Monday, October 19, 2009

Brewing Flavoured Beer – A Change Once In A While

Everyone who loves beer has their own preferences as to the best brands and the best tastes. Some of the most popular beers in the world are unique-tasting brands which are recognisable to all and have a legion of fans who enjoy them. there are many people who feel however that the readily available brands lack a certain something. The range of different lagers which are popular with millions are considered bland by many, who term them as being almost like water.

 

When brewing your own beer, you could make a near replica of any one of the bottled or canned brands available in stores. You could, however, go for something a little different. There is such a wide range of different tastes that you can go for. There is practically no limit to what you can do with the right ingredients, in fact. However, it should be remembered that just because you can do something, it does not mean you should. You could, theoretically, make a beer that tastes of just about anything, but some of them will taste horrific. Brewing flavoured beer is as much about restraint as it is imagination.

 

For example, it is possible to brew beer to taste like chocolate. It is entirely possible to brew very good chocolate beer, but many people make the mistake of looking at the recipe, thinking “that would be great with a little bit more chocolate” and amending the recipe only to find themselves with a frankly sickly brew that tastes more like sour chocolate soup than anything else. You can buy chocolate malt to achieve a result that tastes enough like chocolate and enough like beer to suit all palates.

 

The importance of restraint in brewing flavoured beer is crucial. As there is a lot of fun to be had trying out different flavours, you will be hard pressed to find something that you cannot make into a beer. You could, theoretically, make a beer that tastes like cheese, but it would be horrible. It is also worth remembering that adding a product to the brewing process does not mean that the beer will taste like that item. Sometimes it is worth adding a flavouring that tastes like the intended product rather than adding the product itself.

 

Whatever you do it is important to recognize that just because you like chocolate and you like beer, it doesn’t mean that you will like chocolate beer. By all means experiment with different flavourings, but try to get the right balance of difference and quality. A fruit-flavoured beer is a good place to start, but do not make the mistake of thinking that because the fruit itself is an organic ingredient that it should be added unrefined. Brewing flavoured beers depends on getting the results whatever it takes. It’s not cheating to add extract of fruit to get a fruit flavour When it comes down to it, remember that there is a limit to what you should do, and work happily within that limit.

No comments:

Post a Comment