@PhysAssist
Ha! Very true! And while some people find it healthy and like blending their grasses to drink I’ll stick to enjoying the smell right after it’s mowed, like you!
@Kyeh@PhysAssist
Well, I haven’t drank it, I believe that’s what we grow for Tucker though. The pet store’s pet grass looked yellow and half dead the last few times we’ve tried to buy it so we’re now growing it ourselves. I DO remember reading the blender recipe. Right now (as of 2 days ago) we’ve been doing the hot, freshly squeezed lemon juice in the morning on an empty stomach. It’s my guys latest ‘health thing’. He’s usually the pessimistic one around here. I won’t say that I’ve gone THAT far, but, I’m definitely ONLY one foot in! I’ll let you know if it makes a difference. Did I mention how much Tuc LOVES his grass…
I don’t get why you’d want the lemon juice hot? I’ve started making sure I have a glass of water with my morning coffee; it seems to cut down on the acidity which can play havoc with my innards. So I guess I won’t be having hot lemon juice!
@Kyeh@PhysAssist
OH YEAH, HE’S SPOILED!
Why does the lemon juice have to be hot…
Yeah, I wish I knew! Lol
Like I said, this is HIS THING and I’ve ONLY got one foot in. 🫣 It’s something HE read or saw in a video, it’s supposed to be good for liver and/or gut health. I’m going to bet that when I look it up and do my own research I’ll find that he’s either missing an ingredient or just has it all wrong to begin with. That’s been a little bit of a thing lately. His numbers are better than ever so I’m thinking it’s just anxiety or stress, it’s really not a big deal and only interferes with little stuff. Guess THAT’S why he’s not running big machinery anymore.
About the hot juice, I’ll let you know when I find out for myself.
I have yet to meet a beer I like, so I can’t give a real opinion. But come to think of it, I believe 10 years ago I tolerated a few ounces of a craft-ish beer, like blackberry or something weird, at the Barrington Brewery in Gt. Barrington, MA.
@xobzoo Mainly, I was talking about beer with alcohol. Root beer is OK occasionally. I have not had ginger beer since my mother made it for us about 70 years ago and I believe it is an “acquired taste” as my dad said about things like olives. I didn’t give it a chance to have me acquire it!
@andyw@Lynnerizer@xobzoo Find some ginger beer and get a bottle of Goslings dark rum and make yourself a proper Dark and Stormy. My kung fu instructor was from Bermuda and we put down an uncountable number of those
@andyw@Lynnerizer@xobzoo
I have fond memories of drinking [NA] ginger beer with my Da in my youth, and they are reinforced whenever I imbibe ginger beer to this day.
Also, some of the alcohol-containing ones are at least as tasty.
Finally, if you like citrus, find you a bar [or a friend] that will make you a Moscow Mule- which is another awesome way to use ginger beer in an alcohol-containing beverage.
@andyw@capnjb@xobzoo
So is it an actual beer? I’m seeing I can get it in a non-alcohol version but is it really a beer? Does it taste like beer because even though I’ve ingested many different types of beer I’ve NEVER liked the taste. And thank goodness I’ve been able to stay sober for 34 years!
@Lynnerizer
Technically, no, it’s not really beer, because:
Beer: alcoholic beverage produced by extracting raw materials with water, boiling (usually with hops), and fermenting. In some countries beer is defined by law—as in Germany, where the standard ingredients, besides water, are malt (kiln-dried germinated barley), hops, and yeast.
source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/beer
But wait:
"Modern ginger beer is a sweetened and carbonated, usually non-alcoholic beverage, a type of soft drink.
Historically it was a type of beer brewed by the natural fermentation of prepared ginger spice, yeast and sugar.
Modern ginger beers are often manufactured rather than brewed, frequently with flavour and colour additives, with artificial carbonation. The related ginger ales also are not brewed."
@hchavers@PhysAssist
I’m not sure what ‘craft’ cider is (maybe I should have checked with Google before commenting) but our local orchard makes the most delicious cider, both hard and sweet, alcohol free. They’ve also got the best donuts I’ve ever tasted. They’re made right in front of you and served fresh from the frier! Lots of other homemade goodies too!
It’s called Clyde’s, they’re family owned and operated since 1881, long enough to PERFECT their process! Lol
(Google search of the website, https://g.co/kgs/Fnr7Q1G)
Also, they have the oldest steam-powered cider mill in the United States. That’s pretty cool! And, you can see everything in the works as soon as you walk through the door. It’s an experience!
