Lcpa Lost Its Edge?

[Tim]

I had a schooner of LCPA last night at the Australian hotel and it tasted like Tooheys New that had been dry hopped with a Galaxy teabag. What happened to that thick malt, chinook and cascade goodness? LCPA is definitely a beer that has gone downhill over the last few years.

I had also had a Scharer's lager and that was sour.

Disappointing

 

[razz]

Sounds like dirty beer lines Tim

 

[MarkBastard]

It's definitely going down hill. But that's okay because I have argon's clone on tap.

 

[argon]

Unfortunately they don't make LCPA with chinook any more.. shame really as i reckon the combo of Chinook and Cascade is a great pairing.

If you have a read through here and here there's some good info on LCPA and how it's changed in time.

Maybe we should start petition to Alex T to bring back the Chinook. I know i'd put my name down for that.

Anyhow, just letting you know that these comments are actually acted upon behind the scenes. And for the hop interested - just to clarify - yes, there is variation from year to year with all hops, and every year we have to tweak. The blend for the past couple of years has been pretty similar with a dose of EKG for a portion of the kettle hop (along with Cascade), and Cascade and Galaxy for the hopback (we haven't used Chinook for a couple of years now).

Cheers!

Alex

 

[MarkBastard]

And I imagine they're talking about Australian grown Cascade and obviously Galaxy.

So Almost all Aussie hops, which I guess is good in theory but I don't know if they use enough of them. It could be that the time I get to drink one it's already a bit old and mistreated. Drinking Stone & Wood in Byron is just awesome, so much Galaxy, but I don't get much of that out of LCPA any more.

 

[argon]

And I imagine they're talking about Australian grown Cascade and obviously Galaxy.

So Almost all Aussie hops, which I guess is good in theory but I don't know if they use enough of them. It could be that the time I get to drink one it's already a bit old and mistreated. Drinking Stone & Wood in Byron is just awesome, so much Galaxy, but I don't get much of that out of LCPA any more.

From what i understand... or at least what they used to do... is use a combo of US and Tassie Cascade. But, you may be right and they source all their hops locally now.

 

[np1962]

Sounds like dirty beer lines Tim

This is a real possibility, I've commented in one of the other threads mentioned about this beer at one place being a little disappointing but then had it somewhere else a week or two later, a much more craft beer oriented pub, and it was lovely.
Cheers
Nige

 

[Tim]

Thanks for the replies. Dirty lines is a possibility, although the Australian is a pretty Craft beer orientated pub.

I ended up at the Harts drinking the Governor Ale - now thats a nice Summer beer

 

[MarkBastard]

From what i understand... or at least what they used to do... is use a combo of US and Tassie Cascade. But, you may be right and they source all their hops locally now.

Yeah I just have a hunch we're focusing on the difference between Chinook/Galaxy when I reckon the change can't be explained by that alone, unless they also significantly reduce the hopping amounts.

Galaxy has heaps of flavour and I just don't get that in LCPA, so I reckon they've done a sneaky with the Cascade. Makes sense because it'd have to be heaps cheaper particularly if it's now made in Tasmania.

I think it's a great idea if it didn't compromise the flavour but unfortunately it has. The idea of a completely Australian made American-style pale ale is cool. They just need to double the hops.

 

[BitterBulldog]

I got a 6er tonight & it's tasting pretty damn good to me!

Plenty of hop aroma, flavor & bitterness.
With nice malt backbone.

Comparing it with half a dozen other OZ pale ales I've had recently it still has there #!
have a mt kiziosko, Williams, st aroma, fat yak, vale ale etc = very average.

I'd say Murray's pale & maybe Alpha has it's #.
4 pines apa is good too but pretty similar to lcpa.

 

[whatjames]

brother in law brought some of this round 2 weeks ago, fresh batch of stubbies, tasted pretty damn fine, usually i'm a roger's fan but i liked this better than usual, push'in to get this at work x-mas bbq next week, amongst corona and blonde drinkers hopefully i'll have a couple of six packs for travellers, unless i convert a few to drinking proper beer!

