The positive response to my BeerSmith podcast has prompted me to start one of my own.
The concept is simple: you send in questions or suggest topics you'd like me to discuss. I'll pick the ones I like and bullshit for an hour or so about them.
So get those questions coming in. Unless, of course, you've had enough of me droning on about this history bollocks.
How about an episode on brettanomyces and british beer?
ReplyDeleteCould you do something on the lifting of malt rationing in the UK in (I think) the late 1950s? Lots of higher strength, malty beers were launched at the time, and many are still around today: Strongarm, Abbot, Bishops Finger...
ReplyDeleteAlso anything about when Old Peculier first cropped up? I suspect that it too dates only as far back as the late 1950s.
Cheers
I'd like to know what you have on Daniel Wheeler, the inventor of black malt. He probably has changed English brewing more than any other person in the last 200 years. Could be an interesting hour or so.
ReplyDeleteWhen did "cask conditioned ale" (as recognised by CAMRA) first appear?
ReplyDeleteIf the answer is "relatively recently" - as Tim Webb's recent correspondence in What's Brewing suggests - then this would be an interesting topic (particularly so given the clap-trap many CAMRA members are spouting about 'craft beer' these days).
PS. Your "prove you're not a robot" capthcha is too hard!
David,
ReplyDeletehow, other than cask-conditioned, could they have served draught beer in the 18th and 19th centuries?
As far as I'm aware it's been around for ever.
I love to hear you deconstruct the currently accepted beerstyles and set the record straight on where and when the current versions come from. We know the current idea of styles such as scottish ales or irish stouts aren't from the 19th century, but when and why did they turn it to what we have today? Maybe the answer is simple (ww2 and because michael jackson wrote about it) but maybe there are some interesting stories in there.
ReplyDeleteHow about an overview of Czech beer styles or Kellerbier/Zwicklbier/Zoigl?
ReplyDeleteI am curious about the level of hop bitterness for these beers. I guess we can assume the alpha acid content for the classic European hops is reasonably comparable to those same varieties today. Were hops processed in a similar fashion then as now? Did the brewers provide analysis on how much of the bitterness remained for hops that were boiled a second time in a different beer? When they blended old and fresh hops, was it a consistent blend over the years implying something desirable about the old hops? Or did it seem they were going after a target bitterness and just using what they had on hand to get there?
ReplyDeleteStine,
ReplyDeletesome interesting questions there. I can definitely see me doing something about hops and hopping.
When and where did crystal malt first appear? Why did most ales (specially milds) become darker over time when they could have stayed as pale 100% pale malt ales? What's the story of brewer's caramel?
ReplyDeleteWhoops,
ReplyDeleteaccidentally just deleted a post about crystal malt, asking when it first appeared and whhat the deal was with brewer's caramel. Both good questions.
Sorry about the deletion.
This is the comment I accidentally deleted:
ReplyDeleteWhen and where did crystal malt first appear? Why did most ales (specially milds) become darker over time when they could have stayed as pale 100% pale malt ales? What's the story of brewer's caramel?
Posted by J. Karanka
An episode about historic British beer vs. ale would be interesting, and how they came to diverge (my understanding is that ale was unhopped, and beer was hopped).
ReplyDeleteAlso, an episode about British house ales, and how they managed to be exempt from the various laws that had dramatic effect on commercial brewers, and what effect that exemption had on their long-term prospects.
Talking about myths/misconceptions about beer would be good. Your section about roast barley and Guinness in your latest book was very interesting, so some more misconceptions would be interesting to hear about.
ReplyDelete