(Part 3) Top products from r/beer

Water has a huge effect on how beer tastes/smells/feels/etc. However, a company like Diageo can absolutely purify and treat the water at one location to be just like another.

In addition, all Guinness draught in the the UK and the US is made at the St. James Gate brewery in Ireland, though some other Guinness products may be made elsewhere.

A couple years ago, I was at the St. James Gate brewery the day before I flew home to the US. I bought a can of draught at both the brewery and then another at my local grocery store, and the day after I got home myself and about 20 other big nerds double-blind tasted them. The consensus was that they were different, though only just. Had I not had them side by side, I don't think I could have distinguished them. There was a slight preference among us for the one from Ireland, but it was not universal, as the beers were extremely similar.

We also all felt that what differences we could detect could be easily explained by the slightly different ages and markedly different shipping conditions experienced by the two cans.

I pretty firmly believe the differences between how we experience Guinness in the US vs. in Ireland are almost entirely due to psychological factors. We're excited to try it in Ireland, and we're relaxed and on vacation, priming us to enjoy the experience far more than we would having it at our local faux-Irish bar here in the states.

Whenever I think back to when I first discovered something I now love, I find that it was a time I was happy, relaxed and open to new experiences. Usually out with friends or family and having a good time well before I tried whatever thing I now love. I think drinking Guinness in Ireland has the same effect. It's not that the beer is different in Ireland, it's that we are different in Ireland!

Freshness, presentation, clean lines, correct gas pressures/mixtures, etc. certainly all play some role, but a good bar should have those pretty well dialed in in either country, minimizing the effect.

I'm fairly inexperienced as a homebrewer, but I can tell you where to find some good information. Most people seem to love Jamil Zainasheff's recipes. Here are some samples with links to his webcast and there are more in his book, Brewing Classic Styles, that he wrote with John Palmer, author of How to Brew (for the updated edition, you have to buy the book). How to Brew is the best book for starting out, imho, but there are some other great books, too, particularly if you move to an all grain setup and get more comfortable with brewing. There are also solid recipes in Zymurgy, the American Homebrewers Association magazine, and Brew Your Own is a pretty good magazine, too. HomeBrewTalk is a friendly, knowledgeable and active community and they're always up for sharing and helping out. There are a lot more websites out there, of course.

Anyway, I'm sure that some redditors have some good recipes to share.

How about home brewing. It may take you a few times to get the hang of it, but you can make some pretty awesome belgians if you take your time. There are a few really good books out there that will give you clone recipes so you can recreate your favorites without starting from scratch. Watch out...it's a rabbit hole :)

Clone Brews
http://www.amazon.com/CloneBrews-Homebrew-Recipes-Commercial-Beers/dp/1580170773

Brewing Classic Styles
http://www.amazon.com/Brewing-Classic-Styles-Winning-Recipes/dp/0937381926

Belgian Ale
http://www.amazon.com/Belgian-Ale-Classic-Beer-Style/dp/0937381314/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1344644397&sr=1-6&keywords=belgian+beer

Brewing a sour can be only slightly more difficult (if kettle sour) or painfully tedious (if cold side sour) from a normal beer.

Assuming you know the standard process, kettle souring is throwing a bug into the sweet wort after you collect from the mash but before you boil (and depending on the bug, you might need to chill this first). You then get to sit on your pot and wait overnight to 2 days for the bacteria to get a foot hold and drop your pH to a respectable low 3 or high 2. Then you boil it and continue like normal.

Cold side sours are just like making a normal beer. The only major difference is you can't put a lot of hops in the boil since most sour cultures don't like them. Where it becomes tedious is after everything is done you need to super clean all of your gear or every beer you make from now on will be a sour.

Some great reading on how to make sour beer in your own home is the book American Sour Beers by u/oldsock

I really enjoyed Beer Pairing: The Essential Guide from the Pairing Pros by Julia Herz and Gwen Conley. Really concise methods, great examples and stories, and much more straight forward than Garret Oliver's book. I love his book for the language of pairing, and I love Julia/Gwen's for the how and whys.

Do this, seriously... now. First head over to HowToBrew.com and get some knowledge so you don't make shitty beer. Homebrewing = good beer for cheap (like a $0.25/beer if you go all-grain). Plus, you can tell your friends you made that liquid gold they are drinking. But don't punk out, the reason everyone and their momma don't homebrew (although back in the middle ages everyone's mom homebrewed) is that it takes time, patience, and attention to detail if you want good beer.

Get yourself a beginner kit and ingredients for your first batch. Mix that shit up, boil it an hour, throw it into a bucket, and forget about it for 3 weeks. Then you get to bottle it and forget about it for 2 more weeks (I told you this takes time). Chill those bottles down and giggle like a baby when you hear the pssst as you open your first bottle of your own creation.

