Beer Radar
By John Krüger
Big Bumper Booze Guide 2011 (First published in Wine Business Magazine in 2011)
It’s time to head out to a decent bottle shop and fill the fridge with glorious cold beverages. Here’s a brief explanation why we’d buy any of the following beers & ciders. Buy yourself a rollercoaster of flavours instead of a 30 pack of fizzy dish water.
Beer
Feral
Hop Hog – Punchy hoppy goodness from Western Australia. Resiny aromatic hops meet bitter marmalade, caramel and burned white toast. It’s a chewy mouthful of bitterness and it’s so enjoyable.
Hitachino Nest
Japanese Classic Ale – Been waiting for a Japanese made India Pale Ale that’s been matured in cedar sake casks? Wait no more and embrace the cedar. Pencil shavings and wooden sauna with sappy pine needles. It’s an amazing left field beer and it’s surprisingly good.
Espresso Stout – Forget the idea of coffee at the end of a meal, enjoy an espresso and a stout at the same time. High alcohol and a good whack of dark roasted coffee beans. Based on the Russian Imperial stouts, there’s coffee and sweetness in a big delicious stout. It’s seamless. Candidate #1 for Breakfast Beer of the Year.
Cascade
Pure – It’s a beer surrounded by weird carbon neutral and low-carb marketing. Ignore all of that. The fact is it fared quite well in blind tastings and is a clean easy drinking summer quaffer with a hint of fresh hops.
Epic
Armageddon IPA – Not as scary as their Hop Zombie, it’s still a formidable beer. There’s a very liberal amount of hops, loads of bitterness, aroma and flavour but also a sweet honey character that provides balance. What a beer!
Coopers
Sapporo – Now made by Coopers in Regency Park, South Australia. Very easy to drink session beer with good malt character. Knock off a few washing down some seafood. We’ll be smashing these down. A good father-in-law beer.
Pale Ale – The fresher they are, the better. A fresh pale is a slightly malty sweet, hoppy and a vibrant beer with yeast complexity. Every fridge should have a few ready to go.
Matilda Bay
Alpha Pale Ale – Not too aggressive, but still very tasty. A session style of hoppy beer rather than a tongue buster. There’s plenty of hop aroma and flavour that’ll make you finish a six-pack before you know it.
Endeavour
2011 Reserve Pale Ale – Munich malt flavours with a background of fresh hops. Good pre-dinner beer. Malty and fresh.
Brooklyn Brewery
Brooklyn Lager – An American take on a Vienna lager. It’s malty, hoppy and very tasty. It’s nothing like a watery Aussie lager. Once punters realise a lager can also be packed full of flavour, this will be huge.
St. Ambroise
Framboise – A raspberry ale that’s reeking of fresh berries. Looks weird but tastes great. Not everyone loves fruit in beer, but this would be perfect with the Christmas turkey. Candidate #2 for Breakfast Beer of the Year.
Cider
Old Mout
Feijoa & Cider – A wonderful zingy pineapple tasting cider and a fantastic summer drink. Definitely one of our favourites. Everyone loved this.
Bulmers
Original Cider – Red apple skin colour and chewy skin tannins. Fairly dry but still has some body. Good size 500ml bottles to share or fill a pint glass with some ice.
Strongbow
Clear – Lower sugar and body makes for a good session cider. As far as you get from a farmhouse style but very easy to knock off four or more.
Matilda Bay
Dirty Granny – A good middle of the road cider that’s thankfully missing the unnatural cider flavour some popular ciders have. Tastes like fresh dessert apples. Knock them down like bowling pins from the dinky 330ml bottles.
Lobo
Cloudy Cider – Hints of funky ferments can turn away the drinker used to clean one-dimensional ciders, but this has some beautiful complexity. A cider for those with a need for something different and old-world.
Royale – The fancy version of the Lobo cider is more challenging with stewed fruit, natural ferment and farmhouse qualities. The bigger, sweeter and richer flavours will pay off for those who appreciate the funk. Funk lovers only.
Perry
Bulmers
Pear Cider – Very flavoursome, a dense body and a building sweetness. One for the sugar fans but a very enjoyable pear flavour.
Lobo
Pear Cider – The least funky of the Lobo range. Still chock full of fruit in Lobo’s old-school style. It’d be an excellent cocktail base too. Sweet at the start but ends medium-sweet and bready. Perfectly cloudy. 500ml punt bottles.
Little Creatures
Pipsqueak Pear – A hint of tartness makes this pear cider refreshing and bright. Not too sweet in typical Pipsqueak fashion.
