Pittsburgh - New Beers & Local Breweries

Maybe I don't know that difference which is why I don't rate beers on here. I just know what I like to drink and would like to drink again. And I know I like all those beers I humblebragged about and all the ugly Roundabout beers I've had.

I guess I'm just saying appearance means next to nothing for me.

 

Agreed. Unfiltered, extremely hoppy beer can still be brilliant, or at the very least, not turbid. If anything, a beer that is really good while being an opaque, melted creamsicle looking beer, it would actually have a brighter, cleaner hoppiness and be an all around better beer if it was properly conditioned.

 

I'm not going to pretend I know anything about brewing or what properly conditioning a beer means. But if Steve didn't take extra time to clear up his beer and its tastes as good as it does, I don't ever want to know and he should never do it.

 

For my own educational purposes, what does properly conditioned mean? Is this just sitting for a time in tanks so that the particles causing the haziness settle out? Or are other factors, like fish swim bladders, involved for clarification?

 

If it were in a can and you were forced to drink it from a can, no one would notice

 

This is amazing news.

 

Everyone here is complaining about how the Pittsburgh breweries aren't doing anything exciting or on par with other cities breweries. But when they do try (CPA, Akamai, Humboldt Triangle), there are complaints as well. This thread has turned to Bitch and Moan Fest Summer 2015.

 

I would say that towards the end of the old thread, but have not noticed it nearly as much in this one.

 

Right, achieving decent clarity would be proper conditioning. Some combination of time, temperature, finings, or filtration. As always, there can be pros and cons to any choice. Additional time might take away the really fresh dry hopping, filtration will definitely achieve clarity at the expense of flavor and aroma. I'm not saying that a clear beer will always be better than a hazy one, but all else equal, the same beer clear vs. hazy will be less muddled because quite simply that's the effect that suspended solids (especially yeast) have on the perception of flavors.

Believe me, I'm not complaining, I had Humboldt back during the first release (when was that, February? March?) and it was extremely good, just using that beer as the jumping off point for the murky beer talk. I haven't had the chance to try CPA or Akamai yet.

I think a lot of Pittsburgh beer is very good, and I'm honestly not sure which beer scenes people would prefer. There are certainly a handful of world class breweries around the country and Pittsburgh might lack a singular, defining, trad-bait brewer, but that doesn't mean there is a complete dearth of quality beer in the city.

For perspective maybe we should talk about the brewing scene here 10 or even 5 years ago.

 

people who care about beer appearance are probably the same ones who care if their t-shirts are wrinkly

 

And for the sake of clarity (hah!), I should note that I agree with @BigHornyDevil that a complete sterile filtration, i.e. no solids at all is not what we're talking about when we say bright, brilliant, or clear beer. Naturally cleared beer can still be somewhat hazy, but if it looks like a milkshake we're not talking about clear beer.

 

I definitely wouldn't say "everyone" is doing that.

FWIW I don't understand why in the world anyone cares what a beer looks like.

 

Because it has an effect on the flavor and aroma of the beer.

 

i bet the shirt ur wearing is freshly pressed.

 

Thanks, Big Horny Devil and Chruch Brew Crew. I don't see much, if any, bitching going on during this discussion. It was an informative exchange, for me at least. I also plan to head over to Roundabout later to pick up a growler of Humboldt...

 

Are we not civilized. A wrinkled T shirt...really? Not acceptable.

 

I would say 99% of the "world class" vermont IPAs definitely don't have super clarity

 

I don't want to start the bickering, but when a clear Thunderhop or Extreme Thunderhop starts tasting anywhere near as good as those cloudy examples mentioned before, then I'll listen.

 

No, I'm assuming that if I like the way that it tastes, I don't care in the least bit what it looks like. That's just me, though.

 

Is this considered Hop Haze or Murky? (Seriously asking)