Tonight at Curiosity Club: This Beer Doesn't Taste Like IBUs
Posted on 26 March 2015
Tonight at Hand-Eye Supply's Curiosity Club, we feature the beer knowhow and critical propositions of a seasoned beer expert. Join us in store or streaming online at 6pm PST, as Jack Harris of Fort George Brewery presents "This Beer Doesn't Taste Like IBUs."
International Bittering Units - or IBUs - have become a standard for beer descriptions since Craft Beer has gained popularity. It has become nearly a requirement for a brewery to list ABV (Alcohol by Volume) and IBUs with a beer name. Jack's thesis is that IBU's do a disservice to beer as they are rarely accurate and almost always irrelevant.
I will explain what IBU's actually measure and how the measurement is done and then show how the number derived does almost nothing to promote knowledge of the beer it is describing. I will propose alternatives to the IBU for making it easy to describe a beer so the beer drinker can anticipate what they are ordering have been brewing professionally since I worked at the Cornelius Pass Roadhouse in Hillsboro for the McMenamins in 1990. Since then I have run breweries in Lincoln City, Boulder, Redmond (Oregon), Cannon Beach and now own and operate the Fort George Brewery in Astoria. I live in beautiful Astoria with my wife, son, dog, two cats and a Leopard Gecko.