Friday, October 12, 2012

Memories of Orange Beer...

Looking back through my blog posts (all of a month), i read with reverence the legendary orange (for all the wrong reasons) beer. I became inspired to consider brewing it once more, but perhaps this time with the wisdom of hindsight.

I realised upon reading how to make the legendary Hoegaarden, that the coriander seeds are supposed to be  crushed prior to adding to the brew.  Who would have thought?  Next they will be telling me i need to cook the potatoes before mashing!  Oh, yes, my first potato mashing was something of a disaster, although i was a teenage boy all of 15 blessed with the infinite wisdom that blesses all 15 year-olds.  But i am renowned for my persistence, otherwise known as stupidity for expecting a different result, if only i had tried harder.

Apparently, the flavour of the coriander seeds are contained inside the seeds, not the outside hard shell!  Talk about counter-intuitive, but then again by this time i was much older than 15, so clearly my infinite wisdom had waned considerably by this time.

However, in acceptance of my declining wisdom, i will take the advice of so-called "experts" and crush the damned things before adding to the brew.  Well, if it imparts the flavour contained inside the coriander seeds, i will only have myself to blame.

As for the orange peel, it is supposed to be curacao orange peel, from some distant land, but my navel oranges did manage to impart enormous orange flavour the last time, so why would i change?  Oh, because the orange peel provides the extra bitterness of the beer, while the coriander seeds impart the fruitiness of the great Hoegaarden.  That is utterly counter-intuitive, so how the hell am i supposed to know that? By taking advice from experts?! Please!!

Okay, i'll try, but the result will be all their fault!  Curse you for your great tasting beer!  Oh, wait...

Free plug for Hoegaarden - http://www.hoegaarden.com/en-au/home.html

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