The Beer Thread

[Bact PhD]

Would love to see the beer conosseuirs connosirs conno experts weigh in with their faves.

[LFC]

(OK, let's take this puppy out for a spin.)

I've been looking for some lighter beers that I can enjoy. There have been some lagers and pilsners but there are also some pretty light pale ales / IPAs that I've found. One that's currently in my fridge is Fit Bits by Weldwerks. It's hoppy, tasty, and only 4.2 ABV. Here's a pic via URL. Doesn't look like I can cut and paste actual images in or at least I haven't found it in 15 seconds of research.

[Bact PhD]

An interesting read:

www.winemag.com/2021/03/09/stella-beer-egypt-history/?utm_source=dotmailer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2894983_WEM%20Weekend%20Reads%20031321&bxid=585956913&leadsource=EMAIL1&dm_i=219S,1Q1S7,9OV38X,5W4PB,1

In 1921, the two oldest commercial breweries in Egypt joined forces to produce Stella, a lager branded in Italian, brewed with European techniques, and sold at a price fit for the Egyptian market. Through two world wars, decolonization and multiple regime changes, Stella has endured and remains the most dominant beer in the Egyptian market today.

“Stella beer [is] an inseparable part of Egyptian culture,” writes Dr. Omar Foda in Egypt’s Beer: Stella, Identity, and the Modern State. Unlike neighboring countries where microbreweries compete with big names and foster local craft beer scenes, the Al Ahram Beverages Company, which produces Stella, maintains a “de facto monopoly” in Egypt, says Foda.

[LFC]

In the summer my wife signed up for a membership with Tavour. If you like trying different beers from breweries that you likely won't be able to obtain then it's a great option. The prices are roughly bar prices ($4-$7/beer) but they ship it all in one big tough box (or, in our case, plural) for one price, no matter how many you get. Here's their website.

www.tavour.com/

Here's a real nice one I had recently from Illinois from them.

[andydp]

APRIL 7, 2021:

NATIONAL BEER DAY !!

Plan accordingly.

nationaltoday.com/national-beer-day/

[LFC]

Apr 7, 2021 12:06:42 GMT andydp said:

APRIL 7, 2021:

NATIONAL BEER DAY !!

Plan accordingly.

I'm not sure how to celebrate. It almost seems like it should be with some sort of alcoholic beverage.

[andydp]

Favorite beers;

Backstory: you may all know Son in Law is a craft brewer, ergo NO Bud, Pabst or any of those other plebean "things" they call beer.

Favorite brews:

Naughty Nurse Amber Ale - City Steam Brewery

Nugget Nectar by Troegs We purchased a mix pack so I'll be trying other beers

Loose Cannon IPA fron Heavy Seas Brewing of Baltimore.  Very enjoyable

"25" from Heavy Seas.  This beer is a special anniversary issue with at 15.5 APV (31 proof)  Haven't had it yet because I will not drink an entire 16oz can of 31 proof anything.  I'm waiting for someone to come over and share a can.

We'll be in New Hampshire in May.  I'm planning on a stop at Shilling Brewery for some of their dark pilsners.

I have "re" discovered Peroni "Nastro Azzurro" (Blue Ribbon).  This beer is perfect for those hot, heavy summer evenings.  Super light and VERY good.  I say "Re" discovered because when I was in Italy (in my younger days) it was the main "national" beer (Moretti is a distant second).This was our beer of choice as 17-18 year olds. Never knew we were conniseurs in those days.

[Bact PhD]

A friend/neighbor of mine has what he refers to as his “femto-brewery”. I’ve gotten somewhat spoiled on his stuff, brought out for the annual Memorial Day weekend bash.

This burg has a couple of well-known local outfits. One of them is run in part by the family of one of Dear Son’s schoolmates (2 years ahead of my kid) (no, there’s no special deal. ). Both produce decent IPAs, my brew of choice, especially in warm weather. I’ve been to both tasting rooms (pre-pandemic), and both are available locally in cans. If you see the names “Swamp Head” or “First Magnitude” on a tap or 6-pack, it’s from my neck of the woods.

[andydp]

I have a "mix" pack from Cigar City Brewing of Tampa.  I've actually been there and sampled some of their wares.

[Bact PhD]

Apr 9, 2021 14:09:10 GMT andydp said:

I have a "mix" pack from Cigar City Brewing of Tampa.  I've actually been there and sampled some of their wares.

I've had it in my head to sample some of that stuff the last couple of times I've been in that area, but it hasn't worked out for me to be able to pull it off. Maybe when I go down in June...

[LFC]

For anybody going to a new area who'd like to sample something local I suggest looking places up on Beer Advocate. You should get a pretty good idea of how good their beers are and if they do certain styles better than others.

If you want to track your beers on your phone I highly suggest Untappd. I just got to the point where I couldn't remember so many of the beers I had consumed. It's nice to know if you liked something or not when out at a restaurant / bar ... or was back in the days when I could do that. I joined it in summer of 2017. Last September I logged my 1,000th unique beer. (I very rarely log the same beer twice.) COVID slowed me down from getting samplers at brewpubs and tasting rooms or I would have achieved that milestone more quickly but I press on. Current count is 1,155.

[LFC]

Radlers aren't normally my kind of beer but these are low alcohol hot summer day beers you can drink without getting hammered. I did find one I like a lot called Schöfferhofer. It's a hefeweizen-grapefruit beer and tastes quite a bit like a mildly alcoholic Fresca, and I've always liked Fresca. So while not a regular beer for me it has its place.

I’d heard of radlers, but always as something they did in Germany. It was also something that didn’t appeal to me.