@hchavers@PhysAssist
I missed the edit time but I’d say (after reading about craft cider) Clyde’s has their craft cider down to a science! Not only have they been doing for my lifetime but probably my grandparents lifetime too! Lol They’ve been around since 1881! Now THAT is a long time!
So I decided to ask AI before posting my question to you.
Can a cider be considered beer?
This is what I got from AI…
That’s a tasty question! While cider and beer are both fermented drinks, they’re made from different main ingredients and have distinct characteristics.
Cider is typically made from apples, whereas beer is usually made from grains like barley, wheat, or rye. This difference in ingredients gives each drink its own unique flavor profile and production process.
That being said, some people might group cider with beer due to similarities in fermentation and alcohol content. However, purists might argue that cider’s distinct production process and flavor profile set it apart from traditional beer.
What do you think? Do you consider cider a type of beer, or do you see them as distinct categories?
And my response is…
Personally, I see them as today different categories.
@hchavers@Lynnerizer
My view pretty closely parallels the 1516 German Beer Purity Law, which was called “Reinheitsgebot” which originally allowed only water, barley, and hops to be used in brewing beer.
I don’t favor fruit beers or other adulterants except for some alternative grains or other sources of sugars for the yeast, such as oats, sorghum [so gluten-sensitive can also enjoy beer] and lactose or maple syrup.
I think that cider is very different, because it can be fermented as is, without requiring any cooking or brewing process at all.
In that sense, I think cider is more like an unrefined apple wine than a beer.
I say unrefined because cider is typically unfiltered and unpasteurized, and because it retains apple solids, it has a sharper, more tangy flavor, with typical natural alcohol content from 5-8%, while because apple juice used for wine is filtered, pasteurized, and often sweetened by adding extra sugars, the process of fermentation can drive alcohol levels to 10-15%.
@hchavers@PhysAssist
Wow, I think I missed it somewhere along the way but I didn’t realize you brewed your own beer.
My dad used to do it when I was a kid, must’ve been those kits. I remember there was a balloon involved and that he ended up with beer at the end, that’s about it. Lol
There are a lot of craft ciders in the Oregon/Washington area. Also North Carolina which also has apple orchards,
There are many different styles, just like with beers. Some very pure and clean, others brewed more sweet and sometimes blended with other fruit.
Stay away from the commercial (grocery store) brands that are often more like “candy soda” with added sugars.
@macromeh@PhysAssist
I had no idea that there was so many benefits to consuming a beer or two daily. I’d heard that about wine but not beer. Also I did see on some of them that it’s just the alcohol itself so I guess that could (maybe) be EITHER beer or wine?
OAN… I’m thinking about the whole addiction thing though. While it’s not a whole lot of alcohol, it’s STILL alcohol! The reason my guy had such a hard time quiting was because his body became physically addicted and he’d be violently ill without it. It’s one of the most awful things to watch someone go through. With the help of being put into an induced coma (for other reasons) he got through those first 3 weeks. He’s now 5 years sober, thank God!
Lastly, do you guys REALLY like the taste of beer? And have you ALWAYS liked it or was it an acquired taste?
Pilsner Urquell is the best, but its not a craft beer. Four XXXX ranch used to have a pilsner that was close, but it has been discontinued. Otherwise, most of the craft beers go too crazy on the hops (IPAs, etc.). I like a nice Czech or German pils. Why is that so hard to find now?
@jerry559 I feel like IPAs are peaking and Pilsners and Kolsches and Helles and other clean lagers are starting to show up more and more. At least where I am in the Northwest. Your time may be coming soon!
I used to be a super geeky beer brewer. I grew my own hops, milled my grain, and built my own water based on the beer I was making. In other words, I started with RO water and did the math to add the right about of salts to mimic the water from the region I was making a beer from.
My daughter loved to help me on brew days and she would weigh the hops and run the hop schedule during the boil. She was an award winning brewer at the age of four
Some time ago I entered four beers into the National Homebrew Competition. There were over 8000 entries. 3 of the 4 made it to the finals with my BVIP taking Best of Show in its category It was an Imperial Porter… about 9% ABV. When it had finished its ferment, I racked it on top of some really good split vanilla beans for about two weeks. Then at bottling I added a few cups of a really good Kentucky bourbon. I let it sit for a few months and it was probably one of the best beers I have ever made. We actually made adult ice cream floats with it. It was pretty great And you had to remember it was (with the bourbon) quite a bit over 10% alcohol but you couldn’t taste it at all. It was easy to get tipsy on those bottles
@capnjb I used to be part of an informal home brew club. We would get together twice a year to brew a group batch (40-50 gal) at a friend’s place and then split the wort among the crew to take home and finish fermenting individually. Then later we would usually get together to taste the results. Sadly, COVID interfered with several events and then the master brewer (Alan) retired and he and his wife began spending a lot of time traveling, so the group brew sessions went away.
