Beer review — Cascade First Harvest and Pure Blonde Naked

Cascade First Harvest Ale 2011 356ml 4-pack $19.99
Brewer Max Burslem’s final brew at Cascade uses three experimental Tasmania-grown hops strains added green and fresh to the fermenter. It’s a dark amber, opulently malty, silk-smooth brew to sip and savour. The beautiful hops show, not so much in aroma, as in complex flavours and bitterness intertwined with the malt.

Pure Blonde Naked Premium Ale 355ml 6-pack $16.99
Growing demand for low-carb, mid-alcohol beers (3.5 per cent in this case) presents brewers with a challenge. How do they make interesting beer stripped of two major flavour components? Well, they make it clean and fresh. But drinking it’s about as thrilling as a kiss with your lips closed.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2011