Do breweries update/rethink their core beers?

Absolutely. Sometimes they just create new beers and retire old ones. Sometimes they revamp the recipe of a beer and keep the name.

 

At the Real Ale tour a few years back, they said that they had changed the recipe to Fireman's 4 at least once. [Maybe more? I don't quite recall, I been drinkin'.]

Saint Arnold took out the Texas Wheat a few years ago and replaced it with Weedwacker. I've been led to believe that this practice may further happen in the future for some of their other lower-selling beers.

 

I'm pretty sure most breweries take a look at this yearly. New Glarus does regularly tweak their lineup, both regular and seasonals based on numerous factors. I think in this day and age, breweries have to be constantly working to tweak even the core lineups to make them the best they can produce.

 

Even the Alchemist makes adjustments to Heady Topper. From what I can recall a few years back Independence revamped Stash and made it a lot better.

 

Jester King did it with their base lineup and the addition of wild yeast.

 

I know Southern Star has tweaked the recipe for Pine Belt Pale. Two different batches were on at the same time once at Hay Merchant that had a minor difference in grain bills.

 

Products that aren't selling usually get phased out. Solid products producing sales don't get phased out just because they are less trendy styles. Older breweries normally have a loyal following on their core lineup and there's no reason to dump a product that is selling well just because some douchey hipsters think it sucks. In twenty years the guys who have supported Real Ale by buying the mix pack of the core lineup may not purchase enough to support continuing its production but for now I bet the rye pale in particular outsells everything else they produce.

 

Couldn't have said it better. You don't fix something that isn't broken. Neck beards don't keep bigger breweries in business, they need the year round lineup and loyal customers.

 

The good ones do.

 

I had Stash a few weeks ago for the first time in... a long time, and it was way better than I'd remembered it.

 

Yes! Constantly.

 

I've always thought that Saint Arnold should redo their Elissa. With Endeavor being so good and all the great IPA's out there it's kinda got pushed to the bottom of the heap (for me at least)

 

I bet Elissa has a higher percentage than you'd expect... I would LOVE to know how much (percentage wise) Saint Arnold makes of each of their year-round beers. Back when they discontinued Texas Wheat, Ronnie Crocker reported that it never hit over 5% production. I don't remember ever seeing full breakdown numbers.

Obviously there's probably no way that they'd publish that info but it doesn't hurt to ask. @awinkro, maybe?

 

I agree that to me Elissa is just ok but ill agree with Nathan. I have seen people walk about of stores with cases of Elissa on multiple occasions. (yes I'm sure it was all Elissa cause I overheard them talking).

 

Elissa is quite popular. Percentage wise? I don't have stats in front of me, but I can tell you every time we brew it, it goes into a 240bbl fermenter.....which basically means only our popular beers(beers that move quickly/sell a lot of) go into 240bbl fermenters. It's about a 3 week beer, and soon after it's packaged, we brew another one. Though I do love Endeavour, people don't drink it as much as you guys might think. When we released Endeavour, we brew too much of it and bought back quite a bit because it sat on the shelf. Now, we only brew 120bbls of Endeavour at a time. It's a four week beer and once it's packaged, it's usually brewed again within a week.

For those of you who aren't a fan of Elissa....try it on cask. I guarantee you'll change your opinion.

 

Elissa really deserves more love. It way my first IPA and forced me to appreciate hops. Like all Saint Arnold beers, it's a gateway beer for a lot of people. As @awinkro said, it's really good on cask; don't ever pass on it if you see it. And it's an IPA that's very consistent and holds up exceedingly well. Maybe because it's popular enough that it doesn't sit on shelves, but I never check the bottling date on Elissa because it always tastes the same.

 

same here. the Elissa is what got me into IPA's. thanks, St. Arnold's!

 

I enjoy Elissa as well. I don't pick it up that much, but when I see it on draft I usually get it. I imagine that cask is delicious.