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BAMM HAVOC
Carbon 7
813
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Posted - 2015.04.11 17:12:00 -
[1] - Quote
My attempt to educate you lot in the ways of beer and bacon.
What is a Bitter ?
Let's start with bitter. What's with the name? There are certainly more bitter beers out there than these, so what gives?
There's a satisfyingly simple explanation. Amidst the rising popularity of pale ales in 19th century Britain, thirsty bargoers latched on to the term "bitter" to refer to these hoppy and sharp beers in contrast with the less hoppy milds that were prevalent at the time. The nickname stuck.
For better or worse, we've come a long way from these vague, casual distinctions of style. We now have three separate recognized styles within the world of bitters: standard or ordinary bitter, best, special, or premium bitter, and extra special or strong bitter, better known as ESB. The primary difference between these is strength. All tend to be golden to copper in colour with a shared toasty or caramelly malt character that is balanced by a fairly assertive presence of earthy English hops. The yeast used for fermentation leaves behind some fruity aromas and perhaps a touch of the butterscotch-like flavour compound called diacetyl (the same stuff used to flavour microwave popcorn!).
Standard/ordinary bitters are the weakest of the bunchGÇömost weigh in around 3 to 4% ABV. Best/special/premium bitter is a bit stronger, tipping the scales in the low to high 4%s. ESBs go up from there, occasionally pushing 6% ABV, but living more commonly in the 5%s.
India Pale Ale
IPA is a related style with a murky pastGÇöthere's no beer with a history more convoluted by shaky legends. You're likely to encounter this one: "IPA was invented for British troops stationed in India. Brewers kicked up the amount of hops and alcohol in their pale ale recipes to help preserve the beer on its voyage to the East."
This drives beer historians crazy.
The development of beer styles is rarely as simple as x being invented for y purpose, and indeed, IPA's inception has a much more complicated history than we'd like to believe. It's clear, though, that the style was not invented with the specific intention of creating a beer that could make it to India. Many types of beer were shipped to India in the 1700sGÇönot just pale ales, but also porters and others. IPA likely sprung out of a tradition of "October beers"GÇöunusually hardy beers that arrived in India in especially fine shape.
Regardless of how it came to be, IPA gained traction in both India and, eventually, back home in England.
Through centuries of waxing and waning popularity, IPA continues to evolve. American craft brewers have run away with the style, developing countless variations on the theme of aggressively hopped ales that all bear the name of IPA. These beers are influencing the worldwide landscape of hoppy beerGÇöincluding the scene in England. Wherever they are produced, these genre-bending beers often bear a preceding "American" modifier and show little resemblance to the balanced, straight-forward English-style IPAs, which may or may not be labelled with such geographical specificity.
As it stands, most modern English IPAs are deep golden to medium amber in colour with a lively aroma of earthy, grassy, and floral English hops. A firm base of toasty or caramelly malt flavour and fruity yeast are noticeable as well.
This stuff bears very little resemblance to the hop-dominated, explosively citrusy American IPAs that are popular right now. Though these are aggressively hoppy beers, the English hops typically used are less overtly fruity and bright. And malt flavour plays a much bigger role in these beers, as well.
Mild/Brown Ale
Though American drinkers are intimately familiar with IPA and the many styles that have shot off of that British beer style, most folks are less familiar with the humble beer known as mild.
The term "mild" hasn't always referred to a specific beer style. It was originally used as an indicator of freshness. In a time in which much beer was aged prior to sale, mild was sold as a strong, cheap, fresh pub drink to be drunk in quantity.
These days, milds tend to live in the 3.0-4.5% ABV range, but in the late 1800s, the drink was much stronger, frequently exceeding 6% ABV. It wasn't until the 1900s, when wartime restrictions necessitated weaker beers, that the mild took its current form as a low-alcohol beer.
So what is a mild, nowadays? Though pale versions do exist, most milds are brown in color and served on draft. They're malty beers with little hoppiness and a fruity yeast flavor that can veer towards buttery in some examples. Expect toasty, caramelly, nutty, licorice-like, raisiny or chocolaty malt flavours alongside a bit of fruitiness. There's a lot of flavour packed into this little beer.
English brown ales are fairly similar in flavour and composition to darker versions of mild. There's a fairly wide range of beers that are lumped into the world of brown ales, so some folks prefer to break the style down into two categories: Southern and Northern English brown ales.
