4 replies to this topic

[NomNomHopzinator]

A couple of years ago I was a huge fan of Hop Devil. For quite a while, it was just about all that I drank. Since I have been home brewing, I haven't had it in the past year or so. I ended up getting some last night and I was so disappointed with it. I remembered it as being a beer that had such a great balance of malts and hops. If I was blind folded, I wouldn't have known that I was drinking Hop Devil...I actually would have thought that it was Lagunitas IPA. I used to drink a lot of Hop Slam and small batch 471 too and I have noticed that these seem thinner and lack the malty punch that they used to have a year or so ago. I know that one of the micros in my town has changed their process. I usually hit this place up for an after work beer once a week and very abruptly, one day last summer the beer tasted like they poured half of a glass and then diluted it with water. Ever since, that is what they all taste like now from this place. I have been drinking mostly my own brews lately but it seems like certain beers just aren't as good as what I remember them to be. I am sure my palate has changed but have brewers scaled back ingredients to brew cheaper because of the shortages last year? Has beer quality taken a dive this past year or is this all in my head?

[stellarbrew]

I was drinking a Victory HopDevil on draught the other day - first HopDevil in a while for me. I had the opposite impression as you. I actually though, wow, I didn't remember what a good beer this is. I have noticed that whenever I go on a hoppy beer spree for a while, looking for ever bigger and hoppier IPAs and DIPAs, I seem to somehow become desensitized. It takes more and more hoppy bite, and a bigger and bigger in-you-face malty counter-point to satisfy my craving. It's like my taste buds get used to extravagant levels of hops, and it gets harder to find a beer with the punch I'm looking for. If I lay off hoppy beers for a while, focusing on the medium gravity beers, with more modest hop bills, my palate seems to adjust back. So, when I go back to IPAs, my palate gets the that pleasing shock again, and I start all over.I wonder if this may be this case with you? If you have become used to your own beers in past year, and they are toward the extreme end of the big and hoppy scale, it could be that a beer that once seemed striking to your palate could now taste washed out.

[Thirsty]

Buy a bomber of Moylan's Hopsickle. If you feel this is a weak beer and needs more, then your palate is shot.

[3rd party JKor]

I doubt many brewers out there are changing their recipes/process, so it's probably your palate. Like stellarbrew said, my palate tends to go back and forth depending on what I've been drinking.

[Slainte]

I don't think beer quality has taken a hit commercially, but rather I'm getting more and more picky when it comes to fresh beer. Lately I've dumped out quite a few well respected commercial products because they were old and oxidized.