Once, a couple guys from John Deere came by to make a video (I’m not sure what the connection was):
@macromeh I have crazy ADHD with a splash of OCD so I could never do a group brew. Brewing was one of the few things that kept me laser focused. Brewing is like baking. You can give 100 brewers the same recipe and the same ingredients and you’d still end up with 100 different beers It’s all technique.
@capnjb@macromeh I had a coworker who started brewing beer with her husband. One Christmas she gave each of us in the dept. a bottle of her highly prized ale. It might have been great, I’m no judge, but to me it tasted like tar and smoke. Too bad she wasted a bottle on me.
@capnjb@macromeh Sheesh! And then you just stopped! On to the next thing, eh?
(Congratulations )
(That porter actually sounds good to me and I’m not big on beers.)
@Kyeh@macromeh It was a slow phase out. I brewed 200 gallons of beer the year before my daughter was born. It got less and less every year and then she started Irish dance and softball and I started drink less and less and then a buddy of mine who I taught how to brew got really into it so I gave him a lot of my brewing equipment since it was mostly just collecting dust.
Craft beer really depends on the producer and storage conditions. Well-stored, well-crafted beer is great. Poorly stored but well-crafted beer is not. Poorly stored and poorly-crafted beer sucks.
@kittykat9180 We will have to agree to disagree on this one. I do like a good sour from time to time but there is something oddly specific to Belgian yeast that just doesn’t sit well on my palate. I’d probable prefer a German gose.
@capnjb@Kyeh@macromeh I drink tart cherry juice occasionally after a long run, it’s supposed to help with muscle soreness.
I planted a pluerry (plumxcherry) tree in my backyard earlier this spring.
@capnjb@kittykat9180@macromeh They do recommend cherry juice for people with gout, too. So what is a pluerry like? They’re coming up with some neat hybrids - I like plumcots.
@capnjb@Kyeh@macromeh they are supposed to produce fruit in late summer, according to the tag on it. So far, it hasn’t flowered yet. I don’t know if it will fruit since it’s still just a baby but the lady at the nursery said if it gets flowers it will get fruit.
@kittykat9180@Kyeh@macromeh I don’t grow tart cherries but we’ve got a farm nearby that has a wonderful cherry orchard and the girls love to pick them and they always pick way too many (have some in the fridge right now). I don’t think I ever used them in a beer but I do make a solid butter crust and know how to lattice it (is that a verb?) and have made plenty of tart cherry pies.
@capnjb@kittykat9180@macromeh Oh, YUMMMM! I’m very envious - finding tart cherries here is nearly impossible - at least I never see them. I asked a seller who had sweet cherries at a farmers’ market and they said they don’t sell enough of them to make it worth growing them.
@capnjb@kittykat9180@Kyeh We do have a semi-dwarf tart cherry tree but usually the GD birds get most of them. I never tried brewing a cherry beer, but I made a raspberry ale a few times (with fresh berries from our garden) that was pretty popular. I have made some pretty good hard ciders from our fruit trees though.
@capnjb@kittykat9180@Kyeh I think I previously posted about a batch of (hard) cider I made with apples from our Mountain Rose tree. This image is pre-fermentation - after fermenting and back-sweetening, the cider was a pale pink (but quite tasty ).
@capnjb@kittykat9180@Kyeh Fermenting leaves the cider very dry (all the little yeasties gorged themselves on the sugars, pooping ethanol ) - I mean serious-pucker-dry. So you have to kill the yeast-beasts, then sweeten the cider to taste. I usually use (thawed) frozen apple juice concentrate to back-sweeten. Once I used Toriani pineapple syrup, which was also very nice. I prefer my cider semi-sweet/dry-ish.
I also usually force-carbonate the cider.
@capnjb@kittykat9180@macromeh Pineapple syrup sounds really good!
One year my very old apple tree produced a bumper crop, and a guy asked if he could have some to make cider. I let him, and even letterpress printed labels for his bottles. He gave me a generous quantity of cider, but it was waaaaay too dry for me. 🫤 Maybe he didn’t know those tricks.
