Looking for the original Bar Towel blog? You can find it at www.thebartowel.com.
We have a trivia question in order to register to prevent bots. If you have any issues with answering, contact us at cass@bartowel.com for help.
Introducing Light Mode! If you would like a Bar Towel social experience that isn't the traditional blue, you can now select Light Mode. Go to the User Control Panel and then Board Preferences, and select "Day Drinking" (Light Mode) from the My Board Style drop-down menu. You can always switch back to "Night Drinking" (Dark Mode). Enjoy!
We have a trivia question in order to register to prevent bots. If you have any issues with answering, contact us at cass@bartowel.com for help.
Introducing Light Mode! If you would like a Bar Towel social experience that isn't the traditional blue, you can now select Light Mode. Go to the User Control Panel and then Board Preferences, and select "Day Drinking" (Light Mode) from the My Board Style drop-down menu. You can always switch back to "Night Drinking" (Dark Mode). Enjoy!
red racer IPA
red racer IPA
Used to love this beer, but lately something is off...no more delicious hop aroma or resin grapefruit...all I get is overly malty flabby beer...last one tried was produced November 24, so not like it's that old...anyone else experiencing this ?
Everytime I learn something new I forget something old...like that time I learned to make wine and then forgot how to drive...
-
kevinlater
- Posts: 124
- Joined: Mon Nov 18, 2013 10:44 pm
- Location: Mississauga
I'm really surprised it has taken this long for someone to mention it on a forum (at least I haven't seen it).
They moved production to the bigger brewery about a year ago, and instantly I noticed the difference. Now I'm not saying that they've gone all macro and are cutting corners, but I did wonder if the larger batch size took longer to cool, so it was like moving the hop additions a bit earlier in the boil. It was definitely different.
I didn't buy it for quite some time, and even when I bought some cans for summer camping I still noticed the difference. I picked up some ISA at the time which I thought was really great, so I knew they were certainly capable, but the IPA was still different.
I picked up the CC/P49 Advent calender (which was certainly packaged prior to your Nov 24 batch), and I was pleased to find the old hop aroma and flavour was back. So I don't know if they're still working out the kinks or what (or maybe using up last year hops?).
Similarly, I think that P49 has suffered some growing pains. Their specialty bombers are generally still good, but the regular lineup is seriously muted. It's definitely filtered... I wonder if they've even started to pasteurize?
They moved production to the bigger brewery about a year ago, and instantly I noticed the difference. Now I'm not saying that they've gone all macro and are cutting corners, but I did wonder if the larger batch size took longer to cool, so it was like moving the hop additions a bit earlier in the boil. It was definitely different.
I didn't buy it for quite some time, and even when I bought some cans for summer camping I still noticed the difference. I picked up some ISA at the time which I thought was really great, so I knew they were certainly capable, but the IPA was still different.
I picked up the CC/P49 Advent calender (which was certainly packaged prior to your Nov 24 batch), and I was pleased to find the old hop aroma and flavour was back. So I don't know if they're still working out the kinks or what (or maybe using up last year hops?).
Similarly, I think that P49 has suffered some growing pains. Their specialty bombers are generally still good, but the regular lineup is seriously muted. It's definitely filtered... I wonder if they've even started to pasteurize?
-
groulxsome
- Posts: 470
- Joined: Mon Apr 30, 2012 3:24 pm
Lots of people have said the 2013 crop of Amarillo wasn't quite as good as usual.
According to Josh Rubin in the Star:
Some examples of the 2013 Amarillo concerns:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/grassy- ... ps-446744/
There are loads of folks on here that I'm sure are willing to talk to it. I've not had too much bad luck with the 2013s, but I've only used them as a small portion of a blend.
So maybe part of the issue is that hops are variable and they just couldn't work around this years crop.
According to Josh Rubin in the Star:
http://www.thestar.com/life/food_wine/2 ... ewing.html“You get more complexity when you add it at different stages,” said Lohin. For the initial batch, Lohin uses a German hop called Magnum. The early batch adds bitterness. For the later additions, designed to add more hoppy aromas, Lohin uses American varieties, including Simcoe, Centennial and Amarillo.
Some examples of the 2013 Amarillo concerns:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/grassy- ... ps-446744/
There are loads of folks on here that I'm sure are willing to talk to it. I've not had too much bad luck with the 2013s, but I've only used them as a small portion of a blend.
So maybe part of the issue is that hops are variable and they just couldn't work around this years crop.
