Certain beers don't travel well, is there any truth in this.

[simon12]

Have heard various people talk of how some beers don't travel well, mainly talking about cask beers but I can't think of any good reasons why this would be. Especially as the conversation normally refers to a few specific beers suggesting many do travel OK. So my thoughts are travel shakes it up and likely results in it getting a bit warm but not to much or shives would blow out. If it possible that different yeasts cause off flavours due to this, am I missing something or is it just a myth?

 

[Dutto]

Probably a myth.

If you are hot and thirsty it's incredible how pleasant a can of beer can be when arriving at your destination; and I've never heard anyone complain "This beer hasn't travelled very well." under such circumstances!

 

[An Ankoù]

Back in the very early 80s I lived in Swansea for a short while. Visiting Cardiff, I developed a liking for Brains S.A. It seemed that wherever I drank it in Cardiff it was good, but whenever I could find it in Swansea it was awful. Probably just bad cellar management.

 

[Sadfield]

Probably some truth in it, evolving into a myth to excuse some poor cellarmanship. For any beer, time spent above above cellar temperature is detrimental to varying degrees. So, any additional time on the back of a wagon or in a distribution hub at elevated temperatures won't help. Conversely, going back to the origins of IPA, they were beers designed to withstand storage and travel.

 

[Clint]

I regularly take a crate of Hb on holiday..my farthest yet us N. Wales to Cornwall. The sediment wasn't even disturbed. A few hours in the fridge and the following was deduced. ..
Crate of HB on holiday = guaranteed supply of great beer and money saved.

 

[dad_of_jon]

Back in the very early 80s I lived in Swansea for a short while. Visiting Cardiff, I developed a liking for Brains S.A. It seemed that wherever I drank it in Cardiff it was good, but whenever I could find it in Swansea it was awful. Probably just bad cellar management.

As Swansea rather than Cardiff is the nearest city to where I live , I can confirm that beer in Cardiff tastes better than beer in Swansea. Although punk ipa sold in 'spoons in the mardy in Gorseinon tastes better and is cheaper than punk ipa sold in Brewdog Cardiff.

 

[BeerCat]

From what I have read When they add finings to cask beer it can only be shaken up so many times before it becomes in effective. Hence beer tasting better the less it travels.

 

[PhilBrew]

Hi Simon

Having read Pete Brown's book "Hops and Glory" ... in which he recreated the effects on a cask of (19th Century style) IPA when transporting it from Burton to India ... aiming to follow the route an East India Company cutter would have, back in the day i.e. by sea, around the Cape of Good Hope, crossing the equator twice ... I believe that transporting (live, not pasteurised) beer can have an effect on the flavours.

But the way that Madiera wine producers have studied and learnt to recreate the similar effects on their products (see "Estufagem process" there (link)) without needing to involve motion, would suggest the differences are mostly caused by the variations in temperatures that might be experienced during the journey (though motion may well influence the rates of such changes occurring)

So if some cask of Bitter somewhere has been taken from the brewery cold store, put on a truck and delivered to a pub and placed in the pub cellar (at similar storage temps to the brewery cold store), all within a working day, to be tapped and served once it's all re-settled ... then the chances are it will taste very similarly to how it would had you had a pint at the brewery tap. But if the cask had been taken from the brewery cold store to a storage yard, where it was stacked with lots of others (out in the sunshine perhaps), for a few weeks and then put on another truck to be taken to the cellar of the pub it was to be served from ... then I suppose things may well have changed inside that cask in the meantime

Cheers, PhilB