Category Archives: Beer review

Return of the tinny – in cans we trust

6 November 2013Beer, Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Lion chief brewer, Bill Taylor, sees a trend among American craft brewers away from bottles and back to cans. Indeed, SanTan Brewing, Arizona, this year hosted the third AmeriCAN craft beer festival – under the slogan, “In cans we trust”.

Taking up the cause locally, Australian Brewery’s Neal Cameron, now packages beer in elegant, slimline, 355ml cans for sale in Australia and export to the USA, Japan and, from 2014, India.

Cameron enthuses about the lower cost, lower weight and ease of packaging cans compared to glass. He also claims cans deliver better quality as they’re impervious to light and provide a better barrier against oxygen.

While exposure to light can damage beer, modern packaging technology should ensure little, if any, difference in oxygen levels between canned and bottled beer. Cans, though, should present a cheaper and easier packaging option for small brewers and another choice for drinkers.

The Australian Brewery Pale Ale 355ml can 4-pack $16
Australian Brewery’s naturally conditioned cloudy ale comes in a slim can that feels deceptively smaller than 355ml. As you pour, the abundant, dense white head says, “I’m very fresh” – an impression confirmed by the fruity–pungent hops aroma and lively, palate, also cut through with passionfruit-like hops flavours.

Beer review — Swell Brewing Co

30 October 2013Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Swell Brewing Co Wheat Beer 500ml $6.99
Swell Brewing, founded by stepbrothers Dan and Daniel Wright, and Dan’s wife, Corinna, brew their beer down in McLaren Vale’s wine country. Corinna, of Oliver’s Taranga vineyard, makes wine, the brothers make the beer – in this instance a fruity, crisp, slightly sweet expression of the Belgian wheat style.

Swell Brewing Co Pale Ale 500ml $6.99
Brewer Daniel Wright models his pale ale on the American style – big on malt, with assertively bitter hops. It contrasts to his other overtly hoppy beer, Swell Golden Ale with its focus on floral aromatics and flavour rather than bitterness. Pale Ale starts malty, rich and smooth, then the hops bitterness takes over.

Beer review — Brains and Matso’s

23 October 2013Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Brains Dark Ale 500ml $6.50
Though less alcohol than Matso’s Smokey Bishop, Brains Dark Ale hits the palate with greater weight and richness – probably just what the Welsh brewers seek in their cooler climate. It’s plush and chocolaty but mild and fresh at the same time.

Matso’s Smokey Bishop Dark Lager 330ml $4.15
Matso’s, from Broome, provides medium-bodied, easy drinking – with the freshness of lager and chocolate- and toffee-like flavours of roasted malt. A light and slightly bitter chocolate-like flavour lingers, giving a dry, refreshing finish. It’s an attractive lager, with the various flavour components in harmony.

Beer review — 8 Wired Brew Co and Victoria High Country Brewery

16 October 2013Beer reviewChris Shanahan

8 Wired Brew Co Saison Sauvin 500ml $10
This is a Kiwi take, from the heart of Marlborough sauvignon blanc county, on a traditional Belgian seasonal brew. Pungent, spicy sauvin hops from Nelson, to the west, permeates the rich, smooth, high-alcohol palate, leaving a lingeringly bitter, spicy, hoppy aftertaste. What a classy beer – big and assertive but well balanced.

Victoria High Country Brewery Trail Rule 47 330ml $5.48
A group of brewers from Victoria’s high country made this strong Belgian “tripel” style using local hops (Rostrevor), malt from three continents, Belgian candy syrup and a Trappist yeast. The resulting mid-amber ale offers sweet, malty, candied flavours cut with assertive, pungent hops flavours and bitterness.

Beer review — ParrotDog

9 October 2013Beer reviewChris Shanahan

ParrotDog Bloodhound Red Ale 330ml $6.32
In wine or beer, harmony is important. Multiple flavour components need to sit comfortably together, not wrestle each other for dominance. In this big, 6.3 per-cent alcohol NZ beer there is much to love. But the hops bitterness ultimately takes over, leaving an acrid aftertaste that swamps everything else.

Badlands Brewery to open in Orange

9 October 2013Beer, Beer reviewChris Shanahan

After years of home brewing, Jon Shiver completed post-grad studies in brewing at the University of Ballarat and established Badlands Brewery at Orange, NSW.

While Shiver developed his own beer recipes, he had the beers brewed under contract in Sydney, while he built his own brewery. With construction recently completed, he expects to be brewing in Orange by mid October, when he returns from a trip to England.

