Breweries changing beer recipes

Would be cool to know some of the improvements, not down to the granular specifics, but at a high level. I think all changes Night Shift has made have been positive, so I would be excited about this.

 

I like breweries evolving, so long as the core identity of the beer remains true. It seems like for example Lord Hobo's Boom Sauce is an example of a beer that went through so many tweaks from what it was to what it is now. I like what it is now, but it certainly does not make me comfortable to think it could be changed up again. And at some point with many changes you start to wonder whether the changes are intentional or it is a brewing flaw. It's been discussed ad nauseum by us armchair quarterbacks, but LH would have been better slapping a generic "DIPA" label on the initial versions. Branding and marketing were prioritized.

A month or so back Proclamation released a slew of DDH beers of their core hoppy offerings: Derivative, Tendril and Stalk. I drank the Stalk like it was water, so well balanced and not even over the top murky like Trillium DDH beers. They posted on facebook shortly thereafter they would make the dry hop the standard for their hoppy styles i.e. the DDH would now be the flagship version of each. This is good!

In Night Shift's case, I tend to seek out their single IPA's but am not enamored with the 87. So on the surface, incorporating elements of Morph into a new version appeals to me. We shall see...

 

Lord Hobo is a spark plug topic - but I think there is a big difference between the approaches between Lord Hobo and Night Shift.

Night Shift is pretty open and welcoming of feedback, and communicated the change to the beer.

I don't recall Lord Hobo ever saying they modified or changed any of their staple beers, I do believe they did change them often, but a different approach.

I prefer the open approach of Night Shift, and keeping their customers aware.

 

Same for me. I've never particularly warmed up to the 87 (or Santilli for that matter) but have really enjoyed a few Morphs and One Hops. I'm excited to try the new formulation.

 

Bissell Bros. switched up the yeast used in The Substance maybe 1.5-2 years ago. They were open about the change and the beer's appearance changed noticeably with the first batch. I thought the change was a massive improvement.

 

I'm a huge fan of Night Shift, from their beers to the way they do business. As others have said I am more of a fan of their Morphs and One Hops but of their core IPA's I've always enjoyed the 87 over Santilli. I look forward to trying the new 87. It would be nice to know what they've tweaked, is it more balanced, have they added or subtracted certain hops, etc.? I think the key here is that they mentioned tweaked rather than changed.

 

Sam Adams being probably the biggest craft brewer who openly publicized their tweaks and changes to the new Rebel IPA, and I liked what they did.

 

Nightshift's hoppy beers are always hit and miss for me. The only can that is constantly good IMO is Whirlpool and has become a staple for me and others during the summer. That being said I have enjoyed fresh Santilli on tap.

 

Hey all - we are always looking to brew the best possible beer and constantly tinkering with recipes to improve them. This change with 87 was a bit bigger than normal so we wanted to make people were aware that this was done by design.

With our Morph line of IPAs it provides our production team with a never ending playground to play with all aspects of hoppy beer making. We used that knowledge to bring the 87 more inline with what people were loving about our Morph beers. The main tweaks were around the hop timing/schedule and water profile. The hops, grain bill and IBUs all stayed the same. The change isn't massive but will be noticeable. It's a bit softer and juicier than the OG recipe.

Any and all constructive feedback is welcomed! Cheers, Rob

 

Thanks for the information, really looking forward to trying the new version.

 

Marsh Island Pulp Truck IPA. Couldn't get enough of the last batch. I had my local shop save me some when they received this one. Completely different, not bad but not the same. I can honestly say I'd walk by it on the shelf now, whereas before I'd travel a half hour to get some.

 

Would you mind sharing the water changes? I am guessing a change in Gypsum? Just wondering as a homebrewer that starts with distilled water. I like seeing how changes effect the final product in homebrew/commercial beers. If you do not want to share I understand.