A predominant flavour component of lagers is Dimethyl Sulphide (DMS) which has a vegetable like flavour which I'm not fond of in beer. It's quite noticeable on first sniff and the taste stays throughout the pint. No, the fruity esters found in ales are much more my thing.
But I do get up to something in the Summer which will surely count against me in the beer nerdery stakes. I add ice to beer. If it's a hot day and I've got nothing in the fridge sticking an ice cube in my pint makes it far more refreshing and drinkable. For some reason there are people out there who actually believe the John Major style twaddle about warm beer but not me. If I'm hot I want something cool to drink and if that means sticking ice in it so be it. Beer is, after all, for enjoying.
OK, that might be going a bit far
Ed, don't you have a fridge? Mine's set at 37F which is 5 degrees above freezing. It gets hotter than a witches tit in summertime here. A nice German Helles right out of the fridge is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteAs a big admirer of MG's, in my younger days I heard all sorts of jokes regarding Lucas. "Why do the English drink warm beer?" "Becasue they have Lucas refrigerators!" Get your fridge replaced! Just kidding, that's a shit joke, I know.
Bloody hell! And I thought I was crazy for mentioning that I have the odd pint of lager :)
ReplyDeleteI am literally saddened when I see cider served over ice - I associate that with Wetherspoons' desire to tell everyone that their beers are served at -3 degrees and that all beers should be this cold! I don't know if I could ever bring myself to adding ice to a beer!
I can see the dilemma though: warm day, you want an ale but it isn't cold enough...
Sorry guys, I feel I'm letting the side down here. I'll have to see if I can fit a beer fridge in the kitchen ...
ReplyDelete"A predominant flavour component of lagers is Dimethyl Sulphide (DMS) which has a vegetable like flavour..."
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect one might want to say that a predominant flavour component of shitty lagers is DMS...
If a brewer tries hard enough he should be able to get this in ales, too. For homebrewers, leaving the lid on the pot during the boil is a good start.
Wurst, my father's first cars were a Riley and an Epic. Invaluable assistance in hunting down electrical problems on my bikes.
Cheers
Well DMS is what I always notice. If you can recommend some refreshing lagers for an ale bore I'm all ears ...
ReplyDeleteStill working on it! It's kind of ironic, because here in the provinces I was just railing on to no one who would listen about how hard it is to find among our local micros a clean, crisp lager--or sparkling ale for that matter. One in particular, Niagara's Best Blonde, tastes like it was brewed in a corn field.
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