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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Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
After tasting tasting the Bright Staircase Porter i was very impressed with the effort from Bright Brewery and keen for more so i promptly rushed out and brought a bottle of their Fainters Dubbel to try.
Pouring the bottle into a glass revealed a slightly hazy dark ruby colour beer with a head around 2 – 3 cm high. This subsided rather quickly to a lacing around half a cm thick. On the nose i was blown away by this beer the smell was packed with the odour of raisins which instantly made me think of port wine.
On the palate this beer had a nice creamy body with the flavour mostly dominated by raisins, plum and hints of spice. The taste finished pretty dry, with a noticeable warmth provided from the alcohol content.
Verdict: Very unique in flavour and at 8.5%, it packs quite a punch, definitely a beer for sipping. It’s not something i would like to drink everyday but it made a pleasant deviation from the norm.
Score: 7.8 / 10
Link: http://www.brightbrewery.com.au/
Tags: ale, Bright bBrewery, Dubbel, Victoria
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Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
Mountain Goat is a relatively new Victorian brewery but they seem very capable when it comes to brewing a great tasting beer and this is earning them a legion of fans around the country. Their Surefoot Stout doesn’t seem to deviate any from the high standards set by their their other beers either.
In a glass it exhibits a medium sized tan head over a very dark almost black lightly carbonated body. Which aroma wise dominated by cocoa notes. To taste the flavor is mostly made up of toasted malt flavours accompanied by rich cocoa and coffee hints which leave a faint nutty quality in the aftertaste.
Verdict: I found this beer to be highly enjoyable and satisfying, perfect for unwinding at home after work on a cold winters night.
Rating: 7.9 / 10
Link: www.goatbeer.com
Where to buy:
Tags: ale, mountain goat, stout, tasting, Victoria
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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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