pomegranate molasses as a beer flavouring

[rich]

If a beer with molasses in it tastes like tar then they probably used black strap.

Try sorghum instead of molasses. Not as a grain alternative, but as a sugar adjunct alternative. It's natural bitterness can be balanced with hops for a nice effect (of course most of you yanks ain't never had biscuits w/ sorghum milk sop).

[wrplace]

pomegranate molasses sounds like it would be really nice in a low-hopped brown ale or red ale, maybe a substitute for having to do the sour ferment and cherries for Flemish sour ales.

[Thirsty Boy]

pomegranate molasses sounds like it would be really nice in a low-hopped brown ale or red ale, maybe a substitute for having to do the sour ferment and cherries for Flemish sour ales.

Just the sort of thing I was thinking when I posted. Maybe a bit of a lighter coloured ale + the PM would turn out a brown/sour friut ale. Be able to tell you the results from adding it to a really simple pale ale base in a couple of days.

Thirsty

[Thirsty Boy]

OK, so I have tried it in a little bit of my latest batch.

The Beer

100ml serve in a wine tasting glass

A really pale ale with 96% Pale Malt and 4%Crystal30. Bittered to around 42IBU with 100% Saaz hops. OG = 1.048 US-56, fermented at standard ale temps. Nice enough beer, too bitter though and too much hop flavour.

The Pomegranate Molasses

2 teaspoons of the stuff diluted in 100ml of water.

The Addittions - Results Pretty much transcribed from my tasting notes at the time, but with nicer wordiness.

Amounts added to glass via heroin syringe

1ml - Tastable but too subtle. needs more

2ml - Better. The sweetness and fruityness of the PM actually brings the overly bitter beer into better balance. Molasses flavours give it a bit of caramel and a tiny bit of roasty/burnt character. Just a hint of the sourness comes through - pretty good

3ml - More of the same, just a bit more intense. maybe half way between 2 & 3 would be good

4ml - this concentration seems to bring out the molasses characters more and force the fruit and sour tastes back a little bit.

5ml - not much perceptable difference, but i think my pallet is starting to drift a fair bit

6ml - Either just right, or too much depending on what you want - here the sourness and fruityness take over from the molasses. It becomes a sour fruit beer, rather than a beer with a little sour fruitiness, if you know what I mean. If thats what you want, this is the point. Otherwise head back to around 3ml where the balance was.

7ml - too much! No subtlety. go back


Conclusions.

I wanted to be a scientist, but got drunk at University instead of studying.

The ingredient works well with beer flavours, and luckily enough with the beer I tried it in first up. I think it would be interesting in a bigger more malty beer, that could carry the fruityness off, absorb a bit of the carmel into its profile and let you push the sourness up a bit more.

It would also be interesting to try it in the fermentor, that would take away the sweetness and you would need a more lightly hopped beer for balance.

An interesting way to get a complexly sour beer without mucking about with odd bugs and weird hippy yeast.

I'm brewing a robust porter next, lets see what happens with that.

Thirsty

[IroPino]

then pour it, add a bit of the "spice" and try.. then you say HEY this is a rocking IPA / Fruit beer or Stout / Vagina Juice beer... then make your own batch.

Amounts added to glass via heroin syringe

(of course most of you yanks ain't never had biscuits w/ sorghum milk sop).

I've hated every beer I've had with molasses in it. Tastes like tar to me.

A HUGE thanks to all of you, I needed a good gut busting laugh!