Home Brew in Donegal: Never make your hero

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Never make your hero

I'll keep it short.

Yesterday I barrelled a batch of Smithish. It tastes just like Smithwicks'. Trouble is, after a weekend of drinking nothing but Goose Island IPA, I find it hard to favour Smithwicks' as much as I used to. Having said that, an IPA worth its Gypsum can hardly be described as a session beer, but the taste of a proper beer (or rather a beer with proper taste) is much better than that of mass produced Smithwicks' &c. So what posessed me to imitate something mediocre (albeit brilliantly!)?

Never mind, I've forty 3% pints conditioning in a barrel, and I'll enjoy every last home-brewed one. And at 3% I should remember each one, which is more than I can say for the IPA.

1 comment:

AnonymousMay 27, 2011 at 12:39 AM
Depends on whether you drink the lot in one sitting. :)
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Bookworm:

Brewing Britain, Andy Hamilton

Very excited to get this through the post, for a number of reasons. The book will guide you through every aspect of brewing, from growing and malting barley, growing your own hops, alsorts! However, that's the preamble to the main focus of the book, how to brew 'one of each' of the beer styles familiar to British drinkers.

Brew Like a Monk, Stan Heironymous

This was a loan from a NHC member, and it's going straight on my Christmas list. It's a fantastic book for anyone thinking about brewing Trappist style, or Belgian inspired beers. Frankly, I wasn't, but I well am now!

Brew Your Own Real Ale at Home, Roger Protz.
This book is a great addition to the library. Along with the usual stuff on mashing etc. that I'm familiar with, it's got over 100 grain recipes for cask ales from the UK. Can't wait to try Landlord, Felinfoel, Archer's Golden Bitter, and so on, with extract versions too. Not much about the yeast mind, but I suppose brewers are allowed some secrets.

Stan Heironymus's For the Love of Hops. It's a very pretty book, and very clever. Lots of science on aromatic propertieas, ideas on how to use hops in your beer, how to grow, and much more.

Pete Brown's Shakespeare's Local. I enjoyed it; it was a light read, not too bogged down in history or facts, but a nice glimpse into the life of a coaching inn. Not half as funny as his travelogues, but then maybe time-travel just isn't that funny. Not necessarily a brewing book, mind.