Category Archives: Beer review

Beer review — Lobethal and Beer Here

7 December 2011Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Lobethal Bierhaus Christmas Ale 330ml $4.90
Alister Turnbull’s Adelaide Hill brewery spices its very dark Christmas ale with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice and Belgian candy. But the spices sit subtly behind the malt. High alcohol (7.5 per cent) adds extra body to the already rich, sweet malt flavours sitting at the centre of this round, soft, after-dinner brew.

Beer Here Jule IPA (Denmark) 500ml $15.50
The vibrant, deep golden colour matches the zesty, pungent, citrus-like hops aroma hovering over the sweet malt. The opulent palate combined sweet malt with alcohol, cut by the citrus flavour and assertive bitterness of the hops, giving the pleasing effect of bitter orange rind in a fruitcake.

Growlers seen in Fyshwick

30 November 2011Beer, Beer review, CiderChris Shanahan

Plonk, at Fyshwick markets, now offers “growlers” – two-litre bottles filled on demand from 30-litre kegs. Growlers became a big part of America’s craft beer scene years ago, but made their Australian debut only last year in Melbourne.

Growlers give drinkers access to fresh, take-home draft beer from small brewers. For small brewers they mean a new route to market. Or, for those reluctant to take on the expense of bottling their product, growlers could be their only take-home offering.

Plonk owner, Anthony Young, says he sells the empty growlers for $10 each. Staff fill the bottles and buyers return with washed bottles for refills.

In late November, Plonk offered growlers of Bridge Road Brewers Galaxy IPA at $20 (compared to $4.90 for a 330-ml bottle – equivalent to $29.70 per two litres). Young intends to expand the range of beers available.

Bridge Road Brewers Galaxy Single Hop IPA 330ml $4.90
India Pale Ale (IPA) – originally a robust, generously hopped ale built for the journey, in cask, from England to India – remains a favourite and widely interpreted style. Brewer Ben Kraus’s version leads with the pleasantly pungent, resiny aroma of galaxy hops. The hops flavour cut through the smooth, rich, intensely palate.

Henney’s Vintage 2010 Still Cider 500ml $7.50
As cider’s popularity grows, we’re seeing many more high-quality versions made entirely from apples – in this case from cider varieties grown in Herefordshire, England. Made in autumn and stored over the winter, Henney’s delivers the full, ripe, mellow slightly rustic flavour of apples with a firm, dry finish.

Hops on the hill

23 November 2011Beer, Beer reviewChris Shanahan

In 2005 Karen and David Golding established hops at Red Hill on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula. This satisfied local regulations requiring would-be liquor licence holders to be primary producers.

They harvest the four varieties – Hallertau, Tettnanger, Golding and Willamette – around March each year for use in their Red Hill Brewery products.

These include three beers produced year round (Golden Ale, Wheat Beer and Scotch Ale) and seasonal specialties like the upcoming releases, Bohemian Pilsner and Christmas Ale, reviewed below, and Temptation, a seriously good strong Belgian blonde style.

Wheat Beer shows the classic fruity esters of this delicate style with a subtle, lovely tang of estate-grown Tettnanger hops.

Golden Ale delivers complex, refreshing, full flavours, cut through with the delicate flavour and soft bitterness of Hallertau and Tettnanger hops.

And big, bold, chocolaty Scotch Ale benefits from a lick of goldings and Willamette hops.

Red Hill Brewery Bohemian Pilsner 330ml $5.50
Red Hill takes a distinctive approach to this classic, full-bodied, hoppy, Czech style. It’s a little stronger than normal at 5.9 per cent, it’s unfiltered (and therefore has a yeast haze) and utterly delicious. From nose to finish, pungent hops wrestle with opulent, sweet, malt flavours, finishing strong, bitter and alcoholic.

Red Hill Brewery Christmas Ale 330ml $7
This ale salutes Chimay Red, one of the great Belgian abbey beers. It combines full, malty body with high alcohol (7.5 per cent) and a strong aroma input from hallertau and tettnanger hops flowers. It’s a sip and savour style, its opulence and silky texture a good much for Christmas cake or pudding.

Beer review — Wig & Pen and Tooheys

16 November 2011Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Wig and Pen Multigrain 285ml glass $5
We savoured the wholemeal goodness in the Wig’s new cask-conditioned ale, brewed from rye, barley, corn, oats and wheat. It’s a hand pumped beer, meaning less gassy fizz – an attribute that sits well with gentle, creamy palate and invigorating citrusy hops character. It’s another original, more-ish brew by Richard Watkins.

Tooheys Old Black Ale 375ml $16.99 6-pack
Pubs in Moruya and Batemans Bay continue to sell Toohey’s delicious, gentle dark ale, known simply as “black”. Also available in bottle it offers fruity ale notes and subtle, refreshing bitterness with distinctive underlying flavours of roasted coffee and malt. Pubs serve it too cold, but try telling that to the locals.

Beer review — Crabbie’s and Endeavour

9 November 2011Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Crabbie’s Original Alcoholic Ginger Beer 500ml $7.99
A crafty brew, this one – the Brits down 2.5 million cases year, “tapping into consumer desire for craft”, claims the press release, adding that it’s “made from a base of four secret ingredients”. Our leathery old palate identifies only two – ginger and sugar; a refreshing and proven pop combination.

