Premium Clean Skin Beer 330ml $2.99
To borrow Michael Luscombe’s term, frugal is the operative word here – so, in my view, it’s a brew for the desperate, destitute or mean and penny pinching. My sample, purchased at 1st Choice, tasted  flat, dull and tired, albeit recognisably beer. It earns a grudging star for being cheap, wet and alcoholic.

Great Divide Brewing Company Belgica IPA 355ml $8.50
What a contrast – from a beer confronting in its ordinariness to one that stuns with tasty idiosyncrasy.  It’s an American brew, built on a British colonial style, India Pale Ale, but including Belgian (the malt) and American (hops in overdrive) influences. It’s a luxuriously malty, hoppy, alcoholic brew – but for sipping only.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2009