Category: Craft Beer

Beer Radar for November 2013 WBM

By John Krüger

A few new beers have popped up on the radar and they’ll certainly get a hammering over the warmer weather.

The first is a new beer from Pikes in Clare. They already have a very drinkable stout and a cracker of a floral hoppy pilsener. Now they’ve added a Sparkling Ale to their line up. It’s a nice middle of the road beer, which could be sipped on a cool night or enjoyed by the pint on a warm day. It has a nice malty dry biscuit flavour and a lingering bitterness. It’s a medium bodied, nicely balanced ale with a clean yeast profile which really adds to the drinkability. It’s already available at multiple venues including the Kings Hotel in Adelaide as well as Leftbank Melbourne and Vic on the Park in Sydney.

The second new beer is from Mismatch Brewing Co. Aptly named Ewan Brewerton is heading up a small proactive group of “gypsy brewers” who have released their first beer, Archie’s Red Ale. It reminds me of a Little Creatures creation, it’s very well balanced while still delivering the goods. It leans slightly on the sweeter side but chock full of citrus hop flavour, complex malt character and mouth feel. It’s quite a big beer on the flavour delivery while still weighing in at only 5% alcohol. I’ve really enjoyed pouring Archie’s Red into a tulip glass and enjoying it as an after dinner beer. Giving credit where credit is due; Ewan insists on transparency to the point of even naming where the beer was brewed and ingredients used in press releases. Archie’s Red Ale isn’t available outside of South Australia just yet, but inside SA they’ve done a great job getting it in all the cool bars like Udaberri and craft beer friendly bottle shops like The Highway hotel.

The third beer to pop up is a new ale from James Squire. The Constable is described as a Copper Ale. I’m not sure if there’s a pun intended there or not but the people at Lion seem pretty happy with it. Samples weren’t available by deadline but an insider has smuggled some info out to me via SMS with the descriptors: English, floral, citrus, earthy, and an AVB of only 3.4%. This could join Little Creatures Rogers and Birbeck’s The Captain as lower alcohol alternatives that still have a decent whack of flavour. Just in time for the office Christmas party where you really should keep your pants on this year.

In other news, a surprising move; Owen Johnston, well known head brewer for MooBrew has taken up a position with HPA (Hop Products Australia) as Sales and Marketing Manager. For such a high profile brewer to take up a non-brewing role was certainly unexpected but Owen seems excited about his new job. “My role is definitely part travelling sales goon, but more importantly I should be able to provide brewers with a conduit to the technical information they need to get the best the character from our hops. Whether that is analytical information or advice on application in the brewery, I will be able to help brewers.” He says. The hop industry seems to be the fastest changing facet of beer at the moment. Although different varieties of barley are slowly being developed, new varieties of hybrid hops are popping up like pimples on a greasy teenager. Owen adds, “In terms of new hop varieties coming from our extensive breeding program, I look forward to sticking my nose into ‘farm business’.  It is definitely an area that generates a lot of interest from brewers as they search for the next point of difference for their beers.” We’re looking forward to hearing more from HPA and hopefully having the chance to brew with some of the latest new-age hybrid hops ourselves. Owen’s hoping he’ll still get a chance to pull on the steel-caps and knock out a batch of beer with brewing friends at some stage in the future.

 

Beer Radar for WBM June 2013

(First published in Wine Business Magazine in 2013)

By John Krüger

Aussie Winter Warmers

A big Shiraz or a shot of whiskey certainly help make a chilly night better, but a cold beer still rocks on a cold night. The beers don’t have to be icy cold, just lightly chilled is fine. A mate of mine Tony Yale runs a Real Ale pub called the Prince Rupert in Newark, Nottinghamshire in the UK. They only serve real ale at a cellar temperature of 12C and they’ve won a CAMRA award for their diligence at serving the perfect pint. The wonderful flavours in beer are muted by serving a beer too cold. Knocking back icy cold beers will always have an important place in Australians hearts but it’s not a blanket rule for everything beery. This month I’ve dug out some great Aussie dark beers that are beautiful drinking at any time of the year but especially warm the heart in cold weather. Pour them into a big glass like a tulip or Nonic and let them warm up for a little while to really enjoy them.

