Cerveja Letra Editions on Oak

Regional Forums España
1

OK, so this is a Portuguese beer query, but thought this was as a good a place to post as any. I bought a beer today, a 12% ABV ‘Portal Craft Beer Editions On Oak Port Barrel Aged Dark Ale’. Unlike the photo below, it has a black label. My query is, has the packaging changed or is it a different version? ABV has increased by more than 15%…

https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/cerveja-letra-editions-on-oak-oporto-barrel-aged-dark-ale/377803/

2

Don´t know if this is a different version, but given the dramaic change in ABV should be considered as a new entry, i guess…

3

This issue was discussed after summer season in the Admin forum. I summarize in a few word what was spoken when a user asked this question: “I’ve got a local beer that was 10.2% for the first release and went up to 12% recently. A new entry was added, but I am considering merging. The rest of the recipe is the same.”; similar as your new beer:

  • Not sure there is a consistent by the book number to be followed 100% of the time.
    Swedish admins tend to look at 15% diff, then OK to be new entry.
    But also go under brewer’s intention, some brewers have more than 15% diff, but state it is more or less recipe trimming and sometimes bad luck with fermentation, or just need a new version, but keep name and level.
    E.g. is the beer sold under both versions at the same time and intends to keep doing so?
    Or is one replaced by the other?

  • The 10% rule was something I introduced as a rough rule of thumb to prevent new entries being created for minor fluctuations in abv. It was essentially that variations under 10% of the abv of the same beer were unlikely to be regarded as new entries, while variations over 15% were likely to regarded as new entries, particularly as this would often shift a beer from one RateBeer style into another (from Bitter into Premium Bitter for example). But it was never a hard and fast rule, just a rough guideline.
    In short, I think we’re all agreed, there is a rough guideline that is there to assist in making decisions, but it’s not to be applied rigidly or without thought.
    As regards the original question of a beer that has moved from 10.2 to 12%. That is a close call as it’s just above the 15% difference. While adding 1.8 abv to a 4% abv beer would shift it to 5.8% - a clearly different beer. The shift from 10.2% abv to 12% abv is less noticeable, and is unlikely to move the beer into a new RateBeer category, so if all else is the same, and the brewery is marketing it as the same, I would be inclined to merge.

Unfortunately I cannot help you more than this. In this case I do not meet the brewer.

4

Cheers. I will just use the existing beer. I wonder if this is UK/Export packaging. I.e. referencing Portal as opposed to Letra.

May be worth adding an alias, as the packaging is different.

5

Sure!, I think that adding an alias is the best option