Billabong Brewing Reviews

Lunkie	2.1 Billabong Porter Dark brown colour great head and lacing. Spicy malt hop aroma. Malt Smokey flavour with hops. Thin palate. Saturday, May 11, 2019
Lunkie	2.3 Billabong 4 Hop Ale Sweet candy malt slight sulphur aroma. Murky Amber colour over excited head great lacing. Sweet malt candy flavour with stale aftertaste. Smooth palate. Saturday, May 11, 2019
rhoihessegold	2.6 Billabong Blonde Gluten Free [backlog] 17-05-15 / bottle at YHA Fremantle. Fruit notes. Well carbonated. I started rating my beers with Untappd and a few basic notes. Now I want to rate them on ratebeer. So my rating sometimes lack some information. Just ignore it, it is for my personal statistics. Untappd-Rating 2.5/5 Wednesday, August 31, 2016
crippledbrewer	2.5 Billabong Bavarian Wheat On opening it there is definitely a slight pleasant banana aroma mixed with what I can only describe as a wheatyness. My first sip was a bit underwhelming but being an IPA fan that was to be expected. After a few more sips I must admit I was still disappointed, whilst it is definately a wheat beer it has nothing to really distinguish itself from other mainstream beers of the same type. The lasck of taste aside, it is also a very refreshing beer with a low bitterness that would be perfect for quaffing down at the beach in the middle of summer when you aren’t too interested in complex flavours! Monday, December 9, 2013
jonnyguns	2.5 Billabong Ginger Beer Tap at freo beer fest. Refreshing ginger beer. Doesn't linger too much on the palate. Goes down easy ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone Saturday, November 9, 2013
jonnyguns	3.4 Billabong Nelson Sauvin Ale Tap at freo beer fest. Wow this actually smells tropical! Great surprise. Nice tropical passionfruit notes on the nose. Taste works well refreshing passionfruit with biscuit malts. Solid stuff ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone Saturday, November 9, 2013
Lunkie	3.4 Billabong Bavarian Wheat Sweet fruit malt aroma. Clear amber colour with good head and lacing. Sweet malt flavour with citrus. Fizzy palate. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone Sunday, June 9, 2013
jdpeebs	3.5 Billabong Nelson Sauvin Ale 330ml bottle- Nice dark orange colour, with a good foamy white head. Very nice hop aromas and flavours. Sunday, January 27, 2013
Druzel	4.5 Billabong Ginger Beer Tough to beat on a hot summer day in Perth. Fantastic when combined with spicy Asian food. Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Maris	3.6 Billabong Nelson Sauvin Ale From a 330ml bottle on 1/12/2012. Pours a slightly cloudy deep golden with a small head which disappears almost immediately. Has a quite strong fruity, slightly floral aroma. The flavour is quite complex with tropical and citrus fruits, berries, some strong vinous notes, with quite tart, slightly spicy lingering bitterness. The carbonation is lively but not over the top. A nice, relatively intense ale. Saturday, December 1, 2012
maneliquor	2.2 Billabong Mexican Lager Seems to be their most popular recipe at the ’do it yourself’ brewery in Myaree. Not that bad considering the recipe is supposed to be based on replicating Crown lager. Much better than Crown that’s for sure...still not great though Friday, April 20, 2012
gam	3.5 Billabong Nelson Sauvin Ale Pale amber pour good sized rocky head aromas vinous nice and fruity soft carbonation sweet caramel flavours citrus and tropical fruit passionfruit grapefruit the nelson sauvin hop note smooth grape lovely bitter the finish hoppy vinous tropcal and citric lasting bitter very well made so tasty Sunday, January 22, 2012
maneliquor	2.7 Billabong Ginger Beer Bottle from Mane Liquor. Not bad quaffing ginger beer. It leaves that touch of a bite at the back of the throat which is always nice I suppose Friday, January 6, 2012
maneliquor	3.4 Billabong Nelson Sauvin Ale Given a sample down at Billabong Brewery on McCoy Street. Was pleasantly surprised with this one. Vibrant nelson sauv hops on the nose as expected with a touch of gooseberry. Tropical fruits and gooseberry in the taste without the over powering sweetness you can sometimes get with too much of this hop. Everything comes together well. Very lively carbonation. Nice Friday, November 25, 2011
Brenhophead	3.6 Billabong Nelson Sauvin Ale At the wa craft beer showcase with a nice citrus/resin aroma. Taste is the best of the show so far (besides the little creature dipa) a nice hop resin flavour. Friday, November 25, 2011
