Category Archives: Beer review

Beer review — Schneider and North Coast Brewing

27 July 2011Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Schneider Weisse Tap 7 Unser Original 500ml $6.90
This old family brewery, currently managed by Georg Schneider VI, produces this benchmark, bottle conditioned Bavarian wheat beer. Our bottle poured medium amber coloured, displaying classic, aromatic clove-like and fruity aroma and flavour. Alas, the head collapsed and the beer lacked vivacity – indicating old stock near its use-by date.

North Coast Brewing Brother Thelonious Belgian Style Abbey Ale 355ml $10.90
From the North Coast Brewing Company, Fort Bragg, California, comes this 9.4 per cent alcohol, deep mahogany coloured ale, dedicated to famous piano playing monk, Brother Thelonious – depicted on the label with a keyboard halo. It’s luxuriously malty and syrup smooth – an opulence that easily carries the high alcohol.

A vertical of Cooper’s vintage ales — and an Asahi chaser

20 July 2011Beer, Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Most beer drinks best soon after release – brewers having provided appropriate ageing in their cellars. But some styles, like Cooper’s vintage ale, age well, the flavours altering gradually over time.

To see the changes, we put the new Cooper’s Extra Strong Vintage Ale 2011 to the test alongside the 2010 and 2009 vintages, supplied by Coopers, and the 2008 and 2007 from Schloss Shanahan.

The tasting revealed significant changes from youngest to oldest. The brisk, just-released 2011 leads with an assertive hoppy aroma and flavour hovering over the deep, sweet malt – a balanced but big, bold style.

The slightly deeper coloured 2007, still fresh and gassy, tells the malt story – toffee and caramel aroma and a rich, smooth, palate that brings in golden syrup as well. The hops, barely detectable in the aroma by now, show up in the bitter finish.

The other vintages sat between this hops-dominant to malt-dominant spectrum – all in great shape, particularly the exuberant 2008.

Cooper’s Extra Strong Vintage Ale 2011 375ml 6-pack $20
This is a classy drop – big, bold and idiosyncratic but not over the top. Pungent, resiny hops lead the flavour charge, backed by deep, sweet, generous malt and luxurious, smooth texture – finishing with a delicious, assertive, hops bitterness. It’s easy to drink now, but from experience the flavour evolves with age.

Asahi Super Dry 330ml 6-pack $18.99
What a contrast Asahi is to the big, bitter, malty Coopers vintage ale. It combines delicacy, flavour and lingering hops bitterness and suits both delicate and spiced food – the beer equivalent of dry young riesling. It’s imported by Foster’s and therefore widely distributed – a positive for a style that’s best consumed young and fresh.

Beer review — Ushers and Renaissance

13 July 2011Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Ushers Founders English Ale 500ml $7.50
Ushers is a mid-to-deep amber coloured southern English ale style. The aroma’s malty and fruity and seasoned with assertive, attractive hops notes. The malt and fruit come through, too, on a rich but dry palate. A vein of goldings hops weaves through these flavours and contribute a satisfying, lingering bitterness.

Renaissance Stonecutter Scotch Ale 500ml $11.90
This is an extraordinarily powerful beer – luxuriously frothy and lively with unctuous, malty flavours, boosted by its seven per cent alcohol content. The blend of nine different malts presents a spectrum of flavours, from caramel through to chocolate and roasted grain. A pleasant tartness offsets the malt sweetness, giving a clean dry finish.

Barons re-releases bush-tucker beers

6 July 2011Beer, Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Barons Brewing of Sydney recently relaunched two beers seasoned with native Australian ingredients – Lemon Myrtle Witbier and Blackwattle Original Ale.

The beers are part of Barons varied portfolio that includes a lager, pale ale and extra special bitter. Barons also distributes other brands, including Belgian lager, 88 Balls, Czech lager, Bakalar and Australian brews, Razorback Red Ale and Charlotte’s Hefeweizen.

Baron’s introduced Blackwattle Original Ale back in 2005 and the Lemon Myrtle Witbier in 2008. As the names suggest, they’re seasoned with lemon myrtle and roasted black wattle seed. They claim to be the only brewery using native ingredients. Perhaps they are now. I don’t know. But in 2008 Chuck Hahn released a one-off winter ale, seasoned with native pepperberries.

