Homebrew Vs Imported Beer

[Thefatdoghead]

The mother in law brought over some pommy beer such as Jail ale and otter ale the other day that tasted nice and was a pleasant surprise from what iv'e had from imported beers from big chain merchants such as dan such and such etc etc the difference I can taste between the beer mother in law brought over and imported from dan such and such etc etc well dead is a word I could start with. Lifeless swill water sock trash from beers such as Hobgoblin, Trappist, even Youngs double choc stout tasted off. Not to mention a few German imports like effi weizen and dubbel blah blah... All famous beers and all kind of disappointing.

So drank a Hobgoblin which reminded me of the on I had in England and thought that tastes quiet nice... Then I poured a rye porter ive got on tap at the moment and was thinking people don't know what the **** they r missing out on. It tastes fresh creamy fruity and chocolate with a burt flavour which is perfect for me. Thing is im hard pressed to find a beer that beats my homebrew for my taste unless it's massive hop like PUNK or the sort.
Do you guys think that it's a sunlight import problem or does beer actually pale compared to homebrew??

 

[felten]

Being thrown in unrefrigerated shipping containers taking weeks to get here is part of the problem, the other is unrefrigerated storage at some warehouse for weeks before they're sold.

Any beer would taste dead after that treatment I reckon.

 

[Thefatdoghead]

Being thrown in unrefrigerated shipping containers taking weeks to get here is part of the problem, the other is unrefrigerated storage at some warehouse for weeks before they're sold.

Any beer would taste dead after that treatment I reckon.

and these companies dont care or don't know what it tastes like when it get's there? I don't think so. If I had a name as big as these breweries that boast they have been making beer from 1345 I reckon id want to know what my beer tasted like where ever it was. Might be time to write a letter see what comes back. Feel free to wright down your thoughts.

 

[Yob]

<_< ever drank Guiness here? Ever drank Guiness in Ireland? Totally different Beasts.. locally from Dublin? :icon_drool2: (or Cork Where it was introduced to me in a Gaelic club), they say that the taste (Guiness) changes every 50 miles it travels.. I guess the same can be said of any beer that has a passport, and even those under liscence can only be considered 'inspired by' as for the real thing IMO you need both the local water AND the right conditions. ie not stored longer than desired or bolloxed on travel

IMO a decent home brewed 'enspired by' with due respect to ingredient and water will win hands down over any 'Dans or such and such' imported shite..

I say feck em and brew it :beerbang:

Note: Not that Ive tried to reproduce anything Ive drank OS... (fist shaking) BUT IF I DID!!! Id certainly pay respect to as mentioned.

Yob

:icon_cheers:

 

[marksfish]

some one has had a bad beer from dans

 

[Steve@PMF82]

Fresh is best. Most beer is just not meant to travel long distance and when you get used to that fresh taste that we as HBers get to taste all the time, why would anything else compare?

Late last year i went OS (first time for me) and of course i tried as many beers as i my body could take...I wont be spending my limited funds on imports here again, its just not how it should be - less enjoyment for me.

I think i will stick to trying to get hold of fresh local examples when / if i buy beer and spend the rest of my time and money trying to emulate OS beers. Its funny when people ask you what kind of beer you brew and you say pretty much anything from anywhere in the world, Australian/ English / German / Belgian grains, yeast and hops and they get a strange confused look on their face, like they wish they had not asked.

With the global market and being able to get a lot things from anywhere in the world delivered to your doorstep of reasonable and sometimes a higher quality than locally, its easy to slip into the mindset that this should apply to everything. Good beer is a live product IMO, even HB that has been filtered 1 micron absolute is still alive, maybe beer needs air conditioned rooms on a cruise ship or its own seat on a plane?

End sunday morning ramble, stumbles off outside mumble mumble

 

[ekul]

I used to drink stone and wood all day at the rails in byron. Raved about the beer to my mates. ONe day i spotted a 6 pack at the bottlo and brought it round to a mates. If it was a blind tasting i wouldn't have guessed that it was stone and wood. So if the distance of 150k's can make a difference to a beer, imagine what 5000ks will do

 

[felten]

and these companies dont care or don't know what it tastes like when it get's there? I don't think so. If I had a name as big as these breweries that boast they have been making beer from 1345 I reckon id want to know what my beer tasted like where ever it was. Might be time to write a letter see what comes back. Feel free to wright down your thoughts.

Who knows, some breweries will only sell to distributors if they ensure the product is shipped and stored refrigerated (EG. sierra nevada). But the distributor is just the middle man, they have no say in how the liquor store, that buys the beer, will store it.

