ZD a little off?

I don't get to drink Zombie Dust...no comment, but...

You might just be getting used to it if you get to drink the #1/#2 pale ale on a regular basis. Same as anything.

 

Send me some, I'll let you know if it's off.

 

I had it on draft recently and thought it was different HOWEVER I drank a Permanent Funeral first so I just assumed it was palette wreckage.

 

I would drink it but, you know, some dudes keep buying all of it before I can get any...

 

My interest in it has been on the decline for quite a while. However I think the annoyance of people being in love with it, difficulty in acquiring it and astronomical pricing are what's leading me to think the recipe has changed.

Like how shitty Hotdogs taste better at baseball games... Zombie Dust tastes worse when I double-check my Liquor Store receipt.

 

Could be that the stash of hops they reserved last year are getting old and have faded in flavor and acids a bit. Could be they have had to do some trading to keep up with demand and something something reefer truck. Could be that there was a refrigeration issue. Could just be that you have hit the end road for drinking Zombie Dust and it's time for something new.

 

I just picked up a case and it did seem like the citrus was a bit lacking.

 

Most likely old hops, as was mentioned above. Kind of a bummer, but it should certainly be only a temporary issue.

 

I've only had about 3 times but I did think that the last time I had it at the Great Taste of the Midwest it lacked a bit of the citrus flavor. I just attributed that to the heat/amount of beers I'd already sampled though. I still want more of this beer but I've given up hunting for it.

 

Off topic but how does Pride and Joy compare to this or Alpha King? It's available in Madison but for whatever reason I never purchased it.

 

its a great session beer. Very drinkable. NOthing in your face, just a well made american take on an english mild beer. The word pleasant comes to mind.

 

Just got a case on Saturday and it's a bit off IMO from other batches, I've notice a great variation between batches in the last few years.

 

with the massive demand and appeal of the proprietary crop that is citra hops, I have noticed a less punchy flavor and a slightly lower AA than stated over the last 2 years. but it could also be my lack of appeal and disdain for the autotune of hops

 

Thank you for starting this thread, I thought it was just my taste buds changing, but I recently had a couple bottles, and it wasn't the "Wow, In Your Face" beer that I had remembered. Hopefully it will get better soon!

 

Tastes totally different. They changed the hops and cut back on the citrusy fake additives

 

I visited the Toppling Goliath taproom a few weeks ago and talked to their Head Brewer (Mike) and he said that the Citra hop has changed quite a bit from what it used to be, simply because of the demand and that all of the hops growers are picking them earlier than they used to and not letting them mature in order to keep up with the demand. He said that is causing some batches of the Citra they get to be "inconsistent." With that said, I have seen a slight variation in a few of the psuedoSue batches in the last year, but nothing like I've experienced in the change with Zombie Dust (which I think is a shell of it's former self).

 

glad theres some confirmation to what I've been blindly assuming. thanks!

 

Haven't had a single Zombie Dust in months but I've never fretted; Alpha King is always around and is close to being just as good.