Bridge Road Robust Porter

Post number 100 for the blog!

In all honesty it's a shame it wasn't something more momentous. This is the first dark beer tried from Bridge, tipping the scale at 5.2%.

Crack the top and there's a definite 'bang', then head flowing out of the bottle. Why is this? This was stored upright for at least a week in good cold conditions. No excuse? A mate's bottle did the same damn thing too. Sigh. No-one likes a fizzy porter.

Reasonable aroma, in a chocolate malt central sort of way. Once the head settles it's pleasant enough too except a bit of an empty spot there in the middle. The aftertaste and mouthfeel could improve too. So all in all it's vaguely unpleasant, a shame. 5.0

Blanche de Namur

Finally trying this stalwart classic.

Smells delicious out of the bottle I must say, fruity and spicy, resinous. Big foamy head soon crashes in on itself. It's pretty opaque and cloudy, filled with particles. Maybe odd filtering?

Interesting to drink - sharp and tart to begin with, then develops fruits and malts as it goes. Banana's probably the main message but it's controlled. Controlled banana is better than rampant uncontrolled banana that's for sure. Ask anyone.

This banana has lemon for a friend too. Nice finish leaves you wanting more. Just 4.5% means it's pretty drinkable too. I enjoyed this. 7.5

Epic Armageddon IPA

6.66% ABV? Ha!

Can't say I like Epic's bottles / logo / marketing too much. But the beer inside was quite good. It's an IPA sure enough, boasting about its hops but really not as insane as several others on record, reasonably solid despite a relatively light composition, but kind of sticky in the mouth too.

In isolation this is pretty good. In competition (and there is lots of it in this genre and price range) it's mid-table. Safe from relegation but a long way from the champion's league. 7.5

8 Wired iStout

Finally the big day where we could crack this big bottle of expensive expectations.

Pours flat, disappointing lack of head. Jet black except the edges where you can see just a bit of light. It's 10%.. but there's not too much alcohol apparent in the aroma or the taste. The roasty coffee taste is long and lasting after a real full mouth experience from this one.

The bottle suggests putting this over vanilla ice cream. My word that sounds amazing. But at the same time it's like watering down a high quality spirit .. bit of a waste.

I want more of this. 9.0

- edit -
Another try of this yields a bit more soy and salty flavours than I'd like. Bumping it down to a still excellent 8.5

Sierra Nevada Wet Hop Harvest 2011 (Northern Hemisphere)

Back for more Sierra Nevada, this time in an attractive rumlike bottle.

Wow, the nose on this certainly makes your mouth water. Then the taste winds up and punches you right in it. There are hops in this beer. It's almost abrasively bitter, quite cloudy and sediment laden throughout, leafy floral pine herbal notes all over the place.

Apparently they release two of these each year to coincide with the harvest season in each hemisphere. Clever.

This is balls to the wall bitter, massive bold hops, with just enough malt so your face doesn't fall off, and I love it. Further testing required but for now, 9.0

Saint Sylvestre 3 Monts Biere de Flandre

A big french bottle, with a cork held down with a massive metal staple. Pretty cool.

I was expecting something kind of dark given the alc content at 8.5% but this pours light and translucent like wine. A light head stretches across the slight malt aroma. The alcohol is really well disguised under fruit, spice, wine notes. Very different.

I've not really drank anything like this before and I feel the only reason this is only getting 7.5 is because I'm not familiar with this style at all. But there it is, until there's more time to investigate. 7.5

Green Flash Rayon Vert

Another from Green Flash, this time in a pretty different vein.

Puts me in mind of a wheat beer slightly this; it's light and fluffy, cloudlike, with a nose of citrus and wheat grain. Reasonably opaque though nevertheless.

Slightly sour taste, bit like a saison. Not bad for a style I'm not really familiar with.

Looking back, I'm kind of surprised this was 7%. Pretty drinkable and I think I could learn to love it. But for now I'd go for any number of other things at the same price / % range. 7.0

Courage Russian Imperial Stout

A big ten percenter from an English brewer in the Russian style.

