Dark Isle Pale Ale

Formerly brewed at Dark Isle Brewery
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Hobart, Australia

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

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This was the hardest craft brewer to find while I was in Tasmania. I’d ask about it everywhere I went, but more then half of people hadn’t even heard of it! Finally a helpful publican pointed me in the right direction, and I was able to purchase the second-last mixed sixpack of Dark Isle brews from a 9-11 bottleshop on Davey Street in Hobart. his one poured a clear deep golden colour with a dense creamy white head. Aroma is of clean pale malts with a faint woody/earthy element. The flavour profile was much the same, and in the end this came across more as an English style pale ale. Not bad. It is worth stating that I have no idea how fresh this sample is as there was no best-before date on the bottle or the carton.

Large white head on a slightlly cloudy, dark straw body. That was about the best part of the beer. The aroma and the taste is too full on citrus for me to enjoy. Fortunately it had a short finish so I was able to finish off the stubby.

Slightly cloudy and gold in colour. Virtually no head and what there was died off very quickly despite a good clean glass. Body is a little on the thin side and medium carbonation. Sweet malt with a bit of the fruity citrus flavours from the cascade hops but very mild. A very mild bitterness to the finish. Not what you would expect from an IPA. Desperately needs a bit of oomph.

A gold/amber liquid with a thin white head which soon dissapears to nothing. Average carbonation and medium bodied. Fruity aroma. Flavour, malty/sweet/citrus only lightly bitter. Nice aftertaste. (330ml brown glass bottle)

Shambolic Tasmanian IPA. Not sure what happened to the heavy hopping but it doesn’t show in the end result. Appearance: over-excitable. When I knocked the cap off, the beer surged towards the exit, chucked a rope of foam over the bottle rim, then sat there silently gurgling in the bottle like a science experiment. It was fascinating to watch - bit like a lava lamp. When tipped into a glass, it surged again so there was 4/5ths head to 1/5th body. When it settled, it was a hazy bottle-conditioned lager-gold. Extraordinary head retention - in fact, getting rid of enough head to take a sip was a challenge. Huge fruit salad aroma - pineapple lollies, cider apples, bubblegum and strong Belgian-style yeast. A very busy aroma - lots going on but a bit of a dog’s breakfast. Odd Cremola Foam palate - felt a bit flat for an instant then developed an aggressive champagne-like spritz. Nasty. Watery cider flavours, lime juice and tropical fruit cordial, and then it’s really buggered up by a lingering metallic hop. Overall, this seemed to be all over the place. (330ml bottle from Purvis Cellars, Melbourne; abv 5.2%)

Hop malt aroma with hints of flowers. Cloudy amber colour with over primed head. Hoppy malty flavour with spice. Fizzy palate.

27 Nov 05 - Sulphur stewed malt fruit aroma and some steely notes. Cloudy yellow-amber colour, bit over primed and suds lacing. Steel malt hop flavours. Thickish mouthfeel with lingering steely hops. It seems all of the Dark Isle brews have nasty metallic flavours.

Poured well and holds its head. The nose is a disappointment when it promises to be an IPA. No real hop nose of note nor flavour. When it notes a heavy early hopping it should be adding good IBUs but they are not evident. Flavour is a bit like a tart marmalade. Overall it is OK with a lot of caveats thrown in.

Pours a cloudy amber, with a huge rocky off brown head. Aroma is very strange (as noted before) includes some yeastiness and caramel, the cascade hops are almost non existant. The mouthful isn’t very bitter, and the metallic taste is very present. It tastes quite thin really, as well as being very carbonated. The finish is a little hoppy, still strugling to find any sign of cascade hops. Overall, not too bad, very drinkable. Still yet to find a great beer from this brewer.

UPDATED: SEP 30, 2007 September 2007: At least it’s not buggered but it’s miles away from text book pale ale. Chocolate brown in colour with no head. Sweet milk chocolate to smell with mild intensity at best. Sweet chocolate again in the palate, very simple milky sweetness, pleasant but very unspectacular. Hopelessly inept in terms of sticking to the recipe sheet. This is an amber ale or light porter, and there’s no detectable hop input at all. August 2005 (2.0): Pours a massive ’swiss cheese’ head that actually shows some decent retention. Funny nose; minerally, tangy, could be the yeast aromas Mullet refers to below. Better in the mouth, trying hard to show some IPA style. More metallic notes early and finishes ok with some raspy bitterness. Oh yeah..too much fizz (THIS IS Australia however!).