Search the Community

Tonight I was in my local chain supermarket and saw the unbelievably high price on Miller Genuine Draft. I then went to Total wines and bought a 6-pack of Pilsner Urquel for the same per-bottle cost as the cost of the MGD at the supermarket. Is it any wonder that I never buy beer at a supermarket any more? Just saying...

Do any members of eG brew their own beer? I have been wanting to do this for years. I have a starter brewing kit...and I have a group of good friends to help. Just wondering if there are others on eG with experience/desire/or love of homebrewing?

Had a party last night and we drank all but say 1/4 of the keg (shame on us, I know). The keg was left outside and it was very cold last night, so I'm fairly certain it froze. Once it thaws, what should I expect from the leftover beer? Completely flat, or drinkable? This wasn't high quality craft stuff to begin with, so I won't be heartbroken if it's a loss, but it would be nice to not waste it. If it matters, this was a half barrel.

Has anyone else tried this? It's from Estrella Damm. My local pub was carrying bottles and my husband couldn't resist taking one home last night. It's in a champagne-style bottle, and has a label that is very reminiscent of Sapporo - a black field with a gold star in the centre. According to the accompanying booklet (!): So, perfect with a vindaloo? We actually had it with a well-dressed salad, and I thought it did pair well. The citrus and coriander notes came through nicely, although I thought no better than a bottle of (much cheaper and more widely available) Hooegarden.

FOUR STAR BEER Interesting article! I hadn't realized that the French Laundry had their own beer!

I live in Union, N.J. and remember enjoying an English ale called Bishop's Finger from Shepherd Neame about 10 years ago. I've been looking for it recently and can't find it. Is it still being imported into the U.S? If so, does anyone know where it is available in my neck of the woods? Any help would be appreciated.

Hi all, Aside from the fact that eating hops may not taste so good, is there any other reason not to eat them, for example, as an herb in cooking? I looked around online, and all that I managed to find were a number of sites that said hops are poisonous for dogs to eat, even spent hops. Of course, what is poisonous for dogs is often safe for humans, and since hops play quite a role in beer I'd assume that it would be clear by now if there were any potentially hazardous compounds in them. However, one never knows. Any insights into the issue? Are there any food recipes that are made with hops? Perhaps some regional specialties? Thanks in advance, Alan

So having heard about and remembering eG member Pennbrew's new beer-making venture, I happened to be on my way between hither and yon, and mid-journey I found myself facing signs pointing to Berwick, PA... so I ventured off the Interstate and wended my way into that northeast PA town. A quick text-message query to cell-phone-Google found me the address, and I popped in for a quick beer break. The building is a big old factory... an old commercial bakery that had a steel fabricating tenant in some of its space. It's just off the main drag in a few-stoplight town, but not readily visible from the street. I got there just in time to get one of the last few glasses of the hefe-weizen, which was predictably depleted on a 90+F day. A great representation of the style, this beer was welcome on a hot afternoon. The place was small, the crowd quick to come and go. Guy Hagner (Pennbrew), the brewer and publican was affable. After polishing off the wheat beer, I decided to try the opposite end of the spectrum and went for a stout, which was also a tasty beer. I'd recommend this spot as a waypoint for any eG members making their way around the intersection of I80 and I476.

You might be interested in a happy discovery I recently made. I stopped brewing beer quite a while ago – I didn't seem to have time and wasn't drinking enough to get good at it (the former excuse still holds but I'm not sure the later still does). My last batch, christened by my DB as “Trash the Kitchen Imperial Stout” (never let your Imp. boil over) was a disaster in other ways, too. In a mis-guided attempt to sweeten up the recipe, I added too much molasses, not knowing that the molasses flavor results from unformentable chemicals. This resulted in a vile, highly alcoholic watered down blackstrap. So about 8 years later, I found some liter bottles with ceramic caps and a 12 pack of 12 oz bottles of the stuff left in a basement cupboard. I cautiously slipped some from a liter bottle to a beer afficionado who said, “High abv but drinkable.” Sure enough, after almost a decade, the alcohol had kept the beer preserved but the molasses had mellowed away. But wait, there's more. We opened one of the 12 oz bottles with a regular cap and the beer hadn't gotten any worse but there was still an overly strong smack of molasses. My theory is that the cap sealed too well and you needed the little bit of oxidation through the rubber gasket on the ceramic cap to take out the unformentables. Is there a moral here? Maybe that brewing chemistry is way more complex than I understand or that beer-gods are benevolent if you are patient.

