Coopers ... Why Bother?

[MattC]

It seems odd to me that people are reporting these wild swings in their taste perceptions as a decline in the beer. Perhaps the taste was affected by other things that had been eaten? I mean it's pretty rich to say "I once had a beer and liked it then I had one that tasted different to my recollection (which may be flawed) thus the entire brewery is to be condemned".

Not saying that JSGA is now a sjit beer, but is certainly a different beast to the one I first tried about 2 years ago. At a recent James Squire beer matching dinner I asked Chuck Hahn himself if he could explain the reason why myself and many other AHB members have noticed a change in the Golden Ale. His response was that the malt bill is the same and has always been the same. The only difference was less Amarillo hops. this was due to the fact that they went from $40 a kg to $100 kg. Sacrifices had to be made due to the hop shortage.

Cheers

Merry Xmas to all

 

[King Brown]

Personally never was a huge fan of the pale ale, but the sparkling is good when you go to a pub that has a very average selection of beers, but still want something with flavour. Imho the stout is fantastic. I find many great beers can go bad due to handling like most others have said, particularly if not stored in cool conditions, or in the case of draught beer if the pub doesnt sell it often it gets pretty nasty after a while (many pubs are serving up some very awful hoegaarden for example)

I also find a problem with a lot of imported high alcohol beers getting tasting very solventy by the time they get here :icon_vomit:

 

[peas_and_corn]

Pale ale on tap > Pale ale in bottles

 

[tipsy]

Rolling the bottle really shouldn't be done, Coopers encourages it to feel 'special' and hoity toity.

I don't know who made up that rule. :huh:

I roll the bottle, I think it changes the mouthfeel of the beer making it almost creamy.

But then if it shouldn't be done maybe I better stop the madness.

 

[Kingy]

coopers beer has definately gone down hill,weather its the way its stored or a brewery fault. Its so inconsistent these days its hard to find a good one weather it be on tap or out of bottles. Having said that when i do come across a good one on tap or in bottles in extrememly good.

 

[Adamt]

coopers beer has definately gone down hill,weather its the way its stored or a brewery fault. Its so inconsistent these days its hard to find a good one weather it be on tap or out of bottles. Having said that when i do come across a good one on tap or in bottles in extrememly good.

Time to move to SA... It's cheaper and much less variable over this side!

 

[RdeVjun]

I'll hazard a guess and say poor handling was a likely cause of the issue for the OP. I've had Coopers on tap at St George (4h west of here) that was surprisingly quite OK and not significantly different from a fresh, bottled edition. My second schooner blew the keg, so if it was mishandled/ stale and old then it would've been obvious (and sadly the next keg was frozen/ uncooperative ). It was then in the depths of winter, OP's experience was at the height of summer. Just a thought...

Its interesting to note that I've recently had Kilkenny and Guiness in this town which were both stale crap with muted flavours and off tastes, so I'd not be surprised if other lines are mishandled locally. I mentioned it to the barman in the case of the Kilkenny, he offered me a Guiness instead, but it wasn't much better so I gave up and moved on...

 

[boingk]

Pale ale on tap > Pale ale in bottles

Of course its larger on tap, its coming from a keg and being served into a schooner!

Seriously though, I've had my fair share of average beers and Pale generally wouldn;t fit into the description. I've also had my share of contaminated beers (both self-destroyed and commercially buggered) and must say that if something is 'wrong' most places will listen and oft times give you a replacement. Had an experience with Beez Neez recently along those lines; had I gone on first impressions of that sixpack then I would say that it had become a woeful, cardboardy beer. It was most likely poor storage as I enjoyed the replacement sixxer.

Cheers - boingk

 

[np1962]

Of course its larger on tap, its coming from a keg and being served into a schooner!

Cheers - boingk

The symbol used means 'is greater than', not larger than.
So Pale on tap is greater than pale in bottle.
Cheers
Nige

 

[boingk]

The symbol used means 'is greater than', not larger than.

Damn you all! I will have my revenge... :evil:

And yes, when I've had it on tap I really have enjoyed it. Although there was that time where it was almost all yeast...that was pretty crap.

 

[np1962]

Damn you all! I will have my revenge... :evil:

And yes, when I've had it on tap I really have enjoyed it. Although there was that time where it was almost all yeast...that was pretty crap.

Mmmmmmmmmm... Keg Dregs :icon_drool2:

 

[boingk]

Maybe we've found the exception?

CPA kegged > CPA bottled > CPA keg-dregs

 

[daemon]

Just thought I'd add some quick comments on Coopers, I was reminded of this thread the other day after having a few schooners at the local tavern. They've recently put Coopers on tap and I had a glass just before the keg ran out then one as the new one was on and through the lines. The difference in taste was pretty significant, as was the clarity. The glass from the older keg was nice but lacking in any real esters or yeast flavour associated with CPA and it was nearly clear. The pub wouldn't have a massive turnover so it's obviously had time to settle for a bit. The glass out of the new keg was cloudy, prominent esters and absolutely lovely (I had to have a 2nd!). This was the first time I'd tasted the difference virtually "side-by-side" so to speak and it really stood out.

As I travel a fair bit there's certainly significant difference in the Pale Ale taste both in bottles and on tap. Some have certainly been watery and acidic as described while others have been perfect. Distance doesn't seem to be the deciding factor either, I've had some of the best and some of the worst Coopers while in Adelaide. Certainly the handling has a big part in it, the big outlets like Dan Murphy's and First Choice regularly leave pallets of beer and kegs sitting out in the sun for days. With the bottles I try to ensure I have the freshest available, again the stock rotation in many places is very poor and you need to spend the extra two minutes to check.

The Coopers Pale Ale and Sparkling are a reasonably simple beer flavour wise but very enjoyable to drink. After sampling AndrewQLD's sparkling clone (link) from the QLD case swap it re-sparked my interest in culturing up some yeast and giving a go. This was more flavoursome than any of the sparkling's I've had, the esters really stood out in this one (in a good way).

If I ever match the quality of AndrewQLD's version I'll be sure to bring one around to try.