Has James Squire Ruined The Golden Ale?

[dago001]

Had a few JSGA on saturday night at the local Irish pub :icon_cheers: . Have to admit it's pretty good. Its certainly got more hop flavour than most standard tap beers, but not as hoppy as my DSGA brews. I think its a good brew that almost anybody could/would/should drink over a carlton draught. After all, they aren't trying to appeal to home/craft brewers, who will just pick the sh#t out of it, more of an attempt to convert Carlton drinkers.
Cheers
David

 

[MarkBastard]

I drank a carton of the IPA about a month ago and loved it. Really great session beer.

I still drink the Porter from time to time, usually when I go to a BYO Thai place. It may sound funny but I really like drinking Porter with spicy food.

I've had the Pilsner on tap, it goes alright. I'm not the biggest fan of 'proper' Pilsners so the JS one hits the spot for me pretty nicely.

I haven't had Golden or Amber for quite some time and haven't missed them.

 

[T.D.]

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

For me it was not the hopping that disappointed the most, it was the fact that the malt was lacking and it tasted more like Tooheys New wort had been used with a small addition of Amarillo late, and then fermented on the Tooheys house lager yeast. It just tasted like megaswill, not "craft beer" as Chuck Hahn so carefully describes MSB beers.

 

[T.D.]

I drank a carton of the IPA about a month ago and loved it. Really great session beer.

Despite all the carry on about this beer lacking as a genuine IPA, I love it. Definitely my favourite MSB beer by a long shot.

 

[MarkBastard]

Despite all the carry on about this beer lacking as a genuine IPA, I love it. Definitely my favourite MSB beer by a long shot.

I for one am glad there's a "non-genuine" IPA option available to use at under $60 a carton. It's pretty good value by alcohol percentage points.

I love the malt profile and the flavouring hop additions. It's perhaps not bitter enough but that just makes it sessionable for me. The aroma is okay, nothing special, but again in a session beer not the end of the world.

In fact if anyone knows a decent clone of this I'd love to give it a go, particularly I'd love to get the malt profile right and use it as a base for pale ales with different hops to experiment.

 

[Bribie G]

I'll get a six pack on pay day and see what I reckon. All my kegs are empty at the moment, waiting for 3 cold crashers which are in the fridge at the moment so I'm using up odds and ends of bottles - good opportunity to try something different.

 

[brendanos]

I skipped pgs 4-6, so not sure if anyone has mentioned, but the last few golden's I've had (draught) have started great -nice sweet candieish malt initially, some very faint hop, but over the palate the beer stumbles around leaving a distinct cannned corn/boiled cabbage flavour lingering in my mouth. Never used to get DMS, though not sure if I (and perhaps a lot of us) have just learnt to taste beer better and identify off flavours (or at least the effect they have on a beer's appeal).

I've never personally liked the Amber and also find it vegetative, and gave up on the Pilsener a few years ago (too many incosistancies). Should probably try it again, but I don't think I'll take that gamble - plenty of other great consistant pilsners out there if that's what I'm feening.

 

[zebba]

On the Amber front, I had two six packs of the amber from different batches in the fridge and was able to try them side by side with my old man. We both agreed.

First batch was nutty, dry, with a nice lingering roast flavour. A nice easy drinking beer, with a reasonably complex malt flavour. It was what I expect from JS beers - a nice stepping stone from bland lagers into real beers.

The other batch was a completely different beer - creamy, almost doughy in flavour. The malt was very one dimensional (all bread/dough). Certainly wasn't dry, and was almost cloying in the sweetness. It wasn't even close to the first batch. It was drinkable, but when the 6 pack ran out, neither of us were disappointed.

Didn't look at the age on the bottles. Something strange is going on though, that the flavour profile could be so different.

 

[beerDingo]

I actually enjoy the Pilsner during a game of cricket! I agree the Golden Ale dropped in quality, but resent tastings have definately improved IMO. However, that thing they call an IPA?? :icon_vomit: I don't think I'll ever revisit that thing! Only tried it once, but it was bloody awful! Gave one to my housemate, and he couldn't even finish it! Now that's saying something... Not saying he's a beer connoisseur (actually, the exact opposite), as he'll usually drink anything that is called "beer".

 

[ojmasens]

I actually enjoy the Pilsner during a game of cricket! I agree the Golden Ale dropped in quality, but resent tastings have definately improved IMO. However, that thing they call an IPA?? :icon_vomit: I don't think I'll ever revisit that thing! Only tried it once, but it was bloody awful! Gave one to my housemate, and he couldn't even finish it! Now that's saying something... Not saying he's a beer connoisseur (actually, the exact opposite), as he'll usually drink anything that is called "beer".

JS recently had a dodgy batch of IPAs. Apparantly it was due to some dodgy hops. Had a real burnt, earthy taste IMO. Was nothing like their normal quality. If anyone has any dodgy examples lying around, just inform JS on their website, send in a dodgy bottle and they'll give a you free case. Unfortunately when this happened to my uncle they sent him another case from the dodgy batch! The next case they gave him was the real deal though.

If ever you get dodgy beers, inform the breweries. On the most part they really appreciate being notified of dodgy batches (although I know of one who outright refused to believe they could possibly have had an infection), and normally you'll get free beer.

Nothing wrong with that!!!

 

[T.D.]

JS recently had a dodgy batch of IPAs. Apparantly it was due to some dodgy hops. Had a real burnt, earthy taste IMO. Was nothing like their normal quality. If anyone has any dodgy examples lying around, just inform JS on their website, send in a dodgy bottle and they'll give a you free case. Unfortunately when this happened to my uncle they sent him another case from the dodgy batch! The next case they gave him was the real deal though.

