Hemp Beer (Rant)
Egon Kraan
In my attempt to taste every beer known to mankind, I picked up a
six-pack of 'Kentucky Hemp Beer' brewed by the Lexington Brewing
Company... The first thing I have to say is What are you people
thinking??
I know that hops are related to hemp, but its still not the same thing.
A different flavor could have been achieved had something other than the
seeds been used, yet because of legal reasons only the seeds can be used
(maybe some anonymous homebrewer out there can elaborate on the
difference in flavor of seeds v. leaves).
One question I would ask is how many people actually enjoy the flavor
of hemp? I've always hated how it smells and I would never think of
drinking bong water, so why would anyone want to brew it? (hmmm... Bong
Water Brew would be a more suitable name).
Continuing with my rant, it is my belief that somewhere down there,
under the repugnant odor and taste of hemp, there is a good beer just
screaming to get out.... It had a clear color, finished clean, not too
much head though... Does anyone know of other beers brewed by the
Lexington Brewing Company that do not involve Beavis and Butthead in
their brewing process?
My problem now is that I have 5 beers left from the 6 and I can't bring
myself to drink anymore while at the same time I do not want to flush
them! I guess it's time for a party!
yrogerg hcierdnerhe
Egon Kraan wrote:
> <snip>
> One question I would ask is how many people actually enjoy the flavor
> of hemp? I've always hated how it smells and I would never think of
> drinking bong water, so why would anyone want to brew it? (hmmm... Bong
> Water Brew would be a more suitable name).
<snip>
among my friends, we worked the bong the same way as the beer--you spill it,
you slam it.
believe me, you should be glad you have never even thought of drinking it.
there are few things fouler tasting.
i *do* however enjoy both the flavor and smell of the herb. could be a
conditioned response, i suppose ;)
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mycr...@my-dejanews.com
Egon Kraan <kra...@NoSpammittySpam.muohio.edu> wrote:
> RANT ALERT!! --- RANT ALERT!!--- RANT ALERT!!---
>
> In my attempt to taste every beer known to mankind, I picked up a
> six-pack of 'Kentucky Hemp Beer' brewed by the Lexington Brewing
> Company... The first thing I have to say is What are you people
> thinking??
> I know that hops are related to hemp, but its still not the same thing.
> A different flavor could have been achieved had something other than the
> seeds been used, yet because of legal reasons only the seeds can be used
> (maybe some anonymous homebrewer out there can elaborate on the
> difference in flavor of seeds v. leaves).
> of hemp? I've always hated how it smells and I would never think of
> drinking bong water, so why would anyone want to brew it? (hmmm... Bong
> Water Brew would be a more suitable name).
> under the repugnant odor and taste of hemp, there is a good beer just
> screaming to get out.... It had a clear color, finished clean, not too
> much head though... Does anyone know of other beers brewed by the
> Lexington Brewing Company that do not involve Beavis and Butthead in
> their brewing process?
> My problem now is that I have 5 beers left from the 6 and I can't bring
> myself to drink anymore while at the same time I do not want to flush
> them! I guess it's time for a party!
How about using them in your bong?
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Jonney T. Grunnet
kra...@NoSpammittySpam.muohio.edu says...
>
>RANT ALERT!! --- RANT ALERT!!--- RANT ALERT!!---
>
>In my attempt to taste every beer known to mankind, I picked up a
>six-pack of 'Kentucky Hemp Beer' brewed by the Lexington Brewing
>Company... The first thing I have to say is What are you people
>thinking??
>I know that hops are related to hemp, but its still not the same thing.
>A different flavor could have been achieved had something other than the
>seeds been used, yet because of legal reasons only the seeds can be used
>(maybe some anonymous homebrewer out there can elaborate on the
>difference in flavor of seeds v. leaves).
>One question I would ask is how many people actually enjoy the flavor
>of hemp? I've always hated how it smells and I would never think of
>drinking bong water, so why would anyone want to brew it? (hmmm... Bong
>Water Brew would be a more suitable name).
>Continuing with my rant, it is my belief that somewhere down there,
>under the repugnant odor and taste of hemp, there is a good beer just
>screaming to get out.... It had a clear color, finished clean, not too
>much head though... Does anyone know of other beers brewed by the
>Lexington Brewing Company that do not involve Beavis and Butthead in
>their brewing process?
>My problem now is that I have 5 beers left from the 6 and I can't bring
>myself to drink anymore while at the same time I do not want to flush
>them! I guess it's time for a party!
>
I don't know about actually enjoying the flavor of hemp itself, but I rather
like Hempen Ale from the Frederick Brewing Co. Maybe the Lexington Brewing Co.
just doesn't make beer that well, I don't know I haven't tried their products.
