Beer "Foaming" Stones

Not his beer once I buy it.

 

I want to find out where I can buy those half gallon bottles of beer

 

They're called 'Growlers".

 

Yeah, the so-called "Picnic Bottle" of unpasteurized beer* is kinda dead (for a few decades now, I think Meister Brau out of Chicago had some of the last ones)...

* In retrospect, it sure doesn't make sense that the largest bottles of beer (that sure didn't fit in the smaller refrigerators of the 1930-1960s) were unpasteurized. Sure, the whole "picnic" name reflects that but who wants to buy the beer on the way TO the picnic?

 

If you drink enough of that whiskey you just might imagine the bubbles and foam and think they're real.

 

This brings back memories. Up until the late 80s/early90s when Molson and Labatt dominated the beer landscape in Quebec, it was very common to see beer served with a salt shaker at the old taverns. You’d order a Labatt 50 or Molson Export, or Laurentide, etc. and the server would bring a 625ml bottle with a tiny 6-8oz glass and a salt shaker. I remember a friend asking an old guy who put a little shake of salt in his glass why he did it, and the answer was: “ça devient comme a la fut, mais sans headache!”

(It makes it like draft but without the headaches)

 

Interesting how the quoted line was all in French...except for "headache" (mal de crâne).

 

That's really interesting... So I'm assuming he didn't believe a few grains of salt prevented headaches (it was just there to release CO2), so he must've thought there was something in draft beer that was headache inducing that wasn't in the bottles. Is there any reason to think that could be true, or was it just a an old wives drunks tale?

 

Have you ever been to Montreal? The ‘H’ is silent. It is very typical in colloquial French in Quebec to have English words slipped in. It is why the government sponsors “Francais aux Travail” programs (French at Work). As a student I worked in tile making factory. Once a summer we’d have the French words of things written out and taped to things in the factory. I’d say a good quarter of them were never heard outside of that week.

Probably more to do with dirty draft lines. Or, as you suggest, a bit of an old wives’ tale. Draft beer wasn’t plentiful at the old taverns in and around Montreal back then either. You may have had a line or two at most places. The only way to get your favourite brand was often to go with the bottle.

 

I like your use of quotation marks here.

Do you find the stones "improve" the "taste" or "mouthfeel" more than "swirling" the beer in the "glass" to release some "carbonation?"

 

Wait, let's boil it down and then run it through a soda stream lol

 

After posting this, I started wondering when the beer industry would start selling instant "just add water" and some potent seltzer packets to this beer flavored concentrated syrup gimmicks. Have they before @jesskidden or should I patent the design and chemical compounds JUST to keep it out of the hands of ne'erdowellers? lol

 

I wasn’t familiar with this product, but it sounds like Bierstachlen. Which has the same effect you are describing. A local brewery actually had a weekend where they did this in the fall.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=760713797776446&id=200662070448291
That being said, if a beer isn’t a nitro pour, I don’t get the “creamier” advertising. Any properly packaged beer should be the same as draft if the co2 is correct. I am on board with the science behind the serving vessel though. Depending what type of glass you are drinking from, the beer could be amplified so to speak. The Sam Adams glass sold me. The nucleation point combined with the taper to the big bell is something you can actually witness working while you tip it back. So maybe they replicate that effect. To each their own.

 

Done:


Manual Carbonator:

Not sure the purpose, if you are going to carry a soda stream, carbonated water or their kit + water around, why not just pack a few cans...

 

A few other times, too.

 

From the second video you are supposed to use local (e.g., filtered stream water) and obtain carbonation via something he called an 'activator'. It takes a few minutes to 'make' your beer but by using locally sourced water you save weight.

Cheers!

 

Yeah that would work, but still think I would carry cans vs this.

 

Sure, that could be done.

Who needs more than one pair of underwear while back-packing!?!

Cheers!