Not Belgium

Belgium beers are sought out because of they've been brewed the same way for centuries. But you don't need to go all the way there to experience these styles of beer. Instead, look to your local brewery for great examples. Many of the breweries in the US (or anywhere else for that matter) see this style as the pinnacle of brewing. So there are lots of beers to try.  

Beers on the show:
Lost Abbey Judgement Day, Brewery Ommegang Three Philosophers, Allagash Curieux, Russian River Damnation, North Coast Brother Thelonious, Dog Fish Head Midas Touch, Avery Fifteen.

Homework:
Try a local "Belgium Style" beer. Get some random local beers with names like tripple, double, lambic, etc. Then invite your friends over for a tasting.

Beer School everywhere:
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Host: John Foster and Motor

Be sure to visit City Beer Store in San Francisco, CA. See you at the 21st Amendment, Magnolia or Toronado.

Email us at info@beerschool.com

See you next year!
Not recorded at the Rat Pad. Recorded in San Francisco on 04/20/2008.

BeerSchool and BeerSchool.com "the homework is beer!" are a trademarks of Ayer Media, Inc.
© 2008 Ayer Media, Inc.

Not Belgium

We're here to help you and your friends learn to like more than one kind of beer. There's lots of different beers to like. Some are made right down the street from where you live and others have to travel half way around the world to get to you. Learn why beer tastes like it does, how other styles came about, and all the verbs you might use to describe what you are tasting. The best part is the home work is beer!

Beer School topics include: beer, culture, brewing, stories, guides to styles and much, much, more. 

You don't have to like every beer but don't drink the same beer day after day.

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some of the big stouts like Abyss, XXIII or Serpents and even 15 from Stone all have flavors that will get masked by cold. but even every day Black Butte Porter benefits from warming. in the USofA Guinness is almost always served too cold as most beer bars don't have a choice or way of controlling temperature just for one keg. 

call the Beer School Robot!
424-242-3375

Beer School everywhere:
http://www.facebook.com/beerschool
http://youtube.com/beerschool

the other guys on the show:
http://www.alloverbeer.com/
http://www.norcalbeerguide.com/

Follow JohnFoster and BeerSchool on Twitter.com

Be sure to visit City Beer Store, 21st Amendment, and Toronado in San Francisco, CA
Email us at info@beerschool.com

Good noon! Recorded in San Francisco on 9/11/2011.

Beer School and "The Homework is Beer" are a trademarks of Ayer Media, Inc.
© 2011 Ayer Media, Inc.

Slow Beer

you've heard it before that "all beer tastes the same" when referring to "factory beer". the best think of these beers as the lowest common denominator with regards to taste, smell and expectations. they were designed with a precarious balancing act in mind which makes a beer that tastes like something, has a buzz inducing quality and is cost effective to make while maximizing profits. add in a little advertising to tell people what they want (and expect) and wha-laa fizzy yellow beer that is consumed by zillions of people. 

what we found echos our previous findings:
you can taste the difference between all four of these beers.
they aren't very good when you compare this beers to craft beer.
in the right context any of these beers could be refreshing.
if you do your homework you may come to a similar conclusion.

homework:
get four factory beers and try them side-by-side-by-side-by-side. you don't have to drink the whole beer. be sure to talk about the things that you are tasting: sweet, bitter, crispness, mouth feel and the carbonation. bonus homework is to compare the same beer in bottles and cans because there is a difference sometimes. the cans are better.

beer on the show:
Budweiser, Bud Light, Coors and Coors Light
Dogfish Head Festina Peche

call the Beer School Robot!
424-242-3375

Beer School everywhere:
http://www.facebook.com/beerschool
http://youtube.com/beerschool

Follow JohnFoster and BeerSchool on Twitter.com

Be sure to visit City Beer Store, Toronado and 21st Amendment in San Francisco, CA
Email us at info@beerschool.com

Good noon! Recorded in San Francisco on 8/14/2011.

Beer School and "The Homework is Beer" are a trademarks of Ayer Media, Inc.
© 2011 Ayer Media, Inc.

