Monthly Archives: May 2010

Wine review — Penfolds, Shelmerdine, Chapel Hill and Katnook

30 May 2010Uncategorized, Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Penfolds Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz 2008 $25–$30
Penfolds St Henri Shiraz 2006 $80–$90
Bin 28 and St Henri are contrasting, cellarable examples of warm climate shiraz. Bin 28 is the fuller, rounder and softer of the two. It’s robust and comes with the Penfolds signature – ripe, meaty fruit flavours intermingled with robust but soft tannins, with proven cellaring potential. St Henri, a blend of shiraz with 11% cabernet is beautifully fragrant and medium bodied – deeply and deliciously fruity. But taut, assertive tannins woven through the fruit suggests a long, long life ahead. Typically for St Henri, this could mean peak drinking from about 15 years’ age. For exampel, a still-vibrant 1983 tasted recently had years, perhaps decades, of life in it.

Shelmerdine Heathcote Shiraz 2007 $29–$32
Shelmerdine Merindoc Vineyard Heathcote Shiraz 2007 $59–$65
These are exciting reds from two vineyards owned by Stephen Shelmerdine. The first is a blend from the Merindoc and Willoughby Bridge vineyards at the southern and northern ends of the district respectively. It contains a tiny drop of viognier, co-fermented with the shiraz, and it’s in the taut, savoury style with quite firm, fine tannins. It really captures the unique deep, dark-fruit, savoury Heathcote style without going over the top on alcohol. Also modestly alcoholic and savoury is the stunning, smooth textured, fine-boned Merindoc, sourced entirely from this cool southern vineyard. It’s extraordinary – made by Sergio Carlei.

Chapel Hill The Parson’s Nose McLaren Vale Shiraz 2009 $14–$16
Katnook Founder’s Block Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 $18–$20
In the great discount mill these true regional varietals might fall even further in price. Chapel Hill Parson’s Nose, made by Michael Fragos, captures the ripe, vibrant, plummy richness of McLaren Vale shiraz – and even offers a little savoury bite in the finish. It’s a straightforward wine, made for current drinking, with the accent on fresh varietal flavours. A couple of hundred kilometres further south in Coonawarra, Wayne Stehbens, captured cabernet’s cassis-like varietal flavour and firm finish in Founder’s Block. Like the Chapel Hill wine, the focus is on bright fruit flavours for current drinking.

Penfolds reds in a class of their own

26 May 2010UncategorizedChris Shanahan

In an international context the latest Penfolds red releases, led by Grange, look very attractive. Grange 2005’s $550 price tag, or St Henri 2006’s $90, seem modest in comparison to Bordeaux heavyweight Chateau Latour 2005, a cabernet blend, at $US1,250 a bottle in New York; or next to it on the shelf Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Le Montrachet 2005, a chardonnay, fetching $US4,400.

For make no mistake about the quality or provenance of this latest release of Penfolds top reds. They’re in a class of their own – highly polished, sophisticated and strongly individual wines built for long cellaring. They’re exciting to drink now and probably for decades.

For our tasting, we opened the wines a couple of hours before pouring, then tasted up and down the line up for a couple of hours. Exposure to air released more aromas and flavours over time; and what started as a tight bunch of big young reds fairly quickly emerged as eight distinct wines.

We retasted the wines several times over the next two days and noted observations from other tasters, experience and inexperienced, ranging in age from mid-twenties to early sixties.

Reactions to the shirazes were surprisingly consistent given the range of ages and experience. Grange and RWT emerged as clear favourites, followed by St Henri (one taster ranked it at the top) and nobody knew quite how to place Magill Estate, but liked it nevertheless.

Overall, the cabernets were less liked, but the experienced tasters enjoyed the depth and elegance of Bin 407 and the sheer power of Bin 707. And to my palate anyway, Bin 389, a cabernet shiraz blend, appealed more and more as the days ticked by.