Northern English brown ales tend to serve as the inspiration to many of the brown ales that are found in stores in the US. Northern English brown ales tend to be a bit drier and stronger than dark mildsGÇöthey've got that same caramel, nut and dried fruit malt flavour, but often with less sweetness and a bit more alcohol (think 4.0 to 5.5% ABV). If you've had Newcastle, you've had a Northern English brown ale. Unlike milds, brown ales are mostly bottledGÇödraft versions are less common. It's perhaps due to the shippability afforded by this packaging that brown ale has taken off in the US amongst craft brewers while mild remains a product of relative obscurity.
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BAMM HAVOC
Carbon 7
813
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Posted - 2015.04.11 17:15:00 -
[2] - Quote
Porter/Stout
Before mild ruled the British beer monarchy, there was King Porter. Originating at some point in the 1700s, porter's earliest history is a bit murky. You may have heard that this beer style was developed by a brewer named Ralph Harwood to replace the common practice of blending several beers of varying ages and conditions at the pub to create a unified and palatable drink. But most historians don't buy into that tale. While pub-level blending was common, it seems more likely that porter developed organically as a variation on an existing beer style predecessor known simply as "brown beer."
As porter rose in popularity in the late 1700s and early 1800s, new branches of the porter family tree sprouted forth. There was robust porter, Baltic porter, and stout porter.
Stout...porter? It's easy to get confused about the difference between stout and porter, but we can help.
Stouts were born as a stronger variant of porter. Before "stout" was a beer style, it was just another adjective meaning thick or strong. The term was applied to all kinds of beerGÇösort of like how beer geeks use the terms "imperial" or "double" today. Eventually, stout porters became popular enough that the "porter" part could be dropped, and porter and stout began to develop their own individual identities.
So stout and porter were the same and then they weren't. Where are we now?
Well, in some ways, we're back where we started. Truth is, there aren't that many differences between stouts and porters these days. They contain most of the same ingredients (like the dark, roasted grains that give these beers their signature black colour) producing many of the same nutty, chocolaty, and coffee-like flavours. Stouts tend to be a bit stronger and have a bit more roasty bitterness than porters, but there are so many examples that don't conform to these generalizations that they aren't super useful.
Thankfully, within the categories of porter and stout there are a number of modern sub-styles that give us some guidance about what to expect before we crack open a bottle.
British Porters are usually broken down into 3 styles: brown, robust, and Baltic. In their modern forms, brown porters taste a bit like stronger dark milds or brown alesGÇömalty beers with chocolate, caramel, and nut flavours alongside a varying amount of roasty bitterness. They tend to float around the 4-6% ABV range.
Robust porters are a bit more...robust. Historically, they were sweeter than brown porter, but this isn't always the case these days. Robust porters tend to exhibit a more assertive roasty bitterness than their brown brothers, along with a little extra alcoholic kick (think 4.5 to 7%ish ABV).
Baltic porters are the strongest members of the extended British porter family. As the name implies, these beers were developed in the Baltic, where brewers began producing their own variations on strong imported British porters using lager yeast. They can stretch up to 10% ABV, but expect a fairly smooth beerGÇöless bitter and more focused on dense caramel and dark fruit flavor.
The stout category has a whole bunch of sub-styles too. The softest of these is Irish dry stout, which as you may guess from its name, was not born in Britain, but we'll include it here anyway. Dry stout is indeed a dry beer style, made famous by the iconic Guinness Draught. It's light in alcohol (Guinness barely exceeds 4% ABV, but other examples range from about 3.5-5%), bitter from a dose of roasted barley, and commonly served as a nitrogenated draft beer, which gives the pour a dense, creamy foam.
Oatmeal stout is brewed with oats to provide a smooth texture alongside a nutty, chocolatey richness. These display varying levels of sweetness, but tend to be richer than dry stout. Their flavor is often likened to that of a coffee with cream.
If oatmeal stout is made with oats, you might get nervous when I mention milk stout. But don't worry: brewers aren't dumping the dregs from their morning cereal into the tank. Milk stouts are made with powdered lactose sugar. This stuff cannot be fermented by regular ale yeast, so it leaves behind sweetness and body that soften the roasty bitter edge common in other stouts.