Where Hahn’s beer was a potent, idiosyncratic style to either love or hate, Baron’s two brews flow like water – so watch out.

Barons Black Wattle Original Ale 330ml 6-pack $20
This dark amber brew weighs in at 5.8 per cent alcohol. The alcohol boosts the opulent malt flavour, giving the palate great warmth and appeal. The dominant flavours are caramel and golden syrup-like with a touch of roasted grain (this may be the wattle seed) and mildly bitter, balanced finish.

Barons Lemon Myrtle Witbier 330ml 6-pack $20
Modelled on Belgian wheat beer styles, like Hoegaarden, Barons is a particularly brisk ale with wheat beer’s natural high acidity, light body and smooth texture. A distinct and pleasant lemony note adds to the beer’s zest and freshness. It’s bottle conditioned and therefore cloudy.

James Squire gets a new suit

29 June 2011Beer, Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Oh dear, oh dear – Lion Nathan’s Malt Shovel Brewery recently revamped the labels on its popular James Squire range. Apparently the old labels looked too similar, confusing the brand’s poor, loyal drinkers. “They often weren’t sure which beer in the range they were drinking”, writes brand director, Ralph Simpson. Perhaps they conducted market research at 3 am.

Brand directors love leaving their mark. But as Australia’s wine industry learned to its detriment, radical label changes can undermine a brand – alienating existing followers and creating confusion about what it stands for.

Fortunately the six brews in the range haven’t changed – leaving the heart of James Squire brand intact. However, my first reaction to the new labels was that they’d introduced new beers – and then a doubt, “maybe they’ve dumbed them down?’ Labels should reassure us, not create doubts or suspicions.

James Squire Four Wives Pilsener 345ml 6-pack $18.99
This is made by Tony Jones at the Lion Nathan owned Malt Shovel brewery. It’s a world-class interpretation of the Bohemian model, delivering the tremendous malt richness of the style (pale and Munich malts) as well as the distinctive aromatics and intense, lingering bitterness of Saaz hops.

James Squire Nine Tales Amber Ale 345ml 6-pack $18.99
Original Amber Ale was the first off the James Squire production line under Chuck Hahn in 1998. Now renamed as Nine Tales, it retains the original style: a deep copper colour with slightly citrusy hops aromas hovering over the fruit and malt. The fruit, malt and hops continue on a warming, supple, gently appealing palate.

Beer review — North Coast Brewing and Atlas Brewery

15 June 2011Beer reviewChris Shanahan

North Coast Brewing Company Red Seal Ale 355ml $5.50
This brilliant, golden-amber ale, from Mendocino County, California, really pushes the excitement buttons, as it’s seductively delicious to drink but also very complex. It combines generous, gentle, supple malt with a delightful hops flavour and a lingering, teasing hops bitterness, deeply integrated with the malt flavour.

Atlas Brewery Latitude Highland Pilsner 500ml $8.80
Brewer Norman Sinclair’s exceptionally fine, delicate pilsner style comes from Kinlochleven, Scotland. Sinclair uses highland water, British ale malt, continental lager malt and German and Slovenian hops to produce a pale, dry, beautifully balanced lager with a delicate lemony/hoppy tang – sufficiently subtle and delicate to enjoy with sashimi.

Stout and porter time – Red Duck and Malt Shovel

8 June 2011Beer, Beer reviewChris Shanahan

At Schloss Shanahan we up our stout and porter buying in winter, leaning towards slightly higher-than-normal alcohol content. That little extra seems to boost the aroma and warm generosity of these generous, warming beer styles.

We’ve tried a few lately and particularly like Malt Shovel’s one-off seasonal brew – Mad Brewers Stout Noir, made at the Malt Shovel Brewery, Camperdown, Sydney, by Chuck Hahn and Tony Jones.

It’s a big, complex ale of many parts: three different malts (pale chocolate, dark crystal and wheat), two hop varieties (Australian Super Pride and New Zealand Alpha) and a dash of liquorice root (gycyrrhiza glabra).

