Category Archives: Beer review

Monteith’s Autumn Amber Ale 330ml $2.75 Monteith’s offers the warmth and subtle, coffee-like flavours of roast barley malt, with the special fruity lift of ale and attractive hops. Green bullet hops provide the bitterness that offsets the malt sweetness. And Motueka hops, added late in the brewing process, give the aromatic lift.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2013 First published 29 May 2013 in The Canberra Times

Cooper’s Pale Ale 375ml 6-pack $16 The wholemeal appeal of Cooper’s cloudy, bottle-conditioned ales spread from mung-bean-eating hippies into the mainstream some years back. So much so that the company now sells more beer in NSW than at home in South Australia, says Glen Cooper. Little wonder, we say, savouring a cold one in the Mount Kembla village pub near Wollongong.

James Squire Stow Away IPA 345ml 6-pack $19 The original India pale ales packed a power of alcohol, malt and hops to survive the pre-refrigeration-era journey from England to India. James Squire’s burly-but-balanced version of the brew uses rampant apricot-like hops aromas and flavours — and attendant intense bitterness — to shackle opulent malt and warm, sweet alcohol flavours.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2013 First published 22 May 2013 in The Canberra Times

Matilda Bay Beez Neez Honey Wheat Beer 345ml 6-pack $20 If there’s a bee’s knees of Aussie honey wheat beers, this is it. It’s a highly polished brew with the lightness and zesty freshness of wheat beer filled out and softened ever-so-subtly on the mid palate by the honey. It seems the honey adds a structural element rather than overt flavour.

Bridge Road Brewers Beechworth Chestnut Pilsner 330ml $4.65 Brewer Ben Kraus added locally grown chestnuts to the mash, adding another dimension to this very attractive, medium-bodied, light-golden pilsner. Galaxy hopes from the Ovens Valley add their own appealing fragrance and gentle, spicy bitterness. This is an exceptionally polished, harmonious beer without a rough edge anywhere.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2013 First published 24 April 2013 in The Canberra Times

Viking 330ml 6-pack $18.99 The latest starter in Australia’s exploding, so-called “premium” beer market uses “glacial water from Iceland”, declares the press release. And the brewers seem to have taken great care not to overwhelm the pristine water with hops and malt flavour – nor with body as it’s a modest 4.4 per cent alcohol.

Fullers Golden Pride Superior Strength Ale 500ml $8.40 Fuller’s luxurious ale carries its 8.5 per cent alcohol with grace and style. High alcohol tends to dominate beer flavour, but here it’s absorbed by the plush maltiness (pale-ale and crystal malts) and balanced by richly flavoured, bitter northdown, challenger and harvest hop varieties. It’s a sumptuous ale to savour with food.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2013 First published 17 April 2013 in The Canberra Times and goodfood.com.au

Young’s Luxury Double Malt Chocolate Stout 500ml $5.90 There’s chocolate in the brew and it shows up as a dry, bitter note in the finish – like strong high-cocoa chocolate. But more than anything it’s a full-bore stout featuring rich, roasted malt flavour, all-round opulence, smooth texture and assertive hops bitterness. A small glass on a cold night would be perfect.

Gage Roads Abstinence Belgian Dubbel Chocolate Ale 640ml $7.90 Western Australia’s Gage Roads, partly owned by Woolworths, made this Belgian style ale using Belgian yeast strains and Gabriel chocolate from Margaret River. Delicious chocolate flavour, tinged with hops, permeates the lively 7.4 per cent alcohol palate. Alas, the ale lost its head almost instantly.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2013 First published 10 April 2013 in The Canberra Times

Robinsons Old Tom Strong Ale with Ginger 330ml $5.85 The back label says this is a blend of respected UK brands, Old Tom Strong Ale and Fentiman’s Ginger Beer. The luxurious, six-per-cent alcohol, deep mahogany ale leads with a seductive earthy, spicy, gingery aroma. The generous, warm, piquant, gingery palate matches the aroma precisely.

Moon Dog Love Tap Double Lager 330ml $5.32 From Abbotsford, Victoria, Moon Dog Double Lager combines four malts (pilsner, carared, carapils and chocolate) with three hops varieties (galaxy, motueka and tettenang). This produces a deep-golden colour, a rich, sweet, malty palate, balanced by layers of bitterness and citrus-like flavours from the hops.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2013 First published 3 April 2013 in The Canberra Times

Brewboys Maiden Ale 330ml $4.15 This bottle conditioned amber ale, from Brewboys of Adelaide, combines malted barley from several counties, including the UK, Germany and Australia, and fresh hop flowers from Nelson, New Zealand. The pungency of the hops cuts through the rich, smooth caramel-like malt flavours, providing a clean, fresh, drying finish.

Billabong Brewing Nelson Sauvin Ale 330ml $3.98 Western Australia’s Billabong Brewing uses New Zealand Nelson Sauvin hop variety in an attempt to capture its distinctive gooseberry-like character. The beer may have displayed that character when first bottled. But it’s now more of a tartness cutting through and slightly overwhelming the background malt flavour.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2013 First published 27 March 2013 in The Canberra Times

Wig and Pen Gueuze 355ml balloon $10 Gueuze, part of Belgium’s lambic beer family, combines barrel-conditioned ales of various ages – in the Wig’s version, one, two and three years old. The microbial tag-team in the barrels produces an intensely fruity beer (pineapple-like) of tart, grapefruit-like acidity with underlying earthy, farmyard characters. It’s not a session beer, but a remarkable one to linger over.

Prickly Moses Organic Pilsner 330ml $3.82 Prickly Moses, from Barongarook, Victoria, combines Otway rainwater and pilsner malts with New Zealand hops, fermented by “one of the world’s original yeast strains from Germany”. The slightly cloudy, pale lemon colour and persistent white head appeal strongly, as does the fresh, brisk, herbal-hoppy palate. It stands out among all the me-too pilsners.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2013 First published 13 March 2013 in The Canberra Times