Strange Brews......

[andylegate]

My father has been impressed with some of the brews I've made. He's mostly an American Pilsner fan, but willing to try my stuff too. I asked him to come up with some brews that he'd like me to make for him (other than just a plain ol' Pilsner). As usual, my father came up with a list of "Strange Brews" most of which I have not been able to find recipes for:

Hamms (some beer he used to drink up in the NE USA circa 1966)

Swans (Western Australian brew)

Haytuee (sp?) (A brew from Puerto Rico circa 1961, lable had a single eye on it. When the eye blinked at you, you'd had enough!)

Singha (this is from Thailand, I remember this beer when I lived there back in 1980. The beer has a very strong ABV, but varied from bottle to bottle! Looked like a Pilsner)

I haven't been able to find any of these even remotely listed (except Swans, but all I can find for that is that it's from Austraila).

 

[EugeneStyles]

Well, Hamm's is your standard "garbage lager". My local beer store sells it for $2.99 a 6pk. I haven't had it, but I imagine it to be sort of like Old Style but a little more bitter.

Singha is a Thai version of the "American Standard". It's nothing special, but it's not horrible either. I suppose if you took a standard pilsner recipe and added some corn sugar and weird soy-sauce flavor, you'd come close to approximating it. Okay, maybe the "soy-sauce" thing is just my imagination.


The other two, I've never heard of, but if they're not light adjuct lagers, I'd be awfully surprised.

 

[disaffected]

How about this tasty sounding light and crisp Brewsmith's Leftover Kölsch? I just bought all the ingredients for it today and plan to brew it up sometime in the next 5 days.

 

[Blender]

Those beers are lagers and if you cannot lager I would consider making some light ales or an American wheat beer. Morebeer has 2 light American ale kits that would work and a he should like a wheat beer but you will have to deal with the cloudiness. I think you will have a difficult time finding recipes for the beers you mentioned.

 

[andylegate]

Believe it or not, I've found a recipe for Singha! Actually, it's not a bad beer, as far as Asian beers go. It actually has a smooth taste, and has a Alcohol by volume of 6% or so. Yes, they do call themselves a "light larger". Here is the recipe that someone posted for it:

"Singha Beer

80% Pilsner malt
20% Minute Rice from the grocery store (you don't need to mill it and you don't need to cook it.....just put it in the mash when you dough in the pilsner malt)

mash at 148 for 60 minutes
Go for an OG around 1.048
boil for 90 minutes total
60 minute bittering hop addition for 10 to 14 IBU's (Saaz would be great)

cool wort to 44 to 48 degrees

Pitch Wyeast 2007. You should make a 1-2 gallon starter for this

Primary for about 30 days at 48 degrees

Lager for 5-8 weeks"

Your description of Hamms cracked me up and reminds me of a Beer my dad couldn't stand, but drank it since it was all he could afford once upon a time, and that was "Black Lable"!

Swans is a very popular Aussie larger drank by western Aussies. From what I've been told, I think I can find a clone for it.

As far as largering, no sweat. Not right now this very minute as: One, I'm in the middle of two other batches of ales. Two, I plan on getting a small chest freezer so I can larger. It's all in the budget!

Thanks for the help guys!

 

[Monk]

Haytuee (sp?) (A brew from Puerto Rico circa 1961, lable had a single eye on it. When the eye blinked at you, you'd had enough!)

There's a recipe for Haytuee in the book Clone Brews. I could post it if you want. Cheers

monk

 

[andylegate]

Yah Monk! That would be great if you could post it! I'd love to see more recipes on here. Some members brews sound great, but they don't want to seem to share too much. I guess I can understand wanting to keep something you've made that taste good secret, but I'm a cook and I love sharing recipes.

 

[andylegate]

Found Hamm's beer. They were famous for the Hamm's Bear comercial with a jingle way back when. They were bought out, until eventually Miller owns the rights to the beer, and killed it. Yes, it was listed as one of the cheapest beers you could buy at the time!
On a interesting side note, the old Hamm's Brewery is listed as one of the top abandoned sites to go exploring in.
In anycase, it was listed as simply a generic Pale Larger.