The biggest and baddest stouts are the imperial stouts, also known as Russian imperial stouts. Here, the story is true: these started out as a specialty product brewed in England for Russian empress Catherine the Great, and they're boozy, aggressive beasts. Americans have run away with their own interpretations of the style, but English examples tend to have a whole lot of fruity flavours accompanied by big doses of malt or hop-derived bitterness in a dense, dark liquid.
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Golden Day
Corrosive Synergy Rise Of Legion.
1291
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Posted - 2015.04.11 17:16:00 -
[3] - Quote
What is the point of this.....
I know you wan't it ( -í° -£-û -í°)
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BAMM HAVOC
Carbon 7
813
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Posted - 2015.04.11 17:17:00 -
[4] - Quote
Old Ale/English Barleywine
If you dig the intensity of imperial stout, old ales and barleywines (sometimes spelled "barley wines") are a great place to look next.
There's quite a lot of overlap between these two styles as they exist today. Both are strong beers that are frequently aged prior to release. Old ales tend to be sweet, strong beers with nutty and toffee-like malt flavor complemented by sherry and leathery notes that result from aging. Some examples will show the tart or funky influences of wild yeast and bacteria that often live in the wooden casks where these beers are sometimes cellared.
Barleywines offer similarly dense maltiness, which means flavors reminiscent of brown sugar and leather are balanced by an assertive presence of alcohol. While American takes on the style are usually highly hopped and aggressively bitter, English versions are more often malt-focused sippers built for fireside contemplation.
Irish Red Ale
Red beer has a long history in Ireland; literary mentions go back at least as far as the ninth century. But as a style, the stuff we call Irish red ale is a more recent development. Many credit Coors with the popularization of the beer as we know it todayGÇöafter purchasing an established brewery, they renamed and rereleased an existing beer as George Killian's Irish Red Ale. The beer found wild success in the 1990s and spawned a slew of imitators.
Killian's Irish Red is now actually made with a lager yeast strain, so it isn't an ale at all, but most Irish red ales are indeed made with ale yeast. They tend to be caramelly, malt-driven beers with little hop character, a touch of bitterness on the finish from roasted barley, and a deep reddish hue imparted by the malt used for its production. Expect toasty and caramelly flavors along with a light, coffee-like bitter finish.
Strong Scotch Ale
Though Scotland hangs its boozy hat mostly on whisky, Scottish beer shouldn't be forgotten.
By far, the most common Scottish-style beer you'll encounter in the US is the strong Scotch ale, also known as "wee heavy." These are rich, strong (6-10% ABV) amber or reddish-brown beers that boast some serious malt character. Expect a flavor that's somewhat similar to barleywineGÇödense and caramelized with some fruitiness and sweetness. Some breweries (especially in the US) have taken to including a portion of peat-smoked malt in their Scotch ale recipes, probably to recall the smokiness of some Scotch whiskies.
Less-strong Scottish beers do exist, but they are pretty uncommon in the US. If you see a reference to shillings on a label, you've probably got one. These will tend to have similar malty flavors but are lighter in both body and alcohol.
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Cody Sietz
Random Gunz Rise Of Legion.
4469
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Posted - 2015.04.11 17:19:00 -
[5] - Quote
Got super smashed on IPA and Boston lager last night. Pretty hung over and I've been busting my ass trying to get my ****** truck going.
At least it's 70 outside.
"I do agree with you there though. shudders"
-Arkena Wyrnspire
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TheD1CK
Dead Man's Game RUST415
1922
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Posted - 2015.04.11 17:30:00 -
[6] - Quote
clearly BAMM has some Irish ancestry.. after reading this.. I need a drink
I'm that drunk homeless guy who won't leave..
...Change??
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Operative 1174 Uuali
Y.A.M.A.H
589
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Posted - 2015.04.11 17:40:00 -
[7] - Quote
Trapps triples and quads son. Nuff said.
Death is a serious businessGǪ So is running a shoddy, half-baked game company.
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Operative 1174 Uuali
Y.A.M.A.H
589
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Posted - 2015.04.11 17:41:00 -
[8] - Quote
TheD1CK wrote:clearly BAMM has some Irish ancestry.. after reading this.. I need a drink
My wife is Scotish, Irish and Native American ancestry. With liquor she's screwed three ways to Sunday.
Death is a serious businessGǪ So is running a shoddy, half-baked game company.
