Has James Squire Ruined The Golden Ale?

[mauriceatron]

I hate to add a "Me Too!!" post but the reality is that the past two times I've had anything from this brewery has been a poor taste. To me, it really seems they are going the megaswill route of less of anything real beer and more about the corporate bottom line perhaps. I could be wrong or maybe they've found a few hundred pallets in the back of a warehouse somewhere and have unleashed it on the general public. Don't know.

It's a shame because it was always a not so expensive good beer you could buy. It wasn't "great" but good. Better than all megaswill and pathetic "premium" lagers.

Perhaps we can start a thread of "Find the JS replacement!"


That could be fun (maybe a bit expensive though)....

Cheers
Simon

 

[Katherine]

I grabbed a couple of the GS IPAs the other day to have with a Vietmanese dinner. I was astonished how bad they tasted, and how blaringly obvious the change was to some I had a couole of months ago.

The amber and the golden ale have not featured on my shopping list for a while now. Luckily the list of other available beers is continually climbing, so we don't need to rely on those that have been bought out by the megas and has their valves tightened.

I find the ipa's really sweet now...

 

[T.D.]

I bought a six pack of golden ale yesterday to have while watching the cricket (which I am now using to drown my sorrows).

I must admit, after seeing plenty of discussions about how James Squire have ruined the Amber Ale and Pilsner (which I think are both still great beers even if they are different to their original versions), I thought this was the same type thing. But OMG!! I can hardly drink this golden ale! Seriously I am not really sure I want to finish them off. To me the most disappointing thing is not the hops (although I wonder where they have gone) but more the distict megaswill character the beer now has. Its like drinking VB with a little squirt of hop flavour. I know GA has always had some sugar in it but something's different now. Not sure if they have boosted the sugar level up a bit, or whether the lacking hop flavour is exposing the megaswill nastiness more, or whether they have changed to the Tooheys house yeast, but it certainly seems a lot more "mainstream Aussie lager" than "Australian craft beer". Extremely disappointing. I haven't had Golden Ale for quite a while, which may have made the differences more obvious, but geez they are far from in anybody's imagination!

Hopefully the newsletter's mention of going back to the old Golden Ale again means this will be cleared up. And hopefully the six pack I got wasn't one out of their new batch! :unsure:

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

I bought a six pack of golden ale yesterday to have while watching the cricket (which I am now using to drown my sorrows).

I must admit, after seeing plenty of discussions about how James Squire have ruined the Amber Ale and Pilsner (which I think are both still great beers even if they are different to their original versions), I thought this was the same type thing. But OMG!! I can hardly drink this golden ale! Seriously I am not really sure I want to finish them off. To me the most disappointing thing is not the hops (although I wonder where they have gone) but more the distict megaswill character the beer now has. Its like drinking VB with a little squirt of hop flavour. I know GA has always had some sugar in it but something's different now. Not sure if they have boosted the sugar level up a bit, or whether the lacking hop flavour is exposing the megaswill nastiness more, or whether they have changed to the Tooheys house yeast, but it certainly seems a lot more "mainstream Aussie lager" than "Australian craft beer". Extremely disappointing. I haven't had Golden Ale for quite a while, which may have made the differences more obvious, but geez they are far from in anybody's imagination!

Hopefully the newsletter's mention of going back to the old Golden Ale again means this will be cleared up. And hopefully the six pack I got wasn't one out of their new batch! :unsure:

TD You have to brew your own. As a homie you can use as much hops and malt as you like. JS has to please the bean counters. I know what you are saying but all good commercial beers get changed by economics. Not mine or yours , but we brew for a passion not a bottom line.
GB

 

[altone]

I bought a six pack of golden ale yesterday to have while watching the cricket (which I am now using to drown my sorrows).

