Nail Brewing Gareth Skywalker Golden IPA, its a good beer, no idea when this was last canned though, probably a year old! | Innate Heirloom Czech Pilsner is a nice beer, Innante make some interesting stuff, | Rocky Ridge Crispy Concord NZ Pilsner one of their recent collabs real nice | Rocky Ridge Staved & Confused Oaked WCIPA, another of the collabs big oakyness, nice stuff | Nowhereman Rice IPA a collab with a local bahn mi place (Le Vietnam), really prominent rice character in a good way, some light lemongrass and ginger, another nice one | Beerfarm Firkin of Duck Dry Hopped Sour, real tart, real “fresh” hoppy, great | Beerfarm Azacca Vodou Haze, an Azacca hopped hazy, again real nice stuff.
Some random beers from the last few weeks and a bit…
Otherside x Copper and Oak Imperial Pilsner collab was a bit too hot, big unbalanced ABV, I love Copper & Oaks collabs usually. Rocky Ridge Syncopation was not very pineapple but it was very pine resin, very standard IPA. Slow Lane BA Old Ale was very good, they consistently make great stuff. Gage Roads Cheeky Pash was a nice standard fruity sour.
I think I drank this about 3 or so weeks ago, and just forgot to post about it.
Rocky Ridge & 8 Wired – Pflaume, Lichtenhainer Plum Smoked Sour beer. 4.5% 375ml can. This was canned in July, and its one of those rare styles, sometimes considered a “Lost Style”, and such a weird find at my local. Had not heard about this being released at all. The smell is a nice woody smoke, none of that bacon thing, and some plum and other red berry fruit? Nice big pinkish head on pouring, nice carbonation, hazy/opaque ruby colour. I believe this has some wheat in the grist, which is traditional and I think helps with some of the mouthfeel. The taste is initially a plum taste and sourness, a lighter ripe fruit sour, not overbearing or blunt. The plum also adds some fruit sweetness. Then its the smoke which is a wood smoke character, not the bacon or ham thing you often get in conjunction with a bigger and sweeter malt bill. And then you get a woody dryness from the smoked malts, like a well oaked red wine. The sourness just accentuating it all, making it pop, the whole time. Really really great beer and style. 3/5.
Bonehead Brewing in Melbourne Victoria, another new brewery for me. Bonehead Brewing – Sweet Pea M.D.L. Melbourne Dark Lager, 4.8% 375ml can. The style is basically a Schwarzbier. The smell is fantastic big coffee malts and cocoa. The taste complex but not muddled or overpowering, its nice roasty dark malts, bitter cocoa and coffee notes, and it has that cola thing going on that keeps it all open on the tongue. The hopping is very mild and leaves it all up to the dark lingering malts it seems, that or its just well balanced with the malt bitterness and cola-thing. All of this and its still a very crisp, and clean even, very drinkable, super enjoyable dark lager. What a great beer. 3/5
Rocky Ridge – Good Energy V2, West Coast Juicy IPA, 7% 375ml can. Another good colab with my local alcohol purveyor (Copper & Oak). Stinks real big and nice, Hi-C orange juice, mango, guava, passionfruit etc… The more oldschool West Coast IPA elements are there in the pine resin and sweeter malts as a base, but then it has all the big juicy style stuff as well on top, the soft mouthfeel and big rounded out hop bitterness, the crazy fruity juicyness. It works well. Real nice. 2.5/5.
Pirate Life – Short Stack, Brown Ale. 8% 355ml can. I just assumed this was a standard Brown ale, it is not. Its 8% to begin with, is dark, viscous and contains maple syrup. This is some kind of big sweet stout. Its really damn nice. Great thick lasting tan head, nice mild carbonation, smells like a sweet, syrupy dark stout, too. 3/5.
