Coopers Birell Premium

well, it is the only beer you can buy in an Australian supermarket

I bought one bottle of this just to try it, but my father-in-law drank it before I got home from work. He said it was "alright"-- light and malty, but refreshing. I’m basing my rating on his experience, plus the fact that any beer with no alcohol automatically gets negative one bizillion points.

I had absolutely nothing else new to sample for what seemed like weeks when I purchased this beer even then it stayed in the fridge for a while before I finally relented and gave it a go. Well my verdict is that I gave it a go and won’t be trying it again. It wasn’t horrible or anything and it had a lot of beer characters, good golden colour, Hop nose (stale) , corn lager body but that was all it had going for it.

OK, so the dictionary defines this drink as a beer. But we all know it isn't. The problem therefore is whether we should rate this as a beer and skew the results of other reviews or rate this for what it is, a beer substitute. I have drunk this on days when no-one else will take the car keys and it isn't bad for that reason. I would rather one of these to a basic Aussie light beer. Having said that it does not deserve high points in a beer forum.

Pale gold clear with a medium size, short lasting white rocky island head. Faint plastic, yeast and popcoarn aroma. Watery thin body. Corny, corn sweet and stale light bitter hops flavour - too bad I hate corn flavour in beer.

This is the Australian-brewed version of Swiss firm Hurlimann’s Birell "Ultra Light Beer". In fact, at 0.5%, it’s classified in Oz as a "brewed soft drink", which means it’s the only ’beer’ sold in supermarkets. It sells in cans and bottles, but the bottles were only available in six-packs, so the sample is from a can. Pale gold colour with a huge rocky head that left some lace and hung around much longer than many superior brews. Credit where it’s due, it actually looked very good. The aroma, however, is predictably thin, but some agitation produced a little light, fruity malt. Palate is also predictably weedy and it has that awful wet cardboard and corn character. Can’t imagine any situation where I would drink this. Erdinger Weissbier Alkoholfrei, also available occasionally in Australia, is a much better ultra-light. (Can, Best before 27/11/05)

Had to sample this one after finding it on the site. Knowing I had passed it in the drinks aisle of the local Cole’s supermarket for years and even with the Cooper’s insignia on the label I was still a little apprehensive to buy it. My last brewed soft drink was Bintang Zero (won’t be rushing out to buy that one again) and the thought of a repeat made me squeamish. Despite the ratings below I personally didn’t find this one to be too offensive an effort. Tasted from the can (re- highlandlad) and poured into the a tallboy glass. The most impressive this beer would get was in appearance in the glass. Brilliant gold with fairly fine carbonation raising a ½" of white fluffy foam. Head lasted the distance and laced rings down the glass. Anyone watching would swear you were drinking a full-strength at the pub, and would be none the wiser. Aroma was a let down, dank and yeasty stale, tinny and a little sweaty sock for complexity. Thankfully cleaner in the mouth as the nose was disagreeable. Tasted cool, it had a sweetness to it reminiscent of fresh wort with light malt flavours mid-palate, and a little cantaloupe and lemon in the back, before finishing off with an abrupt crisp swallow. Light bodied (oddly filling in the stomach) and medium in carbonation it was quite subtle and became more and more drinkable as I downed it. Not good, not bad, considering the alcohol level.

2005 AIBA Sample. Kind of looked like a beer but otherwise this is just water. I am so glad I didn’t pay to get this rating.