Factory Beer Tastes the Same

IPA day is August 4th 2011. take your dumbass friends to the pub to celebrate this specific beer style. or if they just can't take the big boldness of IPA order them something else tasty.

there are a few things that continuously bug us about IPA.

1) none of it is going to India. so there's no reason to call it this anymore.
2) if you look up the recipe for IPA from the books publish 150 years ago you will find something not that much more then the Pale ale of the time.
3) these beers were aged in barrels of unknown conditions for at least 120 before they were consumed. this is very different from the out of the fermenter and into the serving tank in 14 days repeat that the local breweries have to maintain.
4) lots of people order IPA because it's the simplest thing to order on the beer list. having clever names doesn't help the knob buying beer.
5) or they are ordering the beer because its the highest ABV on the list. they aren't drinking it for the hops, balance or aroma. it might as well be Colt 45.

beer on the show:
Pliney the Elder from Russian River
IPA from Bison Brewing

call the Beer School Robot!
424-242-3375

Beer School everywhere:
http://www.facebook.com/beerschool
http://youtube.com/beerschool

Follow JohnFoster and BeerSchool on Twitter.com

Be sure to visit City Beer Store, 21st Amendment, and Toronado in San Francisco, CA
Email us at info@beerschool.com

Good noon! Recorded in San Francisco on 7/10/2011.

Beer School and "The Homework is Beer" are a trademarks of Ayer Media, Inc.
© 2011 Ayer Media, Inc.

IPA Day

Jesse Friedman and Damian Fagan of Almanac Beer Company stopped by to talk about their beer and what it's about. it's an interesting take on how to launch into the brewing business. which is to start of brewing smaller batches of seasonal beer which you can hear about on the podcast or read on the Almanac website. before the name was Almanac it was going to be called Old Oak Beer Company. but a deep trademark search showed that they might have problems with that name so the two owners decided to rebadge the company prior to having any beer in the market to avoid future confusion. 

barrel aged beers have proven to be popular in market. and while European beers have been made in wood barrels for centuries it hasn't been until the last decade that barrel aging was done in the American market. and this is especially true for beer distributed outside of the brewing area done intentionally instead of just a brewers experiment made as a novelty for the people that visit the brewery.

somebody will point out that some US breweries have had their beer on wood since they started brewing it. yet it's not the flavor of the wood that is the reason. in the case of beer that is "Beechwood Aged" the wood is used to increase the surface area available to the yeast. it also makes a neat marketing differentiation for the product.

the homework was to try beer that is barrel aged. we gave a few examples on the show. and if you aren't sure what is or isn't a beer from a barrel program ask your retailer or beer geek. or you can ask here as well.

http://www.almanacbeer.com/

call the Beer School Robot!
424-242-3375

Beer School everywhere:
http://www.facebook.com/beerschool
http://youtube.com/beerschool

Follow JohnFoster and BeerSchool on Twitter.com

Be sure to visit City Beer Store in San Francisco, CA
Email us at info@beerschool.com

Good noon! Recorded in San Francisco on 10/17/2010.

Beer School and "The Homework is Beer" are a trademarks of Ayer Media, Inc.
© 2010 Ayer Media, Inc.

Almanac (not Old Oak)

Forties are beers that either come in 40 ounce bottles or cost around $40. 

beer on the show:
Pliney the Elder from Russian River
Firestone Walker Parabala
Mikeller Beer Geek Brunch Weasel
the Lost Abbey Serpents Stout

call the Beer School Robot!
424-242-3375

Beer School everywhere:
http://www.facebook.com/beerschool
http://youtube.com/beerschool


Follow JohnFoster and BeerSchool on Twitter.com

Be sure to visit City Beer Store in San Francisco, CA
Email us at info@beerschool.com

Good noon! Recorded in San Francisco on 8/23/2010.

Beer School and "The Homework is Beer" are a trademarks of Ayer Media, Inc.
© 2011 Ayer Media, Inc.

Not Belgium

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