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claaark13

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Time to get real about this. Blending is the solution to a lot of our problems, and can also enhance an already incredible beer experience. Some great starting combos:

IPAs + AWA
IPAs + Lambic/Gueuze
Bourbon + Stout or Strong Ale
Vanilla Bean/Extract + Stout
Bourbon Stout + fruited AWA

So please post your blending techniques here, and please note the success/failure of the experiment(s) as well. I'm not doing this for all of you, I'm doing this for myself. This should help save me a lot of time and money.
 
Starting this off with something a bit odd. I found Gratitude to be a bit fruity, which I don't always find to be good when trying to blend in bourbon. But, hell, it's Saturday, let's do this. Drank all but about 3oz of my glass, dropped in ~.5oz of Woodford, then filled the glass up to ~10oz with Gratitude.

This was more successful that I'd even hoped for. Gratitude shines through, but the Woodford has given enough of an influence to be quite beneficial (wood and a little bit of caramel). No real addition of booze, which I personally want to achieve when blending bourbon into beer.

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Love me a black-and-tan now and then. I make mine with a big IPA and a big stout/black IPA. Mixing Magic Rock's Human Cannonball and Magic 8-Ball was gorgeous. Just fifty-fifty, very smooth mix of two big ABV 7+ beers.
 
This is a bit of a repeat from the Rubaeus thread, but that beer blends really well with quite a few dark ones. Breakfast Stout and Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald have been my favorite combos so far with it.

Some blends I'm planning to try include:

-Expedition and Double Cream stout (aka non-barrel aged Black Note)
-Southern Tier Warlock (which is better than I expected, but also a bit thin) with some thick roasty stout (maybe FIS)
 
Let's cut to the chase...who here is blending IPAs + AWAs? Tell us more..


<---------------this guy.

I do it at least a few times a month. I won't go into all of the combos I like because I'll try to take some photos for posting in the future, but my buddy bstyle on BA got me started. My first real experience was his favorite blend:

"Sanctipigcation" - Right around a 50/50 blend of Blind Pig and Sanctification. Really good.

A general rule of thumb that I follow is to try to match the qualities in the AWA/Gueuze with the IPA (citrus with citrus, for example). I don't necessarily encourage a lack of experimentation though, everyone has their own preferences and should only use this as a general recommendation. Also, in most cases, cheap gueuze usually works the best and is more available than AWA.
 
Open BCBS, pour in snifter large enough to handle it. Drink ~50% as God intended. Once to below half mast, add NG Raspberry tart to original fill level. Finish that bad boy.

Repeat as needed and make sure when you are done you craft MordorMongo a nice thank you note.
 
I assume all beer experiments/blends are savvy ITT. Photo dump!

Punkin black and tans are awesome. I much preferred Brooklyn BCS over Guinness though.
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FBS + coconut flakes + an hour soak = pretty awesome. Oils obviously destroy the head and carb though
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2006 Jefferson's Reserve BBS (muted) + Infected 2007 Pannepot. Different, not great though.
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Old Chub plus a swish of Lairds. Egggcellent.
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Narwhal + Celeb black and tan. Highly recommended!
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I had a drunken spur of genius and decided to blend my two favorite beers. Terrible, terrible idea. The hangover the following day with ash tray goooze burps was vomit educing.
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Abner + SS#5 = Orgasmic
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Nog plus a healthy splash of BCBS is AMAZING. Dem holiday feels.
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Had no rye whiskey on hand but bourbon was all kinds of smooth in here. Car bomb style.
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This was classy and delicious
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Less classy, but amazing
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Treehouse Curiousity 1 + smashed pineapples
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Rum wasn't great. Bourbon was good. 2009 WWS.
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Variant coovee. The greatest thing ever.
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This was very tasty
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I blended these two. It was horrendous.
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This was done 24 hours before a tasting. Drained and cleaned. Picked up little coconut flavor, but totally badass.
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Mulled with a raspberry pluot. Mmmmmmm.
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If you're into raw pumpkin flesh I would recommend this
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Tasting with Skittle34. Like fall in a glass, and it gets you ****ed up.
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Terrible. Expy with less then a year on it is just too roasty for fruit.
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Poor man's Huna. Waste of money.
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Definitely need to toast the inside of the coconut before introducing beer. Getting bigger coconuts is also helpful, smaller ones only take like 7-8oz.

