Modern Vespa

Beer might be scooter related...

I have been brewing my own beer for 3 years now, it's my "other hobby". Saturday when we made the trip to Minneapolis I stopped at my favorite brewing supply store Midwest Supplies and grabbed a bunch of ingredients to make a couple of batches.

I haven't brewed in a while because all of my free time and money has gone into rebuilding the P, so I'm excited to get going.

On tap will be:
Amarillo Pale Ale - an easy drinking PA that showcases the citrusy Amarillo Hop

Ferocious IPA - Pretty much what it sounds like...

What's your beer of choice?

I'm pretty amazed you're able to get Amarillo hops. For the past several years they were all bought up by the larger breweries. I tried finding them about 4 years ago and turned up nothing.

An old clubmate used to make a ridiculous IPA out of those that was just face melting. Like taking a big bite of grapefruit. He'd bring a corny keg of it to any rally the club was going to be at in force, and we'd have our own little party tent.

They've exploded in popularity, for obvious reasons. You can buy them by the half pound if you like. 8)

1. Pabst

2. Cold Mexicans

3. Micro-brews bought with someone's money besides my own.


Seriously, I am a huge fan of Hefeweizen and Pilsner style beers.

i have to say, you do kno what you're doing. the stuff you gave me was incredible!

IPA's are sort of the "thinking man's beer" in my opinion. I've gone down the different roads.... stouts, reds, belgian / trappist ales, etc. IPA's are where it's at. Michigan has some of the best ones, too ...which was nice. I could walk to the corner store and get a six pack of Mad Hatter IPA, Crooked Tree IPA, Bells Two Hearted ... and even the top-tier Dogfishhead 60 and 90 minute IPA's.

The first beer i considered having shipped in from Colorado in a case was the big 24 oz bombers of Maharaja IPA from Avery Brewing in Boulder Colorado. That was my absolute favorite. At 11.2% x 24 oz, it was like drinking a whole six pack of grapefruity goodness in one sitting.

My absolute favorite. I've been sober over 2 years now, and that was the beer that really ruined me towards the end.

A beer like that would make a Mich Ultra drinker cry.

I've been a hop head for a while and converted my wife too. 9 out of 10 of my own brewing batches are hop heavy IPA's or PA. I like to do a Belgian or "holiday" type beer for variety.

Iowa has archaic beer laws so I can't get a lot of the bigger IPAs here. I'd love to try some Bell's Two Hearted or Hopslam.

The best I can get here is Big Sky IPA from Montana, Dogfish Head 60 Min, and Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA.

Good on you Eric for knowing when to throw in the towel.

Me and my friend brew, we use midwest as well. We recently made a coffee stout, cherry wheat and nutbrown. The nutbrown won best in class at the county fair!

"Thinking Man's Beer"... huh. I prefer the Luddite approach: Less thinking more drinking.

Looking forward to trying Troegs Dead Reckoning this weekend.

I homebrewed for a looong time, like 15 years. Started in the late 80's and continued right up until '03. The wife, then girlfriend, told me it was homebrew or her. She was the only woman who was worth making the decision for. It was not good for me to have fresh kegs on hand anyway. I never let my glass go empty.

That said, I had a pretty impressive home brewery, at least to me. I was a full mash brewer and even grew some of my own aroma hops, Willamette and Cascade mostly.

I still have all my equipment, 20-gallon converted oxygen tank with a SS ball valve as my kettle, 25 gallon mash tun, 3 or 4 corny kegs and co2 tank, 300,000 BTU propane burner, JS Schmindling malt mill, several fermenting carboys plus a LOT of miscellaneous equipment.

Anybody want to trade all that for a decent, running project bike?

I'm a big fan of Red Stripe or what I call lil' strippers.

I also like Fat Tire as well.

at my local grocery store, PBR is often on sale for 14.99 for the 30 pack.

I guess this is the beer of choice say most people around here.
http://www.beerlabels.com/labels/labels.pl/1731/holyoke-dam-ale-amber-ale.html

HOLY CRAP ... Hopslam is the shizz. That's a really limited release beer... only seems to come out in one or two batches a year... and you gotta buy it up while it's available... but it's like $16.99 a six pack, IIRC.

I think all that extra cost goes to offset the stupid amount of hops they burn up in the process of making that beer, so i don't mind paying it.



Bells Two-Hearted is the standard "go-to" beer in Detroit. They have it at most bars around the city. At a club stomping ground, they have 60 beers on tap, and frequently have Bells Two Hearted on a hand-pull....cask conditioned.

Big fan of cask beers. My wife and I were in Des Moines last Thursday night and had dinner at the Royal Mile Pub. They had Fullers ESB and London Pride on cask. Smoooooth...

If you are remotely interested in brewing your own beer, and are sitting on an extra project bike...this would be a deal not to pass up!

Heaven on earth mobster... heaven on earth. 8)

For you brew-snobs (I say that jokingly).

Houston's oldest craft brewery jsut released their Divine Reserve which was a "Scotch Ale" this year. I haven't tasted one yet, but word on the street is that is was an incredible brew.

http://www.saintarnold.com/beers/divine.htm

Their IPA Elissa is also a very worthy beer and a favorite for our monthly fish grills. To bad it's such a regional brewery...

http://www.saintarnold.com/beers/elissa.html

Thanks for your input Jeremy, and I didn't mean to hijack your thread. Just seemed like a good time to mention it. All my stuff has been sitting in storage for 6 years and since I kept the wife I sure would like for it to go. I have well over $1,000 invested, maybe more.

I wont mention it again though so as not to intrude. If anyone is interested just send me a pm. Otherwise I'll hold onto it in case she ever leaves me. Then I'll have a reason to drink!

