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Beers 31/3/17

Founder FrootWood. Cherry Ale aged in Maple Syrup Bourdon Barrels. A cherry beer, aged in maple bourbon barrels? Its sweet, its cherry, its acutally ok, its very enjoyable it has a strong belgian kinda beer thing with a cherry kreik thing but its light yet boozy…the cherry isnt too much, the beer malt is obvious and also good, this is like a Dubbel? with light booze and a slight cherry flavour.

Modus Operandi Zoo Feeder IPA. Limited release. This was nice, no surprises. These guys make good beers, Nothing magic, but the initial hop flavour is very nice

Oskar Blues Pinner Throwback IPA. Big can, I had the Grapefruit version of this a few posts back. Ok this is an IPA?? This is weird as hell. Its clear and light in colour like some Pilsner. Its not very hoppy, not very malty…Isnt a “crushable” session IPA just a pale ale? This is lighter than the average pale ale these days, this is like a hoppy Lager. Has a nice fruity hoppy smell, a light hoppy flavour and bitterness, gets a bit more grapefruit bitter as it goes, not much malt, is watery I guess and yeah “crushable” I guess. Gets a bit more malty as it warms, all my burps are full IPA hoppy burps, its Weird. Pretty sue this shouldnt be labelled as an IPA.

Sierra Nevada Side Car Orange Pale Ale. Tastes like a very citrus pith pale ale. Its a S.N. pale ale, with maybe some more bitterness from the orange? Cascade, Equinox and Mandarina hops. I mean, its good, its a lovely beer, its just not doing anything different, and I really cant detect the orange. other than the citrusy hopping. Strangely as it warms there is a very slight taste and smell of over ripe orange.

Sierra Nevada Tropical Torpedo IPA. So this is their classic Torpedo witch changed hops? Its def not as resiny and oney on the hops, and not as sweet and cloying on the malt.

Website lists the deets as:

  • Bittering Hops Amarillo
  • Finishing Hops Mosaic, Citra, El Dorado, Comet
  • Malts Two-row Pale, Munich, Honey

And original Torpedo is:

  • Bittering Hops Magnum
  • Finishing Hops Magnum, Crystal, Citra
  • Malts Two-row Pale, Caramel

Interesting info.

Its nice, I would drink this more often than original which is a fantastic but very aggressive. It has no surprises, its an IPA.

 

 

 

 

Beers 24/3/17

Petrus Dubel Bruin. nice sweet malty smell, nice tan head initially. There is a deep almost bitter sourness in this, melded with a burnt dark malt taste. No real hop bitterness and a light alcohol taste somewhere in the sourness. Best before last month, but I cant imagine that effects this style toooo much. This as part of the next beer, and having one then the other really make you notice the characters they offer.This is ok by itself, but not something I would enjoy often.

Petrus Aged Red, reviewed previously, also see Dubel Bruin above for the characteristics the Dubbel presents in this beer. This really is a very good mix.

Nail Golden Ale. Yeah, I have had this hundreds(?) of times, but not in the new (now rather old) label bottles…so, yeah, its been a while. Its also a lot easier to get these days, didnt use to be that way. First off, thats a different hop smell for once, Galaxy hops, fruity yet kinda funky, a nice long bitterness thats initially quite powerful, and it lingers around. Really not sure about the malt here, the hops are extremely it. Its refreshing but bitter. A very “Aussie” ale, like a better Coopers Sparkling Ale.

Also had a Kilkennys Irish Red Ale. Couldnt taste much difference to the normal regular Kilkennys honestly.

Beers 16/3/17

Mash Brewing New Norcia Abbey Ale – Nice rich and boozy taste, as expoected from things labelled Abbey, its 7.3 percent. Malty and rich-sweet but also a little dark…almost a light savoury/bready character.  This is made by Mash Brewing, some how collaboratively brewed with the New Norcia Benedictine monks. Its good.

Oskar Blues Passion Fruit Pinner IPA – PASSIONFRUIT. This smells intensely of passionfruit, This has actual passionfruit and blood orange added to it. This is Citra, Mosaic hops? Theres a dry hoppy bitterness at the end of the sip. There not really any maltyness I can detect, maybe in the bitterness somewhere…This is good, though I would like to know how old this is and try a very fresh batch, Not magic really, except for the intense fruit hit in the smell, a very nice IPA though.

Petrus Ages Red – Not a fan of these labels, but they do have good info about the beer on them. Big cherries as soon as its opened, and a fizzy carbonation. Cherries, this tastes like cherries, and its slightly tart. This tastes like a Kriek. This is 15% of their aged Pale Ale (aged 2 years in oak foeders, and reviewed elsewhere and its very good by itself) and 85% of a Dubbel Bruin with cherries. It well blended and unlike most krieks has a depth of flavour to it. Getting a lot of cherries, a tartness from the aged pale, and a light boozyness almost aftertaste from the dubbel?This is good, but like a kriek only in small doses, very intense after a while.  Also 8.5%.