Didn't have a photo for some reason. But the beer is in there somewhere so that'll have to do.

This was first brewed for good ol' Catherine back in 1795 or so they say.

Pretty big alc on the nose, and this smashed me with alcohol taste on the first bite too. Bottle says pear tastes, I got a bit of that front of the mouth. Swish it around and it's aggressive, but the coffee helps pull it through.

Err. Bout equal with  Murray's Spartacus. From the 10% beers we've had of late.. I'd stick with Lenny's HeBrew RIPA. 6.0

Murphy's Irish Stout

St Pats day it was, so we needed some sort of beer like this one:

The nose and taste give away straight away that this is stacked with chocolate malt. It's a nice creamy head though and good colour.

Tastes a little bit like choc milk, and the 4% also makes it seem like a kids' drink. But then again I could put these away pretty consistently I think next time I'm locked into some St Pats day shenanigans.

Not bad. 7.0

Mikkeller Burger & Bun US Burgers LA Lager

Righto Mikkeller you've got me again. How can you not buy this?

So. A lager ?

Well no, not really. This may have been made in the style of a lager in terms of the brewing process perhaps, but the style of a beer is not just how it was made, but the expected flavour profiles and execution also.

This is a good beer, with steam beer tea edges, and balanced malt and hops. It's gently carbonated and settled. Baffling as with most Mikkeller efforts, but tasty.

But I'm not going to rate it as a lager. And to top it off I'm not sure how well this'd suit a burger either.

In conclusion, wine is deathly boring compared to beer. 7.5

Sierra Nevada Ruthless Rye IPA

I must admit I've been a bit suspicious of Sierra Nevada since being disappointed by their Pale Ale first up.

Then again, this is both Rye and an IPA, things I like individually and - when encountered - as a pair.

Pours a lovely snowy head on a dark body with a great strong hop laden nose. Attractive. It's quite bitter throughout, a bold uncompromised IPA with no real caramel, putting me in mind of Ruination at times. Lovely lacing all the way down the glass.

This is a top beer and recommended. Well played Sierra Nevada. 8.5

3 Ravens Black Stout

Another small Vic brewer to test, this time with a stout. A stout imaginatively titled 'black' at that.

Bang. Aeration far too high, pretty damn fizzy out of the bottle. It says it's actually bottle conditioned - possibly this is the trouble - all I know is it took 10 minutes to be drinkable.

The aroma reminded me more of Coopers stout than anything else. Taste kind of along those lines too.. reminds me of good stouts without actually being one. Bit watery, bit fizzy even after settling, bit sour. Bit unimpressive all round. 4.0

Murray's Shawn's Fault Black IPA

I have to say, this is just about the final chance for Murray's after a run of pretty poor results.

This .. is not bad. Nice pour, good frothy head. It's a dark brown colour and 7.5%. Some (all?) of Murray's previous efforts had struggled to hide the alcohol: this does a bit better job at it.

Taste wise it's more porter than anything.. bit of malt in there too. Quite passable, not a chore but without being all that impressive, particularly given the mysteriously high price point. Goodbye Murray. 7.0

Mornington Peninsula IPA

Another IPA, this time from a hitherto unknown Victorian brewer.

Cutting straight to the chase, this is pretty darn good. Stonefruit hops dominate, it's a good ABV for the style, and nice refreshing mouthfeel too. I found a slight sour edge toward the end the only real downside for this one.

It's a step short of greatness (perhaps needs another hop style in there or something) but so far ahead of larger brewers (cough Squires cough). Good stuff guys, will drink this some more at the price point. 8.0

Mildura Brewery Mallee Bull Strong Ale

Bit of a gamble on this one.

5.6% is hardly 'strong' from the outset and it probably doesn't help to enter a beer with skepticism. But even being generous the main characteristic of this beer is its bittering hops. There's not enough malt for this style, not by a long shot.

Not a lot to recommend here unfortunately. 3.5

Burleigh Brewing My Wife's Bitter

Back to Burleigh for Myrtle's favoured drop.

Pours pretty dark actually with an off-white head, surprised me a little. Malty bread nose, bread malt taste too quite gentle and restrained. Ever so slight caramel to back it up. This is a faithful recreation of an english style ale.

