BEER

[Zarathustra]

Menolly, I'm not sure about that. You could go sweeter, which usually means higher ABV. Most stouts don't have a lot of hops, so you won't get bitterness from them. However, a lot of people equate roast with bitterness, which is actually more like astringency than bitterness, though the two are close. Most stouts are going to have astringency/roast, like black coffee or unsweetened chocolate. If you don't think the beer tastes good, cooking with it won't make it better. Find one you think is delicious, is the best advice I can offer.

I don't cook with beer. Sometimes I'll marinate meat in beer prior to grilling, but I usually don't have the heart to "waste" it. There are a lot of people who cook with beer, however, and they'd give you better advice. Google and see what you can find.

[SoulBiter]

The Rhiengeist Ink was impressive. I was expecting to be punched in the face with flavor, but got a nice subtle Imperial Stout instead.

Essentially, if Guinness was as good a beer as it thinks it is... and then some. Just a very pleasant, balanced experience.

My wife is in Mason, OH this week for work. I am having her pick me up a bottle to bring back with her.

[Orlion]

The Rhiengeist Ink was impressive. I was expecting to be punched in the face with flavor, but got a nice subtle Imperial Stout instead.

Essentially, if Guinness was as good a beer as it thinks it is... and then some. Just a very pleasant, balanced experience.

My wife is in Mason, OH this week for work. I am having her pick me up a bottle to bring back with her.

That's nice of her! You should get her flowers or something

[Zarathustra]

I've never heard of (much less tasted) a "subtle" imperial stout. This is a style that's at the extreme end of the flavor spectrum, pushing the boundaries of alcohol content, brewed with the largest amounts of malted/roasted barley, usually with heavy doses of hops to balance out all that malt sweetness. When I first started experimenting with new beer styles, this was one I could barely drink. If these are subtle to you, then your palete is a lot more developed than mine was when I started.

After looking up Rhiengeist Ink, I see it's 10% ABV and 85 IBUs (international bittering units), which is as bitter as many IPAs. It must be a hell of balanced beer. It's brewed fairly close to me. I'll have to seek it out and give it a try.

[Orlion]

I've never heard of (much less tasted) a "subtle" imperial stout. This is a style that's at the extreme end of the flavor spectrum, pushing the boundaries of alcohol content, brewed with the largest amounts of malted/roasted barley, usually with heavy doses of hops to balance out all that malt sweetness. When I first started experimenting with new beer styles, this was one I could barely drink. If these are subtle to you, then your palete is a lot more developed than mine was when I started.

Gee, I hope not... I wouldn't know what to do with it!

[SoulBiter]

The Rhiengeist Ink was impressive. I was expecting to be punched in the face with flavor, but got a nice subtle Imperial Stout instead.

Essentially, if Guinness was as good a beer as it thinks it is... and then some. Just a very pleasant, balanced experience.

My wife is in Mason, OH this week for work. I am having her pick me up a bottle to bring back with her.

That's nice of her! You should get her flowers or something

hrmffp - she forgot to pick up a bottle of this and wont have time this evening on the way to the airport . But being the good husband I am, I will still pick up some flowers for her and cook a nice dinner for her to return home to.

[Cail]

The local watering hole's doing a tap takeover tonight with Terrapin Beer Company. Hopefully they've got some good stuff.

[SoulBiter]

The local watering hole's doing a tap takeover tonight with Terrapin Beer Company. Hopefully they've got some good stuff.

Terrapin is a beer made here in Georgia near Athens . I have only had a couple of their beers here and there and I remember them being pretty good. It will be interesting to see what you think. Since they are made here, I can typically pick up just about anything from them at the local grocery

[Zarathustra]

I've never had any of their beers. A quick check at Ratebeer.com doesn't look promising:

www.ratebeer.com/brewers/terrapin-beer-company/2851/

Their highest rated beer is 3.83 out of 5, Cinnamon Roll’d Wake-n-Bake. It's a seasonal imperial stout, so no telling if it will be available. The rest look pretty mediocre. Personally I don't like to drink anything that's rated lower than a 3.5. Yes, I know this seems like a silly way to pick beer, but I've found that the global consensus of beer aficionados usually matches up well with my own tastes, even if I don't know the rating beforehand and check it later.

[Orlion]

My wife is in Mason, OH this week for work. I am having her pick me up a bottle to bring back with her.

That's nice of her! You should get her flowers or something

hrmffp - she forgot to pick up a bottle of this and wont have time this evening on the way to the airport . But being the good husband I am, I will still pick up some flowers for her and cook a nice dinner for her to return home to.

Well, that's nice of you! She should get you some beer!

[Cail]

The local watering hole's doing a tap takeover tonight with Terrapin Beer Company. Hopefully they've got some good stuff.

Terrapin is a beer made here in Georgia near Athens . I have only had a couple of their beers here and there and I remember them being pretty good. It will be interesting to see what you think. Since they are made here, I can typically pick up just about anything from them at the local grocery

Thanks to the weather, we only had three selections; Rye Pale Ale, Hopsicutioner IPA, and Recreationale. The Recreationale was light, but had a really nice flavor. I could see having a bunch of these in cans on ice during the summer. The Hopsicutioner was fantastic. Not near the benchmarks of either the Lagunitas IPA or Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, but a nice, different twist on IPAs. The real surprise was the Rye Pale Ale. I'm not a fan of rye generally, but this was a really nice surprise, and it had a great finish.

