The Beer Thread

[JL21]

Spoilered for size.

[SHOW]

[lukethedrifter]

can someone give me some advice...and i'll probably do a piss poor job of explaining...

the liquor store i usually go to, i usually just grab a 6 pack outta the fridge or whatever...well, i've noticed they have a shelf with what i believe is described as "ales" but they are not refrigerated and they are usually sold 1 a piece...what exactly are these? do they give you a nice buzz? you drink them room temperature?

anybody?

Ales covers a whole lot of ground. Beer is basically divided into Ales and Lagers with your American beers- pale lagers- as well as Marzens (Oktoberfests), Bocks, Dunkels et al, being lagers.

Best thing to do is what for popeye or look up ale vs lager. And no, you can't make some summary judgment about the beer because it's on a shelf marked Ale. Other than that it's Ale.

[G. Keenan]

can someone give me some advice...and i'll probably do a piss poor job of explaining...

the liquor store i usually go to, i usually just grab a 6 pack outta the fridge or whatever...well, i've noticed they have a shelf with what i believe is described as "ales" but they are not refrigerated and they are usually sold 1 a piece...what exactly are these? do they give you a nice buzz? you drink them room temperature?

anybody?

Beers sold in individual bottles like that tend to be better than your average 6 pack beer. I say tend because by no means always. In any case, just buy one or a few, pop them in the fridge and drink them when they're cold. Odds are they have an alcohol content somewhere between 6%-12%.

[Jocephus]

thanks...that does help.

[JL21]

Hmmm....

What seems like a simple announcement by the folks over Sam Adams has sent my mind racing. Later this month they will be releasing Infinium, a champagne-like beer intended to replace your bubbly this New Years Eve.

...

First off, a bit about the brew. Infinium is the first of three beers Sam Adams will brew in collaboration with the Weihenstephan Brewery in Germany. All of the brews will conform to the Reinheitsgebot (guzentight!), the German Beer Purity Law.

Infinium is what you’d expect from a beer dressed up in a French tux – it comes in a corked 750ml bottle, it’s light gold in color, has a flavor described as “crisp and dry” (it’s brewed with champagne yeast) and will ring in with an ABV of around 10%. Infinium will retail for $19.99 a bottle, placing it in the upper levels of premium craft beer.

http://beerandwhiskeybros.com/2010/11/1 ... -of-beers/

I highly recommend that blog, by the way.

[thrill]

Hmmm....

What seems like a simple announcement by the folks over Sam Adams has sent my mind racing. Later this month they will be releasing Infinium, a champagne-like beer intended to replace your bubbly this New Years Eve.

...

First off, a bit about the brew. Infinium is the first of three beers Sam Adams will brew in collaboration with the Weihenstephan Brewery in Germany. All of the brews will conform to the Reinheitsgebot (guzentight!), the German Beer Purity Law.

Infinium is what you’d expect from a beer dressed up in a French tux – it comes in a corked 750ml bottle, it’s light gold in color, has a flavor described as “crisp and dry” (it’s brewed with champagne yeast) and will ring in with an ABV of around 10%. Infinium will retail for $19.99 a bottle, placing it in the upper levels of premium craft beer.

http://beerandwhiskeybros.com/2010/11/1 ... -of-beers/

I highly recommend that blog, by the way.

I highly recommend your avatar.

[JL21]

Johnny LaRue was a pimp.

[Freed Roger]

Pretty good.

[Popeye_Card]

Joce, luke did a pretty good job explaining, but there are two different broad categories for beer (ales vs. lagers) which depend on fermentation style and yeast strains.

Ales are the original brewing method. Fermented around 60 degrees for a couple of weeks, then bottled. Most non-German European styles fall into this category--pale ales, stouts, porters, abbeys, dubbels, etc. Wheat beers are also ales. Due to the strains of yeast used at these higher fermentation temps, ales tend to have a slightly "fruity" flavor, usually maked by hop (pale ale) or roasted (stout) bitterness.

Lager derives from the German word meaning "to store". These beers are fermented at a colder temperature (35-45 degrees) for usually 90 days or more. The yeasts used at these temperatures produce a "crisper" taste. Most of these styles are German in origin--pilsners (bastardized into most American light beers), bocks, oktoberfests, etc.

As for serving temps, the general rule of thumb is that bitter flavors are a lot more harsh at colder temperatures (think of cold coffee). So beers with very little roast or hop flavor (light beers, wheat beers), serve at fridge temp. Most other beers are better around 45 degrees--about 10-15 minutes out of the fridge. That really mellows out hop flavors to what they should be, and with dark (roasted malt) beers, like coffee, they are a lot smoother at the higher temp. Big beers (high alcohol content) can be served at cellar temps (55-60 degrees), kinda like a red wine. No beer should be served room temperature.

Some microbrewers will print the recommended serving temp (and sometimes glassware) on the bottle. Now that I bring up glassware, the easy rule of thumb is the lighter the beer, the skinnier the glass should be. The greater the aroma, the wider the mouth and more rounded inside (like a sifter). A pilsner beer you don't exactly want to smell, so that's why they are traditionally served in a tall slender glass, which shows off the light color and clarity.

[Popeye_Card]

Oh yeah, I forgot to say that a store advertising "ales" is probably just thinking ales are fancy beers. So their categorization probably means nothing. Most good beer stores will categorize by either style or country of origin, and sometimes both.