I hate lactose

Did you just suggest that I drink anti-freeze? That's pretty funny. Though it's not helping your weak assertions that lactose is somehow a bad thing.

 

TLDR. No I am sure I can't tell the difference between one.unfermented sugar in a finished beer from another. No, I claimed I could, but I can't name any beers that use unfermented sugars to mask flaws in the beer. No, I can't name any flaws being hidden by unfermented sugars in beer. I have been brewing and drinking beer a long time so ...something something something.

Congrats on the long beer history in another ten years you will have as many years of drinking and brewing as I have

 

Little nit picky on the language here. OP probably meant lactose contributes to an end result flavor change, not what was accidentally stated. But in the end the outcome is the same - it contributes to some change in the beer OP doesn't like. And honestly it definitely is a change non-traditional in most styles it is now being brewed with - i.e. IPAs. Reducing bittering additions and focusing on dry hop is already making these things sweeter than they've ever been. An addition of an unfermentable sugar is taking things to kind of a crazy level.

This is a worthy discussion post. I personally am not for it in certain styles. In IPAs especially. I like a hazy juicy beer, but I'd really prefer it to have just a tad bit of bitterness and maybe even a tiny bit of malty complexity to shine through (I think the Veil does this the best). The IPAs I have had with lactose have been one dimensional and overly sweet, so not my cup of tea.

 

I don't mind it in a sweet stout, but I don't have any interest in milkshake IPAs. Yuk.

 

Bearded millennials? Maybe. But don't forget "young ladies and matrons."

 

You mean it won't hurt my matronly figure?

 

Only if you buy it by the case.

 

Which chemical with the word "glycol" in its name are you talking about? Also, why would anyone add it to beer?

One of them is FDA approved (also approved in several other countries) for use in such things as Ice Cream and Cheeses. The other is basically antifreeze.

Neither of them is routinely found in beer and neither of them results from the brewing process.

 

Actually we don't know if he was suggesting you drink anti-freeze or a widely used, FDA approved, food additive.

My guess is he's been reading the Food Babe type stuff and so has no idea that there are two very different chemicals with "glycol" in their name.

 

You should see your doctor about that, brah.

Fair enough.

You have yet to prove this bit. You can dislike it for whatever untenable reasons that you can come up with, that doesn't make lactose bad nor does it make it an ingredient without significant historical provenance. Again, doing some reading on brewing beer and on brewing history would help you arrive at more informed opinions.

 

[QUOTE="jesskidden, post: 5762203, member: 33806"
Yard's Love Stout has gone back to using oysters after a period (before the ownership split) when they didn't add them.[/QUOTE]

Only the oyster shells are being used.

http://www.barnivore.com/products/16371-yards-love-stout

 

Yeah, they've gone back 'n' forth with oysters in Love Stout, as noted in this 2011 Phila. City Paper article:

I thought I read that they were back in (again) but I guess not according to the brewer's website.

 

You drink what you like, and that's great, because I don't have to like what you like.

However, those are horrible examples. From what I've seen, large craft like Sam Adams and Ommegang will add stuff to beer to make it more "complex" but the base beer isn't complex in its own right to work with the additions. But, places like Bottle Logic, Fremont, Perennial, etc. use these sugars and additions the way they're supposed to, in balance with a great base beer, leading to a fantastic tasting beer.

There is a reason why you can buy three cases of Sam Adams holiday sampler pack for the price of one bottle of Abraxas.

 

Sam Adams and Ommegang brew beer that is just as well made as Perennial, Fremont, and Bottle Logic and their brewers are just as educated, skilled, and talented, if not more so. They, however, brew different beer for a different audience.

I, personally, don't drink much beer from Sam Adams or Ommegang any more. I used to drink more, but there are too many other great options to choose from. I do feel that some of Ommegang's beers (GoT beers, for instance) miss the mark.

Or it might be just the rarity that you're paying for?

 

Are you saying that you don't like lactose in beers because of The Sierra Nevada and Sam Adams winter packs and Ommegang beers?

 

Yeah . . . I have no idea how those three breweries entered this discussion in the first place.

 

"We" are literally doing that with less economy of scale. Which isn't to say that production numbers are necessarily tied to quality one way or the other.