GRM beer tasting

Josh wrote:

Salanis wrote: Belgian Stout sounds odd to me. I guess I don't see why not though. I like style fusion beers. I'd be interested in tasting one without the extra cocoa nibs, anise, etc. to see the full impact of the yeast. Or is that kind of what Trois Pistoles is?

Trois Pistoles is dark and roasty, but it's a strong dark ale, too sweet and not hopped enough to consider a stout. If you want to realy get what a belgian stout is all about, pick up a bottle of Allagash Black next time you see one. I love strong dark belgians, but you can't argue that style typically has much balance to it. The sweetness and booziness make them tiresome to drink a lot of, and most have barely noticeable hops. Black sort of fixes all of that, it has the nice roasty malt flavors, with the spicy, estery belgian yeast flavors, but it's drier, moderate in alcohol (7.5%), and has just enough hop bitterness to balance nicely. It's not the most amazing beer I've ever tasted, but it doesn't hit any wrong notes for me. It's probably the only dark belgian that I can get to the bottom of a 750ml bottle without either getting blitzed or being nauseated by the sweetness. If I had to pick one beer to drink exclusively for a year, It'd probably be Allagash Black.

That was a pretty good description of the Samuel Adams Black Ale that I had this evening. I liked the Trois Pistoles better because it lacked the slightly bitter hoppy finish.

Hops are funny things. As this thread indicates, some people love them to death. Others seem to prefer a beer without.

I like aromatic hops and a middle bitter in my beer. If I want to go hop crazy, I just buy some hops and chew on them. Problem solved.

I love hops to death.

EvanB wrote: I love hops to death.

Yes.

I'm not a total hop-head though. I do believe there is actually such thing as too much hops.

Where is Scoobie Doo? LOL

4eyes wrote: Where is Scoobie Doo? LOL

In a field of Canabaceae.

I've been telling my girlfriend we need to do Shaggy and Velma for Halloween. She could totally pull that off.

I'm a hop head, but my one thing about hops is diversity. i hate when brewers just use a whole lot of one type of hops. There's no variety of flavors. My beer for tonight is Rio Grande IPA. It's pretty good. Not the best I've ever had but I would definitely recommend it if someone asked. It's made in New Mexico so I'm not sure if you guys will be able to get it. (I'm in the tx panhandle)

PS If you actually know a little bit about beer go and judge a homebrew competition. I judged in the Cactus Challenge in Lubbock a couple weeks ago. Some of it was AMAZING. I got to judge the last flight of the IPA category. I lucked out.

Twin_Cam

I got a 6 of Dead Reckoning Porter on Friday, you guys are doing good stuff. Thanks

I didn't particularly like this one. It was really thin and light without much taste other than alcohol. And it cost $5 for one.

Finally got to try the Sierra Nevada beer camp Golden eState beer that I had a hand in coming up with. Wow. The best west-coast pale ale (it's not quite IPA hoppiness, but is 7.5% alcohol) that I have ever had. Nearly all the hops are fresh, estate grown hops, picked the day before they were thrown in. They have a bit of extra character and life to them. But there is enough dry malt backbone and ABV to balance everything out without this being a full-on big-hop beer. Really excellent.

If you're in the Sacramento area, I'll let you know when/where it's available. Those of you outside the couple of places in CA where it will be available, I'm sorry. You're missing out.

Salanis wrote: Finally got to try the Sierra Nevada beer camp Golden eState beer that I had a hand in coming up with. Wow. The best west-coast pale ale (it's not quite IPA hoppiness, but is 7.5% alcohol) that I have ever had. Nearly all the hops are fresh, estate grown hops, picked the day before they were thrown in. They have a bit of extra character and life to them. But there is enough dry malt backbone and ABV to balance everything out without this being a full-on big-hop beer. Really excellent. If you're in the Sacramento area, I'll let you know when/where it's available. Those of you outside the couple of places in CA where it will be available, I'm sorry. You're missing out.

This is why we have the USPS, They have money orders and boxes.

In reply to TRoglodyte:

It's all kegs, not bottles right now. And shipping alcohol is illegal, although "Yeast Samples" are not.

Oh shoot now I need a Kegerator? The injustice of it all. I haz no brooing skills,yet, but I'm listening

The key to this beer was Sierra Nevada's estate grown hops that were thrown into the beer the day after picking. That's a bit hard to duplicate, unless you have a line on fresh, wet hops. If you do, I can provide you the recipe.