SHIRAZ AND SHIRAZ DOMINANT WINES

Penfolds Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz 2007 $25–$30

Grape variety: shiraz

Region: South Australia, including Langhorne Creek, Upper Adelaide, Barossa, McLaren Vale and Limestone Coast.

Maturation: 12 months in seasoned American oak hogsheads (300 litre) and a portion in large old oak vats

We threw Bin 28, Bin 389 and Bin 407 into the tasting as sighters for the blue chip range. Both held up well. There’s no new oak in Bin 28 these days and that’s not a bad thing. However, it’s still in the big, ripe, warm-climate shiraz mould with the Penfolds thumbprint – robust tannins woven through the fruit, giving a meaty complexity. Upstaged in this line up, but it’s a solid and thoroughly enjoyable red.

Penfolds St Henri Shiraz 2006 $80–$90

Grape varieties: 89% shiraz; 11% cabernet sauvignon

Region: Barossa, McLaren Vale and Limestone Coast

Maturation: 15 months in 1,460-litre oak vats, more than 50-years old

The aroma’s fragrant, spicy and immediately recognisable as shiraz, but taking on a winey complexity. There’s a sweet core of elegant fruit. But the structure is taut and grippy — the fine, slightly austere tannins no doubt contributed by the cabernet in the blend. This is a very fine, elegant, beautiful wine. From experience should be at its best from about fifteen years’ age. Some vintages have recently fetched higher prices than Grange at auction.

Penfolds Magill Estate Shiraz 2007 $114.99 (cellar door only)

Grape variety: shiraz

Region: Magill Vineyard, Adelaide

Maturation: 14 months in hogsheads – 63% new French, 32% new American, 5% one-year-old French

The just-released 2007 Magill Estate is a long way from those lighter bodied, short lived experimental wines of the eighties, when its creation saved this historic vineyard from subdivision. It’s a beautiful, floral scented red with deep, supple, elegant fruit melded with spicy oak. It’s comparatively high in alcohol at 14.5% but not heavy or hot – the fruit’s just too good. In our tasting it was flanked and overshadowed by St Henri and RWT. But sipped on its own a few days later showed real class. Gago says production in 2007 was tiny, so it’s available only at cellar door.

Penfolds RWT Barossa Valley Shiraz 2007 $158–$175

Grape variety: shiraz

Region: Northwestern Barossa Valley

Maturation: 13 month in 71% new, 29% one-year-old French oak hogsheads

“RWT” stands for “red wine trial” – a prosaic name for a spectacular wine developed in the nineties and launched with the 1997 vintage. Peter Gago says it’s sourced from the northwestern end of the Barossa – an area favoured by Penfolds and source, too, of much Grange material. This is as good as Barossa shiraz gets – a sensationally plush, soft, refined red with a perfect matching of fruit and French oak. It’s a wonderful contrast to the more muscular Grange. And, says Gago, it protects Grange: With the lovely, refined RWT in the range it’s easier for him to resist misguided calls from some quarters to alter the Grange style.

Penfolds Grange 2005 $500–$550

Grape variety: 96% shiraz; 4% cabernet sauvignon

Region: Barossa, McLaren Vale and Coonawarra.

Maturation: 18 months in new American oak hogsheads

Grange is Grange – inky deep colour, overwhelming aroma and flavour impact of ripe, dense, sweet fruit, mouth-flooding tannins, distinctive flavour of American oak and a unique perky, buoyant lift. This is a great wine of rare dimension. Over many decades it’ll mellow and grow paler, becoming more fragile and ethereal as the decades roll on.

CABERNET AND CABERNET DOMINANT WINES

Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz 2007 $58–$65

Variety: 54% cabernet sauvignon; 46% shiraz

Region: South Australia, including Coonawarra, McLaren Vale, Langhorne Creek, Padthaway and Barossa

Maturation: 12 months in 39% new American oak hogsheads, 61% older American oak.