@capnjb@kittykat9180@Kyeh Re: pineapple flavored cider - I was trying to emulate a commercial hard cider that I had tried and liked. Mine came fairly close
IIRC, it was this one:
Don’t like alcoholic beer. Ginger beer, root beer is great. Especially there’s a local burger joint famously known for making their own root beer.
In the 80s, I welcomed wine coolers with open arms because it was something I could drink while all my other friends were drinking beer.
Then they decided to take the wine out and relabeled it “malt flavored beverage” it’s just flavored beer now.
Fast forward to the 21st century and my sister makes a special effort to get Mike’s hard lemonade for me to drink at a party. Nope! Still flavored beer.
When this sale went live last night, I started to post a comment saying that craft beer is still beer, which means I’m not interested because there are as close to zero beers that I will drink voluntarily as makes no difference. But then I decided that it would be raining on the beer drinkers’ parade, and deleted it.
I honestly did not think that the comments would end up so heavily against rather than in favor. I have no idea what to make of it.
I brewed my own beer for about 15 years, from about 1984 to around 2000.
There was no really good beers available, no microbrews and we were at a stage that we were growing most all of our own food and this was a fun project.
We searched phonebooks and found a Wine shop that also sold beer-making supplies. Perfect.
From the first batch we realized what an actual homebrew ale could taste like. I planted 3 varieties of hops and that was good for the IPAs I learned to make. I expanded with a large refrigerator and then with kegs.
After a while though, microbreweries were popping up everywhere. There was no need to keep brewing as the breweries were making amazing beers.
@daveinwarsh Same. I live in the PNW - there are now so many great local craft beers available (plus I have cut way back on my alcohol consumption), so I don’t do much brewing any more. (I got tired of dumping out half of a 5-gallon keg of home brew because it had passed its prime. )
Is like regular beer. Some tastes great and some tastes like carp.
@yakkoTDI Sounds fishy to me. But carp or crap, I still don’t like beer.
@yakkoTDI
Exactly- except ALL IPA’s suck moose-knuckle!
IPAs taste like dirty lawn clippings and you will not convince me otherwise.
@jouest
Fresh cut grass is one of my most favorite smells ever!
Jus sayen…
@jouest
I’m sorry [not sorry] to be redundant, but:
Exactly- ALL IPA’s suck moose-knuckle!
Now give me a nice malty Scotch Ale, or Barley-wine, that’s heavenly!
@Lynnerizer
I do like that aroma too, but then again, there are a lot of nice smells that I wouldn’t want to eat or drink.
@PhysAssist
And while some people find it healthy and like blending their grasses to drink I’ll stick to enjoying the smell right after it’s mowed, like you! 
Ha! Very true!
@Lynnerizer @PhysAssist Have you had wheatgrass juice?! It tastes to me exactly like freshcut grass and NO, I don’t want to drink that.
@Kyeh @PhysAssist
He’s usually the pessimistic one around here. I won’t say that I’ve gone THAT far, but, I’m definitely ONLY one foot in! 
I’ll let you know if it makes a difference. 
Did I mention how much Tuc LOVES his grass… 
Well, I haven’t drank it, I believe that’s what we grow for Tucker though. The pet store’s pet grass looked yellow and half dead the last few times we’ve tried to buy it so we’re now growing it ourselves. I DO remember reading the blender recipe. Right now (as of 2 days ago) we’ve been doing the hot, freshly squeezed lemon juice in the morning on an empty stomach. It’s my guys latest ‘health thing’.
Guess I could have just simply said NO…
@Lynnerizer @PhysAssist
Wowwww - lucky kitty!
I don’t get why you’d want the lemon juice hot? I’ve started making sure I have a glass of water with my morning coffee; it seems to cut down on the acidity which can play havoc with my innards. So I guess I won’t be having hot lemon juice!
@Kyeh @PhysAssist
That’s been a little bit of a thing lately. His numbers are better than ever so I’m thinking it’s just anxiety or stress, it’s really not a big deal and only interferes with little stuff. Guess THAT’S why he’s not running big machinery anymore. 
OH YEAH, HE’S SPOILED!
Why does the lemon juice have to be hot…
Yeah, I wish I knew! Lol
Like I said, this is HIS THING and I’ve ONLY got one foot in. 🫣 It’s something HE read or saw in a video, it’s supposed to be good for liver and/or gut health. I’m going to bet that when I look it up and do my own research I’ll find that he’s either missing an ingredient or just has it all wrong to begin with.
