The Beer You Are Drinking Right Now

[JMN2]

Rauchbier and a ham hock, potato salad, sauerkraut. Lovely.

[JMN2]

Couple of hours and beer drinking of epic proportions will commence, Durham beerfest and Newcastle thrown in, it'll be mental, a carnage lasting three days. Any really special ones I'll report later. Over and out.

[Hallucigenia]

Rauchbier/'smoked beer'. Presumably the grains are smoked prior to brewing. I've had a couple in Germany, and on the Continent. Definitely an acquired taste IMO, like you say like an ash-tray has been emptied into it. Not for me, I found the first almost undrinkable, the 2nd I perhaps bought by accident.

Historically all beer will have been like that to some extent, as the malt will have been dried over wood fires. Malt was first kilned over coke in Derby in the early 1600s, which made for a much paler and less smoky malt. Technologically backward countries like Germany stuck with the old ways.

I think it's of those flavours that some people are much more sensitive to than others - there's a smoked ale that some people adore and I just can't get on with, it's so acrid to my taste. I like subtle smoked flavours though.

[UncleEbenezer]

I'm intrigued. I don't recollect encountering these smoked beers.

Are you haters the kind of people who also hate a smoky/peaty whisky like Laphroaig or Ardbeg?

[redsturgeon]

I'm intrigued. I don't recollect encountering these smoked beers.

Are you haters the kind of people who also hate a smoky/peaty whisky like Laphroaig or Ardbeg?

No, I like Laphroaig.

John

[Hallucigenia]

Rauchbieren are a pretty minor, regional interest in Germany - Schlenkerla is the most famous one. You only see them here from some of the "craftier" breweries - there's definitely one from a Bermondsey brewer (I'd guess Anspach & Hobday?), and one you see reasonably often in the online shops is Red Willow's Smokeless.

And no, I love smokey whiskies, and I have my toast more burnt than anyone else I know. But there's obviously just some chemical that gets created in certain circumstances that I taste far more intensely than other people.

[DiamondEcho]

I'm intrigued. I don't recollect encountering these smoked beers.
Are you haters the kind of people who also hate a smoky/peaty whisky like Laphroaig or Ardbeg?

Hard to say, I don't really get on with whisky at all
But, interesting, maybe you have a point as I was exaggerating^ somewhat there, I'm ok with whisky, especially as a mixed drink, but I don't get on with what I consider the heavier ones like Laphroaig esp. served straight or just with ice. The flavour just seems rather dominated in a 1-dimensional smokey way IME.
This cropped up recently when I visited a friend who is a major whisky fan. He gave me a glass of something 'extremely special' and it was so heavy/smokey that I had to grin and bear it before declining a 2nd, suggesting 'No, there's no need for something quite as special as that if I'm having another'

[DiamondEcho]

Rauchbieren are a pretty minor, regional interest in Germany...And no, I love smokey whiskies, and I have my toast more burnt than anyone else I know. But there's obviously just some chemical that gets created in certain circumstances that I taste far more intensely than other people.

I concur with that. In 3yrs in Berlin enjoying the vast choice of beer available, rauchbier was still something I'd only see in really big beer speciality shops.

Maybe like the regional Asian 'bitter-gene' there is a 'smoke-gene'. As I do not like burned toast at all, in fact I toast it very lightly and more for texture than flavour. I even recall my father once asking re: a slice I'd just toasted 'Is that ok, it hardly looks done?'. I'm not into smoked cheese either. I love smoked salmon but not the very smokey 'lox' type you find in the US, preferring the lighter variety that IIRC they call 'nova'.

[UncleIan]

I'm not into smoked cheese either.

Apropo of not very much, but I was at the Spanish National Scout Jamboree on the Canary Islands (yes, beats a farmers field in Wales) and there were some scouts from Georgia (the country) there. They gave us some smoked cheese that was so smoked it no longer needed to be refrigerated, it tasted like my clothes smell after our winter camps where you basically spend all weekend sat round the fire. It was...an acquired taste I think. Seemed okay at the time, could have done without the smokey burps and that taste in my mouth for the next 3 hours. Needed a good beer to wash it down. No such luck.

[redsturgeon]

On the spur of the moment decided to eat at our local Japanese restaurant last night. Great food, we've eaten there before and it has always been good but last night it surpassed itself.

We were there early and the only other people dining were three generations of a Japanese family, grandmother, mother and father and young child...a good sign I thought.

Anyway, I was there first waiting for Mrs RS so the question of what to drink came up...Kirin or Asahi...hmmmm generally very thin gruel IMHO, OK in that "generic cold bottle of Becks" sort of way on a hot summer's evening but this being the end of August in England, it was distinctly not warm.

Then I remembered that that have Hitachino Nest beer here and I'd enjoyed the amber ale before. Today though, no amber, only a Whitbier.

https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/hitachino ... ale/10526/

Rather pleasant it was too with hints of nutmeg, coriander and orange but not overpoweringly so. Lots of yeasty bits at the bottom of the bottle that were difficult to avoid (especially when the Japanese waitress insisted on tipping the remnants of the old bottle into my glass before bringing another one!

So sipping Japanese, German style beer in a restaurant in England on a cold wet August evening, what's not to like?

Just off to a memorial service now for a friend who died a couple of weeks ago of pancreatic cancer at the age of 51...remembering many pints drunk with him in the garden of our local...I will be raising a glass or two in his memory later today. Death is always with us...but so is beer!

