As two people were involved in this tasting session some of the beers tried have been given two ratings whilst a few just have the one such as the Beechworth Australian Ale & Mallee Bull which i had previously tasted.

Miller Chill 4.2% Alcohol (USA)

Lightly carbonated with an over powering lime aroma smelling very artificial on the nose. Very sweet to taste, closer to a premix vodka i would say in taste than a beer.

Verdict: This is easily one of the worst excuses for beer i have ever had the misfortune to taste! Do not bother to waste your time and money with this foul liquid!

Alex: 1/10

Anthony: 1.5/10

Link: Miller Chill

Beechworth Australian Ale 4.4% Victoria

Poured almost flat with a flavour overly dominated by citrus flavors.

Alex’s Verdict: Starting to loose faith two beers two misses.

Alex: 3.5 / 10

Link: Original review & Bridge Road Brewers

Pepper Jack Ale 4.7% Alcohol – South Australia

This is a very unique brew, it is made by Saltram Wines located in the Barrosa Valley, South Australia. This beer pushes the boundaries by incorporating Shiraz wine into the recipe, something i have never heard of being done before.

The brew is a deep cooper in colour, lightly carbonated with an almost non existent head. The aroma comes across mostly fruity on the nose with faint floral hints. On the palate the beer takes drinker by surprise with initial toffee caramel notes accompanied by a sharp bitterness.

Verdict: This could be a great starter beer or great companion to a meal of a tasty meal such as pizza, beef & guiness pie, beef bourguignon or similar.

Alex: 7.5 / 10

Anthony: 6.7 / 10

Tip: I have had this beer twice now and it doesn’t stand up well to being over chilled for best results you will want to serve this at around the 7 degree mark.

Link: Saltram Wines

Mallee Bull 5.6 % Alcohol – Victoria

Poured with a golden straw colour and mild malt aroma. The taste is dominated by toffee notes leaving a rich cooked toffee aftertaste on the back of the palate.

Alex’s Verdict: Not a bad drop but definitely room for improvement.

Alex: 7 / 10

Link: Original tasting & Mildura Brewing

Pike’s Oatbank Beer  4.5% Alcohol – South Australia

Here we have another beer being made by people that are better known for the wines they make, but are proving you can do both with great results.

This beer is a bright clear gold colour with a nice tightly packed head. The aroma is heavily dominated by hop floral notes. Like most good pilsners the drinker is hit with a pleasant sharp bitterness, accompanied by faint citrus notes which subsides to a mildly sweet aftertaste.

Verdict: Very refreshing and highly drinkable after the one bottle i was a bit upset i didn’t have more.

Rating: 7.6 / 10

Link: Pikes Wines

On the appearance side this drop is bright yellow in colour, with a loose sudsy head which quickly dropped down to a thin lace covering although the beer itself has a good level of carbonation. The aroma is dominated by floral notes (very similar in smell to a rose i thought).

On the drinking side i found the bitterness of the hops nicely balanced with the assertive malt flavours. Notes of pepper, lemon and honey where the primary flavors i could pick out. The beer then finishes with a mild dry bitter / tang as an aftertaste.

Verdict: I enjoyed this beer quite a lot,very refreshing! Not a beer i could see myself drinking all the time but it has a fairly complex taste and makes a very pleasant change from the mainstream.

Rating: 7.4 / 10

Link: Angus Beers

Seeing as so much care had gone into seeing that Firefly brew would be the perfect partner for spicy food, i decided it was only fair to try this number with a meal. In the name of science i cooked a nice hot chilli / ginger stir fry for dinner specially to enjoy this beer with. Upon decanting the bottle into a glass i was greeted by a lightly carbonated brew, bright gold in colour with an aroma full of floral notes.

Tasting the brew, the drinker is hit initially with a sharp pilsner style bitterness which i found to be a great blend with the heat from the stir fry. Upon swallowing pretty much all taste quickly subsides leaving nothing except a subtle sweetness on the palate, not much else to it, this is an exceptionally clean tasting beer.

Verdict: This beer is super clean in taste designed to compliment the flavours of your meal not fight them. That said i could also see myself enjoying a six pack of these beside the pool on a hot summers day. Can’t wait give their other beer “Bluebottle” another try with some seafood as it was intended, the first time i tasted it  i was in a pub and without any food to give the proper taste test.

Rating: 7.3 / 10

Link: Fusion Brewing & Firefly Beer

P.S It has also come to my attention this brew recently took out Silver in the 2009 Australian International Beer Awards. Full results sheet can be found here.

Related Reading: Pairing Beer With Food

I must admit i was a bit of a skeptic when i came across this Scottish inspired ale from South Australia. The recommended temperature for enjoying this drop is a warm 15 degrees Celsius. Which is enough to make most native Australians cringe and act with suspicion. We were brought up in the heat with lagers, which tend to be chilled on the theory “the colder the better”.

So this beer already had me on the defensive, opening the bottle and seeing the contents in a glass did nothing to boost my lack of confidence either. I was looking at a tawny slightly cloudy coloured beer with a sparse loosely packed head.

Another oddity with this beer is that it was brewed using a touch of Scottish peat, which gave the beer a very distinctive aroma on pouring very similar to scotch whiskey, something which i have never experienced in a beer before.

All these factors had me dubious about the situation, but the saying never judge a book by its cover rang very true upon my first sip. The front of the tongue is hit by a mild pleasant bitterness, which as the liquid passes further over the palate rolls into a very sweet smooth caramel / toffee flavor, not at all unlike butterscotch.
Upon swallowing the majority of the sweetness fades, leaving the palate with a pleasant residual sweetness which is in no way overpowering, making the drinker crave an encore.

Verdict: This is not a beer to drink on a hot summers day. But on a taste level is excellent! A ballsy brew packed full of flavor that leaves the drinker feeling very satisfied. If you find a bottle buy it you won’t be disappointed in the end

Rating: 7.8 / 10

Link: Brew Boys

Included in the May tasting pack was the following brews:

• Firefly 4.5% (NSW – Fusion Brewing)
• Beechworth Australian Ale 4.4% (VIC – Bridge Road Brewers)
• Gage Roads London Best 4.4% (WA Gage Roads Brewery)
• Seeing Double 8.0.% (SA Brew Boys)
• Holgate E.S.B 5.0.% (VIC Holgate Brewhouse)
• McLaren Vale Ale 4.5% (SA McLaren Brewing Company)

All appear to be top notch beers, the odd one in the bunch would have to be the Seeing Double. At 8% it not only packs a monster punch, but is made with peated malted and is intended to be drunk at cellar temperature (above 15 degrees) so no fridge action!

Skinny beer is similarly pathetic. The truth is that if you want to get
rid of a beer gut it takes hundreds of hours of vigorous exercise. Sitting
on a bar stool drinking some reformulated low-carb concoction isn’t going
to do the trick