Moo Brew – Dark What a great beer. It’s based on a American Brown Ale but it’s a beautiful dark ruby red with more roasty flavours. It’s so balanced and smooth that it’ll take a few sips to lock on to the generous hop flavour. It’s nice to see a clean finished beer without secondary fermentation yeast floating in the beer. Easy and very enjoyable drinking with a dark roast finish.

Stone and Wood – 2013 Stone Beer This years version is darker. Going from last year’s rich red ale to a black beer. The extra chocolate wheat malt in the grist has added dry cocoa and coffee layer of flavour and made this beer a definite addition to the winter list. It’s still got a good whack of hops which turns a black ale into something interesting. You can also buy this year’s Stone Beer in their popular 500ml ceramic swing-top bottle from their online store www.stoneandwood.com.au

Prancing Pony – Black Ale It’s turning into a very popular beer. De-husked roasted malt avoids some of the acrid character associated with really dark beers. This is smooth and sweet with loads of coffee, a hint of liquorice, dry chocolate and a sweet malty body. It’s not too alcoholic so it’s still nice easy drinking. I prefer a dryer finish but the Pony range tend to lean towards sweeter maltier style of beers, which might explain why their Black Ale is so popular.

Murray’s – Heart of Darkness Now it gets weird, this is a Belgian Imperial Stout. It’s hard to miss the cool 1950’s horror movie style label artwork. Spicy Belgian yeast esters explode out of the glass before you even try to smell it. It’s a thick Chinotto tasting stout weighing in at 9.6%abv. It has a load of weight in the mouth but still finishes surprisingly dry with a lingering spicy chocolate finish. Give one a try. It’s a meal in a glass.

Kooinda – Black IPA Black Rock n’ Roll IPA in a glass. It’s a well balanced, yet resinous hoppy India Pale Ale (well, not pale) hidden in a smooth black stout. The two styles meld beautifully. The hops are added late in the boil and dry hopped as well, so there’s no doubt it’ll make hop heads happy. The hop flavours range from earthy and spicy to pine resin and grassy. There’s a hint of dry chocolate and coffee coming from the roasted malts and an enjoyable medium body.

Southwark – Old Stout  Such an under-the-radar stout but everyone should try it. I think it’s the finest beer to come out of Lion’s Thebarton brewery. It’s rich, balanced, still traditional with a hint of smoke and sweet dark toffee. Drink it wearing a beanie and think of home. At a recent beer dinner, Technical Brewer Karli Small from Lion’s West End brewery portrayed the subtle smokey character as akin to Barossa Mettwurst, which nails the description perfectly.

Beer Radar for WBM Dec2013/Jan2014

(First published in Wine Business Magazine in 2014)

By John Krüger

This summer’s the perfect time to skip the usual beer you buy every time and branch out a little. Head into your favourite bottle shop and grab a few stubbies of each of the following beers and do some research. Find out what you like best before you lash out on a few cartons. This year I’ve put together a list of summer guzzlers. Chill these beers down icy cold or even better, keep a separate esky full of beers on ice. You’ll have more room in the fridge for ham and Pavlova, which makes everyone in the house happy. Whichever beers you ultimately choose, try to find fresh stock, chill them down well ahead of time, and rejoice in the finest hot weather beverage known to man (if you don’t count Clare Riesling).

Pikes – Pilsener

A floral light bodied Pilsener that has a wonderful restrained floral hoppy character. It has a really nice malt/bitterness balance and a light easy drinking body. The carbonation is spot on, so this kind of beer is perfect served icy cold and guzzled out of the bottle on a hot day. A great fresh Aussie made pilsner.