I would suggest trying Hempen Ale or Hempen Gold. I don't work for the
Frederick Brewing Co., but I enjoy their beer. Check out their website at:
http://www.hempenale.com/
Jonney
ALSTROMER
Egon Kraan wrote:
> RANT ALERT!! --- RANT ALERT!!--- RANT ALERT!!---
>
> In my attempt to taste every beer known to mankind, I picked up a
> six-pack of 'Kentucky Hemp Beer' brewed by the Lexington Brewing
> Company... The first thing I have to say is What are you people
> thinking??
> I know that hops are related to hemp, but its still not the same thing.
> A different flavor could have been achieved had something other than the
> seeds been used, yet because of legal reasons only the seeds can be used
> (maybe some anonymous homebrewer out there can elaborate on the
> difference in flavor of seeds v. leaves).
> One question I would ask is how many people actually enjoy the flavor
> of hemp? I've always hated how it smells and I would never think of
> drinking bong water, so why would anyone want to brew it? (hmmm... Bong
> Water Brew would be a more suitable name).
> Continuing with my rant, it is my belief that somewhere down there,
> under the repugnant odor and taste of hemp, there is a good beer just
> screaming to get out.... It had a clear color, finished clean, not too
> much head though... Does anyone know of other beers brewed by the
> Lexington Brewing Company that do not involve Beavis and Butthead in
> their brewing process?
> My problem now is that I have 5 beers left from the 6 and I can't bring
> myself to drink anymore while at the same time I do not want to flush
> them! I guess it's time for a party!
--
Jason Alstrom
Brewguide: A beer guide for the drinking impaired.
http://www.brewguide.com
"Fermentation equals civilization."
-- John Ciardi (1916-1986)
THE BIG BEER LINKS PAGE
http://www.gis.net/~og100/
dhu...@nospam.emory.edu
>HEMP BEER SUCKS!!!
I agree!! (BTW Hempen ale sucks too.)
>Egon Kraan wrote:
>--
>Jason Alstrom
To email me remove "nospam." from address.
Pursuant to 47 USC, unsolicited e-mail sent to these addresses is
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Stu
YOu don like it cause you are drinking it. You gotta smoke it.
(chortle)
I read an article that some guy in Germany is putting THC in his brew.
It tastes better and better as you go. But the official brewers
association is coming down on him cause it violates the old German
purity in brews laws.
Sut
>
> HEMP BEER SUCKS!!!
Bierpapst Conrad Seidl
"Beer Company" in beer. It does not contain THC (this would bring the
brewer to prison), but the fact that it is not brewed to Reinheitsgebot
is enough for Deutscher Brauerbund, the brewers association, to sue
them.
"Turn" is a good Pilsner Style beer - and many people might not even be
aware of the fact that there is some hemp in it.
--
Conrad Seidl, <Bier...@PlanetAll.com>
URL: http://www.breworld.com/austria/seidl.html
and: http://DerStandard.at - Tageszeitung & Archiv
Stu
thing. Here is the original Wall Street Journal article. It is a
re-print in another paper so I assume copyright laws are out the window.
Or if not my name is Johny Carson.
(Page A-25 )
German beer industry in stew over hemp addition to brew
| Opponents cite need to keep the product pure
Greg Steinmetz
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
30-May-1998 Saturday
BERLIN -- Asbjoern Gerlach brews his beer with water, malted barley,
yeast, hops -- and marijuana. In Germany, that last ingredient raises
eyebrows, but not for the reason you might think.
Since 1996, low-tetrahydrocannabinol hemp has been legal here and is now
one of the country's fastest-growing cash crops. Gerlach, a 30-year-old
brewer in Berlin's rough-and-tumble Kreuzberg neighborhood, adds low-THC
Cannabis sativa, the flowering buds of the hemp plant, as a flavoring in
his brew. He has been doing it on a small scale ever since hemp was
legalized and now sells his beer to pubs as far away as London.
The police don't care; the hemp in his beer is very low in the active
ingredient people smoke marijuana for. But Germany's image-conscious big
brewers last month threatened to sue him. If Gerlach should lose in
court, he could be fined $6,000 a bottle for violating the country's
strict beer-purity law.
The Reinheitsgebot law, enacted in 1516, is one of the first
consumer-protection measures in history. It requires that beer be made
from malt, hops, yeast and water -- and nothing else. If you want to
call
it beer, you can't use flavorings. No chocolate, no cinnamon, no tequila
and certainly no marijuana.
The law was relaxed in 1993 so foreign brewers such as Anheuser-Busch
Cos. and Miller Brewing Co. can sell their "beer" in Germany, additives
and all.
But the old rules still apply to domestic brewers like young Gerlach,
who
looks like a snowboarder in his ragged sweater and baseball cap. "They
are so proud of their stupid law," he complains.
