Never should have started this "hobby"

[BierMuncher]

I just finished brewing my 290th gallon this year. I think I just drank my 260th gallon of the year...so I'm staying just ahead of the curve.

 

[Willy Boner]

Well, that's when I add to my bottle inventory of 22 oz. bottles of different brews, I like to call it R & D! Just went to 7.5 gal. batches with 2 8 gal. fermenters so we'll see if I can become A.I. (Alcoholicaly Independent) But I live here Oregon with a lot of brew pubs. One, happens to have a beer tasting 1st Sat of every month with breweries from up & down the western U.S. so I get to try a lot of different brews. Anyone tried Walking Man Black Cherry Stout< I know it was the the best fruit at the GABF last year. Boy if anyone could clone that I would be interested in the recipe!

 

[Willy Boner]

Widmer hefeweisen is the one everyone around here in Oregon has tried to imitate and they have a nice clone in Gambrus' cup recipe base. I've used it with white labs WLP320 and it came out really clean and nice

 

[mward]

I am lucky, all the places near me where I buy beer have really killer selections of craft beer in stock so when I run out, I drink something awesome. Tonight we had Celebrator, last night was Warsteiner Dunkel. 1554, Guinness, Boulevard Pale Ale, it's all good. When you run out, drink good beer. If you can't find good beer locally, then don't run out.

 

[ohiobrewtus]

I respectfully disagree. Spaten Optimator, at about a buck a bottle at 7.4%ABV is pretty cheap and PLENTY flavorful!!!!

Oh man, I just picked up a 6'er of Spaten Optimator from the local state store tonight (never tried it before) and OH MAN, what a great beer that is. $7 for a 6 pack here. Very reasonable if you ask me.

 

[ohiobrewtus]

Yeah my most favorite micro (Mac & Jacks African Amber) that I love only sells out of kegs so I rarely get it. It tastes similar to and I like Arrogant Bastard if you just cut the bitter hoppiness in half. But as you said "There just isn't any CHEAP good stuff"

Levers101, DeathBrewer

What is a good micro brew readily available I could buy to see if there is a wheat/heffe bear that I might like to start brewing? Is there a micro I could buy that tastes like Dude's Boulevard Wheat clone?

Thanks for all the feedback from everyone.

If you're looking for an inexpensive hefe, look no further than San Adams Hefe. You can get it for about $7 a 6'er (or $5.99 at my local Kroger with Kroger card :rockin: ) While it's certainly not the best Hefe that you'll ever taste, it's a pretty accurate representation of the style. If you don't like the SA Hefe, then you may not like them at all. Just avoid the Gordon Biersch Hefe.... it's absolutely horrible.

 

[jpuf]

As someone once said, there's a fine line between hobby and mental illness. (the model railroad guys set the bar pretty high)

 

[traderearl]

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July!! I managed to catch a rogue bottle rocket with my forearm and now have a wonderful battle scar from firework shrapnel.

On a good note I did manage to try 2 different hefe's this weekend. I tried Pyramid and another beer that said it was Bavarian. Although I can't locate the bottle at the moment to get the name. The Bavarian beer was very banana like and the Pyramid was pretty mild. I was not able to find franziskaner but I think I may be reaffirming that I just don't have the palate for Hefe's. I will continue to search for franziskaner and also Spaten Optimator to see if they are different enough for me to like.

I did happen to pick up a bottle of Sheaf otmeal stout and was pleasantly surprised. (hopefully I don't get blasted for this admission) I bought it amongst several beers that I was curious to try and it was on sale for $1.79 per 22oz. Anyways could anyone tell me if the predominate flavor in the beer is from roasted barley? And I don't mean the normal addition of roasted barley in most stouts. This beer has one particular "roasted" flavor that sticks out more than the rest that I would like to add to my own otmeal stout recipe.

Thanks again and hope no one else has crispy skin from the 4th.

 

[DeathBrewer]

"bavarian style" hefes are not always true to their name, especially for craft brews...trader joes makes one for instance that has tons of banana. it really just depends on the brewery and i prefer imported hefeweizens.

hopefully you'll like franziskaner...if not, good luck finding your brew of choice and tweaking it to perfection!

 

[98EXL]

As someone once said, there's a fine line between hobby and mental illness. (the model railroad guys set the bar pretty high)

this is true

This reminds me it's friday, and if I wasn't going away for the weekend, I'd have a beer-related brew weekend

 

[traderearl]

Managed to brew my 4th batch last weekend, it is a ginger beer. Can't wait to taste it.

 

[niquejim]

: Anyone tried Walking Man Black Cherry Stout< I know it was the the best fruit at the GABF last year. Boy if anyone could clone that I would be interested in the recipe!

I've never had it but here is a great rasp. stout recipe, just swap cherries for raspberries.
http://www.tomandteri.com/brewery/bob_recipes.htm#rec20

 

[DontDrinkAndDrum]

What is a good micro brew readily available I could buy to see if there is a wheat/heffe bear that I might like to start brewing? Is there a micro I could buy that tastes like Dude's Boulevard Wheat clone?

Thanks for all the feedback from everyone.

Whatever you do, don't try Magic Hat Circus Boy...most disgusting Hefeweizen, if not the most disgusting beer, i've ever had

 

[mongrell]

Be glad your not doing lagers or belgian ales the wait time between batches can be months and months not weeks.

 

[Revvy]

I usually have a favorite "goto" beer if I have nothing ready...My current is Bell's Amber Ale...I sort of just rediscovered it after going through an uber-hoppy IPA phase, and a pumpkin ale obsession in the fall...

Plus I usually like to try new beers anyway...

I think my next goto beer will be Rogue Dead Guy

 

[Donasay]

Guinness or Murphy's Irish Stout always hit the spot when I drink beers other than home brew.

 

[|-|edghog]

Well, I can't buy beer where I live so I just do without.

The Legion and the Elks Hall serve suds but all mainstream swill.

I have to force myself to go down there once a month just to get out of the house...as for the beer it's exactly as you described...I have to force the first 6 or so down until it starts to not matter any more.

And as one of the other posters said...welcome to the club.

Hedghog

 

[nyer]

I'm curious about a few of the franziskaer comments saying it doesn't have much banana flavor. The banana flavor is what I love about it. What hefe has more banana to it then? I'd love to try it.

 

[Junebug]

If I'm in a restaurant with a really bad beer selection, rather than drink one of their sub-par offerings I will actually go with wine. Life's too short to drink bad beer.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I ALWAYS have some bottled bought craft or macro on hand. Mostly because it's;

- A style I have yet to try
- A style I don't care to have 5 gallons of
- A style I don't see myself brewing
- A style that would use too much stores

But yeah, most all of them just never seem to match up to the freshmaker quality of beers.

 

[jmiracle]

If it's available near you try Bell's, they're usually reasonably priced and most are pretty tasty. I like the Best Brown Ale and Porter a lot but I'm not a big hophead.

 

[traderearl]

Yeah, I have pretty much managed to keep quite a stock going now. I try and brew at least 10 gallons a month. Still can't really stand any of the wheat beers. Just tried my 1st lager and it is pretty tasty.

 

[Mustangfreak]

SNPA, St Arnolds Texas Wheat, St Arnolds Summer Pils, Broken Halo, Redhook ESB......But it is hard to find me without a few full kegs of homebrew.

Where do you get Red Hook in DFW? I had it in Seattle, and from what I remember, I liked it.

They dont have it in Abilene, thats for sure.

 

[Mustangfreak]

Oh and when I run out of HB, I usually have a few micro brewery beers in my fridge.

 

[z987k]

If no homebrew => bourbon

well said.... although I do love me some jack.