If you want to look good drinking beer, this is the drop! Packaged with a great looking, understated label and a catchy name it follows through in the glass. Rich, cloudy, dark amber with a dense, creamy head that clings to the glass and hangs around for a while. This is a handsome looking beer!
With all that colour came a little too much burnt caramel for my liking – probably just means it’s not a summer beer. To counteract the caramel they’ve packed in a strong hops bitterness that does it’s best to balance the sweetness, but somehow gets in the way as the glass gets empty.
I last wrote about this beer back in April 2007, and I wasn’t terribly impressed then. I can only say they’ve been working on it, because I found this encounter a lot more enjoyable.
Mountain Goat Beer Pty Ltd
Corner North & Clark Streets
Richmond Victoria 3121
goatbeer.com.au
Another one from Red Hill brewery, didn’t know what to expect from this.
This is a pretty complete beer. There’s a creamy, fine, fragrant head that lasts more than the usual and underneath there’s a slightly cloudy, rich amber coloured ale. A balance of sweet and bitter – hops and malt, it’s all there. There’s even a hint of a citrus in the aftertaste that keeps you coming back for more.
Oh! look at that head!
Attractive, golden, clear and with fine bubbles – this is a nice drop. Cascade is not a ’boutique’ brewery, but this particular beer (along with two others) is only available in Tasmania, so I reckon that qualifies as a boutique brew. Nice looking bottle too, very traditional label – doesn’t pretend to be a work of literature, just says “You deserve a Cascade Draught”.
I had great expectations after their Pale Ale, not exactly disappointed, this is still a darn good beer, but I couldn’t help hoping.
This came highly recommended by a friend who apparently knew the manager of the brewery. For me, it promised a lot, but didn’t quite deliver. Not that this is a bad beer – it’s all there: the smells, flavours and colours; just not in quantities enough to break clear of the humdrum. It comes across with a whimper, not a bang – just a bit too clean.
They say: “Fine Handcrafted Ale”, that sounds a bit too cute…
They say: “Real Live Ale”, whatever that means…