Grand Ridge Brewery Box Set

[jbowers]

Not true. How many times have you had an 'off' LCPA or a White Rabbit? Both unpasterurised and bottle conditioned. There are very well understood principles involved here, and if brewers choose not to equip themselves with the gear and the skill set to do it properly, it makes me livid as a consumer. I've said this before (and had my head kicked for it), but I think that the best think that can happen to craft beer in Aust is for brewers of poor quality beer to go out of business. The equipment then gets recycled and hopefully ends up in the hands of a brewer that does have the skill to make good beer. The rise in imported craft beer to Australia suggest to me that consumers, you guys, now know the difference between good and bad. Twist the knife, finish the job, and put crappy craft beer to death by not buying it.

I'll agree with this statement. Less brewers = more market share for good brewers = higher production rates therefore lower costs = cheaper, better beer our fridges.

 

[bum]

Not true. How many times have you had an 'off' LCPA or a White Rabbit?

LCPA always tastes metallic to me and not so long ago I made a thread here about a **** sixer of WR I got from Dan's.

[EDIT: So no one gets the wrong idea I should point out that I know the WR was '****' because I'd previously had some very nice ones from another retailer.]

 

[bum]

Less brewers = cheaper, better beer our fridges.

You've never studied economics, have you?

 

[jbowers]

You've never studied economics, have you?

No.

In all seriousness though, what's wrong with that equation?

 

[dig]

LCPA always tastes metallic to me and not so long ago I made a thread here about a **** sixer of WR I got from Dan's.

[EDIT: So no one gets the wrong idea I should point out that I know the WR was '****' because I'd previously had some very nice ones from another retailer.]

These are personal taste issues, not an indication of technical fault. And I agree with you, LCPA has been metallic for ages, and having spent the last 6 months drinking west coast beers from Canada and the States, it was a shock to me the other day when I bought some newly imported LC and tasting just how rusty that beer appears. But that's how they choose to brew. The beer is not contaminated with wild yeast, it hasn't turned to vinegar and it doesn't taste as though it's been filtered through the underwear of an Afghani goat herder. As for WR, I don't know, it's a new beer and I guess they are tweeking things and the flavour may vary, but it's an inherently awesome beer. These beers don't go rank on the shelves because they are tested for microbiological stability at every step in the process. The right equipment and the proper skills.

I've advocated in the past that crap craft beers be outlawed, but because craft beer drinkers now have access to really good beers, I have confidence that they, you guys, will effect the change that needs to happen simply by choosing to drink better beer. Fantastic. Death to crappy craft beer.

 

[Dazza_devil]

I drink a fair bit of LCPA, luv it to death but the metallic twang I got from some of the beers in this box set were very in your face metal, noticable after the first two or three sips as an aftertaste.
The taste is still lingering in my mind.

Edited to say that if the Brewery continues to put stuff out there that is sub-standard the more people that try it the better. That way it will be dead and gone quicker.

 

[fcmcg]

i know the Belgians love their open fermentation , but i have had WR at least 9 times and every one has been different .I think that a brewery , across the road from a winery ( Innocent Bystander...across the car park...which is full of potential wld yeast ) is a situation that would make consistency difficult...but thats just in IMHO....
Cheers
Ferg

 

[dig]

You're right Ferg, winemakers are a pack of filthy *******s. Hose the snakes and the redbacks out of the press the week before vintage begins. That's why the 'opens' at WR are housed in a clean room supplied by HEPA filtered air.

 

[HoppingMad]

Agree that White Rabbit and LC are consistently good.

Not sure if I agree that Grand Ridge can compete on quality control and microbiological testing thingymajigs with someone like Little World Beverages (Little Creatures & White Rabbit) though. These guys are a tad larger.

Being publicly listed and having the backing of Lion Nathan (who is a 40% majority shareholder) gives Little World Beverages the resources to get their beers better and more consistent. Privately owned micros without such a network out in country Victoria like Grand Ridge wouldn't be able to match this, no matter how hard they try. They simply don't have that financial backing - so they are doing what they can.

I'm all for bashing a brewery that churns out crap. I also agree with Dig and others that the market will decide whether a place lives or dies on the strength of its product. Breweries such as Emerald Hill in Melbourne have folded for this very reason. They had a good enough mix on paper - a central location in Sth Melbourne and an interesting range of beers, but the product was simply not stable in the way it was made. People voted with their tastebuds and they went out of business.

I think Grand Ridge still put out plenty of good beer amongst the bad. They have gone the distance and were around when the craft brewing movement pretty much could be counted on a bit over a hand (in terms of micros in this country).

I reckon that problems aside they will be around for a fair while longer yet.

Hopper.

 

[jivesucka]

word is on the street coopers is the only family-run brewery in oz. everything is cub or lion nathan with the unusual exception of coca cola-amatil. where do grand ridge fit into the scene?

 

[dig]

Thanks Hopper for the thoughtful and considered reply. LC and WR have their microbiological analysis 'farmed out' to labs who specialise in this sort of thing in their respective cities. These services are not cheap, but if you're spreading the cost across much bigger beer volumes, they are not too prohibitive. Indeed most manufactures of small craft beer equipment make the assumption that microbiological analysis will not be performed, and so the gear does not have micro sampling ports. You couldn't take an aseptic sample for analysis even if you wanted to go to the expense and trouble.

