GL Pease Gaslight

[hauntedmyst]

I went into this blend with high hopes but after every smoke this just strikes me as yet another medium English blend. I don't get the heavy latakia others have. It seems Latakia light to me. The Oriental spiciness comes through nicely but without any variance while the Virginia's just seem to hold it together in a beigne fashion. I prefer a richer, more full flavored English. It's not bad, it's just not notable in anyway. Let me put it this way, I'll finish out the tin because its not bad enough to throw away but I wouldn't buy it again.

 

[shanelktown]

I’m kinda surprised by this but try 10 Russians and try pirate kake.

 

[alaskanpiper]

I’m kind of the same way. Haven’t opened my gaslight tin yet, but I like my English blends to be balls to the proverbial walls.

 

[Chasing Embers]

After you've been smoking for a few decades, they all start tasting the same. I settled on Balkan Supreme as my English to cellar with no regrets.

 

[karam]

I get heavy Latakia from it, and occasionally some sweetness. It's sort of middle of the road for my tastes, I like it but won't cellar it.

 

[alaskanpiper]

After you've been smoking for a few decades, they all start tasting the same. I settled on Balkan Supreme as my English to cellar with no regrets.

I love english blends but I have to say I am starting to feel the same way. All beginning to taste similar, and really becoming more of a good/ok/bad analysis rather than an introspectively unique flavor profile like I find in VA, Va/per, Va/bur blends.

I still love them, maybe most of all, just not as dimensional and complex as other blends. Really starting to enjoy blends that use it more as a condiment as well, but mild/middle of the road english blends just taste uninteresting to me.
Sort of like an IPA without enough hops. If I’m gonna drink an IPA I want it balls to the walls hoppy. Otherwise the hops might as well be a condiment to compliment a more complex base of ingredients, as in other fine beer styles.

Same with Latakia. Give me full blast english, or give me condiment.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I love english blends but I have to say I am starting to feel the same way. All beginning to taste similar, and really becoming more of a good/ok/bad analysis rather than an introspectively unique flavor profile like I find in VA, Va/per, Va/bur blends.

I still love them, maybe most of all, just not as dimensional and complex as other blends. Really starting to enjoy blends that use it more as a condiment as well, but mild/middle of the road english blends just taste uninteresting to me.
Sort of like an IPA without enough hops. If I’m gonna drink an IPA I want it balls to the walls hoppy. Otherwise the hops might as well be a condiment to compliment a more complex base of ingredients, as in other fine beer styles.

Same with Latakia. Give me full blast english, or give me condiment.

Excellent analogy.?

 

[logs]

I do agree there's a lot of repetition, but compare something like BlackHouse versus Ratray's Red Rapparee and you'll see how different English blends can be. It's not just about the percentage of latikia--even though that's usually the first thing you'll notice. It's also about the sweetness or dryness of the VA and flavors of orientals involved. There's a lot of great flavors to be found in different English/Balkan blends once you look past the latikia.

I'm smoking a lot of GLP Meridian lately and it's a nice contrast to Westminster which had been my go to for a while. The differences are there... you just have to dig a bit.

 

[danimalia]

I love Pease's generally restrained use of Latakia becaus0eI think the dank stuff works best with plenty of Or abd Va leaf to play off. ThinkI had a sampler of Gaslight back in the day but don't remember. When I first fell in love with Latakia I preferred a ton of it and thought blends like Quiet Nights and Abingdon tasted light to me. Not anymore

 

[shanelktown]

I do agree with some things on here that English blends can be broken down into mild medium and strong. I don’t feel that they all taste the same per say but similarities can definitely be made. Now for VAs and VA flakes and burleys there is a big difference in those profiles. It really does open things up as far as finding different nuances so to speak, but Virginia’s can also be similar to other Virginia’s. Truth is it really falls into what you are in the mood to smoke.

 

[logs]

I've started to pull back from the Lat bombs as well. In part because of palate fatigue, but also because I like the nuances I find in the medium blends that I can't detect in the heavy ones.

 

[hauntedmyst]

I’m kinda surprised by this but try 10 Russians and try pirate kake.