/schooled

Toast it how? I have access to flame of most sorts but will I have to compromise the "holding vessel with a hole in it" setup?
 
/schooled

Toast it how? I have access to flame of most sorts but will I have to compromise the "holding vessel with a hole in it" setup?

Creme brulee torch, you'll need two holes so that fire has somewhere to go other than back in your face. Just a light toast inside, otherwise you'll end up burninating it.
 
This was done 24 hours before a tasting. Drained and cleaned. Picked up little coconut flavor, but totally badass.
20130502_201219.jpg

20130502_202455.jpg


Mulled with a raspberry pluot. Mmmmmmm.
20130613_221311_LLS.jpg


If you're into raw pumpkin flesh I would recommend this
20131007_214921_LLS.jpg


Tasting with Skittle34. Like fall in a glass, and it gets you ****ed up.
20130913_222811_LLS.jpg


Terrible. Expy with less then a year on it is just too roasty for fruit.
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Poor man's Huna. Waste of money.
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dontdrinkbeer needs to hire you to destroy wales on camera
 
Creme brulee torch, you'll need two holes so that fire has somewhere to go other than back in your face. Just a light toast inside, otherwise you'll end up burninating it.

Interesting. I've not tried that, but it sounds like a great idea. My issue has been getting all of the coconut water out. Torching it would definitely help on that front, if only to dry out the flesh a little.

HMMM...drying it out will also make the coconut soak up more of your beer. Do you do anything with the coconut flesh after the beer has been removed?
 
gpawned shared a sample of BCBS that had been randalled with either peanuts or peanut butter (I would assume crushed peanuts). It was unreal good. That is one that I will be recreating at home.

It was crushed unsalted peanuts and unsweetened baking chocolate (and you guys only tried the second runnings). Give it about 24hrs if you have the time. Don't waste the chocolate and peanuts soaked with BCBS. It makes an amazing ice cream topping (extra points if you put it over homemade BCBS ice cream, right normyk ?).
 
Some past blends I created...

  • The Lucky Bastard: Westvleteren 12 + Heady Topper
  • The Fruit Harvest: Raspberry Eisbock + Blueberry Eisbock
  • Good Morning America: Founders Breakfast Stout + Raspberry Eisbock
  • Bourbon Trail Harvest Breakfast: KBS + Raspberry Eisbock
  • The French Connection: Creme Brulee Java Stout + Raspberry Eisbock
  • XSlam: Hopslam + Expedition stout
  • Slam Piano: Hopslam + Black Note
  • The Flamboyant Imperialist: Founders Imperial stout + Rubaeus
  • The Founding Fathers: Founders Breakfast Stout and Founders All-day IPA
  • Good Morning Vietnam: Alesmith Vietnamese Speedway Stout + Double Sunshine.
  • WTF dude?!: Bourbon Vanilla Dark Lord + Miller Lite
  • "It's a Trappist!": Westy 12, Westy 8, and Westy Blonde
  • Row Row Rochefort: Rochefort 10 and Pliny
  • Belgian Waffle: CBS (for the maple) and Westy 12
 
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Interesting. I've not tried that, but it sounds like a great idea. My issue has been getting all of the coconut water out. Torching it would definitely help on that front, if only to dry out the flesh a little.

HMMM...drying it out will also make the coconut soak up more of your beer. Do you do anything with the coconut flesh after the beer has been removed?

After the 3rd use of the coconut, its pretty much dead. I wouldn't eat the nut after use.
 
Gotta get into blending more beers together and the coconut idea sounds amazing.
Ive been dropping a dram of bourbon or rye whiskey into some beers latley though

Breakfast Stout: Interstingly enough tastes close to KBS
Pumking: Oak/caramel from the bourbon adds to the vanilla/graham perfectly
Going to try some dirtwolf tnite and see if it comes out like a poor mans doom.
 
gpawned shared a sample of BCBS that had been randalled with either peanuts or peanut butter (I would assume crushed peanuts). It was unreal good. That is one that I will be recreating at home.
The story is much sexier if you mention it was out of the back of a car in a rural church gravel parking lot.

**** was bomb though!

Thanks Josh!
 
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