I'm currently doing some consulting work for a brewery in Canada that began as a brewpub but now sells most of it's product in bottles. They too are having problems with stability, but they are determined to get on top of the issues by getting good advice, equipping themselves with the skills they need and spending what needs to be spent on the equipment to brink it up to standard. A bit different an approach to "Gee, sorry your beer turned to vinegar. Here, have a replacement 6-pack"

Sydney and Melbourne, actually most Australian cities, have a great restaurant scene because bad restaurants (and they will forever pop up) are not supported by the public and they go out of business very quickly. Crappy craft beer will forever pop up too... I just wish it'd go away as quickly as bad food does.

 

[Millet Man]

Thanks Hopper for the thoughtful and considered reply. LC and WR have their microbiological analysis 'farmed out' to labs who specialise in this sort of thing in their respective cities. These services are not cheap, but if you're spreading the cost across much bigger beer volumes, they are not too prohibitive. Indeed most manufactures of small craft beer equipment make the assumption that microbiological analysis will not be performed, and so the gear does not have micro sampling ports. You couldn't take an aseptic sample for analysis even if you wanted to go to the expense and trouble.

True Dig.

That's why we take great care to clean and sanitise (everyone should), filter and pastuerise since our beer goes all around the country and overseas. As well as regularly pulling the bottling machine apart to make sure it is clean, clean, clean. In the last year there's been less than 10 complaints out of half a million bottles, and none of them were because it was infected so it can be done. (We did have problems in our early days before we owned our own brewery, but that's another story).

Cheers, Andrew.

 

[Maple]

I'm currently doing some consulting work for a brewery in Canada that began as a brewpub but now sells most of it's product in bottles.

Sorry OT, Dig - Which brewery, if I may ask? Also, if you get a chance and haven't already - Give Phillips "Amnesiac" a try, keen to hear what you think of this one. it's a Double IPA that I tried about a month ago when passing through Vancouver.

 

[komodo]

word is on the street coopers is the only family-run brewery in oz. everything is cub or lion nathan with the unusual exception of coca cola-amatil. where do grand ridge fit into the scene?

My understanding is that coopers is the largest independant brewery in Australia. Thats not to say everything else is owned by LN, CUB & Coke.

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

I think dig is about as right as anyone who has ever posted to this site has ever been.

A few years ago, I bought a six-pack of beer from the brew-pub where I had spent the day drinking fabulous beers to find the bottled stuff to be undrinkable, *unfiltered* vomit. There's no excuse for that. Why should there be if I bought the same six-pack from the supermarket across the road?

I like to think one purpose of packaged beer is as a marketing exercise to bring customers to your brewpub (thinking about some, but not all, microbrewerypublikethings). It doesn't matter too much if only every twelfth six-pack tastes like vomit - that is a marketing statement you should not be able to afford to make. You might as well have a step in your manufacturing process that puts aside the 'seconds' as your marketing freebies.

If you want to sell your beer through 3rd party retail outlets, you cannot put the entire responsibility for what they sell in their hands. If you care about your product and figure it needs to be treated in a certain way, you should ensure it gets treated in that certain way. If you don't, then you're saying you don't care about what happens to the product once it leaves your hands and (by extension) about the people who consume your product.

I really like 'Treat like milk'. I think I might steal it. Why does every shop that sells it know how to treat milk?

 

[dig]

Cheers Maple. I'm a big fan of Amnesiac and a lot of the other beers in the Phillips range. Was over on the big island last week with resume in hand, knocking on Matt Phillip' door...

I'm not really able to speak about the other place. Sorry.

 

[Adam Howard]

Blimey.

A while back I got given one of the mixed 6 packs and while none of the beers blew my socks off they weren't terrible.

Mate came over with a few of the Natural Blondes on Saturday. Woeful. First thing I noticed was the bottles filled right up the neck, only about a centimetre from the cap. Outrageously citrusy....resembles a chunder after a night on the piss.

Cracked another bottle today. Upon opening, barely a noise. Poured into a Chimay glass, next to no carbonation. Same horrible flavour. Hugely disappointed.

 

[zebba]

Had a supershine on the weekend. Great beer. So whilst I can take or leave the majority of the GR range, the supershine and the moonshine are both great drops (moonshine being a strong scottish dark and probably the best of that style that I've had, and supershine claiming to be similar style but being more of a barleywine IMO)

 

[HoppingMad]

This thread has popped up on the radar again, and I didn't realise there'd been so many comments since Feb so thought I'd throw my 2c back in light of further comments and a recent visit I did to Grand Ridge.

Tried the beers again at the brewery in March and will agree that many of them are disappointing. I was shocked by this as I remember them to be very good.

Not all the beers were poor, but Gippsland Gold has the most obvious flaws with strong diacetyl. This has been commented on or alluded to in many posts since early this year with many dubbing it 'Diacetyl Gold'.

The Natural Blonde I tried also had flaws and tasted of sour orange and high acidic fruit ester (whereas it used to taste much smoother - not like an overdone belgian), so I would conclude that the issue lies not with storage of these beers but with the brewery itself and what is happening prior to bottling/kegging. The Natural Blonde may also have gone a slight recipe change since I last had it a year or so back.

To be fair though, didn't try Moonshine or Supershine, and I did find the Hatlifter Stout and Moonlight both very good - the Moonlight is a standout of the lot, a very clean tasting beer and a great light version of their Nut Brown Ale of old.

So I don't think you can outrightly say that Grand Ridge make crap beer, but they do need to get their brewhouse in order so that everything in their stable becomes as consistently good as it used to be.

Hopper.