When we decided to go "pro" with brewing beer, we knew there would be challenges. Everybody should expect that right, but what about when a curveball comes like you have to change your recipe to meet production. Things you don't realize will always crop up...like suppliers running out of bittering hops in the quantity that you need in the middle of the year. Appears that the 2010 crop of hops was a little thin. Doesn't bode well for an up and coming brewery that is relying on someone elses facility and supplies to start their business. Turns out it would be much cheaper to use a different bittering hop and it helps logistically because it's already available at the brewery. What to do....
Decisions have to be made quick sometimes in this business. But making that quick decision to change your recipe doesn't neccessarily mean that you are sacrificing quality. Every ingredient is important in making beer. Hops don't get a pass when put beside any of the other 3 players. Water has defining characteristics as does yeast. Barley is probably the easiest ingredient to manipulate in the brewing process. Then you have hops, and in our case, bittering hops. You say bittering hops are bittering hops though right. 14% in Nugget is 14% in Magnum isn't it? Or is it?
Insoluble alpha acids are isomerized into more soluble iso-alpha acids during boiling, destroying the fragile aromatic oils you get when hops are added to the hot water. But are they really completely destroyed? Everything I've ever read tells me so. I've been told a lot of things in my life thus far though. I was told growing up that there were 9 planets, turns out there's only 8 now. I was told I shouldn't drink because alcoholism ran in the family, so I started a brewery. Hell my first wife told me she'd love me forever. I'm really glad that one turned out the way it did though, I have a much better one now. Point is...until we actually brewed a batch this week with different hops, I thought it didn't matter. Turns out it does.
Did it change dramatically? No, but it did change. Experimentation is a good thing. You don't learn if you don't experiment, unless you take everyone else's word for it. And where did they learn it from? Reading someone else's experience or experimenting themselves. I was terrified homebrewing that I wouldn't have everything sanitized from all the books I read, until that fear was removed when I had to stick my arm into a batch to get something I dropped in accidentally before primary. Beer turned out quality wise just as good as the previous one.
Luckily, our beer with Old Black Bear isn't in the market yet. We have a distinct characteristic we are going for, but don't mind a little change in the flavor before we get to the point production starts. To be honest, doesn't matter what kind of beer you put in front of me in a bar, I'm probably going to like it. As long as we continue to make the same beer once we get it out there we'll be fine.
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