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Bavarian Air Force

~ Bier und Gemütlichkeit from the Midwest to the Vaterland

Bavarian Air Force

Monthly Archives: January 2013

So what IS the difference between porter and stout?

31 Thursday Jan 2013

Posted by Maximilian I in Facts, History

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Beer, education, history, Homebrew

Zythophile is quite simply one of the best, most interesting “beer blogs” out there and the lads tackle the “stout vs. porter” question with vigor. As a Bohemian-leaning brewer, rather than a patron of the Isles, I’ve always fallen into the homebrew camp of “stouts use roasted barley whereas porters do not,” but the evidence here presented debunks that understanding. A worthy read, including the comments.
– Max

Zythophile

One of the top 10 questions people who end up at this site put into search engines such as Google is a query about how to distinguish between porter and stout, something I’ve not actually tackled head-on yet. So – what difference is there between the two beers?

Er …

None.

Not now, anyway, not in any meaningful way. I’m not sure that there was ever a point, even when porter was at its most debased, when you could point to any truly distinctive difference between porter and stout except to say that “stout” meant a stronger version of porter. Indeed, for much of the past 300 years, to ask “what’s the difference between porter and stout?” would have been like asking “what’s the difference between dogs and Rottweilers?”

Since the revival of porter brewing, or to be more accurate, “the revival of beers being called porter”, even the “different…

View original post 1,645 more words

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Three Cheers!

30 Wednesday Jan 2013

Posted by Maximilian I in Noted

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Beer, education, lists, travel

HOORAY!

Someone with enough sense to come in out of the rain observed the same problem we mentioned last week in criticizing “lazy journalists.” Even better, they actually put together a REAL list of the top brewing regions/cities in the U.S.

Unlike the dingbats we referenced then, this is probably one of the best collections we’ve seen. It’s real, even-handed, and written by someone who gives a hoot. He’s actually the same writer who helped criticize the list above, while claiming he didn’t have time for a list. Nonetheless, he did one. And he gets it right.

See: AMERICA’S TEN BEST BEER CITIES

See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?

Alfa Lager

29 Tuesday Jan 2013

Posted by Maximilian I in Reviews

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Tags

Beer, beer review

Athenian Brewery
Athens
Greece
http://www.athenianbrewery.gr

Style: Lager
ABV: 5%
Comments:
The last time I was in Greece, I was barely sober enough to make it back to my
ferry for the return sojourn to Italy, so I honestly don’t recall much in the
way of the local beer among the buckets of Amstel and quarts of ungodly crappy
Ouzo. Now, with my brow firmly high on my countenance, I was delighted to see
if there was anything worth considering in trying a macro Greek lager.

Athenian Brewery was established in 1963 and is a part of the Heineken Group,
so I wasn’t expecting much from my green bottle.

It’s a pale lager, pouring a light straw in color with virtually no head to
speak of. The nose is Earthy and the first sip is balanced by a moderate CO2
bite, but this was obviously light struck, so I’m sure it wasn’t exactly
brewery fresh. It’s likely and adjunct beer as well, although I’m just
guessing.

While there’s plenty of reason to go to Greece again – and I can think of
several, including one Die Königen need not know about (as this was long
before I was smitten with my bride) – but this ain’t one of ‘em. I’d stick to
the Amstel, were this my only other option.

