Name Your Three Favorite Beers.

[utee94]

There's a reason for that. The trend in IPAs has been to be hoppy, but not bitter. The NEIPA style is really all about this (and the haze, which is a fad IMHO). They put a LOT of hops in, but all at the very end of the boil where they get big aroma and flavor but NOT a lot of bitterness. To extract bitterness, you need to boil the hops for an extended period of time.

Yup.  Bitter is bad.  Keystone taught us this over 20 years ago.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOP5PBIghhc[/youtube]

[betarhoalphadelta]

My Russian River Blind Pig IPA clone...

[MichiFan87]

I had never even heard of a hazy IPA until it came up in this thread. Today I had (so far as I know) my first one - Foggy Geezer by WarPigs, which is apparently a collaboration of sorts between Three Floyds and Mikkeller. It has positive reviews from the beer sites, but I wasn't impressed, since it just tasted like a fruity pale ale, at best.

[utee94]

It's certainly not a style for everyone, but I do like that the industry is pulling back a little bit from making overly bitter beers.  There will always be a large market for the "American IPA" style in the USA, but I like to see people innovate in other directions.

Anyway, I'm currently drinking the heck out of Celis White and Celis Pale Bock.  So, so, so happy it's back.  And I can't wait for them to re-release their Grand Cru and Dubbel ales.

[betarhoalphadelta]

Apparently Pilsner is making a big comeback. Which is funny to me, as all the people who used to be Stone Brewing fanboys (the company that said "fizzy yellow beer is for wussies") are now drinking Pilsners. Heck, Stone (who bifurcated their brands and have a sub-brand now of "Arrogant Brewing") has released a pilsner called "Who you callin' wussie"...

[utee94]

Pilsners and pale lagers in general are hugely popular down here in Texico, such great beers for the heat.  But I don't have to tell you how difficult they are to brew and get consistently clean results.


I thought the Arrogant Stone fanbois were all drinking sours now?  Or was that last year...

[betarhoalphadelta]

Pilsners and pale lagers in general are hugely popular down here in Texico, such great beers for the heat.  But I don't have to tell you how difficult they are to brew and get consistently clean results.

I'm about to find out. I'm brewing my first pilsner on Saturday. 

I thought the Arrogant Stone fanbois were all drinking sours now?  Or was that last year...

Sours were 2015 or so... Then session IPA. Now NEIPA and lagers. At least I think that's how it went lol.


But hell, I'm deeply into this world and I can't even keep up. I just drink and brew what I like.

[utee94]

Good luck on your first pilsner, then!  My friend who is the owner of Live Oak Brewing (oldest craft brewery in Austin proper), tells me that Budweiser is the greatest brewery in the world.  Not because they make good beer, they do not.  But because pilsners are among the toughest beers in the world to make cleanly and consistently, and they do it perfectly. 


Anyway though, the nice thing about homebrewing is that you can always drink your mistakes and start over.

[betarhoalphadelta]

Good luck on your first pilsner, then!  My friend who is the owner of Live Oak Brewing (oldest craft brewery in Austin proper), tells me that Budweiser is the greatest brewery in the world.  Not because they make good beer, they do not.  But because pilsners are among the toughest beers in the world to make cleanly and consistently, and they do it perfectly. 


Anyway though, the nice thing about homebrewing is that you can always drink your mistakes and start over.

At least with 10+ years of experience brewing, I don't have too many mistakes. I'm pretty sure I'll make a respectable pilsner, and even if it's not *perfect*, it should still be pretty good.

But yes, Budweiser brews the same beer at multiple breweries all over the country, does so through variable barley yields, variable hop farming years, with different starting water at each brewery. And it tastes exactly the same every time. That's freaking impressive. Even if I make a good pilsner Saturday, and a good pilsner the next time I make one, they most assuredly won't be identical. I can brew, but I'm not that good lol.

[utee94]

At least with 10+ years of experience brewing, I don't have too many mistakes.

That's great, kid... don't get cocky.



 


 

[utee94]

Looking at a pretty stormy and rainy next 3-4 days here in the ATX.  I've stocked up on many, many beers to ride it out.  And since it's going to be "cooler" (you can read that as "something less than 100 degrees"), I've decided to focus on darker beers.


So I now have in my beer fridge:


12-pack of Celis Pale Bock
12-pack of Live Oak Big Bark (Vienna lager)
12-pack of Leffe Brune
4 Maredsous Brune


And then a bunch  of random pilsners and Mexican lagers leftover from "summer." 


I'm ready for this hurricane! 

[MrNubbz]

At least with 10+ years of experience brewing, I don't have too many mistakes. I'm pretty sure I'll make a respectable pilsner, and even if it's not *perfect*, it should still be pretty good.

Send some to me I'll be your Lab Rat - kinda guy I am

[utee94]

Man, some weak beer-drinking going on around here.

I'll name my top three for today:

1) Ayinger Oktober Fest - Marzen
2) Hacker Pschorr Original Oktoberfest
3) Paulaner Oktoberfest Bier

[MarqHusker]

At least with 10+ years of experience brewing, I don't have too many mistakes. I'm pretty sure I'll make a respectable pilsner, and even if it's not *perfect*, it should still be pretty good.

But yes, Budweiser brews the same beer at multiple breweries all over the country, does so through variable barley yields, variable hop farming years, with different starting water at each brewery. And it tastes exactly the same every time. That's freaking impressive. Even if I make a good pilsner Saturday, and a good pilsner the next time I make one, they most assuredly won't be identical. I can brew, but I'm not that good lol.

I was with (my brother who is in the biz) some guys who have worked at macro, and now do their own thing.  A guy that was with us was asking him about why micros don't brew much in the way of pilsners and other more mainstream styles.  His answer was along your lines.  He spun it around saying how we all (the micros) get to hide our flaws in our Ales and so forth.  He talked about the variances that even high quality micros have from batch to batch.  There's no hiding flaws in a light beer.   The Miller/Buds of the world are masters of their craft.    They understand water and the science better than anybody in the world, and thus have figured out how to control all of the variables.