So Pithy

Ah...the douchey-ness of beer reviewers! Never content to just say that something has a citrusy aroma, or taste, they have to use ever more esoteric terms to demonstrate to each other just how refined and razor-sharp their palates are. Which, in their minds, may be true. But what happens when everyone now seems to pick up the same flavor?

Case in point, grapefruit pith, a term that has suddenly started showing up all over the place on my favorite place for beer circle-jerkery, Beer Advocate. The Pith! The white, waxy layer between the rind and the pulp! Not the zest. Not the juice. The effing pith!

I decided to see just how prevalent this term has become in the lexicon of those who put the "phan" in beer sycophants, by doing a little search.

Stone's Double Bastard:

Hops are more evident in the flavor; orange, grapefruit pith and zest, lemon pith. There's the butter again, this time coming off more butterscotch or toffee-like (diacetyl).

Three Floyd's Alpha King

taste is delicious, nicely matched lightly sweet malt to heavy hop ratio, bitter hop oils linger, white grapefruit pith, pine, grass

Widmer's Drifter Pale Ale

Smell: Bready malt undertones buttress the grapefruit pith, with the vinous impact of the Nelson Sauvin hops clearly discernable

Sixpoint's Eight Days o' Wheat (this guy goes all over the place with his citrus references!)

Aromatics lead off with tart citrus, light malt, and fresh grain.
Lemon oils, orange zest, biscuity malt, and grapefruit pith.
Lightly tart and quite fruity.

And on and on it goes...48 pages of search results of reviews that contain "grapefruit pith."

About HSN

I love beer.  But, I don't love the beer "culture" that's sprung up over the past few years. 

Why?

Too many beer fan sites have become little more than echo-chambers for sycophants.  Too many "spokesmen" for the industry peddle a myth that only tells half the story.  Too many bon vivants want to turn beer into the new wine and obsess over how to pair it with food  I have started this blog to give people another perspective; one that addresses aspects of brewing history that the spokesmen conveniently ignore, esoteric brewing techniques that are supposed to lend to a beer's complexity, but really just serve make for long brewing days and add no appreciable value to the beer's final quality.  Most of all, I hope this blog is fun and entertaining. 

Aaaaaand awaaaaaay we go!!!