3.7 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 15/20
Great beer, enourmous white head that lingers with a murkey brown body. Mainly hoppy/floral notes to the aroma, but the flavour in this one is the main turn on. Delicious balance of bitterness, malt and alcohol. The main upfront flavours seem to be a slight breadiness/stonefruit before the hops kick in with some pleasent bitterness that finishes quite long with the darker toffee notes in the malt coming though.
Very pleasent, not too in your face like a Beast IPA and it is good to see that the alcohol was kept in check. too much more and it would certainly off balance. Best yet from Red Hill.
3.9 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 15/20
Pours murky amber with a huge foamy head. Aroma is fantastic and unexpected. Huuge floral hops, yeast, tropical esters, earthy malts and a slight toffee too. Magnificent feel in the mouth, soft smooth carbonation, light sweetness balanced out by some pleasant bitterness. Fresh flavours of crystal malts, resiny hops, lots more fruity esters and nuttiness. Its way more Belgian than English in my opinion, bit still very hard to define. The finish is light and hoppy, very smooth, surprisingly a touch dry and extremely drinkable. What a beer! hats off to Red Hill
4 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 9/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 16/20
Surprised to see I haven’t rated this already - I really liked last year’s version. This sample was from a fresh 2007 bottle, and was in very good condition. Rich copper colour with an excellent foamy head. Distinct artificial peach aroma with floral, perfumey (shampoo?) esters, sweet fruity malt and dusty spices like some kind of brown Belgian beer or something. Lovely aroma, but you’ll notice that I didn’t mention any hop aroma. Weird. More sweet, peachy malt flavour with a rather late developing, tangy, firm hop flavour which plays beautifully with the sweetness and fruit. The finish is a bit rough and even moderately astringent. Really fresh, fruity and fun stuff, just jumping with flavour. This is one beer that carries its sweetness very well. More local breweries need to brew gutsy stuff like this.
3 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 12/20
19 Jul 2006 - (Victorian Microbrewer’s Showcase) - Sweet light fruit with a hint of sour spice. Light cloudy, brown-amber colour, ordinary head and suds lacing. Weird hop and light fruit malt flavour. Bitter big hop finish but a bit thin.
3.1 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 2/5 OVERALL 13/20
Deep bronze-copper colour with cream head. Aroma is initially very fruity then hop laden. Citric hoppy taste which turned a bit too sour. Just ok.
3.5 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
UPDATED: MAY 8, 2010 2006 Vintage (3.7 tasted June 2006)
: Darkish caramel with a thin head, doesn’t prepare the drinker for the bouquet or flavour. Big lifted nose of herbal hops, nettles, fresh. Very good. Excellent translation to the mouth, more hop driven herbal notes, cut grass, sharp and right yet never excessively bitter or astringent. Best Oz beer I’ve had for a while
2007 Vintage (3.6 tasted August 2009)
Consistent with much of the previous notes. Obvious exception is the massive head upon pouring and perhaps a slightly toned down hop impact. Still very smooth and well integrated.
2010 Vintage (3.5 tasted May 2010)
Seems a bit off game on this tasting. Massive head as per the 2007 and the fresh, powerful ale notes come throughwell aroma-wise, but the palate seems under-powered compared to previous tastings. As always the hop cut is really attractive but a surprising lack of drive throught the palate.
|
