Variable Zombie Dust?

I find it to be sweeter and hoppier than alpha king, and the hop flavors are much different. Dont' get onion, rather tropical fruits.

 

Onions are the last thing that comes to mind with Zombie Dust. It's a straight up tropical fruit and citrus bomb and I love it. Have only had one batch so I can't say about variability.

 

Always taste the same to me. you might have ate something before that affected your palate.

 

I've had quite a bit of ZD, and while I haven't gotten onions or Alpha King, I do get quite a bit of bottle variation. What's with all the inconsistencies of craft beer?

 

I've had it on tap and in bottles several times---sometimes it's amazing, sometimes those Citra hops seem nowhere to be found. I bought a 6 pack last week at a Chicago liquor store and it was just ok. Since there's no bottle dating I can't tell whether it's a freshness, storage or batch variability issue. But this is won't stop me from buying it again......yet.

 

There should be zero onion in Zombie Dust. Check your palate before it wrecks yo self!

 

Hops are plants, there will be variation. Also, many craft brewers operate using much smaller and less precise equipment. The big guys have scientists and more expensive equipment working with them. In the case of ZD, I'd say it has to do with the hops since FFF is relatively large and I would assume they have pretty high-end brewing systems as well as high-end brewers. Farming hops is a different story.

 

last years zd was great. then i accidentally saved a couple. a year, until the first of this years batch came out. it was quite tasty! same citrus like taste. had it on tap twice. once at a bar in chicago, was good but preferred it on on bottle. then i had a pint on DLD and it was just as tasty.

definitely no onions in my tastings of ZD.

 

Personally, I've found Zombie Dust to have an extremely small amount of variability. I prefer it slightly more on tap, but most brews taste a bit different on tap, so that's not really variability. I always buy my bottles from the FFF brewpub, so obviously, they are as fresh as can be. It has never tasted anything like Alpha King, and I have never picked up anything remotely close to onions, just pleasant zesty citrusy slight bitterness.

 

I've picked up sweet onion flavors in a couple of older bottles of ZD that I have had. Most people dont let it sit around that long though.

 

I'm going to assume that you don't brew. We've been brewing for years now and there tends to be small variations in batches from batch to batch (both ingredients & process are the culprits). Plus, I kind of enjoy the variations because then we have something to complain or gush over from batch to batch / year to year.

 

I find that I prefer Zombie Dust about a week after release. For whatever reason, that is when I get the most bursting citrus flavor that I love.

I also find that after about a month, it really is just a shell of it's former self.

 

The Germans don't get much batch variation. It is a skill to get it right every time. American craft breweries don't really need to follow that since we will pretty much drink anything or they just throw enough hops or malt in there to hide it. If you really want to you can brew any beer without major variations it just takes recipe refinement and brewing patience and skill.

 

The more hops and ingredients you chuck in a beer, the more variation you're going to have from year to year, batch to batch, so my comment still stands.

 

But you can dial in recipes and techniques to create the same thing every time. And with big beers people are just obsessed with the hugeness of it so they don't care about variation. That is why I am saying American craft breweries don't pay as much attention to it. If they did I think they would be better for it.

 

variable, or age impacts it greatly. Ive had boring ZD bottled and fantastic ZD bottled, but never boring ZD on tap at the pub

 

Not sure about batch variability, but I definitely pick up on the onions in ZD. In fact, onion is one of the dominant notes in my opinion.