Month: August 2016

Cascade First Harvest

Beer Radar for Friday 16th March 2012

By John Krüger

Cascade First Harvest

Tuesday this week was the day that the fresh hops were picked at Bushy Park Estates in Tasmania for the 2012 Cascade First Harvest ale. Three experimental hops will be used this year; Campania for bittering, Triabunna for flavour and Ellandale for aroma. The hop names all come from historical hop growing areas of Tassie. First Harvest ale is all about using green fresh hops for maximum aroma and taste. They exhibit a resiny grassy herbaceous character rather than papery oxidised notes. Head Brewer at Cascade, Mike Unsworth said “Based on this year’s hop selection and the traditional style of First Harvest, we anticipate the 2012 brew to exhibit aromas and flavours of peeled fruits and blackberries over nettles, green leaves and ground spices. The finish should deliver a resinous bitterness which should blend in with the malt base to give a well-balanced hoppy beer.” Here at Beer Radar we’re looking forward to trying the new 2012 batch for ourselves in May when it’s released. We’ll keep you posted on our thoughts.

Call for entries for second beer brewers’ competition

There’s been a lot of work behind the scenes organising this year’s Royal Adelaide Beer Show, I’m on the committee and there’s no beer involved in any of the meetings, much to my disappointment. Things are revving up for the 2012 judging and I encourage anyone involved in commercial brewing to start getting their plan together for which beers they’ll enter. I definitely encourage more entries, especially across the gamut of beer styles. Here’s the latest update from the Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society before it’s even hit the presses: 

Low-carb, hybrid and exotic-style beers will be among the new sub-classes judged at the second Royal Adelaide Beer Show in July.

Boutique and mainstream brewers from around the nation are urged to enter the contest, which is part of the 2012 Royal Adelaide Show. The competition had great success last year, being the first staged by the RA&HS since the 1800s, with 80 entries from South Australia, New South Wales and Tasmania.

Chief judge and planning committee member Simon Fahey, also a technical manager in beer systems at Adelaide’s Coopers Brewery, says they hope to attract more than 100 entries from around Australia this year, including more from interstate.

“This year, there is also a vast expansion of the beer classes, including a sub-class for low-carb dry beer to cater for that expanding market, one for Belgian and French-style ales, and a hybrid class for beers using herbs and spices, smoked beer, aged beer and more.”

Categories encompass lagers, ales, stouts, reduced alcohol beers and wheat beer, with exhibits judged from both a technical and consumer appreciation perspective. Gold, silver and bronze medals will be awarded, with gold medal-winning beers considered for trophies.

Judges will include industry experts from both large and boutique brewers, and all trophy winners from last year’s contest have been invited to judge also. Female and interstate judges have been invited to take part for the first time, as well.

Last year, Adelaide Hills boutique brewer Lobethal Bierhaus dominated the show, winning four of the 10 trophies including Champion Exhibitor.

Entries for the 2012 Royal Adelaide Beer Show will open soon, with judging scheduled for July 3-5. Winners will be announced on July 6. For entry details, visit www.theshow.com.au or contact RA&HS representative Brad Ward on ph (08) 8210 5253.

*Cascade First Harvest was supplied by the brewery

Australia in a Can

Beer Radar for April 2013 edition of WBM

By John Krüger

Australia in a Can

After a huge day of judging the 2012 Royal Adelaide Beer Awards, we all decided that a few jugs of our favourite beers of the day would be in order. By the time we left to head out to the pub for dinner, I felt like a balloon sloshing about, ready to burst at any moment. We arrived at the nearby Goodie Park Hotel and fellow judge Neal Cameron didn’t bat an eyelid when a few pints of more beer were ordered. Myself and another judge had to wimp out by coasting on small glasses of d’Arenberg white for a while. Neal was our 2012 guest interstate judge from the Australian Brewery in Sydney. He’s an impressive judge and knows beer and cider back to front. I’ll never forget him swivelling to face a few of us with a pint of beer in hand and asking, “What do you think about beer in cans?” It took me a moment to respond, thinking about it. “We’re thinking of putting in a canning line.” He added.

It was like a repeat of the same question from another brewer within a few weeks beforehand. There’s a stigma about the quality of beer in cans in the USA but I don’t think there’s anything like that here in Australia. After all, we took to srewcaps on wines like ducks to water after it was explained why they’re a superior closure.

