Jamieson The Beast IPA

Brewed by Jamieson Brewery
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Jamieson, Victoria, Australia

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

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bottled, many thanks to mullet - i’m glad that this wasn’t the beer that leaked in his backpack, although that one still turned out alright. bright amber, slim but steady head, aroma of butterscotch and menthol, plenty of cookie doughiness and caramel, some fruit salad and plenty of bitterness. quality stuff

Opaque bronze with a small but persistent head. Picked up a fair bit of malt and yeast in the aroma. Initial flavour is quite honey-like, very sweet and malty. Then there is a burst of hoppy bitterness. Much more complex than a regular Australian IPA. This beer is chockers with great taste.

Had this one during my holiday in Australia april/may 2009. Orange, red colored brew. Floral, hoppy aroma. Mild floral hops, nice bitterness in the aftertaste, some dark fruits. Not really the beast, but sure a nice brew. I wish they had more of these in Australia.

As coarse and unrefined as the name suggests, but just the ticket when you need a hop fix. With Murrays Icon now only available seasonally, this strong IPA pretty much has the east coast market to itself. I hope they make squillions. This is fine but there’s room for improvement. This is very much the typical thick, chewy Australian take on the style and I’d love to see a local brewer produce a lean, stripped-back hop monster like Surly Furious. But back to The Beast. I like the cartoonish label - in a world of dull corporate liveries it’s nice to see a brewer have fun. In the glass, this was amber with a low head. The aroma was muted for a beer so boldly named but promising. Toffees, passionfruit and tropical fruit cordial. Thick, chewy palate - nice caramel malt base, very American in feel. Big wallop of hops - lovely. Grapefruit zest and a lively bitter-sour finish. Nice work and a regular on my beer shelves when I can find it. (330ml bottle from Platinum Liquor)

Date: 16/2/09 Beer info: Bottled in brown 330ml bottle 7.0% abv Sampling Notes: Served chilled in glass. Murky copper body, tight off-white finger of foam clings to the glass on the way down. Plenty of upfront hops; big citrus particularly grapefruit, overly ripe stonefruit, cedar and pine with plenty of spice. Hint of caramelly malt, takes a backseat. Big all-encompassing palate, mouth-coatingly thick, carbonation is smooth, somewhat creamy textured. Bitterness is very high from the get go and doesn’t let go for a long time! Alcohol only slightly apparent on a lingering finish. Rich caramel maltiness hopelessly throws itself to the mercy of the hop tirade that is the body of this beer. My best guess would be American-style hops, in their overtly brutal citrus attack on the tastebuds. Looking past the initial shock, (which helps with warming and aeration of the liquid) I get much more mellow and delicious ripe stonefruits, apricot and peach, sappy wood, ginger and spice, grass and tobacco leaf, and the slightest incling of dried fruit which may just be a promise of aging potential. Finish is obviously bitter, though the malt body holds up quite well, lingering grassiness, citrus and spice. One hell of a pale ale, definately in well up there as far as Aussie-made IPA’s go, and could well give Murrays 2IPA a run for its money!

(bottle shared by OSLO) Pours a hazy dark gold with a white head. Skyview and BDR were right on with the pumpernickel scent, and this makes me wonder if this was brewed with rye. Additional scents are mint, light pineapple, and a bit floral to boot. The taste is grapefruit, pineapple, caramel, ambrosia salad, that finishes out on a very astringent note that reminds me of a first-flush Darjeeling. Mouthfeel is medium with medium carbonation. Thanks Al!

UPDATED: NOV 2, 2011 Copper, modest off-white head. Fruity hops and resiny aroma. Some citrus too, and gooseberry. Deep toffee flavour with complex hops. Bitter, chewy finish. Plenty going on. The name suggested something less classy. Good.

6/8/10 Same score - liked the aroma more but the beer a little less overall. A little louder than I remembered, but the malt complexity under the insistent bitterness is impressive.

Bottle. Kept a year. Clear amber, an inch of beige head. Lychees and sherry notes emerge along with some dark berries and butterscotch. More than holding up.

Pleasant yellow poor with an attractive orange tinge. No significant head. Nice intense bitterness at the start with a sweet smooth caramel like finnish.

With a veil of sweet toffee malt, this is an excellent, big, fat hopmonster IPA and one of the better Aussie micros in any style. A long dry quenching hop finish caps off a well-rounded beast of a beer. Jamiesons was always a bit touch and go in my book, and it’s great to see they’ve come up with such a winner. A stonking IPA and a great beer.

This is a real shock to the system, with 7% and a name like The Beast IPA, it is hard not to expect a shock though. The aroma is great with Hops, Hops and more Hops. However, this later subsides and the strong malt element comes out with some toffee undertones. The colour is dark golden syrup in colour. The flavour is the big surprise though, i was expecting a Pelican Point style IPA, but this is almost IPA merged with a scotch ale. There is a strong presence of toffee and my initial thoughts were this was way out of balance, but this subsides quickly with the hops leaving an extremely long finish. The alcohol in this is perhaps a tad strong and over the top, but it is certainly unique. I think this is a beer that will take more than a few at different times to really make sense and appreciate, so there may be some re-reviews on this one.