Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA

So the common consensus on Sierra Nevada of late has been pretty bloody positive.

Enter Torpedo Extra IPA, which certainly pulls things back to earth with a thud, exhibiting the same sort of problems as the stardard pale ale. It's too fizzy, and too artificially sweet candy tasting.

There's also a lack of blasting hops for mine. It's kind of a standard IPA level I guess but where's the "Extra"? Where's the torpedo? At least it's up there in ABV - but then it seems looking at ratebeer, it's oddly rated through the roof by the wider community much like the pale ale. This is mystifying to me.

A bit meh overall. I find myself putting this in with Squires, and that's never a good sign. Buy the Rye IPA instead. 5.5

Brewdog Trashy Blonde

I knew a Scottish blonde once. But she wasn't a lot like this.

Indeed, her body was strengthier than this rather cooperative drop and she lacked the sort of lemon honey flavours this thing has going on. But then she wasn't as artificial either. This tastes a little of manufactured sugar.

Still, in both cases, you could do a lot worse. 6.5

Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Ale 2012 edition

This is one of those 'celebrity' beers, which are immediately tweeted about by their beer purveyors on entering stock, and then sell out almost instantly. The bandwagon was mounted, and the wallet emptied.

It's also the first barleywine on record.. 9.6% and daarrrrkk pour out of the bottle. Looks like a heavy rye or something at first glance. There's slight carbonation but not intrusive, and a nice lingering fluffy head.

Wow, this is a riot of flavours. There's orange there, stringent bitterness throughout, and heavy malt disguising the alcohol, which really doesn't manage to make its presence felt in aroma or taste. Heaps going on throughout the mouthful including pine and slight honey (?) but it's not hard to drink at all.. certainly not compared to most other things at this sort of range. Even appreciate the oily sort of mouthfeel, it's just right. Really enjoyed this a lot and recommend to anyone coming into winter time, if only to give you a break from all those excellent stouts and porters.

Not sure specifically if it's this beer, or the style that I'm digging but regardless this is a very pleasant way to imbibe nearly 3 standard drinks to the bottle. Looking forward to cellaring a couple and charting the improvement (or otherwise) also. If they last that long. 8.5

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.

Thoughts on Duckstein

Time to post a few thoughts on Duckstein as it's now the third time I've sampled through their range.

Can't have been too bad considering how quickly the tasters evaporated!

These guys do a good range throughout but oddly it's the Pilsner that's probably the most accomplished of the lot, great taste in this, highly drinkable, a fine example of the style fresh off the vat. Dunkel goes down ok with malty character, and the Altbier sports nice peppery spice notes at the end. The other stalwart from the tasting range is a Hefeweizen that is traditional to the style, predominately banana and lemon, pretty drinkable.

The one seasonal drop this time was a Pale Ale - ie, the only non-German beer in the lineup, and interestingly it was pretty poor, falling well short both of other pale ales, and of the quality found in Duckstein's offerings. As a comparison I found their seasonal oktoberfest beer to be far superior in the past.

So if there's a lesson here it's stick to what you're good at. But all in all a reliable and faithful German brewery, more than respectable. Massive bloody roast pork meals they do there too.

Mornington Peninsula Brown Ale

Further provisions from the crew from Mornington peninsula.

This brown ale shares more in common with a porter than a more caramel based brown, and to my tastes at least that's a good thing. Dark brown and sedate in the glass, you get a nice mouthful of rounded roasty flavours tending toward coffee and a bit of light milk chocolate. All pretty pleasant before a toffee malt aftertaste.

For the price point this is pretty drinkable. It's your grunt brown ale to fill out the ranks when you can't afford all stars. 7.0

Newcastle Brown Ale

Right on the cutting edge of craft brewing technology, this blog, what with reviewing a mass produced commonly available ale seemingly brewed by Heineken and such like.

Took me a moment to work out what was wrong with this photo, but indeed the bottle is totally clear. Not sure how that works? Beer is pretty damn brown though, bit more fizzy than I was expecting, very low head that evaporates instantly. Smells mostly of bittering hops. Oh boy.