For some time he’s been offering Badlands beers at the Orange brewery site. But he recently moved the tasting to a new venue, The Agrarians – an outlet for produce of the Orange region. The venue includes a cheese factory, a café and a wine bar, says Shiver.

The high quality of his pale ale, reviewed below, suggest it’ll be a highlight of Orange’s fast-growing local food scene.

Badlands Brewery Pale Ale 330ml $3.85
From Orange, NSW, Badlands Pale, sits between the uber malty–hoppy American pale ale style and the mild, delicately balanced English versions. The back label carries a little matrix of maltiness, hoppiness and bitterness, accurately reflecting the rich, smooth, but not over-sweet malt, pungent but not overwhelming hops flavour and lingering, fresh bitterness.

Beer review — Innis and Gunn, and West Coast

2 October 2013Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Innis and Gunn Oak Aged Scottish Pale Ale 330ml $4.99
Innis and Gunn offer a distinctive twist on the traditional Scottish ale style. It offers sweet maltiness with an underlying caramel flavour. The twist comes in a zingy hops character and a tweak of tannin, perhaps oak derived. The aftertaste, however, is malty and quite sweet, setting it apart from most beer styles.

West Coast International Pale Ale 330ml $4.41
West Coast Pale Ale, from Westport NZ, combines English pale and crystal malts with an American ale yeast and two New Zealand hops – Nelson sauvin and NZ cascade. Hops added at various stages, including the bright beer tank, give pungent flavours and bitterness to the beer’s fruity, opulent maltiness.

Beer review — Red Hill and Hargreaves Hill

18 September 2013Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Red Hill Hop Harvest Ale 330ml $5.85
We’re a few months past hop harvest now, but Red Hill’s seasonal ale (made from their own Mornington Peninsula hops) remains available. It’s a dark-amber coloured ale, featuring opulent, velvet-smooth malt, liberally seasoned with pungent, lingeringly bitter hops.

Hargreaves Hill Pale Ale 330ml $4.25
Hargreaves Hill, from the Yarra Valley, makes a pale ale leaning more to the American than British style – full bodied and featuring strong hops aromas and flavours and a lingering, assertive hops bitterness. The hops, however, harmonise with the rich, smooth malt flavours, meaning a beer of great appeal and character.

Cider and beer review — Apple Thiefand Little Brewing Company

11 September 2013Beer review, CiderChris Shanahan

Apple Thief William Pear Cider 330ml $4.15
Apple Thief is a Batlow-based brand making apple and pear ciders from local fruit – in this instance William pears. The colour is pale and while the aroma’s light, the slightly sweet palate delivers delicate pear flavour and tart acidity. It’s all-natural, they say, and definitely tastes like pears.

The Little Brewing Company Mad Abbot Dubbel 330ml $8
From Port Macquarie comes this deep brown ale, modelled on a style developed by Belgium’s Trappist monks in the nineteenth century. It’s an opulent, malty, fruity, high-alcohol style (6.9 per cent), with fresh acidity and quite low on bittering.

Beer can be just peachy

4 September 2013Beer, Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Brewers infuse specialty beers with many ingredients other than hops. The list, potentially as long as the number of edible plants, includes cherries, fig, banana, chilli, chocolate, coffee, cinnamon, truffle and cardamon.

The latest across the tasting bench, infused with peach and tea, comes under David Burns and Elly Meltzer’s Kwencher label, brewed to their recipe at Southern Bay Brewery, Geelong.

Burns and Meltzer got the idea while travelling in Morocco, drinking peach tea and local beer.

They make two beers – a pale ale, broadly in the malty, hoppy American style and the peach and tea infused lager.

The beers are available at beerstore.com.au, though it should be in Canberra outlets before long. Burns and Meltzer will release draught versions of the beers during spring.

Kwencher Pale Ale 24X330ml $81.99
Kwencher Pale Ale, brewed in Geelong, begins and ends with hops – although, rich, smooth smalt flavours feature on the way through. Fruity, citrusy hops aromas lead to the rich palate. Then the hops kick in again, giving resiny flavours and a firm, intensely bitter finish.

Kwencher Clingstone Peach Lager 16X330ml $59.99
Brewers infuse beer with many things, in this instance with Darjeeling tea and peach. Sweet, peach aromas suggest a sweet drink to follow. On the brisk, lean palate, peach flavours rise above the maltiness, but the palate remains dry and fresh, with a pleasantly tart grip – derived from tea tannins, the brewer’s notes suggest.