Just a heads up...

[MichiganHerd]

https://www.bellsbeer.com/news/bell-s-beer-will-head-west-virginia-july

You boys that enjoy good beer are going to want to check out these beers, once they're in bars.

You won't have the choices of all their beers we have up here, but more than likely you'll have the Oberon Ale, the Two Hearted Ale, the Amber Ale, and perhaps one of their stouts or porters to choose from.

Oberon is a great summer beer, while the Two Hearted Ale is one of the top IPA's out there.

All strong AC beers though, with the THA being about 7.2% or close to that.

 

[still5-0vstarheels]

https://www.bellsbeer.com/news/bell-s-beer-will-head-west-virginia-july

You boys that enjoy good beer are going to want to check out these beers, once they're in bars.

You won't have the choices of all their beers we have up here, but more than likely you'll have the Oberon Ale, the Two Hearted Ale, the Amber Ale, and perhaps one of their stouts or porters to choose from.

Oberon is a great summer beer, while the Two Hearted Ale is one of the top IPA's out there.

All strong AC beers though, with the THA being about 7.2% or close to that.

Never really cared for the Oberon but the Amber is in the top 3 Ambers being made. Their porters and stouts are spot on too. I am headed to burning can (at the Oskar Blues Farm) this weekend and will serve my Dark CZ lager to the professional brewers. White Labs provide our homebrew club with yeast that is not available on the market but they wanted feedback on. Just a tad more chocolate flavor then what I was shooting for but still a damn good beer.

 

[MichiganHerd]

Never really cared for the Oberon but the Amber is in the top 3 Ambers being made. Their porters and stouts are spot on too. I am headed to burning can (at the Oskar Blues Farm) this weekend and will serve my Dark CZ lager to the professional brewers. White Labs provide our homebrew club with yeast that is not available on the market but they wanted feedback on. Just a tad more chocolate flavor then what I was shooting for but still a damn good beer.

I used to be fond of the Oberon about 7 or 8 years back, but they've changed it up a little. Plus, it's only about 5.6% now. The good thing about Oberon though, is that chicks like the beer, so it makes it nice to go to a place like Bell's, where they have beers that cater to both genders. Most up here now have a cider or two on tap, which attracts the females. I can remember when I first got here in '99, there was only Arcadia in Battle Creek, Bell's in K-Zoo, and a couple other ones. When you would go to those places, it was nothing but hard dicks for the most part.

 

[MikeRafone]

It's tough for micro and craft breweries to keep their products consistent. The big guys can afford large lab staffs to keep pure yeast cultures and identify problems in such. They also have a stranglehold on top quality hops and malts. It's why so many of craft brewers end up going the contract brewing route once they reach a certain level of demand.

Still5, has White Labs improved their products over the years? I used to be a partner in brew shop years ago. White Lab's had interesting products, but they were a real crapshoot when it came to quality control. We dropped them and continued with Wyeast as our exclusive liquid yeast cultures. Sheesh, I can remember the days of culturing yeast from bottles of imported ales.

I'm still a certified beer judge, screw those pro's, send all your beer to me.

 

[MichiganHerd]

I'm still a certified beer judge, screw those pro's, send all your beer to me.

I'm not a certified beer judge, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night, so you boys can send some beers to me, and I promise to provide a genuine opinion.

 

[MikeRafone]

Being a beer judge isn't as great as it sounds. You drink lots of free beer, but you drink a lot of bad beer in the process. It's all part of the wonderful world of homebrew competitions.

Have you ever had a beer that smells and tastes like a combination of cat piss, cardboard, and vinegar? You will if you judge a beer contest.

 

[countryroads89]

Have you ever had a beer that smells and tastes like a combination of cat piss, cardboard, and vinegar? You will if you judge a beer contest.

 

[Y.A.G Si Ye Nots]

our homebrew club .

Your homebrew club? You must be the center of attention at the shuffleboard tournaments.

Do you guys have leather vests with logos on them? Turf wars? Bukkaki parties?

Some friends used to make their own 'shine in 9th grade. They made so many jugs that they had to start burying it in creek banks. Whenever anyone wanted a drink, they just dug up the creek bank and had at it. But, again, that was in 9th fvcking grade.

Believe it or not, it's perfectly legal for you to drive your fat ass to a store and pick any of the thousands of beers you want to buy. Most areas have, within close driving distance, at least one place you can buy exotic, locally brewed, and specially imported beer.

 

[MikeRafone]

LOL! I've seen it happen. The killer is you have to swallow it. No spitting allowed in beer judging. The wino's get off easy.