The taste has a little bit more going for it, there's notes of caramel and very slight nut under a pretty drinkable lid. Still slightly too fizzy, bit aggressive early for my liking particularly for this style. Bit of bitterness but it's all  a bit characterless and watery.

A check of the label and yes it contains glucose syrup, caramel, and carbon dioxide. Still, as these things go, I've had far worse. 4.0

McLaren Vale Dry

Bugger, bought this pretty much by accident trying to get some of McLaren's other stuff on here.

4.5%, "australian dry lager", pithy insubstantial head, very light. Minimal aroma. Not motivating. In terms of taste it's a bit better than the preamble would lead you to expect - there's a little bit of sweetness there backed by malts. Kind of apple like tastes.

Not a great deal of complexity, though that clearly wasn't the aim here and I don't want to line this up on purpose just to smash it. I'll rate it not bad as a sort of a gateway lager conversion tool.. still miles behind Knappstein and the like though. 4.5

Mash Brewing Rye The Hop Not

Had tried this previously at a tasting and enjoyed .. but that was before becoming an utter beer nob.

At the time this seemed a shining and exciting example of what rye could do in a beer (this was novel to my inexperienced past self), and what Mash in general could do (as it seemed pretty drinkable and characterful).

Now it seems pretty damn insipid insofar as what rye can do .. and I have to say, a pretty good representation of Mash themselves who have a rather disappointing portfolio of beers and ciders across the board (and as a sidenote, a pretty terrible restaurant to back them up).

It's all just ok, so my new, insufferably arrogant, unfeeling self gives this but 5.0 out of a possible 10.

Holgate Temptress Porter

People had recommended this one - and the one previous encounter (though fleeting) with a Holgate DIPA had turned out positively too.

Still: wow. Looks attractive. Smells attractive. And my word does it taste attractive.

This is brewed with cocoa and vanilla beans and it shows - very sweet milk chocolate flavours, vanilla edge in clear sight throughout and no real bitterness at all, but above and beyond that the beer has a lovely milky flavour and mouthfeel too that really improves it beyond the norm. It's funny that people find black beers so bewildering because this has to be the best beer for kids I have yet encountered.

If I had to find a downside it's that there's not too much character beyond these sweet notes - but then, there doesn't need to be. If you're in the mood for a coffee / roasty / hoppy / imperial porter, drink one of those. If you just want a sweet chocolate variety, you could go a lot worse than this fine effort.

The only puzzling thing is it suggesting it be enjoyed with either choc desserts (fully agree) or .. meat pies. Huh? 9.0

Bridge Road Chevalier Saison

As a top 10 finalist this too was on tap.

Pours with a flat head, and a pretty average saison nose. Mostly wheat, lemon, very slight spice.

Bit watery in the middle taste-wise, no real spice, kind of ok aftertaste. A bit cheap and nothing this, doesn't quite match up to its visions of grandeur.

The Nogne O collaborative india saison version was far and away better than this. Ie, worlds apart. Even Temple's effort was better than this by some margin. So I'm starting to wonder if Bridge Road only really do things with 'india' in the title really well.

With other breweries (Kooinda, Mornington etc just off the top of my head keeping to places that bottle) producing quality pale ales, IPAs and the like, I have to ask if this was only included in the top 10 because the previous saison wasn't available on tap, and they wanted some sort of variety in the countdown? 5.5

Stone & Wood Pacific Ale

Had drank this several times before but with no photo, it's against the rules of the blog to review it.

Cue it coming second in this year's Critics Choice Top 10, and a chance to hit it at the Sail and Anchor.

You can see how light this is from the photo - damn near transparent - and the taste is similar. Mostly passionfruit, bit of grapefruit, only a very slight malt aftertaste. Mid aeration. Quaffable.

It's a beer you think you should get sick of, but you don't. Probably the most easy drinking beer in Australia. But Hop Hog is better and a worthy winner this year. 8.0

Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast

Hohoho, back to Mikkeller in what seems to be his natural habitat: dark beers.