Endeavour Reserve True Vintage Pale Ale 2011 330ml 4-pack $17.99
Endeavour made its 2011 vintage beers from Tasmanian barley and hops, harvested in January 2011 and March 2011 respectively. Vintage pale ale, containing a touch of wheat malt, emphasises spicy citrusy hops and zesty light palate. Amber ale focuses on sweet malt and herbal hops aftertaste.

Stone brewed in Byron Bay

2 November 2011Beer, Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Each year Byron Bay’s Stone and Wood brewery makes a batch of “stone” beer, emulating a technique from the middle ages. The brewers heats large stones on a wood fire, then drops the stones into the kettle.

Brewer Brad Rogers writes, “apart from the obvious heating effects, the brewing stones also caramelised the brew to create subtle but rich toffee-like flavours”.

Rogers adds that as they make just one batch of stone beer a year, “you have a long time to contemplate the results of your efforts, and take those learnings and start to formulate what evolutionary steps the next year’s creation will involve”.

The evolutionary steps in 2011 included variations to the malt selection, boosting the toffee character, and adjustments to the hopping regime (Tettnang and Hallertau varieties), countering the extra maltiness. It worked. See the review below.

Stone and Wood Stone Beer 2011 500ml $9.90
This small-batch, one-off, copper-coloured brew leads with toffee, roasted grain and spicy hops aroma. The smoothly textured palate reflects the aroma, delivering rich, toffee-like malt flavours with a roasted grain edge and assertive, but well balanced, clean hops bitterness.

Beer review — Matilda Bay and Zierholz

19 October 2011Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Matilda Bay Fat Yak Pale Ale 345ml 6-pack $17.99
This and the Zierholz Pils, below, were our brews of choice for the AFL grand final. Preferences varied widely, but not strongly along club lines – perhaps a slight skew to Fat Yak for non-Collingwood supporters. This is an excellent toned down version of Alpha Pale Ale – full bodied and citrus hoppy.

Zierholz Pils 5-litre keg $40
The recyclable keg, purchased at Zierholz Brewery Fyshwick, opened easily, poured reliably and delivered the true, fresh-draft experience. The cloudy, light golden colour promises wholemeal goodness and delivers deliciously, with a pure, rich, malty flavour and lovely, clean lingering bitterness (for those that like hops).

Beer review — James Squire

12 October 2011Beer reviewChris Shanahan

James Squire One Fifty Lashes Pale Ale 345ml 6-pack $16
Lion Nathan-owned James Squire released this new barley and wheat malt ale last month. A spicy, hop-led aroma, with a subtle fruit note, precedes a stunningly fresh, medium weight palate with a spicy, hoppy moderately bitter finish. It’s an easy-drinking refresher at a modest 4.2 per cent alcohol.

Wig & Pen’s great new brews, business still on the market

10 August 2011Beer, Beer reviewChris Shanahan

In May Lachie McOmish put Canberra’s unique Wig and Pen brewpub on the market. There’s been no sale yet, though we understand there’s at least on suitor in the wings.

So it’s business as usual, as we learned one busy Friday lunch time as patrons picked through the impressive range of brews, all made on site.

Behind the bar McOmish dispensed brimming glasses and lengthy opinions, while Richard Watkins took time out from the brewery to show the ales reviewed below.

We didn’t have time to taste the delicate Knocker’s Perry, made from Packham pears, nor the spiced ale, infused with fresh local truffles.

Watkins said his cherry-chocolate stout was due for release in the last week of July. And he’ll soon be releasing his 2000th brew – a hoppy, Belgian golden strong ale style, now ageing in barrel in the cellar.

Wig and Pen Dubbel Trubble 355ml $9
The brilliant mahogany colour and luxuriant head on the Wig’s Belgian ‘double’ style point to the amazingly good beer that follows. How can ale of this calibre come from such an unassuming place. It’s sheer brilliance. And at five months’ really delivers on this unique, opulent, velvet-textured style.

Wig and Pen Russian Imperial Stout 355ml $9
There’s a rasp of Rasputin’s beard in the Wig’s black and brooding Russian Imperial — a massive, 10 per-cent alcohol brew, pitting malt sweetness and syrupy, smooth texture against bitterness derived from hops and strongly roasted grains. It’s an impressive brew to sniff and savour — wisely served in 355ml brandy balloons.

Beer review — North Coast Brewing and Heather Ale

4 August 2011Beer reviewChris Shanahan

North Coast Brewing Pranqster Belgian Style Golden Ale 355ml $8.90
This delicious, deep-golden Californian ale, weighing in at a solid 7.6 per cent alcohol, comes from Fort Bragg, California. The makers say it’s brewed using “a mixed culture of antique yeast strains”. The aroma’s fruity, with a caramel-like malt background ¬ – these come through, too, on a round, well balanced, fresh, clean palate.

Heather Ale Ebulum Elderberry Black Ale 330ml $6.90
The label says Welsh druids introduced this beer style to Scotland in the ninth century. It’s a potent (6.5 per cent alcohol) brew, including malted barley, elderberry and roasted oaks among the ingredients. Black as tar, still lively a month from its use-by date, with generous roasted-grain flavours, it’s a unique winter warmer.