Croucher – Pilsner

The Kiwi’s do craft beer really well and although this one can be hard to find in mainstream bottle shops, it’s worth tracking down. This is a true Pilsner style beer with sharper more intense bitterness while still being refreshing and totally enjoyable. Nice big 500ml bottles to pour into a chilled glass. Once you find them, it’ll be hard to go past. A favourite Kiwi.

Cascade – Bright Ale

You know if it’s from Cascade, it’s going to be clean and crisp. Their revamped line of beers includes a Bright Ale which is mouth-wateringly refreshing, crisp and clean. The Bright Ale utilises one of my favourite finishing combinations of Galaxy and Cascade hops, which give it a great waft of fresh tropical fruit aromas. Kudos for the redesigned, yet still value-for-money 375ml bottle, so it still feels like a big stubbie of beer in your hand. Thankfully lacking a screw-cap. Classy.

Budĕjovický Budvar

A perfect lager from the Czech Republic. Classic Czech flavours of clean straw malt characters with spicy noble Saaz hops. When this is fresh, it’s the essence of what clean lagers are all about. It’s like pouring chilled crisp liquid gold down your neck. This is where it all started and it still stands as a classic example of the beer style. Green bottles aren’t a great defence against sunlight so try to buy a fresh sealed carton. Little green bottles of pure joy.

McLaren Vale Beer Co – Vale Lager

A “new world” lager, it’s got more guts than the typical Aussie lager. More floral and citrus hop characters and a hint of light Munich malt to give it some malt flavour and backbone. It’s a gutsy, full-bodied lager with the flavour cranked up, but still only 4.5%. Gutsy and crafty.

Stone and Wood – Pacific Ale

It’s light in body with only a subtle sweetness. As soon as you remove the cap it’s got passionfruit and citrus hop aromas leaping out of the bottle. There’s that beautiful Galaxy hop again. This beer is turning into an Aussie icon that some are starting to imitate. Such clean easy drinking with abundant hop joy, without feeling like you’re chewing through the contents of the grass catcher from the lawn mower. Summer drinking so good, I wish I could ride a surfboard properly. Drink it wearing board shorts.

Brooklyn Brewery – Summer Ale

Made with 100% British malts, they’ve toned the hops down and made a classic UK style summer ale ale, but it’s still 5% alcohol. It’s got a hint of caramel, a slight refreshing wheaty twang, and the classic UK generous real malt flavour. If you’re not after US hop explosions or crisp lagers, Brooklyn Brewery’s Summer Ale might be what you’re looking for.  An easy-going ale without any sediment.

North Coast Brewing Co – Blue Star Wheat Beer

This is a very non-offensive American Wheat beer. It’s soft and nice. It’s smooth sailing with a laid back slightly sweet wheat flavour and minimal bitterness. Try it with a slice of lemon, which is perfectly acceptable behaviour with wheat beers. It’s very refreshing and the lemon accentuates the hint of wheat tartness. The soft yet tasty option, without having to resort to watered down low-carb or low-alc alternatives. Knock a few of these down with lemon while you battle the BBQ.

 

Beer Radar for WBM – May 2012

By John Krüger

New beers to wet the whistle

Over the last month we’ve been trying out some absolutely cracking beers from some well renowned small brewers around the world. We wouldn’t recommend them if we weren’t buying them regularly and loving every last drop.

Our first selection are fine examples of why the Kiwi’s are ringing our hop loving bells. We haven’t chosen the more offensive IPA’s and brutally hoppy beers, but hop freaks will still enjoy these pilsners with a difference.

 

Tuatara – Pilsner

It’s a pilsner with the volume turned up to NZ craft beer levels. It’s clean, bitingly hoppy yet not too crazy. Saaz hops would make the Czech’s proud of this one. Traditional roots and techniques keep this beer in the right place. So easy to drink but nowhere near the typical commercial bland pilsners.

 

Croucher – Pilsner

Just when you thought that fizzy lagers had died a bland flavourless death in a dark hole somewhere, Croucher come out with this beauty. Sharp like a whip crack, fresh and bright. Fresh hops add a load of flavour but the biscuity malts balance out the NZ Motueka and Riwaka hops perfectly. It well and truly passes the session test, and we’re happy to keep testing it.