Last year my wife purchased a Golden Hop rhizome from a local nursery and planted it near our pond. It didn't do much the first year, but this year it went bananas. It has more cones than I could believe, and it's trying to take over our ten year old honeysuckle. So my question is this: anyone know if it's of any culinary value? The cones aren't mature yet, but i've tasted them compared to some Cascades I'm raising and they weren't bitter at all. If they're just decorative I'm fine with that, but if not we have so many I'd love to brew with them.

Welcome to the Beer forum, where hops and barley reign supreme. This is where you can discuss the beers and ales you drink, from the palest lager to the darkest stout. You’ll also find topics on ingredients and equipment for the beers you make at home. Check out these and other topics: What Gives Guiness Its Thickness; It's Brewing Time Again; What's Everyone's Favorite Beer?; and Beer Glassware. Not a Society member? You’re welcome to read the eG Forums to your heart’s content, but you will have to join the Society in order to post. You can apply to join the eGullet Society here. If you support the eGullet Society’s mission to and wish to help further it, you can make a donation here. Our members’ questions and comments make this forum interesting, exciting and useful – we look forward to your contributions. Before posting, you may want to browse through the forum to read up on current and older topics. If you’re looking for something specific, or wondering if there's already a topic on the subject you wish to discuss, try our Search feature (use the Advanced Usage Help link to improve your results) or our built-in Google Search function. If you would like to post photos, they must be uploaded into ImageGullet. Click here for a tutorial. We encourage food-related external links (hyperlinks to websites or other media outside of the eGullet.org webspace) to the extent that they substantially contribute to the dialogue. Web pages and websites that exist today may not exist tomorrow, and most online articles are often free only for a short period of time. Thus, links to external media should always include a brief summary and/or quotation that makes it possible for readers to understand the spirit of the linked material without the need to follow the link. For more information on our external linking guidelines, click here. The Society is committed to respecting intellectual property rights. Members are responsible for making certain that their posts conform with our copyright guidelines.

Looking speculatively at the wild mugwort nearby, I wondered what home-brewed herbal beers were like. Has anybody made them? Tasted them? Seen them on sale? Apart from mugwort, I've always been curious about nettle beer, but the only fermented beverage I've ever made was ginger beer. How hard are herb beers to make? (Seriously, curiosity is going to kill me one of these days...). The nearest thing I could find on this subforum was a reference to heather ale.

A dear friend returned from Ithaca NY recently and brought back with her a sixer of Ithaca Brewing's CASCZILLA, which they describe as a "Monstrously Hoppy red ale", but folks, it is SO much more: lots of dense, grapefruity Cascades, but surprise! a beefy malt prescence that prevents the teeth-grinding of most overhopped beeers and gives CASCZILLA a nice clean finish. THere's a really bright red-ornage color, b illowy clouds of foam atop the pint glass and a sharp, tart grove of grapefruit trees in the nose. I'll have more about this terrific beer on my new blog in the next day or two. I know this brew is now available in PA, and I'm gonna be heading over the border to get me some more soon.

Nothing like pairing good beer with good food; it's just pure magic when the flavors marry and dance together in the mouth. Over the years I've discovered, and been told about some really good beer food pairings, and I want to hear about yours. Here are some of mine, along with some pairings suggested by some beer friends whose palates I really respect: Red Hook IPA and an Italian hoagie (from Mike Gates, Haddonfield, NJ) Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale and a plate of nachos Victory Hop Devil and Thai curries Maredsous 8 and creme brulee (Bob Rescinito, Oklahoma City, OK) Saranac Caramel Porter and Amish sourdough pretzels Yuengling Porter and beef stew Guinness Stout and oysters Victory Prima Pils or Pilsner Urqell and Sechuan Chinese food Sierra Nevada Celebration and a thick grilled steak Spaten Oktoberfest and pork chops braised with apples and cabbage Rolling Rock and pizza Tsing Tsao and red gravy Italian, like lasagna and/or linguine and meatballs Troegs Troeginator Dopplebock and braised lamb shank over polenta Troegs Mad Elf and Christmas cookies! One Guy Brewing Cinnamon Boldy and apple fritters (Guy Hagner, Berwick, PA) OK, I've started the list, what are YOUR favorite pairings?

