slowbie
Well-Known Member
I am new to homebrewing and also to most styles of beer. A brief beer background which may or may not be relevant to this question: I am 22 years old. I had my first beer at 12:30 on my 21st birthday. It was a Stella. For the next six months, almost every single beer I had was a New Holland Brewing mainstay or seasonal (IPA, kolsch, oatmeal stout, amber, saison, wheat, and brown ale). Even after that, up to three months ago, the only beers I tried worth noting were Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald and Founder's Dirty Bastard. (both of which I liked).
In the last three months I have basically tried to make up for everything I hadn't tried yet and have since tried stouts, imperial stouts, porters, IPAs, IIPAs, barleywines, strong ales, dubbels, tripels, and maybe a few other styles that I can't think of off the top of my head.
Here's the thing: the only beer I haven't liked was the tripel. I got Dragonmead's Final Absolution. I originally thought it was too sweet. However, I tried and loved SN Bigfoot barleywine which was not nearly as sweet as I thought it would be.
After that, I looked up the BJCP style guidelines for tripels which says
Am I perceiving sweetness because of the lower IBUs in a tripel vs. a barleywine? Or is dragonmead's tripel a sweeter version? Either way, is there a tripel that is drier or has higher IBUs that I might like? Are there other Beglian styles that might be more to my liking?
Also, while I'm posting this, are there any styles that I didn't mention that I should try? I'd especially like to try ales because I can make those. I'm not planning on lagering in the near future. FWIW my favorites so far have probably been Hopslam, Founder's Imperial Stout, and SN Bigfoot.
In the last three months I have basically tried to make up for everything I hadn't tried yet and have since tried stouts, imperial stouts, porters, IPAs, IIPAs, barleywines, strong ales, dubbels, tripels, and maybe a few other styles that I can't think of off the top of my head.
Here's the thing: the only beer I haven't liked was the tripel. I got Dragonmead's Final Absolution. I originally thought it was too sweet. However, I tried and loved SN Bigfoot barleywine which was not nearly as sweet as I thought it would be.
After that, I looked up the BJCP style guidelines for tripels which says
Am I perceiving sweetness because of the lower IBUs in a tripel vs. a barleywine? Or is dragonmead's tripel a sweeter version? Either way, is there a tripel that is drier or has higher IBUs that I might like? Are there other Beglian styles that might be more to my liking?
Also, while I'm posting this, are there any styles that I didn't mention that I should try? I'd especially like to try ales because I can make those. I'm not planning on lagering in the near future. FWIW my favorites so far have probably been Hopslam, Founder's Imperial Stout, and SN Bigfoot.