Rocky Ridge – The Door to Helles, Helles Lager 4.5% 375ml can. Nice textbook lager smell. Clear clean golden amber colour, nice head on pouring that settles to light speckled lacing. Very clean, very crisp. Minimal, light, with a nice sharp bitterness. Absolutely crushable, quenching, moreish, fantastic. 3.5/5.
Slow Lane Brewing – Definitely Maybe, Maibock 7% 375ml can. Nice old school Euro hop and biscuity, slight caramel malty smells. Taste is lovely malts, biscuity again, toasty, nothing too sweet or “crystal”, with good balanced hop bitterness. Just real nice stuff. A good version of a classic style. 3/5.
Slow Lane Brewing – Rye Sense of Humour, Roggenbier 4.5% 375ml can. A German Rye Ale. This smells funky as heck. A dark red-brown opaque colour. It uses a Heffewiezen yeast so that explains the funk. Has a bit of that rye “spicy” thing too. A very weird ale. Not a fan. I wont rate it because I don’t know other examples, I didn’t like this one too much, though. Not a Heffe fan, so very biased.
Eagle Bay – India Red Lager, 5.8% 375ml can. A colab with Copper & Oak. This is good. Caramel malty smells, taste is fanastic, its a IPL Red Lager. Well balanced, nice bitterness and a bit of dank, a bit of that Nelson Sauvin white wine thing, nice roasted and carmel malt flavours. Its basically like a West Coast IPA but a red ale and lagered and its rounded out and smoother. Its very damn nice. 3/5.
Orion Breweries – Orion 75 Premium Series Pilsner, 5%ABV 350ml can. A bit of an oddity as you don’t generally see even normal Orion draft around here, let alone some special edition. Orion 75 Premium Series Pilsner. Smells like a Pilsner, funky but also light fruity notes, very light bready slightly toasty and caramel malts. It’s a golden amber in colour, has a nice big tan head on pouring which disappears rather quickly, carbonation is fine. The hopping is all bittering hops, standard for a Pilsner, but they are very up front and really hang around, not really any stronger than some European Pilsner hop bitterness, but I think these may be a modern hop, not like Saaz or other Pilsner standards? As it warms, and you get adjusted to the lets say bold hopping, a light but defined malt character appears that reminds me of basically eating actual Pilsner malt grains. Its all very refined and exactly what is says on the can. This is actually pretty good. 2.5/5.
Nowhereman – 123 Days Later, Pilsner. 5.4% 375ml can . Lagered for 123 days. Very light sudsy head, rich golden colour, and crystal clear. Smell is lager funky with a little bit of biscuity malt. Taste is mainly nice traditional style bittering hops (unsure what hops were used but its Saaz-like) and very light bready malt if any. Decent but a little low carbonation, and it has a surprisingly for style very nice mouthfeel. Its dry, crisp, funky, and bigger than I was expecting on the bittering hops and funk. It is very nice. 3/5.
Nowhereman – Carnival, Passionfruit Rice Lager. 5% 375ml can. Not much head, a light golden colour, slightly cloudy. Its smells heaps like passionfruit. It has that rice taste initially, and a little bit of some other malt maybe? Theres a mild passionfruit taste, and a light fruit sourness in there. A very light hop bitterness. Its unusual to have fruit used so mildly, it kind of replaces the hops in some ways. Its like a commercial lager with a real nice passionfruit smell, and a mild passionfruit taste. Its very nice. Good carbonation. A super drinkable mildly fruited beer. 2.5/5.
Nowhereman – Birra Negroni, Amber ale. 5.8% 375ml can. Blood orange, corriander, juniper, orange peel and Citra hops according to the can. Ruby red/brown colour, a slight and lightly lacing head. It smells like Citra, because you cant escape Citra, and caramel malts maybe? The taste is pretty complex, a kind of a rye-like spicy thing? earthy? In the taste, and to some extent the smell, I feel like there is a brettanomyces character? Theres definitely orange peel and pith,and a bit more citrus sour as it warms, and that whatever it is spicy thing? Thats not bad. A Farmhouse Negroni would be an amazing decision. 2.5/5
Edit 19/10/22 – Trying the Birra Negroni again. Nowhereman confirmed no Brett anywhere in their brewery or beers, so…thats that. As I said the first time, I like this beer!
