Do breweries reguarly tweak their flagship offerings?

My gut instinct is yes. Even if not intentional. Perhaps the hop they used last year was a little more scarce this year so they had to make due with a little different hop bill. Or perhaps they weren't quite happy with the mouthfeel/finish/smell so they make minor adjustments to alter how their beer comes across with their most current batch.

While not exactly what you're asking I know @Sixpoint takes pride in their ever evolving brews. Maybe they could tell you if they tweak even their most solid, year round offerings.

 

Even with the intent of making the beer the same consistency in brewing is very difficult. Many smaller brewers will have the same beer be slightly different from batch to batch.

 

We believe any good brewery should do this. Its the constant evolution that should be always one step ahead of the customer's taste.

iPhone
iPhone 2
iPhone 3
iPhone 4
iPhone 5
iPhone 6

etc.

Could you imagine if we were still using the same iPhone from 2007?

Recipes/formulations/packaging/design should always be on the cusp; that is the hallmark of the Mad Scientists. Continuous improvement...

Otherwise, we would just be one of those "nostalgia" brands...and slowly fading into irrelevancy.

 

The brewery I work for has a 10bbl system in Portland, OR and our core brands change ever so slightly from batch to batch in the name of process improvement. Most of our customers wouldn't notice a difference from batch to batch but we might shave off or add an IBU or adjust a mash salt addition etc.

I think perfection in brewing is a myth.

 

Clearly it's a myth but why change anything if not for chasing perfection? People don't, or shouldn't, change for mediocrity.

 

Right, that's what I'm saying. We keep changing it every time because I don't believe we've reached it. Even if we never will.

 

If you are talking flagship beers, a small tweak would probably okay, but I bet most breweries would not want to change their top selling flagship too much otherwise they would risk losing fans as many people like the known consistency

 

Most breweries pretty much have their beers figured out, and might do slight tweaks later on like Stone has done recently. Consistency is the most important thing in brewing and it can only be achieved by keeping recipes the same.

 

I'm sure they make minor tweaks over time, just most of the time it's not a big enough tweak for us to notice the difference.

 

I'd prefer they not tweak their beers. If it WAS good and now is not you're disappointed. If it WASN'T good and now is you'd probably not try it again anyways.

 

What is a recipe? It is the ingredients and process. If a brewery gets new equipment, they have to change the recipe due to different efficiencies for malt extraction and hop utilization.

Breweries will also make adjustments for hop variation to hit their target. If you tour enough breweries you get lucky sometimes and see the hop additions in the hop room, and they might be a surprise versus the hops used on the web site.

Some Brewers talk about making changes because they like the results, so don't discount that.

 

And when nostalgia begins to overtake experimentation as the prevailing "craft" trend, you get to bring back one of your older iterations as a "classic" version and sell a shit-ton of it to the same folks who let it slip into irrelevance back when ticking was the prevailing trend. (See Stone's discontinuing -- and inevitably bringing back -- Ruination for an example)

 

Often times, malt and hops can arrive with different qualitative or quantitative differences and it is the job of the brewer to adjust the recipe to produce the "same beer" with the natural seasonal variations of raw materials.

 

Yes they do. Especially if we're talking about ipa's. Hops are different from year to year and to put it simply brewers are trying to re-create a flavor and are not necessarily married to the idea of using the same hops. Still it is sometimes impossible to exactly replicate a brew from year to year. It's the nature of loving something that is handcrafted and not mass produced.

 

The recipes are the same, but there is variation. For example, I blend my own salsa. I have my recipe that I stick to, and I try to source the same ingredients in the same quantity each time I make it, but that's not always possible. For example, I typically use Hunt's peeled tomatoes as my base, but depending on where I am sometimes I can't get that particular brand. In that case I'll substitute a different brand but remain true to the rest of the recipe (spice ratio, etc.). Plus some times different peppers are riper than other times. So there is variation. Same with beer.

 

Yeah, but my point is you gotta really know your recipe to be able to keep things consistent. If you keep tweaking the recipe you'll never be able to get consistent results.

 

A couple years back Ithaca changed the recipe for Flower Power.
Not for the better if you ask me.

 

Idk for sure but aside from seasonal variations of malts/hops/other items I've seen some reformulation every few years from several breweries to change up their year round offerings. It isn't prolific or huge changes from the ones I've tried but every now and then there is some tinkering.