cicerone
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The Worst (and Best) Glasses for Beer
The Worst (and Best) Glasses for Beer Excluding paper cups, coffee mugs and plastic, the worst glass for beer is arguably the shaker pint. Unfortunately, many other beer glasses aren’t much better. First of all, the shaker was never meant for beer. This is of course slightly less relevant because a lot of things were…
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The Aroma Files #006: Coconut
The Aroma Files #006: Coconut The Aroma Files #006: Coconut WIt’s not uncommon to pick up faint notes of coconut in our beer, more so in Belgian ales or Kveik fermented beer, and even more so in barrel aged selections. But without the intentional addition of coconut flavouring, where does it come from? Lets dive…
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The Aroma Files #005: Banana
The Aroma Files #005: Banana Banana, the signature weissbier aroma, and a secondary player in a handful of other beer styles is really rather simple. Unlike most beer aromas that are a cocktail of molecules, the banana aroma and flavour is typified by the ester isoamyl acetate. A few other esters, namely ethyl butyrate, and…
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The Aroma Files #004: Pineapple
The Aroma Files #004: Pineapple Pineapple is one of the most intriguing beer aromas. Even more fascinating is that while fresh, canned, and dried pineapple all have different and progressive aromas, so do the pineapple aromas in beer. Lets first explore the varying components making up the pineapple aromas in the fruit and its derivatives.…
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The Aroma Files #003: Mango
The Aroma Files #003: Mango When the juicy/hazy/NEIPA craze was in its infancy I tasted a beer that was strong with mango. Very strong. Incidentally, it contained mango pulp. Subsequently, I tasted another IPA that smelled of mango, less overtly, and not a mango was to be found. This was one of my first forays…
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The Aroma Files #002: Pine
The Aroma Files #002: Pine “A classic West coast IPA with prominent notes of pine and resin”. Visually, it’s easy to reconcile right? Hop cone, pine cone. Conveniently, the chemistry isn’t overly vexing either. The pine aromas mainly come from a few terpenes and terpenoids which are present across hops, conifers and rosemary. The primary…
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The Aroma Files #001: Grapefruit
The Aroma Files #001: Grapefruit Along with resin, pine, dank, and floral, grapefruit seems to be one of the most common basic descriptors of American hop aroma, heavily weighted towards IPAs. Of course we know (most of the time) there is no actual grapefruit in the beer, so where does this aroma and flavour come…
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A Quick Guide to Pilsners
A Quick Guide to Pilsners A long long time ago, in a city far far away, the citizens of Plzěn were so appalled by the quality of their beer, that they dumped it all. They then built a new brewery and hired a Bavarian brewmaster by the name of Josef Groll. In 1842 Pilsner was…
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Some Good AdWeiss
Some Good AdWeiss: A Guide to Weissbiers Every beer has a time and a place. For Weissbier, that time and place is any time, any place. It’s refreshing in the summer, delicious in the winter, and fits seamlessly in between. It has the uncanny ability to pair with almost any dish, making it the fallback…
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When Hops Fight Back: Understanding Hop Burn
When Hops Fight Back: Understanding Hop Burn It was one of those hot and humid Toronto summer days where heat radiates out of the pavement, hitting you from all sides with no relief. My wardrobe choices weren’t exactly helping the situation either, but finally I arrived at my destination, a semi shaded patio. The friend…