 

[sonvolt]

Well, Hamm's is your standard "garbage lager". My local beer store sells it for $2.99 a 6pk. I haven't had it, but I imagine it to be sort of like Old Style but a little more bitter.

You dare!! Compare that swill that is Hamm's to the sacred Wrigley Field libation that is Old Style!!!

Sir . . . I challenge you to a duel [slaps EStyle across face with leather glove].

 

[andylegate]

LOL! My dad said it was a great beer..... then again he said it was all he could afford at the time, way back when!
Right now he drinks Bud Light......uhg....... Then said my American Pilsner didn't taste like it. I told him to pour half a glass of water into my homebrew and he'd have his Bud Lite Clone!

 

[Monk]

Here you go, AndyL...

Hatuey

5 gallons

1/2 lb. 20L Crystal malt
5 lbs. M&F extra-light DME
1.33 lb. corn sugar
2 oz. Czech Saaz (2% AA) Bittering
1/2 oz. Tettnanger - flavor
1 Tsp. Irish Moss

Wyeast 2035 American Lager Yeast (ferment between 42 - 52 degrees) or
Wyeast 2007 Pilsen Lager Yeast (ferment between 42 - 52 degrees)

3/4 cup priming sugar

Directions: Crush and steep grains in 1/2 gallon of 150F water for 20 minutes. Sparge with another 1/2 gallon of 150F water. Add water to pot to get it up to 1.5 gallons total volume. Bring to boil. Add DME and Saaz. Add another gallon of water, boil for 45 min. Add Tett and Irish moss, boil 15 more minutes. Cool and add to fermenter. Top up to 5 gallons.

Hope this works out well for you, man. Cheers,
monk

 

[Onescalerguy]

You can still get Hamms in the west,it's kinda similar to another old favorite(I swore by it many years ago)Rainier.Actually,Rainier was a very popular beer in those days,at least in the NW.I'd drink either one if i was thirsty for beer and that was all there was.


Pri.-Beer
Sec.1-Beer
Sec.2-Beer
Bottled-beer
Bottled-beer

 

[andylegate]

Thanks for the recipe Monk! My Dad said he drank it in Cuba while he was in the Navy just before the Bay Of Pigs happened.

 

[KopyKat]

Your description of Hamms cracked me up and reminds me of a Beer my dad couldn't stand, but drank it since it was all he could afford once upon a time, and that was "Black Lable"!

Me and your dad both. Carling Black Label - foul. Best said in a review by Patrick Gray:

"T'is foul. This is a brand that should not be called beer. This stuff, this liquid does not even have any taste, it is a tasteless con trick. The second most obvious thing about this substance is that it is so heavily carbonated that the mouth is still dry and tongue assaulted by the violent bubbliness of the brand. This beer is fizzier than a fizz merchant's fizzy fizz factory's fizzy drinks fizz machine. Carling is fizzier than that. Thirdly, the colour is of the urine of a diseased squirrel. According to the enigmatic Bass website Carling has been the UK's most popular beer since 1971, and is the second most popular beer in the Republic of Ireland. This is due to the huge amount of glossy advertising and promotion of the brand and hammers home the idea that it is the only beer and has hoodwinked the public into believing it. Break away from the crowd - try something different, open the door to a whole new world of beer and abandon this foul brand. "

This goes the same for Pabst, Hamms, Jax and the like IMHO.

 

[andylegate]

LOL, yah, he was drinking Black Lable when he first got out of the Navy and was having to watch his income back in '85. That's why I didn't understand why he didn't like my simple pilsner I made for him to try. Then I found out! Turns out, I had used just a couple of twist top bottles since it was all I had left, and that is one of the bottles I gave him. It didn't seal right! Blah.....
I gave him another bottle and he was like "Mmmmm...this is much better!"
It cracked me up! I was like "Dad! Didn't you notice that the first one I gave you didn't have a head on it???? That it was flat?"

 

[miafunk2003]

oh by the way hatuey is cuban not puerto rican...thing is after that bastard fidel came into my country they split. and started producing the hatuey beer and malta in puerto rico