Little Creatures Pale Ale Post Buy Out

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... or it could be your palate is sensitive to metallic profile. I can pick sour profiles from Lacto infections at 100 paces, give me sulphur and I struggle. Everyone has a sensitivity and a blind spot.

 

[bignath]

... or it could be your palate is sensitive to metallic profile. I can pick sour profiles from Lacto infections at 100 paces, give me sulphur and I struggle. Everyone has a sensitivity and a blind spot.

I agree.

For example: I usually can't tell if i'm pissed, so i just keep going until it's blindingly obvious.

 

[mika]

Never got the 'rust' or 'metallic' in the glass, only when drinking from the bottle (375mL). Wipe the mouth of the bottle and taste disappears. Have put it down to beer trapped under the lid, either not being rinsed properly after filling (have heard this discussed by other breweries), or possibly even residual of what ever cleaner they're using post fill.

The LCPA is pretty much my staple, some weeks it's good, some weeks it's not so good. I'm sure the beer has got a lot drier in recent times (last 18 months or so) and as a result has become a lot easier to hammer down, but lost a little malt edge at the same time. Hopping schedule, who knows, I'm sure I've blown my palate with too much Ruination.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

I just want to know why everyone thinks that if a beer starts to taste like an australian macro lager - it might be something to do with POR?

A large proportion, (almost certainly the majority) of them are bittered with pre-isomerised extract, which has had all the hop flavour and aroma components stipped away as part of the manufacturing process and which for the most part, are not made from POR in the first place.

Hate away on the "flavour" all you like - but dont blame POR. Most beers that get drunk in this country have never even been in the same room as a bag of POR hops.

 

[Hippy]

Never got the 'rust' or 'metallic' in the glass, only when drinking from the bottle (375mL). Wipe the mouth of the bottle and taste disappears. Have put it down to beer trapped under the lid, either not being rinsed properly after filling (have heard this discussed by other breweries), or possibly even residual of what ever cleaner they're using post fill.

The LCPA is pretty much my staple, some weeks it's good, some weeks it's not so good. I'm sure the beer has got a lot drier in recent times (last 18 months or so) and as a result has become a lot easier to hammer down, but lost a little malt edge at the same time. Hopping schedule, who knows, I'm sure I've blown my palate with too much Ruination.

I'd have to agree with this. I'm drinking one now and it seems less malty than it used to be and with a little less bitterness to balance it out.

 

[argon]

Oh look something has been discussed before...

Hi Guys,

At the brewery we have been discussing this and are thinking this could be a combination of things - either beer residue not being rinsed adequately around the crown seal, or some sort of complex oxidation reaction with the hops. We don't see this in the product when we release to the market, but obviously from the comments above this is something that various people pick up from time to time (and yep, unsure of product age, how it was handled, stored, etc, before it finally ended up in your fridge at home).

If a complex oxidation reaction with hops, then man - not sure who knows the answer.

But for the other potential issue - at the packaging line we are getting the guys to have a look at the bottle shower ex the crowner - maybe we aren't hitting the bottle in the right spots (or perhaps the rinse water is not drying well enough before it is packed?). This is one thing we are potentially battling with as we do not pasteurise - normally in a tunnel pasteuriser the bottles are in a hot shower for about 30mins so by the time the beer is packed the outside of the bottle is beer free, and the bottles normally dried nicely before labelling and packing. (where-as our bottles aren't pasteurised, and are a bit harder to dry from the beer still being cold). Basically the draught product and the bottle product is the same except for the conditioning (only the CO2 and yeast count spec on draught is slightly different).

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

 

[RdeVjun]

Oh look something has been discussed before...

+1 Where on earth has that darned 'Like' button gone? :icon_cheers:

 

[Kai]

I just want to know why everyone thinks that if a beer starts to taste like an australian macro lager - it might be something to do with POR?

A large proportion, (almost certainly the majority) of them are bittered with pre-isomerised extract, which has had all the hop flavour and aroma components stipped away as part of the manufacturing process and which for the most part, are not made from POR in the first place.

Hate away on the "flavour" all you like - but dont blame POR. Most beers that get drunk in this country have never even been in the same room as a bag of POR hops.

Said well.

I opened this thread to attest that currently, to the absolute best of my knowledge, the only Pride of Ringwood in existence within the Little Creatures stable is a little homebrew packet from Grain and Grape, waiting to be dry-hopped into a cask of dark ale for the weekend handpump at White Rabbit.

 

[malt_shovel]

Said well.

I opened this thread to attest that currently, to the absolute best of my knowledge, the only Pride of Ringwood in existence within the Little Creatures stable is a little homebrew packet from Grain and Grape, waiting to be dry-hopped into a cask of dark ale for the weekend handpump at White Rabbit.

For clarification, I take it this from someone who is currently working at the brewery?