Cabernet sets the tone in the 48th vintage of Bin 389 – in the ripe cabernet aromas and flavours and the firm tannins. But shiraz adds mid palate richness and savoury, meaty complexity. It’s hard for any wine to stand next to Grange. But 389 blossomed over a couple of days, outranked by the big guns, but it’s impressive nevertheless and looking good for the cellar.

Penfolds Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 $50–$55

Grape variety: cabernet sauvignon

Region: South Australia, including Coonawarra, McLaren Vale and Langhorne Creek

Maturation: 13 months in French and American oak, one third new, two thirds older.
This is absolutely pure cabernet with aromas and flavours reminiscent of black olive, cassis and a tease of mint; these combine well with the oak, which adds a cedary note. The palate’s intense but elegant, with good flesh and the variety’s firm, gripping tannins.

Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon $170–$190

Grape variety: cabernet sauvignon

Region: Padthaway, Barossa Valley and Coonawarra

Maturation: 15 months in 100% new American oak hogsheads

Bin 707 has Grange-like power and, like Grange, completes its fermentation then matures in new American oak barrels. The oak adds its own distinct, assertive flavour to the well-defined, ripe cabernet flavours. Powerful, grippy tannins complete the picture of an exceptional wine that needs decades to evolve.

Like Grange, Bin 707 attracts some criticism for its style, particularly for the powerful influence American oak has on its aroma and flavour. However, the style won’t be changing says Peter Gago. Instead Penfolds will next year release a contrasting flagship cabernet sauvignon, yet to be named (any ideas?). It’s made entirely from Coonawarra cabernet and matured in French oak. Gago says that just as RWT protects the Grange style, the new cabernet will protect Bin 707.

Wine review — Chapel Hill, Barwang, Chalkers Crossing and Bremerton

23 May 2010Uncategorized, Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Chapel Hill McLaren Vale

Verdelho 2009 $16–$20
Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 $27–$30

Verdelho, one of the classic Madeira varieties, made its way to Australia in the nineteenth century. It thrived as both a fortified and table variety. Today it’s valued as niche white variety, partly because it retains acidity in our warm growing regions. This example from Chapel Hill captures the variety’s fresh, crisp sappy edge and makes an interesting diversion from sauvignon blanc. Though robust, tannic and deeply layered the cabernet, from the exceptionally hot 2008 vintage, shows a tease of green, leafy notes among the riper blackcurrant-like flavours. Not for the faint hearted.

Barwang Hilltops Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 $17–$20
Chalkers Crossing Tumbarumba Chardonnay 2008 $18–$20
Cabernet sauvignons from the nearby Hilltops region (Young) generally perform well at the Canberra Regional Wine Show. Barwang, the region’s first vineyard, now owned by McWilliams, shows some of that class in its modestly priced 2008 vintage. It shows pleasantly fleshy, minty, chocolaty varietal flavour and has an assertive, firm tannic grip. It’s well distributed and sometimes deeply discounted. And at a recent masked tasting, Chalkers Crossing Chardonnay 2008, from high, cool Tumbarumba rated well. It’s an understated, elegant style built on high-acid cool-climate fruit flavours but with a textural richness derived from barrel fermentation and maturation.

Bremerton Langhorne Creek

Special Release Malbec 2008 $24
Tamblyn Cabernet Shiraz Malbec Merlot 2008 $17–$19

Malbec has a long history in Langhorne Creek, generally playing a support role to other varieties. Occasionally, though, it stands on its own (as it does in Cahors, France, and widely in Argentina), producing fragrant, deeply coloured, supple, fruity wine with firm but fine tannins. Bremerton comes from the Willson family vineyards, established in 1985. It’s made by Rebecca Willson, daughter of founders Craig and Mignonne. The Tamblyn blend, too, shows Langhorne Creek’s generous fruit and juicy depth – clear cabernet notes leading the harmonious blend. The malbec is available only by mail order and at cellar door. See www.bremerton.com.au

Beer review — Flying Dog

19 May 2010Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Flying Dog ‘Raging Bitch’ Belgian-style India Pale Ale 330ml $11.62
This is an idiosyncratic take on the classic high-alcohol, very hoppy India Pale Ale style. It’s raging with hops aroma and roughly three times as bitter as a standard Aussie lager. And gets away with it thanks to the opulent malt and heady 8.3 per cent alcohol. But it’s a curio not a quaffer.