Aegir Anker Gose – Ægir Bryggeri, Norwegian. I love Gose so much. What a great style. This has a good saltyness to it, which is lacking often now. Its very very nice. Briney smell, a good tartness, almost puckering. A good Gose on the good side of briney tart.

Otherside Brewing. Harvest Red Ale. Problematic, but not a bad beer, just very average and a red ale as well….thats popular now it seems. These guys are a pretty new , but also pretty big already, as they are an event company (Sunset Events; of Laneway Fest fame)  in conjunction with The Beer Farm (A cannery/Young Henrys), and some very experienced brewing and brewing business guys.  More info on why this is a BRAND first and craft beer second here. “The idea with Otherside was to capture the spirit of their events in a booze brand.” …Yeah, nah.  I think as soon as a beer label starts on about “Its a philosophy and an embodiment of core values,…” And theres more CAN ARTWORK info on the can than about the content, It feels like a bunch of wankers making a brand, not so much a beer or a brewery making beer from the heart.
This is a Red Ale. Very popular right now. This one has a fruity hop character and a red ale maltyness.  Its in a big size can as well. Its not bad, but its not great or amazing. Maybe they will be ok, who knows, I just hate this way of going about  it, I guess. Rant over.

 

 

 

Beers 9/3/17

Stone Brewing – Who You Callin Wussie Pilsner.  5.8% with strong malt and strong hops, not really a pilsner anymore, really. Its not a bad beer, but its like many other Stone beers, just another big malt big hops beer. All that I assume makes this a pilsner at all is hop and malt choices. Is it even lagered??  Like I said, its not a bad beer, its just not a pilsner.

Feral – Fanta Pants. Pretty sure I had this on tap and a Feral event…just cant remember now. This is an Imperial Red IPA. Smells malty sweet and citrusy. Tastes sweet malt and then just all hops. Considerable malt. Hopping seems very similar to Hop Hog. Its good beer, but its just kind of another IPA again.

Cheeky Monkey – Imperial Monk Red IPA. “Southern Wailer” Limited Release…I have had this a few times before, unsure if I actually reviewed it, though. First time it was very fresh and stung from hoppyness. This is a bit more subdued but in no way lacking. Its made just down the coast, so freshness isnt an issue. Dry maltyness, a nice dry bitterness too. Smells sweet and a bit dank, a bit fruity. Theres a nice alcohol bite that melds very well with the hop bitterness, its 8.5%. Its good.

 

 

Beer 6/3/17

Finally got some of this. Yeah they were bought out a year or so ago, and every second person says the recipe has/hasnt changed…

Ballast Point Sculpin India Pale Ale. This is a good IPA, though something I am very over searching for these days, its like a Torpedo, or something from Stone. Is this thing “old style” now?. Its strong bitter, intense grapefruit pith, a sweet almost viscous maltyness.  Yes this is good, and its been around forever and a classic of its style since its creation.

Beers 4/3/17

La Sirene – Saison. Nice very funky smell on opening, cloudy, theres a fair bit of yeast floating around in this, its bottle conditioned. Lemony on the first sip, then a yeasty spice typical of a Saison.  Kinda dry finish, a little wine-like. The nice lemony taste grows. This is good.

Brasserie de Saint-Sylvestre – 3 Monts Bière de Flandre. Ok, this is a Bière de Garde (“beer for keeping”), its clear, looks like a lager, smells like a lager, its not a lager and its 8.5%. I have no idea about the age of this bottle or the condition its been kept in (was in a fridge when I purchased it) . There is a light malt flavour in there, a little woodyness (looks like this was fermented in wood barrels from online notes?) and some wine, though its rather obscured by the alcohol taste and the yeast until it warms up. This does need to warm up to show more than the alcohol/yeast. The yeast has a saison character, peppery etc. Its not a bad beer, but seems like a Saison with too much alcohol present and less carbonation and anything else is rather hidden, probably not kept well?. One glass is more than enough.

Oscar Blues – Ten Fidy. Imperial Stout. My god this is a dense and thick as hell head, it is dark brown as hell. 10.5% and malty, burnt, dark malt, burnt sugar, all kinds of dark, rich, thick, viscous. I dont get any coffee, or molasses, just malt. There is a hoppyness in there, you can kinda sense it, 98IBU. This is good. Damn good.

Boston Brewing – Nut Brown Ale. Ok, I drank this the other day, but didn’t review at the time and for some reason thought it was worth getting again to do so…must have been the next beer I’m about to drink, but this is good, this is not bad and no hate. This is a nut brown ale, simple and this does it. Its got good malt, a nice mineral character, the hops are subdued…its good. This is good, worth drinking again regardless.

Fox Hat Brewing – Phat Mongrel. A Oatmeal Stout. Ok as I said above/below I got a few beers I didnt review and maybe this was the one I wanted to. This is nice, its good, its almost viscous enough to say oatmeal, but yeah its also OK. roasty, very easy. Lovely malt smell, cant detect hops unless its in the aftertaste. This isnt bad, its good,  but no stand out.