White Rabbit Dark Ale (Australia)

www.whiterabbitbeer.com.au
White Rabbit Dark Ale
White Rabbit Brewery
4.9% ABV

This is the other beer that White Rabbit produce.

In their words...

"An intriguing dark ale that moves to it's own beat, our minds set about creating a beer that contradicted itself....rich dark and flavoursome but at the same time ever refreshing....malt driven but with the aromatic lift of generous doses of hops.
Raisin like ester characters derived through its open fermentation bind a balancing act of flavour with a malt bill that rewards the parched palette with a rich, dark colour without losing any sessionabilty qualities, which we love so much in a beer.
Passed through a hop back generously laden with whole hop flowers and then dry hoped in the open fermenters, at 4.9% abv this is a dark ale with plenty of reassuring bitterness....."

Review

A dark cloudy beer with an off-white head, a little fizz is present.  Once poured roasted malt flavours accompany bags of floral hop aromas with raisin bread characters in there too.  Some great flavours are in the mix, just the right amount of roasted malt flavour along with good bitterness.  The beer actaully has a light body despite it's dark appearance.  Overall this is a good beer, great for a long session but with some good flavours and depth to enjoy as a stand-alone.  For an increased score would have wanted even more roasted malt flavour.

Scores

Aroma 6.5/10
Appearance 3.5/5
Taste 6/10
Palate 4/5
Overall 15/20

Total 70%

White Rabbit White Ale (Australia)

www.whiterabbitbeer.com.au
White Rabbit White Ale
White Rabbit Brewery
4.5% ABV

This is a modern Australian version of a wheat beer by the exciting, if not a little mysterious White Rabbit brewery.  White Rabbit is based up in the hills of the Yarra Valley in Victoria, Australia.  The brewery is owned by Little Creatures brewery based in WA.  This I think would explain some of the clever marketing and idea behind the two beers that they produce.

With the two beers they produce; they use traditional techniques coupled with modern day forward thinking ideas to try and achieve something that tastes unique.

Taken from their website - "The White Ale product story starts in medieval times with brewers’ experimentation with wheat & spice as the predominant ingredients of flavour. The Belgian monks played with coriander, orange peel and other oddball additions, and suspended the yeast to create a cloudy white appearance...hence the description.

With our “monkish” use of a specially selected belgian yeast strain and voracious appetite to create intriguing and delicious styles, we couldn't resist the idea of tackling the invention of a great Australian White.

Imagine Belgians snuggling out of the cold in wonderful little ale houses dreaming of places like Australia to drink such a beer."

Review


A cloudy pale amber beer is present once poured with a very attractive white head but disappeared quite quickly.  A little honey aroma starts to come through, a touch of yeast and a faint spice.  On tasting the White Ale the sweetness was definitely there along with a small lemon character and then a slight bitterness.  The beer itself is a little fizzy, very light in body and very easy to drink.  Overall not bad but I am not a huge fan of this style of beer (Wheat Beer) but I would say this is one of the better ones.

Scores: -

Aroma 4/5
Appearance 3/5
Taste 4.5/10
Palate 3/5
Overall 15/20

Total 59%

Weihenstephaner Heffweissbier Dunkel (German)

www.weihenstephaner.de
Weihenstephaner Heffweissbier Dunkel
Weihenstephaner Brewery
5.3% ABV

The oldest brewery in the world is the claim from this famous German Brewer.  Established in 1040 but the monastery where the original monks brewed this beer was founded in 725!  The Bavarian brewery is renowned for it's Weissbiers.  It has quite a large selection of products. 

This is their "dunkel" or dark wheat beer.

Review

A wheaty, yeasty fragrance was present on opening and pouring.  Some darker malt tones came through too.  A cloudy brown beer with a very frothy off-white head.  On tasting you get the wheat with it's sweeter honey qualities possibly even a little banana character.  The beer was very lively with a creamy texture with a little bitter finish.

Scores: -

Aroma 5/10
Appearance 3.5/5
Taste 5/10
Palate 3.5/5
Overall 14/20

Total 54%

Stone and Wood Pacific Ale (Australia)

www.stoneandwood.com.au
Stone and Wood Pacific Ale
Stone and Wood Brewery
4.4% ABV

Handcrafted by friends Brad Rogers, Ross Jurisch and Jamie Cook in Byron Bay.   The guys established the brewery in 2008 with the ethos behind this ale is to be the refreshing, thirst quenching hit after a hard day at the beach!


