So with a part-time job helping expand a local a local convenience store into a bottle shop, I've had my fair share of quality "rarities" over the last month or 2. I brought home a sixer of Lagunitas Undercover Investigation Shut-Down ale a few days ago & loved the living hell out of it. So when that pack ran out, I snagged another from a shipment that arrived earlier today, and all I can say is WOW. Granted, I didn't check the dates on the first sixer, but here's some of the differences I noticed:
Older sixer: heavy/sweet malt flavor, almost a toasted bread-like nose, noticeably thick mouthfeel, head retention was quite good.
Newer sixer: hops are insanely more prominent, huge floral nose and definitely some Simcoe going on in there (it's that noticeable), much more thinner mouthfeel & head died down much faster compared to the older one.
So what I'm wondering is if anyone else has had an experience like this? I didn't notice anything particularly "wrong" with either brew (on the contrary, they're both excellent!). Considering the difference between the two, I can only surmise that the first sixer had to have been near or past it's shelf life, or Lagunitas really screwed up one of the batches.
Older sixer: heavy/sweet malt flavor, almost a toasted bread-like nose, noticeably thick mouthfeel, head retention was quite good.
Newer sixer: hops are insanely more prominent, huge floral nose and definitely some Simcoe going on in there (it's that noticeable), much more thinner mouthfeel & head died down much faster compared to the older one.
So what I'm wondering is if anyone else has had an experience like this? I didn't notice anything particularly "wrong" with either brew (on the contrary, they're both excellent!). Considering the difference between the two, I can only surmise that the first sixer had to have been near or past it's shelf life, or Lagunitas really screwed up one of the batches.