“I don’t mind at all.” I responded, and agreed with the other judges explaining the many virtues of canned beer over bottled. While most agreed that the experience of beer in a glass is best, the storage and distribution of beer in cans is smart, no matter which way you look at it. There’s no chance of light strike, which is much more of a serious issue for beer lovers than they’ll ever realise. The weight per container is bugger all compared to bottles at around 210g of glass versus 14g for a can. An aluminium can uses more energy to be produced but 92% less materials are used. They also use about 40% less volume to stack into a case, so the eco-benefits are pretty huge. Then there’s the whole issue of glass at events. If you’re a brewery and keen on getting your beer into big festivals, not having beer in cans means you’re pushing shit uphill all the way. If you’ve ever been in a country pub in the middle of nowhere, you’ll soon realise that the general attitude is “lugging kegs around and cleaning lines is for mugs”, and almost all beers are available only in cans.

So about 8 months after that chat with Neal, he’s sent me a few of his new babies. Pilsner, Pale Ale, Steam Ale and Cider all in boutique Eurosleek cans. They’re tall thin cans. The same ones that Coopers are using for their Clear, so they’re certainly not mistaken for the ubiquitous VB or XXXX cans. So what about the beer? The Australian Brewery Pale Ale is fashioned on the new Pacific Ale style, which is becoming very popular at the moment. It’s easy drinking, as is the Steam Ale, but with a beautiful grassy spicy hit of Galaxy hops. It’s quite moreish. The cider’s bloody good too, but the standout for me is the Pilsner. It’s so clean, refreshing and, well, just about perfect in every way.

Neal explains his new love of cans, “I’m getting to the point where I think the question really should be, ‘why glass bottles’?  I can think of no advantage of the format with regard to quality of beer, cost of production, cost of capital, cost of transport, recyclability, safety, accessibility, space, and weight.  The list just goes on and on.  Most importantly, as a packaging veteran, I have recently drunk the first run of steam ale we did which was 5 months ago.  The cans have not been refrigerated and they are still amazingly fresh – much more than a corresponding bottled product would be.  The biggest difference is almost zero oxygen pick-up, and that is terribly hard to get with a bottling line.  Every time I open the fridge and see the product I just love the way it looks – one of the first times I’ve fallen in love with something a marketing department has come up with.” he says.

The Australian Brewery beers are available at varied outlets including Dan Murphy’s and from the Australian Hotel and Brewery, 350 Annangrove Rd, Rouse Hill, NSW. http://www.australianhotelandbrewery.com.au

Feral Beers

Beer Radar

By John Krüger

Feral Beers (First published by Wine Business Magazine in 2012)

Even though the winter months slow down beer consumption, the industry certainly doesn’t go on holidays. There’s some amazing beers coming out, but sometimes the release dates don’t match up too well with the weather. A prime example is Feral’s Watermelon Warhead. It’s a naturally sour Berliner Weisse flavoured with watermelons. Now that’s worth a mention just for the style. I tried it on a particularly cold day and thought the release timing was a bit odd being such a great lower alcohol beer for stinking hot weather, but wow, what a beer. It’s absolutely sensational. It’d also be my first pick for beer of the year. It’s certainly a different style and there’s no other examples of locally produced sour beers that come to mind to compare it to. I was worried that the lactic acid sourness would be narrow and sharp like a Cantillon beer from Belgium but the sourness is broad, smooth and almost savoury. I also wasn’t sure if watermelon in a beer would be my kind of thing, but the subtle layer of flavour and aroma it adds is totally complimentary.

Feral is also blowing us away with their barrel aged Hop Hog and their Karma Citra, a black IPA with plenty of tropical fruit flavours from Citra hops. Brewer Brendan Varis must be doing everything right because they’ve just won Best Australian Brewery (again) at the recent International Beer Awards in Melbourne.

Another favourite brewer of Beer Radar is Owen Johnston. His work with Moo Brew in Tasmania is always rock solid and super tasty. Moo Brew have just released a new Belgian style pale ale called Belgo. It’s not super high in alcohol so I was lucky enough to drink a pint of it with Owen recently. Some Belgians can be quite strong in alcohol and that funky yeast phenolic department, but Belgo is very balanced and a pleasure to drink. It’s also thankfully missing the ‘hot water on Weetbix’ aroma and flavour. For a roasty stout, keep your eyes peeled for the Moo Brew seasonal stout, colloquially known as ‘the Velvet Sledgehammer’, or their oak aged imperial stout if you deserve a special yet expensive treat.