Is this a seaside beer? Maybe for the english seaside? 7.0

Yeastie Boys Pot Kettle Black

Love-hate the name of this place, but by all accounts they brew some top drops.

This is a black IPA approached from the porter side. And indeed it smells like a porter, talks like a porter, and tastes like a porter. It's just lucky that the porter it resembles is in fact a very good one with dark chocolate and coffee delicacies.

There's probably a little more fruit / bitterness than the norm here but it's not as hoppy as I was expecting. Would like to try a fresher (or better still draft) effort to confirm what the brewers were aiming for, but even now this is a pretty top drop. 8.0

Green Flash West Coast IPA

Had heard a bit about Green Flash so excited to finally try one of their flagship IPAs, especially when the label suggests it's 'extravagantly hopped'.

7.3% is the target mark for a beer that's truly Indian like this one. Nose reminds me of stella hops. Bit of sediment swirling throughout this bottle.. but not offputting. It's quite opaque in any case.

It's got a lovely creamy head, and a lingering sweet citrus bitterness that make it a pretty good effort. But I can't help but think this is more a reasonable example of a style I love, rather than a steller example of an average style. Little bit heavy in the mouth, just not quite got the wow factor. 7.5

Monteith's Sparkling Ale

I need to stop buying things just because they're from NZ. Case in point:

What about this is sparkling? It's stale and lamentable throughout, insipid in all ways, with no real redeeming qualities. Even the fact it was a 500ml turned out to be a downside in this case.

Terrible. 2.0

Harviestoun Bitter & Twisted

I was oddly not looking forward to this one despite loving Harviestoun's first one.. a 4.2% blond beer doesn't usually set my world alight.

What a pleasant surprise then when this too turned out to be an excellent beer. Again this is true to the label in an impressive display of scottish truth in advertising: it is indeed zesty, spicy, and

The key is in the balance here - malt melds beautifully with the zingy bitterness. It's very well crafted. And very gently aerated as a deliberate measure to boot.

Looking forward to some further testing of this one, particularly given the attractive price point. 8.0

Double Espresso Premio Caffe Birra

Seems this is brewed by some mob in Scotland called Traditional Scottish Ales.

Beautiful nose if you're into coffee - doesn't hold anything back. No real head to speak of though (possibly a result of the coffee injection itself?).

The taste falls just short of backing this up, it's a little bit more watery than you'd like. Tastes of chicory, or like those Kopiko lollies. Bloody good way to back up a chocolate dessert though. 7.0

Mikkeller Texas Ranger

Well now this is different, even for Mikkeller. Nah scratch that it's just another stroke of genius (?) from the Dane.

This is absolutely beautiful to look at. Solid, pitch black, attractive mocha head, soupy and velvet. Smells delicious too, real quality presentation to this stout reflects the quality of brewer, and the quality of content.

Mouthfeel's brilliant too, the taste develops like a king stout throughout, top quality. But then you think, why is the back of my throat burning? And look it up on your phone. And realise it's filled with Chipotle peppers. The effect is pretty interesting. It's really quite spicy this, tastes of roasty jerky bbq, and it gathers down your throat rather than front of mouth. The beer itself is a bit like chili chocolate - two things I like, and together they're interesting, but actually flawed because they are not complimentary flavours.

It's hard to know what to give this. It's brilliant beer but just not my favourite thing. It seems there are two barrel aged versions of this also .. wow. The concept alone is mindblowing. 8.0

Mikkeller Jackie Brown

Mikkeller town once more. I'm putting the place for these as Denmark but it's a bit laughable given his strategy of gypsy world beer domination.

What the hey I'm just gonna copypaste the description I found:

Mikkellers tribute to the foul-mouthed stewardess Jackie Brown from Quentin Tarantino’s movie of the same name. It’s a roasty, chocolaty brown ale with hints of coffee and licorice. Being a Mikkeller brew the malts are inevitably complimented by a great amount of hop bitterness, aroma and flavour.

