Beeblebrox Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 G'day Valley Brew' date=' it seems Hairy & Beerlust agree with you. [img']wink[/img] Crown Golden Ale: I seriously don't know why they bothered. Yeah it's golden in colour & that's about it. Poor head' date=' poor carbonation, poor lacing, no obvious hop aroma or flavour. The malt bill was OK I suppose but not dissimilar to that of Crown Lager. The main hop may have been changed from what is used in the lager, but it was so subdued it was hard to tell to be honest. A very tame & lifeless beer (IMHO).As Gary Lyon would say, "Poor, poor, poor!" Let's just say I won't be buying one of these again. [img']wink[/img] I called into Dan's today and they were offering taste tests of the Crown Golden Ale. It was truly awful I don't mean that it was just bland and not something I usually enjoy. I mean it was horrible and I was looking for something to wash my mouth out with. It was quite evil. I think it may have been made from the urine of the devil I hope I just got a bad one. Cheers. It's quite simple; Crown is a CUB megaswill beer, not a craft beer. They may have tinkered with the Crown Lager recipe to get there, but tinkering around the edges is not the same as creating a new and exciting beer, and an ale companion to a semi popular so called premium lager from CUB is still a pretty ordinary beer. If you buy megaswill you can expect it to taste like megaswill, have little flavour or aroma, and it will never compare favourably to a craft beer or home brew. CUB and others may be trying to cash in on the craft beer popularity, but unless they try to do something different to what they do with their flagship beers you can only expect a fairly ordinary beer. The folk at Tooheys were fairly clever that way, they bought out Chuck Hahn's brewery (along with various others), then kept him on as a consultant to come up with recipes for a more discerning palate; granted it's still not quite boutique or craft beer, but you have to admit, the Hahn products, and other craft breweries bought by megaswill co's are still better than the old stock standard megaswills; and for me they were a gateway to the wonderful world of craft and homebrew beers. Viva la revolution! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottie Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 It seems that everyone wants to get on the Craft Brew band wagon' date=' or at least gain a benefit from it. [/quote'] Didn't say it was a Craft Beer, only that CUB are seeking to benefit from the revolution If you buy megaswill you can expect it to taste like megaswill' date=' have little flavour or aroma, and it will never compare favourably to a craft beer or home brew.[/quote'] I wouldn't say that this is always the case. For example having recently tried a Cascade Bright Ale, my assessment was that this is as good as a Little Creatures Bright Ale. Cheers Scottie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Definitely agree about the Crown Golden Ale. I got a six pack to try recently and yeah pretty bland and boring for a supposed ale. No hop presence at all, I think I'd prefer the lager to be honest. As for Cascade, I really enjoy the stout that we finally get up here now. The pale ale isn't bad either, haven't tried the bright ale yet though. Cheers Kelsey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beeblebrox Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Definitely agree about the Crown Golden Ale. I got a six pack to try recently and yeah pretty bland and boring for a supposed ale. No hop presence at all' date=' I think I'd prefer the lager to be honest. As for Cascade, I really enjoy the stout that we finally get up here now. The pale ale isn't bad either, haven't tried the bright ale yet though. Cheers Kelsey[/quote'] I'd say some of the smaller breweries, even the ones now owned by megaswill companies still make pretty decent brews. I've never had a problem with Boags, Cascade, Hahn, or Blue Tongue, and some of the James Squire stuff is still pretty good, even though they sold out to the big guys (some more recently than others). The problem arises when megaswill companies buy out the little guys and then decide to mess about too much with their recipes; surely if they bought out a brewery that was successful, maintaining the success and customers relies on continuing to make quality product, and not dulling and dumbing it down for the masses. For my mind the smaller breweries, even though quite a few of them have been taken over still produce decent beer, but of course it's not craft beer, but not exactly megaswill either, it's kind of a midway point which still makes it a reasonably decent product. The megaswill companies are slowly starting to realize this, and have experimented with the middle ground quite a bit over the past few decades, but apart from the occasional exception to the rule, tend to be a bit too conservative in their hops additions. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but most megaswill beers contain a fair amount of POR, which adds a little bite and minimal flavour, whereas if they'd break out of their mindset of sticking with the tried and true, may discover they can make more palatable beer. Back in the day Carlton Cold, Hahn Ice, TED, and Pils distinguished themselves by breaking from the pack. Sure they may be a bit bland compared to true boutique, craft and home brew beers, but at least they're sessionable, and more enjoyable than say your Tooheys New, XXXX, VB, Carlton Draught, Fosters, and the like. Lets not forget even Coopers is a big brewery, and they have broken ranks by realizing that their customers are not mugs, and enjoy good flavoured full bodied beer. They are somewhere on the cusp of being a megaswill company by size, but they realize that a good beer develops a cult following, and are not afraid to try something that the other big brewers think is too much of a risk. You won't see CUB or Tooheys making an Artisan Reserve, Celebration Ale, ESVA, or a true pilsener or lager, let alone a decent Pale or sparkling Ale. Likewise you won't see Coopers making the equivalent of a VB, Fosters, Tooheys New or XXXX, because they know their customers expect flavour, aroma, mouth feel, and a decent aftertaste, whereas true megaswill either leaves you feeling let down at best, or wishing you'd drunk something else and not been stingy buying the cheapest beer on tap at the pub or bottle shop. As for the also-rans, produced by companies owned by the big supermarkets; well they're just cheap and nasty, and life is too short to scrimp on taste for the sake of saving a few dollars. I'd rather drink no beer at all than drink something that leaves a bad taste in my mouth, both from the poor flavour of the beer, and the disgust that I'd gone with something sub standard when there are so many other good beers out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerlust Posted October 9, 2014 Author Share Posted October 9, 2014 Megaswill beer is not made by brewers, it's made by bean counters. I thought everyone knew that? The whole premise of how megaswill beer is formulated & created centres around a very simple ideal. How cheap can we make a beer that consumers will still buy & drink? The latest evolution of megaswill beer in this country only furthers to back that up. That being the "dry" range seen all over the place. Let's essentially take a mid-strength beer recipe that has lowered malt levels to start with (lowering the cost outlay) & chuck a dry enzyme into the mix that strips malt character & boosts ABV. So here you have a recipe that starts out at anywhere around 3.8 - 4.0% being boosted via the dry enzyme up to a commonly accepted full strength ABV beer of 4.2 - 4.5% & above. Back that up with a big budget advertising campaign making the beer look cool, hip, & what you should be drinking to be part of the "in crowd", & there you have it. At the board meetings of the megaswill breweries as board members go on counting their money whilst sipping on their serious craft beer or single malt scotch, there must be an almost endless stream of laughter in the room directed primarily at the greater public that are fooled by their ad campaigns & continue to buy their illusion of what beer actually is. All I know is the source of that laughter is not inclusive of me, & hasn't been for a very long time now. Long live the revolution! Cheers, Anthony. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beeblebrox Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Megaswill beer is not made by brewers' date=' it's made by bean counters. I thought everyone knew that? [img']rolleyes[/img] The whole premise of how megaswill beer is formulated & created centres around a very simple ideal. How cheap can we make a beer that consumers will still buy & drink? The latest evolution of megaswill beer in this country only furthers to back that up. That being the "dry" range seen all over the place. Let's essentially take a mid-strength beer recipe that has lowered malt levels to start with (lowering the cost outlay) & chuck a dry enzyme into the mix that strips malt character & boosts ABV. So here you have a recipe that starts out at anywhere around 3.8 - 4.0% being boosted via the dry enzyme up to a commonly accepted full strength ABV beer of 4.2 - 4.5% & above. Back that up with a big budget advertising campaign making the beer look cool, hip, & what you should be drinking to be part of the "in crowd", & there you have it. At the board meetings of the megaswill breweries as board members go on counting their money whilst sipping on their serious craft beer or single malt scotch, there must be an almost endless stream of laughter in the room directed primarily at the greater public that are fooled by their ad campaigns & continue to buy their illusion of what beer actually is. All I know is the source of that laughter is not inclusive of me, & hasn't been for a very long time now. Long live the revolution! Cheers, Anthony. Spot on Lusty, The sad reality is that megaswill companies rely on peer group pressure, slick advertising, image, and viral marketing to make their beer the in thing. If they spent half as much money on making beer as they did on their marketing campaigns, and actually cared about their product you'd find megaswill companies suddenly making decent beer. They're not selling beer, they're selling an image, a slick package, and accessibility of their product. Megaswill is no better than the big fast food companies, advertise, promote, and capture a younger target customer and you can rely on having them for life; unless someone takes their blinders off. For good measure as noted previously some of the big guys buy out the struggling craft and boutique brewers, so they can have a foot in both markets. Coopers are unique in that they are the only larger production Aussie brewer still in existence, and they are still family owned. They've also put their foot into the territory of the imported beers, as you can note by their purchase of licenses to produce some reasonable quality O/S products. What you can't accuse Coopers of however is of being anything than honest; they don't pretend that they aren't about making money, but they are also passionate about their product, and see it as their goal to make quality beer as well as make money, whereas megaswill as duly noted are only interested in making money from selling product made with the cheapest available ingredients. That's what happens when O/S interests take over, and the share price is more important than customer satisfaction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Ruddager Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 So Lion Nathan own the James Squier and Little Creatures brands, which is I suppose why you see them on tap around the place, but what does that mean as far as where and how these beers are brewed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porschemad911 Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Well KR, I have to say I'm glad of it when I'm out with friends and those are the only decent beers in a row of depressing looking taps. A similar one I'm grateful to see is Fat Yak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beeblebrox Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Mixed feelings for me; it's great that the beers formerly owned by craft brewers are getting out there, and getting more financial support by being owned by the big fellas, but on the other hand it kind of taints them a little. I suppose it's up to Lion Nathan or whoever to decide if they stick to the recipe or change it, but I'd say being that they're the big boys, and would have greater market share and the like they can still make the same beer only cheaper, by buying the ingredients in greater quantity, making it cheaper for them to make the same beer as were made by the original craft brewers. So great that they are being marketed and sold, and are more readily available, but kind of sorry for the craft brewers that started it up; that said, if they sold out and got a good price good luck to them, I'm sure they've got family and mortgages to take care of etc, and often enough when that sort of thing happens, you find the originators of the brand starting up a new brand later down the track, starting the cycle over again. Blue Tongue was a tragedy though, their money started running out, and the big boys came along to "help" and stripped them down to the point where they had no option than to sell. This after Blue Tongue had set up a brewery on the Central Coast of NSW, providing jobs, which of course was closed down when the big boys took over, throwing passionate workers who started out in an independent brewery onto the dole queue! The winner of course is the consumer, as your favourite beer becomes more readily available, and comes into the discount cycle when the owners decide to try to get more customers on board. At the end of the day, most of us enjoy our beer for the flavour aroma a mouthfeel, and so long as the recipe remains the same, who owns the brewery doesn't come into it. Of course if you want to support small independent businesses, well that's another story entirely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnaman Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 G'day Brewers, now I know Beerlust knows this but some may find this of interest. Who owns Lion Nathan? Mitsubishi Group. Japanese Who owns Fosters Group? SABMiller. South African multinational. This is one reason when I do buy beer it's Coopers, because it is so hard to know who owns who. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chezza Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 "standard larger drinker to ale" Lager? or literally larger drinker that is the question Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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