I would like to thank everyone who responded to this months Fermentation Friday topic, it maybe did not appeal to the wider audience of homebrewers. Which is too bad because I think that liqueurs can be used like any other spice and like many of the respondents stated “used in moderation.” They should be another tool in the brewers toolbox to enhance aspects of the beer and bring it into another level.

Its important to get the right mixture, are you drinking bourbon with some porter in the glass or the other way round?

Some possible combinations that were floating in my mind were, slivovice infused stout, aquavit infused wit, Borovnica infused brown ale, and the list goes on… Have I made any of these yet? Nope but I will, I have been experimenting with liquor distilled from Rauchbier with a little bit of Stout or Porter when I am craving that smoky combination.

I would say experiment, when you are brewing something you find might be a good match pour yourself a glass and add a very small amount of your spirit to the glass give it a swirl a smell and a taste and ask yourself did this enhance this beer into another product or level or has it just taken away from it?  When you drink Pannepot Grand Reserva are you thinking I wished they wouldn’t have aged it in those calvados barrels?

Again I would really like to thanks the respondents below for participating and Adam at Beer Bits 2 for starting Fermentation Friday to begin with!

Brew Dudes wrote “I think the best example of using liquor in homebrew is the Holiday Ale that Mike created. It may not be the season to be brewing holiday ales, but keep this one in mind for late summer.”

A world of Brews wrote “The only time I have ever used alcohol in brewing is I used vodka to sanitize and fill the airlock my first few brews because I read somewhere that it was one extra level of protection that you could do to prevent contamination”

Rob from Pfiff! wrote “What would happen if you complemented your addition of peated malt with the distinctively Islay aroma of something like Laphroaig? Or what if, in a an old stock ale, you wanted to add a hint of casky oxidization, and added a touch of musky Amontillado sherry? Or if in a stong, dark Belgian style ale, you wanted to emphasize the dark fruit characteristics of the yeast profile by dosing it with a spot of late harvest zinfandel?”

Geistbear wrote “The joy of homebrewing is the experimentation side of things. You can try things that aren’t necessarily commercially viable because your batch size is a lot smaller.”

Steph wrote  “in my opinion, I’ve had some really good examples of bourbon porters/stouts, and the key in all of them was the subtlety of the bourbon flavor. If I wanted my beer to taste like liquor, I’d have a car bomb!”

Ray wrote “One of the easier ways to add spice flavors to a beer is to steep the spices in vodka for a week or two and then add a measured amount of the resultant “potion” (as Randy Mosher likes to call it in Radical Brewing) to the beer at bottling time.”

Thanks again for everyone that responded!

J