The drinking thread

[Hurlshort]

yeah winter ale season is fun time, got some Stone ... Vanilla Bean Porter, Coffee Milk Stout, and a variety of Anchor Brewing ... IPA, Pale, Lager, and Anchor Steam. 

 

I'm going to LA for a few days (Universal Studios) and I'm trying to figure out which brewery to stop in at.  I am thinking Golden Road at the moment.  

[ManifestedISO]

Nice, sorry I can't recommend, I almost never go up there. Let me ask those guys on discord.

[Hurlshort]

We recorded our 3rd Podcast episode today, here is a look at the studio...

 

 

You can find it here if you are interested: https://historyofhops.com/feed/podcast

[imaenoon]

There are many great breweries in the area and there are some great wineries farther inland around the Temecula area. Overall, I think the ones up in central California are superior, but we have some gems down here in the south also. I didn't time to listen to your podcast yet, but I did read over the page. Do you confine yourself to being a connoisseur, or do you also craft and experiment?

 

EDIT: I liked that before I saw you were using an Apple. I decided to leave it liked anyway.

Edited November 20, 2016 by imaenoon

[Hurlshort]

Hah, the Apple is a work computer, so if it makes you feel better I didn't pay for it.  My gaming rig is too big to fit on that tiny bar.  I have the equipment to homebrew, but haven't started it yet.  It will probably make a good summer project someday.   

[imaenoon]

I met with a friend (kind of a nephew by association) and his lovely lady friend at a local dive bar. Great place. Had a local brew, Ritual Extra Red. I like it. A little heft, but not like so many of these new beers that are so inclined to hops that you feel like you're chewing the beer instead of drinking it. I also threw down the old standby Newcastles. Taco Tuesday, so the brews, only four in all over the hours I was there since I had to drive home, were great accompaniment to tacos just like we used to make back home. Had a real homemade taste.

[Zoraptor]

I said a few months ago that I'd try making cider and I have. So far I've learnt that you don't get much apple juice out a kilo of apples and it's an obnoxious process to get the juice out as well. Next time I'll just bulk it out with (quality) commercial apple juice, much as that offends my food snob side. It's nearly finished fermenting though so I'll probably be bottling tomorrow or saturday morning, then try it maybe around Christmas if I can be that patient.

 

I'd already done one batch of beer as well, will probably go for feijoa wine after the cider is done. I don't actually like feijoas to eat, but they do make a nice wine so long as you don't try drinking it for 3 months (really, I was impatient, tried one early and it tasted like acetone)- plus they're easy to juice since you can freeze them, stick them in a bucket and use a standard potato masher. You can also blend feijoa wine and cider, which is extremely pleasant.

[Gfted1]

Ive never heard of a feijoa but the interwebs tell me; "The thick, white, granular, watery flesh and the translucent central pulp enclosing the seeds are sweet or subacid, suggesting a combination of pineapple and guava or pineapple and strawberry, often with overtones of winter green or spearmint." Sounds delicious!

 

Can pretty much any fruit be fermented?

[Chilloutman]

Ive never heard of a feijoa but the interwebs tell me; "The thick, white, granular, watery flesh and the translucent central pulp enclosing the seeds are sweet or subacid, suggesting a combination of pineapple and guava or pineapple and strawberry, often with overtones of winter green or spearmint." Sounds delicious!

 

Can pretty much any fruit be fermented?

yes pretty much any, more sugar/sweet is favourable tho

[Zoraptor]

Can pretty much any fruit be fermented?

 

Fermentation will happen naturally to all fruits, there are plenty of stories of pigs getting drunk eating windfall apples and the like and if you leave fruit juices in a warm room after opening you'll often get spontaneous fermentation. Brewing is the controlled method of the natural process, by and large you can just stick juice and yeast into a container and get a drinkable result so long as you're reasonably careful about hygiene and don't mind the drink being far (far) less sweet than juice- you can also add stevia or similar to sweeten it- as yeast eats all the normal sugars out of it to make the alcohol. The more advanced people control other factors as well, it's much the same general process as beer coming from different combos of malt, hops and having different alcohol contents etc. Some fruit make better wine than 'cider'- feijoa cider is doable but a lot more difficult than making wine, for example.

[imaenoon]

I won't say that I know much about fermentation, but I hear that some people like to make ciders with naturally occurring yeast from orchards since those yeasts will be most adapted to apple fermentation and as a result produce a superior product. There actually some wineries that do the same with grapes. For people who don't have the time and inclination, I hear that it's too much of a pain to do as a small home brewer like Zoraptor.

 

http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2013/03/wild-fermented-ciders-natural-yeast-fermentation-cider-reviews.html

 

If only Zoraptor lived closer, we could all go over to his place to sample his cider.

