Pliny the elder
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What i find surprising is the beer I don’t make because it’s too easy to buy. Living in France, Trappiste beers like Chimay, Westmalle, Rochefort are readily available in the supermarkets. Moreover they’re considerably cheaper than the dodgy “craft beer” that pop up with regular monotony. So i can buy a 33 of Westmalle Tripel for less than 2 euros (less than 2 USD). It;s hardly worth making at that price, partcularly as I drink it infrequently.
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Well, we can add Steinbier to the list. Or maybe an Eisbock?
Belgians, stout, porter, altbier. I don’t brew a lot of IPA/NEIPA because it seems as if they are even in vending machines these days 
I think I saw an add the other day for a McHazy.
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altbier
nottingham yeast
happiness
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i think i posted recently but contemporary commercial beer selection isnt even in the garbage can, it was taken to the dump and has already been smashed and broken up. i realized this recently as i was in the position to start formulating next stuff in the pipeline and noticing i did not have any inspirations from some cool commercial beer ive had in the past… ? years.
i wanted to state this somewhere else, but all the non-homebrewers/people who jumped on “craft beer” with extremely minimal interest/depth in the past few years have allowed beer to simply become yellow piss water again with a few exceptions. canada tends to be even more follower-minded and dumb than the US population, and the micro shelves are p much 100% canadian micro fake-lagers done with ale yeasts or kviek, full of faults and a ton of IPAs of every imagineable type except creative. we no longer have ANY american alcohol products at all. but of course since AB-InBev / Miller-Coors makes their distinctly american products like bud/bud light/ etc in Canada technically - oh no problem. they basically only removed smaller breweries’ products as they are actually made in the states. lol
honestly i dont want to talk beer with anyone IRL anymore unless theyre a homebrewer cause theyre either not going to be on the same page as me regarding type and breadth of styles or theyre a collectionist style fool who spends way way too much money to get whatever is a top 20 rated “best BBRIS in the world”.
its over. but im going to keep making my own beer and drinking it. i just do fear getting too far into what im comfortable with and missing out on perspective
im double posting but re: dodgy “craft beer” its my biggest pet peeve, and tbh im sick of people from many angles defending it. not sure if youre referring to low quality/low effort but theoretically attempting for something creative craft breweries or pure cash grab low cost/low price small breweries simply using the label or other, but no one is going to get anywhere without calling out bad beer. im really sick of crap “craft” beer, and i have a mental list of thigns to look for on the packaging before i even google the name of it.
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Crapt beer?
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English beers to include Scottish and Irish styles as well. Bitters, northern and southern style brown ale, porters and the occasional Burton ale and English IPA.
The market is flooded with hazies and I enjoy a well made one once in awhile but the amount of late addition hops gives me palette fatigue and I prefer a lower ABV, sessionable beer I can have 2 or 3 of on a Saturday afternoon.
There used to be a great brewery in Fort Collins down the road from our house. The brewer was from Scotland and our neighbor was one of the co-founder’s mother. McClellan’s was the name and the beers were all cask ale on beer engines. We moved to Wyoming 7 years ago and last time i was there it is now Myth Maker brewing. Still great beer but the hand pumps are gone and the beer is no longer alive and full of that evolving charm you get from proper cask.
Since my time in the military I have been chasing making somwthing similar to Timothy Taylor’s cask Boltmaker and their famousand award winning Landlord. At first I tried clone kits from Northern Brewer, AiH and Austin Homebrew (yes, I know they are all the same company now). Those all fell short. BYOB’s recipe in their Big Book of Clones are both very similar.
I have finally hit the nail on the head. The key is open fermentation to promote esters, whole cone dry hop and using the freshest hops possible which can be tedious since English hops are tricky to come by especially the traditional varieties like Golding, EKG, Target, Fuggles etc. Open fermentation is little more that tin foil and after 5 days an airlock goes on as the activity slows.
Also, after 8 years of contract work at New Belgium I discovered fresh sometimes hours old canned Fat Tire is an absolute dream in a glass. Broke my heart when they rebranded it. I did see it coming though. Worked for them until '22 and watched the gem of Colorado Craft fall from the throne.
Now the unicorn I am chasing is Amber Ale wether in my brewery or in tap rooms across the front range. Last beer i brew constant is Kölsch. Most breweries add fruit, honey or use american ingredients. If you have been to Cologne then you know that is not true Kölsch. But I digress and need to get to work, cheers!
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“I have finally hit the nail on the head. The key is open fermentation to promote esters, whole cone dry hop and using the freshest hops possible which can be tedious since English hops are tricky to come by especially the traditional varieties like Golding, EKG, Target, Fuggles etc. Open fermentation is little more that tin foil and after 5 days an airlock goes on as the activity slows.”
This is all true, and I used to have the power of the gov’t importing pretty fresh English ales from all over England. I want to have an open fermentation setup some day for a few styles, probably will be able to set it up in about 18 months.
FYI: when I was in England a few months ago most bars had the common lagers/nation-wide ales on tap and then a lot of hazy/IPA/US hopped session ales as the other options. at one place tbh I got an augustiner hell as the best option of all available.
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I am telling you there is something about US citrus type hops combined with UK malt and yeast brewed in the hi 30s to low 40s and served cask conditioned with lower CO2 levels. It’s magical.
Now I have tried open fermentation long ago and I did not see really any difference. For me it’s using a yeast with English characteristics such as London ESB, West Yorkshire and of course Ringwood. I suppose I should try 1318 have not done so in years as I really like those others
Now brew that and serve at 2 vols and 40F and well it’s a completely different beer. One I wouldn’t really want to drink.
…“Now the unicorn I am chasing is Amber Ale”
When visiting a new brewery I often choose an Amber Ale as a test of their quality. After working on my own for years and never being quite satisfied, one day I brewed an Altbier. When I tasted it I lit up and knew that was the flavor I had been chasing in an Amber Ale all this time.
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Interesting business this amber ale. I was joining in a discussing on HBT about bitter v pale ale when one contributor pointed out that some English bitters are being marketed as amber ales, notably Shepherd Neame Spitfire and Fullers London Pride. These are not new brands, but beers that have been around for decades- legends, in fact.
The only amber beer I know of is the French ambrée, which is sweet and malty, not quite a brune.
So what is this amber of which we speak, is it “bitter”?
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The 2021 BJCP Guidelines ( https://www.bjcp.org/bjcp-style-guidelines/ ) list style 19A, American Amber Ale. The overall impression is “An amber, hoppy, moderate-strength American craft beer with a malty caramel flavor. The balance can vary quite a bit, with some versions being fairly malty and others being aggressively hoppy. Hoppy and bitter versions should not have clashing flavors with the caramel malt profile.” I prefer mine to be less hoppy.
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All is now clear. Thank you.