{"id":2778,"date":"2011-05-07T00:02:05","date_gmt":"2011-05-06T12:02:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/?p=2778"},"modified":"2012-06-06T17:59:58","modified_gmt":"2012-06-06T05:59:58","slug":"yeastie-boys-pot-kettle-black-2010-u-s-remix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2011\/05\/07\/yeastie-boys-pot-kettle-black-2010-u-s-remix\/","title":{"rendered":"Yeastie Boys ‘Pot Kettle Black: 2010 U.S. Remix’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Yeastie<\/a>
Yeastie Boys \u2018PKB Remix 2010\u2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And so then I followed the unknown with something more familiar — as the Tragically Hip once advised,1<\/sup> seemingly referring to those times when the unknown is a disappointment<\/a>. It’s also fitting that Diary II<\/em> would celebrate its Hundred with a Yeastie Boys beer, since their ‘Her Majesty’ was there to break it in<\/a> back in September last year. 100 entries in 244 days doesn’t strike me as too-bad an average, especially considering that the 300-ish of Diary I<\/em> took six years<\/em> on account of some serious slackness and patchiness.<\/p>\n

A bottle of regular-edition PKB<\/a> also<\/em> showed up in the first-few pages of the new notebook, and I briefly touched upon the ‘remixes’ then — but what I didn’t<\/em> mention is that they initially kinda pissed me off. Looking way<\/em> back in my notes, in the original book in June 2009,2<\/sup> I was delighted by the peculiarity<\/em> of PKB and its expectation-ruining mix of conspicuous hoppiness and big rich blackness. Then it goes to Beervana (appearing as Beer #19 in my Diary <\/em>entry for the day)3<\/sup> and takes out the Stouts & Porters category and<\/em> wins the Peoples’ Choice award — an impressive melding of meritocracy and democracy which is so far unique. And then<\/em> it reappared a few months later in a “Stout Remix” incarnation. The original had won the accolades and generated the buzz, and so people were drawn to the Yeastie Boys badge when it showed up on the taps, but they were getting something else<\/em>. It’s not like I was outraged — by now, you’d probably recognise when that<\/em> happens — but the bait-and-switch of it struck me as messing with people, or somehow poor form. It took until the following January before a (positive) mention of the First Remix appeared in my notes, when we tapped the last keg of it, at work. The beer had conditioned beautifully, and there’d also been a few more Yeastie Boys beers released in the meantime — the side-by-side comparative Nerdherders,4<\/sup> an explicitly-vintaged ‘His Majesty’, and the style-bending ‘Plan K’ — which demonstrated the experimentalism that we now recognise as Their Thing. Mild discomfort averted.\u00a0Now<\/em>, I get it.<\/p>\n

With the original-ish-edition now also<\/em> regularly available (and with label text that nicely explains what’s going on), the remixes are the perfect way to have your cake and eat it too; a best-of-both-worlds situation if ever there was. The Second Remix, this U.S.-hopped variant right here, was an absurdly-welcome member of my ‘Beer 121: New Zealand Beer for Americans’<\/a> tasting — but I’d never gotten around to having more than a sampling-glass-worth until Jono<\/a> generously brought this into work to share. Working part-time with us while he’s studying journalism, he’s originally a Coffee Nerd who is fast becoming One Of Us Beer Geeks. So we rambled away about our mutual fondness for Hunter S. Thompson<\/a>, and the vexed question of the difference between porter and stout<\/a> — great-big 750ml bottles of delicious beer are perfect<\/em> for such occasions.<\/p>\n

Like its First Remix brother did, it was also aging gracefully — getting on towards a year old and still tasting outrageously fresh and fantastic. The typically-citrussy notes of the bold and brash American hops made it reminiscent of Croucher’s ‘Patriot’<\/a>, though the PKB seemed to have a good deal more solidity<\/em> where Patriot has sharpness and snap — neither end of the spectrum seems to me less worthy<\/em> than the other; they’re just different<\/em>. We were both also struck by the distinct elements of umami<\/a><\/em> we were getting out of it — it’s not uncommon (in my experience) for both devotees and detractors of some black beers to find them oddly-evocative of soy sauce, and I suppose this is what’s at play, since it’s something of an overlooked flavour sensation and thereby harder to put your finger on.<\/p>\n