Little Creatures have got the timing right and have just released their spiced winter ale called Day of the Long Shadow. It’s a sipper, sitting at a whisker under 9%abv. It’s flavoured with cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice and the bottles are primed with Muscovado sugar. I usually avoid “Christmas” or “spiced” beers because the spices are always too dominant. While the spices in this beer are restrained, the flavours build with every sip so it’s definitely for spiced beer lovers only. The layers of specialty malts give it a very aromatic and gutsy malt backbone and it makes this seem like drinking an ingredient rather than a finished beverage. I’m tempted to try the dessert pairing options with this beer, or even using it as an ingredient. The ultimate Christmas beer pudding, or dare I suggest, spiced beer donuts. Oh yeah.

*Moo Brew Belgo and Little Creatures Day of the Long Shadow were supplied by the breweries.

Endeavour Beers

Beer Radar

By John Krüger

Endeavour Beers (First published in Wine Business Magazine in 2010)

Our first few points of contact with Endeavour beers were unusual. We spotted them on our Twitter feeds and checked them out. Their profile mentioned using fresh ingredients. Hallelujah! Someone making commercial beer is as keen about fresh hops as we are.

A while later someone from Endeavour contacted us to tell us they are keen followers of our blog. This got us worried, as we don’t have a blog. (Oh the irony! 2016) In our opinion blogs are somewhat like writing a very poorly edited directionless rant in lemon juice and hiding it in a pile of lemons and paper.

Then we saw their press release. At first we suspected a young PR lady with little or no knowledge of the brewing process had gotten a few points from Wiki arse-about-face and botched some crazy stuff together before her mid-morning soy decaf latte. We enquired but they insisted that they’d written it themselves even though some of their declarations just don’t make any sense.

Yeast added to the mash? It’d get killed during the boil.

Purifying rain water (which is essentially distilled) by adding minerals? Isn’t that adulteration, not purification?

Mentioning fresh bittering hops but nothing about the freshness of the finishing hops. Bittering hops get boiled to the shitter and are probably the only stage where you can get away with anything less than fresh hops.

These points made us worry further.

The third time we were worried was when we saw the tiny 330ml bottles. We hate tiny bottles, but it looks like they’re here to stay. More crazy statements on the labels, and the labels are brown. Not a nice reddish brown but public toilet surprise brown. Surely poo brown must be the least desirable colour on any food packaging.

Well, all of the worry was unfounded once we tried the beers. Sure, they might not be our holy grails of beers, but if we found these brews in a friend’s fridge we’d happily accept an Endeavour beer over the majority of mainstream beers hands down.

Here’s our thoughts on their two current 2010 beers:

Endeavour 2010 Reserve Amber Ale.

Beautiful rich golden colour with chocolate and sweet malt aromas.

Lovely balanced bitterness, not harsh or too resiny considering Pride of Ringwood hops are used. Certainly not the classic Aussie flavours associated with Pride of Ringwood. Restrained chocolate and toffee flavours. 5.2%abv so a good solid flavoursome beer yet still very easy to drink. Carbonation is spot on, which is where newcomers can get into strife, especially with a new range of bottle conditioned beers.

Endeavour 2010 Reserve Pale Ale.

Very pale with a green tinge. Smelling of American hops, old-lady perfume and tropical fruit. Musk lollies. 4.5%abv. Light and easy drinking. We wonder if a little more crystal or beefing up to a 5% beer would have given it just a little more oomph, but it’s very light and easy to drink. Still showing a persistent hop presence but a little low on bitterness for our tastes. Still a clean balanced beer that would be too easy to drink quite a few of. Still beats the pants off the latest offerings from XXXX and the like.

 

A New Creature

Beer Radar

By John Krüger

A New Creature. (Previously published in Wine Business Magazine in 2011)

