- Country: Australiat
- Style: American Wild Ale
- ABV: 9.6%
- Serving Type: 355ml Bottle
- Price: Slightly Pricey
I know I’ve already spoken about this beer in the latest Untappd Catchup, but it’s so good that I thought it warranted a full review. American Wild Ale has one of the broadest ABV ranges of a beer style that I can think of. I’ve had Wild Ale’s around the 3% and I can think of many at 12,13,14%; 9.6% sits fair and square in the middle of that range.
HopDog BeerWorks is a nano-brewery located in Nowra, about an hour’s drive south of Wollongong. They’ve recently upgraded the size of their brewery, but it’s still a comparatively tiny 200 litres. Tim, the head brewer, makes some crazy good beers and Holy Snappin’ Turtles is no exception – as I’m hopefully going to explain below.
To say Holy Snappin’ Turtles pours clear would be a lie. It’s a hazy golden/orange colour with quite a thick head made up of large bubbles. Like with most sours, the head does not last long at all and there is virtually no lacing left behind to show it was there. In the bottom of the glass there was a bit of sediment, all the dead yeasties, but they are quite small and shouldn’t but you off.
Onto the nose and it gives a real indication of what to expect. It’s got plenty of Brett (Brettanomyces) and plenty of vinous qualities. It gives me almost champagne vibes, but a very tart champagne. There’s also some spicy hops towards the backend which are only detectable as the beer warms.
Much like the suggested this is quite a sour beer. It’s actually lightly fruity, I think it’s grape and citrus, as well as having a light biscuity malt base. It’s sour, it’s funky and there’s a hint of hop bitterness. It’s a bloody good beer! There is no evidence of the high ABV whatsoever – it’s a dangerously sessionable sour at the percentage…
I left the cap in the picture as the lime green bottle cap is the signature of HopDog BeerWorks (well along with making spectacular beers!). This is a beer that I could drink all day, however now I consider myself a sour connoisseur. This would not be a good introductory sour beer however! If you are not used to drink sours give this a miss, it could ruin some of the most interesting beers out there.
Remember it’s always Beer O’Clock somewhere in the world!