That's pretty much spot on for mine. This is strongly, offputtingly brown, but agreeable complex while maintaining a lovely drinkability due to the bitterness. Great stuff. Want more as soon as possible. 8.0

Invercargill Stanley Green

Hmm, another NZ brewer = time to take a chance.

This is marketed as an English Pale Ale and I'd say it fits the bill. It's a bit grainy when you take a pull, not much taste to begin with, pretty empty, then you get a sort of grapelike flavour from there on. Aftertaste and finish turns into that barley tea-like territory that EPAs often stray into. Bit sour in places also?

I quite enjoyed the aftertaste of this, but everything leading up to that was unappealing and hardly worth it. 5.0

Nail Stout

Nail Stout came recommended by several in the community, now finally tracked down for tasting.

The barman tells me Nail used to do a different stout that was absolutely excellent, and this was always the step down. But the current batch has leveled up a bit and found some middle ground.

This is certainly a fine stout, pitch black and creamy, with a strong choc-coffee aroma. Slightly too fizzy, and slightly too light for my personal tastes but it's well balanced and roasty throughout, with a fine bitter finish. 8.0

Mikkeller Thoerst IPA

Mikkeller's Thoerst, on tap at the Sail & Anchor.

This is a solid IPA with a herbal pine aroma and a nice frothy head. It's fruity sweet at the end but somehow the flavour profile is a bit different to the norm. Bitterness is integrated throughout though; it's clearly well crafted and balanced.

There's something, different, about this beer and it's hard to put a finger on it. It's not brilliant but certainly intriguing. 7.5

Burleigh Brewing 28 Pale Ale

The first venture into QLD craft brewing if I'm not mistaken.

Certainly pours nicely, dark, well built head, aroma of sweetness and bitterness, not bad.

Take a pull and it's pretty muted malt as the order of the day, bitterness more in line with a lager than anything particularly hoppy, little if any floral notes or fruit. Slight peppery finish.

This is not a particularly great beer - but taken in the beachy context of the label the watery nature starts to make a bit of sense. I could drink this under a cabana on the hot sands. 7.0

Test

8 Wired Haywired

Hooray, 8 Wired finally on tap. Our bartender at Sail and Anchor says he specifically lined up his holidays so he could come in (to work) to get blasted while they had 8 Wired. Sensible bloke.

All sorts of fruits here throughout the aroma and the beer itself, a veritable medley of plum, peach, melno, passionfruit, pineapple at turns. Very unlike any wheat based effort I've tried before. There's not much malt in the mid body, but it's all replaced by a nice uncompromisingly bitter finish that prevents it all from cloying.

I suppose it's a little heavy in the mouth for its ABV. But when it's so flavoursome it's hard to really care. Lovely stuff. 8.0

Temple Brewing Midnight IPA

Finally we reach the dark beer.

Sadly the brewer says he has no plans to launch a porter or a stout at this stage, they're involved in honey related seasonal beers to be produced in champagne bottles, and a couple of other projects keeping them and their production lines busy at present. So this is the closest we'll get.

Best head of the lot this, lingers wistfully, as does the first taste with burnt, hoppy, dry, bitter flavours. All good stuff. The brewer tells me they were looking to avoid 'fruit' here and it shows. Clearly stacks of hops used for a nice aroma with traces of passionfruit, but no real fruit or floral sweetness in the taste.

Highly drinkable, the best of their range, very good stuff without being astounding in any way. Passionate brewers here and bound to continue to improve I think. 7.5

Temple Brewing Saison

Saison, served appropriately in a nice wide goblet. Pretty attractive.

I'm told this and their other beers are being repackaged with the new branding and distributed via Phoenix, so we should be seeing these in Perth soon.

Slight powdery texture to this, mouthfeel and taste like a spicy, funked up wheat beer, most dominant characteristic is the citrus. Bit like a better version of Feral Golden Ace, with more kind of rural character to it.

I tired of this as it progressed. So yet again it's a 6.5 I'm afraid.

Temple Brewing Soba Ale

Beer three in the lineup: a Soba Ale fuelled with buckwheat. And with brewers 1 and 2 in the background talking to some American investor.