I must admit, after seeing plenty of discussions about how James Squire have ruined the Amber Ale and Pilsner (which I think are both still great beers even if they are different to their original versions), I thought this was the same type thing. But OMG!! I can hardly drink this golden ale! Seriously I am not really sure I want to finish them off. To me the most disappointing thing is not the hops (although I wonder where they have gone) but more the distict megaswill character the beer now has. Its like drinking VB with a little squirt of hop flavour. I know GA has always had some sugar in it but something's different now. Not sure if they have boosted the sugar level up a bit, or whether the lacking hop flavour is exposing the megaswill nastiness more, or whether they have changed to the Tooheys house yeast, but it certainly seems a lot more "mainstream Aussie lager" than "Australian craft beer". Extremely disappointing. I haven't had Golden Ale for quite a while, which may have made the differences more obvious, but geez they are far from in anybody's imagination!

Hopefully the newsletter's mention of going back to the old Golden Ale again means this will be cleared up. And hopefully the six pack I got wasn't one out of their new batch! :unsure:

Geez I know golden ales getting a bashing recently but thought that was mainly the hop switch they made quite a while ago.

Had some this weekend and still tasted quite good to me - a heck of a long way from VB with a hop addition.

Maybe I got a good batch .. I did try the Amber ale a few weeks ago and still have most of it sitting in the fridge because it was so poor. (good for my mates when they come around next weekend)

Hope they keep up a decent quality on the golden as it's avaialble at a couple of restaurants I frequent.

 

[lastdrinks]

Bottled James Squire is still ok, not great but ok and much better than vb or hahn. its better on tap, i have some at the portland every now and then and its good. as are their other beers.

I find the Golden Ale and Amber are not what i remember but i was not a home brewer when i first tasted them. James Squire were a revelation back then but now i drink quality belgians, bocks, IPAs etc regularly and James Squire are not a standout against that crowd.

Yeah, sure, maybe the golden ale has turned to crap but likely a lot of this is that peoples palate has improved similar to mine.

 

[dr K]

Sadly, I cannot make much comment on Carlton as I have not for many years had the pleasure of tasting it, the small comment I can make is that it is not particularly memorable, certainly not so so memorable as to create its own subset of taste, the "Carlton taste" referred to by a number of posters to this thread.
So far as James Squires beers and in particular the JSGA are concerned I find them to be excellent beers, yes they do vary but within a pretty small frame, I see this as a good thing.
Frankly I am not a great fan of JSGA, Amarillo (which I find cloying after a dozen schooners) or not, it is too wheaty for me. The IPA I buy and (of course) drink regularly, and the Pilsener comes a close second. I find both these beers far superior to the swill I produce at home, AG and all.
I humbly suggest that the JS range (even those produced in Lidcombe or heaven forbid Adelaide), whilst relegated to the megaswill catergory are every bit as good, and at the risk of being burnt at the stake better than home brewed examples.

K

 

[matti]

Chuck Hahn is a pleasant fellow but as GB suggested.
He has sucumbed to the mighty $$$ since he joined JS and the other trouble with Chucky.
He doesn't brew much..... HE promotes his beer more....
Sorry Chucky

So We Brew our own hop hop hopaway

 

[Sydneybrewer]

cant really comment on the golden but brought a 6 pack of JS amber and struggled through 3 of them they were very poor, had to take another trip to the bottlo and picked up a 6 of LCPA... the difference in quality between the two is quite large, i actually used to love JSAA.

Grammer

 

[manticle]

Had a golden ale yesterday: it was fine. Also a pilsner.

I reckon two suggested reasons are possible culprits- changing palates and a batch with less amarillo due to the shortage. Also not drinking every beer at nipple-as-bullets temperature certainly helps.

 

[gava]

Got a james squire Golden Ale sixer saturday..... started drinking and it had no hop burst at all... could only drink four of them..

Just opened a mates AG DrS Golden Ale and its soooooooooooooooooooo much better... the hops hmmmmmmm i can taste them..

I think wont buying them anymore..

