years back i hated stout now i love it being my favorite genre of beer,it is true your taste changes over time, i think that your change of mind may have more to do with it than batch inconsistency, although im not ruling it outProud Marine Dad said:
Joe, I really liked the Russian Imperial Stout this time. I guess the last time I tried it years ago I didn't care for it as much as I was not drinking good ales and a stout was heavy on my palate.
You should try the Heretic Evil Twin if you get a chance. It's very good and reminds me of Arrogant Bastard Ale which is considered by many as a world class beer.
ajijoe said:ah yes Heretic, so many beers so little time and i dont drink alot or for that matter everyday so it might be awhile till i get around to that one, my local Wegmans supermarket just expanded there beer department and there selection is mind boggling!!
thanks your friend Joe
Proud Marine Dad said:Tony, Lagunitas IPA's are pretty good and are sold at many stores. It's not a world class IPA but it is pretty good.
They are brewed up here in Northern CA in Petaluma.
If bitterness bothers you look on the bottle of the better beers and there will be an IBU rating on it which is International Bitter Units.
The higher the number the more bitter it is. This beer is 46.5 IBU's in contrast to say Hop Stoopid Ale by the same company which is 102 IBU's.
Dorkasaurus said:I don't even understand how IBU's are calculated. I'm sure there's a magic formula to calculate the IBU based on hops used but to me a 46IBU Lagunitas IPA is bitter compared to a Stone Smoked Porter at 53IBU or Rogue Oatmeal Stout at 69IBU. Different kind of bitter I guess.
Tony Cappello said:
From what I understand some beers use a higher quantity of malt to balance the flavor so they're not as bitter as IPAs, even though they have a higher IBU rating.
Nice to have an expert on the forum explain it to us. Thanks Wheebz!wheebz said:
thats actually the exact opposite of what happens
hops are used to balance the sweetness of the malt
beers without hops or some sort of bittering agent would taste like drinking sugar water
IBU's are calculated by the amount of isomerized alpha acids extracted from hops during the boil process
the higher the IBU, the more alpha acids present in the beer
the more malt used and the higher the alcohol, the more IBUs needed to counteract that sweetness
thats why you see some imperial stouts that are like 60 IBU's, while some IPA's are only 40, because mostly base malts are used in IPAs and Pale Ales, so a lower IBU is required because the beer isnt sweet malt heavy
Depends on the hop alpha acids primarily.Dorkasaurus said:I don't even understand how IBU's are calculated. I'm sure there's a magic formula to calculate the IBU based on hops used but to me a 46IBU Lagunitas IPA is bitter compared to a Stone Smoked Porter at 53IBU or Rogue Oatmeal Stout at 69IBU. Different kind of bitter I guess.