The Voyageur Pale Ale Takes a Voyage

While we try to make the beers consistent in taste from one batch to the next, occasionally things can change, intentionally and unintentionally, giving a slightly different taste with the new batch. Some of these changes can include:

Intentionally

• Customer Feedback: Such as suggesting to tweak the beer a bit, maybe it was too dark, too light, too hoppy, etc.
• Learning Curves: Such as trying out a different grain, hops variety, or yeast type to improve the beer. Sometimes it works, others we go back to the original.

Unintentionally

• Out of an Ingredient: It's brew time, ingredients for the batch have just been delivered, but they're out of an ingredient that you used previously. Such as a specific type of hops, once they're out, good luck finding more until the next seasons harvest is done, which could be a 6-9 month wait. The same can apply to grains but not as frequent.
• Process Change: This could be a range of things, such as temperature of the beer while in the fermenter. The yeast works best in a specific range, if the temperature is changed from the previous batch, higher or lower, the yeast will likewise behave differently with the beer.

Regarding the Voyageur Pale Ale
As you've probably figured out, there's been a couple changes to the Voyageur Pale Ale, here's the key stats between the two batches:

1. Before: SRM 11.2, IBU 40, and ABV 4.7%.
2. After: SRM 4.8, IBU 40, and ABV 4.7%.

What Changed:

• The Color: This went from an SRM of 11.2 all the way down to 4.8. The change being using a more lightly colored Monastique grain instead of a darker Caramel malt. With the original batch, we didn't add much of the darker malt, but with these darker, longer roasted malts, it doesn't take much to make a big difference. Additionally, the Monastique roast has a unique flavor that we thought would be interesting, almost a smoky smell or quality that came off while milling.
• The Hops: Even though the IBU stayed the same, we had finally gotten our hands on some Styrian Golding hops in leaf form, a classic hops from Slovenia that works well for pale ales, and wanted to give it a try, replacing the EK Goldings previously used. 

The beer is now available on tap, try it out with a flight, your own pint, or a Growler to go!