That is until a fiercely hot night eight years ago in southern Alberta, when I had my first Stiegl Radler. I’d spent the day at the Black Velvet distillery, and after dinner I went out with some of the brand’s crew for beers. The taproom was jumping and had no air-conditioning, so cold beer was the way to go. The brand manager got a glass full of some hazy, pale yellow-white beverage. “It’s Stiegl,” she said. “Grapefruit beer. You should try it!”

The grapefruit aroma was apparent, but so was the beer—I could smell clean malt, not just fruit. The first sip sold me. It was cold, of course, but there was a tart and refreshing grapefruit burst, along with a clean, smooth lager beer experience. I drank Stiegl the rest of the night, and the 2.0 percent ABV was a pleasant bonus. I felt great the next morning!

Fast forward to 2021 and the radler is having a moment, a moment that’s turning into momentum. Stiegl’s boldly colorful cans have spread, and the sales have lured breweries like Schöfferhoffer, Ottakringer, and even some big, recognizable names like Paulaner and Bitburger to test the radler waters in America.

The Brits also have a version of this known as a shandy.

Is a radler the same thing as a shandy, as the British call the blend of beer and ginger ale that’s grown in popularity, particularly in the Caribbean?

“It’s six of one, half a dozen of the other,” says Fran Cattani, who imports the Ottakringer Radlers from Vienna for S&H Imports. “Shandy is soda and a beer, radler is more like a lemon soda, or lemonade, and beer.” Radlers are most often citrus-based, but Stiegl’s bringing a raspberry radler, and Schöfferhoffer has introduced a new passion fruit version. I also tend to think of a shandy as soda and beer, as opposed to a radler, which I think of as beer and soda. A thin difference, maybe, but it means something to me

[goldenvalley]

I thought a shandy was beer and lemonade...at least that's what my friend's dad called it when he gave me one. He was Scots so maybe that's different.

[LFC]

May 28, 2021 18:31:47 GMT goldenvalley said:

I thought a shandy was beer and lemonade...at least that's what my friend's dad called it when he gave me one. He was Scots so maybe that's different.

I think it's a case of "there's more than one way to skin this cat."

[andydp]

To think we just called it "weekend in the dorms".  Never realised it was a path to Nirvana.

[andydp]

Passing on wisdom of the anchients.

[pnwguy]

Jul 31, 2021 1:03:45 GMT andydp said:

Passing on wisdom of the anchients.

Justice Kavanaugh plans to have this inscribed on a wall in the rotunda of the Supreme Court

[goldenvalley]

[andydp]

A game of skill invoving horses and beer.  What could possibly go wrong ?

Beer Tölt

The rider who spills the least gets to drink the most.

www.atlasobscura.com/foods/beer-tolt-iceland-drinking-horseback-riding?utm_medium=atlas-page&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR2jlP9rC4BfDXboroNc-jPt6gFZk8sTbxpheZupiaumw4ypDmSIzXDEAUg

[LFC]

I hope my funeral is as fun for my mourners as this one in China 9,000 years ago.

At a 9,000-year-old burial site in China called Qiaotou, archaeologists recently unearthed a number of ceramic vessels. Some of the vessels were shaped like the long-necked, round-bellied bronze pots that people used for alcoholic drinks millennia later. And that made Dartmouth College anthropologist Jiajing Wang and his colleagues wonder whether these earlier clay versions might have once held beer, too.

Bits of the residue left inside eight of the 13 pots turned out to contain phytoliths (fossilized plant remains) from rice, tubers, and a plant called Job’s tears. Starch molecules in the residue showed signs of being heated and fermented. Wang and his colleagues also found yeast and mold, key ingredients in fermentation.

“Our results revealed that the pottery vessels were used to hold beer, in the most general sense—a fermented beverage made of rice, a grain called Job’s tears, and unidentified tubers,” said Wang. “This ancient beer, though, would not have been like the IPA that we have today. Instead, it was likely a slightly fermented and sweet beverage, which was probably cloudy in color.”

[andydp]

On an extremely positive note, our Son in Law just won a gold and silver at the Great American beer Festival in Denver.

In the video we see our son in law Jan (in the middle) winning a gold and silver medal at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver CO. The “narrator” is our daughter Rachel. Good job and congratulations Jan !!

Gold for inner light- Australian pale and Silver for Biere Orvale - mixed culture Brett beer, 

www.facebook.com/andrew.dipalma.3/videos/177590101088713

[andydp]

We once were worried about a "Missile Gap" with the Commies.  Now the Belgians have put us behind the power curve with their "Beer Pipeline"


fb.watch/88oYdeKFFz/

[Rue Bella]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjhBeB9ESqw

[LFC]

We don't have a poop thread and I really didn't feel the need to start one so I'll just drop this here, so to speak.

Ancient Iron Age miners in what is now Austria were quite fond of beer and blue cheese, according to a new analysis, published in the journal Current Biology, of preserved paleo-poop. The researchers found evidence of two fungal species commonly used to produce blue cheese and beers, along with evidence that the miners' diet was particularly rich in carbohydrates in the form of cereal grains.

[andydp]

Oct 18, 2021 18:19:59 GMT LFC said:

We don't have a poop thread and I really didn't feel the need to start one so I'll just drop this here, so to speak.

Ancient Iron Age miners in what is now Austria were quite fond of beer and blue cheese, according to a new analysis, published in the journal Current Biology, of preserved paleo-poop. The researchers found evidence of two fungal species commonly used to produce blue cheese and beers, along with evidence that the miners' diet was particularly rich in carbohydrates in the form of cereal grains.

So there appears to be evidence of crackers or Doritos. Party on dudes. !!