Mornington ESB

ESB is a nice sort of beer for the winter time I find.

And these days (for Australian brewers at least) it seems to often turns up as a sort of hybrid pale ale, ensuring it's got those hop highlights to complement the essential comforting malts.

Nice pour here, generates a fluffy head that's quite enticing but the aroma is a little different to some. There's a strange but not unpleasant note of fruitiness here a bit juicier than the norm. Possibly grape .. or melon, I'm thinking? Regardless, it turns out a nice quaffable drop, again quite hoppy for the style strictly speaking but with sufficient malt backbone to back it all up.

It occurs to me that ESB purists and beer competition judges probably find these hoppy notes out of place within the confines of the listed class. In the case of ESBs though at least I am starting to appreciate this outlandish new world approach. I'd make a crack likening this development to us Aussies taking cricket from our imperial overlords and improving it, if there was any chance we'd pick up an Ashes anytime soon.

Sigh. 7.5

Hargreaves Hill ESB

On wandering into the rather excellent Sherlock Holmes on Collins St I must aver I felt a strong compunction to order something English.

Lucky then I was presented with this very good looking dark amber example of an easy drinking, suited-to-pub-rather-than-bottle ale. Paired with the Salad Nicoise this American Pale Ale did the trick nicely.

Wait, what?

But indeed, try as it might this never quite develops into a true ESB, remaining bitter in none bar the most literal sense of the word. A mystery to be sure.

The first clue appears in the nose of English or perhaps Australian hops, which exhibit unusual bitterness, walk with a slight limp, and may have been carrying a concealed malt. Perhaps in order to evade suspicion, the first taste was in line with the smell. Convenient.

Too convenient.

A rational mind would expect the suspect to warm and develop some character under interrogation but while a hint of biscuit starts to come through as it acclimatizes, it remains held in check by the hop bitterness.

All of which gives you the impression you've turned up at the local butcher's shop only to find him wearing a wrestling mask and serving strawberry shortcakes. The cakes are delicious, sure - but it's not really the prime rib you were after. 7.0

Holgate ESB

Onward to another performance from the horned ones at Holgate - this time the Extra Special Bitter.

This one arrives with little aplomb, failing to generate any head enthusiasm at all. These are never frothy gushers, but slightly disappointing nevertheless.

Aroma-wise there is a bit of roast, and actually a fair kick of hops going on on the nose, slightly unusually for the style. First impressions on drinking are that it feels a bit light in the mouth really for an ESB, perhaps not quite deep enough. But in saying that theres a pleasant amount of real taste going here, caramel, fruity hops, pineapple etc all present.

Progressing through the glass was quite pleasant, but I couldn't shake the feeling this beer is a little lost between two styles of a traditional bitter, and something almost akin to an IPA in some ways (without the berserk) due to the volume of english hops they have clearly stacked into this one. It's not a bad approach by any means but for mine but the beer needs more sweet burnt caramel to be a truly itch-scratchingly delicious bitter. 6.0

Thoughts on Eagle Bay Brewing

Third time to this picturesque spot also, time to run through the range quickly and post some preliminary thoughts.

Eagle Bay's Kolsch is probably the best I've had, does everything it's supposed to as a light and highly drinkable ale dominated by light malt flavours rather than hops of any description, bittering or otherwise. Nice mouthfeel too.

Vienna's up second, this one's an example of the other side of lager, light bitterness and quenching. Not my favourite style, but a reasonable effort for what it is.

Beer 3 is the Mild and this is where things start to shine. This is right up there with anything else I've had at the 3-4% range, lovely caramel malty English flavours, muted mouthfeel, tastes good at all temperatures. Great for anyone driving out to this place, with this beer you don't feel you're missing out in the slightest.

Next up is a pale ale, definitely of the American school, this puts me more in mind of LC's Pale Ale than anything else and that in itself is high praise. Quite complex and well balanced between fruity flavours, bitterness, and malt - highly respectable.

Seasonal beer this time was an IPA and with the standard IPA blurb about it being a hop avalanche of overwhelming bitterness it's easy to see they're jumping on the bandwagon popularity of this style in recent times. On drinking it though it's clear this is the first one they've done. There are hops in it yes, but it's far more reminiscent of a wet hopped pale ale than a fully fledged IPA. Still good but doesn't scratch my hop fiending itch.

And finally a nice ESB, again english flavours, quite nice depth of flavour here, could drink a few of these in a session, particularly in winter.

Lesson from this time: I really, really miss their porter. Please make it again. Seriously. Please.

Things not to buy

Sunner Kolsch. And Fuller's ESB.

I thought I liked both Kolsches and ESBs.

Then these two versions from their own homelands prove me wrong.

Horrid. Like 'Australian Chinese' food we have imported the thing and then done it better. When you are at the bottle-o next and tempted by these 500ml bottles of wisdom, for gods sake buy something Australian instead.

That is all.