Hi, The V-Vessel was developed for BrewShops in Canada. The cost is reasonable and it allows for primary, secondary and bottling without any transfers. It is plastic and costs from $150 to $170. There is one on eBay for $100. Does anyone have experience? Are there any opinions? Tim

Over the years I've been no stranger to drinking. From sipping favorite rums to enjoying a bottle of wine to draining cheap beers past sunrise. I have an internal guage for quantity-based hangovers. But for quite some time I've noticed that certain beers -- almost always minimally processed, hoppy or malty microbrews -- will give me a crippling headache after just one or two. I believe, not certain, that occasionally a red wine will produce this effect also. The latest culprit was two bottles of Rogue Mocha Porter consumed at a trivia contest Wednesday. I left the coffeehouse at 10, and by 11:30 I was in agony. The headache lasted until the following evening. Years ago it was Anderson Valley Oatmeal Stout. I need to start writing down beers that do this to me and see if there's a common denominator. Has anyone else experienced this? Is it an allergy to a certain strain of yeast, malt or excessive hops?

I've been able to find lots of nice rare craft beers on Ebay and I'm curious to know about your experiences (good OR bad) if you've purchased from there.

What would people recommend as the best general, basic book on beers. Something readable for someone who wants to take his beer drinking a little more seriously while still a comprehensive reference. I'd prefer suggestions for books in print, because that would be easier to order.

I'm taking a small group of folks to Belgium next month for a sampling of the local flavor. Funny thing is, I've never been to Belgium!! I have a pretty good itinerary set in place with all the usual suspects in Antwerp, Brugge, Brussels and Ghent but I need some insight on the lesser known beer bars, restaurants and food treasures in those places. I'm a chef at a microbrewery/restaurant so our goal is to have a complete beer and food experience while staying off the beaten trail and avoiding tourist traps when possible. So, I'm looking for suggestions. Any and all will do. Thanks, and I promise I'll be a better eG'er in the future! RM

Interesting article in Today's NY Times: A Taste for Brews That Go to Extremes*, Eric Asimov Tasted beers include Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, Weyerbacher Double Simcoe I.P.A., Lagunitas I.P.A. Maximus, Oskar Blues Gordon, Victory Hop Wallop, Mad River Brewing Steelhead, Double Dog Double Pale Ale, Moylan’s Moylander Double I.P.A., Southern Tier Unearthly Imperial IPA, and Great Divide Hercules Double IPA. Oddly, about half of the beers are rated 2 1/2 stars and the other half 2 stars. Not much variety in evaluation of taste. *Link may require registration and/or payment.

I don't know where to post this, but my father-in-law received a beer making kit a few months ago and asked me, "how do I know if the yeast is any good" I don't know, but I think there is an easy method but I know someone here would be able to tell me. Thanks

I did this some time ago and have been meaning to post it for some time... Strike it up to the "yeah, this is going to be weird, but what-the-hell" page of my culinary adventures, but I gotta tell you, damn it works and tastes mighty fine!

I'm travelling through Vermont this fall, and would love to try some great, distinctive local beers and hard ciders while I'm there. What would you recommend? Names I've heard (from this forum and elsewhere) are Otter Creek, Magic Hat (although some people think they've jumped the shark), McNeill's and Wolaver's. Beyond the world of malt and hops, Woodchuck Cider. But what else should be on my list? And a few other questions: is most good beer in Vermont bottled? Or should I be looking for cask-conditioned beers? If so, are any bars/pubs especially worth checking out? Thanks for your help.

Each year for Halloween, I host a huge pumpkin carving contest. One of the traditions of the carving party is my finding, ordering and having shipped in multiple cases of pumpkin ale. Everyone gets a charge out of sampling each year's version and much talk goes on comparing it to prior years' pumpkin brews. The small breweries that do these seasonal ales sell out quickly so it's important that I order early. The running favorite is Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale but I would like to order a new one again this year to attempt to unseat this old fave. Any recommendations?

they are doing a tasting of 150 beers at planet hollywood this saturday.... is anyone planning to go? i thought i might wander down there....i think its going to be interesting. never have been to one here.... has anyone been to any of these before? seems like a good chance to see what else is out there besides my usual brews.