Once you've done a few batches, get yourself a copy of Brewing Classic Styles and make every style of beer you can imagine. While you're brewing, commuting, or just dicking around, listen to BrewStrong and become an expert brewmaster. And of course don't forget r/homebrewing if you have questions, want some ideas, or drool over someone else's home bar.

That's it. Now get brewing!

By the way, all you need for homebrewing is a big pot, a bucket, and some tubing. There's a couple small items like airlock and bottle capper. Also start saving your bottles (no screw-tops) so you have something to put all this beer you'll suddenly have. Or you can get the kit and not worry about making sure you have everything.

And talk to the shopkeeper at the LHBS (local homebrew shop), they are wise and can show you the way to beer-vana.

The complete joy of home brewing is a good book.

Start simple. Buy an extract based kit. Tell your friends to collect bottles (preferably pry-offs). I usually give one bottle of beer for every 3 bottles they give me.

Make sure you have a 10 or so liter stainless steel pot (you'd never want to cook with aluminum anyways.)

I think when I first started, I had the advantage of taking biology lab where aseptic and sterile techniques were key. This is very important for brewing beer. You must be careful not to introduce bacteria into your ferment. Also temperature is important. 72 degrees should be fine.

Just spend the five bucks on a used copy of Michael Jackson's Beer Companion. The man has been dead for 7 years and the used copy is so old Saranac is still called FX Matt. So unfortunely it won't be the end-all-be-all guide for much longer. But it sure as fuck was in the 1990's, and still very much is one of the best of today. Excellent breath and succinct descriptions of styles, their history, and enough facts to woo customers with. The book is so old (how old is it?!) that American IPA isn't in it. SO, a little research will be needed on your behalf to fill in the gaps from 1994.

Far, far, FAR and away the best companion for beverage industry workers to brush up on beer knowledge-- wish a writer this talented could tackle spirits! For five bucks shipped, it's going to be a reference you'll use over and over. FWIW I've read everything else in the thread too, and THIS is EXACTLY what you are looking for. EXACTLY.

But then when you are finishing up reading this, Tasting Beer by Randy Mosher is next. With the two reads fresh in your mind you should have little problem getting a Cicerone certified beer server pin. Cheers!

Great suggestions already. I would also highly recommend Pete Brown's first three books:

Man Walks into a Pub: A Sociable History of Beer

Three Sheets to the Wind: One Man's Quest for the Meaning of Beer

[Hops and Glory: One Man's Search for the Beer That Built the British Empire] (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hops-Glory-search-British-Empire/dp/0330511866/ref=tmm_pap_title_0)

Here's a link to more info from his Blog

Edit: formatting

If he doesn't have one already, a pocket-size beer tasting journal might be good. Hell, even if he has one, if he likes taking notes about his beers he might appreciate this.

If he's into homebrewing, maybe a homebrewing recipe journal? While we're on the subject of books, would a cocktail recipe book be useful to him, if he's also into liquor and mixology?

Glassware is probably a safe bet, too. If you know there's a type of glass he's missing or a type that he favors, get him one of those.

If you have a local bartending school, look into that and see if you could afford to pay for lessons, if that's something he'd be interested in.

I would recommend beer books:

• Vintage Beer Taster's Guide
  
• Tasting Beer
  
• The Brewmaster's Table
  
• Pretty much anything by Ronald Patterson or Michael Jackson
  
• Tim Webb's Good Beer Guide Belgium (7th ed)
  
  I know there are several good homebrewing focused ones as well if you think he'll be into that, but I don't remember those off hand and would have to dig some more.

I'm a big fan of these for traveling with bottles, since I can be a little anal. Bubble wrap is always super effective as well.

I really enjoyed the audacity of hops very well researched and tells a great story.

Figure out what stores near you have a good beer selection, and if they mind if you buy individual bottles out of six packs. Drink a different beer every day. If you're totally lost, start with any of the brands that get frequently mentioned on /r/beer, they're probably pretty good.

If you're looking for a guide to the history of beer and the science of brewing, I recommend this book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195305426/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0306457970&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=05XQ4NW4CY4D0E742BPA

I got my girlfriend the water book in this series because we've started to get into homebrewing (and we have a longstanding joke/feud about the most important ingredient in beer - water, duh). It's a great, in depth look, the water one is very scientific, but also very fun. Here's the hops version.

Definitely check out [Beer: Tap into the Art and Science of Brewing](
http://www.amazon.com/Beer-Tap-into-Science-Brewing/dp/0195305426) by Charlie Bamforth, the god of brewing and the man who got me into loving beer.

