Similar taste in different styles from the same brewery

I came here to say this. I find that all of the Three Floyds hoppy beers have a very similar distinct flavor.

 

Large breweries use base malt form the same silo for the beers, might only use 1 crystal malt.

Water can easily be adjusted by a brewery that know what they are doing, some don't.

Equipment has large influence on what a brewer can do while making the beer.

Precedures thoughout the brewing process have a very large influence.

Yeast has the largest flavor impact on a beer, and how the yeast managed in the fermentation process. The house yeast gives the house flavor.

Question - do the people mentioning Sierra Nevada think that Pale Ale tastes like Kellerweis or Summerfest?

 

SN, Firestone, Lagunitas, Stone, Deschutes, and Sam Smith are the ones that come to mind in a good way. Sierra Nevada has a nice mineral quality to their beers that I can't quite pin down the source of, but it complements their yeast & hopping schedules well.

 

I find that all of Lagunita's beers have this underlying candy taste to them. Not like a super sweet candy taste, just an undeniably "this is candy" taste. Anyone else get this too?

 

To me all the Greats Lakes beers have a faint cocoa after taste to them. As a result I no longer drink any of them, except Eddy Fitz.

 

Yeah I always notice this, pretty sure it has to do with a common malt bill and similar hop blends, it gives it a juicy citrus candy tint that works for them.

 

I am pretty convinced that I can pick up the same 2-row pale malt character found in their pale ale in both of those beers (more so in the Summerfest).

 

Ordering ingredients in bulk does this. Most places are limited to certain hops, grains, etc because it is more feasible to order bulk of that particular ingredient.

House yeast strains and water composition are also at play.

I can't imagine not having a running thread of personal touch in each beer. It only makes sense that a good brewer would bring everything together in a cohesive way. Little cogs in a big machine.

 

It's just a house character, As far as the water and yeast strains and all, it is intentional to a certain extent. But I highly doubt folks are mixing their Flagship beer into all their brews. Just my two cents

 

Anchor Brewing has always stuck out in my mind when it comes to this phenomenon. It's not a bad taste by any means, but I feel like it's somewhat unbecoming on their Porter and Old Foghorn.

 

I don't mind when house flavors are subtle, but with some breweries it's overwhelming. Sierra Nevada is a great example, whatever beers they have planned for the future, we already know what they taste like. Picked up beer camp 12'er and wasn't surprised by any of them. All were well made beers, but quite predictable.

 

When I learned of this I found it to be interesting, the fact the many (most?) breweries are using the same base malt in all of their beers, even if it's not stylistically appropriate. This is one of the things that I find to be attractive about The Brooklyn Brewery, they use stylistically appropriate (often imported) base malts in all of their beers, which is more expensive and requires more effort than what most others are doing (using the same cheaper domestic base malt in everything they brew).

 

This is one of my biggest gripes with U.S. craft brewers who claim to produce German (or other European) lagers, as they're simply not going to get the appropriate flavors from American 2-row pale as they would from a true German pilsner malt. That being said, I am learning to appreciate beers like SN Summerfest or NB Shift for what they are: namely paler pale ales with that house character I like.

 

A small brewery near me has this issue. All of its beers have this same offensive (to me) kind of roasty thing going on, and not the good kind of roasty. And it's in beers that you wouldn't expect roasty in. I can't tell if this is just what jumped up homebrew tastes like or if this is something they're going for. Do not want.

 

Harpoon's lineup comes to mind

 

Funny you should mention that. The brown at the place near me is the one beer it's tolerable in, though not my favorite, but in the others it's not good and I can't escape it. What's it doing in a hefe?! And a cream ale and a red ale and an ipa and a...

I pretend to like the beers when I go with my friends. It's nice to have a brewery nearby, or at least the idea of it is nice. Maybe they'll get better.

I see you're in MN so it's not the same place. Otherwise I'd have asked. Maybe it's not so uncommon.

 

That would be fine for a batch or two, but this is consistent across their portfolio over time.

 

New Glarus has a fruity ale taste that compliments most of their lineup but it is very subtle where it's not appropriate like a lager.