Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Beer: The 4th Macronutrient

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
-Benjamin Franklin

Did you know that alcohol is a macronutrient? Carbs are 4 calories per gram; protein is also 4; fat is 9 calories per gram, but alcohol is only 7.

But really, who cares!!! Beer freaking tastes good!

So I am going to end my "What should I brew next? Beer poll." a little early. Seems like IPA took an early lead and has maintained the lead. Can't imagine it's going to change much over the next 5 days. Besides, I haven't ever brewed an IPA before and I am getting bored of brewing belgian beer (for now).

So an IPA it is! Bring on the hops! Will order the supplies ASAP and hopefully will get brewing in a week or two. For those of you who don't know, it is roughly an 8 week process from brewing to drinking.

Oh and here is a PSA on serving beer. DON'T serve beer ice cold. Why? Well, would you eat piping hot food that will burn your tongue? NO! Cause not only will it burn your tongue but mostly you can't taste it. Same thing with ice cold beer. It is so cold that the flavors are all locked up. So the next time you take a bottle of beer out of your fridge, sit it on the counter for 10 mins, then pour. You will have flavor from the first to last sips. Your taste buds will thank you.

To beer!

17 comments:

  1. IPA it is - hoist a (not too cold) bottle for us in 8 weeks or so!

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  2. My taste buds are tingling already. If you plan it right, it sounds like you could almost ring in the New Year with your new brew.

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  3. Jon, you need to weight yourself today, write it down, and then weight yourself again at the beginning of IM training... you know since you are talking macronutrients and all!!!

    Did not know that about the cold beer. In my pre-Tri life I would have had to set 3 or 4 beers out on the counter for 10mins and I would have drank a cold one while waiting for the other to warm up!

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  4. That is awesome. Ben Franklin was a smart dude!

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  5. Beer is starting to grow on me:) This coming from a wine drinker!

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  6. Yay for brewing beer! Good luck! Thanks for the temp. tip...I'll relay it to my husband!

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  7. Thanks for a little beer lesson! have fun brewing!

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  8. Nice one! I'll have a beer for you this weekend. A true South African legend...Castle Lager.

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  9. Hmmm, considering that I drink cheap crap beer at home I don't think there is taste either way :)

    I save the good beers for when I go out. The beers I like are only sold in kegs anyways (which pisses me off).

    Good luck man, may the brewing gods be on your side!

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  10. All the big beer brands require their beer to be served at near freezing (just about 32F). Why? Because then you can not taste what the beer really like. Drink a room temp Bud, Miller, etc and you will see how bad they are. Now open a Aventinus at room temperature and it is pure heaven.

    Check out http://www.heartshomebrew.com They are local to me here in Orlando and they are suppose to have good prices on grains and hops.

    Cordially,
    Kevin
    http://halftriing.blogspot.com/

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  11. I knew that about the beer temp., but you cannot deny the gloriousness that is an ice cold beer after a hard training session on a hot day! I also discovered in Europe they serve their red wine chilled....not that I can drink that anymore.

    Galileo said, "Wine is sunlight, held together by water." He and Ben are my heros.

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  12. I would like to request some of your homebrewed Belgian beer at the finish line in Lake Placid. Sound good? Great! Thanks.

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  13. I use to brew beer in my college days, its a blast

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  14. I make mead (honey wine) and cider. They are much easier to make than beer and require much less equipment.

    Kevin
    http://halftriing.blogspot.com/

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