Skakespeare and "AA"

I thought you may be puzzled by the title of this blog. You are probably feeling a bit like I did last night while reading the label on a bottle of Rogue Shakespeare Stout. The wife and I stopped at the Vandalia Lounge for a round. She ordered a Cosmo (She is not a "Beer Person") and I the stout. Of course, the Stout was served at damn near freezing point. The bartender remembered me and gave me a non-frosted glass without me asking. He even offered to take one out to let it warm up in case I was going to have another; but I was only having the one 22oz bottle.

I commend Rogue for the fact that they actually try to appeal to beer geeks everywhere by listing the beer ingredients on the label. You can see all of the different malt and hops that are used to make the beer you are tasting.

They also list the specifications of the beer. This is either to appeal to brewers like myself, or to just say "we know stuff about beer that you don't". I look these specs over; things like IBU (bittering units), Original Gravity in Plato (The amount of sugar in the wort before fermentation).

Specifications like this are somewhat useful or just plain interesting. But then I saw it. For an instant I thought to myself "Uh Oh, they know something about beer that I don't". I am of "middle age" so, I was not sure if I was reading AA or RA???? I was puzzled. I asked the wife (w/ Bionic Laser Eye Vision), and she affirmed it was AA. I thought for a moment... Ahhh "Apparent Attenuation"! "Why are they listing that?" Giving this number to a beer geek/brewer is like issuing a challenge, a "throw down". It's like some sort of number sequence puzzle to a Mensa member. A normal beer spec would just list the final gravity of the beer (How much sugar is left after fermentation), but that's not the way Rogue wants to play!

I immediately whipped out the PDA, Phone, Calculator combo. Punched in a few numbers....

Take that Rogue! How would you like your final gravity? In degrees Plato or points SG???

You are gonna have to do better than that.... (77% AA! that's killer attenuation, by the way...)