Some friends and I have decided it would be fun to have our own little brewer's competition and tasting. Mostly we need another excuse to get together for the tasting. Anyway, we are thinking of doing it Iron Chef style, with a common ingredient but any style we want: lager, ale, stout, porter, lambic, trippel, whatever, but one adjunct common to all. We are trying to think of something which won't be invasive, taking over the beer, but definitely noticeable. Any suggestions?
Why not all start with the same wort and go from there. Just do a mash meant for 10 gallons, split it after sparing, and brew your own take othe same base using different hops and yeasts
Because that would limit the creativity we are going for. Any style we want, but one common ingredient. If we all brewed from a common wort there would be no challenge in getting a beer which doesn't clash with it's adjunct. It's all about choosing your style and then using the common ingredient in a way which complements that style. So do you use a little, or make it dominate? Do you add it to the boil, or the Secondary Ferm.? Or somewhere in between? How will you employ it to accentuate your chosen style of beer? Your idea has merit, but for this competition, is not what we're going for.
