The Bar Towel

As far as I can ascertain, this is the first published review on the net of the revived Ballantine IPA. Looks very good indeed.

http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/ballantine ... le/282858/

Gary

^You have certainly got me curious to try this IPA based on the history, but the RB rater giving it a perfect score across the board is a bit rich---that just sets it up to disappoint.

Wikipedia has an eye-opening history on it. The page does say that the current pabst revival made at miller is simply a hoppy beer. No ,hop oil, barrel ageing being used in modern version. Not expecting anything exceptional (because of who is mass producing it).

But the BA thread got my interest up.http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/t ... st.203154/

Sam, Miller is not making the beer at a mega-plant, it's being made at Cold Spring Brewery in Minnesota. Cold Spring is privately owned and is an outgrowth of an old regional brewery called Gluek Brewing. Hop oils are being used, they were distilled specially in England for Pabst. Wood aging is not used, the beer will be driven through an "oak cannon", some kind of device with spirals of oak in it, to lend a touch of oak flavour. (Not too much I hope, since the beer never had a strong oak taste - to the extent it appeared to, it may have been an effect of the Bullion hops used at the time).

It is true no extended barrel aging will be given, but that should not matter greatly I think.

We don't know if it is pasteurized, I'd think it is, which might tone down the taste a bit - to me a pasteurized beer is not really craft although opinions differ here.

The current Ratebeer and BA comments - just one each to be sure - are pretty complimentary..

^ "See this long discussion about the flavor of pitch found in Pilsner Urquell at the turn of the last century or George Ehret's quote in his 25 Years of Brewing - in which he writes of pitch's "....peculiar, although exceedingly faint, flavor for which the ordinary pitch is so highly prized by both the brewer and the drinker"."

I remember 1990's Urquell in Prague/Pilsen was pretty good. A combination of things may have happened since. I guess pitch lined aging has no bearing on Ballantines now, but it could be a 'thing' for craft brewing.

Belgian wrote:^ "See this long discussion about the flavor of pitch found in Pilsner Urquell at the turn of the last century or George Ehret's quote in his 25 Years of Brewing - in which he writes of pitch's "....peculiar, although exceedingly faint, flavor for which the ordinary pitch is so highly prized by both the brewer and the drinker"."

I remember 1990's Urquell in Prague/Pilsen was pretty good. A combination of things may have happened since. I guess pitch lined aging has no bearing on Ballantines now, but it could be a 'thing' for craft brewing.

Belgian, I don't see where you linked that, I'd like to read it.

I think pitch did give a faint taste to the old Urquell, you're right. When Ballantine had big wooden tanks (it never used small barrels), it used something called "mammut" to line them. This was some kind of clear pitch or enamel. It is hard to say if it gave a taste to Ballantine IPA and if it did, whether it resembled a woody taste. Anyway I have no trouble with a touch of oak spiriling on the beer, I doubt it will change the taste very much.

Another article:
http://gizmodo.com/how-pabst-brought-a- ... 1628690352

I've now had it. To me it tastes like a typical modern IPA. I was disappointed as it did not in my view recreate the beer I recall from the 70's or even the last dozen years say. Quite potent citric character a la Liberty Ale, that type. Well brewed for what it is though.