Bacchus scooped the GABS People’s Choice Award with their Peanut Brittle Gose, and their Red Bellied Black scooped Hopped Up (Level 38). I found this in the back of the fridge, it’s a big Black IPA usually – but the hops had faded dramatically. What was left was a big, boozy black beer that was reminiscent of a Barley Wine – and it was pretty tasty!
With Grapefruit Sculpin mania sweeping Australia I thought it would be best to a few of the other Grapefruit IPA’s on the market. My pick of the bunch was BrewDog’s Elvis Juice. It had real grapefruit flavour, with some tartness as opposed to the overly sweet Sculpin flavour, to accompany nice bitter hops. Both are excellent beers, but if I had to pick one, I’d have the BrewDog version every day! God Save the Queen (Level 31) & Highlander (Level 3) were the badges.
Lizzie and I went out for dinner on Thursday to celebrate the end of my exams and that she’s only got 2 to go. We went to Botherambo, a Thai restaurant in Richmond that used to only deal in South East Asian lagers. Much to my surprise they had Moon Dog’s Mack Daddy, their new Dark Ale on tap – as well as a handy selection of other craft beer. It’s got a nice light body, light roast flavours with hints of dark fruit, while it finishes nicely dry and surprisingly bitter. This is popping up quite a bit around town so you should have no trouble tracking some down. I can see fans of the White Rabbit Dark really enjoying this beer. Heavy Weight (Level 43) was the badge.
To Øl’s Fuck Art – The Heathens are Coming, is not only one of the best beer names I can recall but also unlocked Hopped Up (Level 39), It’s a crazy beer; a Grisette, brewed with rye, hopped to high hell and that’s had Brettanomyces added! I only picked up a little rye spiciness, but the farmhouse elements and citrussy hops were both evident and complimentary. The real winner is the Brett though; it’s prominent, without dominating any of the weaker flavours and provides nice sourness as well as that trademark dry finish. It’s a wonderful beer!
Better Together (Level 12) was unlocked by IPA Four the Better, a collaboration between 4 (yes, FOUR!) New Zealand brewers. It was brewed by Liberty, Epic, 8 Wired and Hop Federation for their Australian distributors; Better Beer Imports. The beer was distinctly bitter, but the fruity hop flavour was strangely muted. I think my expectations may have heightened my disappointment, I felt this beer had huge promise. It’s by no means a bad beer, but it certainly didn’t live up to the hype in my head.
Shenanigans’ Grisette was the first beer of quite a long public holiday Monday session and also unlocked Trip to the Farm (Level 15). Grisette is one of these styles I would love to write more about in the future (watch this space.). I’ll truncate my explanation of the style to; essentially a light Saison, originating from Wallonia. The Shenanigans version exemplified this beautifully with a lightish body, lovely fruitiness, plenty of barnyard funk and a hint of creamy oats. I would definitely recommend this beer to people who like Belgian ales.
With the amount of Norwegian (read Nøgne Ø) beers that I drink, I was surprised that Ringnes Pils, a macro lager, earned Here Come the Vikings (Level 3). My Grandfather raves about this beer from his time in Norway (40+ years ago). Unlike some of the other beers he raves about; this one is actually not a bad Pilsner. It’s slightly on the sweeter side at first, but there is some nice grassy bitterness at the back end. It’s an easy drinking beer which you could do a lot worse than grab.
Paint the Town Red (Level 7) arrived somewhere in that same Monday tasting session. Hargreaves Hill’s The Phoenix was a beer that I was always going to have to split; a 9.6% Imperial Red Ale that only comes in 750ml bottles isn’t exactly conducive to the individual drinker… Dylan and I split bottle 324 in front of the footy and it was pretty spectacular! It’s big and boozy with heaps of caramel malts, hints of dark fruit. I think this years version is almost quad-like at times. It’s a pretty spectacular beer!
There we have it guys, another 8 beers wrapped up for you. Let me know if you’ve tried any of these beers before. I’m halfway through writing a number of pieces, including the Glassware piece that a few of you have been asking me for. Feel free to send me an email; gus.norris7@gmail.com or hit me up on Twitter or Instagram if you’ve got any questions or suggestions.
Remember it’s always Beer O’Clock somewhere in the world!
