Bell's 30th Anniversary Ale

Ah! Now if only they'd keep a supply for locals who moved outside of the distro area but still visit periodically. Well, I guess I could always ask some relatives to pick me up a six pack and hold it for me (cue laughter).

 

Not to brag but here in upstate NY I've had no problems getting a hold of the Planet Series. I was able to grab a 6'er of Saturn. My only regret is that I didn't grab another. It is nowhere to be seen now. I'm hoping their distribution is kind to my neck of the woods. This beer sounds interesting and I'm really looking forward to trying it.

 

thank god it's not barrel aged,i'm starting to miss the flavor of beer.

 

I'll take it!

 

I love Expedition. With a year or two on it that beer becomes magic in a bottle. I may have to try to get some of this anniversary brew!

 

Huh? Many imperial stouts need significant hop bitterness, to balance the amount of malt being used. Other examples include Victory Storm King, Great Divide Yeti, Stone IRS, North Coast Old Rasputin - all of which existed years before the stupid "Black IPA" term was invented.

 

That's a bigger hop bomb. Over-hopping every single style of beer doesn't make it better. I can't disagree more.

 

I see that I'm not the first to suggest waiting a few years, but I can certainly 2nd the notion. I've had them up to five years old and would say the sweet spot is around 3-4 years. In fact, only aged non BA'd beer I've had that was better was Peche Mortel with about 3 on it. No bitter, just sweet, malty goodness in both.

 

Someone doesn't know their brewing history, I think. Hops are just a beer seasoning. I know, everyone will tell you that beer = water + barley + hops + yeast, but, really you can make beer just with water + barley (you just may not enjoy the result).

Hops took off as the favored beer seasoning when it was discovered that they had preservative properties, enabling the creation of highly hopped beers that stood up to very long shipping times (such as those used by the East India Trading Company). In fact, the term IPA is really old, harkening back to these days when large amounts of hops were used, not for flavor, but for preservative, to ensure that the beer would stay drinkable after an arduous travel by sea.

Like IPAs, Russian Imperial Stouts typically were brewed far away from the the russian Czars and other royalty that demanded them, and needed large amounts of hops, not necessarily for flavor (though that's why we use them today, to allow the bitterness to balance out the excessive malty sweetness), just to ensure that these dark bombs were still drinkable when they arrived to the intended customer.

 

Over-hopping almost every style is pretty common in USA. Why do think think so many styles have "American" attached to them?

 

Sorry, I posted before I was finished. See my edit above. My point is "over-hopping" is not historically an American thing. It has become something American craft brewers are known for, but using lots of hops occurred, for important reasons, before American craft brewers started doing it to everything.

 

Makes you wonder why many brewers are resorting to German, English, and Belgian styles, doesn't it? The irony is that American brewers are creating the best beers in the world, but they're most widely popular style is a bastardised, over the top rendition of another countries export.

 

Check out this post from Ron Pattinson, who writes the beer history column for the BA magazine:
http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2011/10/courage-russian-stout.html

The money quote:
"God, these extra hops and extra strength for the long voyage stories. Did the writer look at a map? Standard Porter was regularly shipped to the American colonies, a journey more than double that to St. Petersburg. And in the 19th century normal strength Porter was shipped all the way to India. Why was Russian Stout so strong? Because it was made for the rich pissheads of the Russian court."

 

...founders imperial stout is 90 ibu and ten fidy Is 98......two fantastic beers in my opinion.

 

Btw...loving the history lesson BradenMk

 

Does this include Maryland!?

 

I wouldn't consider myself a historian, I just try to keep myself well-informed on as wide a variety of topics as I can.

Not sure if you're refuting what I said, or...

Now, clearly I don't know my beer history as completely, or as specifically as this guy Ron, but I've always heard it said that hops have preservative properties which, along with some odd religious cracking down, solidified their place as the preferred beer "spice" over stuff like heather, mugwort, and wormwood. India Pale Ale is a REALLY old term that, as far as I know, from every source I've read, denoted a beer that was hopped well beyond normal standards for the time for their extra preservative qualities due to the long round trips made by ships in the East India Trading company to ensure that when their beers made it to their destinations, they would not have spoiled. I don't have dates even to the century when this practice first started or became popularized, but I would love to hear other information to refute it.

As far as Russian Imperial Stouts are concerned, maybe that's a different story? I don't know. Again, all I've ever heard was a similar story. That the extra hops were used as a preservative to ensure the highest quality product to the rich ruskies actually paying for and receiving the final product. I have no idea when the "first" RIS were being produced. *shrug* So maybe quality control at the time was such that overhopping wasn't necessary for long shipping routes. I have no idea. Sorry if I am disseminating incorrect information.

 

It has been pointed out that the barrels of IPA were stored in the brewery yard for 6 months to a year before they were loaded on a ship. Mitch Steele of Stone Brewing wrote a nice book on IPA that you should read, @BradenMK.

Then there is this from Martyn Cornell's blog, a well know British beer writer and historian.

http://zythophile.co.uk/2011/08/04/four-ipa-myths-that-need-to-be-stamped-out-for-ipaday/

 

Totally agree, so sick of chasing these beers. Throw anything in a bourban barrel and bring out the masses.

 

Yes, hops are preservatives. But the point of that link I posted was more about the higher ABV issue. More that the higher alcohol levels were because that is what the Russian consumers could afford and preferred. Not because that's what could make the journey.

As @hopfenunmaltz stated, the issue with IPA history is a bit more complex than what you had stated.