The Beer (Booze) Thread

[René Artois]

Haha that's pretty cool! Though I may have to give that bar a miss, as i'll be living 100% on student loans, 75% of which is taken at the start of each term for accomodation (£3825 for the year!!!)

[Father Jack]

Accommodation prices are obscene as it eats at most of your loan. Good job you are brewing some beer then - where I live there must be about 12 student 'micro-breweries' and 'distilleries' in a mile radius.

[René Artois]

Aye i'll have about £800 for living in the first 4 months. Hopefully student finance won't be rubbish as it usually seems to be either.

[MadBurgerMaker]

Aye i'll have about £800 for living in the first 4 months.

Total? That's pretty rough, man.

Ramen noodles and THE HIGH LIFE for you.

[Lord Rahl]

Good news for us MBM. Saint Arnold said they've got enough hops to brew the Divine Reserve 11 year round now! Oh, and here's a review of a Jester King (Austin) beer.

GOD-ING-DAMNIT I CAN'T FIND THE NOTES I WROTE FOR IT!!! I'll have to review it from memory.

Wytchmaker Rye IPA by Jester King Craft Brewery



This was my first try of a Jester King beer. I'd seen their Black Metal before but decided not to get it...mostly because of the price. But finally I gave in and got the Wytchmaker.

The head grows thick, bubbly-foamy, and off-white head over a copper-colored brew. It is a bit murky but just a tad. The head has pretty good retention as well. Looks lovely.

I love the smell of this. The rye is very strong that adds a woodsy spiciness to it. Earthy hops keep it floral and there's a bit of tropical fruit in there as well. I could smell this all day.

The taste is very much like the smell. The rye dominates but it's a great flavor. Spicy, woodsy, and adding a great depth of flavor. Hops add bitterness while the tropical fruit flavors bring some acidity and sweetness. It's sweet but not too sweet. I wouldn't say the taste is very complex but the depth the rye adds make up for it. Yum.

Overall this has a very smooth feel to it but the carbonation and, acidity, and spiciness makes it have a drier finish. Very clean, medium-bodied, and very drinkable.

My first Jester King beer and one that did not disappoint at all. One of the better rye beers I've tried.

Appearance: 4
Smell: 4
Taste: 4.5
Mouthfeel: 4
Overall: 4.22

I also had this...



...but didn't review it.

[MadBurgerMaker]

Good news for us MBM. Saint Arnold said they've got enough hops to brew the Divine Reserve 11 year round now!

Man I have yet to get my hands on any of the Divine Reserves, so this will help.

I also had this...



...but didn't review it.

Ten Fidy? A buddy of mine had some of that last weekend. Said it was good stuff. Did you like it?

Edit: It's Monday now. By last weekend, I mean the 13th.

[Lord Rahl]

Man I have yet to get my hands on any of the Divine Reserves, so this will help.

A six pack of the DR11 was $17 if I remember correctly so it wasn't cheap! I bet if they brew it year round that it will be much cheaper though. Damn good stuff though. Best (double India) pale ale I've had from a Texas brewery.

Ten Fidy? A buddy of mine had some of that last weekend. Said it was good stuff. Did you like it?

It's a damn good imperial stout. I definitely recommend it.

[MadBurgerMaker]

A six pack of the DR11 was $17 if I remember correctly so it wasn't cheap! I bet if they brew it year round that it will be much cheaper though. Damn good stuff though. Best (double India) pale ale I've had from a Texas brewery.

Where do you tend to see it? Any statewide type places?

It's a damn good imperial stout. I definitely recommend it.

Nice. I'll have to pick some up.

[Lord Rahl]

I doubt you'll be able to find the DR11 anywhere in Texas, at least in stores. It was extremely sought after when it was shipped. Luckily the place I go to had two cases from Dallas come in so I was able to buy a six pack. Since they're going to start brewing it year round soon then it'll most likely be available anywhere where Saint Arnold's is already sold.

[Stívarðr Reynitré]

Just as a way of contributing to the community guys, I'm offering my services to any who would like a 'real ale' sig making reminiscent of the one I have...



...of course if you would like different ales on yours just supply a pic of the labels and I'll see what I can do!

I'm a teacher in the Real World so I can maybe only knock out 1 or 2 of these on an evening.

@ Rahl - is this okay fella or am I treading on toes!? lol

[AdamWeishaupt]

I have bought an entire bottle crate of Sandwald on Friday.



It's a top ferrmented beer with a very nice flavor if you cool it down enough in the fridge and perfect with the 32 centigrade outside.

[René Artois]

Total? That's pretty rough, man.

