Home of the BrewNosers

That’s funny! I don’t see a thread on alcohol, so I’m starting one.

You’d think that alcohol was an unfortunate by-product of brewing, and we are all devout Baptists or something, making flavourful drinks with hops and barley.

We talk about the flavours from hops, yeast and malt. What about alcohol? How does alcohol contribute to beer? How to emphasise the taste of alcohol? Are there different flavours from alcohol in beer?

Are there beers that feature alcohol, like an IPA features hops, a stout features malt, a hefeweizen features yeast? If there aren’t any; I think there should be.

It’s a fair question I think.

Bugger! I just remembered something. The big commercial beers (the mega-swills) are drunk by the masses because of the alcohol. They have not much else. ’cept they are cold and sold with a dream.

A beer with no alcohol is not very rewarding. We need a serious discussion on Booze. It is a strong and essential feature of beer. You can no more have beer without alcohol, than you can have a joint without cannabis. People smoke the joint for the cannabis, and drink the beer for the alcohol.

I would say that when you make a lighter "alcohol first" beer you get what you call a "mega-swill"...

I recently had a belgian style dubbel that had higher alcohol content than most of my usual picks and the warming note of the alcohol definitely complimented the other flavors.

I'd like to try a barleywine at some point.

Eisbocks jump to mind. Not sure if it is truth or legend but apparently the style originated because a cask of bock got partially frozen during transport. Since water freezes before alcohol you get an amped up version of your beer. Anyways, now some breweries make them on purpose. I think the most famous and easiest to obtain (relatively speaking) is the Schneider Aventinus Eisbock.

Vancouver Island Brewing has made Hermanator Ice Bock for about 15 years. It was always a favourite. http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/492/1401/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;