The Beer Thread • Page 81

I haven't seen it, but I haven't really looked either. Is the habanero really prominent? I like spicy, and I'm a fan of some pepper beers, but I could see it getting in the way of the other flavors here if not done right.

And speaking of mocha, I'm a big fan of that Stone Mocha IPA. It's dangerously drinkable for a 9% beer.

 

You could totally do that. My wife's uncle is an environmental engineer and he did some consulting for some breweries in Colorado on how to improve their processes to reduce their environmental impact.

I'm actually quite surprised that the brewing industry as a whole hasn't gotten more blowback for how wasteful a lot of their operations can be. I know a lot of breweries are starting to focus on that, but I think there's a lot of room for improvement there across the board.

Speaking of which, I'm really looking forward to trying these beers from a new Chicago brewery called Whiner. They're part of this project called The Plant which is a non-profit and building, a former meat-packing plant, that's trying to create a closed loop of food production where the waste products from one process are reused in another. They have an aquaponics farm, a brewery, a bakery, and a mushroom farm.

Le Tub
Not your average saison. Looking to add some funky sour complexity, Whiner embraced the time honored Belgian tradition of blending in order to create a highly aromatic and spicy saison that’s tart but not over the top sour. The barrel aged portion imparts some lactic tartness while Brett imparts tropical and citrus flavors that pair well with fruity Amarillo hops.


Rubrique A Brac
Sweet, funky, and earthy. An interesting riff on a Biere de Garde. Amber in color, this interpretation is all about the Brettanomyces, producing barnyard funk and uniquely fruity aromas. Dry hopped with a newer hop variety called Hull Melon, this farmhouse ale has notes of crackery malt and a floral finish.

 

The pepper is there as a burn in the back of the throat. It just makes me think how great the beer could be without the pepper. Then again, I'm pretty sensitive to beers with pepper in them; I'm just not much of a spicy beer fan.

 

I love the Stone Mocha IPA, I need to pick up a six pack, I only had a single of it.

 

I thought the Mocha IPA was solid out of the bottle but fantastic on tap. Seemed much hoppier on tap to me.

 

For some reason I just envisioned a combination of the new Pokemon Go rollout and this year's release of BCBS, absolute carnage.

 

Haven't had it on tap, but if I get the chance I'll try it. I liked how balanced it was in the bottle, still hoppy, but there was room for the coffee and chocolate to come through. Perfect brunch beer, despite the ABV.

 

Off topic: what were those brewing apps/sites you rec'd to me a long time ago back on AP? My friend and I are going to enter a home brew comp in August, so we're building a couple of recipes and we'll each submit a beer.

 

haven't had that beer, but the pepper with the chocolate & cinnamon is pretty traditional mayan chocolate style. Cigar City uses ancho, guajillo, and pasilla chiles (if I remember correctly) for their Hunahpu's and was based on a mole ice cream. Prairie uses a similar mix for Bomb, as does Westbrook with Mexican Cake. Heat places nicely with those other flavors.

 

I know you weren't asking me but I'll give my opinions, Homebrewtalk.com is a pretty good website where you can find information on pretty much anything you can think of. There's also a huge database of recipes there to look through. The software I use is Beersmith for recipe development, it's around $20 I think but they have a 30 day free trial. It's very detailed and thorough and takes a little bit of time to get your equipment settings dialed in but is very useful. There are other free options out there that are supposed to be pretty good but I've never used any of them.

 

Beersmith is the one that @KidLightning had recommended to me. Thanks for jogging my memory!

 

My concern is that habanero is a much spicier pepper than any of those others, which are pretty mild. A little background spice in these beers is fine, but if it's an overwhelming, throat-burning heat, then I think it'd be out of place and could potentially ruin those other flavors. Of the ones you mentioned I've only had Bomb and, to me, the peppers (and other flavors) seemed to be used to approximate barrel-aging and the heat you get from the residual spirits in those beers.

Sorry, been busy. Beersmith is good and I think I did recommend one. If you want something to use for free, at that you can just play around with in a browser tab rather than launching a separate app, then I think I recommended (or, if not, I am recommending) Brewer's Friend. It's not quite as robust as Beersmith, but it's the one I use when I'm playing around with recipe ideas at work, and they have a mobile app (that's pretty cheap, I think, plus there's a free version) so you can create recipes on the fly, or reference them on your phone/tablet while you're brewing.

 

late to the party on Midas Touch. pretty great

 

About to have some Allagash White, another local brewery I've been meaning to try.

 

Yo The Veil's beers are dope. This mosaic double IPA is delicious.

 

Jealous of each one you keep checking in @williek311

 

Such a great beer and brewery. Their take on Fat Tire in the Fat Tire & Friends mixed pack was excellent.

 

I need to try more of their stuff in the two weeks I have left here!

 

You do, though I think it's fairly easy to find, or at least it is here in Chicago.

 

Pretty much just the east coast, Chicago and California.

 

Wish I could get Allagash in Michigan. I thought their take on Fat Tire was the second best after the Hoppy from Firestone.

 

Yooooo literally drinking this right now! Good shit

 

I just want to try the Allagash coolship beers.

 

Researching Trillum for my time in Boston next week and I'm bummed that their downtown location is the one without samples or full pours. I guess I can still pick up a bomber or two for the weekend or just find their stuff on tap somewhere.

 

Also I had Allagash's Dubbel back in April and do not remember liking it all that much.