Given the name of this we made sure to test it in its own natural habitat also: breakfast.

It's a pretty angry looking pour with a small but violent ochre red-brown head, and indeed an angry nose on it too. Absolutely flat out of the bottle; no hint of bubble. Roasty flavours dominate with a backbone of coffee and a bit of dark choc. The feel is slightly abrasive on the throat though, probably due to the big bitter hop content there is in this beer also. It all feels expert though, as if the roving gypsy's really enjoying himself here, having fun with his pet sport.

Next time, I'm putting this up against some bacon, egg, bbq tomato, and hashbrowns. I'm certain it will shine. 9.0

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Edit: after putting away some more of this and finding myself thinking about it constantly I'm bumping it up to 9.5. Do yourself a favour, seriously.

North Coast Old Rasputin

Another Imperial Stout, tipping the scales at a referee enraging 9%.

I say enraging because it seems 9% is on the lower side for this style, which is frequently spot on the big 10 instead. In any case this pours nicely, with an attractive off-white head and solid black body.

The alc is definitely present in this beer, but it's not overly intrusive. Taste around that is coffee dominated, bit of dark choc, various dark malts, dark fruits.

Quite impressive in its own way but I find myself wondering why I'm not drinking a big nicer porter stout, or a massive IPA or something instead. Those who are a fan of the style however should still give this a go. 7.0

Croucher Patriot

After a rollicking start NZ's really fallen off the rails of late.

Enter Croucher's Patriot, a no nonsense beer in a bottle reminiscent of a baseball bat, clearly designed specifically for fighting anyone stupid enough to even think of questioning the good old yew-ess-of-ey.

The bottle suggests this is an American Black Ale, which didn't really clarify what we were buying at the bottle store. On opening though it turns out this is quite a lovely Black IPA of the choc-cherry variety, putting me strongly in mind of Kooinda's excellent effort in the same vein.

It's sedentary in the glass, good mouthfeel, similar flavour profile. I'd like to taste these side by side to compare actually but for now I give Kooinda the edge for hops, head, and a vastly superior ABV. 7.5.

Gavroche French Red Ale

Look at the little fella. Just look at him. You'd be mad not to have a soft spot for old Gav looking at his mugshot.

Then you meet Gav in person and something's amiss and awry. What have those frenchies done with Gav?

Whatever they've done it's turned an erstwhile, earnest young beret wearer into something oddly winelike and really not too pleasant. This is probably a bit to do with a lack of familiarity with the style, but I found the other effort tried recently a lot better than this one. I feel like this could have been improved with a greater malt / sweetness profile. 4.5

Browar Amber Grand Imperial Porter

The very first Polish beer on the tracker. And a quite attractive looking one at that.

Wasn't sure what to expect from this fine land, particularly in the way of heavy stouts. But it pours with a nice sedate character, bit of alc on the nose, but also amber style malts.

Nice mouthfeel, tastes a bit like Stoke Dark but a higher quality drop, deeper coffee. Bit of vanilla aniseed here also, which perhaps helps hide that 8% ABV rather well indeed. It's a fine drop this and one I wouldn't be averse to picking up again at the price - recommended. 8.0

Mikkeller Wet Hop Kellerbier

Here we go again ..

This is supposed to be a wet hopped version of a cellar beer, which can apparently be either top or bottom fermented and thus take on varying characteristics in line with an ale or a lager.

This takes on most of the characteristics of a bad pilsner to me. Weak head, sour citrus nose, 5.5%, transparent and bubbly, big lager taste, very fizzy. While I'm not closely familiar with this style (is anybody?), the other kellerbier effort tasted was far and away better than this with a unique character and a pleasing, if polarising, graininess.

This is barely better than a macro Any Beer. 1.5

Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye

Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye, replete with quite splendid livery.

This is big dark and heavy brown, low head dissipates quite quickly, heavy in the glass and in the mouth at 7.5% ABV.

The big rye malt backbone is the dominating characteristic of this beer. It's a beer for winter I think like a better version of Coopers Vintage Ale with the nice rye characteristic to boot.