I had a schooner of LCPA last night at the Australian hotel and it tasted like Tooheys New that had been dry hopped with a Galaxy teabag. What happened to that thick malt, chinook and cascade goodness? LCPA is definitely a beer that has gone downhill over the last few years.

I had also had a Scharer's lager and that was sour.

Disappointing

 

[browndog]

chinook and galaxy are nothing alike. Chinook is what made LCPA, LCPA.

 

[Bizier]

I will chime in that since moving to Perth and drinking a bucket load of LCPA from all sorts of outlets, and much fresher than I ever got in Syd, it is still a flavourful and hoppy beer, regardless of how it has changed over the years. I would blame the (mis)treatment.

 

[outbreak]

I had a pint at The Queens the other night, and it must have been a fresh keg or something, because it was great! Really hoppy... I suppose being in the same city as the brewery helps.

 

[goldstar]

It also depends on the turnover/freshness of the beer too. If I drink it in the Clarendon in Newy, its OK. Not great. Everything just seems muted. Drink it in the Oaks in Neutral Bay and its awesome. Great bitterness, bucketloads of flavour and aroma - similar to drinking it out if the bright tanks in Freo. Don't right off LCPA just yet.

 

[Alex T]

Hi Guys,

Once again, some good provocative comments....

Regarding hopping rates - these are still basically the same as they have always been, except now we are adding even more late in the process. In the old days we primarily added bittering hops and then used the hop back. Currently we are actually only adding a small amount of bittering hops (EKG), then we have a big addition in the whirlpool (US Cascade) and then we in fact add more US Cascade in the hopback than we previously did. The Galaxy plays the same role as the Chinook did, which is a small addition to help "lift" the hoppiness. We keep tabs on this as that hop can completely take over the beer; it is about balance. Currently we are playing around with some NZ Cascade in the mix, but this is not a permanent thing (just giving them a little run to check out the flavour).

The Tasmanian hop changeover hasn't yet occured; it's still a couple of years away, but after next crop we may be doing a bit of blending to play around.

So as far as using less hops I can attest that we buy an absolute #$%*load of them.

Regarding the beer spec, the last few years we have actually lifted the AE (final gravity) and IBU up to keep it around the 38 - 40 mark vs. where we were sitting for a while (35IBU). Not necessarily saying we are trying to make a bigger beer, but just highlighting how we tweak things over time depending on how the hops are tasting/balance is playing out.

So there is some info from the horses mouth.... The comments about freshness are definitely valid, though. Fingers crossed most of the time the beer is tasting great, but then I know it leaves our warehouse on a truck, goes across to the distributor, sits in their warehouse, hopefully they rotate stock correctly (we keep tabs on this), then gets delivered to a pub where it might sit in a roasting hot cellar, then we hope the cellar person rotates the stock, and then we hope the lines are clean, and then we hope the beer turns over quick..... so this is definitely not an ideal world....

Cheers, and keep drinking good beer,

Alex

 

[Duff]

Great input, again, Alex.

Thanks.

 

[Banshee]

I was told a story that Lion Nathan own Little Creatures, but when I did some research they apparently own 40%. Whether they have any influence on the product and costings I don't know. From the same source I was told that the beer is trucked from Little Creatures Brewery to a Lion Nathan brewery (possibly Swan) and kegged and bottles. Anyone verify this?
Maybe Lion Nathan are taking thier 40% and replacing it with soda water :lol:

 

[eamonnfoley]

I grabbed a carton yeserday as I think LCPA is on song at the moment. Still the benchmark for widely available craft beers I reckon.

 

[J Grimmer]

I grabbed a carton yeserday as I think LCPA is on song at the moment. Still the benchmark for widely available craft beers I reckon.

+1