mkel07	2.1 Billabong Ginger Beer 330ml bottle. Murky and cloudy with a colour that resembles dirty dishwater, complete with a scattering of soapy looking bubbles that pop and disappear. Very strong earthy ginger aroma and a strong ginger flavour to match. It leaves a burning aftertaste in the mouth and throat. Sunday, August 14, 2011
hawthorne00	3.5 Billabong 4 Hop Ale Bottle. Copper with an inch of off-white head that’s well retained and laces well. Toffee aroma with unusual spices - ginger and mace - earth, grass dried fruit. Light bodied. Taste has sweet caramel, Christmas cake spices, a little appleish sourness. Interesting and very unusual. Very tasty and involving for 3.8%. Saturday, August 6, 2011
mkel07	3.5 Billabong Nelson Sauvin Ale 330ml bottle. Lots of foam straight up, deep and dirty white. Brilliantly clear bright amber colour. Hop aroma with a strong gooseberry backdrop. Thin but not watery and long lasting flavour on the palate. Friday, May 13, 2011
hawthorne00	3.5 Billabong Nelson Sauvin Ale Bottle. Clear gold with just the odd speck, large white head. Aroma of preserved lemon and gooseberry, touches of tropical fruits. Taste has lots of tropical fruit - lychees, passionfruit, low acid pineapple. Very mild biscuity malt. Dryish finish with modest bitterness. A bit too fizzy. Very nice use of a hop that can be overpowering and catty. Fine summery beer. Tuesday, February 15, 2011
mkel07	1.1 Billabong Apple Beer 330ml bottle. Pours like champagne with a very pale colour . Two shades darker than water. Crisp granny smith apple aroma with a flat tart flavour that is dry and bitter on the palate. Monday, September 6, 2010
mkel07	1.5 Billabong Blonde Gluten Free 330ml bottle. So pale it looks like a glass of water with a yellow tinge to it. No head to speak of although the aroma saves it a little. Sweet malty aroma with orange peel wafting through. Tastes more like a brewed soft drink that beer. The colourful art work on the label is the best thing about it. Monday, September 6, 2010
ndon	2.9 Billabong Blonde Gluten Free bottle was a gift along with the pale ale. very highly carbonated. strong tropical aromas, with a taste that was lacking after the nose. Monday, August 16, 2010
Lunkie	3 Billabong Blonde Gluten Free Sweet floral malt fruit aroma. Clear yellow colour great head and lacing. Malt hop sweet flaverou with stone fruit. Fizzy palate. Friday, August 13, 2010
bluevegie	3.5 Billabong Nelson Sauvin Ale Tried on tap at the Monk for WA Beer Week and also in the bottle later that week. Clear golden body with decent white head. Lovely aroma and noticeable hop bitterness in the taste though it doesn’t dominate the palate. Very tasty! Tuesday, June 29, 2010
mkel07	2.5 Billabong 4 Hop Ale 330ml bottle. Deep copper almost ruby colour with a mild modest head that is very thin. No very clear with a caramel and malt aroma and a sweet backdrop. Strong metallic vinegar flavour that is tart and astringent and not very pleasant. Friday, April 9, 2010
mkel07	3 Billabong Bavarian Wheat 330ml bottle. Classic wheat beer with a thick creamy rocky head sitting on a cloudy amber base. Banana aromas mixed with cloves and bubblegum. Slightly tart on the palate with a not unpleasant vinergary finish. Saturday, February 27, 2010
mkel07	3.6 Billabong Porter 30ml bottle. Thick and black as midnight with a huge coffee coloured head of large dense bubbles. Smells like a short black with a hint of chocolate in it. Lively in the mouth with wonderful chocolate flavour that dances across the tongue. Well rounded with a good body. Saturday, January 16, 2010
TimE	3.7 Billabong 4 Hop Ale A very American take on a Bitter. Copper color, lots of cotton candy and candy apples in the nose. The mouth is deceptively full bodied and stuff full of hops, but with sufficient backbone. Lingering hoppy finish. Unbelievable for 3.8% ABV. Definetely not shy on the hops and thouroghly enjoyable. Wednesday, December 23, 2009
madquacker	2.4 Billabong Blonde Gluten Free So wrong but yet was somehow alright. Ridiculous head with enormous malformed bubbles and the straw of straw colours. Pineapple is very present. Somehow it was alright. Tuesday, May 19, 2009
