Mountain Goat Seedy Goat Coffee IPA

I have to admit, I positively salivated at the sight of this one up on the specials board.

I mean, coffee.. and IPA? Brilliant plan, can't wait to try it. And indeed it turns up looking quite attractive with a pillowy cloud of frothy head (crema?).

Time to bury the sniffer in for a blast of the good stuff then right? But from the outset the coffee is not incredibly evident, with the nose delivering mostly the standard pine / fruit / light sweetness bill. Drinking it is a similar experience in a way - the coffee is only really there is you go searching for it and while it does add a nice rounded note to the mid carbonation and otherwise fine flavours, it's really not the star of the show, and that is somewhat disappointing.

I'm not sure what to say about this. My initial thought is to raise the frankly baffling suggestion to dial back the hops to let the coffee shine. But .. dial back the hops? In an IPA? Defies the point, really. I'd like to see the talented crew here keep having a crack at this idea in any case as there's the kernel of a truly delicious and innovative brew starting here - just short of the mark at present. 7.0

Mountain Goat Red Saison

So, another first in a supposedly 'red' saison.

Phone based photos in low light conditions do a better job of pizza than beer, but this shot has certainly captured the depth of dark colour in this beer. It's beyond red really, pushing a dark molasses sort of colour.

Interesting beer to experience here - I don't think I'd have picked it as a saison in a blind tasting. The yeast character is certainly there and it's funky on the nose, but the ongoing spice and orange rind character to me puts it as more of a witbier. I'm not sure how this beer was crafted but I get strong lingering aniseed going on here which is interesting .. but not perhaps the best compliment to the standard wit or saison experience.

I like experiments like this and want to encourage further pushing of boundaries in the future - this beer as it stands though was not bad, but a bit of a struggle. 5.0

Mountain Goat Hip Hip Hooray IPA

Pretty pumped to visit the crew at Mountain Goat finally at their brewery in Richmond.

It's a pretty industrial sort of space where you're more or less in one half of the brewery shed. The beer's fresh, the pizzas are good and it's a nice space to enjoy a few beers after work. I can't be the only one thinking this either as it's packed even on a Wednesday night. They're currently only open on the Wednesday and Friday I believe but it seems they'd do well to open it further, permits permitting.

To the beer - and first up a single batch IPA produced for someone's birthday if I'm not mistaken. It weighs in at a solid 7.4% and could perhaps be considered a double or imperial at that rate.

I found this to be a serviceable IPA in the 'big n strong' mould, with a great creamy sticky head and a slight barley tea sort of flavour on the finish. Eminently drinkable and accomplished, but not overly special to my palate. 7.5

Mountain Goat / Mikkeller Pepperberry Black IPA

Pumped to try this one, two great brewers making a great style of beer .. prospects of success should be very good indeed.

I'm happy to report that this doesn't disappoint. It's a bit of a different take on the Black IPA genre - the pepperberries really do give it a spicy character all the way through the mouthful - but it's well balanced, quite bitter throughout, and with that special something undercurrent Mikkeller seems to produce in all his dark beers. Slight cocoa in there somewhere amongst all the citrus bitterness.

This beer is flavoursome, interesting, and really very drinkable. Very good stuff. 8.5

Mountain Goat Steam Ale

Time to revisit an old classic.

In all honesty I wasn't sure how this would fare.. been drinking some good solid beers since first encountering this one early in my craft career. Pleasingly however it holds up quite well indeed for what it is, with a nice snowy head and light body, pleasant wheat malt nose, and fizzy .

At this point on first encounter you're likely expecting (fearing) lager town. But it moves above that with a nice english malt and barley tea like character, rounded flavours.

Not world changing but a fine entry beer into craft, and a perennially drinkable light session beer in the style. 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

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

Mountain Goat Rare Breed Surefoot Stout

The second of our rare goat discoveries.

Pours pitch black. If batman were a boozer he'd be on this. Head is light of coffee but fades pretty quickly.

Espresso flavour, with relatively sweet chocolate to back it up. Skilfully blended malts mean this tastes a lot rounder than its 4.9% would suggest. A round mouthed, mocha tonic. No engine oil but good nonetheless.

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Edit after a couple more pints on tap around Melbourne - this is a solid brew without really hitting extreme heights. It demonstrates more bubble and hop first up on tap, but improves as it warms and needs some time off tap to really get its message across. Nice lingering dry cocoa flavours. Reasonable dessert stout.

8.0

Mountain Goat Rare Breed Double Hightail

Mountain goat, purveyors of very respectable brews in steam and hightail format, and now we have a rare breed single batch effort in a 750ml bottle. Exciting.

Slight malt nose on this as it opens up. It's pretty dark but transparent. Laced white head. The taste is pretty gentle actually but lovely. Malt driven flavours, slight caramel. Had to slow down before I accidentally the whole bottle.

The alcohol at 7.2% becomes more pronounced with the caramel as this warms. I think it's a bit better at the higher temperature.

Feel like I need to retry the standard hightail ale now - a drop I remember very much enjoying - to see if this is worth the extra $. It's lovely this but does it justify the effort and dosh? 7.5 I think.