SRM

[grampamark]

Does anyone, besides those who enter, and those who judge, competitions, really care about the color of beer? The reason I ask is because I picked up a sample pack from Big Sky Brewing today, a brewery which I really like (they only make one beer with “hazy” in the description and nothing called a “milkshake”). Anyway, this sampler contained an APA called “Space Goat” which I’ve thought of as something of a poster child for the style. I have an APA on tap, so I thought I’d compare the two.

Long story short, this is the Space Goat which, according to the brewery’s website, is 12 SRM.

This is my APA which, according to Beersmith, is 6 SRM.

Is it safe to assume that whomever built the Space Goat page on Big Sky’s website fat fingered the SRM number?

 

[VikeMan]

Is it safe to assume that whomever built the Space Goat page on Big Sky’s website fat fingered the SRM number?

It's definitely nowhere near 12 SRM.

 

[grampamark]

It's definitely nowhere near 12 SRM.

Yeah, well, I forgot to add the smiley.

I sometimes wonder if breweries put numbers which the average beer drinker, even serious craft beer drinkers, really won’t understand or care about, on their labels, just to give beer snobs something to pontificate about.

 

[eric19312]

Yeah that is not 12 SRM. They probably calculated 12 EBC.

 

[day_trippr]

Even that might be overstatement...

 

[seatazzz]

Yeah, well, I forgot to add the smiley.

I sometimes wonder if breweries put numbers which the average beer drinker, even serious craft beer drinkers, really won’t understand or care about, on their labels, just to give beer snobs something to pontificate about.

I'm going to agree with the beer snobs/pontificating angle. I've been to too many brewpubs, some of which had sub-par (to me) brews on tap, only to listen to the *derogatory generational term redacted*, ahem, "young persons" at the table next to us go on and on about IBU's, SRM, and just plain BS that they didn't have the knowledge to back up, and either rave/diss about similar brews at other establishments, to make themselves sound smurt. Yeah, I know, get offa my lawn.

When I'm researching a style I might want to try, I don't try to exactly replicate the SRM the recipe calls for; if it's close, good. If it's not, I screwed something up in the recipe. If it tastes good and I like it, I don't care what color it is. SRM, to me, is basically really light, kinda gold, dark gold, amber, dark, and I can't see through it. Nuff said.