Adjuncts acceptable now?

Just make good beer and I don’t care what you put in it.

Beer just like most things in life there is a double standard. Big beer pokes fun at craft beer everybody gets a red ass. When craft beer pokes fun at big beer it’s hilarious.

 

That's a myth.* There's a lot of documentation shared in these forums over the years that that Budweiser's rice is pound to pound more expensive than their malt. I don't remember price comparisons of corn (or corn syrup) to malt used by other big brewers, but I doubt it's significant. I'm sure @jesskidden has those numbers somewhere. Big brewers use adjuncts because it achieves the flavor profile they want [and the vast majority of beer drinkers world wide prefer].

* Edit: A myth which craft brewers, including the Brewer's Association, have knowingly been complicit in perpetuating for their own marketing purposes.

 

IMO, using adjuncts as a barley replacement to save on cost or boost ABV for the sake of boosting abv (such as malt liquor) is unacceptable. I realize that this is mostly not the case, but there's no way corn is more expensive than barley

 

Most contemporary sources note that US lager brewers did not need to use adjuncts with the domestic 6-row malted barley for the "Bavarian" style lager beers that first took hold in the US in mid-19th century. It was only when they attempted to brew so-called "Bohemian" or Pilsener* type lagers that adjunct brewing caught on in the 1870s.

* (I see that Marti used the less specific terminology of "golden lager" to describe Schell's early German-style lagers).

Many sources note that brewers like Anheuser-Busch (see above quote), Pabst and numerous other German-American brewers still brewed some all-malt lager styles in the late 19th-early 20th century but they were by then marginal products compared to the popularity of the flagship lagers.

My favorite quote on the topic on the two popular lager styles in the US at the time:
"The data (on US barley usage) here will be better understood, if it be borne in mind that all light beers of that peculiarly vinous taste, which has late become somewhat popular, are made of malt and rice or corn, as in the case of the excellent Pilsen brands. The prevailing taste, however, still calls for a brewage of a deep reddish-brown color, peculiar to heavily-malted beers, such as emanate from Hell Gate Brewery."
--- George Ehret, 25 Years of Brewing (1891)
(Ehret's NYC firm, Hell Gate Brewery, was the #1 US brewery in the late 1800's).

C'mon - doesn't the phrase "...a brewage of a deep reddish-brown color, peculiar to heavily-malted beers..." make you want crack open a beer?

Anheuser Busch has never used corn in Budweiser and they've often noted that rice can sometimes be more costly than malted barley, depending on agricultural market conditions.

Here's how they explained their use of rice in 1965 (top) and currently:

I don't think anyone has ever claimed it was.

 

Although not a fan of syrups/extracts, I still find this preferable to turning my beer into a chemistry experiment. I also find artificial flavors are used to create tastes for which there are not many extracts/syrups available such as peanuts and marshmallow.

 

Good call.

The rice is added specifically because it adds a "crisp snap" to the beer, and it costs as much or more than the malt. https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...use-of-rice-a-luxury-or-cutting-costs.183537/

Corn is another story, which I can't speak to, but Budweiser doesn't use corn AFAIK.

 

I appreciate you clearing that up for me. It's nice to put everything aside and get to the cold, hard facts.

 

Thanks for clearing things up!

 

It's a good thing that you know what you are talking about haha

According to @jesskidden Budweiser has never used corn. That's just a disillusioned thought I had in my mind!

 

Is there a skill involved in pouring cold brew coffee into an Imperial Stout?

 

Would those be like Belgian candi sugar?

 

I often wondered about this as I listened to someone chastising Budweiser while enjoying a NEIPA.

 

Thank you for reminding us of all those terrible sugar adjunct using trappist monk brewers. For shame! We must be vigilant in the battle against the beer adjunct, no quarter!

 

Personally, I always wondered why they couldn't spell candy!

 

And they even use it to lighten the flavor and body

If you're gonna spell it that way at least use a little heart to dot the i

 

I don't know. Brewing sugars 3 and 4 are dark unrefined stuff. Think Moscavado sugar sort of thing or sugar products like molasses which are dark and impart delicious tastes.

 

I suppose the quality of the coffee is a factor.

 

If you are just pouring coffee into an already brewed beer it takes no more skill to a high quality coffee than say Maxwell House.

 

Do you think 6 month old cold brewed coffee will taste the same as fresh? Do you think there is the same issue with a chemical that tastes like coffee?

 

Can anyone back up their claims that the corn, rice, or oats cost less than malted barley?