How Do YOU Decide What To Brew?

It’s audience participation time and the question of the day is this;  Where do you find the inspiration for the recipes you brew?

For me it comes from lots of places.

Classic Styles

I still brew “to style” beers pretty often.  Usually for competition, but sometimes the mood strikes for a particular style.  Then I try to imagine what it’s like drink the beer in its place of origin.

A pub ale for example – makes me think of sitting in an English bar, drinking a few pints fresh off of the cask.  It strikes me that such a beer might be a little malty sweet with low carbonation and just the right serving temperature for a rich creamy mouth feel.  So I try to get all of those little details just right to emulate the experience.

Other times I might drink a particular beer -  fresh Anchor Steam in San Francisco or a certain Belgian beer.  And then decide to brew my own version of them.

Beyond the Basics

But what about beers that don’t really fit into a style or have some exotic ingredient or process?  Like many Dogfish Head beers, or this BrewDog beer (Watch the video – they sent an IPA out to sea for 2 months to emulate the voyage from England to India).

I’m still trying to figure it out myself – but I’m certain that a big part of it is just keeping your eyes open to what’s going on in the world around you.  That and tons of experimentation!

Lots of people are into the local food thing lately.  A trip to the Farmers’ Market could result in some interesting ingredients.  There’s probably a whole series of “Will it Ferment?” beers to be tried.

I’ve also heard 2009 touted as ‘The year of the session beer’.  With lots of banter about lower gravity, full-flavored versions of ‘Extreme’ beers.  I like this idea so I recently started a project of my own to brew some examples.

Your Turn

So that’s what I’ve been thinking lately.  Now let’s all hear your ideas.  Share them up in the comments section and with any luck we’ll all find some new inspiration!

Tagged as: beer, homebrewing, inspiration, recipie