A *secret* recipe

On numerous occasions, and again just recently, I've been told or asked about 'secret' recipes for beers. Well, listen folks: it ain't no secret.

The recipe for beer is barley malt, hops, water, and yeast ... with some variations here or there. A recipe is —maybe— 10% of the taste of a good beer. If the importance of a recipe truly were greater, the restaurant world, for example, would have many more 5-star Michelin chefs. They'd simply look them 'secret' recipes in Julia Child's cookbooks.

What's needed are procedures and ingredients, and procedures more so. The ability to make and follow appropriate procedures is necessary. And cleanliness. And repeatability of good results.

A brewery might have a shiny bright brewhouse and use "the finest ingredients", but if it handles and packages its beer in a sloppy fashion, its beer won't be tasting too well in a very short time. Find a good brewery that can handle downstream operations, and you'll find good beer.

... my random thought (rant) this morning