Thunder Ale
 I wanted to create a beer with certian qualities that I enjoyed in many other brews, and combine these into one, so I started brewing beer at home a few years ago .

Bitterness

There existed(and maybe still does!) a beer brewed where I lived most of my teen years, Zweibrucken Germany,
it was called "Parkbrau", this beer had a bold bitter quality that I found very pleasing. There was (2) popular variations of Parkbrau, I say "WAS" because I haven' t had a "Parkbrau" in over 20 years, it was almost never available in the US, the company changed their name to "Park", started puting their beer in paper labled "Yuppie" looking bottles instead of the original returnable stubies with the painted labels, and more than likely screwed everything up, all in the name of progress.
Parkbrau's "Pils" had a crisp, sharp "tangy" bitterness, while their "Export", had more of a dark grassy "herbal" bitterness. Both were good, the export was more popular with me, other americans, and the local germans as well.
There was (2) other local beers worth noting; Karlsberg(not to be confused with the Danish "Carlsberg"), and BBK.
Karlsbergs big offering was "UrPils", kind of similar to, but better than Parkbrau's "Pils" beer.
BBK always seemed to be the beer that was always available when somthing else wasn' t within reach, BBK was not as well liked, tasted like a milder version of "Export", and the local GI slang term I recall for it was "Bad Beer from Kaiserslautern", in hindsight I don' t remember BBK being "That" bad however, and for the record BBK actually means "Bayerische Brauerei Kaiserslautern".
Although not local, "Heinekens" always seemed to be around as well, which is not a bad thing at all!

PLEASE NOTE: Do NOT assume that Parkbrau, Karlsberg or BBK tasted anything like other german imports like "Saint Paula Girl", "Warsteiner" or "Becks", which all have very thin body and only a tiny "Saaz" hop aroma and not much else. In Zweibrucken, and I suspect anywhere else in "Deutchland"(Germany), we NEVER HEARD OF "Becks", "Warsteiner" or "Saint Pauli Girl", so my association of what a german beer is can be very different from others. If all german beer tasted like that I would NOT have respect for Germany as a beer producing region!



Ales and Lagers

On trips to Australia, I found (2) beers very popular to the Australians, both have a very bold bitter character,
on the east coast they drink an Ale called "XXXX"(pronounced "four x"), in the west "Victoria Bitter" lager is prefered. (Forget about the media hype in America about "Fosters" being Australian for beer, "Fosters" is Australian for "Kangaroo Shit"!). All beers are either "Lagers", or "Ales". Lager yeast is active at very cold tempertures, Ale yeast is not, beers brewed at a cold temperture using lager yeast are "Lagers", beer brewed at room temperture using ale yeast are "Ales". Lagers tend to be "Crisp", Ales are more "Creamy".
In latter years I would discover American brewed versions in the British "India Pale Ale" style beer. IPA's are Pale Ale's with a bold hop character(bitterness). This style of beer was created out of necessity, a beer higher in alcohol and hops was required that would not spoil, when shipped on the long journey from England to India, via Clipper Ship. While English brewers have long ago decided to offer milder versions of the IPA style, American brewers have tended to produce IPA's closser to the original style, maintaining the bold hop character and higher alcohol content, the new "American" IPA style(which in irony isn' t "new" but rather "authentic") has come to be known as "Imperial" IPA's. I prefer American IPA's over modern English offerings, and "Stone IPA" from California is my favorite in the category. Oregon's "Bridgeport" IPA comes in a close 2nd!
"Mirror Pond" from Deschutes Brewery Bend Oregon USA, is probably my absolute favorite beer, although this one is classified as an APA(American Pale Ale), it has a hop level that comes close to many IPA's, I find it to be very crisp and clean, with just the right hop bitterness, a nicely balanced beer.


Malt

I also found darker malt to my liking, two that I enjoy are the "Irish" Ales "Guinness", and "Murphys", of the two I prefer "Murphys" especially when its on tap. Beers this dark get most of their "bitterness" from the darker roasted malt, the use of hops is lighter, its a different experience altogether but while I enjoy darker beers, these Ales require "Some" aging in the brewing process, and with my resources being what they are(limited storage), I have chosen styles that can be consumed right away.
My favorite dark beer is "Black Butte Porter" from Deschutes Brewery Bend Oregon, USA
I settled for a malt recipe somewhere between copper and amber, simular to what you would find in an English Brown Ale, robust, slightly sweet, with just a hint of molasses.

My Beer

My 1st batches were not aweful, but not all that special either. Getting the malt right came fairly easy, but I struggled with the hoppiness(bitterness), until I discovered "Nugget" hops, which gave my beer that same herbal bitter quality that I remember from "Parkbrau" so long ago. I adhere to the German purity law, meaning only water, barley, hops and yeast were allowed as ingredients, unlike most "Mass produced beers" like "Miller" who add cheeper "corn cerial" to their mash to a point that it turns out piss yellow, or Budweiser's use of "rice filler" resulting in the weakest and worst "Sake" available. If it tastes cheep, IT PROBABLY IS!
If you have to drink an American Macro corn beer, have a "Pabst Blue Ribbon", it's the best of the category, actually not bad when well chilled!
Loose Raw Hops ready to be boiled
The Beer Fermenter

Changes Changes Changes

I decided to make (2) slight adjustments to the Thunder Ale Recipe. Originally I used Nugget hops for all three hop phases(bittering, flavoring & aroma). I am still using the Nugget hops for the bittering, but for flavor and aroma I am using Tettnanger hops. The previous malt recipe called for Amber malt, this time around I will use 1/2 Amber malt, 1/2 pale malt, bringing the coloration of the beer from Amber to Copper, and in my little world I am thinking that this should make the overall taste smoother, and bring out the character of the hops. HOPHEADS UNITE!

Beer Humor

Three beer reps , a Bud rep, a Coors rep and a Guinness rep, are all traveling the same sales route. One day they all decided to go out together after work. When the waitress arrived to take their orders,
The Bud rep said: "I'll have the king of beers, Budweiser."
The Coors rep said: "I'll have the only beer brewed with waters of the Rocky Mountains, Coors."
The Guinness rep said: "I will have a Coke."
Both the Bud and Coors reps looked and the Guinness rep and asked why he wasn't going to have a Guinness?
To which the Guinness rep replied: "Hell, if you guys aren't going to have a beer neither am I."

PROST!

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