CUB website has PoR is used in the following (at least).
- Carlton Black
- Fosters
- Melbourne Bitter
- Crown Lager
- Redback Wheat

Lots of references to "traditional bittering hops" in some other popular mainstream lagers, which could be a couple of different varieties but given the history of PoR it is a strong candidate. I don't speak for everyone, but that's one compelling reason why I associate PoR with mainstream macro lagers. It as an ingredient in some pretty popular beers. Crown lager is "the highest selling, Australian premium beer" (not really sure what that actually means but I figure they sell a lot of it and I sure drank a fair bit of it). Also I am not a hater of the flavour, just seeing if anyone else noticed a change in the flavour in recent months that made it similar to mainstream, local commercial lagers.

 

[Liam_snorkel]

How long do iso hops have to be used for them to be considered as traditional?

 

[Snowdog]

You can say I'm nuts in this, but the LCPA I had with dates of 23 Sept & 4 Oct did taste POR'ish, while this latest batch with 1 Nov is tasting more Cascady.

 

[jammer]

I'm nuts. There.

 

[Nick JD]

Maybe they're fermenting warm with Danish Lager yeast...

 

[Rooster13]

Well have not had a LCPA for some time now, 6 months, making too many of my own real beers . Managed to sample their IPA at the Fremantle brewery today and thought I would follow the theme.
Sampled a LCPA at dinner ( from bottle) and mentioned to the other half the difference now in flavour. Also bought 2 pint bottles, same again. Must admit my palate has leaned more to IPA style but thinking it now if a slightly different beer since going to a multi national.....

 

[Spiesy]

Many breweries have to change their recipe and process in accordance to the seasonal change in raw materials from year to year, to try to maintain the same flavour profile. I believe this includes Creatures.

I remember buying Amarillo three or four seasons ago, amazing. Has never been the same since.

Just like grapes will have different character from year to year, so will hops. Particularly noticeable in hop forward beers.

I still rate LC's as really good, accessible craft beer. I drop in there every time when in Freo. And I'd never turn my nose up at a LC's Pale, IPA or Rogers, unless it wasn't treated right.

Horses for courses, of course.

 

[Snowdog]

Since I'm on a tight budget, I've been drinking more LCPA of late. Have to say there is currently a noticeable difference between the Freo and Geelong bottles. The Freos are clear and taste a bit weak, while the Geelongs are the old-school cloudy and full of flavour. The dates on both are early/mid 2015. Have to say I've been opting for 4 Pines pale when I see Freo bottles in stock.

 

[wareemba]

hi!

sorry, but what is 'POR'?

 

[probablynathan]

POR = Pride of Ringwood

 

[wareemba]

ohhh, hops? thanks!!

 

[neal32]

Sampled this last night objectively against a SNPA and 2 of my APA's. To say this beer has gone downhill is an understatement. Had zero aroma, clarity was non existent, the flavour was of rusted nails and slightly of offensive bitterness (Maybe PoR). It was absolutely ********* and not worth the price, any price.

Am I alone in my thinking? LCPA was the beer that got me into craft beer several years ago. I remember the floral aroma, impressive malt backbone and firm biterness. Literally a life changing beer. Now I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

 

[droid]

Wow! Lcpa has always been my go to beer. Will have to try some again.

 

[Yob]

Just like JS, I don't bother any more, I'll willingly give my coin to feral or liberty

 

[neal32]

It even looks bad. Mine are the two on the left and the SNPA is on the right. If they want consumers to pay a premium for the beer, the same price as a Sierra Nevada or Ballast Point beer, it should be up to that standard.

 

[Bridges]

Has it coming from geelong or freo made a difference? I haven't purchased any for a fair while but look at the label maybe the newer geelong brewery still have some kinks to iron out...

 

[Yob]

If that's the case, it shouldn't be going to market.

 

[Bridges]

If that's the case, it shouldn't be going to market.

Agree totally. Just searching for a reason why a once great product could go to crap.

 

[Yob]

Accounts

 

[JDW81]

Has it coming from geelong or freo made a difference? I haven't purchased any for a fair while but look at the label maybe the newer geelong brewery still have some kinks to iron out...

Most of their products hitting the east coast come from the geelong brewery AFAIK.

 

[droid]

It's on sale here (edit East gippsland) today 2 ctns for $58 ea, cheapest I have ever seen it. But I wasn't going to bother tasting one at $5 for a stubby but in the interests of research and all that I bought a bridge road pale ale, the lcpa and a john Boston pale ale to blind taste test tonight along with one of my apa's, course I'll pick my apa

I wondered about the water profile when I first heard they (LC's) would also be in geelong - as from memory Perth water is quite hard. It is a bit **** that breweries will also brew/bottle under licence but I would bet some don't bother altering their water profile to suit

Might be way off track just random thoughts

 

[neal32]

The bottle was from Geelong. The alcohol was 5.2%, I remember it being 5.7%.

It's not even me being a snob, two other people that where tasting with me agreed. In fact when breweries release beer like this they shoot themselves in the foot, if I were to recommend LCPA now, a discerning drinker will say, this tastes the same as my other beer, why would I pay more to drink it? And he would be right, there is no reason to and now the person recommending a 'craft' beer looks like a pompous ********.

Unfortunately this is the state of most craft beer in Australia, maybe due to excise or other reasons but having drank the beers in California, there is a big discrepancy in quality and no reason I can think for it really.