Ramen noodles and THE HIGH LIFE for you.

Thanks for the words of comfort bro. I think i'll just have to limit myself to the occassional pint of good beer, and stick to going out on 50p a pint night Yeah I know it'll probably be fosters but with enough of it you end up not caring.

[Treize]

I might do the Rochefort 10 today.
I learned alot of beer since the last quadrupel I had so I hope I like this one.

EDIT:

Rated as the second best Belgian beer on Ratebeer.

[pchalk]

I have bought an entire bottle crate of Sandwald on Friday.



It's a top ferrmented beer with a very nice flavor if you cool it down enough in the fridge and perfect with the 32 centigrade outside.

there even exists a halo at the end of the bottle from which u kno it tastes heavenly

[AdamWeishaupt]

there even exists a halo at the end of the bottle from which u kno it tastes heavenly

It must taste nicely because I have brought the bottle crate home on the bicycle over a rough cart track.

[Treize]

Yah, Rochefort 10 is good. As expected.

And that with a temperature that is very high and with a nose that is a little jammed. Kewl.

[MadBurgerMaker]

I doubt you'll be able to find the DR11 anywhere in Texas, at least in stores. It was extremely sought after when it was shipped. Luckily the place I go to had two cases from Dallas come in so I was able to buy a six pack. Since they're going to start brewing it year round soon then it'll most likely be available anywhere where Saint Arnold's is already sold.

Hm. Well...I know they have all the other Saint Arnold's brews at Flying Saucer, so I might just have to look for it there on their specials and such. God I hate that place but they just have so much beer.

Thanks for the words of comfort bro. I think i'll just have to limit myself to the occassional pint of good beer, and stick to going out on 50p a pint night Yeah I know it'll probably be fosters but with enough of it you end up not caring.

Nothing wrong with being a poor college student drinking cheap beers.

[René Artois]

Some poor quality pics of my 3 days since brewing homebrew (yes i'm brewing it in a bin)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Father Jack]

It was a chance event which caused the first lagered beer to be brewed in Bavaria and later famously in Bohemia many moons ago. Now imagine the beer world without the cold loving yeast strain - ok macro-breweries would not be making rubbish lager but still (perhaps rubbish ale instead)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14592877

Lager-brewing yeast identified in Argentina
By Jennifer Carpenter
Science reporter, BBC News
Scientists have identified a yeast that led to the discovery of lager.
The researchers isolated the new species in the frozen forests of Patagonia in South America.
Their discovery suggests that this yeast crossed the Atlantic hundreds of years ago and combined with one traditionally used in Europe to make ale.
The discovery is described in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
A lucky find
The workhorse of brewing, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is used worldwide to ferment fruit and grains to make wine, cider and ale.
Lager-brewing, which is fermented more slowly and at lower temperatures than ale, is presumed to be a later invention, and was likely stumbled upon when Bavarian monks moved their beer barrels into caves to store it.
In those caves, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which prefers to grow just above room temperature, is presumed to have been outcompeted in the fermenting beer by a species that thrived at cooler climes.
The modern-day lager-brewing yeast, Saccharomyces pastorianus, which is a fully domesticated species, is probably a hybrid of this cool-loving strain and the ale-brewing species, and survives because brewers keep back a little of the lager each time to seed the next batch with the same yeast.
Lager's cradle
"The hybrid almost definitely formed accidentally and people adopted it because the beer came out differently," said evolutionary biologist Chris Hittinger from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, US, who was one of the team behind the discovery.
But researchers have long wondered where the original cool-loving yeast species came from.
That is until Dr Hittinger and his colleagues isolated it from a beech tree in the forests of Patagonia this year.
These forests, where daily lows average around -2C, are the perfect cradle for modern-day lager-brewing yeast. The species has been designated Saccharomyces eubayanus.
"I personally prefer lagers to ales, and I am very grateful that these two distant cousins met up in a Bavarian cellar hundreds of years ago," Dr Hittinger told BBC News.
Knowing the ancestral strain to the modern day lager-brewing yeast will help scientists pinpoint the effects of domestication in the genome of brewing yeasts.
And there is also the possibility that there are other undiscovered species of yeast in those Patagonia forests that could become the next best brew.

[therussian]

Went to Total Wine today after the gym and got a few beers. 7 for $17. Ouch.

Cottonwood Pumpkin Spiced Ale
Oskar Blues Ten Fidy
Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout
Pyramid Apricot Ale (just to try it out)
He'Brew Messiah Bold (for laughs)
Flying Fish IPA
Youngs Double Chocolate Stout


Yeah. i like stouts.