Honey in Beer

FWIW, I used to use honey to homebrew some of my Belgian Ales. About 10 years I switched from honey to plain old table sugar and I have never noticed any difference in those particular beer styles.

There are dark candi sugars that do provide flavor; when I homebrew Belgian Dark Strong Ales/Quads I do buy the dark candi sugar (2 lbs. for a 5 gallon batch) since they do indeed make a difference.

I have never homebrewed with Maple Syrup so I can't really comment on that ingredient. I don't doubt your opinions on this topic.

Cheers!

 

Have you tried Saucony Creek Captain Pumpkin's Maple Mistress Imperial Pumpkin Ale?

About a week ago my wife ordered a glass of this beer and offered me a sip. This beer had a noticeable sweetness to it (plus what it termed “pirate rum spices”). Based upon a single sip I really can’t specifically comment to the maple syrup flavor aspect.

I read a few BA reviews and a number of folks claim they smell/taste the maple syrup; see one review below as an example.

Cheers!

“A - Pours a cloudy brown/amber, lots of sediment floating in this one. massive 3 finger head, little lacing.
S - Lots of maple, definitely some booze, mild pumpkin, roasted squash, some kind of spiced rum quality.
T - Taste is very sweet, and its definitely boozey, there's a bountiful amount of maple flavor, which I think if you're going for maple, go all out. Definitely more of a roasted pumpkin and squash type flavor in that area, some mixed spices, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, pepper, and a touch of that spiced rum, complex, but unbalanced.
M - Sticky sweet, alcohol burn.
O - Its ok, something I'm glad I've tried, the maple is done right, its just too much, and the complexity is there too, but needs evened out.”

 

Pipeworks Unicorn Hits Rock Bottom... Most definitely

 

Yeah, I bought a 4-pack of Saucony Creek's Maple Mistress earlier this year. As you point out the malts are sweeter and has a spiced rum flavor, but there's nothing in it I would identify with maple syrup. I thought the beer was enjoyable, but I had to remove any expectations of maple from my mind. After so many disappointments with "maple" beers, this is quite easy for me to do now.

As for the BA's who claim they smell/taste maple syrup in Saucony Creek's Maple Mistress [and other maple beers], I would attribute it to: 1) power of suggestion from the name/label; and/or 2) many people don't really know what maple syrup is or tastes like that for matter. Most people equate maple flavor to Aunt Jemima table syrup (which are 99% corn syrup with some additives) that tastes nothing like real maple.

 

CVB Makes some great brews

 

Indeed in NE Minneapolis Makes Mexican Honey Lager nice blend of honey and citrus hops in a lager/pils

 

just curious.... but why would you use williamette for your IPA? Im not an expert by any means, but the only time I've ever used them was in nut brown ales and porters they are like super duper low on alpha's.

 

The last beer I tried with honey and had a honey flavour was William Bros The Honey Thief. It certainly had a subtle honey flavour

 

This has been debated on here more than once with some of the Homebrew crowd claiming tasting honey can't happen because all the sugars are fermented out. But personally I have no difficulty at all detecting the honey flavor in Bell's Hopslam even before I knew it was brewed with honey, that’s one of the reasons I prefer Two Hearted. So I did a bit of homework and digging and found that for some of us tasting honey can indeed happen.

As you may already know, it turns out that all honeys don't taste the same and the flavor profile is impacted by the flowers the bees are visiting. So you can buy specialty honeys such as buckwheat honey, wildflower honey, sourwood honey (my all time favorite), etc., etc. (In some places they'll actually put the hive inside a huge tent like covering of an entire field of flowers to control which flowers the bees can access.) So the honey flavor is not just all sugars.

Now while these more expensive honeys are probably not the one used in brewing. Honey is actually about 98% rather than 100% fermentable and that 2% thats left over contains the "impurities" that give honey its own flavor. Those impurities can then remain behind to influence the flavor of the beer and in combination with any residual sugars left over from any fermentables used in the brewing provide a honey-like flavor.

 

Great Lakes Christmas Ale and Thirsty Dog 12 Dogs of Christmas use honey (identical beers).. and although I haven't had it in forever, I used to like DFH Midas Touch..

 

I like beer. I like honey. I think it "can" be an excellent combination if you don't let the honey dominate your brew ( unless, of course, you are desirous of mead ).

 

You're lucky then, because I think you're one of very few people that can detect honey among the myriad of other flavors in a beer. I certainly cannot. I drink a honey beer and all I detect is more hot alcohol without the appropriate level of malt to support the beer.... in my opinion, of course.

Agreed 1000%. I can take or leave Hopslam, but Two-Hearted is simply perfect.

 

My wife wanted my to brew her something with
Willamette and I've been going through a series of SMaSH IPAs, so I thought "why not". Turned out pretty good! The honey and Willamette go very well together.

 

Hopslam, as mentioned, is excellent. The only other one I could think of off hand is Brewery Vivant's Contemplation, but their distribution is limited so I'm not surprised that no one else mentioned it.

I wasn't aware that 12 Dogs of Christmas or Great Lake's Christmas Ale had honey in them, and I liked them too. I'll have to keep my eye out for Midas Touch. I *really* want to try that Two Hearted variation...

 

*stole the pic off the web*

Elevation's Apis IV, a quad brewed with local honey is a good one.

 

assuming you did a 5 gallon batch how many oz did u use?

 

Yep, 5 gallons. I added 5 ounces of Willamette total (1 @ 45, 2 @ 15 & 2 @ dry hop) along with 1 once Centennial @ 60/beginning of boil, so it wasn't a true SMaSH, but gave her that back home in Portland hoppiness she was craving. I used Victory malt and had a local beekeeper give me some wonderful Sourwood honey that I added too.

 

sounds slammin. any interest in a home brew trade??

 

Actually its not lucky...

Its not really like the honey stands out in an obvious way for me but rather it becomes a part of the flavor profile that detracts from the over all effect, makes it sort of cloudy or murky (if that makes any sense).

My first experience with Hopslam was on draught and in a side by side with PtE on draught, so both were pretty much the same freshness. I thought the Hopslam was OK but not particularly outstanding the way I'd been led to think about it by others who'd had it a lot. It was only after the tasting/drinking session when I read about the honey that I was able to say "Ahhh, that’s what I was tasting that was that was slightly off for me." Subsequent bottles didn't change my feeling that Hopslam is was a pretty good beer but not making it into my top tier. (A similar experience was when I first had a beer that was mostly Amarillo hops and I knew there were flavors in there I couldn't quite describe until I read more about them and was able to say "Ahhh, that’s what I was tasting that make it really good.")

By then I'd already had Two Hearted both in bottle and on draught and decided that for me there was no point to the Hopslam chase when I could enjoy Two Hearted regularly and with a lot less hassle. (While also helping my regular beer guy sell enough Bells to maybe get some Hopslam for those who "lusted" after it. )

While I love sourwood honey used on toasted English Muffins, etc. I just don't much care for honey as an adjunct in beer. If they're going to beef up the ABV with adjuncts I prefer something like Exit 16 which uses some rice to get a cleaner crisper flavor profile.