Fine real ale at St Albans

19 May 2010BeerChris Shanahan

A trusted scout recently sniffed out a delicious cask-conditioned real ale at St Albans in the back blocks of the Hawkesbury estuary, north of Sydney.

Established in 1836 the Settlers Arms Inn was a stopover for Cobb and Co’s arduous Sydney to Newcastle trip on the Great North Road. It’s now a popular watering hole in its own right and still attracts visitors taking the scenic route from Sydney to the Hunter Valley.

Owner Ian Burns-Wood has Settlers Arms Real Ale made to his specification by Matt Donnellan at St Peters, Sydney. Burns-Wood says the ale’s hand pumped from the cellar to the bar and served at around seven degrees – allowing the aroma and flavour to flourish. He says he’d serve it slightly warmer, but probably wouldn’t get away with it in Australia as we’re too used to icy cold lager.

Our scout loved the beer and wrote, “This tasted and felt like a real ale –malty and estery [fruity], balanced with floral hops. Gas was pretty much non existent, but this is not a criticism in this case – the light bubbles are part of the style, and the beer still had a trace of head”. We’ll review it for Quaffers on our next Hunter trip.

Max Schubert’s lost Magill specification revealed

19 May 2010UncategorizedChris Shanahan

Towards the end of his life Grange creator Max Schubert trusted his original hand written specification for Penfolds Magill Estate (first made in 1983) to a trusted colleague, Barrie Woodward, then South Australian state manager of Southcorp Wines (owner of Penfolds at the time).

Until now, Magill has been billed as an estate-grown wine. Indeed its creation saved the historic vineyard, just eight kilometres east of the Adelaide CBD, from subdivision. Schubert’s document reveals, however, plans to beef up shiraz from Magill with material from the Eden Valley and Coonawarra.

Schubert’s specification, dated 9 October 1982:

‘Chateau Magill Wine

‘1. Concept

‘To make a French Chateau style red wine, distinctly different to the Grange Hermitage style, in that body weight and colour would be approximately half that of Grange, whilst aroma, flavour and character would be individual and pronounced, extractives would be less resulting in more elegance consistent with lighter body. As such it would be different to Grange Hermitage.

‘2. Material

‘Derived from approximately 16 acres Shiraz or Hermitage grapes remaining as per subdivisional plans Adelaide Development Co.

‘Hermitage in itself would not be sufficient to give the character, breeding and complexity to make the wine as designated, and would require additional 20% minimum involvement Hermitage from selected vineyard Eden Valley area, and Hermitage or Cabernet Sauvignon from our own Coonwarra Vineyard.

‘Grapes would be hand picked.’

‘3. Yield

‘Based on average 3 tons per acre return from Chateau Magill vineyard would be 50 tons. Supplementary tonnage would be 5 tons Eden Valley Hermitage and 5 tons Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon. This would represent 20% outside involvement. Total tonnage for processing would be 60 tons.’

Penfolds The Rewards of Patience, first edition, published about 1986, describes Magill Estate as ‘the pick of the shiraz fruit off the Magill vineyard’ and that it was ‘the result of the collaboration of Don Ditter, Penfolds’ current Chief Winemaker an Max Schubert A.M., the creator of Grange.’ It doesn’t mention the external material recommended by Schubert.

When I phoned current chief winemaker, Peter Gago, he said he’d not seen Schubert’s document and wasn’t aware of external fruit being used in the wine, but was keen to amend the record if it had been.

