Erisian Brewer's Cadre. Or: How I saw the Goddess in the first place

[Choptop]

PICTURE TIME (I just got a new camera for xmas the same day I bottled a batch)


My 5th homebrew/1st IPA after 3 weeks in the fermentor.


Siphoning over to the bottling bucket


A beautiful batch of beer

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

how does it taste??

[Choptop]

Damn tasty so far.  Super hoppy.  I'll let you know again in a week after it's got some carbonation.

[Precious Moments Zalgo]

You know that sake stuff they have at the Japanese steak house, that comes out piping hot and you have to drink it quickly because if you let it get below body temperature it starts to taste like rubbing alcohol mixed with nail polish remover?  Well, I am never drinking that shit again.  I went to my homebrew club meeting last night, and someone brought a bottle of real sake that she had made, and it like tasted all good and junk, exactly like I didn't know sake could taste.  I see that my local homebrew store sells Koji culture, so now I'm going to have to make some myself.  I'll let you know how it comes out.

I got my scoresheets with feedback on my competition entries.  I knew my Russian Imperial stout was overcarbonated, but the judges also pointed out that it was overattenuated (too thin) and slightly too hoppy.  So, next time I will mash at a higher temperature, back off on the carbonation a lot, and let it age for two years before I submit it to a competition.  I don't know if I need to back off on the hops any, or if I just need to let them age out.

[Choptop]

Awesome, I'd love to try some craft-made sake.  I used to manage a sushi place once upon a time, and have consumed large quantities of not-so-great sake in my life.

[Richter]

You know that sake stuff they have at the Japanese steak house, that comes out piping hot and you have to drink it quickly because if you let it get below body temperature it starts to taste like rubbing alcohol mixed with nail polish remover?  Well, I am never drinking that shit again.  I went to my homebrew club meeting last night, and someone brought a bottle of real sake that she had made, and it like tasted all good and junk, exactly like I didn't know sake could taste.  I see that my local homebrew store sells Koji culture, so now I'm going to have to make some myself.  I'll let you know how it comes out.

I got my scoresheets with feedback on my competition entries.  I knew my Russian Imperial stout was overcarbonated, but the judges also pointed out that it was overattenuated (too thin) and slightly too hoppy.  So, next time I will mash at a higher temperature, back off on the carbonation a lot, and let it age for two years before I submit it to a competition.  I don't know if I need to back off on the hops any, or if I just need to let them age out.

You don't need to back off the hops, they need to pull their big boy pants back up.

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

^THAT


I like my hoppy stout. Hell, Rasputin is really hoppy.

Note to self for next time though: use a hop sock.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Fuckin overhopped beers. It's a total trend here, and it drives me insane. Yeah, yeah, hoppy. IPA is neato. Whatever.

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

No no it's not like that.
The stouts don't taste like soap when too hoppy like the IPA's do.
They just make me sneeze.

I can see where you're getting sick of the over hopped IPA's though. People keep ordering these things at the bar and really, it's belgian, brown and mead season to me. Save those damn things for that period between summer and fall. What's it called? Oh, lovebug season.

[Triple Zero]

Sneeze? Is that what's causing it, hoppiness?

I've always found it weird, I thought it has to do with how chilled the beer was, but it could be hopped, or maybe just randomly, but it happens so very often that the very first beer makes me sneeze, a lot. But good sneezes, like I associate them with the slight initial alcohol buzz. It's just, nobody I know has that, and sometimes I sneeze like five or six times and they're all like, wtf hayfever? cat allergy? and I say, no it's the beer, it happens sometimes. And they're all like OMG YOURE ALLERGIC TO BEER??? And I have to explain no it just makes me sneeze for a bit sometimes and that's okay.

[Suu]

Hops are flowers, after all. They make me sneeze too.

[Precious Moments Zalgo]

I know one of the judges personally, and he's a huge hophead.  It's not that my imperial stout was too hoppy for his tastes, but rather that he felt it was slightly out of balance.

I am about to brew this beer again so it will be ready in time for next winter.  I think I will switch out my bittering hop.  I don't think that Magnum is the "clean bittering hop" it's advertised to be.  Palisade might be more what I'm looking for.

[Jenne]

No no it's not like that.
The stouts don't taste like soap when too hoppy like the IPA's do.
They just make me sneeze.

I can see where you're getting sick of the over hopped IPA's though. People keep ordering these things at the bar and really, it's belgian, brown and mead season to me. Save those damn things for that period between summer and fall. What's it called? Oh, lovebug season.

Hops are flowers, after all. They make me sneeze too.

Oh HELL.  THAT's why I sneeze sometimes when I'm having one of those!  Shit.  Dumb, Jenne, really dumb. 

[Jenne]

Sneeze? Is that what's causing it, hoppiness?

I've always found it weird, I thought it has to do with how chilled the beer was, but it could be hopped, or maybe just randomly, but it happens so very often that the very first beer makes me sneeze, a lot. But good sneezes, like I associate them with the slight initial alcohol buzz. It's just, nobody I know has that, and sometimes I sneeze like five or six times and they're all like, wtf hayfever? cat allergy? and I say, no it's the beer, it happens sometimes. And they're all like OMG YOURE ALLERGIC TO BEER??? And I have to explain no it just makes me sneeze for a bit sometimes and that's okay.

Truthfully, I'm glad now I know.  And thanks for sharing that because I was feeling really stupid.  I never put it together like that before, either.  But it all makes sense now.  I do have hayfever and mild allergies to dust.  So the hoppy flowers would totally do that to me.

Phew.

[Triple Zero]

but but but but but I dont even have hayfever!