I've tried Pirate Kake. It's fuller and richer but monochromatic in taste. Still I found myself missing it when the tin was done. I think it would make a great mixer for livening up some other blends. I'll give 10 Russians a try. Nightcap used to be up my alley, just as And So To Bed Is. I'll give the Peterson version a try since I haven't yet.

 

[Enemygod]

I've tried Pirate Kake. It's fuller and richer but monochromatic in taste. Still I found myself missing it when the tin was done. I think it would make a great mixer for livening up some other blends. I'll give 10 Russians a try. Nightcap used to be up my alley, just as And So To Bed Is. I'll give the Peterson version a try since I haven't yet.

10 Russians is awesome. I think you'll like it. Lots of latakia, but it's not one dimensional.

 

[bullet08]

ipa has been so bastardized by american microbreweries, current form is barely drinkable. it's like horse piss steeped with horse shit. every new ipa is test on who can shove more hops into a 12oz bottle. good ipa should have strong enough hops to give bitterness without choking the beer drinker to death with ungodly crap.

 

[alaskanpiper]

ipa has been so bastardized by american microbreweries, current form is barely drinkable. it's like horse piss steeped with horse shit. every new ipa is test on who can shove more hops into a 12oz bottle. good ipa should have strong enough hops to give bitterness without choking the beer drinker to death with ungodly crap.

Haha, sounds like you prefer English Style IPAs rather than American Style IPAs. Two seperate and different styles as recognized by the BJCP. Everybody has different tastes. I enjoy both immensely at different times, but if forced to pick I would definitely choose the luscious, juicy, citrusy, piney, and wonderful hop infested flavor of American IPAs.

 

[bullet08]

Haha, sounds like you prefer English Style IPAs rather than American Style IPAs. Two seperate and different styles as recognized by the BJCP. Everybody has different tastes. I enjoy both immensely at different times, but if forced to pick I would definitely choose the luscious, juicy, citrusy, piney, and wonderful hop infested flavor of American IPAs.

yeah. prefer british ipa. india pale ale. as far as i know, we (americans) never sent ale to india. i mean even british esb is milder than american hop swirl. but you are right everyone has different taste.

 

[alaskanpiper]

yeah. prefer british ipa. india pale ale. as far as i know, we (americans) never sent ale to india. i mean even british esb is milder than american hop swirl. but you are right everyone has different taste.

Haha, yeah, this is True. The nomenclature for American IPA was applied before the BJCP went totally nuts on adding new "styles" to their manuals, and it made the most sense at the time, as it basically was an English IPA, just made with (slightly) different base malts, and American grown hops that contained significantly more Alpha Acid than that of the European grown hops used in English IPAs (Largely the reason for their increased bitterness and citrusy blast) with more added earlier in the boil (also increasing bitterness). When Americans starting brewing IPAs they were actually much tamer as well (especially on the east coast), they have sort of steadily and organically evolved into the hop bombs tend to be today, carrying the same name along with them the whole time.

If they just started being made today, out of the blue, similar to how black IPAs came on the scene (Excuse me, "Cascadian Dark Ale's" as the BJCP calls them) I'm sure the BJCP would come up with some ridiculous new name for them.

 

[Magpiety]

ipa has been so bastardized by american microbreweries, current form is barely drinkable. it's like horse piss steeped with horse shit. every new ipa is test on who can shove more hops into a 12oz bottle. good ipa should have strong enough hops to give bitterness without choking the beer drinker to death with ungodly crap.

I need to try a decent IPA apparently, I've never enjoyed one for this exact reason. I've gotten to the point where i'll drop $80 on a bottle of quality bourbon without blinking, but I only buy Boulevard Wheat and crappy has station beer lol.

 

[Magpiety]

Quiet Nights is an odd one for me: I wouldn't rate it very highly, but it's one that I specifically crave. It's that sour smokiness all the way through that makes it unique for me.

Good discussion thread, QN was getting dangerously close to being a end you can't criticize.

 

[bullet08]

gaslight is still waiting its turn. but latakia is funny thing to me. i recognize the taste and smell, but it's never smokey to me. it's hard to describe what it taste like. i mean, i have been to enough camping to know what campfire smells like, and latakia doesn't smell like that to me. and it's never overwhelming. pirate kake has enough latakia, and i notice that it's stronger, but not to a point i would go wow. i enjoy latakia, but no smoke in it for me.