Month: August 2016

Beer Radar for TWTW May 2012

By John Krüger

A celebration tale

Coopers has just released a new ale. This happens less often than the Wiggles change  members, so it’s a big deal. Coopers are celebrating brewing beers for 150 years so they’ve introduced a tasty new beer for our pleasure. It’s actually not the easiest beer to describe. It’s a reddish brown ale with a bit more of a nudge with hops than you’d usually be used to in a Coopers. It’s still very Coopers, obviously. They’re not celebrating hops, they’re celebrating 150 years of brewing. It’s only coming out in 355ml stubbies but you can’t miss the flashy packaging. I’d like to try more to be honest. I drank three stubbies in different parts of the house and am still wondering if I like it or love it. This project needs more research.

Update:

I mentioned Cascade First Harvest in TWTW a while back and promised to update. It’s brewed and in the bottle shops. New head brewer Mike Unsworth has taken over from Max Burslem after Max had been brewing Cascade beers for 40 years. Now there’s a bloke who deserves medal. Mike’s 2012 First Harvest is pretty spicy and green. Quite resiny but not with the usual musk and Juicyfruit that American hoppy beers have. Well worth a go.

Beer Radar for TWTW 25^th Feb 2011

By John Krüger

You may have read a few weeks ago in TWTW about Stone & Wood’s new Red Relief Ale. A one-off brew with all proceeds going towards the Qld flood relief. Now SA beer lovers can try the beer from the big burly brewers from Byron Bay and also help raise money for the worthy cause. Red Relief, is a dark red ale brewed with a variety of German malts, including pilsner, munich and crystal, then hopped with the German noble hop Spalt, and fermented with an ale yeast.

Come down to The Wheaty (Wheatsheaf Hotel, George Street Thebarton) this arvo and enjoy a Red Relief Ale with all proceeds going to the Queensland flood appeal.

Kegs tapped from 5pm, Friday 25th Feb – on for as long as it lasts!

Direct donations to the Flood Appeal can be made through the Government of Queensland here: www.qld.gov.au/floods/donate.html

Beer Radar for TWTW 14^th Dec 2012

By John Krüger

It’s time to hammer some good beers on tap. It’s fresher and more sociable than drinking beers at home. Have a chat with the bar staff and ignore any televisions. They’re anti-social and a stupid addition to any public bar. Check out this great invention: https://www.tvbgone.com

Have a go at McLaren Vale Beer Co’s new Lager. It’s crystal clear and well made. Vale LGR is only available on tap at the moment in select venues nationally. SA beer lovers can try it at a heap of different pubs including the home of Vale Ale, the Vale Inn (previously known as the Salopian Inn just out of McLaren Vale) and also at the Highway Hotel on Anzac Highway.

The Stockwell hotel has Barossa Brewing Co’s Victorville ale on tap and it’s going strong. Victorville is an American Pale Ale in style and surprisingly, a well kept Barossa secret. The beer’s as rare as hen’s teeth so it’s well worth paying the Stocky a visit.

Check out Stone & Wood’s special release Garden Ale. It’s a lower alcohol alternative with a hint of Juniper and a really nice dry finish. It’s made for beer gardens, beer swillers and sunny days. Available in 500ml bottles and also on tap in selected venues. Check their updated listings on the website http://stoneandwood.com.au/availability/

Beer Radar for TWTW 11^th October 2013

By John Krüger

Two 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. 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. 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%abv. 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 beer friendly bottle shops like The Highway hotel.

Beer Radar

By John Krüger

Aussie Sapporo and The Big Dipper (First published in Wine Business Magazine in Nov 2011)

Beers contract brewed or brewed under license are a big deal at the moment. A search on Twitter for the hash tag #fakeperoni shows a small section of the consumer rage out there and it’s all about label integrity; an issue we’ll look into closely in a future Beer Radar. For now though, let’s look at an interesting beer brewed under license now in Australia, the Japanese classic Sapporo. Sapporo is also brewed under license in Canada, so the origins of the Sapporo you may have tried before here in Australia are anyone’s guess. We tracked down a can of Sapporo that as far as we know was brewed in Japan just to see if the Australian brewery Coopers has gotten it right. Our first taste of the locally made version was at the official South Australian launch at the Robin Hood hotel in Norwood. The draught version did taste slightly sweet which is an issue when brewing lagers, not attenuating well enough, but after trying the higher carbonated bottled version, we’re really enjoying Aussie Sapporo. It’s got a light malty sweetness but it’s clean and fresh. Considering this Sapporo was brewed 9 kilometres away from where I’m writing this now, it’d have to be damn fresh. That’s one downfall of drinking the version that’s brewed in Canada (13,800kms) or Japan (7,300kms), is the time it takes to get here. While this is probably the best version of a brewed-under-license beer we’ve tasted, listening to Dr. Tim Cooper’s speech at the launch night revealed that this was no easy task. Just as his speech was listened to intently by a selection of Japanese officials, the trial batches at Coopers had a lot of Japanese attention before it was deemed worthy. Aussie Sapporo is a beer you’ll down many of, easily.

Another beer that’s got us all excited is the new limited release Little Creatures Double India Pale Ale called The Big Dipper. It’s what Little Creatures fans have always wanted, a bigger version of their pale ale. It’s a big beer at 7.8%abv, 55ibu’s of bitterness and has no less than 7 different types of hops in it. It’s remarkably clean and balanced and still reeks of hop goodness. With all Little Creatures beers, it’s refined.  The fairly neutral label doesn’t reflect the rock star beer contained within. Unfortunately this limited release beer won’t last long enough to be around for Christmas so we’ll be hunting it down and stockpiling like no tomorrow. It’s that good. The Big Dipper is a beer to covet, to search out while you can and hide away, sharing only with a select few.