Some of these beers could also be grey imports, where the brewery has no say in the process at all.

 

[CONNOR BREWARE]

Yeah inevitably they will only have so much control. I did hear a story that the head brewer from Stones contacted a shop here advising e knew they had his beer that wasn't shipped in a refrigerated container. Apparently he threatened to black list them if he found out they sold it, so they didn't sell it.

 

[Muggus]

This is one of the reasons why big name beers are "contract brewed" in Australia.
Delicate lagers in green bottles don't tend to travel well at the best of times, let alone from the other side of the world.
To ensure customers get a "fresher" product, instead, they choose a local brewery with the facility and capacity to brew the beer according to the same specs.
The theory of it is sound enough, but obviously it's not the same beer, and if you did the side by side comparison alot of the difference would come from the handling of the beer more than anything else.

It's for this reason, I feel if you're best off seeking the draught version of an imported beer where possible...still won't be the same, but you won't come across light strike issues.

 

[jbowers]

Light struck beer is easily avoided by taking a 6 pack from a sealed case...

 

[dkaos]

Light struck beer is easily avoided by taking a 6 pack from a sealed case...

:super:

 

[Truman42]

Yeah inevitably they will only have so much control. I did hear a story that the head brewer from Stones contacted a shop here advising e knew they had his beer that wasn't shipped in a refrigerated container. Apparently he threatened to black list them if he found out they sold it, so they didn't sell it.

I brought a carton of Stones from Dans and it was crap, tasted like soda water. I contacted Stones and they were going to get their rep to talk to the store manager. I took it back and got a refund.
Then I noticed a lot of their beers were out of date. I told a store worker and her reply was.."You will have to ask the manager if he will discount them for you."...LOL. I said I dont want out of date beer and she says, theres nothing wrong with them.....Yeh right... :icon_cheers:

 

[cam89brewer]

All the big liquor retailers don't take any care of their products, all that matters to them is turn over not quality. At my previous work 1st Ch*&$ (i bet you cant guess where that is :lol: ) they used to sit pallets of beer out in the car park in the middle of summer for hours on end whilst sorting out the store room and for beers such as redoak's pale ale where generally stored at outside temperature around 35 degrees and one time I bought a couple and it just tasted like metallic acid....

 

[cam89brewer]

All the big liquor retailers don't take any care of their products, all that matters to them is turn over not quality. At my previous work 1st Ch*&$ (i bet you cant guess where that is :lol: ) they used to sit pallets of beer out in the car park in the middle of summer for hours on end whilst sorting out the store room and for beers such as redoak's pale ale where generally stored at outside temperature around 35 degrees and one time I bought a couple and it just tasted like metallic acid....

 

[cam89brewer]

All the big liquor retailers don't take any care of their products, all that matters to them is turn over not quality. At my previous work 1st Ch*&$ (i bet you cant guess where that is :lol: ) they used to sit pallets of beer out in the car park in the middle of summer for hours on end whilst sorting out the store room and for beers such as redoak's pale ale where generally stored at outside temperature around 35 degrees and one time I bought a couple and it just tasted like metallic acid....

 

[cam89brewer]

All the big liquor retailers don't take any care of their products, all that matters to them is turn over not quality. At my previous work 1st Ch*&$ (i bet you cant guess where that is :lol: ) they used to sit pallets of beer out in the car park in the middle of summer for hours on end whilst sorting out the store room and for beers such as redoak's pale ale where generally stored at outside temperature around 35 degrees and one time I bought a couple and it just tasted like metallic acid....

 

[cam89brewer]

All the big liquor retailers don't take any care of their products, all that matters to them is turn over not quality. At my previous work 1st Ch*&$ (i bet you cant guess where that is :lol: ) they used to sit pallets of beer out in the car park in the middle of summer for hours on end whilst sorting out the store room and for beers such as redoak's pale ale where generally stored at outside temperature around 35 degrees and one time I bought a couple and it just tasted like metallic acid....

 

[cam89brewer]

All the big liquor retailers don't take any care of their products, all that matters to them is turn over not quality. At my previous work 1st Ch*&$ (i bet you cant guess where that is :lol: ) they used to sit pallets of beer out in the car park in the middle of summer for hours on end whilst sorting out the store room and for beers such as redoak's pale ale where generally stored at outside temperature around 35 degrees and one time I bought a couple and it just tasted like metallic acid....

 

[philmud]

What are you getting at Cambrew?