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I've never bothered to investigate or confirm it, but Graham Wheeler, one of the godfathers of homebrewing in the UK, has always insisted that using refined cane sugar as opposed to invert sugar leads to more pronounced and unpleasant hangovers. For example, he claims that Old Speckled Hen...

Well what created the IPA as a style was that the beer seemed to mature much more rapidly than normal on the sea voyage to India, with the bitterness rounding out and mellowing in a fraction of the time it would have taken in a cellar; see Zythophile's most recent post.

I think the pendulum is just beginning to swing back. I think (some) brewers are getting a bit bored brewing monster beers, and I think (some) drinkers are getting tired of not having enough variety in session beers. I think it's gonna be an uphill battle though, judging by a lot of beer fans'...

:mug:Well, Cheers then! History aside, I think that just by virtue of the style it lends itself so very well to lower ABV interpretations, which is why it's a shame you don't see them more often. With US IPAs, I find personally that the high ABV levels seem to be there, well, because we've...

Just to nitpick (and incite), the BJCP guidelines are nonsense. IPA as originally intended, and indeed for the majority of its history as a style, was pretty much a session ale. The well-known 'fact' that IPA was brewed to higher gravities to help it survive the journey is also nonsense. The...

I use these for all my cask ale needs. Ignore the Party Star Deluxe Tap System and all that nonsense and just vent the excess CO2 at the top and just dispense using gravity. You can see that Wells sells them as a means of enjoying real ale at home. (I also occasionally use cubitainers, though...

Had my eye on this one for awhile, Bob, thanks so much for posting it. Think I'll give it a go on Sunday. I'll let you know how it turns out. Ha, just checked my logs and I've done 30 brews in 2010 so far, with more than half being historical recreations from England or Scotland. I've been...

The sources out there indicate that spruce beer dominated the beer scene in Quebec at the time, and it seems that this would have been made by boiling spruce twigs in water and then using that as the brewing liquor. Malt, molasses and hops were all used, at least in some versions. I don't know...

Yeah, the Barclay Perkins blog is a fantastic resource. Though they balance out the depth of research with poor editing in many cases. Obviously should read 2.92.

Flyangler, WLP023 in a porter seems counterintuitive but potentially really interesting. Any tasting notes?

The link between three-threads, as the blended ale drink was known, and porter, is specious. Even if the conventional wisdom is to be accepted, that would make three-threads an ancestor of porter rather than a 'traditional' porter. More info here. The trouble with 'traditional' is that...

Can't help much with a recipe, but for some background, the indefatigable Ron Pattinson has compiled some info on Danish brewing history and beer styles here: http://www.europeanbeerguide.net/denbrew.htm#industry

Gruit was largely drunk on the continent. "Ale", in its original meaning -- and it's gone through several, most recently being haphazardly applied to any top-fermented grain beverage -- was preferred in Britain, and was made without hops and usually without any herbs. So it would have likely...

American IPAs are one of my least favorite styles. I can drink them, sure, chilled on a hot summer day, but that's a rare occasion. The acidic C-hop mouthful is just unpleasant to me. That said, British IPA is one of my absolute favorite styles; Sam Smith India Ale, Meantime IPA...

Yeah wow, add me to the ranks of the confused. I've never used S-04 on a high gravity brew, but when I've used it it's taken off like a rocket and often reached FG in around 36 hours! S-04 has always been my go-to yeast for when I'm too damned impatient to wait for a liquid yeast to do its...

No, that sounds awful. I shudder at the very thought. I'm not a big fan of wheat though except in small doses.

Also, Thomas Fawcett Malting produces a few other old-fashioned British malts that could be used for a SMaSH, each made from single varietal barleys that have their own characteristics. Halcyon I found to be fairly neutral. Pearl was pretty bland IMO, but Optic was quite good, with a lovely...

I attempted an Oat SMaSH, some time ago. I was inspired by accounts in a couple of 19th century brewing manuals of ales brewed from 100% malted oats in Yorkshire and Edinburgh in the old days. Unfortunately that brew session was fraught with problems. I didn't get very good conversion...

My housemate brewed a lavender beer awhile ago, pretty much to experiment and use up all of his leftover ingredients; I thought it tasted fantastic; practically a laundry list of roasted malts and adjuncts, incl. Munich, British crystal, chocolate malt, roasted barley, flaked barley and flaked...

No need for such snark. We're talking about oat malt, not flaked oats for God's sake. Brew day went fine, and there were no difficulties with the mash or sparge. People were brewing beer from malted oats for centuries. It did smell strange however. Smelled intensely like creamed corn...