Courage Directora Kit

[fuggled]

I quite like the Courage Directors as a pint, I just wondered if anyone had had a go at the kit? Is it anything like the 'real' thing? I was considering it as my next brew, but if others say it's pants then I might looks elsewhere.

Thanks.

 

[MyQul]

Here's a thread where someone has had a go at it

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=58067&highlight=courage+directors

 

[stevie123]

Actually i have brewed this kit 2 times now, its a lovely pint a mate of mine loves the stuff so i bought a bottle and poured one half mine and one half out of the bottle he thought mine was the best, the funny comment he made was mine wasnt as bitter as the bottle but thats what i thought the problem with the kit was

 

[MyQul]

Interesting. I'm planning on doing an AG version from my GW book. The post boil hops are styrian goldings which I won in a comp on another forums so I'm going to use some of them. Plus I plan on having a go at making some invert sugar as the GW reciepe has just normal sugar in it's place.

 

[stevie123]

Interesting. I'm planning on doing an AG version from my GW book. The post boil hops are styrian goldings which I won in a comp on another forums so I'm going to use some of them. Plus I plan on having a go at making some invert sugar as the GW reciepe has just normal sugar in it's place.

Tbh im a grain man mainly however this kit is rather good its a very very close repro of the original and i i was going to do a clone of this i dont think i would not bother and just buy the kit, for a kit ale id give it a 9 out of 10 almost a perfect copy of the original with none of that nasty kit smell or taste

 

[fuggled]

That's interesting as a few reviews I've read say that the kit is miles from the real beer, and then some are saying it's a quite close. A lot of the reviews saying how different they are, are from a few years ago, could they have changed the recipe/yeast strain more recently?

Had a real bottle last night actually, if I could get close with a kit I'd be happy, if not it could be one for the list for when I get in to AG eventually. It's going to happen (I've already priced up the kit I'd need for AG!)

Edit: Apologies MyQul, I hadn't realisesd there was another thread, sorry!

 

[stevie123]

The kit is supplied with Gervin Ale Yeast if it helps anyone

 

[MyQul]

That's interesting as a few reviews I've read say that the kit is miles from the real beer, and then some are saying it's a quite close. A lot of the reviews saying how different they are, are from a few years ago, could they have changed the recipe/yeast strain more recently?

Had a real bottle last night actually, if I could get close with a kit I'd be happy, if not it could be one for the list for when I get in to AG eventually. It's going to happen (I've already priced up the kit I'd need for AG!)

Edit: Apologies MyQul, I hadn't realisesd there was another thread, sorry!

Thats fine. Its' better to start a new thread of your own than re-animating a thread from the dead :thumb:

 

[stevie123]

Thats fine. Its' better to start a new thread of your own than re-animating a thread from the dead :thumb:

This is why we have forums and not just books:thumb:

 

[stevie123]

Well come on you can not ask a book a question you have got to read the bloody thing and then your probably still going to get it wrong tbh

 

[MyQul]

Well come on you can not ask a book a question you have got to read the bloody thing and then your probably still going to get it wrong tbh

You could ask it a question but they might cart you off to the funny farm for talking to inanimate objects

 

[MrDasherD]

Courage Directors is 1 of those beers that used to be (and I'm not sure when they stopped this) brewed regionally and living where I did (Somerset) would often drink the Bristol Directors but occasionally drink the Plymouth Directors... you might even have thought they were different beers! Most drinkers at the time were aware that the taste would vary according to which brewery it originated from. Now, whether this was due to differences in water, other ingredients or even a recipe is a question I can't answer.

Often, when large breweries took over the minnows, they would adopt a beer brewed by the minnow and name it as its own. Certainly Whitbread did this with Trophy which was a completely different beer (but very similar in style) according to where you were in the country. It could be the way that Directors evolved as Courage grew. Is it still available on draught or just in a bottle? The only Courage house I have visited for many years was in Bristol a few weeks ago and the only draught Courage offering was Best. Probably tasting nothing like the Best that used to be brewed in the old George's brewery. Cracking pub it was too ... proper old-school!

Anyway, what is this rambling started as is to say that you could expect older drinkers of Directors to have different recollections of taste and therefore expectations of the kit.

After all those words I could do with a beer ... ooo it's only 10 o clock - damn!

:drink:

 

[MyQul]

Had a pint of Directors on draught from my local Youngs pub this eve. The malt profile tasted remarkably similar to my A.N.Other bitter I made recently. I had planned to make a clone of Directors following GW's recipe but I think I'll just do the same grist/yeast as my A.N.Other Bitter but use bobek hops as I won some on Jims and bobek are the hops used in GW's clone