highlandlad	1.5 Billabong Blonde Gluten Free Dammit. Must... learn... to... read... small... print... on... beer... bottles. "Low carb" and "gluten free" are two of the scariest phrases in brewing and they’re right there on the front of the label, just under the orange price sticker that reminds me how much I overpaid for a new rate. To be fair, for a gluten-free beer this has some moments but only in the way that the last rom-com your girlfriend dragged you along to wasn’t as awful as you expected. (Unless it was "Confessions of a Shopaholic". Then it was.) Blillabong Blonde looks very much as you’d expect and holds its head pretty well. The curacao grabs centre stage in an aroma with obvious orange peel, watery lime juice and faint ginger. It’s all a bit Robinson’s Barley Water. So far so good but it’s downhill from there. The carbonation is champagne spritzy, with bubbles that dance around the mouth and distract from the taste. Overall, cheap champagne is the best comparison I can summon. It’s feather-light on the tongue, which helps muddy the thin flavours of acetic acid, stale kettle water and lime juice. Minimal bitterness. Couldn’t stomach more than a few mouthfuls of this. (330ml bottle from Randwick Cellars, who saw me coming and charged $7.95 for this. Stupid is as stupid does.) Wednesday, April 15, 2009
brendanos	2.6 Billabong Blonde Gluten Free Opens with an excited hiss and begins it’s journed upwards and outwards, pouring with a massive head indicating overcarbonation, an infection or otherwise. Floral aroma suggesting acetic acid and a brett-like farmhouse funk (leather, fruity sweat) reminiscent of a lot of lambics and soured belgians I’ve encountered. It’s also reminding me a lot of the ciders of normandy, in a good way. A slightly solvent-like aroma prickles the olfactory nerves. Light on malt flavour (just a touch of caramel) with a ripe fruitiness possibly due to a brett infection. A slight acidity in the flavour and finish, but not strong or overwhelming. No best before marked, though I’m quite confident it’s an old one. A very pleasant beer, probably the most enjoyable thing I’ve had from Billabong. Friday, February 27, 2009
MBison	1.6 Billabong Blonde Gluten Free Bottle (330ml). Poured pale hazy yellow with a small, fizzy white head which was average lasting. A cordial like aroma with a light fruitiness; apples, canned peaches, mango flavored iced tea and some sweet malts. Flavor was of rotten oranges with expired apple juice, lychee juice, strange notes of infection and a chalky tablet-like aftertaste. Light bodied with medium carbonation, a watery texture and a short finish. Possibly a bad bottle. Wednesday, November 26, 2008
MBison	2.2 Billabong Ginger Beer Bottle (330ml). Poured a muddy yellowed brown (resembling bore water) with a small, fizzy, off-white head which was fully diminishing. A spicy aroma with powdered ginger dominating, earthy/tree root notes, 5 spice powder and a dash of lemon juice. Flavor was equally spicy with freshly chopped ginger, gingerbread, a light bitterness, some earthy/bark notes and weeds in the finish. Light bodied with medium carbonation, a slightly thick/syrupy texture and an average finish Wednesday, November 26, 2008
MBison	2 Billabong Apple Beer Bottle (330ml). Poured extremely pale, clear yellow with a tiny, fizzy, white head which was full diminishing. A cider like aroma with sweet skunky apples, barnyard hay and notes of sulfur dioxide – no hops or malts present. Flavor was of sour green apples with watered down apple flavored cordial, a light acidity, straw and some notes of mineral water in the finish. Light bodied with fizzy carbonation, a thin somewhat watery texture and a short finish. Wednesday, November 26, 2008
bluevegie	3.1 Billabong Dark Wheat Deep dark red body with a light tan head that pushed right out of the glass. Nice soft banana notes in the taste, the aroma is not as good as the taste so don’t smell it too much, just knock it down. Cheers. Tuesday, October 16, 2007
bluevegie	3.1 Billabong Porter Poured a dark tan head that pushed right out of the glass. A little smoother than last nights porter and perhaps a little thinner in body, coffee in the taste whilst you seem to pick up chocolate along with the coffee on the nose. Thursday, September 20, 2007
sinkas	1.8 Billabong Bavarian Wheat Bottle, WABA beer dinner, Applecross resonable german wheat beer aromas, heavy on banana esters, lacking body and strange one dimensional synthetic mouthfeel and flavour. Saturday, July 14, 2007
sinkas	0.5 Billabong Porter Bottle, WABA beer dinner, Applecross Loads of Cardboard and medicinal off flavours, should not have been served at this beer dinner. embarrassing for the brewer and the industry Saturday, July 14, 2007
