Porter vs Ale vs Saison vs Wheat

[cswileyatl]

It's time for my office annual brew competition. Last year we won with our 10-57 Georgia Honey Wheat - (look up police codes) and the challenge was to brew with local honey. This year we have to use a fruit or nut grown in Georgia. Kudzu definitely won't work, but we were thinking one of the following four:

1. A Pecan Imperial Porter - "the Georgia nut king"
2. A Pecan Brown Ale - "Georgia Pecan Tan"
3. A Peach Saison - "Peach Saisweeeeet"
4. A Peach Whit - "10-58 Georgia Peach"

What do you think will turn out the best!!

 

[Pratzie]

I think my ten codes up here in PA might vary from you guys down South. Missing Person Georgia Honey Wheat?

 

[eulipion2]

Saison would be good, but it'll be dry and spicy, so I'm afraid the peach will get buried. That said, as a proud saison brewer I'd go for it. I think the peach wit might be easier to pull off. Pecan beers are usually pretty tasty, but from previous threads it seems like a hassle to prepare them.

 

[kingwood-kid]

Peaches are known to give not much flavor in beer. Plus most peach production has moved to California and South Carolina. I'm not sure which of those is worse to a Georgian. I think you should try to pull off Vidalia Onions, but I'll understand if you don't.

 

[Halldawg]

It's time for my office annual brew competition. Last year we won with our 10-57 Georgia Honey Wheat - (look up police codes) and the challenge was to brew with local honey. This year we have to use a fruit or nut grown in Georgia. Kudzu definitely won't work, but we were thinking one of the following four:

1. A Pecan Imperial Porter - "the Georgia nut king"
2. A Pecan Brown Ale - "Georgia Pecan Tan"
3. A Peach Saison - "Peach Saisweeeeet"
4. A Peach Whit - "10-58 Georgia Peach"

What do you think will turn out the best!!

Plenty of great fruit to choose from. Blackberries, mayhaws in south Ga, apples, blueberries in north Ga. I made a grits cream ale( I know not a fruit or nut, but what says Ga more than grits) and its great if I do say so my self.

 

[zmanzorro]

Why not use both? Shiner makes a great holiday beer using peaches and pecans with a dunkelweizen base. There is even a clone recipe for it somewhere around here for inspiration.

 

[WiseEyes]

something mawhaw based would be really cool

 

[Quaker]

I would expect peaches to be the obvious choice and thus you need to nail it to stand out. I like Kingwood Kid's Vidalia suggestion. Maybe caramelize a bunch to add in an English mild or brown ale. Would a vegetable be disqualified?

If going with pecans I'd shirk convention of a dark beer and go a Saison yeast and grist route. Keep the grist simple such as only Belgian Pilsner and rye, so it exposes mainly yeast and pecan character.

 

[inthesound]

I just brewed a peach and ginger wheat that I lovingly refer to as "Georgia redhead." Here's the skinny:

10 gal batch

10# red wheat
7.5# two row
2.5# munich

Hopped with citra and mosaic. Threw 7# peaches in at 15. I started with 10# whole, fresh peaches, pitted and sliced them. Froze them, thawed them. I highly advise you to throw the peaches into muslin bags. They made a total mess of my boil kettle. I threw 2-3 oz fresh sliced ginger in @15 as well. Used us-05. Finished super dry at 1.005. The peaches melded really well with the hops. The ginger is pretty mild, which is exactly what I was aiming for. I haven't carbed it yet, but every gravity sample has been delicious.

Good luck.

 

[kingwood-kid]

I wondered how to caramelize the onions without oil. God bless you Google, there's a way: http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/caramelize-onions-fat-5030.html But it involves about a teaspoon of salt per large onion. If you brew a Vidalia Gose, I'd be really impressed. Maybe I'll brew a 1-Gallon batch of 1015 Gose. On more conventional lines, blackberry beers are awesome, and will work with almost any low-hopped style.