Gago subsequently contacted winemaker John Bird, who’d joined Penfolds in 1960 and worked with Schubert and Ditter on those early Magill wines. Bird recalled using Eden Valley and Coonawarra material and even a touch from Clare, up to a legal percentage, for the first two or three vintages – he couldn’t recall precisely for how long. After those first few vintages Magill became entirely an estate-grown wine for philosophical reasons and because it didn’t need beefing up, Bird said.

Bird said he viewed those early vintages as experimental, much as St Henri and Grange had been trialled for several vintages before release. Grange, for example, had been made from 1951, but 1955 was the first to be released. Magill, however, was released immediately, presumably to fulfil a commitment to the Adelaide Steamship board (the board had approved the creation of Magill Estate on the basis of Schubert’s specification, see below).

Woodward, now co-proprietor of Leura Cellars, New South Wales, has now released a copy to Gago for the Penfolds archive. Gago says the full Magill story will appear in the next edition of The Rewards of Patience.

The background to the creation of Magill is related here by Max Schubert (1915–1994) in an interview recorded by David Farmer and myself in Schubert’s office at Magill in 1992:

“Magill land was being sold off for subdivision and this was being done by Adelaide Steamship [owners of Tooths Brewery which owned Penfolds] because the cost of running the vineyards around Magill was damn near twice that of running them elsewhere. That was one reason. We could never make the Magill vineyard pay… what I tried to get them to do — I know that was thrown out quick smart — that they should cost each vineyard on the basis of the quality of the of wine it was producing. For instance, Magill produced only top grade quality wine … which brought in the greatest amount of profit and they should be costed on that basis and it was quickly pointed out that that wasn’t in the system.

“… he [the financial controller] was thinking of selling the bloody cellars and all at one stage. And we tried to get the government interested… Tonkin was first, and then even Dunstan… in sort of buying the land for posterity, and all Dunstan wanted to do was to carve it up and put a high school there. But Tonkin, he was very sympathetic, but wouldn’t come at buying the place … and preserving it as a heritage thing.

“… I discussed it with Jim Williams [Penfolds General Manager] and I reckoned we could make something along the chateau line… he was enthusiastic about it, so we went into the next board meeting with this proposition that I would design a wine that would be different to a Grange and somewhat different to our other wines in the main and it would be more in keeping with what was then termed as the modern style… and reluctantly this was agreed to provided I did the design down to the nth degree sufficiently for them to get a true costing done and a probability exercise.

“It was all to be very hush hush, and it was all to be done within the board itself because our finance man was also in charge of costing and all that rubbish. So this was done and the original design … was all done in my handwriting and was given to the finance director, and he came up with a nice answer… it allowed for all possible costs, even hidden costs, and so this was placed before the board, and surprisingly they went along with it and well, we haven’t lost any money over it.”

Wine review — Rahona Valley, Wynns, d’Arenberg and Hewitson

16 May 2010People, Vineyard, Wine, Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Rahona Valley Mornington Peninsula Pinot Noir 2006 $27 and Reserve Pinot Noir 2006 $34
Dromana Estate Mornington Estate Pinot Noir 2008 $30
After a few initial misgivings, the Rahona Valley pinots offered delicious drinking for several days after opening. They have the heady aroma, deep flavours and rich texture of good pinot, marred slightly by hard tannins. They’re very good wines, but those hard tannins keep them off the pace of the polished act we’re not seeing from top Mornington makers like Main Ridge and Kooyong. The paler-coloured Dromana Estate leads with varietal and spicy oak aromas, but the palate finally lacks fruit intensity. We tried again and again to love it over several days but finally lost interest.