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BAMM HAVOC
Carbon 7
821
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Posted - 2015.04.11 17:59:00 -
[9] - Quote
TheD1CK wrote:clearly BAMM has some Irish ancestry.. after reading this.. I need a drink
Irish beer is good, you do not need to be from the Ireland to know what good beer is. This is the start of the Beer and Bacon thread so some very basic terms and references for you guys. Beer is an ancient brew, it needs study. If you only read 1 paragraph consider your self educated. American, Australian European, Russian and Japanese beers will follow soon.
Bacon coming soon tm
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VAHZZ
1308
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Posted - 2015.04.11 18:07:00 -
[10] - Quote
You need to start a brewery corp. That is not a suggestion.
If you expect the worst, you'll never be disappointed.
Closed Beta Vet
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TheD1CK
Dead Man's Game RUST415
1927
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Posted - 2015.04.11 18:12:00 -
[11] - Quote
BAMM HAVOC wrote:TheD1CK wrote:clearly BAMM has some Irish ancestry.. after reading this.. I need a drink Irish beer is good, you do not need to be from the Ireland to know what good beer is. This is the start of the Beer and Bacon thread so some very basic terms and references for you guys. Beer is an ancient brew, it needs study. If you only read 1 paragraph consider your self educated. American, Australian European, Russian and Japanese beers will follow soon. Bacon coming soon tm
Awesome.. I look forward to it
saying that, I treat beer like a glass of water with a meal.. I use it to wash down some good ole' scotch whiskey
And my guilty pleasure .. Bucky n' Beer... (my liver will never forgive me)
How could something brewed by Benedictine Monks be a bad thing
I'm that drunk homeless guy who won't leave..
...Change??
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BAMM HAVOC
Carbon 7
825
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Posted - 2015.04.11 18:22:00 -
[12] - Quote
TheD1CK wrote:BAMM HAVOC wrote:[quote=TheD1CK] Awesome.. I look forward to it saying that, I treat beer like a glass of water with a meal.. I use it to wash down some good ole' scotch whiskey And my guilty pleasure .. Bucky n' Beer... (my liver will never forgive me) How could something brewed by Benedictine Monks be a bad thing
I know beer was brewed in ancient Egypt over 4000 years ago, if you believe wiki it is over 9000 [insert joke here]
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Happy Violentime
OMFGZOMBIESRUN
1026
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Posted - 2015.04.11 18:56:00 -
[13] - Quote
So what? |
Project Carnifax
39
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Posted - 2015.04.11 18:58:00 -
[14] - Quote
Golden Day wrote:What is the point of this.....
Teaching us dustbunnies how to get drunk... classily...
icrievrytiem
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Dreis ShadowWeaver
0uter.Heaven Back and Forth
2673
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Posted - 2015.04.11 19:01:00 -
[15] - Quote
Nice copy-paste, OP
Creator of the 'Nova Knifers United' channel
Caldari blood, Minmatar heart <3
I'm a monster
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Edgar Reinhart
Resheph Interstellar Strategy Gallente Federation
88
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Posted - 2015.04.11 21:46:00 -
[16] - Quote
TheD1CK wrote:And my guilty pleasure .. Bucky n' Beer... (my liver will never forgive me) How could something brewed by Benedictine Monks be a bad thing
Girls who like Buckfast.......
Actually would love a 'Buckfast' Scotsmans ck.0 |
VAHZZ
1315
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Posted - 2015.04.11 22:37:00 -
[17] - Quote
TheD1CK wrote:And my guilty pleasure .. Bucky n' Beer... (my liver will never forgive me) How could something brewed by Benedictine Monks be a bad thing
Because, they are not Tibetan Monks, who obviously have the best brew. Learn your stuff bruh.
If you expect the worst, you'll never be disappointed.
Closed Beta Vet
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jordy mack
WarRavens
404
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Posted - 2015.04.12 00:38:00 -
[18] - Quote
beer is a watery weak form of alchohol and bacon is overrated.
*ducks thrown bottles and leaves*
Less QQ more PewPew
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BAMM HAVOC
Carbon 7
827
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Posted - 2015.04.12 10:13:00 -
[19] - Quote
Dreis ShadowWeaver wrote:
Well spotted
This is the best explanation about beer I came across and a few myths where busted after reading this, so if I got schooled I think you will all be as well.
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