Coincidentally, I’d had a bottle of the regular-edition not too long previously and had also<\/em> been watching episodes of The Office<\/a><\/em> — in both its (English-language) incarnations. And it occured to me that there you have it, right there; that’s what’s going on. The differences are just as striking as the similarities, the ways in which it changed make perfect<\/em> sense when you understand the context from which the ingredients are derived —\u00a0and<\/em> it’s perfectly-possible to imagine any given person liking one, or the other. Or neither, or both. You couldn’t fault anyone for their particular pair of opinions on the two options. You’re just left marvelling at the variety of the human species, and grateful that there’s a lot of good beer (of dizzyingly-varied differing types) to go around.<\/p>\n

\"Yeastie<\/a>
Diary II entry #100, Yeastie Boys \u2018PKB Remix 2010\u2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Verbatim:<\/strong> Yeastie Boys \u2018PKB Remix 2010\u2019 7\/5\/11 \u00f7 2 with Jono @ MH 750ml 6.8% while rambling about HST, journalism + Flying Dog on the stout-porter difference. At a year or so old, this is still outrageously fresh + delicious. Cascade puts it in the camp claimed by Croucher ‘Patriot’ — totally chocolate oranges. With a good whack of the umami sideline that makes us white people say “soy sauce!” occasionally, with a good grunty porter. We’ve got some first-edition PKB in the fridge. Must see how that’s going.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\"Yeastie<\/a>
Yeastie Boys \u2018PKB Remix 2010\u2019, blurb #1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"Yeastie<\/a>
Yeastie Boys \u2018PKB Remix 2010\u2019, blurb #2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"Yeastie<\/a>
Yeastie Boys 'Pot Kettle Black', regular edition<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n

