The Official BEER Thread (1 Viewer)

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last time I had a chocolate stout I thought I'd puke. It wasn't just a hint but a hammer to the pallet during the finish. Some local brewery if I remember correctly.

But for Rogue I like arrogant bastard. My wife and son got it for me as a joke and it's now a gift I look forward to at Xmas
 
Us WMassholes are kind of hung up on two things:

Berkshire Brewing Company (strangely not actually in the berkshires) beers. Quality can go Up & Down depending on how clean the taps are at your joint and phase of the moon but generally wicked fresh and yummy in many styles (beware the Holidale).

The Dirty Truth.
Yup. Very small sign (coaster actually) on the door. Got to have 80 taps easy. Stuff you see everyday like Zot and Racer, etc. Oh, did I mention the bargain rate and delicious food. The Dirty Truth Beer Hall Thank god it is farther away...


HW
 
We go to Northampton a a pretty regular basis and I've never seen this place!
I have to go there tonight, maybe check it out!
 
Lane-

If you know where the generally heinous Fitzwilly's is, it's one or two doors uphill from there...
 
hwi1s0n said:
Lane-

If you know where the generally heinous Fitzwilly's is, it's one or two doors uphill from there...
Click to expand...

Saw it tonight, next door to the Mexican place. I'll check it out next time we go down.
 
Terminator Stout! But, you have to go to Oregon to get it.

Terminator Stout
Black as the darkest night, rich as the most decadent dessert, Terminator is for the true stout lover. This is a full bodied and flavor packed ale which draws it's robust complexity from kiln-baked specialty grains. Look for a wide array of toasted, chocolate, nutty and coffee-like flavors in every pint! The devoted swear by it, and it remains one of our top selling ales year after year.

Malts used: Pale Malt, Munich Malt, 40L Crystal, Black Barley
Hops used: Cascades

Original Gravity: 1.065; Terminal Gravity: 1.015
Alcohol by Volume: 6.45%
Calories: 282 per pint


Others that have been good to me in no particular order...

Old Rasputin Imperial Stout
Guinness Extra Stout (much better then the regular stout)
Gritty McDuffs Black Fly Stout (Irish)
Thirsty Dog Siberian Night Imperial
Terminator Stout (Oregon brew)
Freeminer Deepshaft Stout
Sam Smith's Oatmeal Stout
Bell's Expedition Imperial
Ipswitch (sp?) Oatmeal Stout

I know many people like it, but I found the Dogfish Head Chicory stout to be lacking.

William
 
Speaking of Dogfish Head, I tried this stuff out a week ago.
Midas Touch | Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales

Thought it was super. Pretty unique flavor. Sorta had a Mead type flavor, very smooth and
had a 9% alc. rating.
 
That Midas Touch is really good.

I recently went to a beer tasting and really liked:

Southern Tier Brewing "Gemini" unfiltered ale
Long Trail Double IPA
Smuttynose IPA
 
if you like stouts I love a Guiness float from time to time.

A nice glass of Guiness with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Perfect desert for the beer lover, you just need to give the ice cream time to soften completely.
 
I'm sure I've had beer lately but this thread doesn't reflect that!
I'm starting the weekend early with a Mcneill's Warlord Imperial India pale ale.
Got a buzz going already! Good IPA, very hoppy. Brewed right across the river in Brattleboro!
I really need to go over and check out the pub some night.

Dave that variety pack you brought down was great!


Lane
 
Just guzzled down the last bottle of Fat Tire that I brought back from North Carolina. Counting the months/years till it makes it to MA
 
A couple buddies and I went to a Beer Tasting after work tonight.
Featured a brewpub from Brattleboro Vt.
Good beer, and some beer drinking cuties too!
 
I'm in Chicago and just had 2 Fat Tires with dinner. I'm driving home so anyone that wants a case, let me know!
 
If you haven't left yet, and can find the out of season Bell's Expedition stout, I'd appreciate the procurement.
 
Here's a recipe from when I was homebrewing (and brewing professionally), my take on Bell's.

Imperial Stout

17 lbs 2 row or pale ale base
1 lb medium crystal
2 lbs roasted barley
1.5 lb chocolate malt
1 lb flaked barley
.5 lb rolled oats
6.6 lb pale malt extract

The two row base should be either English or Candian. The German malts are malted for lagers, and it really hard to not get an American two row or pale ale malt that isn't made by Briess, and they suck.

Thomas Fawcett is a traditional English maltster that floor malts their barley. THey do an absolutely excellent job. I highly reccomend you use all of their specialty malts, especially the roasted barley. They don't make flaked barley or rolled oats, but the subleties with these are much less important.

1 oz Chinook bittering (12ish%)
1 oz Columbus bittering (15ish%)

1 oz Tettenager finishing (5 min before end of boil)

The bittering hops aren't so important, and using Fuggles and Golding would be really nice, especially as the beer ages a little, the soft bitterness of those hops would be really nice, but you'd have to use a whole lot of them and it would be pretty pricy on a beer that's already rather expensive. Just make sure you throw in a bit shy of 30HBU, and don't use Cascade.

One vial White Labs WLP028 Edinburg
One vial WHite Labs WLP004 Irish

The Edinburg yeast is good for big malty beers, but using the Fuller strain WLP002 would be fine too. I don't remember why I used the Irish yeast as well instead of just doubling up. The store might have been out, but the Irish yeast is a bit dry, which isn't unlooked for in a beer that's definitely going to come out sweet.

2 tsp Irish moss
.5 tsp yeast nutrient

Lay the grist in base first, then the roasted barley, base, other specialty, more base, more specialty, more base and so on. Having the roasted barley near the bottom will help you get more colour out of it.

Mash at 148° for one hour.
Vourlof and sparge.
Add extract syrup. Volume should be about 4 gallons. Original gravity should be around 1.140.
Bittering hops at start of boil, boil for one hour. Irish moss goes in 15 min before EOB. There's a whole lot of malt protien in here, hence the 2 tsps of Irish Moss. Finishing hops go in 5 min before EOB. Yeast nutrient goes in whenever the instructions say.

I broke my hydrometer at this point so I don't know what the gravity after the boil was, probably around 1.145 or so. Whatever you get will be fine.

Brewing a beer this strong requires a bit more than the regular measures of aeration, protien break catalyzation, and yeast pitching.

Continue aerating at intervals, say every hour or so for several hours after the wort is cooled and the double portion of yeast is pitched. This is wicked strong, so the extra O2 is important.

Beer should be ready for bottling in ten days or so. Bottle with 1 cup of corn sugar.

Taste in 20 days.
It should look as dark as used motor oil. Very strong roasted barley favour shold dominate with coffee and malt following. Tett aroma should open your eyes but shold not contribute precievably to the flavour. Similar to Bell's Expedition, but bigger, darker, and with a nice Tettenager aroma.

Should yield just shy of 4 gallons. ABV is probably around 12%.
 
You are my Beer Hero!
 
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