 

I heard a story about one guy who was making some brews and he was happy with the product but tried to ferment honey, pineapple, and coconut together. Apparently, the stuff had a wicked taste, but it hammered the hell out of him. He said the coconut that he used for steeping and then took out before putting in the fermenter made for some of the best candied coconut he's ever tasted.

 

Anyhow, I picked up a couple of twelve packs for later today. The brother in law doesn't like IPAs, Stouts, or Porters, so I got a variety pack that was mostly novelty sounding stuff like cinnamon horchata, brown ales, and just a couple of the heftier varieties included. I think it was Blue Moon and... Goose Island? When you're sharing the beer with a group of people, you try to find something everyone can enjoy.

[Hurlshort]

I've got episode 4 the the History of Hops Podcast up and ready for listening.  We drink Porters and Stouts, and I talk about the Great London Beer Flood of 1814.      

[imaenoon]

I truly love vanilla bean, but the brews with vanilla bean haven't always appealed to me. It's kind of hit or miss. Last night, I had (too much) of a sort of wine made with honey and plum. The abv shouldn't have been that high, but I was starting to get hammered pretty early so I switched to this interesting beer I got from Costco... Golden Road Brewery Back Home Gingerbread Stout.

[Hurlshort]

The Avery Vanilla Bean Stout was pretty fantastic, although I noticed the vanilla a lot more after drinking the much stronger bourbon flavored Stout.  Always interesting how our taste buds can jump around like that.  It also wasn't cheap though.

 

Gingerbread stout sounds pretty good.  I am thinking about a Christmas theme for next week, Jubilale from Deschutes will probably make that cut, and I'll have to look up a few others.

[ManifestedISO]

I've got episode 4 the the History of Hops Podcast up and ready for listening.  We drink Porters and Stouts, and I talk about the Great London Beer Flood of 1814.      

 

I'm listening now, it's good, fun, easy to follow. Except no one calls BevMo, Beverages and More, Hurl, no one. 

 

Also, how can anyone possibly hate coffee.

[imaenoon]

Gingerbread stout sounds pretty good.  I am thinking about a Christmas theme for next week, Jubilale from Deschutes will probably make that cut, and I'll have to look up a few others.

I typically look for local stuff and I count LA as local (the city not the state). I've only heard the 4th podcast, but I plan on going back to hear the first three when I get the chance. Edited November 28, 2016 by imaenoon

[Hurlshort]

I am super stoked that Ninkasi retweeted my podcast.  They have like 40k followers.  

[imaenoon]

Grats. I followed you also, but I've only got two followers and I'm pretty sure one of them is a Lithuanian hooker. Keep up the good work. I bought a cheap light beer for tonight. Diet beer brand name of... Natural light? Something like that? Does it matter what it's named? It's light beer.

[ShadySands]

Had another Vitus

 

That's pretty much my beer lane

[ManifestedISO]

Yeah sorry, I was vanilla-bean-portering at home along with the podcast and got carried away.

 

Also, Natural Light is not beer and you should go sit in the corner.

[Hurlshort]

Natty light was always popular in my colleg days. That and Colt 45. I mean, I never drank it (I think) but you could get like 24 for $5.

[Chilloutman]

Guys, can you get Czechvar in USA and let me know how it tasted? Its supposed to be original Budweiser but for some legal reasons it can't be named like that in US. Also if you can get original Pilsner you will learn how beer should taste like.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilsner_Urquell

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budweiser_Budvar_Brewery

[Hurlshort]

Pilsner Urquell sounds very familiar, I am pretty sure I've had it.  It has been along while though and I don't remember any details.  I'll have to put a list of Czech-style pilsners together for an episode.  Maybe do two imports and two from the US. 

[imaenoon]

Guys, can you get Czechvar in USA and let me know how it tasted? Its supposed to be original Budweiser but for some legal reasons it can't be named like that in US. Also if you can get original Pilsner you will learn how beer should taste like.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilsner_Urquell

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budweiser_Budvar_Brewery

I'll look for it, man. Maybe this weekend.

 

Meanwhile, I drank my light beer last night. Turns out it was something called Rockdale light. It's Natural Lights weaker brother. I know it's not real beer, but it's less filling and tastes... well... less filling.

 

Right now, I know someone who makes his own wine made with honey and various fruits and sometimes the airlock blows off some of the honey-fruit mixture. He was making honey-raspberry wine and now I'm enjoying some of the airlock juice, which is itself slightly alcoholic by a tiny amount. Very sweet and distinctively raspberry also. Kind of a precursor of the taste when the guy is finished with the wine he's making. I can tell you, having sampled some of his brews already, that the honey-wine stuff sneaks up on you kind of like Maxwell's Silver Hammer.

[Chilloutman]

Pilsner Urquell sounds very familiar, I am pretty sure I've had it.  It has been along while though and I don't remember any details.  I'll have to put a list of Czech-style pilsners together for an episode.  Maybe do two imports and two from the US.

cmon man, anyone talking about beers HAVE to know how Pilsner tastes