What are you drinking ?

[jt]

Ok, so What Are You Brewing was a hotty, as topics go.

Now I'm 15 pints into a keg I only filled on Tuesday and wondering if anyone else has a favourite at the moment ?

It's my second brown with US-Oh05 and it's better than the forst, maybe Ikept the temps down a bit during the scorcher we had in januray

[vdog]

Yep, so needed a little bit of time in the fridge to make sure it all settled out after transport.

I'm not ruling out the 'meh' factor as being just me and my uneducated palate either - like I said, I've not had a rye beer before so I've no idea whether this was representative or not.

[Reviled]

IMO theres subtle hints of Rye in that beer, but id say it wouldnt have more than say 10-15% rye in it, so its not exactly dominating... To me it was a pretty tasty quaffable golden ale with a hint of spice in it..

Maybe the guys from Kaimai could shed some light on how much rye they do use??

I tried a dark beer of theirs at beerfest also, and im pretty sure i remember that having Rye in it and it was awesome!!

[BeerNZ]

40% in the first batch of Golden to my knowledge, not sure about subsequent brews. There are 2 on the market, Golden and Porters.

I'm trying my best to convince Regionals to stock it.........

[Reviled]

wow, 40%?? The one I tried at Hallertau was pretty much the first id heard of it, so id say it was batch one, but man, no way would I have guessed 40% rye!! They must do some kind of crazy mash or something, I cant use that much rye without getting an uber spicy almost dirt kind of character...

[Stu McKinlay]

I think Andy from Renaissance said Funkelryesen used 40% too.

[Stu McKinlay]

But "meh" is a personal opinion, which is the most important opinion of all when it comes to drinking beer.
A beer can win all the gold medals in the world but if it doesn't pass the "I really want another one test" then it isn't a winner for you.

Just come off a phone call talking about this very thing.

And, on a similar note, I was discussing something at a Yeastie Boys tasting last week. I think beer and food matching is generally a bit "meh". Sure I like a nice porter with crusty bread and a good soft cheese but I'd be just as happy with a thai green curry. More important is beer and event matching. You could match a 6% IPA with a movie, a gig or a football match but it'd not be a great match with an all day festival... or, worse, with a 5 day cricket match.

[Reviled]

lol, beer and event matching you say? Thats a new one Stu, but I totally see what youre saying.. Interesting...

[Stu McKinlay]

There's far more important things to match than beer and food.

Think about who you share your most special beers with and what you are doing at the time. I'm not going to pull out my bottle of Deschutes Black Butte XXI for any old visitor who pops in on a Sunday afternoon. I'll pull it out when the time is right. Some beer can be pulled out any old day of the week, much like Brendon McCullum's "ramp shot", but other beers are for very special occasions.

I've just taken up "new friend and t-shirt matching" too. I'm still a novice but it's been an interesting exercise thus far. Lester, one of the ex-brewers from Mac's here in Wellington, was a fan of "friend and fruit" matching. I've not tried that yet.

[Simon David kelly]

Must be "special" friends that get the banana ...

[Stu McKinlay]

he gave me an avocado and a peach... beat that!

[Simon David kelly]

Ouch .... I'd probably get the pineapple ... about my luck.

[jt]

Sure the event.

Afterall, the beer's only there to complement whatever you're really enjoying - well 90% of the time ?