There's not a lot wrong with this drop but it doesn't really blow my socks off either. For the dosh and the percent etc I'd choose something with a bit more balls. 7.5

Beard and Brau Golden Paw

Back to those cheerful schnauzers from Adelaide. But oh dear.

Pretty bad smell to this, earthy, metallic, garbage, massive aeration and carbonation both when opened and when poured. Sour notes dominate the taste, artificial lager notes, not a lot that's golden. Bit puzzled how it won a silver medal somewhere?

I want to like these guys. But this is a 1.0 for sure.

Kaimai Porter's Rye Ale

Brace yourselves, for this is a momentous day.

A momentous day, I say, and it's NZ that have finally done it.

When I rate beers, I generally consider a score of 1.0 to represent widely available macro lager (insert VB or whatever your local rubbish may be here). This is far and away worse. This makes me pine for a Tooheys Extra Dry like a gently frying prisoner pines for the sweet release of death.

I'm not sure which of 'Porter' 'Rye' or indeed 'Ale' this beer even is but it's a horrid sour metallic effort with no redeeming benefit. It's hard to imagine how this even came into being? But it's clearly not a dud / skunked bottle either .. what were they thinking?

The only value I can see for this beer is taking it to parties, to either a) drink a sip and fire yourself up to take advantage (?) of freely available crap lagers, or b) share with others to "demonstrate that weird beer you always drink" and in so doing make sure no bastard ever touches your weird beers in the esky.

As such it receives the very first 0.0. Congratulations.

Renaissance Voyager IPA

I have to say I was a bit suspicious about this one even as I bought it.

With a bottle that looks like it belongs in either an apothecary or a chartreuse collection, the bottle text revolves around it being a classic British IPA using fuggles and some NZ hops. Hmm. I'm aware IPAs were indirectly invented by the Brits, but all the better efforts these days are distinctly not of the UK persuasion.

The head's pretty aggressive when poured and this comes through in the mouthfeel. Not a lot, then harsh carbonation,  then slight grassy / barley hops, then unpleasant sourness. The flavour gets a bit better as it warms slightly, hints of biscuit and earthiness, but even then it's highly unimpressive and unsatisfying.

I hope this isn't really some sort of renaissance as the beer itself is a clear step back. 3.5

Victory Golden Monkey

Right. I have to say I had no idea what was lurking in this bottle what with the label, name, and walloping 9.5% ABV.

And yet I was still pretty surprised by the lightness of this: the head, the body, and strangely the taste itself.

Given this in isolation I think I'd call it some sort of Belgian witbier, primarily lemon and wheat based flavours, slight candy, not a lot else. The label bangs on about this being spiced; but I didn't get too much of that. The strangest thing is there's very little indication of the alcohol here - just a slightly sweet finish.

In this then it's a pretty impressive effort. But given the relatively uninspired flavours around it, it's just not that enjoyable. 7.0

Mikkeller Green and Gold

A beer approached with the same trepidation as other Mikkeller efforts. And this time he seems to be wearing a green turban on the label.. what the hell are we in for today?

Turns out this is an IPA style beer of some description, quite dark coloured for at 7%.

Sweet fruit hits first in the taste, then lingering stonefruit style bitterness. The sweet bit at the start and the rest are very separate to me though.. like the name of the beer is some precursor to the wholly discrete taste palate. Bitterness a bit nectarine-like.

Can't say I rate this much.. it's a bit too sweet and a bit clumsy. 6.0

Brewdog 5AM Saint

An amber ale from the land of scots, packaged in that inimitable, somehow unlikeable way of Brewdog.

Pours very attractively in terms of both appearance and aroma. Then all of a sudden you're singing christmas songs. This is very faithful to type in terms of taste - a classic Amber, sweet malt the main characteristic with a bit of fruitcake sort of stuff going on also, then a slight peppery finish. There's just the right amount of bitterness and hops to balance that sweetness.

It's not a revolutionary take on things but a very solid one - much like their IPA effort in fact. Good beer. 8.0