bluevegie	2.4 Billabong Bavarian Wheat Clear, coppery body with average white head. Slight clove on the nose as well as some banana. Fairly thin in body, clove and a bit of orange. Boring. Saturday, June 9, 2007
bluevegie	2 Billabong Blonde Gluten Free Bright, clear gold body, white head and some lacing. Butter and pine on the nose, light body, citrus, resin and some sweetness that is not pleasant for me but for a coeliac what choice do you have. Wednesday, June 6, 2007
bluevegie	3.6 Billabong 4 Hop Ale Lovely, clear reddy body with an off-white head. Some good clumps of lacing. Good fruit notes on the nose, some apricot and a bit herbal. Citrus in the taste that is not overdone, pine, light to medium body and nice long finish. Tuesday, June 5, 2007
bluevegie	2.6 Billabong Ginger Beer Big beaded head which told me it probably wouldn’t last too long but it just managed to hang around. Murky, dull straw coloured body. Taste is fairly sweet and mainly ginger but is there a hint of pear and or apple in there. Body is just above medium and on the finish just a bit of a bite. One of the better Gluten free beers that I have tried though one was enough. Monday, June 4, 2007
ALLOVATE	3.3 Billabong Ginger Beer Gluten-free beer now available mainstream at a few places in and around Perth. Mine, a bottle from the Beer Store Morley. Into a shallow chalice fresh chilled from the fridge. I let it known I love Ginger root anyway, so a bias goes towards anything made with it include. It pours an opaque, sandy yellow. A few reluctant bubbles grip the side of the glass, the others, conditioned and well trained, trace a silent path to the top, releasing up to a short, loose, bubbly pad of white that manages to stick around for dessert. Aroma of Fresh ginger is seemingly mulled, and plentifully spicy, ripe, woody and sweet. There is an extra spice there in the aroma hinting at Caraway seeds, rather fragrant. Quite sweet in the mouth as I expected. The ginger has a tough battle but pulls it off, this is very sweet, tangy and juicy but fairs clear of becoming cloying. Big spice of ginger in back , very woody and quite drawing with a long, sweet, equally woody ginger flavoured swallow and aftertaste. The carbonation is quite soft, the body firm and in charge. Quite refreshing I must say. Sessionable? I reckon it would pass at that too!!! (33cL, 1324) Saturday, May 5, 2007
ALLOVATE	1.7 Billabong Blonde Gluten Free Gluten-free beer now available mainstream at a few places in and around Perth. Mine, a bottle from the Beer Store Morley. None too impressed by this though it has its purpose being Gluten-free. Going for the drier ’Lager’ end may be it’s undoing. It pours a pale gold and bright. Head was there, then it wasn’t leaving a wafer-thin pad of white atop that managed the odd bit of leg-work. Cooked, boiled out, starchy rice nose, not much else (unsure of the grain used, it is a little claggy like ’Glutaner’). Extremely fizzed up burn of carbonic acid upsets the palate, pretty much towering over the flavour and all else. There is a little definable fruit hidden underneath, a tiny edge of sweetness. Starchy, burnt rubber flavour lingers long after the crisp swallow. Finish is gassy, making this one repeat. The body light for all I could tell. Reflux was the result of me drinking this. I might have to try this again as my notes are void of flavour profile. A few weeks have passed since I tried this, a new rating coming. So far, not good!! (33cL, 09876) Saturday, May 5, 2007
ALLOVATE	1.9 Billabong Apple Beer Gluten-free samples now available mainstream at the Beer Store Morley. Fresh crushed ’Pink lady’ on the nose, some ’Majestic’ evident, this aroma is supple but full, fruity and distinctive, as well as sweet to go abridge product description. Cider in the glass: pale, lemon-toned yellow and sparkling. Carbonation is light, tight and fine, no head. Added hint of strawberries on the nose before I quaffed. You could ask what happened, the aroma was full, dense; the palate is heaving dry everything. So thin, effervescent. Apple here, but so dry, attenuated away - don’t think there is much else. Another mouthful, I am sure, apple or bust, it manages to add a tang as it warms - as indeed it did since I started to tire. Gluten free, an absolute gem space saver drink - again a life saver so close to a dry cider - but the monotone just didn’t grasp my attention. Not much here! (0866, 33cL) Sunday, April 15, 2007
