Comments on: Show #16: Living Dead Beers

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 21:26:35 +0000

Hey Charlie. Loved the historical show! In listening to the last couple of shows, it occured to me that it would interesting to see a show that breaks the stereotypes about lagers. Call it “dark lagers?” or some such. Because our cruddy mass-produced beer-like products use lager yeast, lagers get a bum rap. Who knew there were some great lagers out there, like Spaten Optimator, Negro Modelo (dark–labeled “ale” on the bottle), or more exotically Cuzco from Peru. Or, how about a blackbier or hoppy american lager (try the try Terrapin’s All American Imperial Pilsner–one of the most outstanding beers I’ve had lately). And I’m sure you are dreaming up the beer-geek moment on the science of yeast right now…. Keep of the excellent work!!!

By: Charlie

Charlie — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 20:21:05 +0000

Chip…thanks for the info. When I was in Portland, I actually stopped in at Roots and tried both the Heather Ale and a Kolsch brewed with gruit. Both were outstanding. The reason they do so much non-hopped brewing is the “organic” nature of the brewery; apparently organic hops are difficult/expensive/low on variety, and the brewers looked to the pre-hop era of brewing for inspiration.

Thomas…yum.

By: Thomas

Thomas — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 16:54:09 +0000

On the topic of ‘other’ beers Charlie I have a Rye-Hefe hybrid brew currently, I don’t know what to expect of it, but it should be an interesting. I should have 3-4 batches coming to maturity in the next few weeks I’ll try to pass them to Evo to bring to the show.

Other brews will be Oak Creek Canyon Apple Cider, next batch of Czech Black Lager (bit more hoppy this time), and maybe Rye Brown ale.

By: Chip

Chip — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 13:18:41 +0000

Another great show!

I loved the information on gruit and I’m thinking about trying to do a gruit beer, just to taste and experience the differences.

I have found another commercial heather ale for you. Check out the following: http://www.rootsorganicbrewing.com/beerstyles.htm. I happened upon this one while searching the ‘Net for gruit information and recipes. There are probably some other ones too, but I thought I’d pass this one along.