The Bar Towel

There is far less CO2 in the carbonation, I think the fellow at the store said they are using mostly Nitrogen now to give the beer a "smoother" character that is "less acidic". The CO2 contributed to that Tankhouse 'bite' it had before.

I never had a problem with it before, but people are free to pursure their commercial interests as they wish.

I've never been the biggest fan of Tankhouse, but it used to be pretty good. Now it's just bland.

Some Great Eastern IPA in bottles would sure be a welcome sight right about now.

Belgian wrote:They are deliberately changing Tankhouse Pale Ale.

Oh well, I'm off to kill myself then. Cheerio!

I've found it to be mixed lately. The last 6 I got were good. Not quite what it used to be, but certainly better than the previous dozen or 24. The last 6 were in the new bottle style, but so were a couple of sixes before that.

It figures, now that I can buy it locally. I'll just hope it's a temporary situation.

Wheatsheaf wrote:Some Great Eastern IPA in bottles would sure be a welcome sight right about now.

I heard from Stratford Brewing that they are currently working with Doug from Saint Andre on an IPA right now.....I wasn't sure if it would be the Great Eastern or another version, but either way I'll be happy to try it! Look out Mill St.

I've noticed a decline in the Tankhouse on tap and in bottles. In bottles it's very disappointing. I've heard Great Eastern is making its return soon.

Very interesting.
I had 6 over the holidays but grabbed them in early december...same old bottles...and they were quite spicy and satisfying.

Of course whenever I pick this stuff up, people at TBS look at me funny...I think I'm the only one that buys it, so it could have been an older batch.

Will have to grab some again, but this is bad news for one of my favourite tasty locals.

Belgian wrote:They are deliberately changing Tankhouse Pale Ale.

Do you know that for sure? I ask only because you refer to "the guy at the store" who could be the guy at the Mill Street store who migth know what he's talking about, but it could also be the guy at the LCBO or Beer Store whose knowledge is questionable at best. I find that even the people who mind the brewery store are not always completely in the know.

On another point you brought up about nitrogen - if they were gassing the beer with nitrogen, wouldn't their kegged version be served on a nitro tap, at least in some circumstances? I'm thinking they would be aiming for something along the lines of McAuslan Cream Ale if they were going the nitro route. I wish they wouldn't, because the only bottle of Tankhouse I've had was probably the best English or North American (I specify those two only because I want to exclude Belgian Pale Ales in this case) style Pale Ale I've ever had.

I wonder how many of these changes are simply palate changes of the tasters, much like the perceived changes in Three Floyd's Dreadnaught that come up all the time on Ratebeer. The brewer maintains that nothign about the beer has changed, but every month or so there's a new post about how it's not as hoppy or aggressive as it once was.

All I know is that I have done 5 comparisons now with old bottles vs. new, and the new sucks bit time.

I must say i'm relieved to see this post. I just recently moved to Northern Ontario, a waste land for good beer........but I was floored to see Mill Street in my tiny towns local Beer Store. I grabbed a sixer of Tankhouse, and looked forward to enjoying it. Well,as eveyone has stated on here. it was awful. I thought maybe, it was a bad 6 pack, i am far in the north maybe its been sitting there a long time. Or maybe my taste buds have gone! Looks like its not me though........so lets get to the bottom of this, hopefully someone can shed some light on it.

Just to clarify, I didn't find it awful by any stretch... It just isn't as hoppy as it was. I will still buy it even if it stays like this, but not as often as I would if it hadn't changed.

I've still yet to try Perry's Sgt. Major since reading about the changes on here, so I can't comment on that one. I will certainly try it at my next opportunity.

The Tankhouse does have a "brewed on" date stamped on the bottle - just got to look a little harder cuz of the colour of the glass. Get out your reading glasses;-)

Tank is my session beer and I have yet to notice a change in the hoppiness.
As for the nitrogen - I called them and there has never been nitrogen used to carbonate the beer.

Hmmm - I feel some skeptisism may be caused by the brewery getting a bit bigger..... just my call!

SD.

Oh yeah - old bottle vs. new bottle = same beer. Check the dates.

I picked up some Tankhouse from a BeerStore in Stratford this past weekend and thought it tasted just the same as always. I tried another tonight just to be sure and came to the same conclusion.

Optimistic view: Maybe it was just an issue with a few batches that had problems.

I don't know how fast the Tankhouse moves off the shelf in Stratford, but it was in the new style bottles. The Coffee Porter (one of my wife's favourites) was still in the old bottle.

I haven't had any Tankhouse since reading this thread, but was discussing this with a beer-loving friend of mine who is a longtime fan of the Tankhouse Ale. He had a few newly purchased bottles tonight and also claimed that it was the same as it ever was. No different. I had a few bottles over Christmas, and those were the same as ever. No less hoppy or spicy. Though my friend did say that one of the bottles in a recent 6 was awful and totally skunked, and he had to dump it. So perhaps there were a few bad batches kicking around, or perhaps people are remembering it as a different beer than it is? It's certainly a hoppy beer, but it's also very malty. Not a hop bomb. I don't know...