Monday, December 14th, 2009
Decanted into a glass this beer is clear, bright gold in colour with a with a good sized white fluffy head around 3cm high. On the nose this brew is packed with character, consisting of citrus, apple, melon notes accompanied by a hint of vanilla.
Caramel, toffee and honey flavours dominate the palate along with a medium mouth feel. Citrus notes also make their presence known toward the back of the palate before the beer ends with a dry finish.
Verdict: One of the most enjoyable beers i have had for awhile, would definitely love to have one of these again in the future.
Score: 8.3 / 10
Link: http://www.redduckbeer.com.au/
Where to buy: Not sure that any Sydney retailers stock this number, and strangely the Red Duck website makes no mention of the Overland Ale at all. Although it can however be purchased on-line from this site.
Tags: Red Duck, US Pale Ale, VIC
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Wednesday, December 9th, 2009
Hailing from the Mountain Goat brewery in Melbourne this Organic certified Steam Ale is brewed with a hint of wheat in the name of brewing an easy drinking beer. In a glass this number has a hazy pale straw colour, the head is smaller than average upon pouring and very quickly subsides to nothing but a thin lace covering. On the nose apple and citrus notes stand out accompanied by the odd mint note.
On the palate the drinker is initially greeted by grassy hop notes, although the bitterness seems to be very restrained. Further on grainy bread, yeast and apple flavours predominate eventually ending with a slightly sweet nutty character.
Verdict: Not bad from a bottle, very easy drinking and not at all unpleasant, i have previously tasted this on tap at The Local Tap House and remembered it having more depth though.
Score: 7.4 / 10
Link: Mountain Goat Beer
Where to buy: You should be able to find Mountain Goat Steam Ale for sale at any of the large Sydney bottle shops such as Dan Murphy’s.
Tags: mountain goat, Organic, Steam Ale, VIC
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Sunday, October 11th, 2009
Poured from the bottle with a nice creamy head around 2cm in height which sticks around for awhile before collapsing to a thin white covering. The aroma is comprised mostly of caramel, malt sweetness with some hints of mango.
On the palate this beer has a medium mouth feel which leads the way with some hop bitter spiciness that transforms into malty, caramel flavours accompanied by the odd hint of citrus and tropical fruit. The ending is fresh and crisp with a slight twang that leaves you wanting more.
Verdict: A great pale ale easy to drink, and constantly spurring on the drinker to take another sip.
Rating: 8.1 / 10
Link: Hawthorn Brewing Company
Tags: pale ale, VIC, Victoria
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Sunday, October 11th, 2009
3 Ravens blond is a German Style Ale that pours from it’s bottle a slightly hazy dull, straw colour, minimal head and a medium level of carbonation. Slight caramel malt aroma combined with a mild spiciness which is hard to put your finger on.
On the drinkers palate apricot, caramel dominate with slight nuttiness accompanied by hint of pepper and ginger. Very nicely balanced beer that packs plenty of flavour to keep you interested but finishes extremely crisp making an extremely easy drinking session beer.
Verdict: A great easy drinking beer perfect for the summer months.
Rating: 7.9 / 10
Where to buy: Another Victorian brew that seems to be yet to travel over the border, luckily you can buy the 3 Ravens range from the Slowbeer site and have it shipped straight to your house.
Link: 3 Ravens
Tags: altbier, blond, VIC, Victoria
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Thursday, September 24th, 2009
Pours with a minimal head, slightly cloudy in appearance, lightly carbonated and bright straw in colour. The aroma is full of caramel and fruit notes, mango and lemon predominating.
Fresh apple flavours dominate the front of the pallet, working to an apex of fresh floral hops, citrus, toffee and caramel flavours as the brew moves further over the palate. A slight pepper spiciness also seemed to linger for a little while after every sip.
Verdict: Pleasant enough for something different, bit intense though to enjoy more than 1 or 2 during a sitting.
Aroma: 8/10
Appearance: 5/10
Taste:7.9/10
Overall:7.6/10
Link: http://www.kooindaboutiquebrewery.com.au/
Where to buy: This is another Victorian micro brew that at present come as far north as the border, so the only option for us New South Welshmen is to buy a case from the breweries website.
Tags: ale, pale ale, VIC, Victoria
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Thursday, September 17th, 2009
Spring is just around the corner and already the weather is starting to warm up, leading most of use to cut down on the on the Dark Winter stouts in search of something lighter that can quench a thirst with minimal fuss. Three Troupers seems to fit this description well with their pale ale fairly light and easy to drink you can see yourself wasting time, sitting in the backyard and enjoying a few of these.
