The Peoples' Pint 2012: Double Hoptendre

Few quick notes on this one tried at the launch at Temple in Melbourne.

Got to say first, this is a great competition and it's good to see Ron and co at Temple working both on this, and the upcoming beer scholarship with Sierra Nevada etc too. They're great initiatives that help to strengthen the craft beer community & I think they themselves will gain a lot of benefit from their hard work too. All power to Temple!

Beer wise - this was a rye red IPA that has been double dry hopped in line with the mission statement. The result is a relatively spicy effort, certainly spicier than I've come to usually expect with a rye beer. The two different hop profiles are evident here also giving it an interesting 'bounce' of bitterness not once but twice during the mouthful. Despite this I did find it a bit trying toward the bottom of the glass however.

So.. an interesting drop, but not quite to my personal tastes. What will next year bring? 6.0

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