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"Atticus":2uffpx2z wrote: Had a pint of this last night in the Bull & Castle and wasn't impressed at all unfortunately.

I'd had it before and loved it so I was looking forward to having another, but this time it just tasted off. It was too sour and yeasty.

Obviously I'll have to try it again before totally writing it off but I was just very disappointed last night.[/quote:2uffpx2z]

I have heard that the quality is very variable. That's a pity, when it's good it's excellent.

I think all start up micro's go through a period of unbalance. The best the customer can do is give honest feed back in the interest of helping the producers.
But we shouldn't write any beer off, and i don't think most of us will.

"Atticus":2rualjkx wrote: It was too sour and yeasty.

[/quote:2rualjkx]

That actually sounds quite tempting <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

&amp;quot;silenus&amp;quot;:2r6wz5m6 wrote: I think all start up micro's go through a period of unbalance. The best the customer can do is give honest feed back in the interest of helping the producers.
But we shouldn't write any beer off, and i don't think most of us will.[/quote:2r6wz5m6]

I wholeheartedly agree- And I do believe that Trouble Brewing has had a bit of feedback regarding this both from yourselves and Mulligans. As long as the brewers can take this on board as honest criticism from people who only wish to see them succeed then it will be a win-win situation in the long run.

I'm a firm believer that craft beer SHOULD vary some over time.

It's a CRAFT product, there are variations in the ingredents themselves from year over year. We can see this by looking at the alpha acid percentages for the same variety of hops from year to year and I'm sure malt reports would show similar variations.

Wine varies from year to year for the same product from the same vineyard, same vines, and with the same equipment and it's just expected and a part of the experience.

This obsession with having the exact same product time after time I think is counter to having a craft product. If you want insane consistency then guzzle your Budweiser or Guiness in quiet contentment. If you want craft beer, which may vary by year, season, and batch, the cost is often in that consistency; I think it's a trade-off that's well worth it.

(I agree quality control is a necessity for even consumer craft beer and many things can and should be made consistent; I just don't like to hear consistency used as a direct equivalent of "quality".)


0.02 Eur,
Adam

I had pretty much the exact same conversation about craft beer with two different people and they had polar opposite of opinions. I was chatting to one of the bar men in the B&C (can't remember who right now) about Clothworthy Dobbin, and he told me that the great thing about it was that it varied in quality from batch to batch, so it was exciting every time you opened another bottle. I was chatting to a guy working in a local (well stocked) offie, and when he saw that I had a few Clotheworthy Dobbins he "warned" me that it varied from batch to batch and you never know whether you have a good bottle or not before tasting, and for that reason he had stopped drinking it.

The first time I tried Ór it was very nice, nice enough for me to try it a few times more. In a few years we'll all probably be talking about which vintages were good and which were all sour and yeasty <!-- s;) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt="" title="Wink" /><!-- s;) -->