Pretty clean taste, easy drinking, bitter first up, develops a bit after that. Head hangs around well but low much like the others on tap. Not really drastically different but I know what they're getting at.

Not sure I would really have picked buckwheat, or indeed anything much out of the norm, if I wasn't already tipped off and looking for it in advance. But hey, I'm a fan of people trying different things and this is not a failure. 6.5

Temple Brewing Pale Ale

Next up: the ubiquitous Pale Ale (American edition).

Kind of sweetish malt aroma, pretty gentle beneath a creamy head. At first taste I thought the curse of sweet malt had ruined this one, but then Mr Pepper (Sgt Pepper? Cpt Pepper? Dr Pepper ??) arrives to save things toward the end with a bit of briskness to balance. There's less fruit in this than a lot of others - less than is suggested from the aroma, definitely - but more malt. Quite dry, possibly due to hop choice.

This is definitely an American Pale Ale as advertised and a reasonable example thereof. 6.5

Temple Brewing Bicycle Beer

Took the chance last time I was in town to visit the newly established Temple brewing, in its new premises now for just a couple of months. As I was there with time to spare I opted for the man-size tasting paddle, ie a middy of everything. And then a bit more. So it can't have been all bad.

First up the Bicycle Beer, finding its way into a few venues locally by the sounds.

Pretty low head on this, gently carbonated, nice for a beer of this character. At just 4.2% this is pretty lightweight but calls itself a tart ale, boasting salt (?) and 7 types of hops. Nice hoppy nose, quite grassy. Agreeable first bite, quite refreshing in the mouthfeel, reminds me of Hop Rocker more than anything.

The wheels fall off this particular bicycle a bit with the aftertaste.. little too sweet. Not a bad start. 6.5

8 Wired Tall Poppy India Red Ale

Must have missed this before but have since had it a couple times on tap also, for research purposes only of course.

India means it's hopped. Red means it's malty. Ale means I like it.

It's hard not to compare this to our lord and saviour Hopwired while drinking and in a direct one on one battle it cannot win. On its own though this is a very good drop and a fine example of a well-made, big, bold malty ale.

Can't understand why politicians and public figures are so against this beer. 8.0

William's Organic Pale Ale

William and I have jousted at various bottleshops for some time now but he finally got the better of me in Melbourne.

Old fashioned bottle. But what does 'organic' mean?

Initial bottle smell is agreeably malty. I expected it to pour quite dark but instead it's very very light indeed. Head dissipates disappointingly.

Taste wise I get green apple more than anything, it's quite unique. Little bit of citrus too, edge of something like white wine? Pretty refreshing.

This is very much an Australian Pale Ale in the mould of Coopers and resembles that more than anything. Efforts to compare it to American / English style examples will fall flat.

I enjoyed this quite a lot. Would be interested to see if it's a session beer also; may rise slightly if so. 7.0

Abbotsford Invalid Stout

What better way to enjoy Melbourne than to buy more beers that you're sure are going to be terrible?

On that note, we have this. And just imagine my joy when I found out after buying that's it's brewed by CUB.

The bottle looks like an RSL, and probably tastes like one too. Has a fizzy, artificially empty head like a soft drink and the taste follows; this is thin almost beyond belief. There's a vague reference to stout there somewhere but it's horribly indistinct and buried under some devilish creation that put me more in mind of soda water than anything else.

Invalid. Yes indeed. 1.5

Doss Blockos Pale Lager

Sigh. This has to be the most Melbourne beer I've seen.

Yes, that's an individual paper bag. The bottle itself is actually far more colourful but one photo only chaps.

This is also a pale lager. So I was clearly buying this beer just so I could spew bile over it.

My rage was forestalled slightly on first contact as it produced an aroma with some hop character, little bit of fruit. Beer itself is kind of odd in terms of structure. A sour / bitter start with fizz, then turns into VB more or less with a bit of grape characteristic in there also.

The label tells me it's 'stripped bare' - yeah, I guess - but there's something a bit unpleasant here I'd prefer was covered up. 4.0

Red Hill Golden Ale

First swing at Red Hill, which is apparently allergic to photos.