I've never had any of their beers. A quick check at Ratebeer.com doesn't look promising:

www.ratebeer.com/brewers/terrapin-beer-company/2851/

Their highest rated beer is 3.83 out of 5, Cinnamon Roll’d Wake-n-Bake. It's a seasonal imperial stout, so no telling if it will be available. The rest look pretty mediocre. Personally I don't like to drink anything that's rated lower than a 3.5. Yes, I know this seems like a silly way to pick beer, but I've found that the global consensus of beer aficionados usually matches up well with my own tastes, even if I don't know the rating beforehand and check it later.

This is why I don't look at sites like that (I'm the same way with cigar reviews). I'll try anything once. If it's no good, it's no good, but I would have missed out on some great beers, scotches, bourbons, and cigars had I stuck with what was popular.

[Zarathustra]

This is why I don't look at sites like that (I'm the same way with cigar reviews). I'll try anything once. If it's no good, it's no good, but I would have missed out on some great beers, scotches, bourbons, and cigars had I stuck with what was popular.

The site provides information. It doesn't keep you from trying anything. Don't you ever look at Rotten Tomatoes before deciding to spend $50+ on a night at the movies? Consumer Reports? CNET.com? Reviews are a valuable resource. Craft beer is expensive. "Popular" is an odd way to describe anything at the fringe of the global beer market. If I was looking for popular, I wouldn't ask beer geeks. I'd just buy Bud.

I'll try anything once. [Edit: Hey, I'm an optimist ... but even an optimist can get down when his glass is half full with crappy beer, especially when there were better ones sitting right next to it on the shelf. ] That's how I know that over the course of trying 100s of beers, I've found that Ratebeer is an excellent predictor of value.

Speaking of rye brews, I'm a big fan, especially rye IPAs. Sierra Nevada's Ruthless Rye is pretty good. Founder's Red Rye is fantastic.

[Cail]

This is why I don't look at sites like that (I'm the same way with cigar reviews). I'll try anything once. If it's no good, it's no good, but I would have missed out on some great beers, scotches, bourbons, and cigars had I stuck with what was popular.

The site provides information. It doesn't keep you from trying anything. Don't you ever look at Rotten Tomatoes before deciding to spend $50+ on a night at the movies? Consumer Reports? CNET.com? Reviews are a valuable resource. Craft beer is expensive. "Popular" is an odd way to describe anything at the fringe of the global beer market ... though I suppose that's relative.

Honestly, I really stay away from movie reviews. They're mostly wrong (everyone loved Silver Linings Playbook; it's one of the worst, most offensive movies I've ever seen). But with the 4K TV, we don't go to the movies anymore.

And that holds for pretty much any subjective review. If I don't know the reviewer and know their taste, the review is all but meaningless. CNET and CR are a different animal, as they generally stick to objective measures of quality.

What I see on most review sites (be it booze, motorcycle accessories, food, or cigars) is a couple of Type A posters pontificating, and a huge echo chamber of minions gleefully repeating a variation of the same opinion. So if I were to base my opinion on review sites, I would have missed out on a couple of really nice beers and cigars, and/or I'd be suffering through some really expensive brews and smokes because they were the highly-rated ones.

With that said, I do periodically go back and look at reviews after I've tried something.

[SoulBiter]

Here is a beer I tried this week that I find that I really like. Funny enough, I was put off by the hoppiness at first but then as I settled in to drink this, I found that I really liked this beer. I think it had to do with temperature. I saw on ratebeer that some people thought the hops overpowered the beer. I still dont prefer this to the Jailhouse stout I have been enjoying regularly, but it was good none the less. I would buy it again.


Its from Sweetwater brewing.
Grains: 2 Row, Roasted Barley, Black, 70/80, Chocolate
Hops: Centennial, Williamette
Dry Hopped: Cascade and Simcoe
ABV: 8.8%, IBUs: 60

[SoulBiter]

I am in Colorado Ski'ing this week. Last night we went to a steak house and I went ahead and tried a local beer. It was OK... I thought it was a bit weak in taste. Stronger than the Murphy's that I had a few weeks ago though. ABV was 6% and low IBU at 25.

Hopefully as the week goes on I will find some better local beers.

[Cail]

Bottled Cail's Faceplant Double IPA on Saturday. Sampled a bit, and I think we've got a winner once it's carbonated. ABV fell right in at 9.4.

[Zarathustra]

That's a hell of an adventurous first brew! What was your original and final gravity? Care to list your hops? I assume this was an extract brew, right? Or did you steep some grains as well?

How did brew day and bottling go? A big freakin' mess is how it usually ends up for me. Bottling is a PITA.

Give them at least 2 weeks in the bottle before trying them ... though if you're concerned about over priming and bottle bombs, you can check one or two early. Try to keep them room temperature while they're carbonating. It happens best in the 70s.

[Cail]

I had two friends who are deep, deep in to HB get me all set up. I've got the recipe at home that I could dig out. But yeah, it was an extract.

Their bottling setup was pretty slick. They had this weird Christmas-tree setup for drying the bottles, and a push-button wand for filling the bottles. Looking at all the stuff they have, they've gotta have damn near a grand in their rig.

[Orlion]

At long last, I found it!

TROOPER is a Premium British Beer inspired by Iron Maiden and handcrafted at Robinsons brewery. Malt flavours and citric notes from a unique blend of Bobec, Goldings and Cascade hops dominate this deep golden ale with a subtle hint of lemon.

It is apparently an ESB style beer, but with a broader appeal to those who have not had much experience with it...which is good for me! I have not tried it yet, waiting for a friend so we can try it together and compare notes. My expectations are reasonable, all things considered, and I hope if nothing else, this will open another road in my beer drinking experience!

It may take my life, but I'll take its too...

[Sorus]

I must try that. Just on general principles.