What am I tasting in the 'new' Carlsberg Pilsner?

[marshbrewer]

I had a pint of the reformulated Carlsberg Pilsner last night. Not impressed, (I thought my house (Kolsch) lager is better ) , but it had a sort of 'corn' taste that I had always assumed was maize. However, the ingredients only list barley, so it's not that! I taste it in Carling and Stella as well. Any ideas what it is? It's most obvious to me during the first few gulps, and at the end of the pint (this one lasted me an hour during a meal) as it warms. Any ideas?

 

[Brew_DD2]

Probably diacetyl. Some lager manufacturers deliberately have it in the finished beer. Seen as desirable to the style. That may be the case with proper Pilsners, but Carlsberg is utterly terrible.

 

[Banbeer]

I had a couple the other night and they tasted the same as they used to IMO.

 

[Clint]

It's a bit like the masses pissing themselves about hophouse 13....

 

[Sadfield]

Probably diacetyl. Some lager manufacturers deliberately have it in the finished beer. Seen as desirable to the style. That may be the case with proper Pilsners, but Carlsberg is utterly terrible.

I think you are confusing diacetyl with Dimethyl Sulfide. Diacetyl has a buttery flavour, DMS has a corn flavour, and as you correctly point out, desirable by some in Lager. Incidentally, the level of which is carefully controlled by whirlpooling below temperatures where DMS is volatilised.

 

[Brew_DD2]

I think you are confusing diacetyl with Dimethyl Sulfide. Diacetyl has a buttery flavour, DMS has a corn flavour, and as you correctly point out, desirable by some in Lager. Incidentally, the level of which is carefully controlled by whirlpooling below temperatures where DMS is volatilised.

Bit of both. You are of course right that it is probably DMS that is being tasted in the new Carlsberg if it tastes like corn. I do believe ( am correct when I say that Ab-InBev aim to have diacetyl present in Budweiser and other lagers as part of their signature taste. Yuck.

 

[Drunkula]

Was it Charlie Bamforth that fixed the dms/diacetyl or whatever for one of the big beer companies and then it kept getting sent back because people learned to like it flawed?

 

[marshbrewer]

Interesting replies. I had thought of DMS but didn't really think a large commercial brewer would allow that to happen, bit if its intentional, then perhaps that's what I'm tasting, and by taste buds aren't as rubbish as I thought!

 

[jceg316]

when Carlsberg says they've made a better beer:

 

[chthon]

This is Martin Cornell's take on things

 

[phildo79]

Doubt they changed the recipe too much, if at all. A name change and a few fancy adverts are all some people need to convince them. It has been done before, by big beer, and will no doubt be done again.

 

[An Ankoù]

It's a bit like the masses pissing themselves about hophouse 13....

I had my first and only bottle of Hophouse a couple of days ago. I wasn't expecting much and I wasn't disappointed. Their West Indies Porter, on the other hand is quite drinkable and even better if mixed 2:1 with the 5% Guinness Original.
That's about all that can be said for Guinness, regretably. The draught doesn't taste of anything any more and I haven't seen the Nigerian for a while,

 

[phildo79]

This is Martin Cornell's take on things

Seemed to know his stuff, until he said Hophouse 13 represents taste. It tastes of nothing. I was handed a pint of it a while back and thought it had about as much flavour as a pint of tap water.

Their West Indies Porter, on the other hand is quite drinkable and even better if mixed 2:1 with the 5% Guinness Original.
That's about all that can be said for Guinness, regretably. The draught doesn't taste of anything any more

Totally agree. It's the only beer they produce that's worth drinking. Although I don't believe them when they say they stumbled across an old brewers notebook, covered in dust, that had a 99 year old recipe inside. Complete and utter bollox!

The draught G is terrible now. It is served far too cold. Not to mention the fiddling around they've done with the recipe. There are bars that I used to frequent that were renowned for pouring good G. Went to one last week and wanted to pour my pint down the drain. I won't be back in a hurry, if ever.

 

[-Bezza-]

Seemed to know his stuff, until he said Hophouse 13 represents taste. It tastes of nothing. I was handed a pint of it a while back and thought it had about as much flavour as a pint of tap water

I'm glad I'm not the only one. I thought it was the most tasteless beer I have ever had. Wasn't sure if it was partly because the name has "hop" in it, I was actually expecting a bit of hoppiness, so it was just bland when set against those expectations. Either way, I can't understand why some people rave about it. Presumably they've been mugged off by the marketing team and don't realise it. Still, drink what you like and like what you drink. It's not for me to tell someone else what they should like. Not that that stops me.

 

[phildo79]

Don't know what it's like in England, but in Ireland, Guinness (Diageo) have contracts with so many pubs. Probably more than 50% on the whole island. And they tell them what they can and can't serve. They created this awful beer a few years ago because of growing public demand for craft beer. New beer, new TV advert, new beer pump in the pubs and hey presto, peeps think Guinness have done them a solid and given them a lovely, new, "double" hopped beer to whet their collective whistles.

It is garbage. Like pretty much everything (and there's a few) Guinness has made over the last few years. Quickly cobbled together recipes to appease a shifting consumer market. I have said it before and I will say it again, Guinness have the means and resources to create something special, yet they bring out this muck. Why bother going to the effort to make something great when the people will drink what you tell them to drink (is how I imagine a board meeting goes at Guinness)!

 

[An Ankoù]

I hope somebody at Guinness is looking at this thread, especially phildo's post.

 

[phildo79]

I hope somebody at Guinness is looking at this thread, especially phildo's post.

I doubt they give two flying f**ks!

 

[-Bezza-]

I hope somebody at Guinness is looking at this thread, especially phildo's post.

I found an article from July 2017 that suggests Hop House 13 has been responsible for a 2% increase in beer sales for Diageo. Presumably that is based on the 2016 accounts and I would think Hop House 13 has become a lot more prominent since then. So 2% growth for a multi-billion euro business... can't see anyone changing approach.

Also, 40% of Guinness sales and production is in Africa which interested me slightly. They're also trying to push more beer into China.

Far cry from my homebrew, all this!

 

[phildo79]

It just bugs me that they have ruined a once fine stout and seem happy with the end product. It further bugs me that they churn out **** like Hophouse 13, Dublin Porter, Rockshore lager, Citra IPA (4%), milk stout, Antwerpern imp stout, golden ale etc. And most of them have a backstory or a trendy advert. They simply don't care that they are all tasteless shyte. They don't care because they control what is served in pubs, offies and supermarkets. The way to 'beat' craft beer, for them, is to flood the market with rubbish.

Carlsberg UK are no different with their re-branding. Just another desperate attempt to boost sales for a beer in decline.

 

[foxbat]

I can't forgive Guinness for causing a shortage of Galaxy hops by buying up the whole crop and then managing to be the only brewer in the world to produce a galaxy hopped beer where you can't taste the galaxy!