Review of Founders Brewing Co.’s Furniture City Stock Ale

28 Monday Jan 2013

Posted by mibeerblog in News, Reviews

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Tags

beer review, Michigan

The second largest city in Michigan harbors a deep and lengthy history of making furniture; as home to five of the biggest furniture companies in the world, it boasts the nickname Furniture City. More recently, Grand Rapids has been dubbed Beer City USA, a name well earned for its strength in brewing, from nationally known brand such as Founders Brewing Company to recently ressurected names flush with history, like the Grand Rapids Brewing Company.
In a celebration of both its storied roots as well as its bright future, the Founders Brewing Company has elected to brew a special brown ale called Furniture City Stock Ale. Found typically in stores only around the Grand Rapids area as well as the Founders taproom, this beer runs cheaper than most bombers of Founders beer. Additionally, the profits from the sales of this beer go to the Grand Rapids Public Museum. I drink, and a museum gets money: everybody wins!
For those of you who want me to shut up and describe the beer, fine. It’s a fairly standard brown ale, a solid product that is neither experimental nor boring. This color is what you’d expect; it’s a deep, almost ruby tinted tan that only mildly inhibits light going through it. The aroma might not be what you’d expect, however; this is no sweet brown. The six roasted malts give the beer a dry smell, like rich sawdust.
Mouthfeel for the Furniture City Stock Ale is surprisingly smooth without being watery. I often complain about brown ales being thinner than expected, but the Stock Ale holds up well without being thick like a sweet stout. It helps that the beer follows through on its aroma by being surprisingly dry. The combination of malts gives the beer a robust taste that is neither too aggressive nor boring. Would you roll your eyes if I compared it to the conservative yet well made furniture that comes out of this city? It’s an apt analogy.
Founders really did capture the essence of Furniture city in a bottle. No, it doesn’t taste like caustic chemicals or the outside of Steelcase. But the beer has a comfortable, well worn feel to it. Founders Furniture City Stock Ale pleases without astonishing, and soothes without boring the imbiber. If you can find it, it’s well worth the reasonable entry cost.

Sunday Funnies

27 Sunday Jan 2013

Posted by Maximilian I in Witzig

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Tags

humor, jokes

A drunk is driving through the city and his car is weaving all over the road. Eventually a cop pulls him over.
“Did you know,” says the cop, “that a few intersections back, your wife fell out of your car?”
“Oh, thank heavens,” sighs the drunk. “For a minute there, I thought I’d gone deaf.”

(Please do NOT drink and drive…that part isn’t funny. Just the noisy spouse…that part’s funny.)

***

A grasshopper walks into a bar, pulls up a stool, and orders a beer. The bartender pours him a tall, frothy mug and says “You know… we have a drink named after you.” To which the grasshopper replies, “You have a drink named Bob?”

(That’s what he gets for going to T.G.I.Friday’s…)

***

A gorilla walks into a bar, pulls up a stool, and orders a beer. The bartender pours him a tall, frothy mug and says “That’ll be eight bucks.”
As the gorilla is paying for his beer, the bartender adds, “You know… we don’t get many gorillas in here.”
To which the gorilla replies, “At eight bucks a beer, it’s no wonder…”

(Silly monkey!)

***

This guy walks into a bar and tells the bartender to line up 10 glasses and start filling them up with beer. So the bartender starts filling the glasses up with beer, and the man is right behind him drinking them straight down.
The bartender says, “Hey, buddy whats your hurry?”
The man says, “If you had what I have, you would do the same thing.”
The bartender backs up and says, “What do you have?”
The man says, “About 75 cents!”

(I think I remember this guy from my bartending days.)

***

Four guys are sitting in a bar. One leaves to go to the bathroom. There are three guys left.
The guys start talking about their sons.
First guy says “I thought my son was going to be a dissapointment. He started out sweeping floors for Supercuts, But then he graduated from Stanford and became the owner of a car dealership and gives his best friend a free car for his birthday.”
Second guy says, “Yeah, I thought my son would be a dissapointment, too. It was almost the same exact thing that happened to my son to yours except he swept floors for a stock-broking company. Soon, however, he became the owner of that company and got his friend $100,000 in stock money for his birthday.”
Third guy says, “Wow, that was the same thing that happened to my son except he swept floors for a real estate agent. But soon he became the owner of this place and gave his best friend a house for his birthday.”
The fourth guy comes back from the bathroom.
The guys explain the the other guy what they were talking about and askes him if he could tell about his son. He agrees. “Well, my son is a real disappointment to me. He works as a hair dresser and has for fifeteen years. He is also gay and has several boyfriends. Well, I look on the bright side, from his boyfriends he got a new house, a new car and $100,000 in stock money.”