If ever you get dodgy beers, inform the breweries. On the most part they really appreciate being notified of dodgy batches (although I know of one who outright refused to believe they could possibly have had an infection), and normally you'll get free beer.

Nothing wrong with that!!!

Damn! I had a six pack of the dodgy batch, I had no idea what was wrong with them but it wasn't pretty. I just wrote it off (have been fine since then) but bugger I didn't keep a bottle! Anyway, good to hear they sorted it out. Its a good beer, when its in the right condition...

 

[phinnsfotos]

So does anyone else find James Squires beers to be inconsistent. I thought it was just me but over the last year or so (since I've actually been paying attention to beer) they seemed to be a bit all over the place. A mate and I were drinking Golden Ale on a qantas flight (cans), went straight from the airport to the bar and had a few bottles, it was a totally different beer. I've found the same thing with their IPA and Amber. A lot of variation from 6 pack to 6 pack.

I'm hardly going to stop trying their beers, but I was starting to think it was my mind playing tricks on me.

 

[beerDingo]

JS recently had a dodgy batch of IPAs. Apparantly it was due to some dodgy hops. Had a real burnt, earthy taste IMO. Was nothing like their normal quality. If anyone has any dodgy examples lying around, just inform JS on their website, send in a dodgy bottle and they'll give a you free case. Unfortunately when this happened to my uncle they sent him another case from the dodgy batch! The next case they gave him was the real deal though.

If ever you get dodgy beers, inform the breweries. On the most part they really appreciate being notified of dodgy batches (although I know of one who outright refused to believe they could possibly have had an infection), and normally you'll get free beer.

Nothing wrong with that!!!

Yeah, I've only had 1 six-pack of them. And it was awful. Someone else had ciders, and I actually drank them instead :blink: First time that's happened. I'd have drunk CUB products before having this again...

But, that is probably good info there (above). Unfortunately it was about a month ago, and like others, i just put it down to their IPA being awful. But maybe I'll try it again. Might just grab a single bottle to compare against my previous experience.

 

[Hatchy]

So does anyone else find James Squires beers to be inconsistent. I thought it was just me but over the last year or so (since I've actually been paying attention to beer) they seemed to be a bit all over the place. A mate and I were drinking Golden Ale on a qantas flight (cans), went straight from the airport to the bar and had a few bottles, it was a totally different beer. I've found the same thing with their IPA and Amber. A lot of variation from 6 pack to 6 pack.

I'm hardly going to stop trying their beers, but I was starting to think it was my mind playing tricks on me.

I've never had an enjoyable beer on a plane, I don't know if it's the altitude or how much they get shaken up but there's something off about beers on planes

 

[Fatgodzilla]

So does anyone else find James Squires beers to be inconsistent.

Yes.

I have drunk a lot of bottled Golden Ale over the past few years. Bought a slab of Golden Ale from a known good treater of beer and after checking use by dates etc. Was freshly brewed. It's a beer now, nothing more. Not a great beer as I have thought. A real lack of all the things it used to be - malt flavour, strong hop profile. Really disappointed. Won't ever bother again. I haven't had their porter recently, hope it hasn't down down the hill like the GA.

For people like me in the bush where there is very little turnover in beers other than megaswill (so therefore nothing much variety in stock) James Squire has at least been an acceptable alternative. But no more GA for me.

 

[zebba]

I hear what people are saying about JS, BUT...

Over the last week or so unforseen circumstances have left my homebrew stocks dangerously low. So low that last night we were forced to head down to the local Coles to grab some shelf fillers.

Even with the inconsistencies that have been experienced lately (and as I detailed above, I've experienced them also), a bad JS beer is still better than enything else that was on those shelves... 2 fridges full of "blondes", 1 fridge full of "draughts/bitters", a token stout, and some "premium" lagers. Heck, they didn't even have any pales. We grabbed some ambers. It would be comical if this wasn't such a serious issue h34r:

 

[Snowdog]

Just a little aside here ... The Glen Hotel on Logan Road in Eight Mile Plains is now serving JSGA & JS Pils on tap. The sad thing is they seemed to have dropped Kilkenny. Still, +1 for even trying to up their beer game ever so slightly.

 

[Fatgodzilla]

Just a little aside here ... The Glen Hotel on Logan Road in Eight Mile Plains is now serving JSGA & JS Pils on tap. The sad thing is they seemed to have dropped Kilkenny. Still, +1 for even trying to up their beer game ever so slightly.

My comments were on bottled JSGA. I have had some nice experiences with the tap variety, as well as the amber. If the cellar people are worth their salt, the tap beer is better than the bottled beer. Kind of like Tooheys Old on tap tastes heaps better than the bottled stuff.

 

[beerDingo]

My comments were on bottled JSGA. I have had some nice experiences with the tap variety, as well as the amber. If the cellar people are worth their salt, the tap beer is better than the bottled beer. Kind of like Tooheys Old on tap tastes heaps better than the bottled stuff.

I had an amber on tap at a pub in Richmond a few weeks ago, and there was definitely something wrong with it! I've had it on tap in the city (a few months back) and really enjoyed it.

So does anyone else find James Squires beers to be inconsistent.

Yes

 

[beerbrewer76543]

I had a 6 pack of IPA 2 weeks ago that was rather lack luster compared to the tap beer at Squires in Perth

Quality control seems to be an issue with all their brews..