I wish I had brewing skills,but I am lacking in that area. It is near Halloween though and time to cook something up.

Message me for my rough shorthand of the recipe. Sierra Nevada would probably not appreciate me posting it on the interwebs.

Recent test subjects:

Left Hand "Fade to Black" porter: Wow. Intense and Complex. I'm still not sure how I feel about it, but am willing to try again. Beer plebian that I am, the best way I can describe it succinctly would be "Liquid Beef Jerky."

Smuttynose Robust Porter: This was more my speed. Sharp flavors, but very smooth. A good meal replacement.

Heavy Seas Winter Strom: Mama. I feel like I really lucked out this trip. I had no idea what to expect, and a hard time describing it, but when you walk into a bar and say "Gimme a beer" I think this is what it should taste like.

Still have Founders "Dirty Bastard" and Porter to try. Can't wait.

I had a Samuel Adams "Bonfire" with dinner tonight. A lot like "Black Ale" but more smokey, roasty-toasty goodness, and even less bitterness. It was a good match to the "Mongolian Beef" I was eating.

It was like a slightly lighter, lower alcohol "Trois Pistoles" with extra smokeyness.

I may stock-up on this one.

edited to add: I heart Velma.....smart girls know things

I dumped half a Founders Dirty Bastard in the sink last night. Tasted like rebadged miller light. Great Divide Hibernation was good but not memorable IMO.

Salanis wrote: I'm not a total hop-head though. I do believe there is actually such thing as too much hops.

Why Sir! And to think I looked up to your taste in beer! This almost calls for caps lock!

While in Cincinnati for work I got a glass of this: Monk's Café Flemish Sour Red Ale. I was a little leary at first and asked for a taste but it was really good. Reminded me of applecider that is starting to get hard. It was good but not something I would drink more than one of at a sitting.

Drinking Sierra Nevada Northern Hemisphere Harvest. Darn good beer. It's sort of an amber colored IPA. If you like IPA, this really is a nice experience. It's a wet-hop ale, meaning they brew it with fresh whole-cone hops pretty much as quickly and freshly as they can get them. The result is a lot of resinous hoppy flavor, and not as harsh as you sometimes get with dried hops. If it is in your area, get it soon because the hop flavor that makes this special will subside quickly.

N Sperlo wrote:

Salanis wrote: I'm not a total hop-head though. I do believe there is actually such thing as too much hops.

Why Sir! And to think I looked up to your taste in beer! This almost calls for caps lock!

It is possible. I have had beers that qualify, but it generally takes an overzealous home-brewer to achieve.

Sierra Nevada Northern Hemisphere Harvest on the list of things I'll try to find. My latest find is Rogue Mocha Porter. Pretty dang good! I'm usually not a huge fan of Rogue but this did the trick! It has inspired me and I will be brewing a mocha porter tomorow! (to bottle age and be appropriate for winter)

I also saw some talk about a belgian trippel as I have read through this thread a little more. That's the type of beer we brewed and took to the contest (Lubbock Cactus Challenge). However, we didn't stand a chance. We were lumped in with most other belgians and didn't have time for complete bottle aging (even though we bottled from a keg). We were up against belgians, doubles, trippels, and even sours. 20+ beers in our category and we've only been brewing for a few years. Vs. brewers with 20 years experience we didn't even make it past the first flight. We just got the judging sheets in and a recurring theme was no head retention and low carbonation. Bottle aging is key.

Question to you northerners. Do many of you drink Shiner? I'm currently sipping a shiner Kosmos. Which is pretty good. It used to be only the Shiner Bock, but now they've expanded to all types of beers. Here at my beer club Shiner stuff is considered kinda cliche to bring because we've all had it and drink it.

Salanis wrote: Finally got to try the Sierra Nevada beer camp Golden eState beer that I had a hand in coming up with. Wow. The best west-coast pale ale (it's not quite IPA hoppiness, but is 7.5% alcohol) that I have ever had. Nearly all the hops are fresh, estate grown hops, picked the day before they were thrown in. They have a bit of extra character and life to them. But there is enough dry malt backbone and ABV to balance everything out without this being a full-on big-hop beer. Really excellent. If you're in the Sacramento area, I'll let you know when/where it's available. Those of you outside the couple of places in CA where it will be available, I'm sorry. You're missing out.

Definitely update this thread when/where it's available. Would love to give it a try.