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Did you ever wonder why (please read this using your best Andy Rooney voice) why your beer's flavor gets stuck in the bottle? Why did it take this long to create the bottle throat turbulator? I'm mean, the flavor's been stuck in the bottle for years, and finally, thanks to Miller or bud or lite or extra lite or ice lite or one of them who created the "turbulator", we can finally taste our beer. Beautiful. And also, did you ever run to your fridge, pull out a beer, and wonder if it's cold? thank yeast that Coors thought up the cold sensitive can. When it's blue, it's as cold as the rockies. Finally, I can look at the can, and know that my beer is cold! Because, after the accident, I can't feel cold anymore and I need blue F'in mountains to tell me.

Anyone tinker with home brewing out there? It's something I've been wanting to take up for a while now and thought this might be a good place to exchange techniques, equipment recommendations and recipes.

Share with us your favourite (or favourites). I've had a few really tasty one-offs lately including a number from Dogfish Head: Ancient receipe resurrected - Muscat grape and honey infused. Very strong beer aged in Paraguayan Palo-Santo wood. Dark, rich caramel flavours and the wood really works. I would have guessed 7-8% abv for this one upon tasting -- not 12%. Oak aged IPA -- fantastic balance of bitter with sweet, and the oak flavour really comes through. Incidentally, Innis & Gunn makes a very similar beer that's absolutely fantastic. Chicory Stout -- interesting, you can really taste the chicory. Not sure this one was entirely my cup of tea. But when I can lay my hands on it, I've really been enjoying this as of late: Good IPA with some real nice citrus notes -- think grapefruit.

Oh, it turns out our dear Tal never touched wine or beer, but drank only the "clean" drinks, says his wife, Angelina Tal: "It's known that Tal was a chain smoker. He could smoke several packs during just one game..." "Yes, Misha would smoke two packs of Kent (he smoked long "deluxe" cigarettes) a day. He had a habit to smoke a quarter of a cigarette, then throw it away and get a new cigarette. So actually he smoked just half a pack. During the routine medical examinations, the doctors said that he had very clean lungs and an infant's liver. Hard to believe? He drank only clean drinks - vodka, whiskey, and never touched beer, wine or cognac. http://blog.chess.com/Spektrowski/an-interview-with-angelina-tal What a shame. I guess he lacked a good mentor who would recommend him a few brands of beer. And this is the first time I hear of vodka & whiskey as the clean drinks, and beer and wine as the what, non-clean? Has anyone heard about that before? Anyway, I knew there was something about Tal that disturbed me.

Hi All, I thought that starting a forum where we could share our experiences would be a good place to start with this group. Feel free to share any and all of your experiences, but if you'd like to take a slightly more formal approach and to be able to consistently compare your notes to others, I've shamelessly stolen the following from www.beeradvocate.com: How To Taste Beer When analyzing a beer, you can't just swill it down, burp and say "it's great" or "it's crap." And, even though tasting is an individual art, there are a few steps, which if followed, will take your beer tasting to a blissful level. Look Take pause and marvel at its greatness before you partake of it. Raise the beer in front of you, but don't hold your beer to direct light as this will dilute its true color. Describe its color, its head and its consistency. Agitate Swirl your beer, gently in the glass. This will pull out aromas, slight nuances, loosen & stimulate carbonation and test head retention. Smell 90-95% of what you experience is through you sense of smell. Breathe thru your nose with two quick sniffs, then with your mouth open, then thru your mouth only (nose and mouth are connected in the experience). Let olfaction guide you. Agitate again if need be, and ensure that you are in an area that has no overpowering aromas. Enjoy its bouquet. Taste Now sip the beer. Resist swallowing immediately. Let it wander and explore your entire palate. Let your taste buds speak. Note the mouthfeel, the consistency of the liquid's body, and breathe out during the process of tasting. This process of exhaling is called "retro-olfaction" and will release retained stimulations at the mucus and mouthfeel level, but at a higher temperature. At times this will be the same as the olfactory process if not different and complimentary. Try to detect any sweetness, salty flavors, acids and general bitterness. Explain what they are, or what they are similar to. Also, try tasting the beer after it warms a bit (just a bit mind you). Really cold beer tends to mask some of the flavors. As a beer warms, its true flavors will pull through, become more pronounced. You can find some examples here: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/

Has anyone here thought about growing their own hops? There's a house in Calgary here out back of one of the better brew-pubs that has a bunch of hops growing up the back fence in the alley so I know it's possible here. I've been giving some thought to seeing if they could be planted in place of other more traditional climbing vines in my yard. Has anyone else tried to grow them? Any thoughts or advice?