Can't say I'm too great a fan of 'golden ale' usually anyway but this thing was a bit of a surprise in that it did more of a pilsner trick than anything else.

Aroma mostly of bittering hops, odd sort of flavour profile kind of like a kolsch, light malt finish. Not a lot to speak of in the way of flavour? And thus a short review, and a summary 3.0

HeBrew Bittersweet Lenny's R.I.P.A.

Garrgh I hate the name. And the bottle, both its design and the way it's upside down.

Still, this came with a recommendation and it was filled high in the bottle.

Rye and malt dominate the start but it ramps up nicely into a fair whack of hop presence here too. There's a bit of alcohol there as would be expected from the 10% ABV but it's not badly hidden by any stretch, the bitterness and development of the beer mean it's a companion, not a foe.

I quite enjoyed the stroll through this beer, given the strength of it. A much better option than the Spartacus. 7.5 .. nearly 8.0 ..

McCashin Family Brewery Stoke Dark

I wasn't looking forward to this for some reason.

I think mostly because I couldn't tell in the bottle-o whether this was supposed to be a porter or a dark ale of some description, and I'm still a little lost now.

It's closer to the porter overall in terms of taste characteristics but there's a big caramel, heavy amber ale sort of quality there too. The way it sits there cola coloured in the glass is a bit sweet heavy and malevolent too particularly given it's just the 4.5%. Apparently it's tank conditioned for a few weeks to give it a honey like quality. That explains things a bit?

I quite like this on the whole, it's a bit different. It's not a raging success but I'd still recommend to try once. 7.0

Bridge Roads / Nøgne Ø India Saison (return leg)

Having tried (and meh'd at) the danish leg of operations we took bat against those battlers from Beechworth, Bridge Roads.

Strong herbal, plantlike, earthy, pine driven nose. Bit of citrus there also. Pours with a bit of sediment, light in the glass, but big frothy cloudy expanse of head. Very different to the euro version already.

First reaction to the taste is a genuine "are you sure this is the same recipe"? Hops dominant, the mix of stella and galaxy is green, fresh and quenching. Snaps into a lasting bitterness at the end that lingers coquettishly until you drink some more. 7.5% and well hidden, spot on.

It can't be simply the water that results in such a distortion can it? Perhaps the danish brewing equivalent of the swedish chef was all up in that Nøgne Ø, borking his way to the brew they created. This is an object of some wonder nevertheless.

8.5

Little Creatures Rogers

Lightweights rejoice for your saviour has come.

Hadn't had this one in quite a while either, but pleased to find it still stacks up as a pretty respectable example and one of the best in its class at just 3.8%.

Nondescript aroma gives way to a sweet floral malty body. It's light and gently carbonated, but I don't agree it's empty as some have said. Chrysanthemum puts me in mind a bit of sweet green tea in a can.


Easy drinking, flavoursome midstrength. There will continue to be a market for this sort of thing. 7.5

Mountain Goat Rare Breed Rye IPA

Goat rare breed = pretty much automatic 'buy' recommendation so far.. but this is the pick of the crop by a distance.

Quite light and transparent in the glass, lovely colour and a creamy blanket of head. Hops come through with hints of citrus, earthy grass, an agricultural production a little like hop hog but less rampantly intense.

Rye hits first then developing hops, slight bitter herbal notes, lovely stuff. It's a very light almost watery sort of a mouthfeel but this is oddly suited to provide the round rye experience but still leave it quenching and delicious. Nice long aftertaste.

Very impressed. Very happy we had a second bottle of this chilling also. And depressed they were sold out of additional supplies when we went back to the bottle-o the next day.

8.5

Murray's Spartacus

Woof, a beer out of the Murray's corner, weighing in at 10%.

Pours heavy as one might expect, nose is a bit frightening, texture is oily. I feel like they've tried to throw a malty blanket over the alcohol and not quite covered some corners of it. It slips out at the end and ruins your perfectly good picnic.

Is this really an IPA? What does 'imperial' mean? Where are the feted hops (outside of a bit of citrus character and indistinct bitterness)? All unanswered.

