Founders announces Solid Gold Lager

That is true for just corn or cracked corn. Those would require extra equipment in the brewery to process them, a mill for corn to crack it, and a cereal cooker for either form. Does Founders have a cereal cooker?

Searches show that if I were to buy a 50 LB bag of flaked maize it is equal to or more than the cost of a 50 LB bag of US malted barley (Rahr or Malteurope for example). Flaked maize does not require a cereal cooker, as the process to make it geletanizes to starch in the corn, making it available to the enzymes from the malt.

Cereal cookers are in use by breweries such as Yuengling, saw the one at the Tampa brewery.

 

What are you two basing this on?[/QUOTE] Simply based on an ABV of 4.4% it utilizes less grain than most of the Founders packaged beers. There are exceptions: All Day IPA is one, and then of course they have several beers like this one that they produce but don't package. Not having had the beer, however, I am unable to commit to any further comment regarding hop usage and time in the fermenter.

I do hope it's a success but Victory Brewing's recent Home Grown Lager which seems similar in some ways struck a dull note with me.

 

An aside question, are not lemondrop hops only available through Hopsteiner?

 

Mindset I think, which is understandable. The very cheapest commercial beers are brewed with corn and it's extracts so It therefore follows that using corn in quality brewing is objectionable. Why the same mindset accepts oats or wheat as good all rather sidesteps the central issue which is the grains used (and their comparative costs) are far less important than what the brewer does with them.

 

What if Founders goes super cheap and uses corn syrup? No need for either a mill or a cooker.

 

My concern is whether I like what they did with it. That and I want full disclosure of ingredients, ABV and IBU on the container.

 

Hopefully they don't lower their standards. But given their reputation for putting out quality beers, I would assume this will not be the case.

 

I'd try it before I write it off but I don't really understand this strategy. They already have PC pils and All Day as their low ABV 15 packs, what does this add to their line-up? Granted PC pils is quite hoppy and not very traditional but I appreciated it for what is was. A friend of mines Dad, AAL drinker, really liked the PC pils when they were over for a game. I'd say something like that (or other more traditional pilsners) are a better gateway to craft.

If you want an AAL for a tailgate/party, would you spend $15 for the Founders 15 pack or $15-20 for the 30 of Bud Light? Would an AAL drinker?

 

'Founders' on the above label does not mesh well with the rest of the label imo. Not sure what it is (letter color perhaps?) but just looks a bit jarring and off to me & sticks out like a sore thumb with respect to the rest of the label. Maybe adding a solid blue band there like what is at the bottom would help. Oh well, that's my label review.

 

Something new.

 

Doesn't really excite me, but I'll try it before passing judgement. Some Founder's beers I like more than others, but never had one that I'd consider bad and they produce some of my favorite beers. And that's a pretty good price point.

 

Below is the BA description for Founders Solid Gold:

“For those of you familiar with the Solid Gold we’ve featured in our taproom for years, this is not the same beer. Our Brewmaster, Jeremy, completely revamped the recipe and it now features lager yeast, corn and lemondrop hops for just the right hit of flavor. Our take on a classic, Solid Gold is a drinkable golden lager brewed with the highest quality ingredients. Challenging what a lager can be? That’s something we won’t regret.

20 IBU”

As compared to the 45 IBUs of PC Pils, Solid Gold is a notably different lager beer.

Cheers!

 

Hi Jack,

We already have some of this crossover with our Crisp, which we have been making for over 8 years and it continues to grow for us as one of our leading brands.

We are planning on releasing a Helles early next year, a recipe that we have been working on for over a year now and we will feature at the brewery this November 18th at our Bean Day release. It is 5% ABV and about 24 IBU. We are confident that true beer lovers who embrace awesome lager will respect the quality of this beer - I currently have a pilot batch on tap at my kegerator and its tasting awesome.

We won't, however, be releasing an AAL and trying to compete on price. That is widely understood in the industry as a "race to the bottom" because as one wise man once told me, "Once you compete on price; you've already lost."

cheers

 

Shane,

Best of luck on your new (2018) release of a Helles.

FWIW I was told by one of the Sly Fox bartenders that the best seller for Sly Fox is their Helles: Sly Fox Helles Golden Lager.

Maybe using some version of “Gold” in the beer branding is key here?

Cheers!

Jack

P.S. It will be interesting to see how Founders new AAL beer works for them.

 

And that is key here. I am guessing that Founders will be using a light touch here and consequently the lemon flavor will be subtle. We won't really know until we taste it though.

Cheers!

 

Randy (@Ranbot) is an advocate of DAB beer. Maybe you may want to add this beer to your list. Below is a recent post that Randy made on DAB:

“I commonly find DAB within 4 months of its package date (12 oz bottles and 16 oz cans). I enjoy the beer, but also enjoy that it typically costs <$1 per bottle or can [based on 12-pack of bottles or 24 bottle/can case].”

Cheers!

 

In my opinion the present day market for distributing craft breweries is extremely competitive. Last year Sierra Nevada had a down year financially; hopefully 2017 will be more profitable for them? I have noted that Sierra Nevada seems to be thinking that producing more hoppy beers (e.g., Sidecar and Tropical Torpedo as year-round beers, soon to be released 12-pack of fresh hopped beers,...) is the solution to turn things around financially.

Maybe Founders is thinking that producing a low/moderately hopped AAL will be a financial winner for them?

Victory seems to be concentrating on their core beers to turn their financials around (they lost money last year).

Every brewery needs to think about what strategy will 'work' for them. Hopefully a Helles beer will be a winner for Sixpoint.

Cheers!

P.S. In the past I have posted that a well made Classic American Pilsner could be a good 'cross-over' beer but for breweries that already produce Pilsners (German style Pilsner, Czech style Pilsner) this may 'complicate' their portfolio.