I thought it might be fun to share notes on our favourite local pubs. I'm going to split mine into two separate categories: craft beer selection and international beer selection. For craft beer, by far my favourite is a little pub just south of Calgary's downtown core called the Hop In Brew. It's an old converted house, and is both rustic (read a little run down) and cozy inside. Incredibly friendly staff, and a fantastic rotating selection of craft beers: Just a few blocks from the Hop In Brew is Bottlescrew Bill's, which has a huge selection of international beers -- by far the largest selection I'm aware of in Calgary. Much more of a typical pub feel to this one: This pub has a passport program called Around the World in 80 Beers. You have to make your way through 80 distinct beers within a year to get your name on the wall. Lots of fun, some of us have been around the world a few times... Incidentally, Bottlescrew Bill's is also attached to the restaurant (Buzzard's) that hosts Calgary's annual Testicle Festival. What are your favourite local pubs?

Hi Guys, do you have any books on beers ? I have alot of books on coocktails and two books on whiskeys and the good new is that I got a book on beers for my Father's Day, perfect ! It called World's Best Beers. 1000 unmissable brews from Portland to Prague. by Ben McFarland. Jacqui Small pub. Holy smoke ! I could not believe the number of beers in Australia and New Zealand that I have not try (yet). 2009n ed. got a different cover though. There is it, that the one I've got.

Found this today and had to share: http://www.megachess.com/pbeerchess.htm

I'm sure we've all had this happen: You find yourself at an event where beer is being served, but unfortunately, whoever determined the beer selection had little to know appreciation for what makes good beer good. So your stuck either drinking lousy beer, moving on to wine or spirits, or (shudder) not drinking anything at all. What is the worst beer you've seen served to guests at an event? Also: Do you have any guilty pleasures that might fall into this same category?

Hey fellow Strange Brewers. I think this is what a good champions league match experience should look like (an excuse to show my favorite brand): And in glass: I love the "misty" look of it. And about the match: Mourinho is the man. I never even liked the guy, but totally admire him!

I believe this is an often overlooked element of enjoying good beer, especially at home, but also often at pubs that serve good beer and should know enough to serve it in the right glassware but do not. I found a handy guide that I've linked to (via the image) below: Again, www.craftbeer.com proves to be a fantastic resource.

This subject interests me, but also eludes me somewhat. I have a tendency to buy my beer based on what I'm in the mood to drink without consideration for what I plan to eat. A practice I should probably actively try to alter. In any case, I found the fantastic chart I've linked to below and thought I would share: http://www.craftbeer.com/attachments/0000/0533/beerandfood.pdf Please feel free to contribute your thoughts and experiences.

Shamelessly stolen from here: http://www.forevergeek.com/2010/08/post-international_beer_day_history_lesson/the-history-of-beer-1/

I've come across a couple of these, but only had the chance to try one (Rogue's). Generally, dried hops or even hop pellets are used in the brewing process, but these use fresh, undried hops and give the beer a very distinctive flavour that differed a little from dry hopped beers. The other I'm aware of, but haven't tried is Deschuttes' Hop Trip: Has anyone else had the opportunity to enjoy a beer that's been hopped with fresh, undried hops? Care to share your experience, or point us towards others that we might try?

I've also seen these called American Style Black Ales, India Dark Ales, or Cascadian Black Ale: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_Pale_Ale#American-Style_Black_Ale This is a relatively new beer style, and I've had a couple that have been nothing short of magical, but unfortunately there are very few available in my market. I've mostly seen them in the NW USA and Vancouver. Has anyone had any particularly good ones who wishes to share notes? So far, as I posted in another thread here, the Hop in the Dark by Deschuttes is the best one I've come across: Anyone else enjoying this style right now?

I've only come across this style a small handful of times, and have to admit that this is truly the only beer style that I've ever encountered that I can honestly say I dislike. That said, of course, I've only tried a couple. Has anyone had better experiences than I have with this style that they'd care to share?

Roughly - how long have you been playing on a contiguous basis? When (from the start of that period) did you start achieving the unbelievable scores you're sporting? What do you recommend to a fledgling?

I've taken a couple of trips now where one of the primary focuses has been beer (Belgium and down the Western Coast of the US in particular) and many more on which I've had the opportunity to sample many of the local brews. I'll pop back in and share some stories when I've got a bit more time, but thought I'd open up a discussion topic for others to do the same in the mean time. Has anyone had good beer-trourism experiences? Bad? Any other travel stories they want to share?

What's your favourite beer style? I spent a lot of time when I was younger really enoying brown ales, and then discovered porters and stouts which were featured prominently throughout my late 20s and early 30s. After a trip to Portland and down the Oregon coast in the fall of 2009, however, I discovered something that permanently changed my taste in beers: IPAs. It seems that there's something in that bitter bite that's just irresistible. Where once I turned up my nose, now I can't get enough. I'm half-ways convinced that hops themselves have addictive qualities. It seems I can't go into a good beer store, or brew pub without going straight to their hoppiest offerings. Recently, I've noticed a style that, when done well, I've really enjoyed -- dark IPAs (I've also seen them called India Brown Ales, or Black IPAs). I've had a few that have had poor balance, but I've also had a few that were incredible and featured the best of the dark brews I liked so much with the wonderful hoppiness of the IPAs all balanced with care to make an all around great tasting beer. One of these that sticks out for me in particular is this one from the Deschuttes brewery. Too bad I can't get it where Iive: How about everyone else?