Beer Radar
By John Krüger
Wahoo? (First published by Wine Business Magazine in 2011)
We’ve recently seen the only significant difference in beer packaging since we spotted aluminium Heineken bottles during a pub crawl through Lan Kwai Fong in Hong Kong back in 2004. Gage Roads have released its Wahoo Ale in a new Vortex bottle made by the high profile American owned glass company O-I in Sydney. The inside of the bottle neck has large smooth grooves twisting around almost like rifling in a gun barrel, while the outside of the bottle remains normal. Miller Lite in the States has been doing the same thing for a while. Not surprisingly, everyone has asked “why?” and the only reason we can think of is chugging a beer could possibly happen ever so slightly faster, not that there’s any mention of accelerated consumption in the Miller Lite or Gage Roads press-releases and marketing. So it’s basically a point of difference in the glass packaging that Gage Roads are hoping will give them an edge in a very crowded market. We couldn’t tell any difference to the flow of the beer from the bottle but we swear the Wahoo tasted hoppier than it did the last time we tried it, even though Gage Roads assured us that the recipe hasn’t changed since its first release.
A family lunch at the Adelaide German Club recently was even better than usual when we realised that Hofbräu Maibock was on tap. Traditionally, in Munich, the first barrel of Maibock is tapped in the last week of April in readiness for the month of May. Hofbräu Maibock is Munich’s oldest bock (strong beer), which dates all the way back to 1614. Now that’s brewing heritage! The Maibock is darker than the Hofbräu Original and has a very rich malt flavour with a high alcohol level of 7.2%. After three or four 500ml steins, you certainly realise that this is no ordinary beer. Hofbräu 500ml bottles are available at most good bottle shops. We rate their beers highly.
