International Beer Appreciation topic

[Art Blade]

cheers 

hehe, beer lorries.. I don't think that we've got or ever had those. At least, if we did, they never looked as nice as yours, Binn

[PZ]

Congratz on the 24k AB!  +1 from me too 

When I was a youngster I "lived" to go to the desert on the weekends. One of my favorite places was the Anza Borrego desert in Southern California. There was a place called Dos Cabezas that was a favorite - the place was so rugged that there were more railroad tunnels through the mountains per mile than any where else. The rail line was abandoned in the 70's due to a hurricane that went through the area so you could walk the rails at your leisure. Along the sides of the road were remnants of the old Chinese camps of the people that built the road - solder top cans, utensils, etc. The Pinto Basin Indians lived there and there is still a cave used by those people 5000 years ago, and plenty of petroglyphs.

I know this is a bit off topic, but here is the tie in - I was walking the railroad line and saw a Coors beer rail car way down in the canyon - a train accident. It is so rugged there that the contents of the rail cars were not salvaged, and the cases of Coors beer are still there (at least they were in the 70s when I was there)

I do not have pics of the rail car, but here is one of the trestles along the way  (Goat Canyon, which is said to be the largest wooden trestle in the world)

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[Art Blade]

nice

Somehow the old beer cargo reminded me of vids on YT that show some crazy people who specialised in testing old food. Like, they'd open a bottle of coke from the 70s or so and, if they didn't throw up right away, they'd describe what it tastes like and then throw up. 

[PZ]

   some people will do anything

[Art Blade]

PZ, oops, I also meant to say "thank you" for the kudos.. that kind of magically disappeared or so.

[fragger]

BinnZ, I like the beer truck I'm trying to remember if I've ever seen anything like that here. I don't think I have. Beer and alcohol products in general are transported by transport companies, as far as I know, on ordinary trucks. No dedicated beer trucks, or trucks owned by the breweries themselves. As far as I know - I could be wrong about that. Once upon a time maybe, not anymore.

Btw, here's a +1 for starting the topic, forgot to do that before

PZ, I love those sort of places too Those trestle bridges never look like they could support the weight of a train, they fascinate me.

[Art Blade]

pretty cool what humans are capable of, that is indeed a masterpiece 

[BinnZ]

I think the reason for the beer trucks to appear is because in Holland most pubs are owned by breweries. Well, not the pub itself but the building. That way the brewer can make sure that their beer will be sold in the pub. So for the distribution of their beers they are pretty independent. They see it as their responsibility that the bar owner gets his beer at the right time and in the right amount.

[Art Blade]

sounds reasonable

[fragger]

That's the way it should be

[BinnZ]

My new friend:

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I found this beer in my local liquor store. The store is dedicated to special beers. Mainly Belgian and Dutch brews but he also got a range of English, German and international brews. Since my Antwerp weekend I'm quite into Belgian beers and this is another diamond. The beer caught my attention because it was located close to the Delirium Tremens and because of the funny dwarf on the etiquette. And also because of its name; hop-it. I like the heavy hoppy flavoured beers that are very popular lately under the name India Pale Ale (IPA). It's a trendy beer in this part of the world; all the hipsters drink IPA. I'm not a hipster, but I don't care behaving like one. Especially when it comes to beers.
So I brought this bugger home and gave it a try. The shop keeper said I'd made a good choice, so I was all anticipating the experience
It's a strong one. Compared to the IPA beers, that usually have an Alc. % in between 6 and 8, this one has 9,5% Alc. It doesn't taste that strong though. The hoppy taste makes you drink it like lemonade. The taste is sweet. Sweet as in soft and gentle, not actual sweet. It has a strong hoppy flavour that makes you see the world through a green pair of glasses. It has a very gentle bitterness, almost not notable.
When you poor the beer into the glass you will see the residue whirl through it. I think it's triple fermented as most stronger Belgian beers are, but am not sure. Couldn't find the info on the site.
Funny detail I díd find about this beer is that it's designed / brewed by a woman. An industrial engineer specialised in brewery, go figure. This beer has a mathematical correctness, and a female touch on top

I love it 

[Art Blade]

 

[fragger]

Sounds like a very nice drop, Binn I doubt I'll ever see it here, but you never know. I'll keep an eye out. Nice potency too, just the way I like it

This is probably unconscious sexism on my part, but I never imagined the brewing of beer as a vocation that a woman would be interested in pursuing. Which is silly of me, because I've known enough women who enjoy partaking of the ales. It only follows that some would be interested in trying their hand at brewing them.