The notes the judges pass among themselves can be brutal. "What the Hell is this sh!t?" "It's supposed to be a pale ale" "Gawd, it taste like Band-Aids and a dead horse!"

 

[countryroads89]

Some friends used to make their own 'shine in 9th grade. They made so many jugs that they had to start burying it in creek banks. Whenever anyone wanted a drink, they just dug up the creek bank and had at it.

And he makes fun of West Virginians.

 

[MikeRafone]

Knox is back.

 

[MichiganHerd]

Being a beer judge isn't as great as it sounds. You drink lots of free beer, but you drink a lot of bad beer in the process. It's all part of the wonderful world of homebrew competitions.

Have you ever had a beer that smells and tastes like a combination of cat piss, cardboard, and vinegar? You will if you judge a beer contest.

Yeah, I've seen the judges in person sampling contestant's beers. Worst beer I've tasted recently was one of my own batches. I enjoy the process of making 5-6 gallons at home, although it's a lot of work, particularly on the front end of getting everything sterilized and doing the damn cooking for an hour or so. My worst batch out the half dozen or so I've made was the one I felt most confident in. That batch ended up tasting more like skunk piss when I sampled it.

 

[MikeRafone]

Yeah, I've seen the judges in person sampling contestant's beers. Worst beer I've tasted recently was one of my own batches. I enjoy the process of making 5-6 gallons at home, although it's a lot of work, particularly on the front end of getting everything sterilized and doing the damn cooking for an hour or so. My worst batch out the half dozen or so I've made was the one I felt most confident in. That batch ended up tasting more like skunk piss when I sampled it.

It sounds like it was light struck at some point in the process. Any CFL's or other fluorescent lighting around the fermenter or the bottles for an extended period of time? Clear bottles are the kiss of death for beer around any sort of light, too. Highly hopped beers like IPA's and Barleywines can occasionally come out that way, but if it's not light struck, the taste will mellow with aging. Finally there are some varieties of hops that tend to have a skunky smell/taste. It makes for an interesting undertone, but if you go heavy on them, you're going to get that taste in a big way.

It kills me when I walk into a store where they sell quality beers and every shelf is lit up with fluorescents. They might as well store the beer on the roof.

Homebrewing is like anything else, the more you do it the better you get. I've been at it since the 70's and still turn out the occasional batch of crap. It's just part of the game.

 

[still5-0vstarheels]

The only issue I have ever had with White labs was a batch of their Belgian Abbey yeast. It was not viable and I got no activity from it. I have used that yeast numerous times without a problem. I am a national level beer judge and have a master level score on tasting. I need to get a 90 on the essay portion to move up. Overall I like White labs better with one exception. The Wyeast Roeselare makes a mean sour. I have a solaria going of Flanders Red that I harvest from twice year. I won a keg contest twice with it including this past spring. I entered two version last year in sanction contests and got a first and third with it. The third was blended for me which made it a bit on the sour side for the style.

I won the oldest homebrew festival last year (Potomac Highlands Homebrew Convention with a Classic American Pilsner. That is my summer beer. I just kicked a keg of this years CAP. Now I am drinking a smooth amber CZ lager made with 50% Vienna malt. Turned out nice and right at 6%. I have been coming up to the Ohio Beer Week in Athens to judge but could not make it this year due to Burning Can. Two years ago I got to judge two world class beers in that contest. Really makes the spitters worth it when get one of those great beers. I had some great beers in the Southeast regional this year.

 

[MichiganHerd]

It sounds like it was light struck at some point in the process. Any CFL's or other fluorescent lighting around the fermenter or the bottles for an extended period of time? Clear bottles are the kiss of death for beer around any sort of light, too. Highly hopped beers like IPA's and Barleywines can occasionally come out that way, but if it's not light struck, the taste will mellow with aging. Finally there are some varieties of hops that tend to have a skunky smell/taste. It makes for an interesting undertone, but if you go heavy on them, you're going to get that taste in a big way.

It kills me when I walk into a store where they sell quality beers and every shelf is lit up with fluorescents. They might as well store the beer on the roof.

Homebrewing is like anything else, the more you do it the better you get. I've been at it since the 70's and still turn out the occasional batch of crap. It's just part of the game.

No light got to mine. After cooking and allowing it to cool, I add my water and yeast, do my measurements, and then place it in a dark room between 66-69 degrees, and let it get happy for a couple weeks. I then transfer it and do a secondary ferminting, and I think this is where I messed that batch up. I always use dark bottles. Bottling is a bitch though, but I usually let them sit back down in the dark room for about three weeks before I place a few in the fridge and try them out.