Comments on: OBF 2007: Wrap-up

By: Rob Trent

Rob Trent — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 05:04:47 +0000

Nice website! We look forward to our next trip to Portland. So many great beers, so little time.

Cheers!

By: TNutZz

TNutZz — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 22:16:39 +0000

I’d be interested to hear what you thought about my witbier. I brewed the “Midsummers White” with the traditional witbier style in mind. A true wit should be dry, tart, with a lower to moderate alcohol level (Unless its a Grand Cru) and the spices should be subtle not overpowering.

The haziness from a wit should not come from yeast. The hefe phenolics and esters that drive the flavor of hefeweizens (banana and clove) should not be part of a true wit’s flavor.

The haziness in a true witbier should come from the unmalted grains such as oats and unmatled wheats. I used quite a bit of oats and unmalted wheat in the mash.

The Midsummers spice profile was a little heavy on the chamomile…I like the way chamomile mingles with the light acidity of the beer. Other spices were orange peel, coriander, black pepper and cumin.

For the tartness, I decided to forego the traditional souring bacteria such as lactobacillus, brettanomyces, or pediococcus. It can be risky for a small pub to introduce such bacterias into your tanks; while tasting great with the belgians…it would be horrible to cross contaminiate a batch of ESB or IPA.

So I decided to achieve a acidity and tartness by using Weyermans acidulated malt. A pilsener malt sprayed with food grade lactic acid. When used at 10% of the mash, it can emulate the tartness and acidity desired in a Witbier or Berliner Weiss.

So anyways, if you tried it, I hope you liked it…So far I have seen mixed reviews; Jeff Alworth liked it and Suds Pundit did not. Care to toss in the tiebreaker vote?

By: Beau

Beau — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 15:29:45 +0000

Totally agreed on the Noggin Grog. An interesting idea, but a complete failure in execution. I honestly though it tasted like lunch meat.

Thankfully, it was the only beer I genuinely didn’t like. I wish I’d tried Prometheus, but I’d never really liked The Immortal, so I skipped it. Hope to see it around again.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 04:03:09 +0000

I couldn’t make the meet-up after all–I had a meeting that lasted until four. (Meetings on Sunday–so is my life.) I totally agree on that imperial wit movement–time to kill it! (I thought the vertical Epic from Stone was worse than Widmer, though). And the TG Tripel was totally an IPA. And tasty! I’d love to see them get more attention generally.

Nice review. I’ll do some wrap-up tomorrow and link back.

By the way, I think we ought to do another blogger meet-up in the near future. I’d love to meet everyone. And now I’m starting to have t-shirt envy.