John

[UncleEbenezer]

Death is always with us...but so is beer!

Not an entirely welcome association. Glad it's not beer-o-clock when I'm reading it.

[DiamondEcho]

Hitachino Nest [translates as: Owl's Nest, x-ref the owl on the lable] do make some superb beers. The likes of Asahi and Kirin are perhaps the JPnese equivalents of Long-Life and Double Diamond, which were mass market 1970s 'euro-lagers'. Similar to Skol, which you can still find out in Asia - perhaps the trademark was sold to an Asian brewery?

Considering the above collectively it's all part of the evolution from bland mass market beers to offerings of higher quality and more defined character. (The same goes with the US craft scene. Even the uptight Germans have at one craft brewer in Progusta, though that's aimed at the $$$ end). Add to that, an evolved market willing and able to pay more, as Hitachino Nest is expensive in Japan, the UK, and the couple of other places that I have seen it stocked.

[redsturgeon]

Hitachino Nest [translates as: Owl's Nest, x-ref the owl on the lable]

Aha...so the Japanese for "owl" is "hitachino" and the Japanese for "nest" is, err..."nest"?

John

[Hallucigenia]

Hitachino Nest [translates as: Owl's Nest, x-ref the owl on the lable] do make some superb beers. The likes of Asahi and Kirin are perhaps the JPnese equivalents of Long-Life and Double Diamond, which were mass market 1970s 'euro-lagers'. Similar to Skol, which you can still find out in Asia - perhaps the trademark was sold to an Asian brewery?

Err - Double Diamond was a pale ale that dated back to the 19th century. Draught Burton Ale was the cask version - Burton Bridge brewery have recreated it and it's superb.

Skol is still around, and apparently is very big in Brazil, it was one of the main brands in the Brazilian company Ambev, which merged with "Stella" to form InBev, which merged with "Budweiser" to form ABInbev. It was always a bit of a funny one, as it was explicitly created as an international brand with different local brewers, so different people have the rights to it in different regions. I have a vague memory of someone trying to bring it back here.

I don't think it's even a "smoke" gene - it's a very specific "acrid chemical" gene. Since flavour and smell are so bound up, I guess it's more akin to the "asparagus pee" genes - which will make no sense to 60% of you but Google it...

[DiamondEcho]

Hitachino Nest [translates as: Owl's Nest, x-ref the owl on the lable]

Aha...so the Japanese for "owl" is "hitachino" and the Japanese for "nest" is, err..."nest"? John

That's what I thought RS, but now I'm 2nd guessing myself:
' “Hitachino” is an ancient way of saying “plains of Ibaraki”'
http://www.solticeinternational.com/breweries.html

IIRC Ibaraki is place, a suburb of Tokyo. Anyway, vouch safe, with the owl on the bottle drinking large amounts will yield wisdom. It ain't cheap but wisdom is priceless and it is good stuff

[JMN2]

Couple of hours and beer drinking of epic proportions will commence, Durham beerfest and Newcastle thrown in, it'll be mental, a carnage lasting three days. Any really special ones I'll report later. Over and out.

Two cask ales stood out. Allensale's Force Majeure brewed with Vienna malts and Mosaic hops and The Bridge Tavern brewpub's house hoppy pale (can't remember the name (they have a small brew plant in the back of the room)). Both were excellent.

[Paultry]

If you go to Bamberg there is a pub that sells only rauch beer. Quite nice actually.

More recently, in a Wetherspoons in Paignton I chanced on Salcombe bitter, first rate and somewhat like the Marston's Pedigree up North.

I went back, but it was gone. Anyone know where it is at present being served?

Paul.

[Hallucigenia]

More recently, in a Wetherspoons in Paignton I chanced on Salcombe bitter, first rate and somewhat like the Marston's Pedigree up North.

I went back, but it was gone. Anyone know where it is at present being served?

Paul.

If you mean the old Salcombe bitter, it's not been produced since the new guy took over.

If you mean Seahorse - it looks like it's pretty widely available around Devon at least, look for where it's been reviewed recently on Untappd or see the brewery map

Interesting reading about the new brewery - looks like they're doing cute things using heat pumps in a decommissioned underground reservoir to improve energy efficiency http://www.salcombebrewery.com/the-brewery/

[Paultry]

Hallucigenia

I only took note of the the name since it was on the beer handle, red print on a white background (I think!), 'Salcombe Bitter' no mention of any other name.

Thanks for the information, I'll be on the lookout.

[simoan]

If you mean the old Salcombe bitter, it's not been produced since the new guy took over.

If you mean Seahorse - it looks like it's pretty widely available around Devon at least, look for where it's been reviewed recently on Untappd or see the brewery map

Interesting reading about the new brewery - looks like they're doing cute things using heat pumps in a decommissioned underground reservoir to improve energy efficiency http://www.salcombebrewery.com/the-brewery/

Funnily enough, I visited the Salcombe brewery whilst down there on holiday a few weeks ago. I should imagine they have it on draft in one of the pubs in Salcombe itself but I didn't visit any since the middle of town was rammed during Regatta Week. I had a few bottles of Salcombe beer though - the Sea Horse was a bit straight down the middle (perfectly nice but a bit boring really) but the Salcombe Gold was really good; four and a bit percent with nice bitter, hoppy finish. If I didn't know better I'd say it used Mosaic hops... well, I guess the ingredients must have been expensive as it was only available in 330ml bottles while the other beers were all 500ml.

All the best, Si