Beer in the new era

not all are great, i should say. but a traditional stout, porter or strong ale or something on cask is delicious

i went to delaney's tap room, in new haven CT, two times this weekend. they had an IPA on cask and it really didn't seem very appealing.

plz explain to me what the desirable qualities of cask beer are - i mean it just seemed flat and warm

well, if it was actually WARM, then the pub you went to isn't serving it totally right. should ideally be around 50 degrees, though anywhere from 45-60 is okay.

but in any case, the beer's flavor profile will be a lot more pronounced if tasted around 50 degrees. you'll get more the of subtleties and layers of flavours than you would from an ice-cold beer.

also, re: it tasting "flat" -- carbonation even in microbrews isn't a totally natural occurence -- towards the end of the brewing process a lot of breweries stick this rod-thing into a tank that emits carbon into the beer

but yea if you really are into pilsners and similar beers, cask-conditioned ales will seem pretty off.

are you into stouts or strong ales at all?

yah mean it wasnt completely room temperature it was slightly cool - but are there any particular qualities of cask beer that dont have to do w/it being naturally carbonated and served not that cold

im not really into stouts or strong ales particularly - tho maybe on occasion - def not any of this double ipa concentrated beer noise

xp - one quality of cask ales is that they tend to be fresher -- they're not filtered, still contain yeast, and fermentation is still going on in the cask

all that contributes to a more pronounced flavors

tbh though i'm no brewer and i could be fucking up everything i'm saying

to me the most decent thing a cask ale can do is be a good mild UK-style bitter with really low carbonation (i drink beer in spite of the carb and avoid soda like the plague tbh).

the original (UK) concept of an IPA is not that fucked, and normal-tasting UK ales are not really big in the USA--where somehow we twisted them into ridic double IPAs which make you want to pass out about 3/4 way through glass #1.

cask is an old school style right

yea

double IPAs either seem to get a ton of shit or else dorks claim they're the ONLY REAL BEER & all else is for pussies

my feeling is they're just one style & in the right circumstance they can be pretty tasty. they're are so many awesome and delicious styles of beer though and i don't want to limit myself to just one of them

^^^ great attitude

joe you could learn something from mark--i bet he doesnt even care if people went to space

(i was once one of those dorks tbf)

see the thing that kinda gets my goat abt the micro brew culture is so much of it seems to be abt the miutea of the process over the more subjective qualities of flavor and style. add the extreme double bock gracious! crazy ingredients n strong flavors at the expense of subtlety aspect and thats why imo it appeals to dudes so much. also their bottle labels are why so universally awful.

but maybe i care too much... my heart is too big and judgmental

my greatest beer experience recently was enjoying copious amounts of barleywine in SF in february. excellent, A+.

shut up and drink xp

will not

do a cask ale keg stand

i'm not sure it's so much "loss of subtlety" as much as like, we know lagers in general have a simpler palette than these super-heavy ales, but it's totally valid for beer to be cold and refreshing and something that you want to drink multiple bottles of. like those beer rating sites are a joke because certain styles start with a massive built-in advantage.

i think a lot of people go through a beer dork phase, i did a bit in lol college. but then i started to think why would i ever want beer to be like fucking wine and bought a case of red stripe. don't get me wrong i still love trying new/weird beers but it's more of an occasional treat than a life directive.

in general i think there's only a few american IPAs worth a damn. the new sierra nevada torpedo is pretty good if you only have one.

sry that got really long cause you guys kept writing good stuff. icey you are like 100000x OTM re: label designs. there are several brands i won't even try cause the design is so bad.

http://www.beermonthclub.com/newsletters/images/Boulder-MojoIPA_SM.jpg

worst label designs - magic hat, smuttynose

i know joe hates bk beers but i like their labels

who gives a good goddamn about the labels, drink up

otm

i don't like magic hat's labels either

though max, being an artist, should have good critiques

i dont h8 bk like i do crazy microbrews - just think theyre kinda meh - will drink their pils w/o complaint

[see the thing that kinda gets my goat abt the micro brew culture is so much of it seems to be abt the miutea of the process over the more subjective qualities of flavor and style. add the extreme double bock gracious! crazy ingredients n strong flavors at the expense of subtlety aspect and thats why imo it appeals to dudes so much. also their bottle labels are why so universally awful.

― ice cr?m, Wednesday, April 1, 2009 2:54 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

yea, i can get with this in some ways. right now i'm all about trying to learn more about traditional styles and all that. the american breweries that have most impressed me lately have tended to be the more 'conservative' ones more or less, say great lakes, bell's (tho they have their extremes), ommegang, brooklyn.

but at the same time i appreciate brewers trying to mess around and try out weird new styles. think about it - for like 60 years after prohibition, american beer was boring as shit! before prohibition it was one of the most diverse in the world! i get annoyed at the double IPA HOP OVERLOAD bullshit too but in the end i've got nothing against brewers trying out weird stuff

i get annoyed with SUPER HOPOVERLOAD IPA as well, but what can I say, double IPA's are delicious, my favorite kind of beer

fyi worst beer label in the US is from my hometown:

http://www.keweenawbrewing.com/images/beers/RedjacketLogo.png

but yea some labels are AWFUL

see weyerbacher

fyi worst beer label in the US is from my hometown:

hahaha! is the beer called DOUBLE IPA GAY MINER HOPFEST

http://www.weyerbacher.com/cwo_images/image20.jpg

presentation is important - i want my beer to look good - im into how things look

^^^^ "designer"

that's why u should pour it into a glass, looks best then

fuck, good-looking american microbrew labels is a much tougher nut to crack.

i like sierra nevada and brooklyn well enough for starters. oh yeah i dig victory labels too.

http://thefullpint.com/pics/stormking.gif

srsly this shit is so classic:

http://www.lovebrew.com/images/Pint_glass_300x509.jpg

Bell's Kzoo stout is one of the best imo, but I am a Ladislav Hanka stan.

http://www.thebarleyblog.com/images/label_kalamazoo_stout.png

my fave labels are basically regular bud, miller high life, rolling rock, red stripe

these might even be better:

http://www.acemart.com/renderImage.image?imageName=graphics/00000001/products/LIB14801.jpg

what do u guys think of ommengang's labels?