Robert Simpson Confederation ale

pootz · Post by **pootz** » Sun Jan 23, 2005 9:17 pm

Anyone tried this yet...been a long time in the offing.

http://www.simcoe.com/sc/barrie/story/2 ... 2186c.html

Jon Walker · Post by **Jon Walker** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 9:13 am

Hopefully I'm wrong but I expect little more than a very generic ale. The formula for most start up breweries these days seems to be to make an ale and/or lager that closely resembles products that the macro breweries are making. The fact that the article on your link states they are five or six years away from diversifying their product line up and even then only plan to make a lager...it doesn't bode well. Good luck to them and I hope someone reviews it and gives it a rave. Only then will I seek it out.

GregClow · Post by **GregClow** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 1:00 pm

Jon Walker wrote:Good luck to them and I hope someone reviews it and gives it a rave.

Last I checked, it had one very good review and one slightly-better-than-average review at RateBeer.

pootz · Post by **pootz** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 3:07 pm

Jon Walker wrote:Hopefully I'm wrong but I expect little more than a very generic ale. The formula for most start up breweries these days seems to be to make an ale and/or lager that closely resembles products that the macro breweries are making. The fact that the article on your link states they are five or six years away from diversifying their product line up and even then only plan to make a lager...it doesn't bode well. Good luck to them and I hope someone reviews it and gives it a rave. Only then will I seek it out.

I tend to think they may be aping the Creemore business plan and seeing how they have the micro/premuim standard lager niche locked up they started with a lager-like ale...note the aging and cold fermentation of this ale...kind of a smooth drinkable cream ale style...like a malty smooth ale counter part to Creemore lager....if it is sufficiently malty and hop atenuated and they tend to concentrate on perfecting one beer, the creemore plan may be the case for this pseudo cream ale.

I'm looking forward to tasting it. They say it will be at the beer store and LCBO next week.

northyorksammy · Post by **northyorksammy** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 4:01 pm

save me a bottle, pootz

Rob Creighton · Post by **Rob Creighton** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 10:39 pm

In 25 years of brewing, I have never heard of aging an ale (other than high gravity brews) as having any benefit or value. In fact, the full flavour benefits of ale come from shorter fermentation times at higher temperatures and relatively short aging times.

Sounds like a mistake or marketing fluff.

pootz · Post by **pootz** » Wed Jan 26, 2005 3:10 pm

Rob Creighton wrote:In 25 years of brewing, I have never heard of aging an ale (other than high gravity brews) as having any benefit or value. In fact, the full flavour benefits of ale come from shorter fermentation times at higher temperatures and relatively short aging times.

Sounds like a mistake or marketing fluff.

I contacted the Brewer and they age 40 days and use a "colder than traditional fermenting temp." for fermenting... the "ale" is malt pronounced and the recipe was said to have been perfected on a micro brew system in Innisfail over a period of 3 years. They admitted there will be tweeking on the large scale system until they can perfectly replicate their micro system brewed beer. They want to concentrate on just the one beer in marketing.

http://www.thebeerstore.ca/storesandpro ... =1610&str=

http://www.ratebeer.com/Beer/robert-sim ... ale/42581/

To me this "ale" sounds like a Canadian hybrid like cream ale...we shall see. I'm interested enough to give it a try and feed back my opinion to them as I want to see any entrepreneur succeed who takes the risks in this business and market to provide an alternative to Molcoorbatt and their pals in Queen's park...seems like this guy has a lot of time, money and spirit invested in this enterprise....but the bottom line is what will sell the beer to make a profit in the critical formative stage. It would appear they are gambling on a cross between smooth drinkability and good quality ingredients to give a strong distinct flavor that is easy to drink. Perhaps this will hook in some of the Stella Atrois crowd to drink a well made domestic beer...that was Creemore's plan...seemed to work for them.

I did read where they were playing with the idea of putting that temperature thingie/gimmick on the bottle like Zywiec but I assume that was dropped.

pootz · Post by **pootz** » Wed Jan 26, 2005 3:46 pm

northyorksammy wrote:save me a bottle, pootz

No probs Sammy....the brewer tells me it will be in GTA and southern Ont. self-serve beer stores by next Thursday at the latest

bellbeer · Post by **bellbeer** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 7:23 am

Any truth to the rumor that Barry Heisz was involved in the recipe?

pootz · Post by **pootz** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 10:22 am

bellbeer wrote:Any truth to the rumor that Barry Heisz was involved in the recipe?

Dunno....what's a Barry Heisz do when you toss one in the mash/wort....how's it make the beer taste?

Beer Geek · Post by **Beer Geek** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 11:21 am

Pootz, do you know which Kitchener LCBO/Beer Store will have it?

pootz · Post by **pootz** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 1:32 pm

Beer Geek wrote:Pootz, do you know which Kitchener LCBO/Beer Store will have it?

Not sure if it is shipped in sixes yet. If not , the LCBO is SOL. I was told the shipment was at central distribution now and would only be delivered to "self serve" beer stores. The only one that comes to mind for me is the one in the Zhers mall on highland rd.

pootz · Post by **pootz** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 6:16 pm

Just finished my first RS ale. It was both a wecome surprise and a bit of a letdown. This one straddles the fine line between craft and well made premium. I think you'll have to decide for yourselves and feed back to the brewer. All I will say now untill more people try it is it's NOT a macro beer.

GregClow · Post by **GregClow** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 8:42 pm

pootz wrote: Not sure if it is shipped in sixes yet. If not , the LCBO is SOL.

The listing on the Beer Store website indicates that it is available in 6, 12 & 24 packs. So it could appear at the LCBO, I guess.

I'll likely pick up a 6-pack once it's available. If any local RateBeer folks (or anyone else who wants a taste) are interested in getting a single bottle for rating rather than picking up a pack, let me know and I can set some aside.

pootz · Post by **pootz** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 5:21 pm

Hint: if you have the opportunity try one side by side with a Sgt. Major's...interesting comparison.