About the hot juice, I’ll let you know when I find out for myself.
@Lynnerizer @PhysAssist I hope it does great things for you guys!
@Kyeh @PhysAssist
THANKS!
Don’t about their beer but they .make decent Mac & Cheese.
I have yet to meet a beer I like, so I can’t give a real opinion. But come to think of it, I believe 10 years ago I tolerated a few ounces of a craft-ish beer, like blackberry or something weird, at the Barrington Brewery in Gt. Barrington, MA.
@andyw Not even root beer or ginger beer? (It’s okay to not like root beer.)
Or do you just mean “actual” beers, not everything with beer in the name?
@xobzoo Mainly, I was talking about beer with alcohol. Root beer is OK occasionally. I have not had ginger beer since my mother made it for us about 70 years ago and I believe it is an “acquired taste” as my dad said about things like olives. I didn’t give it a chance to have me acquire it!
@andyw @xobzoo
Ginger ale, YES, birch beer soda, YES, but ginger beer… I’VE NEVER EVEN HEARD OF IT!
@andyw @Lynnerizer @xobzoo Find some ginger beer and get a bottle of Goslings dark rum and make yourself a proper Dark and Stormy. My kung fu instructor was from Bermuda and we put down an uncountable number of those
@andyw
My argument would be that anything with ‘berry’ in the name isn’t actually a beer, ale or other related beverage.
@andyw @Lynnerizer @xobzoo
I have fond memories of drinking [NA] ginger beer with my Da in my youth, and they are reinforced whenever I imbibe ginger beer to this day.
Also, some of the alcohol-containing ones are at least as tasty.
Finally, if you like citrus, find you a bar [or a friend] that will make you a Moscow Mule- which is another awesome way to use ginger beer in an alcohol-containing beverage.
VAN GOGH! MANGO! TANGO! AWESOME!
@andyw @capnjb @xobzoo
So is it an actual beer? I’m seeing I can get it in a non-alcohol version but is it really a beer? Does it taste like beer because even though I’ve ingested many different types of beer I’ve NEVER liked the taste. And thank goodness I’ve been able to stay sober for 34 years!
@andyw @PhysAssist @xobzoo
Thanks! 
Ha! I DO like citrus but I’m 34 years sober so NO BOOZE FOR ME!
@Lynnerizer
Technically, no, it’s not really beer, because:
Beer: alcoholic beverage produced by extracting raw materials with water, boiling (usually with hops), and fermenting. In some countries beer is defined by law—as in Germany, where the standard ingredients, besides water, are malt (kiln-dried germinated barley), hops, and yeast.
source:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/beer
But wait:
"Modern ginger beer is a sweetened and carbonated, usually non-alcoholic beverage, a type of soft drink.
Historically it was a type of beer brewed by the natural fermentation of prepared ginger spice, yeast and sugar.
Modern ginger beers are often manufactured rather than brewed, frequently with flavour and colour additives, with artificial carbonation. The related ginger ales also are not brewed."
So maybe???
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginger_beer
@PhysAssist
Thanks for the explanation!
@Lynnerizer
De nada, kind of in my wheelhouse.
@PhysAssist
I could tell!
@PhysAssist I can understand that!
@capnjb @Lynnerizer @xobzoo The ginger beer our mother made for us kids definitely had NO alcohol. I have no idea what it was made from.
@andyw
Most likely, ginger, sugar, water, and [non-alcohol producing] yeast, and maybe some citrus, at least per my reading about it.
“Beer is the Nectar of the Nitwit” ~ Jeff Albertson
@posmr15
BOO!
Who da F*** is that A-hole to have any opinion on this topic anyhow?!?!?!?
Maybe you didn’t see this:
“How Beer Saved the World”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Beer_Saved_the_World
and:
I am not a beer drinker. Do they make craft cider, and I mean on purpose?
@hchavers
Yes, and many orchards have their own varietals.
@hchavers @PhysAssist
Lots of other homemade goodies too!
I’m not sure what ‘craft’ cider is (maybe I should have checked with Google before commenting) but our local orchard makes the most delicious cider, both hard and sweet, alcohol free. They’ve also got the best donuts I’ve ever tasted. They’re made right in front of you and served fresh from the frier!
