A Magical Blend Emerges

[G.M. Gillman]

I have a blend composed of a black lager (49th Parallel's), 2 stouts (Arcadia's and an import Impy), McEwan's Scotch Ale, Keith's Single Hop Saphir, and Czechar. Also a bit of Pumpkin Beer, Grand River's. So, 7 beers. It's not so much I didn't like each, but I don't always want to finish a whole one, so I top up a bottle with left-overs of each.

What I've got now tastes very close to 1980's cask Fuller's ESB! It's a very tasty, well-balanced ale, reddish brown (the stout and porter is perhaps only 15% or so). Really excellent beer and this shows that no beer, unless infected or sour perhaps, should be a drain pour. You can make something really good out of it by blending. I don't usually go as high as 6 or 7 beers but this current result is really good, any of you would really enjoy it.

I can't duplicate it because I have no idea of the proportions.

Gary

[MatttthewGeorge]

Gary, how do you save all these half opened bottles without them becoming oxidized?

[G.M. Gillman]

Good question but the reason is, I pour them (together) into a large bottle not long after being opened, keep it tightly corked, and of course refrigerated. Plus, I drink it within maximum two weeks. If you do this, very little oxidation occurs.

To be honest, sometimes when it warms I can sense a little, but the blend usually is so well-hopped that you don't notice it.

Of course, I lose carbonation, but that's a good thing because the final result is usually very close to a good cask effect.

I had an alternate of the same blend but keyed much more to the porters and stouts, maybe 50% or more. The result is a very soft rich porter and I can taste the Turkish Delight of the Saphir as a top note, it's really good. What the malts of the Keith's, McEwan and Czechvar do is, soften the roast harsh edge of the Arcadia and Impy stouts. Putting it a different way, there is so much roast and colour in the black beers, you can let them down so to speak with malty beers and offer a more superior version of the porter taste (IMO).

Gary

[El Pinguino]

Reminds me of going to 7-11 and creating swamp water by mixing all the slurpee flavours!

Haha....nice creativity. Maybe something I should start considering. I won't deny that I toss a decent amount of (good) beer down the drain these days, because they're often in larger formats and I only feel like one pint.

[G.M. Gillman]

I would never throw out any beer except if infected. Even if sour it can be used effectively in blends, e.g. porter blends.

Just put a tight cork in the bottle (those from a bourbon bottle work best but a wine cork is okay or those black plastic ones you can get at LCBO). Put in fridge and top up over the next few days or until you think it is right. It's all malt and hops at the end and the flavours can combine very well, in fact it's hard to make a "mistake". You can increase hoppiness, decrease it, increase maltiness, decrease it, same with ABV, colour, etc.

One blend I like a lot now is a mixture of any ale, any porter or stout and a pumpkin beer. The result is often a tan brown spiced ale, basically.

Gary

[Cass]

Gary I thought of you on the weekend. I was in LA and went to a sour beer tasting where you were encouraged to blend some of the variants to make a new one. It was pretty fun, and tasty!

[G.M. Gillman]

That's interesting Cass, thanks. Very appropriate for sours since the lambic family are based on blending beers of different ages. Also, tart or "hard" beers were an element in early porters.

It would be good to know more about that event if you were minded to post in a separate thread.

Gary

[Jonah Hex]

I've been thinking of making a Delirious Jack O Lantern mix, part Delirium Tremens and St Ambroise Pumpkin ale half & half or mix to taste.

Has anyone already tried that?

[G.M. Gillman]

You can't really go wrong doing that, it will be a spiced ale with a Belgian (yeast) accent.

Gary

[atomeyes]

i've read this thread 5 or 6 times and i can't stop laughing.

[northyorksammy]

master blending
you or doug will hit on something soon

[atomeyes]

i hung out with an australian band back in 2000. the drummer came up to us and told us his trick. when playing at the Big Bop, he saw the servers collect all of the beer bottles and put them on a little side island. he went and poured the bits of each bottle into his glass and, lo and behold, it made a pint of beer!


mmmmm

[G.M. Gillman]

Well you know, I find it funny that some modern beers use 10 malts in the grist when historically 2-3 maximum were used, but there you go.

The evidence is in the glass, as the 1700's porter drinkers knew who did exactly what I do.

The thing about the mixing of the leavings years ago to make a pint is ironical because it actually made even more sense, setting aside issues of sanitation for a moment, than now, i.e. in those years certainly in Oz all the commonly available beers would have tasted very alike! (I use only my own beers for my blends, so the sanitation thing doesn't apply and anyone is welcome to try them with safety, since I don't drink from the bottle and I only mix what is left in the bottle unless drinking it on the spot from my glass).

Gary

[cratez]

i've read this thread 5 or 6 times and i can't stop laughing.

master blending
you or doug will hit on something soon

"Master" blending – the natural reaction to living in a province with a backward and inadequate retail alcohol system.

[atomeyes]

Well you know, I find it funny that some modern beers use 10 malts in the grist when historically 2-3 maximum were used, but there you go.

The evidence is in the glass, as the 1700's porter drinkers knew who did exactly what I do.

The thing about the mixing of the leavings years ago to make a pint is ironical because it actually made even more sense, setting aside issues of sanitation for a moment, than now, i.e. in those years certainly in Oz all the commonly available beers would have tasted very alike! (I use only my own beers for my blends, so the sanitation thing doesn't apply and anyone is welcome to try them with safety, since I don't drink from the bottle and I only mix what is left in the bottle unless drinking it on the spot from my glass).

Gary

that's a silly argument.
the beer brewed in the 1700s was likely inferior to what we currently brew. the IBUs were variable. hitting and maintaining temps for mashing was difficult. there weren't any proper controls on fermentation temps. and all of their barrel-aged beer (i.e. all of their beer) were infected with brett and/or lacto.

also, those beer would likely not have all tasted alike. Ron Pattinson's book explores old beer recipes. the malting process probably had a degree of variability from one batch to another. there were more uncontrolled variables back then than we have now.

so not sure what your point is.

i also see it as you being like the guy who would go to Caplansky's, order a smoked meat sandwich, pull out their own mustard and rye bread from their bag, replace the bread the sandwich came on, and eat the sandwich.

while it's cool to "Blend" and create, you really aren't blending. you're doing what i did as a kid, when i took a bath and made "shampoo" by dumping bathwater, soap, shampoo and conditioner into a bottle. it's a hodge podge, a blend of miscellaneous ingredients that may or may not result in a desireable final product. if beer A has 8 ingredients and beer B has 6 unique ingredients, you're drinking a 14 ingredient beer. or possibly a muddled mess.

i mean, i get what you're saying and doing. and sure, it may have a tasty final product. when i was in belgium 2 years ago, i attended a spontaneous fermentation festival. i was sitting at a table with a few americans. we were ordering and splitting gueuze and whatnot. we noticed that, 1 table down, there were a few americans who brought a shaker. they were blending some of the gueuze. if i was Jen van Roy and i saw someone blending something that i'd already blended, i'd probably take that person's beer away from them. it's almost as if you're saying "i don't trust your palate. mine's better than yours. i can do a better job."

if you're really keen on creating the ultimate beer, i suggest that instead of piling up ingredients and flavours, that you strip things down. make your own beer inspired by what it is that you want in a beer. and, unlike your blend of bottle dregs, you can likely replicate your recipe and drink it until you're heart's content.