Category Archives: Beer review

Beer review — Murrays and Bridge Road Brewers

21 July 2010Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Murrays Nirvana Pale Ale 330ml $4.50
The label describes Nirvana as a hybrid of the American and English pale ale styles. But to my taste the penetrating hops aroma, full, malty body and assertive, lingering hops flavour and bitterness put it squarely in the American mould. Beautiful, fresh hops are the keynote – a great beer with hot curry.

Bridge Road Brewers Hans Klopek’s Hefe Weizen 330ml $4.50
Shut your eyes and think of Bavarian wheat beer with its high-toned banana-like aroma and flavour and tangy fresh acidity. Brewer Ben Kraus captures much of the magic in this version brewed in Beechworth, Victoria. Ben also offers traditional giant pretzels if you’re down that way – a perfect match with this beer.

Beer review — Innis and Gunn and Matilda Bay Long Shot

14 July 2010Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Innis and Gunn Original Oak Aged Beer 330ml $7.70
This oak-aged, bottle-conditioned beer comes from Edinburgh. It’s the colour of honey and the aroma is fruity, malty and toffee-like. The palate is brisk and the toffee-malt flavours are boosted by a solid 6.6 per cent alcohol. It’s definitely a winter warmer, thanks to the alcohol and fairly sweet, malty richness.

Matilda Bay Long Shot Coffee Infused Dark Ale 3445ml 6-pack $19.99
Matilda Bay, the boutique-brewing arm of Fosters, offers this exclusively through the Woolworths-owned Dan Murphy outlets. The ale uses roasted malt, seasoned with roasted Yirgacheffe (Ethiopia) coffee beans. The result is dark and strong, with rich chocolaty flavours and lingering espresso-like bitterness. Needs food to mollify the bitterness.

Beer review — Zierholz and Mountain Goat

7 July 2010Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Zierholz Oat Malt Stout half-pint $3.90
Christoph Zierholz attributes the slippery, smooth palate of his new stout to a portion of malted oats in the brew. With malted, roasted barley it produced a dark, appealing brew with roasted coffee and chocolate-like flavours and smooth, dry, bitter finish. It’s complex, food friendly and easy to drink, especially with the food at Zierholz.

Mountain Goat Organic Steam Ale 330ml $3.70
Mountain Goat’s bottle-conditioned, certified organic ale has the pleasantly tart and tangy edge that comes from adding a little wheat malt to the brew. It’s as fresh as bread from the oven, even has a slightly bready flavour. And the hops add delightful aroma and flavours as well as a delicately bitter finish.

Beer review — Wig & Pen and Kronenbourg

30 June 2010Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Wig and Pen Spiced Olde Ale with Truffle — half-pint $6
Between keg and glass this fruity, malty, lightly spicy ale seeps through a container of brandied cumquat, juniper berry, star anise, nutmeg, cinnamon and slices of fresh local truffle. The infusion transforms the beer – adding spicy flavours and a tease of cumquat bitterness, while boosting the malt opulence – probably an affect of the truffle.

Kronenbourg 1664 — 330ml 6-pack $18.99
The press release recommends drinking 1664 super chilled – a good idea for a beer so light on flavour and character. In our sample the head subsided too quickly and the beer simply lacked zing and freshness. Despite that, light malt and delicate hops make it a quaffable if not exciting brew. Brewed by Fosters in Australia.

Beer review — Stone & Wood

23 June 2010Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Stone and Wood Draught Ale 330ml 6-pack $19.99
This is a lovely beer, driven by distinctive resiny, citrus-like hops aroma. Brewer Brad Rogers says this is courtesy of “powerfully aromatic Galaxy hops”, some added at the end of fermentation. It’s a beautifully fresh, richly flavoured, cloudy beer and not pasteurised or filtered. It’s brewed and bottled in Byron Bay.

Beer review — Flying Dog and Carlsberg

16 June 2010Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Flying Dog Old Scratch Amber Ale 330ml $7.12
From Frederick Maryland, Old Scratch, with its beautiful Ralph Steadman label, turns the flavour button up high. The colour’s deep amber and it’s big on rich malt flavour, slick-texture and assertive, bitter hops offsetting the rich malt. Won a gold medal at the recent Australian International Beer Awards.

Carlsberg All Malt Premium Beer 330ml 6-pack $16.99
Well, it doesn’t take much to be called “premium” these days. Perhaps the price tag’s enough. Ever-popular Carlsberg, brewed these days by Foster’s, is a decent, clean, fresh mainstream lager with a straightforward palate and delicate bitter finish. It’s what brewers call a “session” beer, meaning you can down a few without flavour overload.

Beer review — Samuel Smith and Zywiec

9 June 2010Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Samuel Smith’s Old Brewery Pale Ale 500ml $8.55
This is a lovely, warming, malty winter ale made, says the label, using water from the original brewery well sunk in 1758. While fruit and malt dominate the nose, they’re joined on the wine-rich palate by a delicious, pervading hops bitterness and firmness. It’s a complex but very easy-drinking style.

Zywiec Porter 330ml $4.95
Pow! Head-spinning alcohol of 9.5% rings the warning bells – and turbo charges Zywiec’s deep, brooding flavours of roasted coffee, dark chocolate and smoky cigar butt. Certainly it’s a cold weather brew, welcome in a Polish winter for sure, and perhaps at times in Canberra.

Beer review — James Squire and Asahi

2 June 2010Beer reviewChris Shanahan

James Squire Limited Release Malt Runner 345ml 6-pack $18.99
Malt Runner is the fifth in James Squire’s limited release series. Cherry juice, added before the ferment, makes up 15% of the blend. The aroma’s hoppy and malty with just a tease of cherry; the palate’s warm and malty, with an undercurrent of sweet and sour cherry livening up the finish.

Asahi Super Dry 330ml 6-pack $18.99
It’s probably not the beer for a Canberra winter. But Asahi combines delicacy, flavour and lingering hops bitterness in a style that suits both delicate and spiced food – the beer equivalent of dry young riesling. It’s imported by Fosters and current stock is ultra fresh – a must for this style of beer.

Asahi Super Dry a masterpiece of brewing

2 June 2010Beer, Beer reviewChris Shanahan

The late and great authority on beer, Michael Jackson, devoted just one paragraph to Asahi Super Dry in his 1989 The New World Guide to Beer. The beer had been released in 1987. But when Jackson wrote the text, probably in 1988, he couldn’t have foreseen the scale of beer war provoked in Japan by Asahi’s new brew, nor that it would create a new genre of beer, imitated by all other brewers.

Dry or ‘Karuchi’ beer became the rage and still is today, thanks probably to its unique fresh and delicate but intense flavour. The manufacturing specifications on Asahi’s website are reminiscent, in some respects, of the protective techniques winemakers use on delicate whites like riesling.

In particular, the site talks of special, gentle malt-handling systems designed to keep out unwanted flavours – much as top riesling makers separate free-run juice quickly from grapes, minimising skin contact.

There’s more to it in beer, though, as hops add spice and crispness, where natural acids, present in the grape, do the same for wine.

Occasional encounters with Asahi are reminders of what a brewing masterpiece it is – a beer you can drink by the bucket; but also one to note and savour to the last drop.

Beer review — Flying Dog

19 May 2010Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Flying Dog ‘Raging Bitch’ Belgian-style India Pale Ale 330ml $11.62
This is an idiosyncratic take on the classic high-alcohol, very hoppy India Pale Ale style. It’s raging with hops aroma and roughly three times as bitter as a standard Aussie lager. And gets away with it thanks to the opulent malt and heady 8.3 per cent alcohol. But it’s a curio not a quaffer.