A Lot of beers over the Long Weekend plus Thursday, some better and/or fresher than others, but all pretty good. Altbier is a fantastic style, very happy to have discovered it.
Little Bang – Geezer Pleaser, ESB. 5.5% 375ml can. First beer from this brewery. Canned in Feb, but shouldn’t be an issue for an ESB. Nice colour, decent carbonation. Caramel malt and some kind of hops on the nose. Taste is nice straight bittering hops, thats where this shines, and caramel malts rounding it out. Takes a bit of warming up, obviously, to really shine. Its straight up and nice. 2.5/5
Rocky Ridge – Mel’s Gin, Sour Ale. 4% 375ml can. – Packaged in March so I was expecting this to not be great, but I do try and try all Rocky Ridge stuff I can find. Its surprisingly still minty on the first few sips. No melon, no gin. Its a kettle sour (or however they do the short and stopped sours these days), so it has that particular character of sourness. The mint is definitely there and its strange possibly unnatural, at first, but the sourness eventually removes it from being detected anymore. I would like to know what this was like fresh. 2/5.
Mash Brewing – Red Cat, Red IPA. 6.5% 375ml can. – Nice colour, very nice head that becomes real cloudy and lumpy. Smell is a big malty, sweet, super fruity, IPA. Taste, Its a big malty almost cloying IPA with that red malt bite crossed with that big piney resinous hops. All the things I dislike. Dont usually expect to encounter a IPA like this in 2022 outside of like Sierra Nevada Torpedo. Its really not that bad. Its well made, hits all the points for style and more. I just unfortunately cant handle 375ml of this style of beer anymore. Its 2.5/5 because its good, possibly very good, despite my dislike.
Black Brewing – Bad Boy BaoBao, Milk Stout. 4.5% 375ml. – I can smell the cherry, and the choc, a Cherry Ripe, theres no hops or malt in the smell. The Taste is a Cherry ripe, sweet and tart, its all on the sides of the tongue. There is dark, and black malts that slowly appear and overpower the cherry and chocolate. Its viscous and tart and sweet all around the sides, but with a dryness down the centre of the tongue. Nice, different, 2.5/5
Artisan Brewing – Great Southern, Belgian Style Table Beer. 3.5% 375ml can. – This is nice. Big fluffy head, nice zesty yeasty smell, cloudy golden almost orange colour. The taste is mild but enough, mainly yeast character; Belgian-y, spicy, peppery. A slight hop bitterness is balanced well with the yeast. There is little to no malt taste. A very soft mouthfeel. A real nice little beer. 2/5
Slow Lane Brewing – Altogether, Altbier, 5% 375ml can. – Insane thick tan head. Smells like a lager, but slightly fruity. Brown-coppery colour, rather hazy. This is nice, and I dont think I have ever had this style before. Like a British Mild but with higher carbonation, and more yeast character. Slightly more hopping, too. Its fruity yeast esters up front and a nice traditional hop bitterness. The malt character is mild, but both dark and sweet malts are detectable. Crisp and clean enough. Nice beer, great style. 2.5/5
Slow Lane Brewing – Simpicity, Helles German Lager. 5% 375ml can. – Cloudy, very light amber, golden colour. Small light head. Smell is light colour malts, slightly bready, kind of fruity? Great bitterness, very defined and clean, all bittering hops. The malt character is very light. There’s a little bit of fruitiness, too. Nice. 2/5.
Mismatch – Dark Ale. 5.5% 375ml can. – I have never seen this one before. Color is brown/dark read and clear, nice tan head. Smell is fruity dark malt, clean yeast. Taste is a very clean, rather crisp dark ale with a nice amount of bittering hops. Good. 2/5.
