Little Creatures Pale Ale Post Buy Out

[bum]

And how much time do we think beers spend in contact with the lid - even in transit?

6 parts of bugger all.

 

[benno1973]

And how long do you think the lid spends touching the mouth of the bottle, which is where some people drink their beer from?

 

[bum]

And how long do you think the lid spends touching the mouth of the bottle, which is where some people drink their beer from?

So I'm tasting metal from my glass by some sort of empathy with other people?

I assure you that I have no such thing.

 

[benno1973]

I assure you that I have no such thing.

And I believe you. But I assume you also pour your beer out through the mouth of the bottle, unless you're doing something less conventional?

 

[mje1980]

Wait a minute, so despite drinking ( im sure ) many many other beers out of bottles, you still think its the bottle caps on one particular type of beer causing some kind of metallic flavour?. And really, the plastic seal would actually be in contact with the bottle, no?

 

[///]

Until you realise that just about every bottle of beer uses the same cap, probably the same supplier even.

Yep, there is only sole supply for all pro and home brewers in Australia unless you import direct from China. its Gualia Closures, Bob. He is a tops fella. All the same caps just some are different colours and printed.

Also, my father is a chem engineer and part of the team that designed the polymer for the caps in the 60's at ICI. Same goes into all drink bottles ... so every bottle you drink would be metallic I guess ...

Only been about 2 weeks since the takeover was finalised, that beer would not even be in the logistics chain. Kirin also has the astute knowledge the business is making $$'s and with that they will leave the thing well alone. Same applied when they took the varying levels of interest in Lion Nathan. I know quite a few Senior Lion fellas due to work and consulting, apart from a trip once every 2 years and some reporting, Kirin do not meddle in the local affairs.

Scotty

 

[benno1973]

Wait a minute, so despite drinking ( im sure ) many many other beers out of bottles, you still think its the bottle caps on one particular type of beer causing some kind of metallic flavour?. And really, the plastic seal would actually be in contact with the bottle, no?

The plastic seal is generally in contact with the bottle top, but plastic seals degrade, caps rust, etc. I had no idea how many bottle top manufacturers there were out there, I assumed there were a few, some better than others. But as you and /// say there is only one manufacturer, then I'd have to agree that it's likely not the bottle top.

I do get the metallic taste from some other beers in bottles. Cleaning the rim of the bottle gets rid of that taste, so I'd certainly say that bottle tops can contribute some metallic flavour, but more likely if it's a beer that's travelled further or been handled worse.

 

[Nick JD]

Could it be something to do with being bottle conditioned (LCPA is, isn't it?). Like the bottles are cycled through warm and cool phases resulting in rusty caps...

I have experienced many rusty nails beers when I was living in the Philippenes - San Miguel lagers in a sketchy fridge - each time they warmed up they got rustier with the condensation.

 

[mfeighan]

It must be the storage and handling had a sixer on the weekend, tasted as good as it ever does. Must be a downside of living in those eastern states. On tap its bloody good too

 

[sinkas]

Matilda Bay has been owned by CUB for 12+ years. I don't feel they have been "tainted" in any way.

your 'aving a larf mate

 

[///]

... 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?