Great Lakes Devils Pale - different hops

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Sat Aug 21, 2010 7:02 pm

This Great Lakes Devils Pale I'm enjoying has abruptly changed hop profile. Apparently they applied what they learned brewing Canuck Pale directly to this denser, maltier beer.

It's an improvement, for sure - the pale malt body (for me) doesn't take over in a sticky sweet way anymore, and I get more lemon and tangerine/orange from hops, which hits the hop craving spot on. Not a bad flagship LC product and not at all far from an IPA, I'm very pleased with this, Great Lakes Brew Co!

On the subject of pales, people were drinking Duggan's #9 like crazy at Only Cafe, and the Miami Weisse and Smashbomb sells fast there too - I would say this reflects a positive trend towards accepting hoppy ales as a normal Ontario thing. Any why not? Hops taste frigging glorious!

It's up to you craft brewers to gradually tip the balance, and then there will be nothing to stop you from stealing customers from the Big Guys.

markaberrant · Post by **markaberrant** » Sat Aug 21, 2010 11:17 pm

I received a can of Devil's Pale last year via trade. It tasted like an 80 schilling scottish ale.

Good to hear they are beefing up the hops.

SteelbackGuy · Post by **SteelbackGuy** » Sun Aug 22, 2010 11:20 am

markaberrant wrote:I received a can of Devil's Pale last year via trade. It tasted like an 80 schilling scottish ale.

Good to hear they are beefing up the hops.

80 schlling is an interesting take. I never would have thought that.

I have noted that the beer is hoppier, and I know that last time I spoke with Simon, I think he mentioned it was being more heavily hopped.

jimmay · Post by **jimmay** » Sat Sep 04, 2010 11:55 am

Somebody gave me the latest OCB sampler pack containing this (amonst others) and I was pleasantly surprised. Hadn't had this is a couple years, and it was much better than my memory recalled. Will put this into my session beer rotation.

matt7215 · Post by **matt7215** » Mon Sep 13, 2010 11:26 am

the new 666 is awesome! it will replace ST IPA as my regular hop fix until i find something better.

great work great lakes!

cratez · Post by **cratez** » Mon Sep 13, 2010 1:24 pm

matt7215 wrote:the new 666 is awesome! it will replace ST IPA as my regular hop fix until i find something better.

great work great lakes!

Is there a way of deciphering which cans contain the new recipe (and which ones don't)? I.E. cans produced after a certain date? I'm now intrigued after hearing so many good comments.

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Mon Sep 13, 2010 1:32 pm

cratez wrote:
matt7215 wrote:the new 666 is awesome! it will replace ST IPA as my regular hop fix until i find something better.

great work great lakes!
Is there a way of deciphering which cans contain the new recipe (and which ones don't)? I.E. cans produced after a certain date? I'm now intrigued after hearing so many good comments.

Date code by month is alphabetical, so a G or H on the bottom of the can is a safe bet for a July or August brewing. It's possible September will be J since brewers skip over the letter "I" (to avoid confusion with the numeral "1")

matt7215 · Post by **matt7215** » Mon Sep 13, 2010 1:39 pm

cratez wrote:
matt7215 wrote:the new 666 is awesome! it will replace ST IPA as my regular hop fix until i find something better.

great work great lakes!
Is there a way of deciphering which cans contain the new recipe (and which ones don't)? I.E. cans produced after a certain date? I'm now intrigued after hearing so many good comments.

the ones ive been enjoying have started with G, so anything G or after should be good.

has Great Lakes confirmed this change anywhere?

i really hope the current version is here to stay and id love to see a "Double Devil" based on this beer current form

lister · Post by **lister** » Mon Sep 13, 2010 2:28 pm

cratez wrote:Is there a way of deciphering which cans contain the new recipe (and which ones don't)? I.E. cans produced after a certain date? I'm now intrigued after hearing so many good comments.

I had a can a few weeks ago, noticed it hoppier than usual and looked at the can. On the bottom I noticed an odd word which I initially didn't make any sense of. I remembered I had another can in the fridge that I had for some time and the word was DEVIL. Looking at the first can the word now made sense, it was LIVED. DEVIL backwards. Have a look at your can and see if it's the same.

kwjd · Post by **kwjd** » Tue Sep 14, 2010 8:22 pm

Wow... bought a can today and it is completely different beer than last time I had it (a few months ago). I love the change!

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Wed Sep 15, 2010 3:11 pm

matt7215 wrote:
i really hope the current version is here to stay and id love to see a "Double Devil" based on this beer current form

Is there notable caramalt? What would your 'double devil' version of this be like (balance of ingredients.) I think the current version could support even more dry hopping without changing anything else (but what do I know about brewing.)

matt7215 · Post by **matt7215** » Wed Sep 15, 2010 3:31 pm

Belgian wrote:
matt7215 wrote:
i really hope the current version is here to stay and id love to see a "Double Devil" based on this beer current form
Is there notable caramalt? What would your 'double devil' version of this be like (balance of ingredients.) I think the current version could support even more dry hopping without changing anything else (but what do I know about brewing.)

there is detectable cara malt in the current recipe but that wouldnt need to be scaled up necessarily. also the is probably some kind of dark malt and/or sinamar being used to get the deep red colour.

whatever the current malt bill is its getting killed by the hops!

i agree that it could use more late addition and dry hops but that could be said of almost every IPA/pale ale IMO and it really just personal preference.

now to create "double devil" id up the abv to about 9% while maintaining the current malt/hop ratio and id try to get it to ferment out as close to the current FG as i could.

really youd just need more base malt and more hops. they might also need to add a little more of whatever they are using for colour if they want to keep the colour as close as possible to the original.

phat matt · Post by **phat matt** » Wed Sep 15, 2010 10:12 pm

matt7215 wrote:
cratez wrote:
matt7215 wrote:the new 666 is awesome! it will replace ST IPA as my regular hop fix until i find something better.

great work great lakes!
Is there a way of deciphering which cans contain the new recipe (and which ones don't)? I.E. cans produced after a certain date? I'm now intrigued after hearing so many good comments.
the ones ive been enjoying have started with G, so anything G or after should be good.

has Great Lakes confirmed this change anywhere?

i really hope the current version is here to stay and id love to see a "Double Devil" based on this beer current form

When I was at a project x in july they were giving out samples of the devils. They were also telling everyone that there was a new hopping to it.

Bobsy · Post by **Bobsy** » Thu Sep 16, 2010 8:25 pm

I promised the wife I wouldn't buy any bottled beer in September as a small sacrifice to make to buy the Napoleon BBQ I've greedily been buying. Its good to know there's a nice canned option out there...

bufordsbest · Post by **bufordsbest** » Fri Sep 17, 2010 9:18 am

tried this last night and it drinks like a totally different beer. i wouldn't say it's a perfect beer but it's definitely in my go to list now.