Appearance wise is pours a bright golden colour with a creamy head around two fingers in height which slowly dies back over the space of five minutes to leave a fine lace covering. The aroma is not overly assertive and consists of slightly sweet smelling honey and citrus (lemon is mostly what i got) tones.
On the palate this brew has a pleasant fresh hop bitter with caramel notes and lemon flavours that make their presence known close to the the back of the palate.
On the palate this brew is slightly bitter with caramel notes and lemon flavors that present themselves near the back of the palate.
Verdict: An easy drinking pale ale, on a hot summers afternoon I could picture myself easily demolishing a 6 pack of these.
Appearance: 8.5 / 10
Aroma: 6.5 / 10
Taste: 8.1 / 10
Overall: 7.9 / 10
Where to buy: This brewery is still very young and haven’t expanded as far as Sydney, so your only options at the moment are to try it when in Melbourne or buy it on-line at their website.
Link: http://www.threetroupers.com.au/
Tags: pale ale, VIC, Victoria
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Thursday, August 6th, 2009
The guys from Little Creatures a few years back really changed the way everyone thought about beer with their big malty ale creations from the west coast. Last year they expanded and opened up a brand new brewery located in Healesville, Victoria. Rather than continuing production under the Little Creatures brand in the east, the new brewhouse creates beers under the White Rabbit banner.The dark ale from White Rabbit proves the dedication to tasty ales has not changed one bit though with the move across the country.
Decanting a bottle into a glass presents a deep copper colour ale, sporting a short lived tan coloured head. The aroma is hard to catch when cold, but is packed with big malt notes, accompanied with hints of bruised apple and fresh cut grass.
On the palate toffee and caramel flavors dominate along with hints of plum, raisins and apple. The hops stop the malt overpowering the drinker, resulting in a beautifully balanced ale. The aftertaste is sweet, with a fantastic hop twang that leaves the taster longing for that next sip.
Rating: 7.9 / 10
Verdict: This is not a beer you want to drink quick, its a drop that encourages you to take it slow and enjoy every sip. If you love big malty ales you won’t find one much tastier than this number.
Link: http://www.whiterabbitbeer.com.au
Tags: ale, VIC, Victoria, White Rabbit
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Wednesday, June 17th, 2009
Its that time of year again in Sydney when it gets cold, and our drinking preferences change from super chilled light easy drinking lagers to something a bit more refined with plenty of body. Something to sip on slowly and ponder the flavours on a cold winters night.
The Bright Staircase porter is the perfect match to the genre, emptying the bottle into a glass you are greeted by a brew, black as the ace of spades accompanied with a white creamy tightly packed headed which slowly dies down after a few minutes. This beer’s aroma predominantly features toasted coffee with hints of cocoa. On the palate it come across slightly sweet with on at the start, followed by blast of flavour comes through mid way featuring sweet oatmeal and coffee flavours with the odd hint of chocolate leaving an after-taste which is predominated by toffee and caramel notes
To drink i found this beer to be somewhat similar in flavour to a Coopers Stout although a fair bit smoother.
**Best enjoyed around 8 – 9 Degrees Celsius to let the full range of flavours shine though.
Verdict: An excellent dark beer, great to sip on a cold rainy winters night. Order yourself a case online from the brewery you won’t regret it!
Rating: 8.3 / 10
Link: Bright Brewery
Tags: ale, dark ale, porter, VIC, Victoria
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Thursday, May 28th, 2009
Sunday’s are designated as a day of rest and relaxation, and nothing is much more relaxing than trying out a few beers As beers are best enjoyed in the presence of good company i enlisted the help of Alex Went son of Peter Went, winemaker at Pierre’s Wines a boutique winery located at Branxton in the Hunter Valley.
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
Tags: alex went, Beer, beer tasting, peter went, SA, VIC
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Wednesday, May 13th, 2009
I have brewed many a wheat beer and a couple of meads in the past using Beechworth Honey, but up until now was ignorant of the town having a microbrewery. I was privileged enough to get my hands on a bottle of their Australian Ale to try the other day. Brewed in the spirit of ales consumed commonly in Australian bars pre 1940, it is quite a novel beer, which is something we don’t seem to see nearly enough off.
Pale, cloudy and straw in colour with a medium tightly packed head which quickly subsides after pouring. The aroma is discreet with soft floral / citrus notes, the taste of this beer is pretty good with a nice balance of bitterness and malt with notes of honey and pepper.
Verdict: If you like coopers try this you’ll no doubt love it! Personally its enjoyable but nothing i would go too far out of my way to get, it’s the sort of beer that a six pack would go nicely with watching Friday night footy at home on the telly.
Score: 6.6 / 10
Link: Bridge Road Brewery
Tags: ale, bridge road brewers, pale, VIC
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