(Not that there’s anything wrong with that.)

***

Three guys are riding in their truck, drinking beer, having a good ol’ time. The driver looks in the mirror and sees the flashing lights of a police car so he pulls over. The other two are real nervous.
“What do we do with our beers? We’re in trouble!”
“No,” the driver says, “just do this: pull the label off of your beer bottle and stick it to your forehead and let me do the talking.”
So they all pull the labels off their beer bottles and stick ’em to their foreheads. The policeman walks up and says, “You boys were swerving down the road. Have you been drinking?”
The driver says, “Oh, no officer,” and points to his forehead, “we’re on the patch, trying to quit.”

(Still don’t recommend that anyone drink and drive. Take a cab, call a friend or use a designated driver!)

Some People Never Learn

26 Saturday Jan 2013

Posted by Maximilian I in Noted

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Beer, competition, humor

This one’s for our friend, T-Wille, but it must be said again: every time you spend $$ on one of those multi-national swill guys, it makes the world a little tougher for your local craft brewer.

Black Magic RyPA

25 Friday Jan 2013

Posted by Maximilian I in Reviews

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Tags

beer review, Michigan

Michigan Beer Cellar
Sparta, MI
USA
http://michiganbeercellar.com/

Style: Imperial/Double IPA
ABV: 6.3%
Comments:

While Michigan Beer Cellar, located in Sparta, Michigan, is reportedly still for sale, they keep plugging away at creating a wide range of beers and spirits. I touched on their story a bit back in sampling their English IPA.

Their black rye defies simple categorization, as it’s a hybrid amalgamation of a porter/black ale, IPA and rye, which is homage to the homebrewer roots of MBC’s leadership under Dan Humphries. It pours a dark brown in color with a light head and a gentle glass cling. The body is medium and it’s dry, with a lingering bitterness to finish off the sharp malty nose. The sharp hoppiness reinforces the “RyPA” portion of its moniker. It’s interesting, very drinkable and worth a pint any time you’re in the neighborhood.

It’s a Major Award!

24 Thursday Jan 2013

Posted by Maximilian I in News

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Tags

celebrity, history, Michigan

Congratulations to the “Beerevangilist” on a well deserved round of recognition:

LINK

It’s also worth noting the story of namesake Tom Burns, without whom Michigan may not be all that it’s become.

The REAL 20 most influential beers of all time

23 Wednesday Jan 2013

Posted by Maximilian I in Noted

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Beer, Bier, history, lists, media

Absolutely brilliant read…

Zythophile

An American website called First We Feast has just announced what it declares are “The 20 most influential beers of all time”, a list put together by a “panel of beer-industry pros – brewers, distributors, publicans, and importers, as well as a few journalists.”

You’ll have some idea of the validity of this list when I tell you that half the beers on it are brewed in the US. I don’t want to diss the panel that chose these beers, but I only recognise one name on it, apart from him there are none of the commentators I turn to for insight into the North American brewing scene, let alone anyone from outside the US, and there doesn’t appear to be a single brewing historian among any of them. Which is presumably why they came up with such a totally crap list, with far, far more misses than hits.

View original post 1,468 more words

The World is Getting Smaller

22 Tuesday Jan 2013

Posted by Maximilian I in News

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Tags

Bier, distribution, German, travel

I’ve chatted a bit on recent posts regarding the German beer scene as some brewers look on the U.S. creativity with a bit of green envy. They won’t have nearly as far to look shortly as U.S. craft brewers continue to invade Europe with the news of Brooklyn Brewery opening a location in Stockholm.

I was delighted and somewhat amused to note the presence of American craft beer on my last visit to Sweden back in 2007, including Michigan brews Bells and New Holland, at a little pub near my hotel, so I’m sure Brooklyn will find a warm reception abroad.

Sam Adams and others have made it a point to enter into the German market and Brooklyn has previously collaborated with Schneider, one of Bavaria’s well known weissbier brewers.

Will others be far behind?

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