It’s called Clyde’s, they’re family owned and operated since 1881, long enough to PERFECT their process! Lol
(Google search of the website, https://g.co/kgs/Fnr7Q1G)
Also, they have the oldest steam-powered cider mill in the United States. That’s pretty cool!
And, you can see everything in the works as soon as you walk through the door. It’s an experience!
You’ve got to check out the endless pictures from Google here… https://g.co/kgs/fHVzYE6
@hchavers @PhysAssist
They’ve been around since 1881! Now THAT is a long time! 
I missed the edit time but I’d say (after reading about craft cider) Clyde’s has their craft cider down to a science! Not only have they been doing for my lifetime but probably my grandparents lifetime too! Lol
@hchavers @PhysAssist
But how can a cider be considered beer?
So I decided to ask AI before posting my question to you.
Can a cider be considered beer?
This is what I got from AI…
That’s a tasty question! While cider and beer are both fermented drinks, they’re made from different main ingredients and have distinct characteristics.
Cider is typically made from apples, whereas beer is usually made from grains like barley, wheat, or rye. This difference in ingredients gives each drink its own unique flavor profile and production process.
That being said, some people might group cider with beer due to similarities in fermentation and alcohol content. However, purists might argue that cider’s distinct production process and flavor profile set it apart from traditional beer.
What do you think? Do you consider cider a type of beer, or do you see them as distinct categories?
And my response is…
Personally, I see them as today different categories.
@hchavers @Lynnerizer
My view pretty closely parallels the 1516 German Beer Purity Law, which was called “Reinheitsgebot” which originally allowed only water, barley, and hops to be used in brewing beer.
I don’t favor fruit beers or other adulterants except for some alternative grains or other sources of sugars for the yeast, such as oats, sorghum [so gluten-sensitive can also enjoy beer] and lactose or maple syrup.
I think that cider is very different, because it can be fermented as is, without requiring any cooking or brewing process at all.
In that sense, I think cider is more like an unrefined apple wine than a beer.
I say unrefined because cider is typically unfiltered and unpasteurized, and because it retains apple solids, it has a sharper, more tangy flavor, with typical natural alcohol content from 5-8%, while because apple juice used for wine is filtered, pasteurized, and often sweetened by adding extra sugars, the process of fermentation can drive alcohol levels to 10-15%.
@Lynnerizer
Thanks for posting those!
@hchavers @PhysAssist
Lol 
Wow, I think I missed it somewhere along the way but I didn’t realize you brewed your own beer.
My dad used to do it when I was a kid, must’ve been those kits. I remember there was a balloon involved and that he ended up with beer at the end, that’s about it.
What does YOUR setup look like?
…is still beer, and therefore disgusting.
@Pony
Boo!
. . . isn’t cider, which is what I drink.
There are a lot of craft ciders in the Oregon/Washington area. Also North Carolina which also has apple orchards,
There are many different styles, just like with beers. Some very pure and clean, others brewed more sweet and sometimes blended with other fruit.
Stay away from the commercial (grocery store) brands that are often more like “candy soda” with added sugars.
Whoa, so many beer haters.
)
(But that just means more for me!
@macromeh
Yay!
We know what’s good, right?!?!?!?
@macromeh
Also:
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/is-beer-healthy#benefits
@macromeh @PhysAssist
I had no idea that there was so many benefits to consuming a beer or two daily. I’d heard that about wine but not beer. Also I did see on some of them that it’s just the alcohol itself so I guess that could (maybe) be EITHER beer or wine?
OAN… I’m thinking about the whole addiction thing though. While it’s not a whole lot of alcohol, it’s STILL alcohol! The reason my guy had such a hard time quiting was because his body became physically addicted and he’d be violently ill without it. It’s one of the most awful things to watch someone go through. With the help of being put into an induced coma (for other reasons) he got through those first 3 weeks. He’s now 5 years sober, thank God!
Lastly, do you guys REALLY like the taste of beer? And have you ALWAYS liked it or was it an acquired taste?
Pilsner Urquell is the best, but its not a craft beer. Four XXXX ranch used to have a pilsner that was close, but it has been discontinued. Otherwise, most of the craft beers go too crazy on the hops (IPAs, etc.). I like a nice Czech or German pils. Why is that so hard to find now?
@jerry559 I feel like IPAs are peaking and Pilsners and Kolsches and Helles and other clean lagers are starting to show up more and more. At least where I am in the Northwest. Your time may be coming soon!
@user35933254
One can only hope so and have faith.
Now, if bourbon barrel aging would just go away too.
