Your Beer Time Machine

Very good idea for a thread! I would travel to the US during the prohibition, and test how that <0.5% beer really tasted. The prohibition in Finland allowed 2%, so would have to pass on that one.

 

I would want to do several trips, maybe moving back in time. I turned 21 in 1968, in Portland, OR, where flavorful beers were rare beasts. In the early 70s, friends brought me a 16 oz can of Newark Ballantine Ale that was fine, a bottle of hearty Stegmeier Porter, and some other specimens. For the first trip back, I would like to travel into the 1968 northeast US and eastern Canada where I could try a bunch of the locally brewed ales and stouts that existed at the time. I would want to compare those beers with the current crop of craft beers. Which would I prefer? And is my memory of the small sample I did try accurate?

 

As you can see, I signed up for Beer Advocate in 2006. I wonder why? What was I looking at then? I ask that because I really didn’t start using the site in full until 2012. I just wish back in 2006 something made me stick with it, rather than spend the years I did drinking swill just to get intoxicated and not enjoy my drink. I didn’t just drink Adjunct Lagers from 2006 to 2012; in fact I spent a few weeks in Europe drinking great stuff (especially in Belgium), and in 2007 I was in love with Fullers London Pride. But oh well, here I am now drinking a Kern River Class V Stout and it’s amazing. Cheers.

 

Literally any time in history as long as I'm at the Cantillon brewery for a whole month. Unlimited Fou Foune and other lambic

 

I think it would be interesting to go back to the 18th century when many beer styles were emerging. Though of course they wouldn't know them as "styles", just local beer.

 

OG Alpine Nelson - I always new it was a special brew and took it for granted living in San Diego. I would go back to those times in a heartbeat if I had one of dem hot tub time machines. Looking at my 2011 review scored it a 4.64 rating rdev +4.3%

 

In 2012 I was at a craft beer bar in Orange when I first heard of Alpine and Nelson. I chatted up the guy next to me, he told me about Alpine, and then went to his truck to get me a Nelson. I went home and froze it to drink it as soon as possible and it was glorious. There was a silky backbone to it that I’ve never had in an IPA. Glorious.

 

I'd like to go back about 12-15 years to when I had to hunt for the beers that I now see store shelves every day. It was so fun to cross the state line in to Kansas and see rows of bombers from Great Divide, Avery, Boulder and other breweries that hadn't gone as far east as Missouri. Or going the other way and seeking out Dogfish Head and other East Coast beers while in Illinois. The thrill of merely traveling one state away and seeing so many new beers on shelves was awesome.

Also, Green Flash Rayon Vert would still exist!!!

 

Having worked in the industry for 10+ years (but not longer) I think It would be cool to just go back and re-discover it all over again. Back when Tree House was in that little shed, or waiting in line @ NEBCO and literally having a bottle share in the parking lot. An earlier period in Germany probably wouldn't suck either.

 

As a simple answer to your query I would say Bavaria and adjacent areas of the modern Czech Republic and Austria. But in an H.G. Wells version of the "way back" machine, I would like to drop in on the tribal goings on back around 400 B.C. in the same general area. I would like to see early barley cultivation, overall brewing methods and possibly learn about the birth of the great local beech-smoked brews. I would try to not talk about politics or religion.......

 

I think I would want to go back to somewhere between the mid-80s and mid-90s. I'd want to have Sherman and Peabody access to Grossman and Calagione (mostly) with perhaps some day trips to a few others. I think it'd be great to just be there to watch their creative juices flowing and see exactly what they were thinking about and what they were trying (and failing) to do.

 

I'm fine in the here and now. The US is a freaking beer wonderland. There's more beer being made than I could ever even try.

 

San Fran summer of ‘67 drinking Anchor Steam and experiencing all that was the California dream that has since disappeared and late 60’s music explosion and hippie counterculture etc. notable mentions, Portland Oregon 2000-2005 or Vermont around 2010 when those scenes were just emerging as craft beer meccas in the US before most people around the US realized what great craft beer could be.

 

I'd like to go back to about ten years ago when it seemed Belgian and German imports were more readily available.

On the time machine, I'd like to go check out English, German and Belgian regional breweries.

 

I think it would be interesting to go back before Louis Pasteur did his research and taste how beers were then. Pretty sure I would not enjoy them much.

 

Well, you might but it never sounded like Fritz Maytag wanted to go back to that period of Anchor Steam Beer:

from Lew Bryson's Interview with Maytag. Page down a bit to the section that starts with "MA: Was there a low point after you bought the brewery?" for the story of Maytag trying to find good kegs of Steam Beer to serve at an event at the brewery.

 

Oh my, it's the Way Back Machine! I'm in if I get to meet Rocky and Bullwinkle too.

I'd like to go back to the year that the Mayflower landed and see just how desperate those folks were to end their trip in Massachusetts. I'd also be curious to see how bad the beer might have tasted on that last day after no refrigeration during that trip.

 

i'd go back to 2006 when i started seeking out good beer. one of the stops on my Philly to NYC beer runs was the Somerville Super Saver in NJ. they had multiple bins of vintage lambics and gueuzes just collecting dust. also lots of old De Dolle and other rare belgians. back then i just wanted to try one of everything that was highly rated so rarely bought multiples. even so i still rang up charges of $300+ for each visit. when i finally got around to tasting these gems and understanding the rarity, the store was cleaned out. what a cellar i could have had!