 

[mckenry]

Thought I had better post this as I am a believer in credit where credit is due.
I have previously written (possibly this thread, havent gone back all 6 pages) that JSGA had gone all bland.
This is one of my favourite Aus beers and I was very dissappointed when it went down hill.
I have to say that it is back. In a good way!
I have tried it at the AB in Glebe, The Marlborough in Newtown and the Edinburgh Castle in the city.
All extensive testing proved each and every sample was an overwhelming success.

Thank you JS for getting this back to its very best.

mckenry

 

[T.D.]

That's good to hear mckenry. Unfortunately though my last JSGA experience was a bit less favourable! I was at a pub the other day and ordered a golden ale and a tooheys new (for somebody else). I seriously had to check if I had actually gotten the new while she got my golden ale. But no, my beer was definitely the golden. But geez, it had a very Aussie lager megaswill tang to it. Maybe it was just the environment I was in or something, or that I had a homebrew before going to the pub, but it definitely tasted bland and "aussie lager" like to me...

 

[gava]

I noticed this also.... (mind you I haven't had a GS for awhile) last attempt I had was very bland and well odd tasting.
I had a sip and made a weird face and said "man my homebrew is better than this" whoops too loud the bar guy looked at me..

As james squire said themself in an email which I believe is in this thread, they were subsituting hops due to lack of supply.. Hopfully they've got stock again.. I will give this try again and will hope I get a good version

That's good to hear mckenry. Unfortunately though my last JSGA experience was a bit less favourable! I was at a pub the other day and ordered a golden ale and a tooheys new (for somebody else). I seriously had to check if I had actually gotten the new while she got my golden ale. But no, my beer was definitely the golden. But geez, it had a very Aussie lager megaswill tang to it. Maybe it was just the environment I was in or something, or that I had a homebrew before going to the pub, but it definitely tasted bland and "aussie lager" like to me...

 

[Effect]

Great news!!

Will give it another go

 

[Bribie G]

It's good to get out and recalibrate the tastebuds once in a while. I had my first trip to the Platform Bar in Brisbane a couple of weeks ago and was seriously underwhelmed by most of the brews on tap. The Sunshine Coast Best Bitter lacked any perceivable hop, the Wood and Stone was just another cloudy C-hops offering that most of us on this forum could whack out with one hand tied behind our backs, and you know what, the Golden Ale was a welcome relief. However I taste far better brews at the BABBs club meetings and, of course, out of my own taps.

I'll try the International Hotel next and see how the house brewed Pilsener is. I'd love a nice Czech style Pilsener like you would get in Prague - why the micros feel they have to ape the US ales which have only been around since the 70s whilst there are brewing traditions centuries old they could emulate is beyond me.

</grump>

 

[vykuza]

In a similar vein, I had my first bottle of JS Porter in a long time (6 months perhaps?) and it seemed like a different beast altogether. The roast flavour was really quite powerful, not really balanced, and the hop bitterness was clawing at the back of my throat. Not too bitter, but a different bitterness - much less smooth.

My mate, who's been away for a year, saw my face as I took a nice gulp out of the glass and said, "it's different now... but not in a good way". That sums it up for me. Anyone else notice a big change in the porter?

 

[Pennywise]

The Porter hasn't been the best for some time now. Pity, it was one of my fave's

 

[Back Yard Brewer]

Its ironic that this thread has been revived. I had a stubbie yesterday of the JSA and found it nice and golden as it should be with a very nice hop aroma that I remember. Like someone else stated on this thread, as brewers we can some time be a little critical of mass produced beer. We can hop to high heaven or put our own small twist when brewing. Then one day when we try a mass produced beer that may have been our staple megaswill, suddenly we start picking it to pieces.


BYB

 

[eamonnfoley]

You would think the bean counters would realise that just one cheapened ordinary batch can stop customers drinking their beer completely, costing them in the long run. If you listen to interviews with successful craft breweries they all talk about how important consistency is. A little bit of extra cost when hop prices go up will lead to more sales in the long term.

In general I think all james squire beers have gone to sh**. Same as Matilda Bay. That's life I guess.