My personal favorite... unfortunately it is a once a year release from Russian River



10.5%ABV, 1.094 O.G., GOBS of BUs
Pliny the Younger was Pliny the Elder's nephew, in the case of this beer, the "Younger" is a triple IPA. Pliny the Younger is hopped three times more than our standard IPA, and is dry hopped four different times.
Seasonal release (February) available at the pub and for distribution.[/img]

hihi.. i dont drink beer or coffe is that make me a weirdo

I have a recipe to brew my own Pliny The Elder. It calls for a full pound of hops in a 5 gallon batch. Even 8 ounces of hops is a lot for most 5 gallon batches, a pound is insane. I have yet to brew it.

Do you kids drink Lambanog there?

what is lambanog? i am not a kids i drink wine yes (on a mass and when i am sad) but not beer 8) nope belly beer just aint for me

So, for comparison... the Younger has about 50% more IBUs...

I mean "kids" as a term of generic endearment

Hmmm... Well, it's the big home-brew drink in the Philippines - basically moonshine made out of fermented coconut palm chunks. Didn't know how far the trend stretched in SE asia ..but if you don't know what it is, then not as far as you.

ohh that kind of drink, i know that but its popular in bunaken area (manado, indonesia) as most of the ancesor from philipine and heritage some of their tradition and yes that drink is popular for people that like to get drunk there but need to stay sober.. but not me, i dont know much about beer for me even a loud and happy laugh is better then drinking and it can make my face red like a drunk people

cheer

So, when she said, "it was homebrew or her", it was really subjective, huh? So, you are keeping the equipment like you'd never, ever go back to brewing.

I totally understand. I have some brew equip that I'm probably never going to give up. Not full mash tuns or anything. I only have a corny keg, co2, 6 gallon kettle, etc. nothing like what you have. I've got only about 6 brews under my belt, though.

Funny that Jeremy just picked up some stuff to brew. I sorta have been out of brewing since February of last year, but this morning I just ordered some ingredients for a nice smooth English Pale Ale. Now I hear a few of you are going to start brewing again. It that weird or do scooterists boards like these make everyone go on kicks like when women all go on the same period cycle?

Well, it was more like an ultimatem. When I brewed 1/2 barrel batches it took a full 8 hours just for the brewing process. Combine that with my obsessiveness and it was obvious to both of us that my free time could be spent brewing or with her. I chose her. I choose to keep the equipment in case there is ever no her. That looks unlikely now.

In regards to folks brewing again, I believe Fall is the onset of brewing season. That's when all the nasties in the air begin dying.

There's a couple of bars in LA that try to get away with selling $5 for a can of PBR. Ridiculous!

I'll take any Belgium beers.

That IS ridiculous! I pay $2 for a PBR at my local haunt here, which while expensive for PBR, is a deal for drinking beer while in a bar.

I have a friend who is a home brewer, and I've been very impressed by many of his creations as of late. I've got a bomber of one of his in the fridge right now - a Belgian Golden Strong, I believe?

There's a brewery up in S.F. that I've been meaning to get to, as well, called 21st Amendment. I sampled a couple of their offerings at a food fest in Oakland a couple weeks back and was impressed.

$5 Pabst? $2 Pabst? What is this world coming to? The bars in the tower grove south area here in Saint Louis sell Pabst for $1. Now THAT'S a bar.

at the moment im drinking an australian style bitter with extra hops

ive got some aussie pale ale priming in bottles and in the fermenter theres an old style australian ale very deep amber in colour and bubbles alot with an aggresive sorta yeast


i like australian style beers thats what i mainl brew .the pale ale is gonna be reall nice, this bitter is pretty strong

when the instructions say add 23L of water i just add20L gives a better full flavour

oh and theres a newzealand apple cider on the go too

Hefeweizen, Witbeir (on the rare occasions it is available. Nice in moderation because it is flavored with orange peel and coriander.), once in a while the Oatmeal or Imperial Stout. Pricey at the Micro-Brewery but only $9 to refill your growler. http://www.schlafly.com/beers.shtml

I'm not into brewing beer but I would like to start making Hard Cider. When I was in Italy I picked up a hand-made French Oak cask for aging, and I have 4 different apple trees growing in hopes of a nice balanced blend.

I love dark beers, especially porters and imperial stouts. Central Waters, our local microbrewery, has a nice warm imperial stout and a flavorful but refreshing porter. They occasionally do small batches of strong coffee and bourbon barrel stouts that both rock my socks. Gonna go fill a couple growlers this weekend, can't wait.

I also have a six pack of Sierra Nevada Bigfoot barleywine that's been relaxing in my closet since 2005.

the choice of american style beers we get here is either buddweiser or 2 variants of millers

once in a blue moon ill buy a few budweisers its a decent beer in my opinion definetly on the sweet side compared to aussie beers though

Hmm.. Around here, IPA's are the "urinating man's beer"...

My favourite gourmet beers:

Bell-Vue Kriek (cherry) Beer & Hoegarden Forbidden Fruit.

Locals:

Monteiths Summer Ale, Winter Ale, or anything they brew.

Favourite all purpose beers:

Speights & Macs.

In the US that would be any beer that has a TV commercial.

I don't see how this top is NSR. I don't even drink, but I bought my dad a 12 pack in return for our last crack at getting Sunny unglued. Incidentally, I bought him his first Heffeweizen (UFO) which he loved.

Regardless, carry on gents.

Well...to be fair ... Sam Adams Boston Lager is a pretty damn good beer, when you compare it to every other beer with a commercial. It doesn't hold up well against hand-crafted stuff, but it's good if it's the best thing a bar has.