A beer for laying down and avoiding. 6.0

Beard and Brau Black Snout Milk Stout

I'm clearly a sucker for bottles with animals on them it seems. Particularly if they also say interesting things like "milk stout" and the like. And if the animals are schnauzers.

750ml beauty this, and a big thick heavy bottle too.

Bit too aerated I must say (becoming a bit of an unfortunate trend with these porters?) - had to basically leave it a while to let it settle and improve. While doing so you sort of notice that while this pours deep opaque black it's actually bubbling away merrily within. Hmm.

You also note the aroma - dark chocolate, coffee mocha sort of style. Nice mocha colour to the head also.

This does indeed have a sort of waxen quality to it that I suppose can be attributed to the 'milk stout' lactose injection. It's still a bit sort of empty in places though. Would like to see it bulked up a bit.
6.5

Boston's Mill Pale Ale

Took a bit of research to find out what I was actually drinking here haha. Bar staff seemed puzzled when my boss asked what sort of pale ale it was .."it's pale ale". "Er yes but .. um .. well what company?"

Quite a fruity nose. If I had to make a call on it I'd say it's an APA in the style of Atomic and the like, but the brewer claims it's English instead. Fair enough I guess.

In any case it's malty and fruity if a little empty, pleasant but light hopping. Didn't make me screech about Pride of Ringwood at all so that's a plus. Pretty drinkable I found. Had 3 more in an hour before jumping the taxi just to make sure. And yes it's a 6.5.

Murray's Porter

Murray's porter has been in fridges all over the place tempting me with its quite exorbitant (for an Aus 350ml beer) price tag. I finally noticed it was 8% and that was enough to push me over the line.

OK 8% is not a small amount. But shit it tells you all about it at all stages through the mouthful. I've had much stronger beers say much less about their ethanol.. seems clumsy rather than intentional. It's less a warming alcohol and more a front of mouth blast quite intrusive to taste.

Outside of that.. it's attractive enough in a pitch sort of way. Aroma mostly burnt smokey odours. Sits light in the glass and out of the bottle though - the antithesis of viscous. More like a dark ale than a porter? Little bit of choc, rounds out coffeeish.

In all though what's there isn't good, and you have to slog through a watery, alcohol dominated mouthful of unpleasantness to get there. Can't see getting this again. 2.0

Bridge Road Bling IPA

BLING!

Having recently unfollowed the main brewer from this place on twitter due to his relentless selfcongratulatory retweet campaign, I went to the bottleshop to give him some more of my hard earned.

This pours pretty murky - rates a 4.5 for hops and a 3.5 for malts according to the label. That seems pretty accurate, it's fruity initially with hops but complemented with a fair whack of malt there. Kind of grainy mouth feel but not bad at all. Carbonation gentle and well suited, not cloying.

Nice big balanced IPA on the whole. 7.5

Mountain Goat Hightail Ale

OK time to settle if it's worth paying the extra for the special version of this ..

Short answer: yes very much so definitely indeed you betcha.

I recall enjoying this the first time but it's all a bit so-so given a bit further attention. Malt doesn't compare. Nose doesn't compare. It's really a very different product.

This is fine as it is, not bad by any stretch. But if you had a fleeting romance with the rare breed and then start living on this again.. you'll be left wondering if you married the wrong beer. 6.0

Paulaner Hefe-Weizen (Hefe-Weissbier Naturtrüb)

Can Paulaner put flavour in a beer? Let's find out.

My first impression of the aroma from the bottle was frankly, 'a bin with a banana in it'. Others call it earthy. I call it not a great start.

Pours darkish, lovely frothy white head, takes well to a cold glass. In the wider format there's more fruit salad in the nose, quite nice.

I can't claim to be an expert on this style and there's a reason - most I've had have been fun for 100ml then novelty banana acts .. not really to my taste. This is far better for mine - light carbonation, good mix of fruity flavours with the wheatbeer mouthfeel makes it really easy to put away and a fun journey getting there too.

As an example of the style it's a winner for me no doubt. 7.5