Tasted Wednesday 18 November 2009. 330ml bottle, 5.9% Alc/Vol
Australia
The fine folk at Red Hill Brewery are not shy in packing flavour and character into their beers.
This is an unfiltered beer that is quite golden in colour. Big spicy, piney hop aromas with subtle banana, malt and yeasty characters greet the nose.
Fat Czech style maltiness (without being overly heavy) and a rich, slightly viscous texture (probably the 5.9% alc) roll lazily around the mouth. The hops extract themselves providing a dry, cleansing, long and fresh, bitter finish. Not really a “session” beer, rather it is something you can have two or three of, but requires your full attention.
With a label like that you have to wonder if there is anything to like inside the bottle.
Unfortunately there is not much to say about this beer. Yes it is intended purely to be an easy drinking, light bodied, hot climate beer. However it borders on the flavourless side. In fact it nearly falls of the fence into blandness. This is the style of beer the large commercial brewers specialise in. While I might have been a bit hard on the Mountain Goat Steam Ale it looks all class next to this.
Ah hah! A lager with bite! Golden in colour and sparkling clear. Light toffee on the nose with floral and nutty hints. The palate is crisp, light, quite malty, mildly sweet toffee, grassy, bread dough, citrus, and a gobful of hop bitterness that gets it over the line.
I wish more lagers could be like this. Soft yet crisp, light yet malty. Floral, citrus flavours, good carbonation, rounded, malty body with a sharp crisp hoppy finish.