The liquorice root, says Hahn and Jones, “adds a rich complexity to the satisfying hoppy finish”. We love it because the diverse flavour elements work together, delivering a smokey, rich, brisk, complex and very drinkable stout.

Red Duck Unfiltered Porter 330ml $4.75
Red Duck, a strong dark ale from Camperdown, Victoria, presents the gentle side of porter – though at 6.4 per cent alcohol it packs a kick. It’s dark but not opaque, deep brown rather than black, and fruity and opulent, but soft, with lingering malty rather than hops aftertaste.

Malt Shovel Mad Brewers Stout Noir 640ml $9.99
The ebullient, persistent foam sets the tone for stout noir. A slightly smokey, roasted coffee bean aroma leads to a luxuriously malty, seven-per-cent alcohol palate. Zesty acidity cuts the very complex, chocolaty, roasted malt flavours. And hops bitterness subtly, and barely, counters the smooth, sweetening influence of liquorice root.

Cider and beer review — The Kingston Cider Company and Moa Brewing Company

25 May 2011Beer review, CiderChris Shanahan

The Kingston Cider Company Hawkes Bay Perry 500ml $9.50
As a cider novice, I’ve sort of come to the belief that pear ciders aren’t as “peary” as apple ciders are “appley”, unless they’re from Normandy. Like the Norman versions, This New Zealand perry, starts delicate and clean with terrific, brisk acidity. The palate, though “pairy” thrills more for that vibrant acidity.

Moa Brewing Company Harvest Beer 2009 375ml $5.90
The subtitle reads, “A very rare beer from Aotearoa”. And what a wonderful beer it is, made from malted wheat, Nelson hops and cherries. The pale lemon colour and luxurious head are typical wheat ale, as is the heady, fruity aroma and zesty, fresh palate. The cherries add an exotic touch in the background.

Beer and cider review — Small Acres, Daleside and Westons,

18 May 2011Beer review, CiderChris Shanahan

Small Acres Somerset Still Cyder (Orange, New South Wales) 750ml $16
This delicious cider comes from Gail and James Kendall’s property at Orange. James says they grow traditional English heritage cider varieties on the property and make the cider on site from fresh-picked apples. Somerset Still, says James, approximates England’s west country style. It’s made from 13 different varieties, pulped, pressed through cloth into stainless steel vats and fermented dry using an aromatic white wine yeast. The result is just lovely – a still, earthy, slightly grippy cider, unquestionably made from apples, and finishing with fresh, natural acidity.

Daleside Old Leg Over Yorkshire Beer 500ml $8.20
Gentle sweet fruity, malt aroma leads the away into Daleside – flavours that continue on the lively, rich, balanced palate. A touch of malted wheat injects its own briskness, independent of the hops bitterness and bite that that subtly finish off this delicious, one-more-glass Yorkshire ale.

Westons Premium Organic Pear Cider 500ml $7.60
The cliché-riddled website reveals little about cider growing or making. The cider, however, is wet and refreshing – not as crystal clear in its peariness, nor as delicate, as the best Norman versions across the Channel, but solid, rich, refreshingly low on gas and finishing with keen, tart acidity.

Beer review — Samuel Smith and Weihenstephaner

11 May 2011Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Samuel Smith’s Old Brewery Pale Ale 550ml $8.50
Smith’s unique ale is brewed in old, shallow square stone vats at Tadcaster, England. It entices with a warm, sweet, fruity-malty aroma, seasoned with herbal hops. The smooth, rich palate matches the aroma and because it’s only lightly carbonated the luxurious malt flavour, with its subtle, bitter, hops edge, remains at centre stage. Yum.

Weihenstephaner Korbinian Dunkles Starkbier 500ml $7.90
This is a strong (7.4 per cent alcohol), very malty specialty beer from Bavaria’s ancient Weihenstephan Brewery. The colour’s dark tan, bordering on black, and the opulent, sweet, caramel-and-malt palate, with its wine-like smoothness, reveals wonderful complexity at around 10 degrees. Hops bitterness balances out a unique, big, graceful beer.