any pseudo-craft beer that has been bought out by InBev or any of the other big guys.

[twa]

For these reasons, I refuse to purchase any pseudo-craft beer that has been bought out by InBev or any of the other big guys.

 

A Bud lime drinker eh?

 

I think the bigger issue is them taking over the taps in chains and such......but that is business

 

those bought out can always invest in more craft beer folk and enjoy the rest as profit

[China]

Big beer is in serious reaction mode to the wave of craft beer over the past decade or two. The current strategy, which I think is smart, is to grab up popular regional brands like Breckenridge and use their billions of dollars and established distribution channels to flood the market with that brand.

 

 

This has been going on for a long time now.  I recall, way back when, Redhook was one of the first craft beers (started in 1981) but was only regionally available in the Pacific northwest.  Along comes Anheuser-Busch with buys a stake in the company and then uses its distribution network to sell the beer nationwide, which is why I was able to buy some today.

[Dan T.]

So yeah, the mega breweries are buying up some of the more successful microbreweries.  But the fact remains that there has been an absolute explosion in the number of craft breweries in the U.S. in the last 20 years or so.

 

In 1984, when Jim Koch decided he was going to brew Samuel Adams lager, there were 97 breweries in all of the U.S.

 

By 2014 that number had exploded to 3,464.  I suspect that number has jumped way higher in 2015.

 

https://www.brewersassociation.org/statistics/number-of-breweries/

 

 

So drink up.  There are lots of choices out there...

[dfitzo53]

Tried the Guinness Nitro IPA tonight. It was fine, nice creamy texture, but not something I care enough about to pay extra for. Not sure I'll bother with the Sam Adams, which seemed to be in 4-bangers from what I could see, unless the reports on the coffee stout are really good. (The liquor store by me was sold out of the coffee version today.)