homebrewandbeer.com

I have just started reading a book written by Cyril Pearl, called "Beer Glorious Beer!" It is pretty good so far though I am not far into it, there is a section on beer myths, and here is one which will get a few of you blokes dander up I'll bet! The quote .............'The ultimate irony of the situation is that few people, if indeed any, can tell the subtle difference between one beer and another.'.......................now before all you self proclaimed beer experts get too cranked up, the person who quoted this also adds a test to prove it, I am a bit sceptical at this stage and havn't tried it yet, but I would be interested to hear about anyone on here that has or is going to....................The test is as follows The expert is blindfolded and confronted with a glass of beer, a glass of water, and a glass of stout. He tastes one glass which he correctly identifies as stout. He is given the second glass, which he correctly identifies as beer.The third glass he identifies as water, but when the glasses are mixed and tasted a second time, he finishes up by declaring the water to be beer and follows this by declaring the stout to be water!

Don't shoot the messenger, I just read it and passed it on!

Oliver, if you have never seen the book it would be worth your while trying to get a copy, it could have some interesting information for the site, if you can't locate it and would like to read it I could send you this copy on loan if you like.

'Beer Glorious Beer'
By Cyril Pearl
Published by Thomas Nelson (Australia) Ltd. 1969
Printed by the Griffin Press, Adelaide S.A.

Im guessing that the person tasting the beer wasnt actually much of an expert, how can you mistake water for beer and stout for water
OMFG

lethaldog wrote:Im guessing that the person tasting the beer wasnt actually much of an expert, how can you mistake water for beer and stout for water
OMFG

First, drink 17 pints of stout.

I find that hard to believe.

But I have been proven wrong before

Cheers

Boonie

Published by Thomas Nelson (Australia) Ltd. 1969

maybe in the 60s all water tasted like beer.

OldBugman wrote:Published by Thomas Nelson (Australia) Ltd. 1969

maybe in the 60s all water tasted like beer.

Reschs Silver Bullets.......sums it up really

Yeah, after 17 pints...

Im not sure i could even stand after 17 pints let alone lift another glass to my mouth

That's what kegs are for.

Insert one beer gun...

Chris wrote:That's what kegs are for.

Insert one beer gun...

Before attempting this, back the dispense pressure off to about 2psi.

Cheers,
Greg

speaking from personal experience Greg?

Nah, 'course not...

Cheers,
Greg

gregb wrote:

Chris wrote:That's what kegs are for.

Insert one beer gun...

Before attempting this, back the dispense pressure off to about 2psi.

Cheers,
Greg

Pure Gold Greg

Choked on my lunch

Chris and Greg......where's the Third stooge....classic lines boys

Thanks, Ross. I'll keep an eye out for that book. Looks interesting, if controversial!

Cheers,

Oliver

r.magnay wrote:I have just started reading a book written by Cyril Pearl, called "Beer Glorious Beer!" It is pretty good so far though I am not far into it, there is a section on beer myths, and here is one which will get a few of you blokes dander up I'll bet! The quote .............'The ultimate irony of the situation is that few people, if indeed any, can tell the subtle difference between one beer and another.'.......................now before all you self proclaimed beer experts get too cranked up, the person who quoted this also adds a test to prove it, I am a bit sceptical at this stage and havn't tried it yet, but I would be interested to hear about anyone on here that has or is going to....................The test is as follows The expert is blindfolded and confronted with a glass of beer, a glass of water, and a glass of stout. He tastes one glass which he correctly identifies as stout. He is given the second glass, which he correctly identifies as beer.The third glass he identifies as water, but when the glasses are mixed and tasted a second time, he finishes up by declaring the water to be beer and follows this by declaring the stout to be water!

Don't shoot the messenger, I just read it and passed it on!

Oliver, if you have never seen the book it would be worth your while trying to get a copy, it could have some interesting information for the site, if you can't locate it and would like to read it I could send you this copy on loan if you like.

'Beer Glorious Beer'
By Cyril Pearl
Published by Thomas Nelson (Australia) Ltd. 1969
Printed by the Griffin Press, Adelaide S.A.

Two points to note:
1. "Beer" includes stout / stout is "Beer", and
2. Any decent beer judging comp wouldn't mix non stouts and stouts in the one flight...
Thanks Cyril for your contribution to the brewing fraternity

My $0.02...

& thank you Sir for your contribution.

...all 2 cents of it

When you taste a beer, the tastebuds are not the only thing you are taking, as with that test (which I doubt anyway).

When you taste a beer you are also taking in

The surroundings
The glass (and/or bottle)
The colour of the beer
The temperature of the beer
The aroma of the beer
The aroma of your surroundings
Your mood
Your palette
When you ate last
The people you are around
The time of day
How much you feel like a beer!
What colour shirt you're wearing

In my opinion (except the last one) all of this affects how the beer tastes and how you will interpret the flavours. Blinfolding in a test situation scrubs most of that out, and it is hardly optimum environment for tasting drinks.

Colour of the shirt affects how careful you are about small spills and dribble.

Cheers,
Greg

Well, thanks to the generosity of Ross, the book has arrived on my doorstep. The cover illustration is so scary that I'm loath to open it. But I will tackle it at some stage and give you my thoughts.

Oliver

Here's the cover, with a glorious picture of the great man, Cyril Pearl



Cheers,

Oliver