Official Alcohol Discussion Thread!

[DaMexiRican]

Can we get a sticky for this?

What do ya'll prefer to drink? Beer, Wine, Hard Liquor, Wine Coolers? All of them?

I only drink Beer and Hard Liquor. Mint Mojito is about the only thing close to a wine cooler I'll drink though LOL

 

[DaMexiRican]

I tried some honey brewed beer yesterday. It was ok, but not a drink for me.

 

[Illiciter]

Ichabod Crane's Pumpkin Killer!

Brewed up my first pumpkin beer on Halloween. I wanted to attach the lore of brewing on Halloween and calling it Ichabod Crane's Pumpkin Killer!


I did a partial mash with 2 cans of pumpkin puree, some vienna and munich malt.. and then during the boil in the last 10-15 minutes added 1 more can of pumpkin for flavor along with 1tsp of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and whole cloves.


The flavor from the sample I drew before adding the yeast tasted precisely like fresh pumpkin pie, and so far the fermentation has not scrubbed out any pumpkin pie smells so it should still be in the flavor.. and man it was a hearty, malty sample (albeit because it hasn't fermented) but if it resembles even a smidge of what I had going into fermentation I think I may have to enter this into a competition.


After primary I'm going to rack it over on a cut and scooped vanilla bean to give it the "whip cream" sensation. Should be ready by xmas.. I'm crazy excited to taste this post fermentation


EDIT: Oh yeah.. according to my hydrometer reading, I'm looking at 9.6% ABV all said and done if I can get the gravity down to 1.028 or so

It'll be a nice heavy, pumpkiny pie dessert beer

 

[DaMexiRican]

Sounds delicious

 

[MacDaddyOJack]

That does sound pretty good Alpha. What size were the cans of pumpkin puree and what was your hop schedule?

I bottled my barleywine last weekend, it should be coming of age in late Jan.... I'll probably end up saving half of it for next winter.

 

[Illiciter]

That does sound pretty good Alpha. What size were the cans of pumpkin puree and what was your hop schedule?

I bottled my barleywine last weekend, it should be coming of age in late Jan.... I'll probably end up saving half of it for next winter.

I used 3 cans 15.5oz of 100% real pumpkin puree. 2 cans in the mash, 1 in the boil... was a bit of a funky mash but manageable. I threw hops at 60 and 15 minutes.. Willamette hops.. I spose fuggles would be just fine too... very earthy hops


ALL HAIL BARLEYWINE!!!!... February is just around the corner splax!

 

[Illiciter]

Just ran the recipe through beer calculus at http://beercalculus.hopville.com/recipe and here's what I discovered about my recipe:

335 calories per 12oz bottle

It truly is a meal in a bottle!



checked gravity readings and it actually was down to 1.022 making it near the 10% range. Apparently my starter worked magic on the yeast's ability to eat up more of the sugars... I have a feeling I'll be doing starters from now on.

The taste? Woooooooooooooooo! Spicy! It's thick and chewy with loads of spice, lots of pumpkin pie flavor. I see now that a good couple months in the bottle will be mandatory. I'm giving it the rest of the week and then I'm going to set it on the gutted vanilla bean for 10 days and then bottle it up for x-mas gifts. The little test tube that I drank gave me a major frontal buzz on my noggin... I'm glad I decide to do things like this at 9:30 in the morning

 

[MacDaddyOJack]

335 calories per 12oz bottle

It truly is a meal in a bottle!

The little test tube that I drank gave me a major frontal buzz on my noggin... I'm glad I decide to do things like this at 9:30 in the morning

Nice! Imperial beers didn't coin the name "malt sandwich" for nothin'

And don't be sorry about sampling at 9:30AM, it was purely becuase of dedication to the brew

 

[Wreck]

Wow thats bad ass alpha.

 

[Illiciter]

yay! Pumpkin beer is a go for sampling this weekend! I can't wait! It's been carbing for two weeks in bottles in the basement... all cozy at 60 degrees... I can't wait to see how the flavors have mellowed. Should give me a good picture of what to expect in more months to come..


Also dropped a fresh madagascar vanilla bean into some sugar for the month.. I'll be making some serious foo foo drink out of it for the ladies (read, my lady). I figure a vanilla apple drink of some kind .. I'll let it ferment dry and then add sugar back into it to sweeten it up a tad. See what kind of crazy sex I get out of it.

 

[Horhay]

How often do you experiment with stuff like that?

 

[splax23]

well i have an opportunity to by some Sam Adams Utopias at a wopping 200 bones. anyone ever try it? i wanna get the bottle but i dont wanna do it alone. I want to have other people try it as well

 

[Illiciter]

How often do you experiment with stuff like that?

