Five Islands Parkyns Shark Oil

Brewed by Five Islands Brewery
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Wollongong, Australia

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

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strangely oily aroma but otherwise unaromatic. some bitterness hits you first and then some honeyed sweetness. from chatting with the brewer, it is apparent that he likes a lot of hops but the good folk of wollongong perhaps aren't ready for them in large doses. quite a lagery texture - not ale-like at all and could do with more guts

On tap at the FIBC. Lack of prescribed aroma, only just enough bitterness for an IPA with aluminium and yeasty off-flavours dominating quality of this product.

UPDATED: JUN 23, 2008 (On tap @ Local Taphouse Spectapular) Looks like I’ll be the outlier here. I thought this beer showed well as a lighter IPA style. Very subtle and dry throughtout, and the light herbal hops, partlicularly in the back palate, showed a fair bit of class. Definately a better keg on this tasting than previous notes would suggest.

On tap at brewery. So so awful. Aptly named, as I can’t imagine a glass of shark oil would taste much worse. In fact, I’d probably risk a swig of shark oil to wipe out the aftertaste.

Trid as a sampler at the brewery. The taste lets down the expectation of the wonderful fresh hop aroma. Slightly dull floral taste, a little thin, good bitterness at the end.

UPDATED: SEP 28, 2008 RE-RATE: On Tap at the Five Islands Brewery, 5%. I let this warm about an hour prior to tasting. Arrived hazy orangey copper with a dense foamy head which lasted superbly. An odd spicy/wattle hop aroma with notes of roses, sweet caramel malts, passion fruit, peach nectar and a touch of butterscotch. Flavor was a moderate floral hop bitterness with sharp rustic/metallic notes, dry biscuity malts, caramel, passionfruit, mandarin and some resin in the finish. Light to medium bodied with soft carbonation, a dry/resiny mouthfeel and an average finish. Better than first time around, seemed just a tiny bit hoppyer.

UPDATED: MAY 27, 2008 strong hop bitterness up front. that smell of high alpha hops maybe chinook? first sip starts sweetish but finishes dry and resiny bitter. not much yeast personality but a definately an ale. nice drop and if you have the palate for it an all night drinker, but not for the first time craft beer drinker.

smells heavily of diacetyl and not much else, maybe a trace of hops. flavour is similarly afflicted - i know i said on a recent forum post that i like diacetyl, well, not in IPAs. flavour is heaps of sweet honey butter with pungent peppery bitterness. texture is way too syruppy and sickly.