Woolshed Brewery W Amazon Ale

Champagne glass pour.. bit limited with hotel rooms unfortunately.

Why the hotel? I had come to Adelaide, where while there's a Coopers flag outside every bar (no seriously - every bar), and a couple of Coopers Pale Ales in every hotel minifridge (a definite improvement on the norm), it seems wider craft is floundering. I hunted down a bottle-o to check out some locals and after the server has leisurely taken his 10 minutes to run up my 4 bottles, cracked into this hitherto unforeseen rare bird of an ale.

It's a very clear pour here with a reasonable fizzy head. The nose gives up pils metallicisms first off but then delivers something a bit sweeter, I had thought honey or something perhaps, combined with probably Australian Pale Ale yeast.

The body is pretty sweet overall, but also delivers some nice nutty characters at odds with anything I was expecting and these become more apparent as it warms. It's a bit of a spin first up but not bad once you're used to what you're getting, though there is still just that tiny itchy hint of metal on the finish holding it back.

Label says it's their inaugural brew made using solar energy, rainwater, and 100% recyclable techniques (good thing here, I hate seeing places using unique brewing techniques every time that aren't reuseable). Quite enjoyable on the whole - keep doing what you're doing, chaps. Perhaps there is a future for Adelaide after all ? 6.0

Invercargill Stanley Green

Hmm, another NZ brewer = time to take a chance.

This is marketed as an English Pale Ale and I'd say it fits the bill. It's a bit grainy when you take a pull, not much taste to begin with, pretty empty, then you get a sort of grapelike flavour from there on. Aftertaste and finish turns into that barley tea-like territory that EPAs often stray into. Bit sour in places also?

I quite enjoyed the aftertaste of this, but everything leading up to that was unappealing and hardly worth it. 5.0

Boston's Mill Pale Ale

Took a bit of research to find out what I was actually drinking here haha. Bar staff seemed puzzled when my boss asked what sort of pale ale it was .."it's pale ale". "Er yes but .. um .. well what company?"

Quite a fruity nose. If I had to make a call on it I'd say it's an APA in the style of Atomic and the like, but the brewer claims it's English instead. Fair enough I guess.

In any case it's malty and fruity if a little empty, pleasant but light hopping. Didn't make me screech about Pride of Ringwood at all so that's a plus. Pretty drinkable I found. Had 3 more in an hour before jumping the taxi just to make sure. And yes it's a 6.5.

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.