Peter Piper's Pickled Pepper Purple Peated Pale Ale

Never ones to shy away from a challenge, the lads from Moon Dog are back again and writing big cheques.

This time, they've teamed up with Yeastie Boys - themselves not known for introversion - and come out with something that starts with 'ambitious' and takes it up a couple notches for good measure. Beer with peat, and (capsicum) peppers, and god knows what else in it.

It's a pretty fruity nose that builds around a middle core of peat. Xerrex this ain't but it's definitely present. Big sticky head looks good though the body itself is a dark bruised shade of brown amber. Kind of purple, I guess?

The first mouthful is obtrusively carbonated which is a shame, as it fights against the peat and the wider complexity of the beer. Having said that it isn't really as berserk as expected - more like a really nice peat ale than what the label might suggest, and probably far more sessionable than you'd think. The carbonation is the only real downer.. I can see why they'd do it to combat the natural oiliness of peat, but in practice it's a bit overwhelming.

So yes, session peat beer with chillies. Wait, it's 9%? 8.0

Yeastie Boys + Lobethal Bierhaus Bruce

I have to admit I looked at the 3.5% abv on the menu with some disdain before ordering this one.

It came with a recommendation though and I'm glad I picked it up - great nose from the outset really lifts the spirits with both hops and barley present and accounted for. Nice caramel character there too.

Flavour-wise it's malt driven for the most part with some sweet cotton candy sort of notes. Slightly overcarbed I felt, but then for its aim of a low alc beer that's maybe not a bad thing. There's enough hop bitterness to push it over the norm for a bitter and crank up the interest level to something pretty good.

This is up there with Rogers and a couple others in quite rare territory at present: a mild beer that you actually want to drink. Good stuff. 7.5

Yeastie Boys Her Majesty 2011

Part one of a frankly awesome birthday four-pack kindly provided by the erstwhile Mr Taggrip.

And a special beer to boot - this is a limited edition saison brew from 2011 measured at the now-standard abv for modern varieties of this beer, 8%. It's a solid attractive bottle and good pour to put you in fine thirsty spirits from the outset. Lacing is also top drawer, this clings and grasps the whole way down. Beautiful.

The nose presents clear saison yeast notes but is also sour enough to make you have a good look at the bottle to find out what's going on and sure enough, there's some ageing going on here in pinot barrels. Combined with an interesting choice of hops (nelson sauvin and pacifica of all things) it all adds up to a pretty complex and interesting experience.

Sometimes these words are a case of damning with faint praise but in this case it's important to note that the beer itself is also quite delicious. You can pick out the sour grapelike red wine characters, the nelson sauvin softness in the middle, and the bitey saison throughout.

A beer to be enjoyed thoughtfully over a period of time, but also one that will grab your attention as you do it - probably one of the better wine-drinker-converter style drops on the record. 8.5

Yeastie Boys Gunnamatta

First beer I had at the Brewers & Chewers dinner at The Local Taphouse in St Kilda.. and about the only beer I feel qualified to review from what turned out to be a massive and really enjoyable night. Genuinely top quality event this, really impressed and can't wait for next year.. or for something similar to come to Perth..

(Bonus pic of the brewer from Yeastie Boys being interviewed by the egregious Professor Pilsner. Yep. Figures.)

This is ostensibly an IPA, but the Boys, never ones to do things the easy way, have thrown in a bunch of Earl Grey tea leaves among other things to produce a beer that's a really different experience once again.

The best thing about it? It's new and an experience, yes, but also absolutely delicious. Lovely butterscotch malt character, grassy but refined tea flavours, clean refreshing flavours, and monstrously drinkable.

Genuinely progressive and delicious beer that I'm pleased to see was rewarded with the peoples' choice beer of the year at GABS 2012. Personally, I can't wait to get some more. 8.5

Yeastie Boys Digital IPA

A seemingly open source beer - you can download the recipe yourself online - nice idea.

Execution wise however I have to wonder why you'd go to all the trouble. It's not after all their best recipe from this evidence.

This pours relatively flat with almost no head. The aroma put me in mind of Coopers and other Australian pale ales to be honest, far from what was expected with the IPA tagline, particularly from a NZ brewer. Bit murky in the taste, slight grass / apple, slight tea flavours. Pretty punchy hops but to me it could have done with a bit more malt rather than caramel flavours.

At 7% this was perfectly acceptable - but I was surprised to find it vaguely unpleasant and in this class there are far better options. 6.5

Yeastie Boys xeRRex

Urgh not this again.

And this time it's 10%. So it's a similar story, bog nose as expected, oily texture, remarkably agreeable smoky bacon earthen character..

Wait, what?

Not entirely sure if it's me getting used to it or just the imperial version that's so much better, but I .. would buy this again? It's almost reminiscent of a rauchbier.. but like the pig got off the leash and plowed through a field of mud, flailing and squealing, overwrought with mad rage and confusion.

And as a result I will gladly drink everyone else's leftovers too thank you very much. 7.5

Yeastie Boys Rex Attitude

Righto, another chapter in the beer challenges saga.. for this is a beer with a reputation.

It's apt to paraphrase the label at this point: most people say you can't make a beer with more than 5% peat malt.. so these guys went ahead and used 100%. I was expecting this to pour the colour of a scottish swamp but instead it's remarkably light, though oily in texture.

The nose is where the peat really comes to the fore - my word this is boggy, quite remarkable depth of smokiness tending on bacon but also very much vegetable matter, like a compost heap. This smell does everything it can to kick your nostrils in as you try to taste the beer. Once you actually get there, the beer itself is relatively calm in fact - it's smoky as all get out, and leaves you feeling dry of throat. But always everpresent that odour.. hmm. I can see why this polarises.

The kicker? This isn't even the worst (?) one. There's an imperial version. It's 10%. And it's lurking malevolently in the fridge. Sigh. Um. Worth a try I guess? 5.0

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