Beer lovers rejoice! Western Australian beer superheros Little Creatures are continuing their war against bland beer. This time with another of their fine tuned “single batch” beers, and we couldn’t be happier unless the owner left us the business in his will. The reason for our extra jubilation is the direction Little Creatures are going. They basically created the first mainstream hoppy American style pale ale here in Australia with their pale ale, but they didn’t continue down a narrow path like so many bandwagon breweries have done since. Don’t get us wrong, supply tries to meet demand but Little Creatures have impressed us with their other single batch brews lately, like their simple but brilliant brown ale. Sure, the hop freaks were expecting another American style ale with a billion times more hops but the brown was a refined and balanced beer; in our opinion, one of the best beers released in quite a while. Now they’ve come up with their East Kent Goldings Ale. UK beer snobs will be going weak at the knees. Goldings hops grown in East Kent (EKG) are legendary. Known for their earthy, yet spicy character, they’re the essential ingredient in a plethora of classic English ales. This beer is sharp (33IBU’s) and spicy. It’s got a firm bitterness without hurting anyone matched with a mild malt character. There’s toasty malt flavours rather than thick caramel toffee which means a nice big pint goes down well without getting too rich and cloying. Keep an eye out for their abundant 568ml pint bottles of beery goodness. No dinky boutique hairdresser bottles here.

We’ve recently been given some amazing statistics about what it takes to get a cold beer at major sporting venues. A South Australian firm, Hoshizaki Lancer has been fitting out major venues with beer dispensing gear all over the world, from ANZ Stadium in Sydney to the new Wembly Stadium in the UK. ANZ Stadium has 396 beer taps. Behind them is 9kilometres of insulated beer lines. The lines themselves are filled with 49x 50litre kegs before any beer starts coming out of the taps. Their busiest night so far was opening night when patrons consumed 1800x 50litre kegs. That’s an impressive 90,000 litres of neck oil. 287kw of cooling is required to ensure the beer is served at the required temperature. Research is underway to minimise distance between the kegs and the taps as well as reducing refrigeration costs. It certainly makes our little Beer Radar office effort of 3 beers on tap seem a little underwhelming. The Yanks are that impressed with our icy flooded fonts and beer gear that Hoshizaki Lancer are about to show off the best of Aussie beer delivery in Las Vegas in the coming months.

Interview with Charlie Papazian

Beer Radar

By John Krüger

The beer that changed my life.

Continuing our series of “The beer that changed my life” this month is one of our favourite beer experts from the United States and prolific beer author Charlie Papazian. The godfather of homebrewing coined the phrase “Don’t worry, relax, have a homebrew” which has been used as a mantra by homebrewers worldwide to the point where online forum members regularly quote the acronym DWRHAHB and t-shirts and coffee cups bearing the letters are available for sale.

“For sure that prohibition style homebrew I had in Charlottesville, Virginia changed the course of my life.  I was a student at the University of Virginia when a neighbor of a friend went down to his basement to “get the good stuff,” a year old pale homebrew. I marveled at the clarity, color, foam and unique character.  It was way more interesting than any of the cheap beer I was buying then, back in 1970.

I was made to realize that I could make my own beer.  So I began my journey down the path that leads me to here and now.

Another real head turner: Aecht Schenklera smoked Bamberg lager.  It was sent to me by a homebrewer who had just returned from Germany.  At the time in 1978 I had not visited Europe yet.  And my first German Helles and Pilsener was also in that package.  None of these beers were anything like imported German beers that were available.

I was beginning to realize something was amiss here.  Why couldn’t we get real European quality beers in the USA? They brewed stuff especially for the American market – or it was so old that it didn’t generate any beer drinker excitement.

It became clear and all the reason why homebrewing was essential.  You had to learn how to make it. Then make it in order to get authenticity. I had a lot to learn. I traveled to the UK in 1981 and learned the foundations for brewing authentic English ales, stouts and real ales.

Homebrewers had been brewing stouts and the wisdom was you had to wait many months for the beer to mellow out.  A real head turner was Guinness Stout and other Irish and English stouts, brewed, smooth and ready to drink in 10 days! I listened to brewmasters tell me their simple knowledge.

I cast away most of the English homebrewing books of the time. They had much bad information and perpetuated myths.  It was time to translate pro brewing techniques to small scale homebrewing.  Thus emerged my Complete Joy of Homebrewing 1984 original edition.

My head continues to turn and beers continue to change my life.”

*Many thanks to Charlie for his help in this article

Beery Joy and Beery Sorrow

Beer Radar

By John Krüger

Beery Joy and Beery Sorrow. (Previously published in Wine Business Magazine in 2011)

“For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.” The Bible – Ecclesiastes 1:18 (King James version)

Of course Trevor Eccesiates was talking about beer. Well, to be honest I didn’t really read through the whole thing but I’m taking a moderately educated guess. Beer takes us on an emotional rollercoaster if we let it. I’m not talking about getting drunk, I’m talking about falling in and out of love with different beer styles and facets of beer. That moment when you realise that there’s a lot more of something you’ve just discovered out there can be an uplifting if yet expensive experience.