The boys use Australian grown barley and wheat with Galaxy hops and they use Byron Bay water in their mix.

Review

A lemon citrus hit is first present on the nose along with a massive skunk aroma.  The beer has a light golden, cloudy hue with a white head.  A really pleasant skunky flavour comes through when tasting a hit of bitterness and then more skunk!  Not much else to it, almost soft drink like.  The beer has a medium body.  Overall not bad, a little different almost unusually skunky but very sessionable.

Scores: -

Aroma 6/10
Appearance 3/5
Taste 4/10
Palate 2.5/5
Overall 14.5/20

Total 60%

Choc Hops Chocolate Stout (Australia)

www.mildurabrewery.com.au
Choc Hops Chocolate Stout
Mildura Brewing Company
ABV 5%

This is the first beer that I have tried from this Victorian brewery.  They produce five permanent beers along with seasonal beers like this Chocolate Stout which is a limited release.
The brewery was opened in 2004 and so far the brewery has won 22 medals for their beers including Silver Medal 2010 Australian International Beer Awards for their Desert Premium, Sun Light and Honey Wheat beers.  The brewery renovated an old historic theatre that they now run as a pub selling all of their beers on tap with some great food.

Review

Immediately the chocolate comes through, a malty chocolate (almost chocolate milk like) aroma is present.  The chocolate is not overpowering and infact works wonderfully.  A dark, flat beer with a tan head which disappears quickly.  The beer does has a dark chocolate flavour that is very bitter, roasted coffee comes through which compliments the beer.  I would describe the beer to have no sweetness, nice bitterness, a perfect weight to the body with a smooth finish.  I really enjoyed this beer I found it a great drop with not much to fault.  If you don't mind chocolate give it a go, it really surprises you how well it works.

Scores

Aroma 6/10
Appearance 3/5
Taste 6.5/10
Palate 4/5
Overall 15/20

Total 69%

St Peter's Ruby Red Ale (England)

www.stpetersbrewery.co.uk
St Peter's Ruby Red Ale
St Peter's Brewery
ABV 4.3%

The unmistakeable bottle of St Peter's Ruby Red Ale dates back to 1770.  The brewery now produces 12 year round beers in bottles plus a few seasonals; these include St Peter's Cream Stout and St Peter's Fruit Beer.  A total of 83,000 pints a week is somehow managed to be produced which is quite an output!  The original brewer Richard Eyton-Jones brewed a trilogy of fruit beers including Lemon, Ginger and Elderberry. 

The Ruby Red Ale is a tawny red ale with subtle malt undertones and a distinctive spicy hop aroma from Cascade, Styrian and Goldings hops. Ruby Red won a Silver Medal in the 2010 International Beer Challenge.


Review

The mix of hops are definitely apparent on first pour.  The aroma bursts out, fragrances of banana or grapefruit are pleasantly there.  Some of the darker malty characters come through and develop as the beer warms.  A tan head sits upon a dark, "ruby" cloudy liquid.  There are some good dark nutty, malty flavours with a good bitter finish.  The beer is creamy but quite flat.  I certainly enjoyed this one but was not blown away.

Scores

Aroma 6.5/10
Appearance 3.5/5
Taste 6/10
Palate 3.5/5
Overall 14/20

Total 67%

Bitburger Premium Beer (Germany)

www.bitburger.com
Bitburger Premium Beer
Bitburger Braugruppe
4.8% ABV

The town of Bitburg is home to this German Brewery.  Producing beer since 1817 it has become one of Germany's most famous, exporting worldwide.

They are proud of the fact that although they are selling very large quantities overseas they maintain that the beer is still very flavoursome unlike some of the other European rivals.

Bitburger is brewed with both German and French barley malts.  Hallertau hops are used to add depth and floral bitterness to the mix.  Another thing to note is that the beer is not pasteurised and therefore the flavours are not lost in the heat whilst brewing.

Review

My first impression once the beer was poured was that you could almost smell the brewing process in the glass, which was a plus.  A clear, golden, carbonated liquid with a white head is present.  Not a great deal of flavour but some bitterness added character.  Quite a medium bodied beer which is surprising as it looks so light.  Not a bad lager really.

Scores: -

Aroma 4.5/10
Appearance 3/5
Taste 4/10
Palate 3/5
Overall 14/20

Total 57%