I used to be a super geeky beer brewer. I grew my own hops, milled my grain, and built my own water based on the beer I was making. In other words, I started with RO water and did the math to add the right about of salts to mimic the water from the region I was making a beer from.
My daughter loved to help me on brew days and she would weigh the hops and run the hop schedule during the boil. She was an award winning brewer at the age of four
Some time ago I entered four beers into the National Homebrew Competition. There were over 8000 entries. 3 of the 4 made it to the finals with my BVIP taking Best of Show in its category
It was an Imperial Porter… about 9% ABV. When it had finished its ferment, I racked it on top of some really good split vanilla beans for about two weeks. Then at bottling I added a few cups of a really good Kentucky bourbon. I let it sit for a few months and it was probably one of the best beers I have ever made. We actually made adult ice cream floats with it. It was pretty great 
And you had to remember it was (with the bourbon) quite a bit over 10% alcohol but you couldn’t taste it at all. It was easy to get tipsy on those bottles 
Beer Math FTW!
@capnjb congrats on the bjcp success (beer knerd term)
@capnjb I used to be part of an informal home brew club. We would get together twice a year to brew a group batch (40-50 gal) at a friend’s place and then split the wort among the crew to take home and finish fermenting individually. Then later we would usually get together to taste the results. Sadly, COVID interfered with several events and then the master brewer (Alan) retired and he and his wife began spending a lot of time traveling, so the group brew sessions went away.
Once, a couple guys from John Deere came by to make a video (I’m not sure what the connection was):
@macromeh Did you ever spend time over on Northern Brewer’s forum? There were a number of guys that did big group brews
@macromeh I have crazy ADHD with a splash of OCD so I could never do a group brew. Brewing was one of the few things that kept me laser focused. Brewing is like baking. You can give 100 brewers the same recipe and the same ingredients and you’d still end up with 100 different beers
It’s all technique.
@capnjb @macromeh I had a coworker who started brewing beer with her husband. One Christmas she gave each of us in the dept. a bottle of her highly prized ale. It might have been great, I’m no judge, but to me it tasted like tar and smoke. Too bad she wasted a bottle on me.
@Kyeh @macromeh This was me sending the kids off to summer camp
I’m kind of a big deal
@capnjb @macromeh Sheesh! And then you just stopped! On to the next thing, eh?
)
(Congratulations
(That porter actually sounds good to me and I’m not big on beers.)
@Kyeh @macromeh It was a slow phase out. I brewed 200 gallons of beer the year before my daughter was born. It got less and less every year and then she started Irish dance and softball and I started drink less and less and then a buddy of mine who I taught how to brew got really into it so I gave him a lot of my brewing equipment since it was mostly just collecting dust.
And that was a hell of a run on sentence
This is Meh. Where’s the “is ok” option?
Craft beer really depends on the producer and storage conditions. Well-stored, well-crafted beer is great. Poorly stored but well-crafted beer is not. Poorly stored and poorly-crafted beer sucks.
I like no beer so craft beer is just another beer to me
The only good beer is lambic
@kittykat9180 We will have to agree to disagree on this one.
I do like a good sour from time to time but there is something oddly specific to Belgian yeast that just doesn’t sit well on my palate. I’d probable prefer a German gose.
@kittykat9180 I like Kreik:
@Kyeh Lindman’s is the best brand. My favorite flavor is framboise.
@kittykat9180 @Kyeh It’s been a while, but I’ve actually had that one
@capnjb @kittykat9180 @Kyeh Yes, it is quite tasty!
@capnjb @Kyeh the cherry of the raspberry?
@capnjb @kittykat9180
@macromeh - didn’t you say you grow some tart cherries? Did you ever make a cherry beer?
@capnjb @Kyeh @macromeh I drink tart cherry juice occasionally after a long run, it’s supposed to help with muscle soreness.
I planted a pluerry (plumxcherry) tree in my backyard earlier this spring.
@capnjb @kittykat9180 @macromeh They do recommend cherry juice for people with gout, too. So what is a pluerry like? They’re coming up with some neat hybrids - I like plumcots.
@capnjb @Kyeh @macromeh they are supposed to produce fruit in late summer, according to the tag on it. So far, it hasn’t flowered yet. I don’t know if it will fruit since it’s still just a baby but the lady at the nursery said if it gets flowers it will get fruit.
