Category Archives: Beer review

Murray’s Dark Knight Porter Style 330ml $4.50 Murray’s delicious take on the porter style includes a vein of hops – starting with a herbal, resiny note hovering over the malty aroma, then combining with the bitter black-chocolate flavours of the malt and finally freshening up the finish. The mid-palate’s generous, packed with toffee-like and chocolaty flavours

Brouwerij de Ranke XX Bitter 330ml $8.50 What do we learn from XX? Primarily that this Dutch brewer adopts a take-no-prisoners approach to “bitter”. It’s a pale coloured ale and the aroma’s delicately, aromatically hoppy. But the 6.2 per cent alcohol palate screams for attention – the full, delicious malt flavour seduces momentarily before a monumental hops bitterness takes over.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Mountain Goat Hightail Ale 330ml $3.70 Mount Goat, from Richmond, Victoria, shows an extra freshness and liveliness often seen in bottle-conditioned beers. It’s a dark-amber ale, nicely combining in its aroma resiny hops with fruit and malt. The palate’s medium bodied and smooth, its maltiness cut but well-judged hops flavour and bitterness.

Innis and Gunn Rum Cask Oak Aged Beer 330ml $7.90 Innis and Gunn’s high-alcohol (7.4 per cent) dark ale – matured in American oak barrels and old rum barrels – leads with a deep, sweet molasses-like, malty aroma. The molasses carries through on a well-balanced, opulent, silky palate – an idiosyncratic warmer on a cold Edinburgh (or Canberra) night.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Gage Premium Lager 330ml 6-pack $16.99 The label’s changed from “Gage Roads” to “Gage”, but the beer seems the same – a rich, smooth, very fresh lager, seasoned with the distinctive aroma and flavour of Hallertau hops; and has a pleasant, lingering bitterness. Woolworths bought 25 per cent of Western Australian based Gage in 2009.

Bulmers Pear Cider 500ml $4.99 The press release cites cider market growth of 22 per cent in the year to April 2010 – no surprise if you’ve noticed the growing shelf space lately. But please don’t expect from Bulmers the razor-sharp, intense pear flavours of the Norman versions. This one’s bubbly, sweetish and crisp with a hint of pear (or is it apple?) flavour.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Spaten Munchen Original Munich Beer 500ml $4.50 Spaten has a bright, pale lemon colour and persistent pure white head. It’s highly aromatic and the palate’s full and malty with a distinct sweetness. Hops add a subtle flavour that works well with the malt, mollify the sweetness and keep the finish crisp and refreshing.

Nogne Imperial Brown Ale 500ml $14.90 Nogne, from Norway, delivers vigour, flavour, bitterness and alcohol by the bucket. It’s a deep brown colour and the aroma and palate simply scream with all these elements, leaving an aftertaste of brown sugar and a lingering, almost acrid bitterness. In the end, it’s a struggle to get past the first few sips.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Murrays Nirvana Pale Ale 330ml $4.50 The label describes Nirvana as a hybrid of the American and English pale ale styles. But to my taste the penetrating hops aroma, full, malty body and assertive, lingering hops flavour and bitterness put it squarely in the American mould. Beautiful, fresh hops are the keynote – a great beer with hot curry.

Bridge Road Brewers Hans Klopek’s Hefe Weizen 330ml $4.50 Shut your eyes and think of Bavarian wheat beer with its high-toned banana-like aroma and flavour and tangy fresh acidity. Brewer Ben Kraus captures much of the magic in this version brewed in Beechworth, Victoria. Ben also offers traditional giant pretzels if you’re down that way – a perfect match with this beer.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Innis and Gunn Original Oak Aged Beer 330ml $7.70 This oak-aged, bottle-conditioned beer comes from Edinburgh. It’s the colour of honey and the aroma is fruity, malty and toffee-like. The palate is brisk and the toffee-malt flavours are boosted by a solid 6.6 per cent alcohol. It’s definitely a winter warmer, thanks to the alcohol and fairly sweet, malty richness.

Matilda Bay Long Shot Coffee Infused Dark Ale 3445ml 6-pack $19.99 Matilda Bay, the boutique-brewing arm of Fosters, offers this exclusively through the Woolworths-owned Dan Murphy outlets. The ale uses roasted malt, seasoned with roasted Yirgacheffe (Ethiopia) coffee beans. The result is dark and strong, with rich chocolaty flavours and lingering espresso-like bitterness. Needs food to mollify the bitterness.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Zierholz Oat Malt Stout half-pint $3.90 Christoph Zierholz attributes the slippery, smooth palate of his new stout to a portion of malted oats in the brew. With malted, roasted barley it produced a dark, appealing brew with roasted coffee and chocolate-like flavours and smooth, dry, bitter finish. It’s complex, food friendly and easy to drink, especially with the food at Zierholz.

Mountain Goat Organic Steam Ale 330ml $3.70 Mountain Goat’s bottle-conditioned, certified organic ale has the pleasantly tart and tangy edge that comes from adding a little wheat malt to the brew. It’s as fresh as bread from the oven, even has a slightly bready flavour. And the hops add delightful aroma and flavours as well as a delicately bitter finish.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Wig and Pen Spiced Olde Ale with Truffle — half-pint $6 Between keg and glass this fruity, malty, lightly spicy ale seeps through a container of brandied cumquat, juniper berry, star anise, nutmeg, cinnamon and slices of fresh local truffle. The infusion transforms the beer – adding spicy flavours and a tease of cumquat bitterness, while boosting the malt opulence – probably an affect of the truffle.

Kronenbourg 1664 — 330ml 6-pack $18.99 The press release recommends drinking 1664 super chilled – a good idea for a beer so light on flavour and character. In our sample the head subsided too quickly and the beer simply lacked zing and freshness. Despite that, light malt and delicate hops make it a quaffable if not exciting brew. Brewed by Fosters in Australia.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Stone and Wood Draught Ale 330ml 6-pack $19.99 This is a lovely beer, driven by distinctive resiny, citrus-like hops aroma. Brewer Brad Rogers says this is courtesy of “powerfully aromatic Galaxy hops”, some added at the end of fermentation. It’s a beautifully fresh, richly flavoured, cloudy beer and not pasteurised or filtered. It’s brewed and bottled in Byron Bay.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010