Mister Beer - bottlebrew

gordmit · Post by **gordmit** » Fri May 13, 2011 1:55 pm

OK, I paid $5 for a 2L bottle of Mister Beer premium pilsner. You get the wort and all you have to do is add a yeast capsule and wait two weeks. Bought it for the novelty factor, was pleasantly surprised at the flavour and quality. Chilled, nicely carbonated, refreshingly sharp and clean hop taste. I drank it over two days and it remained nice.

ErkLR · Post by **ErkLR** » Sat May 14, 2011 6:43 pm

Is it this stuff? http://bottlebrew.com/index.html

It seems to not be available online, where did you buy it, and what was the price?

gordmit · Post by **gordmit** » Sat May 14, 2011 7:34 pm

I bought it at the Saturday Western Fair market in London- $5 taxes in for a two litre jug

ErkLR · Post by **ErkLR** » Sat May 14, 2011 8:55 pm

That seems like something to try for the hell of it. Do you remember the name of the stand or know if you can get it elsewhere around here?

gordmit · Post by **gordmit** » Sat May 14, 2011 9:32 pm

The stand was across from the pizza guy, aside from that I have no idea of any deets, sorry!

SteelbackGuy · Post by **SteelbackGuy** » Sat May 14, 2011 10:01 pm

Ill have to pick up a couple when I get back to London. Thanks for the heads up.

Kish84 · Post by **Kish84** » Sun May 15, 2011 1:52 am

I don't like Mister Beer, mind you, I've only tried one and it was the lime flavoured one. We have a Mister Beer store in Kitchener, but I tried it at a Grand River tasting where someone attending brought it in. Most people disliked it.

ErkLR · Post by **ErkLR** » Sun May 15, 2011 3:47 pm

I think I'd dislike anything with lime too. I'm not hoping for great beer, just seems fun. I emailed the Mister Beer people to ask where it's available in London, haven't heard back yet. I guess they don't work on Sundays.

ErkLR · Post by **ErkLR** » Mon May 16, 2011 10:16 pm

They emailed me back this morning only saying it's at the farmer's market. So I guess I'm going to have to head there on Sat to try this out.

ErkLR · Post by **ErkLR** » Fri Jul 01, 2011 7:50 pm

For anyone who is interested, I picked up a 4-pack of the Mister Beer. I got one of each style they are currently offering, the "Red Lager", "Mexican Cervesa", "Pilsner" and "Light Lager" (Light Lime if you want to add the lime flavour - no thanks).

So far I've tried the first 3, but not the light. While I can't say they're exactly true to style in the flavour, I can say they are all good beers. I found them all to be a bit flat for a North American beer, but I like cask ale, so that was fine by me. I should say I think the first 2 times, I didn't tighten the special cap enough so they didn't carbonate correctly. The Red Lager tasted more like a British ale to me (which I really liked), the Mexican was good on my patio on a warm night and though the "pilsner" was very malty (for a pislner), I found it to be a good beer as well. You would never mistake the pilsner for a Kilkenny, but it has a bit of that malty flavour in there.

If you buy 4 bottles, it's $4.50 each ($4.00 if you buy 8 ), and I'd recommend trying them out if you won't get too upset that they may not conform to what you'd expect. Considering the price, I find them to be extremely good value, and I'm going back for more after I try out the light.

SteelbackGuy · Post by **SteelbackGuy** » Mon Jul 18, 2011 12:09 pm

BTW, here is my thoughts on the Pilsner.

A very dark copper, pours a foamy two finger cap of off white foam. Leaves good lace. The nose is simple and has freshly cut grass, a bit of mint, some caramel. Not very pilsner like but pleasing enough. Fairly sweet with only mild grassy bitterness. Medium bodied, pleasing finish.

I'd say this particular Mister Beer is well worth the $5.00 price tag. I'm in for many more of these.

Flood · Post by **Flood** » Mon Jul 18, 2011 1:23 pm

I picked one up from their stand at the Western Fair Farmer's Market this weekend. I'm curious as to what the final product will taste like

I guess I'll drop in my "yeast pill" today at some point.

ErkLR · Post by **ErkLR** » Mon Jul 18, 2011 11:57 pm

SteelbackGuy wrote: A very dark copper, pours a foamy two finger cap of off white foam. Leaves good lace.

I found mine all had pretty much zero head-retention. Again, not something I particularly care about, but you had the same experience?

I still haven't tried the light.

SteelbackGuy · Post by **SteelbackGuy** » Tue Jul 19, 2011 12:15 am

ErkLR wrote:
SteelbackGuy wrote: A very dark copper, pours a foamy two finger cap of off white foam. Leaves good lace.
I found mine all had pretty much zero head-retention. Again, not something I particularly care about, but you had the same experience?

I still haven't tried the light.

The head retention has gone down in the last day but it is still pretty good. Cratez is here now and we are enjoying the pils.

Derek · Post by **Derek** » Tue Jul 19, 2011 12:01 pm

I've never tried one, but here's some other suggestions:

http://www.magnotta.com/festabrew/Searc ... r%20select

http://makebeer.ca/index.php/coopers-ho ... -kits.html

Both are made by actual breweries, they're dead simple, and produce decent beer (I have used both).

Though be warned... you might progress to unhopped extract so you can pick your own hops and devise your own recipes... then once you start boiling, you may as well use some specialty grains... and then you're just one step away from all-grain brewing!

But once you've acquired the equipment, all-grain is very cost-effective. You can buy a 55# sac of grain for <$25; 1# of hops for ~$15; a packet of yeast for $4. If you used a high alpha hop and reused the yeast cake, that would brew 5 batches (5 Gallons each).

I typically only reuse the yeast once, so my (5-6Ga) batches probably come in around $20 with specialty grains, cleaner & caps included!

Not sure if you want to do it at home? You London boys should check out:
http://www.brewhaven.on.ca/