Franconian Beer Message Board

Weekend round-up
Posted by Barry on 2016-03-03 04:47:01
V. interesting discussion.  Nick: do I really 'go on and on about lower carbonation'?  Yes, of course, I do and will continue to do so.  I simply can't get my head around the notion that something that is produced naturally as part of a food manufacturing process (in this case, brewing) should be replaced by an artifical adjunct placed there in attemot to fool consumers and just because the manufacturer, and subsequent distributors, want to maximise their profits by short-cutting the natural processes.  Sorry if this sounds like a dangerous socialistic argument but that's how it is.

Regarding the real point of the above discussion (!), when in doubt, I reach for my 'Baillie' (Frank, that is, author of 'The Beer Drinker's Companion').  Frank says that typical alcohol content for draught bitter (c.1973) was 3,0 - 4.5 and draught mild 2.5 - 3.5. He provides a list of other ranges up to strong ales and barley wines 6.0 - 10.0.  He says that, gnerally, when fermentation is fully attenuated, an OG of 1037 gives an alcohol content by volume of about 3.7%.  But, he comments that it is the choice of the brewer when to stop fermentation, largely dependent on the type of finished product that the brewer aspires to produce.  I quote: 'Thus, within practical limits, it is possible to produce a heavy gravity beer with a low alcoholic strength and a lighter gravity beer with a high alcoholic strength.  But the latter would have a much drier flavour balance than the former'.

Of course, in strict commercial terms, the argument against producing a heavy gravity beer with a low alcohol strength is that it would cost more to produce in terms of raw materials.  Conversely, in a world that seems to put such emphasis on strong beers, it might have a very limited market.  Off hand, I can't really think of such a beer in the modern world but I suppose that some of the 19th century beers that Ron Pattinson talks about might be similar.  I'd be interested in Andy's views on this, as he is (as far as I know) the only commercial brewer contributing to this forum.

So, Nick, how would like such a product: it could be malty and hoppy (and yeasty, see below) but with a relatively low alcohol content?  Quite unlike Mark's notional 'thin beer tasting of nothing but hops'.

Before taking a more serious interest in beer (the last 20 years or so), I didn't really think too much about hops.  I know that some of my native beers (i.e. those from Manchester area) tasted more bitter than others but never really thought too much about it.  What I really like is that yeasty/malty/hoppy balance that you don't find so often nowadays, except with certain of the older establish breweries, but which I was amazed to find when I sampled my first Mahrs U, which I suppose is why I liked it so much.  It has taken me some time to really get used to Franken/Oberpfalz beer, which is really quite different to the latter, but I have come to appreciate its qualities as time has progressed.

Incidentally, I celebrated on Sunday night with a bottle of Rochefort 10.  I don't know old this bottle was but it was showing a best before date of 2011 - I think that I actually bought it about 10 years ago!  It was absolutely superb!
 
Followups:
                               Weekend round-up by Nick B. on  2016-03-03 05:29:34
                               Weekend round-up by Mosquit on  2016-03-03 05:32:56
                                 Weekend round-up by Nick B. on  2016-03-03 06:57:28
                                   Weekend round-up by Mosquit on  2016-03-03 07:46:51
                                     Weekend round-up...and what's wrong with "craft" beer by Nick B. on  2016-03-03 07:53:01
                                       Weekend round-up...and what's wrong with  by Barry on  2016-03-03 07:57:48
                                 Weekend round-up by Barry on  2016-03-03 08:04:20
                                         Weekend round-up...and what's wrong with  by Nick B. on  2016-03-03 10:53:25
                                           Weekend round-up...and what's wrong with  by Mark Andersen on  2016-03-03 12:11:32
                                             Weekend round-up...and what's wrong with  by Nick B. on  2016-03-03 23:47:07
                                   Weekend round-up by Nick B. on  2016-03-04 01:13:52
                                     Redemption Trinity by Nick B. on  2016-03-04 01:20:04
                                               Weekend round-up...and what's wrong with  by Barry on  2016-03-04 02:53:16
                                                 Weekend round-up...and what's wrong with  by Mark Andersen on  2016-03-04 04:45:52
                                                   Weekend round-up...and what's wrong with  by Mark Andersen on  2016-03-04 04:46:53
                                                     Weekend round-up...and what's wrong with  by Nick B. on  2016-03-04 05:00:58
                                                       Weekend round-up...and what's wrong with  by Mark Andersen on  2016-03-04 05:59:52
                                                         Weekend round-up...and what's wrong with  by Nick B. on  2016-03-04 06:48:35
                                                           Weekend round-up...and what's wrong with  by Barry on  2016-03-04 09:57:09
                                                             Weekend round-up...and what's wrong with  by Mark Andersen on  2016-03-04 11:06:51
                                                               Weekend round-up...and what's wrong with  by Andy H on  2016-03-04 13:19:08
                                                             Weekend round-up...and what's wrong with  by Nick B. on  2016-03-05 02:25:41
                                                               Weekend round-up...and what's wrong with  by Nick B. on  2016-03-05 02:28:45
                                                               Weekend round-up...and what's wrong with  by Mark Andersen on  2016-03-05 05:45:03
                                                                 Weekend round-up...and what's wrong with  by Barry on  2016-03-05 09:28:03
                                                               Weekend round-up...and what's wrong with  by Barry on  2016-03-05 09:42:49
                                                                 Weekend round-up...and what's wrong with  by Nick B. on  2016-03-06 04:03:57
                                                                   Weekend round-up...and what's wrong with  by Andy H on  2016-03-06 09:31:18
                                                                     Weekend round-up...and what's wrong with  by Nick B. on  2016-03-07 01:33:01
                                                                   Weekend round-up...and what's wrong with  by Mark Andersen on  2016-03-07 10:38:30
                                                                     Weekend round-up...and what's wrong with  by Mark Andersen on  2016-03-07 10:41:16
                                                                       Weekend round-up...and what's wrong with  by Andy H on  2016-03-07 11:29:37
                                                                         Weekend round-up...and what's wrong with  by Mark Andersen on  2016-03-07 11:39:24
                                                                           Weekend round-up...and what's wrong with  by FredW on  2016-03-07 11:43:47
                                                                         Weekend round-up...and what's wrong with  by Mark Andersen on  2016-03-07 11:48:13
                                                                             Weekend round-up...and what's wrong with  by Mark Andersen on  2016-03-07 11:53:26
                                                                           Weekend round-up...and what's wrong with  by Andy H on  2016-03-07 13:42:06
                                                                             Weekend round-up...and what's wrong with  by FredW on  2016-03-07 13:55:37
                                                                               Weekend round-up...and what's wrong with  by Barry on  2016-03-08 03:05:10