I referenced this in reply #6, found a reference. This may provide some insight into the fluid dynamics involved. Or just make you want a coffee.
How Layers in a Latte Form https://nyti.ms/2l5KKWo
As a full-time senior technician/part time engineering student, the implications of that article made my head hurt.
On a related note: Sam Smith’s Oatmeal Stout and Yuengling Lager did not a layered black and tan make. The stout was colder than the lager though. Will try again in reverse order tomorrow to see if anything changes.
See, I thought maybe you’d get the science with less head-hurting than I experience. I’m just not sure temperature or density is working the way we assume, and that makes it look more like … well yeah I’m confused. Cool though. Keep the updates coming!
That device is called a brolly.
So, still testing, but I’m probably going to have to eat crow on this one: appears that it IS the reduced density of the Guinness from the nitrogen bubbles that allows it to float. So far, I’ve only been able to replicate the two beer “split” with nitro beer, Guinness Draught and Murphy’s.
Really curious what a hand pump and a sparkler would do for this…
Thanks for reporting! Very interesting to have some experimental insight. Just a shame you had to sully a perfectly good Sam’s Oatmeal along the way!
Actually that proved to be one of the better combinations I’ve tried. The issue with the regular Yuengling Black and Tan for me is that it’s a mix of their Porter and “Premium Beer”, which is basically a typical American “meh” pilsner. I find their Lager to be an much better choice, even in the Sam Smith’s you could pick out it’s character. Most light lagers just tend to get lost in a stout or porter.
I have no problem at all with the Yuenglings. Just hard to imagine improving on anything Sam Smith, especially their dark beers! Hey, if my original assumption is in fact correct, that nitro makes the separation possible, then a whole new category opens up: some conventional dark beer on the bottom and a nitro pale on top…wonder what a good combination would be?
This is correct about the Yuengling Black and Tan. It is 68% Lager and 32% Porter, per the retired Tampa brewmaster.
That’s what I’m wondering. My wife enjoys the Guinness nitro IPA, and another good combination we discovered in this testing was stout and IPA. Should be a good combo, though Guinness has more a British IPA than an American Craft one. (Also not a problem.)
Two newish styles I’ve tried to ignore/considered sure signs of the craft beer apocalypse are Nitro White Ale (Sam Adams) and the various “pastry stouts.” But maybe an upside down dessert black and tan?
Who cares how it is done… It’s for show. ;D Real black and tans are mixed. I did them a long time and came to prefer Murphy’s and german lager like Beck’s. Long overdue to fool with snakebites made with stout.
I thought a snakebite was by definition with stout? Takes me back 30 years, hadn’t thought about it in a long time but I used to enjoy those!
Not heard that one but not surprised either. Before the craft movement alot folks here called any dark beer bock beer. Traditional snakebite is half cider half beer. There is also a stout cider variant that sometimes would have a shot of blackberry liquor too.
Ah. Looked in the Bartenders Bible, you’re right. Any beer + cider = snakebite. I misrecollected. Now I recollect, the drink I was thinking of (introduced to it in England) is Guinness + cider = “Poor Man’s Black Velvet.” (Proper BV uses Champagne.) Memory’s getting clearer. I think over the pond snakebite was almost always lager. Anyway PMBV was a popular “last order” at the pub.
Apparently, these type of drinks are some what regulated over there since the younger folks tend to overdo it… PMBV sounds pretty good. I think these names are pretty funny and interesting. It all started when I read of narfer narfer narf.
I have one of those (The Perfect Black + Tan, if you want to Google it) and bought two more as Christmas gifts. All work fairly well - depends on what beers you use. Takes out some of the skill and fun though. Instructions and several beer combinations, like Black & Blue (Moon) come with it. It has recipes for more than two layers too - I think of it as more of a novelty or party trick.
Well, I was younger folks 30 years ago, and the drinks were not yet regulated. Pub opening hours, OTOH, were still quite restricted. According to popular belief the PMBV was somehow capable of providing exponentially greater intoxicating effect than its mere abv would suggest, hence its popularity (amongst the younger folk) as a “last order” when the pub had to shut. It’s still a tasty drink though, and if you want the classic, 1980s every-pub version, it’s Guinness and Strongbow Dry Cider (both draught if possible.)