Beer Forum

anyone else had this this year?
when it came out last year i thought it was by far the best beer they made but as i drink my first bottle of this years i can't help but think that they changed the recipe, i feel like they changed the late hops from a peachy amarillo-y blend to whatever they use in drifter. not my favorite hop blend, tastes catty to me.

mediumsk wrote:anyone else had this this year?
when it came out last year i thought it was by far the best beer they made but as i drink my first bottle of this years i can't help but think that they changed the recipe, i feel like they changed the late hops from a peachy amarillo-y blend to whatever they use in drifter. not my favorite hop blend, tastes catty to me.

Widmer's best brew is like being the smartest kid on the short bus. I was expressing my disgust with everything that comes out of this brewery at GABF & someone told me to give them one more chance - to try the BRRRR before I gave up on them. So I did. I gave up on them. I don't remember exactly what it tasted like, only being sorry that I put that crap in my glass. You couldn't pay me to drink anything by Widmer (or Pyramid for that matter).
$.02

Had last year's Brrr and though about chucking it down the drain, just did not like it at all. Which brings me to a thought I've had about beer in general and that is how my tastes change over time. I just had a Drifter Pale Ale and a Drop Top Amber - I swore off the amber ale two years ago as the worst beer i've ever had. I have to say that i sort of like it now, and i really liked the Drifter for some reason, something a little unique, spicy and sweet to it.

From what I now know about brewing and aging, oxidation, storage temps etc, i'm always willing to give a beer at least a second chance. The Drop Top i had two years ago tasted nothing like the one i had a few days ago. My tastes? Or the one I had on tap two years ago was completely funked?

I think the only real way to know is to have the beer on tap at the brewery year to year to see if things change.

Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the thread....
Maybe i'll try and get one bottle of Brrr this year to see if anything has changed.

Havn't had it this year but wasn't that impressed last year. Probably because they replaced snow plow with it
Anyway I had a similar problem with wassail this year. Thought it was great last year not so much this year. I've noticed Alaskan winter ale is variable but I always put that off to the spruce tip crop that year. I'm also wondering if brewers are changing their sesonal recipes.

I went along to a brewer's night at my local beer bar for Widmer, with low expectations. It turns out, they brought several pub only kegs, and they were really good. The Old Embalmer Barleywine probably stole the show, but they had a fresh hop ale called Hopturnal Emission that was good too. The brewer claimed that they couldn't bring these beers to market, and that they weren't profitable. The brewer also confirmed that the BRRR recipe was reformulated, and may undergo another reformulation before the year is out.

Anyway, I'm not saying that they make beer I go out of my way to drink, but I guess if you find yourself in Portland OR with some free time, wander by the brewery and at least give the pub only beer a go. Might be a pleasant surprise.

Brrr is definitely a different recipe this year. We had some on tap at a restaurant over the weekend. To me, the hops are more subdued and the malt bill is more caramel. It's hard to say if I like this year's or last year's better.

I haven't had Widmer BRRRR yet. I was drinking Jubelale and loving it till I had Snow Cap which I thought was a little smoother. I'm also enjoying Full Sail Wassail and Bridgeport Ebenezers. Blue Moon's Full Moon is also very good.

Snow Plow was the best beer they had out. I had it from the tap at the brewery 3 years ago, and also from the bottole around the same week. I'm not going to try BRRRR. Too many other good winter seaonals to take a chance on somthing that took one of my favorite beers from me.

Old Nick