"distinctive Shepherd Neame taste"?

[seymour]

Several times now, I've read descriptions like "...but with that distinctive Shepherd Neame taste." From the context, it seems it's not usually a good thing.

As far as I know, I haven't yet tasted any Shepherd Neame beers, so I don't know from experience exactly what taste(s) they're referring to. In your opinion, what is the "distinctive Shepherd Neame taste?" Do you think it results from particular ingredients, equipment, fementation method...? Any and all thoughts are welcome.

[Pinto]

Its the water drawn straight from faversham creek and used in the brew

[masterosouffle]

Its the water drawn straight from faversham creek and used in the brew

That's why they brew twice a day - each time the tide comes in!

In all seriousness, it will be the yeast, although they hold several yeast strains, they use one strain for all of their main ales, the others are for their lagers and beer brewed under license.

[Befuddler]

Shepherd Neame just make terrible beer. I've avoided their products for years, but Bishop's Finger stands out in my memory as being the worst bottled ale I ever bought. I'm not sure if it's down to high levels of adjuncts, a yeast that throws unpleasant flavours, hop extract rather that fresh hops, or a combination of all of the above, but they are truly unpleasant beers.

I'd probably be able to pick out the flaws more accurately these days, but I don't want to put myself through the ordeal!

[masterosouffle]

Shepherd Neame just make terrible beer. I've avoided their products for years, but Bishop's Finger stands out in my memory as being the worst bottled ale I ever bought. I'm not sure if it's down to high levels of adjuncts, a yeast that throws unpleasant flavours, hop extract rather that fresh hops, or a combination of all of the above, but they are truly unpleasant beers.

I'd probably be able to pick out the flaws more accurately these days, but I don't want to put myself through the ordeal!

They used to use adjuncts in their beers(and may again) but when I whilst I was there they stopped and the recipes no longer contained any, they also use hop pellets, so am definitely pointing the finger at the yeast!

[seymour]

...so am definitely pointing the finger at the yeast!

Interesting. You'd think that would be a fairly simple thing to fix in order to improve your poor reputation industry-wide.

[Befuddler]

These big regional breweries tend to be very traditional (read: set in their ways) and so, generally, are the people who drink their beers. You get a lot of old duffers in pubs that have sat and drunk the same beer day in, day out for 40-odd years and will never change. I think Shepherd Neame would be terrified of losing their regular customers if they changed anything, even if that change improved the beer in the eyes of everyone else.

[masterosouffle]

These big regional breweries tend to be very traditional (read: set in their ways) and so, generally, are the people who drink their beers. You get a lot of old duffers in pubs that have sat and drunk the same beer day in, day out for 40-odd years and will never change. I think Shepherd Neame would be terrified of losing their regular customers if they changed anything, even if that change improved the beer in the eyes of everyone else.

Totally agree!

[seymour]

These big regional breweries tend to be very traditional (read: set in their ways) and so, generally, are the people who drink their beers. You get a lot of old duffers in pubs that have sat and drunk the same beer day in, day out for 40-odd years and will never change. I think Shepherd Neame would be terrified of losing their regular customers if they changed anything, even if that change improved the beer in the eyes of everyone else.

Interesting. I guess, who am I to judge? Anheuser Busch/Miller/Coors are the same way on this side of the pond.

So, related question: Are there any worthwhile, representative Shepherd Neame beers I should seek out to taste?

[adomant]

One big change they made a while ago was to use the PDX machine instead of boiling. Basically the wort is pumped as steam into a pressurised vessel using ultrasound to complete the "boil" phase in about 3 minutes instead of 90. The dms is blown out of a valve during this process as hop isomerisation also occurs.

This must have a significant impact on the flavour

[Eadweard]

Yes, I suspect the PDX wort heater is to blame too. Though I thought it worked by firing jets of steam through the wort. Anyway, if you find a beer made on Shep's microbrewery equipment it's much better than the main brands and doesn't have that unpleasant distinctive taste.

[jaroporter]

although i agree their bottled beers are terrible, by contrast i have found most of their seasonal cask ales to actually be quite lovely ales. it could be the context we were drinking them in (hard days's graft then settling in for a session at a lovely country pub), or maybe those ones are made on a different line? i've also generally found their bottled beers to be overly carbonated, but that could just be a fussy personal preference issue.. :p

[Dr. Dextrin]

So I guess I must be the only one who likes their beers?

(Although I'm sure other people have asked for Spitfire recipes on here in the past.)

I was brought up with Shepherd Neame in the days when their beers were really hoppy and after a good night you could taste them all next day. Of course, they're not quite the same nowadays but I still quite like them, especially Bishops Finger - possibly because it still has a few more hops than their other brews.

Most large commercial breweries have a distinctive taste. It'll be down to their water supply, yeast or processes in some way or another, but I think that's good. You're free not to like it, of course. But if you look at many of the beers produced by smaller breweries these days, specially micros, you could criticise them in the opposite way - they all tend to be rather samey in certain respects. A good majority of "newer" brews are little more than a rather bland maltiness (probably due to the same off-the-shelf yeast, often dried) with a dash of Cascade. It's a fashion thing, of course. But I think it's good that you can still buy beer that tastes like it used to and if the brewery is making money, I guess there are others that agree with me.

Of course, whether it still tastes the same is another matter. Tastes change over time and it may well be that new processes have changed the beer's flavour. I'm not too keen on what Greene King have done to certain of their brews, for example. Whether Shepherd Neame has suffered the same fate, I'm not sure, as I don't drink the beer often enough these days. But I think any changes have been small enough not to concern me greatly.

[crafty john]

I must say I don't think their beers are all that , apart from one I really liked which is their Early bird spring hop ale

[gnutz2]

I quite happily drink SN beers and i really like their seasonal spooky ale, there are a lot worse beers out there.

I do agree with the op, that they do have their own taste (twang) unlike most bottled beers, i see it as a hoppy twang which leads me to think the water treatment is to blame. Or like someone mentioned, using hop oils?