Wynns Coonawarra Estate

Riesling 2009 $15–$20
Chardonnay 2009 $15–$20
Cabernet Shiraz Merlot 2007 $10–$20

Prices of Wynns wines vary enormously, depending on retailer moods. They’re good value at full retail price but become exceptional bargains when on special. Riesling 2009 is taut, acidic and flavour packed – an attractive, dry aperitif style. Chardonnay 2009 shows pure, vibrant melon-like varietal flavour. It’s full-bodied, flavour packed, fresh and dry. The red blend, with the familiar old Essendon red-striped, black label, has the austere, dry tannins of cabernet and merlot, but shiraz fills out the mid palate. The combination is very Coonawarra – deep, ripe-berry flavours with elegant but strong, assertive structure.

d’Arenberg McLaren Vale The Twenty Eight Road Mourvedre 2007 $30–$35
Hewitson Old Garden Barossa Valley Mourvedre 2008 $69
Same grape variety, similar very warm growing regions, very old vines – the former planted in the 1920s, the latter in 1853 – but, oh what different flavours they deliver. d’Arenberg’s is firm, savoury, earthy and tannic, with a core of ripe fruit; the sort of rustic wine that needs protein or savoury food as a match. Hewitson’s is stunningly aromatic, with buoyant, bright, well-deep fruit flavours (Dean Hewitson likens the flavour to glacé orange rind) with soft but mouth-filling tannin. In this hot vintage alcohol intrudes a little. But the seductive fruit wins; what a wonderful, distinctive wine from the Koch family’s venerable old vineyard.

Language of the label

12 May 2010WineChris Shanahan

What do we look for in back labels and how much help do they give us when we buy wine? Can we rely on the information they provide? In an Australian study in 1999 Larry Lockshin and Tim Unwin found that almost 60 per cent of their respondents said they read back labels regularly when making purchasing decisions.

Lockshin and Unwin concluded the most useful information on back labels were “simple descriptions of the tastes or smells of the wine” and that experienced consumers had trouble matching the tastes of wines with their back label descriptions.
I don’t know if Lockshin and Unwin ever revisited the subject, but a decade later back labels still vary enormously in content, style and veracity.

And many still carry unintelligible tasting notes. What, for example, are we to expect of the “brooding mulberry and liquorice characters…enhanced by dark cherry and roasted chestnut” in Chapel Hill’s lovely McLaren Vale Cabernet Sauvignon 2008? Thankfully it’s full bodied, tastes like very ripe cabernet and has the variety’s assertive, firm finish.

Just as fruity, but more to the point, is Shingleback Red Knot McLaren Vale Shiraz 2008. The label says a few words about McLaren Vale and its wine style, then describes the wine more or less intelligibly – “vibrant in colour and highly aromatic, this intensely varietal Shiraz displays ripe strawberry and blackberry fruit and is subtly framed with American and French oak”.

Of more concern, though, are statements like this one on the back label of Mount Langi Ghiran Billy Billi Pinot Grigio 2009, “Mount Langi Ghiran has been a pioneer for cool climate wines in Australia, and was one of the few wineries to produce Pinot Grigio in the early 90s. The name Billi Billi comes from a creek that runs through the property”. Indeed, but does the wine come from the property? The label implies this, but the appellation South Eastern Australia, embracing most of the southern half of the continent, suggests otherwise. Why leave us guessing? If it’s not from the Grampians region why not just say so?

Then there are the factual errors I associate more with large producers – suggesting communications and winemaking arms aren’t talking to one another. Wynns Coonawarra Estate’s back label is one of the best I’ve seen anywhere and it’s still based on David Wynn’s design from the 1950s. But in recent years the back label map depicts Coonawarra township to the east of the Riddoch Highway. In fact, it’s to the west. The error appears on only some of the Wynns range, including the 2008 Cabernet Shiraz Merlot.

Likewise little inaccuracies blemish the exceptionally informative back label on Jacob’s Creek Reserve Chardonnay Pinot Noir 2007. Message: let the winemakers proofread the labels. They’ll tell us that pinot noir, not chardonnay, contributes structure, while chardonnay gives softness, not structure; and that creamy complexity comes not from secondary fermentation but from maturation on spent yeast cells after fermentation. It’s small stuff, but important to brand credibility in the long run.

