Tasting Beer

[Nick JD]

Lately, with all the "Megaswill = crap, and Botique Beers = great" carry-on I've been pondering something: does making your own beer give you more than the ability to make any beer...

...does it also give you the ability to taste variation in spec malts to the point where you can taste very slight differences in the spec malt profile and the mash temperature?

Does it give you the ability to taste a particular hop and a general idea of when it was added to the kettle or later?

Do homebrewers essentially become snobs to their own knowledge?

Have we lost the ability to enjoy meat and three veg because we learnt how to cook gormet food?

Or can we buy a minced steak pie when there's Beef Stroganoff on the board?

 

[DU99]

roast Beef and spuds..we all have different tastes..and for some their tastes are rarely never satisfied..its freedom of choice..craft brewing has opened the door to what we can do with the beer and sometimes what we can't do with it..remember we aren't all out of the same mould..

 

[haysie]

Do homebrewers essentially become snobs to their own knowledge?

Yeah, I think so. I have brewed many many styles over the years and only been accountable via the feedback from comps or drinkee`s.
When I brew and brew it again and again I find the variables, but as a one off brew you either nail it or you dont. Ilove playing with american brown trying to get the right fix of brown malt.. its very identifiable. I love playing with my stone n wood clones, dextrose is very identifiable. Your own knowledge should be first and foremost.

 

[Maxt]

On a hot day, with a group of mates I'll happily drink xxxx gold or Tooheys at the pub.
Back at home...no way.
It's all about context.

 

[Guysmiley54]

I don't know if snob is quite the right word...

It is definitely true that learning about anything will make it difficult to enjoy it as before. As a professional musician, I find it hard to watch bands that can't tune their instruments, keep poor time etc where others can enjoy the music blissfully unaware!! Chefs will notice underseasoned dishes, poorly balanced flavours and proteins cooked to the wrong temperature.

Ignorance really is bliss! But the question is: Would you prefer to be ignorant? Do we even have a choice?

 

[whitegoose]

On a hot day, with a group of mates I'll happily drink xxxx gold or Tooheys at the pub.
Back at home...no way.
It's all about context.

+1

In fact recently I was in Darwin, 38 degrees and humid, had a Melbourne Bitter and it was ******* AWESOME. All about context. I'd never refuse any beer offered to me - I'm definitely not a snob.

 

[Brad Churchill]

I have always thought there is no such thing as a bad beer (with the occassional exception.)
But some beers are definately better than others.
Having said that if I have the option I would always go for a beer with more flavour and character than your average megaswill beer and yeah I do like to analise the different flavours and aromas etc.

Would I call myself a beer snob.... Nah. Perhaps a bit of a 'Beer Geek' though. But to me that just refers to someone who enjoys a well made beer and understands and appreciates the effort that has gone into it.

Oh man I just called myself a geek.... :blink:

But it is for a great cause. :icon_cheers:

 

[Nick JD]

The whole meat and three veg thing was due to myself often wanting something plainer in my beers. An Aussie lager with just a hint of a noble hop in the boil late to tart it up - something like that because it makes the IPA stand out much better.

I hear all the time that people hate the megaswills. Yet I don't mind them at all (ok, VB is probably the worst of them, but) I think because they are exactly what they are supposed to be: cold, fizzy, tasteless and cheap to produce. I like sausages & mash with peas and corn - and the thought of a life without dull food is as dull as a life without dull beer.

I don't want to always drink Hefes and Belgian Ales even though they are supurb.

My point is I think an Aussie Lager has a place in every homebrewers arsenal, just like not always putting eye-fillets on the hotplate but occasionally shitty snags.

A Belgian Wit tastes all the better if you just finished a XXXX Clone.

 

[Guysmiley54]

Agreed. I think the reason I even started to try different beers is because I crave variety, and variety includes the less flavoured lagers that sell loads!

Although I did think the OP was starting a conversation about learning to taste the finer differences in beer and whether or not that makes it difficult to enjoy "megaswill" from that point onwards.

The whole meat and three veg thing was due to myself often wanting something plainer in my beers. An Aussie lager with just a hint of a noble hop in the boil late to tart it up - something like that because it makes the IPA stand out much better.

I hear all the time that people hate the megaswills. Yet I don't mind them at all (ok, VB is probably the worst of them, but) I think because they are exactly what they are supposed to be: cold, fizzy, tasteless and cheap to produce. I like sausages & mash with peas and corn - and the thought of a life without dull food is as dull as a life without dull beer.