The most glaring error in your video is that hops add alcoholic strength to a beer. But, I suggest you read a book like Hops And Glory and/or check out beer historian Martyn Cornell's blog Zythophile for some good old IPA myth-busting like this.

Yes, it actually will. Brewing relies heavily on the salt and mineral content of the water. Salt and mineral content changes significantly if they change a water source like that. Water content is also the reason why breweries are located in certain areas in certain states/countries around the world.

The other ingredients that you mentioned really don't have a huge impact, even with seasonal variations. Yeast is the only other factor that can seriously change flavor, and the yeast used in these beers is highly controlled and not subjected to conditions that will cause mutations.

For someone with the username 'Eddie_The_Brewer' you seem to not know a lot about brewing science.

Edit: And if you really don't believe me, there's a freaking book dedicated to water science: http://www.amazon.com/Water-A-Comprehensive-Guide-Brewers/dp/0937381993/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371673133&sr=8-1&keywords=water+brewing

One additional suggestion is to pick up the 99 beers journal set. Its realtively easy to use, and helps you develop since you have a log of what you are tasting. http://www.amazon.com/99-Bottles-Beer-Journal-Set/dp/1452106215

Nothing fancy about this but my favorite is the Brewzkey. It is always on my key chain and since it is the same size and shape as a key, I don't even realize it is there until I need it.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000RZQBCE/ref=sr_ph?ie=UTF8&qid=1426164677&sr=1&keywords=Brewzkey

The Complete Joy of Homebrewing

There are a lot of posts about stoppers here and I agree, but I would put in a few sprays of Private Preserve beforehand, to cover the beer in a layer of inert gas. Never used it with beer, but I use it with wine regularly and it works astonishingly well to prevent oxidation. Cheap too, using it once comes out to less than 10 cents.

I have this brush. I usually just rinse with hot water after drinking a beer and then I just use the brush and hot water without soup before pouring and it cleans just fine. Also, rinse with cold water after hot water to cool down the glass so you don't warm your beer.

I've had trouble trying to clean the glass after use, air drying, and then pouring a beer. Somehow there's always some sort of dust or residue and I get little air bubbles sticking to the sides. Cleaning before use, even if it's a quick 5 second scrub with the brush, has never failed me since I started doing it.

oOf.

Find a bin, go for length and depth, that has meaning to him.

Go to a craft store and find magnets and glue that could attach said bin to the wall.

Make sure the interior of the bin isn't porous and is sturdy enough to not be destroyed after being handled multiple times.

OR

Get This one and decorate how you want.

Michael Jackson's Great Beers series is quite useful.

https://www.amazon.com/Good-Beer-Guide-Belgium-Webb/dp/1852493119

This would be well worth picking up.

Good book that helps with pairings

For a detailed source on the topic, I recommend this book. While it focuses on American sours, it also discusses the origins of them in Europe.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1938469119/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_GUH7yb1V0QZRT

Beer Pairing by Gwen Conley and Julia Herz is cool too.

BrewKey. Fits right along with your other keys. Brewzkey Bottle Opener, Stainless Steel https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000RZQBCE/

These things have done wonders for me to bring beer or wine from the US back to Europe. Just put them in a checked luggage.

This:

http://www.amazon.com/Metrokane-6119-Stoppers-Multi-Color-Selected/dp/B0028LEBRW

6 bucks, reusable, work in every bottle I've had.

I use these.

People have written entire books on the topic, e.g. https://www.amazon.com/Water-Comprehensive-Brewers-Brewing-Elements/dp/0937381993

This thing is what you need.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0010AWH2I/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Westmark Germany Hermetus Steel 3-in-1 Resealer Beer Bottle Opener

https://www.amazon.com/Westmark-Germany-Hermetus-Resealer-Bottle/dp/B0010AWH2I

Also, my 32oz Hydroflask and a 16oz snifter/tulip.

Sure do.

The first two that come to mind:

The Audacity of Hops: The History of America's Craft Beer Revolution

Beer in America: The Early Years -1587-1840: Beer's Role in the Settling of America and the Birth of a Nation

A little spray of nitrogen would keep the O2 at bay.

Awesome!

http://www.amazon.com/Beer-Food-Flavor-Tasting-Pairing/dp/1616086793/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=03EN4VTZJ22XZ0N7CQTM

I found that in the recommendations too. Damn maybe I'm just awful at searching for these things?

If you have trouble washing glassware with your big man-paws I highly recommend getting a soft bottle brush (not to be confused with a hard nylon scrub brush). I have one and use it exclusively for hand-washing glasses and travel mugs. (Make sure you keep it away from anything that will get it gross, like a dirty skillet.)