Like all loves, you learn about the bad that inevitably goes with the good. In beer’s case we can look at three main reasons.

Bad beer stays bad – That’s right, it was pretty shit to begin with. The company that makes it has decided to pump out a beer with a few minor defects but it’s technically a pretty well made brew. There’s a heap of marketing dollars behind it, and the shareholders want a bigger dividend so they’d better make it as cheap as possible and knock the stuff out like diarrhoea in Bali. The problem is, it’s usually not very nice to drink. The majority of punters are happy with anything that’s not too offensive and gets them pissed, so it gets a huge market share anyway.

Good beer goes bad – Here comes the sorrow. There’s a new beer that’s blipped up on the radar, a simple pilsner from Europe, but it’s so bold that the everyday punter doesn’t go for it. Thanks to the fact that the perfect pilsner comes from overseas in green bottles, there’s now the chance that it’s light-struck resulting in a blunt hop character, a hint of unpleasantness on the nose and a disappointing finish. Welcome to the majority of beers you buy singularly from bottle-shops. If they’re exposed to light, including the dirty big fluoro right next to them, it’s only a matter of time before they go to shit. Unlike big beers designed to cellar, most beer is best fresh and there’s also the chance that any random beer has been sitting anywhere oppressive for an unknown amount of time.

The beer divorce – It was a good beer, then I drank a better beer. The cause of most beer divorces. I found a better beer. We met in a bar, the rest is history. Now we just see the ex-beer at dodgy barbeques, and random bars late at night. The new beer is just so more vibrant and exciting

19th August 2011 News

Beer Radar

By John Krüger

19th August 2011 News (Previously published online in The Week That Was Friday 19th August 2011)

The Coopers brewing family in Adelaide are looking towards the summer and the flurry of brewing activity that comes with the change of seasons by installing a second mash tun today. (that’s the bit they make malt porridge in, for the non-brewers) The tun is 10 metres tall with a working capacity of 35,000 litres and will be able to boost production by another 50%. This big bugger has to be lifted by crane and installed through the roof. It’s seems things are looking positive for the Aussie brewing icon while the rest of the industry worries about changing beer consumption statistics in Australia.

Little Creatures are embracing the cold weather with a new limited release brew. Called The Dreadnaught, it’s a single batch Foreign Extra Stout. Weighing in at 7.4%abv it’ll warm the cockles while supplying a nourishing amount of malty depth. It’s chock full of dark Munich and ale malts and hopped to 60ibu’s (International Bitterness Units) with English Fuggles. Don’t be scared off by the high amount of bitterness though, it’s balanced well by the malt so you’d guess it’s closer to 30. Get a bottle while you can, it’s limited.

Got some brewing industry news, release information or good old gossip?

Twitter: @beerradar

Beer Interviews #2

Beer Radar

By John Krüger

Beer Interviews #2 (First published in Wine Business Magazine in 2010)

This month we continue our insightful series of interviews with people we admire and respect about “The beer that changed my life.” We’ve chosen these two people because of their respected palates and award winning contributions to the wonderful world of food and beverages in the Barossa.

Mark McNamara is Executive Chef at Appellation restaurant.

I can guarantee that the beer that changed my life wasn’t the first beer – getting smashed with friends as a young teenager in the early 70’s on longnecks of Southwark “Green Death” as it was then known. In fact this (and my dad insisting I have a beer with him the next day –and I thought at the time he was unaware of the night before) pretty much put me off of beer for many years – a kind of aversion therapy.

In fact it wasn’t until I moved to the UK to work about 10 years later that I discovered what I think beer is all about, micro breweries, cask conditioned real ale, hand drawn beer engines, real beer stored in cool cellars and dispensed unrefrigerated at 8ºc, in pints on cold nights, in front of an open fire in small free houses,. The key to this door was a small brewery called Rayments in a village called Furneux Pelham on the Herts- Essex border near Bishops Stortford. Unfortunately the brand owner “Greene King” closed the brewery in 1987.

The beer I was introduced to was Rayments BBA (variously referred to as Best Bitter Ale or Best Burton Ale) and I spent a very cold winter trekking around the nearly 30 independent pubs, located in tiny local villages (as these were the only stockists – no bottles only draught) . It was a revelation that beer could be savoured and flavourfull not frozen and bland, that hops were fragrant and floral, that beer doesn’t have to be gassy yet this was certainly not ever flat.

