Green Flash Le Freak

Wow this is a massive beer.

9.2% of Belgian Tripel forcibly crashed into a US-hopped Imperial IPA. It does not lack presence.

Bright pink label an inspired choice and I actually think the beer itself may carry just a hint of strawberry itself too? Beautiful head is frothy and solid; creamy.

The aroma here was always going to be a battleground and you do get both styles in there. Maybe the hops just edge it, if you had to pick a winner? I find the alcohol pretty evident in terms of bitey front of mouth flavours, but it's not bulky or heavy as such - just sticky and full bodied. It all comes together pretty well without becoming too tacky. I like.

I'm not sure I'd want to drink this style too often, but for what it is, it's good. I'm maybe not a fan just yet but you have to acknowledge the showcase nonetheless. 8.0

Green Flash Barleywine

The 2011 edition for reference.

First things first, this pours excellently, what a ripper body and head profile, just looks sensational. Mouth = watering. Full marks.

Aroma is primarily stonefruit, sweet fruit smells, some alcohol but only if you strain for it.

Wow. Flavour. This beer is really very flavoursome. FLAVOUR is what this beer screams while cold. Notes of toffee apple colour a wide progression of round flavours, it's well hopped to boot, feel like this is a tightrope balance they've somehow walked, mad skills. It's smooth without being heavy or torpid like these can sometimes get - indeed, if anything it is quite light bodied for the style.

The snag with this beer is an unexpected one - oddly, it actually gets a little worse as it warms, possibly due to its comparatively lightweight body. There's a bit too much red apple and watery red grape going on if you leave it, and the nose similarly worsens to reveal a few more stripped back nail polish alcoholic notes.

Quite a different barleywine and well worth a try.. impressive lightness but whether this is desirable is maybe a matter of personal choice. 7.5

Green Flash Palate Wrecker

Day 2 of Melbourne's Good Beer Week (already I reminisce with such fondness..) and nothing to do until the booked dinner that evening.. time to kick back and relax with that bastion of genteel alcohol consumption, Palate Wrecker.

Shout out to Beer DeLuxe by the way, if you're in town on business (or otherwise) this place is right there in Fed Square and has a frankly jealousy inducing collection of beers for you to try. Great lunch specials also.


But yes, Palate Wrecker. $13.50 for this 9.5% self proclaimed monster but on tap, why wouldn't you? Lovely thick frothy suds on this beer lace stickily like nobody's business, and the aroma gets you even from a distance with its tropical tales of peaches and pine. This is a beer with a purpose, nay, an agenda.

Happily, this beer does attempt to smash your tonsils on first encounter. I've been drinking some big beers but not since Ruination have I encountered such a thwack of astringency: to learn it's 149 IBU is no great surprise. It's juicy, full and thick with sour oily ester-like character. This beer is not especially well integrated to my mind - while there is sufficient malt background to smooth the massive spike of acrid, orange rind oily hops, it all washes in toward the end of the flavour distribution like some inexplicably friendly tsunami.

Still - for a beer whose sole purpose is to hit you as hard as it can, none of this is really a minus. So kick off your next dinner party with palate wrecker, that's how the cool kids roll. 8.5

Green Flash Hop Head Red

Not a cheap beer to buy on tap .. would it hold up its end of the arguable bargain?

In three words, yes and yes.

Lovely dark amber colour sports a soft cream head - underneath it is positively seething with hops, backed with a nice sweet malt backbone. The balance between these elements makes this a highly drinkable session ale despite its middleweight punch at 7% abv.

This is listed as an amber ale and in that class (ie separate from Rye and the like) it seems very much in the lead. The generous kick of bitter American hops really lifts this above the drudgery that is most ambers - particulary as they warm and become fuggy with their sweet malt characteristics. Very good beer and pending further tasting an easy 8.0

Green Flash Double Stout

Pictured with its passionate lover Mrs Cheap Pudding From Woolworths.

These two hit it off freakin beautifully and I think it's mostly due to the quite arrestingly bitter nature of the stout. Really, this gives a lingering bitter coffee kick that's kind of abrasive in isolation but the perfect thing for a sweet dessert. The combo of stout and pud is well known but depending on the stout sweetness it can all get a bit overwhelming. This will not give you that problem. Try it at your next dinner soiree. But beware its 8.8% ABV kick.

Lovely head, creamy as all get out, beautiful aroma, def a big double stout with solid black content. Good stuff. 8.5

Green Flash Rayon Vert

Another from Green Flash, this time in a pretty different vein.

Puts me in mind of a wheat beer slightly this; it's light and fluffy, cloudlike, with a nose of citrus and wheat grain. Reasonably opaque though nevertheless.

Slightly sour taste, bit like a saison. Not bad for a style I'm not really familiar with.

Looking back, I'm kind of surprised this was 7%. Pretty drinkable and I think I could learn to love it. But for now I'd go for any number of other things at the same price / % range. 7.0

Green Flash West Coast IPA

Had heard a bit about Green Flash so excited to finally try one of their flagship IPAs, especially when the label suggests it's 'extravagantly hopped'.

7.3% is the target mark for a beer that's truly Indian like this one. Nose reminds me of stella hops. Bit of sediment swirling throughout this bottle.. but not offputting. It's quite opaque in any case.

It's got a lovely creamy head, and a lingering sweet citrus bitterness that make it a pretty good effort. But I can't help but think this is more a reasonable example of a style I love, rather than a steller example of an average style. Little bit heavy in the mouth, just not quite got the wow factor. 7.5