A couple of posts ago I reported on falling into the rebadge trap: not realising Old Wallop was Director's Bitter. My excuse is that I've only had Director's once, back in 2003 in what was then Northern Ireland's first and only branch of Wetherspoon's: a pub which stuck out, in Belfast, like a sore thumb with a sticky carpet.
I'm not entirely sure if my experience last weekend really counts. At the Bull & Castle they're currently serving Raging Bull, a strong (6% ABV), dark, red, highly-hopped ale. It is, I'm told, a rebadge of Messrs Maguire Jul-Ól, which I last tasted just over two years ago and, judging from what I wrote at the time, this is a rather different product. I'm annoyed now that I missed the version they had out last year as it might help me follow the evolution of the recipe.
Same recipe, different name, same brewer, different taste. Beer can make one's head hurt in so many ways...
3 months ago
The thing that really bugs a pedant like me is when the same named beer is totally different in the cask to the bottle. I don't mean that there are minor tasting or conditioning differences; I mean that it's made to a different recipe, different strengths etc. St Austell's Proper Job springs to mind (nice enough in cask, absolutely fabulous in bottles)
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