And the beauty was that each pub was responsible for cask conditioning their own beer, it was always hand drawn, no gas or temprite or superchillers anywhere near it. Because of this there was a slight variance in pint from pub to pub with the best batches being enjoyed closest to the brewery, but the beer didn’t travel much wider than a 30 mile radius anyway. Over the years other British Beers have come close but nothing has ever equaled it.

Maybe it is simply a romantic memory or the fact I can never again compare this beer with any other but Rayments converted me and I have been seeking out great beers ever since.

 

Darryl Trinnie is owner and brewer of the Barossa Brewing Company.

The eyes were opened when German decorative iron worker/brewer Harry Hennig introduced me to full grain mashing, however the lights came on when visiting Sydney for an engineering conference in the mid nineties.

Gaye and I were aimlessly wandering around the Rocks precinct looking for a decent bar, when we stumbled upon The Australian Hotel. Gourmet pizzas, a fantastic old pub, pretty much unmolested, and only two beers on tap, Scharer’s Lager, and Scharer’s Bock. Absolutely fanfuckingtastic. Both beers clean, unfiltered, free of preservatives and flavoursome. We stayed for the duration and taxied back to our digs.

I ditched the engineering conference to return to the Australian.

We traced the beer back to its source, Geoff Scharer’s George IV Inn at Picton. The copper clad brew house was on display in the front bar, and only two beers on tap.

We made regular trips to Picton to meet with Geoff and enjoy the beer.

He wouldn’t ship as he was afraid of spoil. So we would fly to Sydney from Adelaide, hire a car, drive to Picton, fill the vehicle with Scharers’, and drive back to the Barossa. I believe this was the best Lager and Bock in the country at the time.

Beer

An American Hop Embrace

Beer Radar

By John Krüger

An American hop embrace. (First published in Wine Business Magazine in 2011)

Ever since the Aussie dollar has gained parity with the greenback, things have changed for us in regards to imported beer here in Australia. Before parity, just about every imported beer you could get your hands on would turn out to be contract brewed under license in Sydney. All of a sudden, the Aussie dollar wasn’t standing in the shadow of the US dollar and cartons of Corona were being pushed harder than the idea of a carbon tax. Think about the margins on a cheap Mexican beer that’s still being sold in Australia as a “premium” imported beer. The good news is, it’s not just ordinary beer that’s on offer. We’ve recently spotted the groundbreaking Sierra Nevada Pale Ale for sale in Dan Murphy’s. Sierra Nevada Pale has a habit of turning beer likers into beer lovers. Dan’s also have the superb Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA. It’s like the pale ale but with the volume turned up to 11. These are American beers made with a passion for hops. Fresh resinous in-your-face, hops. A superb example of a hop embrace is the Sierra Nevada special release Harvest Ale. It’s a little harder to find than a trip to Dan’s, but worth the search. The Northern Hemisphere version utilising fresh American grown Centennial and Cascade hops. The Southern Hemisphere Harvest Ale using fresh New Zealand grown Pacific Hallertau, Motueka and Southern Cross hops. These hops have been picked, lightly dried and flown straight to the brewery to be used within a week. Stale hops exhibit cheesy or cardboardy oxidised characters, neither of which show up in these confronting ales. The Southern Hemisphere Harvest Ale is a hop lover’s beer. It’s got enough malt and alcohol (6.7%) to be a big beer, but it’s also bitter, slightly confronting, offensive and we wouldn’t want it to be anything else.

Another fantastic import from the USA, this time Portland, Oregon, is Rogue beers. Rogue are playful and ingenious. They’ll take an idea and run with it, explaining everything including all ingredients on their old school bottles. Rogue also have a dedication to hops so their beers are full flavoured and at times aggressive. Their 2011 beer schedule lists over 40 beers, a root beer and seven spirits. Their Dead Guy whiskey playfully boasts being aged in charred American white oak barrels for 1 month, yet it’s surprisingly good. We’ve only seen a fraction of what Rogue produces arrive here in Australia but what we have tried are unique yet solid beers. The Mocha Porter is superb and the Morimoto Imperial Pilsner is a world apart from anything else we’ve ever tasted. If we had a different Rogue beer posted to us every week, we’d have a very happy year.