1:<\/strong> In ‘Courage’ from Fully Completely<\/em> (1992)<\/a>. As I write this up, it was very-recently Canada Day, so I’ve had the Hip stuck in my brain for a week or so. My fondness for them is one of those data points that go together with my weird accent and convince people that I ain’t from \u2019round here<\/a>.<\/span>
\n2:<\/strong> We had a really fun launch night at work for Pot Kettle Black and a Hallertau-brewed homebrew-competition-winner with the utterly-masterful name ‘Bring Your Daughter to the Porter’. Each was available on handpump and on tap, and I happened to have the night off. I spent a long<\/em> time plonked on the end of the bar, happily going through several pints of each. In hindsight, neither was a session beer — my notes have them as 6% and “6-point-something%”, a failure of accurate record-keeping which tells you all you need to know.<\/span>
\n3:<\/strong> Talking of ill-advised “sessioning” (as I was, above at n2, obviously) I worked<\/em> after that Beervana visit, and then<\/em> signed off at midnight because it was officially my 30th Birthday. Six more beers appear in my notes after that, which mostly proves how stubborn my Diary<\/em>-keeping habit had finally become after years of slackness. I did very<\/em> little on the Actual Birthday. Which suited me just fine.<\/span>
\n4:<\/strong> As I’ve mentioned before, I love<\/em> these Variant Edition experiments. They’re a great exercise in Science!<\/em>, an eye-opening learning opportunity, and a great way to discover what you like \/ don’t like \/ prefer — and why<\/em>. Yeastie Boys started with the Nerdherders (varyingly-hopped bitters), and did something similar with their Monsters (varyingly-hopped hoppy pale ales) and their Blondies (an abbey-ish ale<\/a> and a K\u00f6lsch-ish ale<\/a> produced by different yeasts).<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And so then I followed the unknown with something more familiar — as the Tragically Hip once advised,1 seemingly referring to those times when the unknown is a disappointment. It’s also fitting that Diary II would celebrate its Hundred with a Yeastie Boys beer, since their ‘Her Majesty’ was there to break it in back … Continue reading Yeastie Boys ‘Pot Kettle Black: 2010 U.S. Remix’<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[6,14,8,30],"class_list":["post-2778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diary","tag-pages","tag-nz","tag-photogenic","tag-porter"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":741,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2010\/09\/08\/yeastie-boys-pot-kettle-black\/","url_meta":{"origin":2778,"position":0},"title":"Yeastie Boys ‘Pot Kettle Black’","author":"Phil","date":"September 8, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"'PKB' -- as it quickly became known; the full version of the name is meant to highlight the seeming-contradiction in a beer being both hoppy and dark -- was the first Yeastie Boys release. It also -- appropriately enough -- went on to contradict their usual modus operandi by returning\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Yeastie Boys 'Pot Kettle Black'","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Yeastie-Boys-Pot-Kettle-Black-bottled-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":721,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2010\/09\/06\/yeastie-boys-her-majesty-2010\/","url_meta":{"origin":2778,"position":1},"title":"Yeastie Boys ‘Her Majesty 2010\u2019","author":"Phil","date":"September 6, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"And so begins Diary II. I'm kinda surprised I lasted a week since the birthday-closing of Diary I. But this was a hell of a way to kick things off; with a big, mad, not-concerned-with-style kinda thing. The Yeastie Boys are no one-trick ponies; they can make crazy hoppy pale\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Yeastie Boys 'Her Majesty 2010'","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Yeastie-Boys-Her-Majesty-2010-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1427,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2009\/03\/25\/yeastie-boys-kid-chocolate\/","url_meta":{"origin":2778,"position":2},"title":"Yeastie Boys ‘Kid Chocolate’","author":"Phil","date":"March 25, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"After the Silage Debacle, this was an incredibly-welcome change. The third Yeastie Boys release was a charmingly un-fashionable mild -- great big hop-fueled high-booze things were very much in fashion, so the Yeasties staked their claim to being Plural-Tricked Ponies very early on. It is weird that we got to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Yeastie Boys 'Kid Chocolate'","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Diary-1084-Yeastie-Boys-Kid-Chocolate-300x188.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2043,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2011\/03\/11\/yeastie-boys-blondie-rapture\/","url_meta":{"origin":2778,"position":3},"title":"Yeastie Boys ‘Blondie: Rapture’","author":"Phil","date":"March 11, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"As much I was enjoying the relative novelty of a Friday Night Off, I was also having a Bit Of A Day. The Gonzo and the writing helped somewhat, but when I returned to the Malthouse and saw that a few tap beers had run out, necessitating a fridge shuffle,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Yeastie Boys 'Rapture'","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Yeastie-Boys-Rapture-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1471,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2011\/01\/20\/yeastie-boys-blondie-europa\/","url_meta":{"origin":2778,"position":4},"title":"Yeastie Boys ‘Blondie: Europa’","author":"Phil","date":"January 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I love the idea of Variant Editions of beer. Though I only got to try the All Together Now culmination, I loved that Mikeller did ten single-hop pale ales in a run. And the Yeastie Boys themselves trod a similar path with their 'Nerdherder' and 'Monster' beers, both of which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Yeastie Boys 'Europa', handpulled","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Yeastie-Boys-Europa-at-Hop-Garden-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3125,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2011\/05\/31\/yeastie-boys-fools-gold\/","url_meta":{"origin":2778,"position":5},"title":"Yeastie Boys ‘Fools Gold’","author":"Phil","date":"May 31, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Given its provenance, I think it's safe to assume that the name here is more a Stone Roses reference than an Iron Pyrite one. But hey; you never know -- just when you think you've got their naming scheme figured-out, they do go and change things on you.1 If you're\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Yeastie Boys 'Fool's Gold'","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Yeastie-Boys-Fools-Gold-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2778"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4290,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2778\/revisions\/4290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}