 

Vale – IPA

A new release with a bright red label. It’s not a brutal beer but it ticks all of the IPA boxes. It’s rich and malty with some darker malt complexity. There’s still a well thought out selection of hops; Citra, Galaxy and Nelson Sauvin, providing a nice range of flavours without being too harsh and resiny. It’s big, but it’s not too hard to down a few. The Vale IPA has been available on tap for a little while now, but the bottled version is now out there and becoming quite a popular beer.

 

Little Creatures – The Quiet American

An unusual hybrid from the superstars of beer in Western Australia. We’ve never seen one before, which might explain the name. Simply put, it’s a hoppy Belgian strong ale, but this isn’t a simple beer. The Belgian yeast gives this beer estery, spicy characters. Belgian candied sugar additions top the alcohol up to 7.2%abv which gives a hint of hot alcohol. New season US Cascade and Chinook hops bound out of the glass with citrus peel and pine resin flavours and aromas. It’s challenging, it’s weird, and it’s certainly worth trying.

 

Lobethal – Double Hopped IPA

Alistair Turnbull, owner and brewer at Lobethal Bierhaus has tweaked his IPA to new levels. He’s doubled the hops to double the fun. This is a big hoppy beer that’s still very drinkable. Crystal malts give it quite a dark rich colour and flavour but there’s plenty of hops to balance out the malt sweetness. An extra addition of hops to the bright tank give an extra layer of resiny hop character with a bucketload of hop aroma wafting from the beer. This is the kind of beer that you can taste the next morning if you have more than one pint. It’s becoming a very popular beer with the beer nerds, which might explain why we keep seeing the little Lobethal ute delivering kegs all the time.

Beer Radar for TWTW 2011

By John Krüger

Aussie brewers are showing their support for the folk of Queensland by doing what they do best; brewing great beer. Stone & Wood in Byron Bay have brewed a “Red Relief” ale. Jamie Cook from Stone & Wood Brewing Co. says “As craft brewers, we’re not exactly a big corporate with a big balance, but we do know that Aussies treat beer like currency, and we can brew beer. We’ve decided to work together with other good craft beer people to offer craft beer drinkers the opportunity to donate to the cause by simply buying and enjoying a beer. “

This special brew will be first available at the GAB SpecTAPular on the 12th of Feb and local Byron Bay pubs, and other good craft beer venues around the country the following weekend.

Proceeds from every keg sold across the bar will be donated to the Queensland Flood Appeal.

Mildura sign writer and graphic artist Carlie Rees decided to do something positive and knock up some simple stubbie holders to raise some money for the flood relief. Expecting to sell 20 or so, she asked her friends on Facebook if anyone was interested. She’s now inundated with over 200 orders and Adelaide venue, the Highway hotel is reported to have ordered 100 stubbie holders from her to sell across the bar. She’s unfortunately unable to produce many more without having to register as a charity.

Beer Radar for TWTW Friday 28^th June 2013

By John Krüger

Forget blowing the rest of your EFY budget on copy paper. That’s no fun. The following winter warming beers we couldn’t fit into the latest Beer Radar in WBM would be loads more fun.

Little Creatures Single Batch “Mr Obadiah” is a rye porter that has a beaut spicy rye character and that burned black Chinotto flavour that is pure beer joy right to the last drop. Pour the whole 568ml bottle into a large glass and marvel at the wonder of a great smooth dark beer.

Coopers have sent out a few stubbies of pre-release 2013 Vintage Ale and holy shitballs, it’s a cracker! It’s very different from any other Vintage Ale they’ve released and possible the most drinkable so far un-aged. This year’s will take quite a lot of willpower to let some age and reveal the more balanced version within. This year, Coopers have utilised a trilogy of “C” hops; Centennial, Chinook, and Citra with a dash of Styrian Goldings. The Citra adds a bucketload of citrusy “Wow!” Nice work.

*Coopers and Little Creatures supplied the beers mentioned above