I don't want to always drink Hefes and Belgian Ales even though they are supurb.

My point is I think an Aussie Lager has a place in every homebrewers arsenal, just like not always putting eye-fillets on the hotplate but occasionally shitty snags.

A Belgian Wit tastes all the better if you just finished a XXXX Clone.

 

[vykuza]

Though people tend to jump down folk's throat when they ask for a VB or New or XXXX recipe, I'd say that the the vast majority of home brewers here have made something along the lines of an Aussie lager (or psuedo lager equivalent). Whether it's the can of coopers lager they started off with, the all grain for $30, a CPA clone or whatever, people make and enjoy those kinds of beers.

I nearly always have a six pack or case of VB or Melbourne Bitter in the house, and I've never hesitated ordering a schooner of VB or New at the pub. And I enjoy drinking them, or I'd order something else!

But in the same vein, and though I have made XXXX clones, aussie POR lagers and the like in the past, I don't tend to make them too often, because I know I can go down the road, buy a case of VB or CPA and get exactly what I want for a price I'm prepared to pay. I'd rather spend my time making beers at home that I either can't afford to buy at the bottle shop, or are just plain unavailable. To put it succinctly; I rarely brew Australian beer styles because I live in Australia and they are accessible and relatively inexpensive.

To use your food analogy - even though I can create the ultimate seafood paella with squid ink at home, we still go and buy the odd feed of fish and chips when the urge strikes. I wouldn't bother making the fish and chips at home; dealing with the hot fat and chopping all those spuds. It might taste "better" if I did it at home, but I can get it for $8 down the road and it's never ceased to put a smile on my face, so I don't do it.

Personally, I think the "mega$will is the devil" attitude is childish and closed minded, just as bad as those who would never try a beer that isn't their usual. Anyway, how many of these people who deride these beers would stand there with a poe-faced look at a mates BBQ if offered a VB or New?

 

[Bribie G]

+1

In fact recently I was in Darwin, 38 degrees and humid, had a Melbourne Bitter and it was ******* AWESOME. All about context. I'd never refuse any beer offered to me - I'm definitely not a snob.

I lived on MB when I was in Alice Springs for a week (43 degrees) - nowadays I can't be bothered brewing real lagers as I have some pale ale recipes that hit the same spot, but if I really have to have a lager I buy Oettinger or Henninger or Konig Pils from the bottlos for thirty bucks a carton or less. I'm a fairly heavy drinker but a slab will last me a month as it's just a backstop if I'm waiting for a Yorkie Gold or Kiwi Pale to condition up.

 

[argon]

..snip

But in the same vein, and though I have made XXXX clones, aussie POR lagers and the like in the past, I don't tend to make them too often, because I know I can go down the road, buy a case of VB or CPA and get exactly what I want for a price I'm prepared to pay. I'd rather spend my time making beers at home that I either can't afford to buy at the bottle shop, or are just plain unavailable. To put it succinctly; I rarely brew Australian beer styles because I live in Australia and they are accessible and relatively inexpensive.

...snip

My sentiments exactly... the most bland i'll ever get at home is a standard APA or a light German lager. I have no interest in brewing a XXXX, VB, New knockoff. It's exactly as you've highlighted... I can just as easily go down the pub or bottlo and pickup a very well made example. Much better than i'm ever going to make, that's for sure. I don't think these megas are necessarily swill... they are what they are. Mostly it's just not beer that i choose to drink or necessarily prefer. If something more interesting is available i'll take that option almost every time.

Of course i'll have a go at craft beers i think are interesting, like LCPA or JSGA, because i enjoy the flavours, but maybe want to ramp it up or tweak to my exact specifications/preferences. Which i think is part of learning what it takes to put together a beer ie learning the intricacies of each flavour addition relative to an enjoyable, familiar example

To be honest i think i've got some element of beer snobbery in me, if that's how people choose to label it. As an example in the past, i'd have happily sat watching the cricket or rugby knocking back warm XXXX gold in a plastic cup. These days, such a thing would really put me off, i'd prefer not to drink it at all... for the simple fact i wouldn't enjoy it. But if others want to do that, then that's fine... i'm not to judge.

The worst part of being able to taste particular intricacies is that almost every beer i make... i pick holes in it. I really have to endevour to turn my brain off to just enjoy the beer just for what it is.