I had Stirling soaps at the time they had a nasty rancy animal smell, but lathering them up wasn't a problem, shavewise they were great. After I heard that they changed their lanolin distributor, I bought in late 2015 a few more (meanwhile, they also changed to the green tubs I love so much). Shavewiese and latherwise I didn't notice any difference, but thankfully the stink was gone. I can't imagine what you could do better now. So, I am more afraid if there really was a change after 2015.
To my knowledge, the last formula change, if you want to call it that, came with the different tallow around 2015.
I’ve always had the most success with the Marco method from the tub and then face lathering.