The late Douglas Lamb, wine merchant and bon vivant, delighted in serving Cognac balloons of single malt whisky to dinner guests. The power of suggestion being so great, few twigged to Lamb’s little trick. Indeed, they often congratulated Lamb on a fine Cognac selection. Presumably Lamb served one of the less peaty malts, perhaps The … Continue reading In quest of a good malt whisky
Sharp’s Special 500ml $8.02 Sharp’s, founded in 1994, brews at Rock, Cornwall, and specialises in cask-conditioned ales. This is a bottled version of its strongest brew – a deep-amber ale with opulent sweet, malty palate, complex (but subtle) roasted-grain notes and perfectly judged hops adding more flavour complexity and bitterness. Southern Tier 422 Pale Wheat … Continue reading Beer review — Sharp’s and Southern Tier 422
Mountain Goat Hightail Ale 330ml $3.70 Mount Goat, from Richmond, Victoria, shows an extra freshness and liveliness often seen in bottle-conditioned beers. It’s a dark-amber ale, nicely combining in its aroma resiny hops with fruit and malt. The palate’s medium bodied and smooth, its maltiness cut but well-judged hops flavour and bitterness. Innis and Gunn … Continue reading Beer review — Mountain Goat and Innis & Gunn
Is Australia ready for high quality regional varietal wines in tetra paks? We’ll know soon enough following this month’s launch of One Planet Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc 2009 and McLaren Vale Shiraz 2008. They’re billed as “the green pour” and the marketing focuses on a zero carbon dioxide output across the product lifecycle. But the … Continue reading Time could be right for tetra pak wine
A trusted scout recently sniffed out a delicious cask-conditioned real ale at St Albans in the back blocks of the Hawkesbury estuary, north of Sydney. Established in 1836 the Settlers Arms Inn was a stopover for Cobb and Co’s arduous Sydney to Newcastle trip on the Great North Road. It’s now a popular watering hole … Continue reading Fine real ale at St Albans
Australia owns shiraz – not just in the generic sense of making juicy, soft, affordable quaffers (which we do very well) but in expressing a wide spectrum of styles across our dozens of regions. We’ve arrived at an amazing diversity of extraordinarily good shirazes. And the quality we’re now enjoying seems to be drawn from … Continue reading Savouring the shiraz spectrum
Australian winemaking 2009 – it’s a tale of two industries: mature, vibrant, small and medium producers with their strong regional identities; and the headline-grabbing wreckage of the ‘brand Australia’ juggernaut. A recent Winemakers’ Federation of Australia (WFA) report, Wine industry must confront the reality of oversupply, detailed the horror behind the chilling headlines. The report … Continue reading Brilliant regional wines emerging from Oz wine wreck
While shiraz and chardonnay slug it out for top spot (we produced 436 thousand and 445 thousand tonnes respectively in 2008), cabernet holds confidently to its less publicised third position at 254 thousand tonnes. Like shiraz, it works in a variety of regions, if not as easily, producing robust, pleasing flavours – albeit with a … Continue reading Aussie, French, US and Chilean cabernets reviewed
There’s a saying going around the industry that you can always tell a Foster’s wine executive – but you can’t tell them much. It shows in every part of their faltering wine empire, and even in a recent press release announcing the launch in Australia of wine in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic bottles. It’s an … Continue reading Will wine in plastic bottles succeed in Australia?
Wig & Pen Hopidemic ale half-pint $4.20 Brewer Richard Hopkins believes this is among Australia’s hoppiest beers with over 1.6 kg of hops for every 100 litres of beer. But the focus is on fresh, pungent aroma and flavour rather than bitterness – and it works deliciously with the unctuous malt flavours. This is the … Continue reading Beer review — Wig & Pen