de Garde Quarterly Release

Discussion in 'Northwest' started by deGardebrewing, Nov 16, 2014.

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  1. TheeWalrusHunter

    TheeWalrusHunter Initiate (0) Aug 23, 2013 Oregon

    @maltmaster420

    I picked a few bottles at BS on Friday - carb issues as well. Have you noticed all of them have carb issues, or are you telling customers about it? Just wondering how you handle that situation.

    Petit was delicious, but flat. I am also curious if holding on to them for a few months will carb it up better - anyone?
     
    #81 TheeWalrusHunter, Dec 1, 2014
  2. John_M

    John_M Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,849) Oct 25, 2003 Washington
    Mod Team Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    OK. I'll ask the obvious, as I'm sure everyone has had similar thoughts. Has anyone contacted the brewery or Trevor about this problem?

    Trevor seems like a very stand up guy, and I know he's usually pretty active on this forum. I guess I'm a bit surprised he hasn't posted something about the carb "issues" on this thread, or in a separate post. IMHO, this isn't something retailers should have to deal with on their own (especially if it's a widespread, as opposed to isolated, problem).
     
    #82 John_M, Dec 1, 2014
  3. maltmaster420

    maltmaster420 Initiate (0) Aug 17, 2005 Oregon

    Trevor can chime in with an official response if he wants, but the short version I got from him on Friday was that they are "lightly carbed" (although he said they tested several cases and they came in at 2 volumes of co2) for a couple reasons. First, there's still some residual sugar in the bottles which will eventually get chewed up and turned into more co2. Secondly, and related to the first point, 22oz bottles aren't rated for much more than 2.5 volumes of co2, so they don't want to risk bottle bombs if people choose to cellar them for an extended period.

    As for us, I've mentioned it to the staff, but I'm not out on the floor all that much so I'm not sure how often the info is getting relayed to customers.
     
    #83 maltmaster420, Dec 1, 2014
  4. deGardebrewing

    deGardebrewing Initiate (0) May 3, 2013 Oregon


    Pretty well covered it.
    Carbed to two volumes for safety knowing folks like to sit on bottles for year (s) and the fact that over a few months these will pick up another half volume+, bringing them to just over 2.5. Thats the recommended safe upper end for every 22oz bottle I've located, versus the 4.5-5 rating for most 750's. We wont risk even the small chance of injury to custoners.
    These, being lighter and acidic beers won't throw or maintain a huge head as well. If you've had Bu on tap (3+ volumes of co2), you know it appears fairly still.
    Another byproduct of a truly wild ferment is the consumption of head forming/retaining compounds. Its one of the reasons even our beers carbonated to 3.5-4 volumes have a poor head retention and dont display what might be expected at that level (again, the acidity comes into play).
    Having tried three+ cases from various parts of the run prior to release, and having just now tried two more bottles, to say these are uncarbonated is incorrect unless our trials were wildly fortunate.
    As an individual to say that you would prefer more, I can absolutely respect. If you did not enjoy our product, you have my sincerest apologies.
    We ultimately decided that the lower retail pricing enabled by the smaller format was worth the trade off of our typical carbonation levels. For what its worth, I love the beers and am proud of them. I wish it were so for everyone, but as always, thats not going to be the case.
     
    #84 deGardebrewing, Dec 1, 2014
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  5. dphi

    dphi Zealot (534) Apr 14, 2013 Oregon

    Thanks for the reply, these seem like they'd be better warm weather beers anyway so I'll probably just let my bottles sit until the spring.
     
    #85 dphi, Dec 1, 2014
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  6. TheeWalrusHunter

    TheeWalrusHunter Initiate (0) Aug 23, 2013 Oregon

    Thanks for the explanation.

    I probably am in the camp that equates head retention with carbonation instead of letting my palate do the thinking. I will have to revisit both of them in the future.
     
    #86 TheeWalrusHunter, Dec 1, 2014
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  7. Eighty

    Eighty Pundit (839) Feb 17, 2013 Washington

    Out of curiousity, anyone know what carb volume most 12oz bottles rated for? And 375mls?
     
    #87 Eighty, Dec 1, 2014
  8. Eighty

    Eighty Pundit (839) Feb 17, 2013 Washington

    And a question for Trevor - does Dark Harvest also have some residual sugar in the bottle, similar to the other bottles being discussed here? Do you expect it should carb up a bit more over time?
     
    #88 Eighty, Dec 1, 2014
  9. Dubbletrubble

    Dubbletrubble Initiate (0) Jul 25, 2013 Oregon

    Frankly, I've never really cared about head retention, but I do care about mouthfeel. It doesn't really seem like Petit and Bu are bottle-conditioned, am I wrong?
     
    #89 Dubbletrubble, Dec 2, 2014
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