Comments on: Extreme Beer

By: J.W. Hamner

J.W. Hamner — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:16:02 +0000

As a huge Belgian beer fan I basically think Reinheitsgebot is crazy talk... but I know tons of people who turn there nose up at anything other than water, hops, and barely. That's taste for you... I mean, yeah, some of the stuff about American breweries are doing with aging in champagne barrels and stuff is pretty gimmicky, but how can you rule out so many delicious beers?

By: DL

DL — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 23:47:41 +0000

"When does beer cease to be beer?"

After it's filtered through one's kidneys?

By: Dutchgirl

Dutchgirl — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 22:35:07 +0000

Beer= grains, hops, yeast, and adjuncts (anything else you want to throw in there to make it taste good) My brew buddies and I are having a blast making up recipes and a few weeks later tasting the results. Next up, a honey porter ready to keg in the weekend.

Odograph, good ciders are hard to find in the US, Strongbow is the only drinkable one I've found so far.

By: Jeffrey W. Baker

Jeffrey W. Baker — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:42:52 +0000

I'm fairly certain that Gordon Biersch is nationwide at this point.

By: odograph

odograph — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 17:50:45 +0000

I have a chem degree, which is the same as saying I have made beer. It might be a right of passage and/or a practical application.

I think honey-beers can be great, but haven't met a commercial one that matched a homebrew. A simple dry cider (apple juice and champagne yeast) can be truly great, fermented in bottle ... but well I haven't really looked for a commercial version as good.

Honey beers have a great and ancient name ... braggot.

By: Dantheman

Dantheman — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 17:50:34 +0000

"despite having grown up with very strict rules as to what constituted chili (no beans, etc.), “it’s all chili, and it’s all good.” The same’s basically true of beer."

Martinis, too. Most restaurants think the distinctive feature of a martini is the shape of the glass it is in, and call things a martini that have neither gin nor vermouth.

At least Belgian beer generally has all of the ingredients of beer, and then a few more.