ALLOVATE	2.3 Billabong Bavarian Wheat Special promotion batch at the Beer Store Morley. Poured into a weizen glass, chilled from the fridge. Looks good - as all this brewer’s beers do - but not quite anything resembling a Kristall-weizen. It is a dull, medium gold with fine sparse carbonation, just enough to raise up a fluffy, white, pillowy head that retains quite well but doesn’t leave much evidence behind on the glass. Band-aid-like phenolics on the nose bounded in sweet, bananery esters, not too much excitement here. Quite thin but creamy on the palate. Banana flavour dominates, a little bubblegum peers in as some cloves and more band-aid phenols in back and into the fruity, short swallow. Everything is in low-gear and it comes across as the ’Redback’ of the Micro-brewery circuit. Yeast still in and kicking might ramp this up a notch. Too straightforward and crowd-pleasing. (0546, 33cL) Sunday, April 15, 2007
ALLOVATE	4.2 Billabong 4 Hop Ale Special promotion batch at the Beer Store Morley. From the Mexican lager to this, they don’t even compare. Where did they pull this from, a wonderful beer hitting the mark straight off the bat with appearance which gets top marks. Into a tallboy at just on cold. the head is furious and expands straight up and out the lip to settle an inch atop the glass. It looks like a French chef’s hat, a beigish, dense soufflé that holds and needs to be bitten off in order to consume the beer (very bitter indeed!). Big, woody, herbal and floral nose with notes of toasted malts and pale, roasted nuts. Palate is all forest floor and raw, showcasing a complexity that belies it’s modest ABV. Juicy oranges, some aged, dried peaches and apricot dance amongst lots of heavily woody, earthy malt and hops, some gritty toasted grains, subtle hints of pine-nuts and cashews and other surprising, raw nibblies. There is no peak, but a bitterness does kick in late, earthy and herbal before it continues much the same into a long, complex swallow reminiscent of a good Düsseldorf Altbier. The body is firm, quite big and subtly carbonated making it smooth down the back. This was just pure enjoyment and I’m hoping this would be the flagship first beer to hit Perth’s shelves. Wonderfully crafted stuff, deserves two-thumbs up!!! (0509, 33cL) Sunday, April 15, 2007
ALLOVATE	1.4 Billabong Mexican Lager Special promotion batch at the Beer Store Morley. It was all going so well until this. I won’t bag it, but I will judge it fairly and honestly, as I do. Extra points for appearance first up, in fact it looks obscenely good for a pale lager. The body a pale, sunny gold with fine, light effervescence. Magnificent, big, dense, rocky snow-white adorns it, retaining for the length a good inch thick, lacing intricately as it empties. Now if it could only stay in the glass! Burnt rubber and 2-stroke fuel on the nose, vapours burn the nostril hairs before, thankfully, fading off. The rubber/fuel mix plays now onto the palate like a very bad Sake. A little soapy in mouthfeel, very light bodied with dwindling carbonation. A touch of leafy hops in back gives evidence of where this beer should be. Not much malt evident in the mish mash of by-products present. Finish is just the same and it lingers unwelcome for a little too long. Not good, I hope this was bad batch. Another try, some time later! (0142, 33cL) Sunday, April 15, 2007
ALLOVATE	3.2 Billabong Porter Special promotion batch at the Beer Store Morley. Into a tallboy at just on cold, as the instructions go. Seemed black as black to me aside a translucent ruby brown showing in the extreme shallows. Creamy tannish pad formed and held its ground, lacing well as it ebbed. Bitter, roasted coffee beans and a big wad of molasses on the nose. Similar in the mouth, aggressively burnt cane sugar and bitter coffee beans, some smoke and husky, bitter chocolate (85% Lindt’s I think!). Quite charged, it really prickles the tongue giving fuel to the smoky malt flavours. Dry in back, peaking malt bitterness before a long, coffee and molasses swallow that is, to its credit, rather smooth. Smoky, bitter aftertaste draws in saliva, and it does want of another mouthful so I suppose this could pass as sessionable, maybe. A nice Porter, but not extraordinary. Some subtle complexity would make it a winner. (0564, 33cL) Sunday, April 15, 2007
aproctor	3.7 Billabong Blonde Gluten Free citrus, floral, pale, clear, white foam, light sweetness, lightly bitter, light body, lively, Saturday, January 13, 2007