Please help me educate my palate

Since I have started homebrewing I have retraced the familiar territory to see what beers I still do like.

Guiness stays. Smithwick's stays. Firestone-Walker Pale stays. Fat Tire stays. My favorite "small" brewery is still Rogue. Every other beer I ever drank in my life was apparently swill. I have brewed a bunch of Brit and US ales, one dopplebock racked to 2° today.

I just finished a Duvel; I have a Chimay white(8%) and and Trappists Roquefort 6 in the fridge.

The Duvel I will be cloning and I picked up the ingredients for BrewPastor's 08-08-08 RIS today. I have one gallon pilots of five different meads going and 5gal of Apfelwine that weighed in at 1.008 and falling this morning. And I tried a HB wit today, first wit I ever liked. It was "Wit Men Can't Jump" from the SA Longshot competition.

I like the Duvel enough to go looking for some Lambics, pretty much right now.

What else do I need to try? I looked in to making sake, but I don't love it enough to bother with all that.

TIA

What about IPAs? Ever try Stone Ruination? or Stone IPA?

YooperBrew said:

What about IPAs? Ever try Stone Ruination? or Stone IPA?

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I used to like IPAs. My batch number 2 was an IPA. Past favorite was the Red Hook Long Hammer. I'll make a point to try a couple Stone products.

Also, if anyone can think of a good German lager, Beck's/St. Pauli taste sun struck to me now.

Paulaner makes some fine, fine beers. Well worth investigating.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulaner


Ize

Just my opinion, I love IPA, but I wouldn't base your idea of IPAs' on Long Hammer. I don't mean to say that it is a bad beer but there are definently much better examples of the style out there.

I whole heartedly endorse any Stone product, Anchor's Liberty Ale is a fine example, as well as Sierra Nevada's Celebration Ale. Now, these are all American IPAs' and will be quite different from traditional British varities, which are also quite tasty.

As for other styles of beer, as long as you are experimenting with Belgains give Piraat a try. It is one of my favorites. Big, malty, golden in color and very, very tasty. One more that I would highly recommend is Budvar. It is a Czech pilsner and IMHO is one of the best examples of the style. One word of caution on Budvar, and any beer in green bottles for that matter (as you elluded to) is try to buy it from a store that knows how to take care of beer and that moves a lot of beer so that it is not stale. If you can find Budvar that has been taken care of and kept out of the light, it is outstanding.

There are so many others that are great beers, but these are a few that come to mind now and are some of my favorites. Enjoy!

i haven't had much chance to try many other IPAs, but i endorse the Dogfish IPAs. i like the 60 min a little more in this warmer period between that and the 90 (havent been lucky enough to have had a 120 min). have you tried any wheat beer varieties? hefeweizens or other? ive heard good things about rasputin imperial stout (since you like guinness).

good luck on your trip for more good beer! cheers

If you can get them in your area, Green Flash IPA is great and so is Sculpin from Ballast Point. I really like IPA's and keep finding good beers (of many varieties) all around me. One of my latest "faves" is Twilight Summer Ale from Deschutes.

Back in the day, I was usually a brand loyal person but now I think variety is the spice of life

A lot is going to depend on what you can get fresh and unabused. I just finished a six-pack of Lagunitas IPA that, while drinkable, was NOT what we're used to getting in-county -- I imagine if that beer was someone's first impression of Lagunitas, they'd be unimpressed.

Delicate beers like Pilsners, IPAs, Hefeweizens, and Wits do not travel well. Drink local, or brew your own!

slatorian said:

i haven't had much chance to try many other IPAs, but i endorse the Dogfish IPAs. i like the 60 min a little more in this warmer period between that and the 90 (havent been lucky enough to have had a 120 min).

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When I read the OP, I immediately thought to mention Dogfish Head...without discounting many, many other truly great IPA's (Stone, Great Divide, Russian River, Heavy Seas, Bell's, etc., etc.), I personally think the 60 min is about the perfect all around IPA (and it's the one beer that really turned me on to craft beer/brewing). That being said, definitely grab just about anything you can from Dogfish Head. Some people don't like their stuff, but if nothing else they brew unique, creative beers, and I think always worth trying.

Edit: and going back to the OP, if you're into checking out Belgian-esqe beers, Russian River also makes some good Belgian style brew, and if you can get your hands on anything from Ommegang or Allegash -- both specialize in Belgian inspired brews

Poindexter said:

Since I have started homebrewing I have retraced the familiar territory to see what beers I still do like.

Guiness stays. Smithwick's stays. Firestone-Walker Pale stays. Fat Tire stays. My favorite "small" brewery is still Rogue. Every other beer I ever drank in my life was apparently swill. I have brewed a bunch of Brit and US ales, one dopplebock racked to 2° today.

I just finished a Duvel; I have a Chimay white(8%) and and Trappists Roquefort 6 in the fridge.

The Duvel I will be cloning and I picked up the ingredients for BrewPastor's 08-08-08 RIS today. I have one gallon pilots of five different meads going and 5gal of Apfelwine that weighed in at 1.008 and falling this morning. And I tried a HB wit today, first wit I ever liked. It was "Wit Men Can't Jump" from the SA Longshot competition.

I like the Duvel enough to go looking for some Lambics, pretty much right now.

What else do I need to try? I looked in to making sake, but I don't love it enough to bother with all that.

TIA

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You MUST try DFH's Midas Touch. Copied from a 2700 year-old recipe, it's probably the most complex beer I've ever had. The thing that grabbed me is this: as you lift the glass, breathe in through your nose. You will smell freshly plowed earth from the saffron. As soon as the liquid touches your tongue, the smell disappears and this awesome, malty-honey goodness hits the back of your palate and lasts through the finish. Seriously. Plowed earth.

Sours and Saison's are a definite must try if you want to branch out. Russian River, The Breury, and Jolly Pumpkin.

ALSO Stone is awesome, make some really nice beer I live 10 mins away from the brewery so I hang at their bar some nights. Also, not sure if you have access to Lost Abbey or Port Brewing but they make phenomenal beers and many different styles.

One of the best ways to educate your palate is to visit a brewery or two. Even if they don't have a tour where they go into detail about their styles and methods, most will at least have a bar where you can get a sampler and compare half a dozen beers. If you don't have any near you right now, plan your next vacation around it. I've never had a bad time visiting a brewery.

Spaten Optimator is a great venture into German lagers. Can be hard to find a well kept bottle though since it is in green bottles.

Have you tried Unibroue beers? Their Trois Pistoles is pretty tasty...

Mogwai said:

Have you tried Unibroue beers? Their Trois Pistoles is pretty tasty...

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I second that. La Fin Du Monde is excellent as well.