Evolution of brewing taste

Nothing earth shattering here but I am thinking about the evolution of my homebrew taste. The more I brew, the more i appreciate the "middle of the road". Early on, i went for very dramatic beers. The sorts that generated "wows" from friends. Lately, I am brewing less dramatic beers that just taste good. i love to brew the same recipe with very slight changes. Maybe I'll regain my sense of adventure someday but for now, it's great brewing in the middle of the road.

I've been brewing with a lot of Noble hops. Then realized they don't have the "bite" that Cascade and the West Coast style hops have. I like the beers, just not the big wows and pop I had been brewing for the last year.

I'm with you on that. I tried different styles and found a couple I really like so I look to brew them again or something new that seems similar

When I started brewing, I was all about the bigger beers. Lately, I've been brewing a lot more session beers. Of the last 10 beers I've brewed, 7 have been below 5% alcohol, and 4 of those below 4%.

Making a good tasting session ale that isn't thin is just as much of an accomplishment as making a higher gravity beer....at least that is my opinion.

msa8967 said:

Making a good tasting session ale that isn't thin is just as much of an accomplishment as making a higher gravity beer....at least that is my opinion.

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I kind feel the same way - it can be a challenge to brew a beer that you want to keep drinking vs a beer that is way over the top and you almost need recovery time between servings

I agree with all you guys. Started with big 8%+ beers, and the last 8 batches, 6 have been 5% and under, with 4 at 4% and under.

I also use to only drink IPA's and wanted to make everything heavily hopped. Now, I seek balance in a beer. The intense hop flavors, especially when I started brewing, were covering defects in my beer. I wasn't able to learn from the ingredients I was using.

It's nice to be able to have my bitter(3.8%abv) with a pair of tacos for lunch on my days off without getting completely smashed.

Also, I tend to drink wine when I want to get drunk, I just feel to full after three beers. If I drink a beer that's 9% I feel like I just ate a burger and fries. Those beers have their place for cold winter nights, IMO.

i'm the opposite. i have always brewed lighter beers. i'm planning to change that soon though with my first foray into brewing a belgian

While i also began with huge hop/alcohol bombs, I'm more into expanding my range than necessarily toning down my beers. One of my favorites was a 3.2% pale mild that had great body & flavor--I nearly killed the keg in three weeks!

But I'm also fermenting a BGS with Brett Brux that will end about 11.5%, the Tripels for 12 Beers of Christmas at around 9.5%, a Black IPA, Belgian IPA, and Imperial West Coast Red in the 7-8% range, and an orange wheat around 5%. on Thursday, I'll round out the low end with Saison and a milk stout.

I think a well made beer has to be flavorful and drinkable, no matter what the style or ABV.

I am trying to get into the habit of always having something really drinkable on tap (smooth, lower ABV, tasty) and also a "crazy" beer done seasonally So I have the choice of something adventurous but a fall back of an easy drinking one as well.

Every since I started roasting my grains, my recipes got much simpler and I truly started to love middle of the road beers. So much easier to enjoy, and when you nail a black as night stout with home roasted grains, there's no better feeling.

I do a mix of daily drivers and specialty brews. I have my IPAs and such (right now a well hopped NW IPA and a Belgian Wit) for every day brews to keep me happy while the big stouts and big ABV brews and the like, besides conditioning/aging for a while, are normally reserved for worth while occasions. I like strong/bold flavors (not just with beer, but sticking to topic), so I dont tend to do lighter ales, although I have done a couple milds in the past.

I don't believe in Evolution.

ZEUS said "let there be beer taste" and there was. So say we all.

cheezydemon3 said:

I don't believe in Evolution.

ZEUS said "let there be beer taste" and there was. So say we all.

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Love it!

The Greek Gods of Beer are Silenius and Dionysus, son of Zues.

Cool picture Mr T! I was at that party. That’s me riding the donkey.

I used to drink stouts and porters. Homebrewing, I lightened it up to focus on the hop balance, fell in love with pales.

I am really bored with American IPA’s. 50 oz’s of “C” hops. Really? Where’s the beer?

I've basically only been making session ales that turn around quick and that can be drunk in quantity. Now I'm wanting to make big beers to age while I consume my session ales, as well as to diversify my brewing portfolio. Just made a barleywine and am in the process of designing a "bigass stout"

Horseballs said:

I've basically only been making session ales that turn around quick and that can be drunk in quantity. Now I'm wanting to make big beers to age while I consume my session ales, as well as to diversify my brewing portfolio. Just made a barleywine and am in the process of designing a "bigass stout"

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YES!!! There's room for both! You gotta plan a bit, but roll those high-quantity beers out and make the big bombs for long-term love and a few pints here & there. Well put, Horseballs.

Well put horseballs......

*shudders*

I had a trully evolving keg a while back.

I intentionally made 6 gallon batches, and put the extra gallon in the frankenkeg.

I sampled, but kept the keg 3/4 full, and the new gallon carbed up in no time.

I didn't discriminate. Stout on top of pale ale, followed by a gallon of Ipa.

I miss frankenkeg.