I like hoppy beers too. It sounds funny, but I don't like beers that taste like beers. That is, I don't like the mouth-puckering "beery" taste that some beers have. I'm surprised in fact that I came to be a beer aficionado. The first beer I ever tried was an Aussie brand called KB. After growing up seeing delicious-looking beer ads on TV, I expected the taste of beer to be something akin to ambrosia. I got the shock of my life when I first tried one, because it was KB. I thought it was the most disgusting liquid I'd ever poured into my mouth, and even today with my beer-accustomed taste buds, I still think it's well up there on the vile meter. It's like every cheap, nasty beer you've ever tried all distilled down into one insipid stream of urine-like yeast juice. Blecch! But I summoned up what guts I could muster and tried again later, this time with a decent beer (XXXX I think) and it made a world of difference.

So please, you guys outside of Oz who like beer, do me a favour. If you should ever desire to try an Australian brew and you see the letters "KB" printed on anything, avoid like the plague. I'd hate for you to think that this revolting emu piss is in any way indicative of a good Aussie beer

Speaking of all things hop-related, it's Saturday, so after lunch I'll be toddling down to the bottle-o (aka the liquor store) for my customary weekend six-pack of Cooper's. Nice, warm, sunny day today too, perfect beer weather

[PZ]

The taste is sweet. Sweet as in soft and gentle, not actual sweet. It has a strong hoppy flavour that makes you see the world through a green pair of glasses. It has a very gentle bitterness, almost not notable.

I am not a fan of hops in our beers - they are so bitter to me that I cannot drink them. The flavor you describe however sound very good and I'd definitely try it!  Likely though, like fragger, I doubt that I will see it on our shelves. 

[BinnZ]

Been a while since my last post, but our recent holiday was another good reason to drink and appreciate good beer.

Our holiday went to the Czech Republic. The land where the worlds most drunken beer was birthed; Pilsner Beer. Heineken is a good example or a pilsner, and of course Pilsner Urquell. The first is, as you should know, the Dutch biggest brewery, the second is the renowned Czech export beer.

You could call pilsner beer a pretty simple beer, since it's the beer that became the standard brewing procedure in most parts of the world, but still there's pilsner and pilsner. Being in the Czech Republic for me was a good reason to taste and rediscover beer in its purest form. My search started in Praha and ended in Trutnov, a small village close to the Polish border.

If you drink Pilsner Urquell or Staropramen from draft in Praha you already think you're in heaven. It tastes perfect. Just as a beer should taste. Don't compare this though to the Pilsner Urquell that you drink from a bottle; you'll notice the damage done to a beer by locking it up in a bottle just as it happens to any beer. Pilsner from a bottle is still good tasting, but you could drink it anywhere. Most self respecting beer shops sell Pilsner Urquell since it's renowned as the roots of beer and tastes damn good
Anyway, knowing that the biggest breweries make the beer the biggest group op ppl would like, my search went on to find the local brewer that god the taste of nature in its beer. And who would know that our pre-planned trip would bring us to the region of krkonoše? One of the bigger cities in that region is Trutnov, and it just happened to be 15 km's away from our holiday address. Most pubs in this region serve their local hero, called krakonoš Pivo. Pivo is the Zcech word for beer, if you were wondering.
The brewery was founded in 1582. They make beer, just beer, that differs in only one thing, grades. The beer that is most consumed is the 12º. You also have 11º and 14º. 11º is slightly lighter in alcohol percentage, while 14º is heavier. I did a google search on this grades thing, and I found out that it indicates the amount of 'wort' that is used for the beer. Wort is the mass that is created to make the beer, which is then added to an amount of water. The higher the amount of wort, the more expensive the beer will be. It was used to define the amount of tax a customer had to pay for it. parts of the wort will result in alcohol percentage, while not necessarily. A sweeter beer is likely made with a high wort grade, while not all the sugar is transformed into alcohol.
Anyway, let's cut the *bleep* on the grades thing, 12º is the standard, it results mainly in 5.1% Alc. and tastes damn fine. Trutnovi Krakonoš is a damn fine beer. It has a rich taste, while it is still fresh and strong like a pilsner should be.

Probably not available anywhere outside the Czech Republic you'll just have to believe me on that I suppose, but as a good custom I will show you a picture of how it looks

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Na zdraví!