Commercial Beers

[tangent]

I've been reading that a lot of budding brewers out there haven't tried many decent commercial beers.
The trick is to educate your palette with some different styles.
If the bottom of your bin bag doesn't look like this, you're not trying hard enough.

 

[warrenlw63]

Also means you can make yourself a great Lagerphone. :beer:

Warren -

 

[DrewCarey82]

I've been drinking a lot of beers from Steinlagers to Jaimacan beers to Coopers ATM I have to admit that what premo beers I drink have nothing to do with what I drink.

I dont try to clone beers, I try to create beers that I enjoy.

Just me anyway.

 

[devo]

One of the main reasons I brew is so that I don't have to go out and buy over priced beer local or imported beer.

 

[tangent]

Also means you can make yourself a great Lagerphone.

That's just evil Warren

My point is, not all commercial beer is bad. Taste as much as you can, then you'll have a better idea of how to adjust your own beer.

 

[kook]

One of the main reasons I brew is so that I don't have to go out and buy over priced beer local or imported beer.

We should be supporting the microbrewing industry, not quabbling over price.

Plus you get the added bonus of further educating your palate, and just drinking good beer!

 

[Trent]

I brew my own beer, occasionally it is quite good, but I have no probs going out and buying some of the commercial stuff. I will sometimes go to a bottlo in Newcastle and buy some of the grand ridge stuff, or mountain goat, to show my mates what good beer is, and if I ever get a chance to share some Murray's or Potter's beer with em, then all the better (both excellent micro's).
Unfortunately, the whole tax excise system here is what is making for more expensive micro beer, and the more people that get behind it, the sooner it will go the way of Canada, England and the US, in the sense that really good micro beer is only a dollar or so more (per six pack) than the megaswill, and only a few dollars per carton more. I believe the Americans ran a fairly similar system to ours, until the support for craft brew reached "critical mass" and the politicians had to **** or get off the pot, for want of a better description. Supporting local micro's may be expensive at the moment, but it is something that needs to be done, if that is ever gonna change.
If ya dont wanna spend the extra bucks, see if ya can't convince yer mates to! Cause you can brew something similar - they cant
All the best
Trent

 

[Keifer]

Thats a good point Trent, how long ago were these changes in Canada, England and the US? I would love to see great beers close to that of megaswill.

Tangent - What were the plain silver and gold bottle tops off!?

 

[tangent]

i think they're murrays or steam exchange

 

[boingk]

Speaking of good beers - something caught my eye the other day down at the bottle'o.

A six-pack of Victoria Bitter...

...Original Ale! Its based on the multi-award winning recipe from 1894, and is an all malt brew thats kettle-hopped [reading all this off the bottle]. I drank it side by side with a Coopers Pale Ale, and I think that the VB-OA won out.

Either way, I was very impressed and am sure to buy another six [or case] of it if I need to buy commercial beer in the future.

Anyone tried it?

 

[tangent]

yep, it's been around for quite a while.
i wasn't too keen on it.

 

[boingk]

Oh well...different water for different fishes eh? Haha.

Just had a good idea - you know how you can get a mixed sixer of wine and get a discount? Why not have the same for beer? Go in, load up a six pack or two full of different brews, and go home and have a tast-test.

Wait...just answered my own question - not enough of an expenditure to give a discount

Oh well - doesn't mean I'm not gonna do it!

 

[spog]

dont throw the caps in the bin, glue them to the door of your brew room or glue a small magnet inside and stick them to your fridge.comes up a treat..cheers..spog..

 

[Mr Bond]

dont throw the caps in the bin, glue a small magnet inside and stick them to your fridge.comes up a treat..cheers..spog..

Bloody great idea!!! :super:

You are no forgiven for that erroneous post :lol: :beer:

 

[glennheinzel]

Nice collection, Tangent.

My excuse for buying brewing equipment is that I don't have to buy premium beers anymore. Just don't tell SWMBO about this little collection...

EDIT: I have been playing around trying to get the pix below to work. Am reasonably happy with it now.

 

[tangent]

i'm ashamed to admit, that was about 7 days worth of caps

my excuse is i had heaps of american style beers ready to drink and a heap of german style beers conditioning

i'm actually a bit over APA's

 

[Dr Gonzo]

i'm ashamed to admit, that was about 7 days worth of caps

Harden up John.

Theres only a days worth of caps there.
If you come around tonight i'll show you how it's done.

I'm currently in the process of filling my 4th shopping bag full of caps
The original idea was to get an old coffee table and cover the top with coopers pale caps, with a stripe of sparkling caps through the middle. Then cover it with a sheet of glass.
Still haven't got around to making the table yet.

 

[petesbrew]

Harden up John.

Theres only a days worth of caps there.
If you come around tonight i'll show you how it's done.

I'm currently in the process of filling my 4th shopping bag full of caps
The original idea was to get an old coffee table and cover the top with coopers pale caps, with a stripe of sparkling caps through the middle. Then cover it with a sheet of glass.
Still haven't got around to making the table yet.

Got one of the coopers newsletters a year or so ago, and some bloke had done exactly that, except he'd arranged the different coloured caps to spell the Coopers Logo. A Top effort indeed.

 

[Dr Gonzo]

Damn, im gonna have to go a step further then and cover my car in caps.

 

[user 1153]

I'm trying to get one of mates into beers with more taste.

Seriously, when I told him that with the All grain setup I could potentially brew any type of beer, his first words were "Can you brew Toohey's New for me?". sigh!!!!

He does seem to like my first All Grain attempts (both Sierra Nevada attempts) so I may eventually win him across and away from the megaswill.

Every time I pop over his I buy takeaways (the one downside of kegging everything) and it is generally Coopers or LCPA or something European.

One of my rules is that if you take beer to someones house, you never leave with it (un-australian, I tell you, to take your beer back away with you!!! well so my dad always taught me). Anyway everytime I revisit his house, there are my good beers sitting untouched in his fridge while he continues to drink his swill (double sigh!!).

It will happen one day dammit!!! He even commented on how my LCPA 6 pack only cost $2 more than his Toohey's New 6 pack. ($15 for a LCPA 6 pack in Canberra!!! I couldn't get it that cheap in Fremantle!!! Gotta love Dan Murphy's )