@kittykat9180 @Kyeh @macromeh I don’t grow tart cherries but we’ve got a farm nearby that has a wonderful cherry orchard and the girls love to pick them and they always pick way too many (have some in the fridge right now). I don’t think I ever used them in a beer but I do make a solid butter crust and know how to lattice it (is that a verb?) and have made plenty of tart cherry pies.
@capnjb @kittykat9180 @macromeh Oh, YUMMMM! I’m very envious - finding tart cherries here is nearly impossible - at least I never see them. I asked a seller who had sweet cherries at a farmers’ market and they said they don’t sell enough of them to make it worth growing them.
@capnjb @kittykat9180 @Kyeh We do have a semi-dwarf tart cherry tree but usually the GD birds get most of them. I never tried brewing a cherry beer, but I made a raspberry ale a few times (with fresh berries from our garden) that was pretty popular. I have made some pretty good hard ciders from our fruit trees though.
@capnjb @kittykat9180 @macromeh Okay, maybe I conflated the two things. I do remember you talking about a beer or cider that sounded good!
@capnjb @kittykat9180 @Kyeh I think I previously posted about a batch of (hard) cider I made with apples from our Mountain Rose tree. This image is pre-fermentation - after fermenting and back-sweetening, the cider was a pale pink (but quite tasty
).
@capnjb @kittykat9180 @macromeh Yes, that looks lovely. Was it sweet?
@capnjb @kittykat9180 @Kyeh Fermenting leaves the cider very dry (all the little yeasties gorged themselves on the sugars, pooping ethanol
) - I mean serious-pucker-dry. So you have to kill the yeast-beasts, then sweeten the cider to taste. I usually use (thawed) frozen apple juice concentrate to back-sweeten. Once I used Toriani pineapple syrup, which was also very nice. I prefer my cider semi-sweet/dry-ish.
I also usually force-carbonate the cider.
@capnjb @kittykat9180 @macromeh Pineapple syrup sounds really good!
One year my very old apple tree produced a bumper crop, and a guy asked if he could have some to make cider. I let him, and even letterpress printed labels for his bottles. He gave me a generous quantity of cider, but it was waaaaay too dry for me. 🫤 Maybe he didn’t know those tricks.
@capnjb @kittykat9180 @Kyeh Re: pineapple flavored cider - I was trying to emulate a commercial hard cider that I had tried and liked. Mine came fairly close
IIRC, it was this one:
Don’t like alcoholic beer. Ginger beer, root beer is great. Especially there’s a local burger joint famously known for making their own root beer.
In the 80s, I welcomed wine coolers with open arms because it was something I could drink while all my other friends were drinking beer.
Then they decided to take the wine out and relabeled it “malt flavored beverage”
it’s just flavored beer now.
Fast forward to the 21st century and my sister makes a special effort to get Mike’s hard lemonade for me to drink at a party. Nope! Still flavored beer.
I’m good with regular lite beer
@Star2236 I’m regular with good beer.
Great description.
When this sale went live last night, I started to post a comment saying that craft beer is still beer, which means I’m not interested because there are as close to zero beers that I will drink voluntarily as makes no difference. But then I decided that it would be raining on the beer drinkers’ parade, and deleted it.
I honestly did not think that the comments would end up so heavily against rather than in favor. I have no idea what to make of it.
@werehatrack My theory is that beer-haters are naturally bitter already so they don’t appreciate the complex taste profile of a well-crafted brew.
if the words “It’s an acquired taste” have to precede whatever beverage you’re about to recommend me, I don’t want it
I brewed my own beer for about 15 years, from about 1984 to around 2000.
There was no really good beers available, no microbrews and we were at a stage that we were growing most all of our own food and this was a fun project.
We searched phonebooks and found a Wine shop that also sold beer-making supplies. Perfect.
From the first batch we realized what an actual homebrew ale could taste like. I planted 3 varieties of hops and that was good for the IPAs I learned to make. I expanded with a large refrigerator and then with kegs.
After a while though, microbreweries were popping up everywhere. There was no need to keep brewing as the breweries were making amazing beers.
@daveinwarsh Same. I live in the PNW - there are now so many great local craft beers available (plus I have cut way back on my alcohol consumption), so I don’t do much brewing any more. (I got tired of dumping out half of a 5-gallon keg of home brew because it had passed its prime.
)
@daveinwarsh @macromeh I use my beer taps for fizzy water now more than beer, but I get it.
@capnjb @daveinwarsh I removed the kegs from my kegerator and now use it for keeping an assortment of my favorite commercial beers cold and ready.