You ARE a n00b. You have to let it age for 1 year. You need a 2013 at the youngest. XD

I got a growler of the 2010 Founders Imperial Stout in my fridge boiiiiiii

Ewew. Growler? Has it been in a growler since 2010??

 

Seriously. I was supposed to be asleep like an hour ago...

Also, Imperial Stout =/= Breakfast stout. The imperial stout tastes kind of ashy, imo. Like they had the dark grains in the mash for too long and imparted some off smoky tannin flavors.

it was in a keg and I've had it in growler for ~2-3 months.  It'll be good.

Dear Yatesy,

Look familiar?

 

Nice grab,TG!  Make sure you enjoy that with a friend.  It's a big beer and an experience you really need to share to enjoy fully.

 

I had a buddy from Austin stop by for a visit today.  He brought me some goodies.  I'll post pix in the AM.  He basically got me a huge sampler of Shiner and a few local brews.  One of the Real Ale beers was freaking solid - I think it was the Pale Rye Ale.  It was smooth easy drinking pale ale with a touch of rye spiciness and actually a decent cereal malt sweetness that played well with the citra hops in the finish.  Some people have been beating it up on ratebeer but for an everyday beer?  This is an easy go-to.

So are any of you a cicerone or CBS? I checked out the program yesterday and I'm going to go for my CBS sometime in the next few months, then hopefully make my way to cicerone over the next few years.

So in Sweden one of the biggest names in the beer scene is a fellow named Darren Packman. He knows a huge amount about beer, I've been to three of his beer tastings and he runs BeerSweden.se, the largest beer website in Sweden. He also owns a local microbrewery called Beer Studio and has allowed me to go in to brew with him later today. Super exciting!

Hell yeah Barm, that will be cool.  Brewing on a big(ger) system is always fun.

Enjoy that experience Barm! Homebrewers will be super jelly. I'm a BJCP Nationally certified beer judge. It's significantly harder than Cicerone - at least Cicerone Beer Server. I helped one of my friends pass that test [it was a timed online exam] without even studying. So you should certainly not be afraid to take that exam.

So you can tell me what kind of hops are in the He'Brew Hop Manna from Aroma only, tell me the soil content each hop was grown in, and the altitude they were grown at?

You ARE a n00b. You have to let it age for 1 year. You need a 2013 at the youngest. XD

 

You're supposed to age IPAs at least a year, not stouts LOL!

You're supposed to age IPAs at least a year, not stouts LOL!

  It's like... the exact opposite.  You NEVER age IPA's.  Ask any brewer, hops fade with time.  That's the opposite of what you want.  The reason the guy at Alchemy is so militant about how he releases Heady Topper is because he doesn't want his beer being mishandled or served too old.  

So you can tell me what kind of hops are in the He'Brew Hop Manna from Aroma only, tell me the soil content each hop was grown in, and the altitude they were grown at?

Pretty close.  Soil content is for wine.  I don't do that.  Altitude is pretty easy considering most of the hops grown for professional breweries all come from Oregon.  

 

And ftr?  Hop Manna has a complex hop schedule containing Warrior, Cascade, Citra, Amarillo, Crystal, and Centennial.  Boom.

 

You're supposed to age IPAs at least a year, not stouts LOL!

  It's like... the exact opposite.  You NEVER age IPA's.  Ask any brewer, hops fade with time.  That's the opposite of what you want.  The reason the guy at Alchemy is so militant about how he releases Heady Topper is because he doesn't want his beer being mishandled or served too old.  

 

 

I guess that didn't come across as tongue-in-cheek as I had hoped...

LOL - no it did not.  

 

I was like

 

SOMEONE IS WRONG ABOUT BEER ON THE INTERNET!!!

So today was awesome, I wasn't brewing anything of my own and by the time I left they were only starting the boil. It is a very long day for them, a lot of cleaning, bottling, switching beers between fermenters to fit the new ones, etc. I helped out and they explained in detail what they were doing at any given time. I was able to ask a lot of questions and learned a number of things that I can take back to my homebrewing. One thing I thought was interesting is that you can't scale a homebrew recipe up to 1000 litre+ sizes. They said the malt bill can remain the same if you're able to keep the efficiency the same, but the number of hops you need is dramatically different.

 

I got to taste a new stout they are making and bring home three bottles of an IPA of theirs that you can only get in restaurants right now. It is the 3rd generation of this IPA and each one is better than the last. We tried to bottle a handful today that could be used to demo the beer (30 minute old beer, can't get fresher!) but for whatever reason without using the proper bottling system they got way too much head and after bottle 4 they gave up. One got poured on the spot for Darren to taste-test and I got to take the other three home after I capped them.

 

I'm exhausted, my legs barely function and I loved every second. Maybe I can convince one of the local micro-breweries to hire me. Or else I'll have to see about starting my own.

 

 

 

You ARE a n00b. You have to let it age for 1 year. You need a 2013 at the youngest. XD

 

You're supposed to age IPAs at least a year, not stouts LOL!

 

 

I totally got your tongue in cheek.

Enjoy that experience Barm! Homebrewers will be super jelly. I'm a BJCP Nationally certified beer judge. It's significantly harder than Cicerone - at least Cicerone Beer Server. I helped one of my friends pass that test [it was a timed online exam] without even studying. So you should certainly not be afraid to take that exam.

 

Yeah I'll probably take the course they have just to make sure I do know enough, but I'm not too worried about this one, it does seem easy. It is just the first step to the certified cicerone which is what I'm really interested in. That one I hear the test is easy too if you know your stuff, but it does take a few years to get there.

Anyone seen the show Brewdogs? I got ahold of it from a friend yesterday and it is fantastic.

Finally got ahold of a pumpkin beer, which is amazingly hard here. Pumpkin beers are much more a north american thing. This one is Sam Adams Fat Jack Double Pumpkin. I'm really enjoying it, the pumpkin flavour is super evident in the taste, and the cinnamon and nutmeg are very strong in the aroma. Leaves a super pleasant aftertaste too.

I forgot to post these gifts from my Texan friend:

 

 

 

And the cider we shared:

How were those Real Ales?

How were those Real Ales?

So far I've only had the Full Moon Rye, which I commented on here. I really liked it for an every day easy drinker.