The amount of information on back labels varies widely, too – from zero to lord’s-prayer-on-head-of-a-pin stuff. The further up the quality tree a wine sits, the less need there is for a back label. For example, Chateau Margaux, one of Bordeaux’s fabulously expensive ‘first growths’ sports no back label and only a simple front label. Australia’s no-back-label brigade includes Mornington Peninsula’s Main Ridge Estate Half Acre Pinot Noir. But Grange has one, though it didn’t until some time in the late eighties or early nineties. The current one adds little and could arguably be scrapped. The front label tells the story anyway, and Grange buyers don’t need to be told to cellar it for 20 years decant before serving.

But for wordy back labels, an old McLaren Vale producer tops the class. I have d’Arenberg The Twenty Eight Road McLaren Vale Mourvedre 2007 in front of me. The back label runs to around 300 words, set in a condensed font at about six or seven points. So read the label before you drink the wine. It’s packed with information about d’Arenberg, the region, the vineyards and the winemaking. It doesn’t attempt to describe the wine, but it builds anticipation and creates a great sense of place.

A number of other producers, including Margaret River’s Voyager Estate and McLaren Vale’s Pirramimma use helpful, long-copy back labels (but a word of advice to Voyager, please stop using all capitals; they’re even harder to read than d’Arenbergs’s tiny font).

And some, like Stanton and Killeen, adopt a minimalist approach. The back label of their just released The Prince ($45) reads, “Who is the Prince? www.stantonandkilleen.com.au” and the short descriptor, “A dry red blend of estate grown Portuguese grape varieties”. This point-to-the-web approach could work for the growing number of smart phone users – encouraging wineries to write concise back labels supported by the whole story online.

Beer review — 88 Balls and Southern Tier

12 May 2010Beer reviewChris Shanahan

88 Balls Belgian Lager 24x330ml $33–$35
Belgium’s Palm Brewery makes this lager for Barons Brewing, Australia. It’s in the mainstream, pleasingly aromatic, crisp Euro lager style – a decent quaffing beer with the light, piquant, very clean finish of the genre. It offers good value, especially if you find some local brews a little heavy and cloying.

Southern Tier Imperial Choklat Stout $17.95
Beer can be flavoured with everything from chilli to chocolate, not always with the success of this bold brew from Southern Tier Brewing of Lakewood, New York. Luxurious bittersweet chocolate sets an opulent tone matched by caramel malt and a heady 11-per-cent alcohol. I can imagine it with fresh strawberries or ice cream.

Belgian bargain set to shake beer market

12 May 2010BeerChris Shanahan

88 Balls lager – it’s new, wet, alcoholic, fresh, imported from Belgium and cheap as chips at $33 to $35 a slab. Good on Barons brewing for bring it in. But I’m guessing there’ll be more publicity than money in the venture. How much can be left over after fees for the Belgian brewer, packaging, shipping 20-thousand kilometres, distribution, retailer margins, excise and GST? A slip in the exchange rate might bring it all undone.

While it lasts, though, it’ll help keep a lid on prices, having lobbed straight into mainstream retailing. On the Anzac Day long weekend, for example, Coles-owned 1st Choice outlets advertised two slabs for $66, alongside Australia’s VB, Melbourne Bitter and Maxx Blonde at the same price. In the same ad, they offered the Australian-brewed, Belgian brand, Stella Artois, at $41.90.

Faced with real Belgian beer priced $9 below faux Belgian, some Stella drinkers might make the change – though I suspect buyers will, in the main, be brand-agnostic bargain hunters.

Coles and Woolworths, too, buy opportunistically. In this case they may simply be meeting market prices without dragging their own direct imports into the price fray. Next week or next year they might move on. Barons had better keep their eye on the ball.