Hemp in beer goes way back. In the Middle Ages, before Germany passed
the
beer-purity law, brewers commonly used it, among various other herbs.
They liked the aromatic weed because it gave beer a fruity taste and
acted as a preservative. People who drank it "liked the feeling,"
Gerlach says.
Gerlach revived the tradition several years ago while earning his
brewing
degree at Berlin's Technical University. Hemp was illegal. Breaking the
law made his home brew even more popular at student parties. "We kept it
kind of secret," he says. He apprenticed at some big brewers, but when
he
graduated and couldn't find a job, he opened a shop for hobby brewers
that sold craft beers, beermaking supplies and beer he brewed himself.
He had to keep it quiet until 1996 when Germany legalized hemp
production
following intense lobbying from what one government official called
"hippies." Hemp advocates argued that German agriculture could benefit
from a revival of the plant, which is easy to grow and which can be used
to make all sorts of things, from rope to paper to clothing. Such
products are now sold all over the country, in "hemp stores" and
otherwise. In 1997, the second year for legal hemp in Germany, 7,163
acres were under cultivation.
The German government agreed to legalization after imposing some tough
conditions. Germany allows only nonhallucinogenic varieties to be grown.
To keep farmers honest, it requires them to register with agriculture
officials and submit to surprise testing of THC levels in their hemp.
Gerlach figured even legal hemp would add character to beer -- and be a
good sales gimmick. Immediately after the law passed, he brewed a batch
for a hemp trade fair here. A few months later, with volunteer help from
marketing students at the University of Potsdam, he began commercial
production under the name Turn. The beer is sold in 80 pubs in Berlin
and
distributed in Leipzig, Stuttgart and Nuremberg. Some bottles are
exported to Britain, Denmark and Spain.
The only high anybody gets from drinking Turn comes from alcohol. "You
have to drink 3,000 liters to feel the hemp, but by then you are dead
from the alcohol," Gerlach says. But the beer's label, a blue marijuana
leaf, is suggestive, as is Gerlach's slogan, "Turn your mind."
Gerlach insists he isn't trying to fool anyone. The hemp leaf is what it
is, he says. As for the slogan, "It's our way of saying turn your mind
to
the hemp plant for industrial uses."
Compared to Lowenbrau, Becks and countless other big German beers, Turn
is nothing. Gerlach produces just 26,400 gallons a year, enough to
produce only 140,800 bottles. But the German Beer Association, the
industry's trade group, is determined to shut him down. Peter Stille,
the group's executive director, says a connection between beer and drug
abuse could damage Germany's reputation for quality beer.
To put a stop to Turn, the trade group invoked the beer-purity law. But
Gerlach thought he had that covered. Nowhere on the label is Turn called
beer. Rather, it is an "alcoholic drink with hemp buds."
But the brewing association points out that the label says the product
is
"brewed like a traditional beer." Also, Gerlach's enterprise is called
The Beer Company.
As chemical analysis would show, Stille says, "It's beer. But it's
forbidden beer." If the trade group failed to crack down on Turn, he
says, it would have to make exceptions for other brews with unusual
ingredients.
"One bad apple can spoil the whole basket. We don't allow exceptions,"
he
says.
Other brewers have had problems with the beer law. Rudolf Wahl, 59, has
been brewing for 36 years. Two years ago, he came out with a hemp beer
called Cannabia and, like Gerlach, innocently believed that he would not
run afoul of the law as long as he called it a "hemp drink." But
authorities cracked down. Wahl still makes Cannabia, but, taking
advantage of a loophole in the beer law, he now mixes it with lemonade.
He has had no legal trouble since then because, all agree, beer mixed
with another drink is no longer beer. "I'm in favor of the law," Wahl
says. "But in this case it's schizophrenic."
Peter Fritsch's headaches arise from the fact that he adds sugar to
sweeten his beer, Neuzelle Klosterbrau. The recipe, he says, comes from
monks who for centuries had been brewing in the town of Neuzelle, near
the Polish border. When the brewery association came down on him, he
fought back and hired experts to analyze his drink and declare it a
beer. He is dumbfounded by the trade group's objections. "It's like
saying that coffee becomes something else after you add sugar," he says.
He is still in court.
Gerlach is confident that Turn will survive. He has hired a lawyer and
has
had help from Berlin's environmentalist Green Party, which won him some
time by arguing that he is creating jobs. Gerlach only has four
employees
at his Kreuzberg location, but every job counts in a neighborhood with a
30 percent unemployment rate.
Gerlach also has a fallback plan. He has been scouting out locations in
Poland and the Czech Republic with the intention of shipping his beer
back
to Germany as an import exempt from the purity law.
End