All the time. Anytime I have a solid recipe I push it one way or the other one ingredient at a time to see what extremes I can do... Say you have a nice ale recipe that's nice and balanced, why not over hop? Or crank up one of the malts? just to see how it effects the flavor... I'll even let some brews ferment warmer or colder than normal to get overproduction of "off" flavors to see if it causes a happy accident. Kind of depends on what flavor I'm thinking I want to create and how I can get it there.


Which, by the way, the pumpkin beer turned out fantastic! Still a bit heavy on the cloves but in a couple months it won't matter anymore. This sumbitch did a wonderful job.. There's not really vanilla present, but the rounded flavor of the beer is complex and chewy. I mean it really has a thick mouthfeel with a nice smooth carbonation. Behind the cloves the taste is just spot on pumpkin pie and I've deduced that while my hydrometer was telling me 10.6% ABV, I'm thinking this puppy is much much higher. It gives me a harder clunk to the forehead than my applewine at only half the glassful. I'm actually regretting that I bottled 1/4 of the batch in 24oz bottles. I am having a hard time accepting the fact that I won't be floored stupid like a hooker on a handle of tequila if I attempt to drink a 24oz bottle.

well i have an opportunity to by some Sam Adams Utopias at a wopping 200 bones. anyone ever try it? i wanna get the bottle but i dont wanna do it alone. I want to have other people try it as well

I've never tried it... I just can't see myself coughing up the cash for it and then being disappointed. That's expensive, expensive enough that I'd call it a gimmick... like paying $75 for Tommy Hilfiger jeans that breakdown after you wash them twice. I mean.. wtf?

EDIT: Point in case... Westvleteren 12, considered the best beer in the world, is ~$18 an 11.5oz bottle.... Whats utopias got on that?


That said... if offered to me I'd totally try it. I'd even throw $5 out there for a sip, but no more!

 

[Glen-BoB]

well i have an opportunity to by some Sam Adams Utopias at a wopping 200 bones. anyone ever try it? i wanna get the bottle but i dont wanna do it alone. I want to have other people try it as well

i would love to get in on this with you but i doubt you can ship it to canada. Look into it.

I've had the Sam Adams Triple Boch (bottled in '97 i believe) and it was the best beer i have ever had.

 

[splax23]

Glenn it come in a 750ml bottle. if i could ship it, it probably would be bad by the time you got it. i think im gonna have to pass on utopias. Im not gonna pay 200 for something im only gonna be drinking. maybe next time. I read that the stuff was actually illegal to sell in 13 states.

My buddy is coming home from chicago for the holidays tho and im gonna have him bring me some beer from Three Floyds. You guys ever hear of or try their Dark Lord Imperial Stout? One of the top beers in the world and I guess its something you can only get one day a year and only at the brewery.

 

[Illiciter]

Glenn it come in a 750ml bottle. if i could ship it, it probably would be bad by the time you got it. i think im gonna have to pass on utopias. Im not gonna pay 200 for something im only gonna be drinking. maybe next time. I read that the stuff was actually illegal to sell in 13 states.

My buddy is coming home from chicago for the holidays tho and im gonna have him bring me some beer from Three Floyds. You guys ever hear of or try their Dark Lord Imperial Stout? One of the top beers in the world and I guess its something you can only get one day a year and only at the brewery.

Never heard of Dark Lord, sounds intriguing.... You know if it's one of the top beers you'd think the brewery would be good to make enough so everyone could try some... Where's the decency in these microbreweries these days? Sheesh!

 

[splax23]

Never heard of Dark Lord, sounds intriguing.... You know if it's one of the top beers you'd think the brewery would be good to make enough so everyone could try some... Where's the decency in these microbreweries these days? Sheesh!

i here ya. i guess im just gonna have to go to dark lord day next year.

 

[Illiciter]

i here ya. i guess im just gonna have to go to dark lord day next year.

What do they sell them for? A gajillion dollars a bottle? If not quite that high I may be willing to throw some money to get a bottle. Do put a review though so I can geek over it!


Have you had Dark Force? It's a wheat stout... and very very sinful.

 

[Horhay]

I recently stumbled upon a store that sells all kinds of beer from local to European, weird names and I can never figure out what to get lol

So here's my question, if I post a pic would you guys be able to somewhat guide into trying something you have? obviously if you've had it before lol

 

[Illiciter]

I recently stumbled upon a store that sells all kinds of beer from local to European, weird names and I can never figure out what to get lol

So here's my question, if I post a pic would you guys be able to somewhat guide into trying something you have? obviously if you've had it before lol

Yeah, easy! You can also use websites like beeradvocate.com - it's dedicated to rating beers and includes TONS of user reviews - my only problem is some of the reviews are from complete beer snobs... I've found that some beers rated a C are actually some of my personal favorites, but generally their ratings are pretty spot on.

 

[Horhay]

Cool stuff, I'll probably stop by this weekend lol

I saw some Belgium, German, and something from Holland but I am so lost lol yet intrigued lol