Shows how subjective this all is.

On tap the Pacific Ale I drank at Ballina and Lennox Head, was better than  the Stone and Wood brewery in Byron Bay. 


Agree with you about  the American beers Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and SN IPA being the best.

Just had a fabulous Czech Pilsener yesterday - Trumer.

 Also Venom Golden Ale from Victoria is excellent. 

Ten Fidy Imperial Stout. As its named it is 10.5%

Very nice, sweet but extremely heavy

Haven't yet had any oskar blues, they have been coming into australia quite consistently for about 4 months... though this would be where i would be keen to start!

2nd of 3 beers

Founders Azacca ipa 7%

Starts off with a nice taste, hint of fruit but the taste you are left with is like a good ipa mixed with soda water.

Victory Hop Ranch
Imperial India Pale Ale
Our most heavy dry-hopping ever! We tripled our standing rate and then added a little bit more to blast this thing with loads of aggresive Mosaic, Azacca, Chinook and Citra goodness. Weighing in at 2.6 lbs used per barrel just in dry-hops! With so much aromatics we needed copious amounts of AZ, CT, CH and MO in the kettle and hopback to provide some hop balance, putting the total at 5 lbs per barrel! Super dank DIPA goodness, but with the clean character our customers have come to expect from Victory.

Composition

Malt: Pilsner, Oats

Hops: Azacca, Citra, Chinook; dry-hopped with Azacca, Mosaic, and Citra

ABV: 9.0%

Flavor

This powerful brew features full, juicy hop character, while expressing notes of mango, pineapple and the pleasantly sharp, biting edges of tart citrus fruit.

Food Pairings

Hot wings, curry and bold cheeses

Availability

Winter seasonal available in 12oz. bottles and on draft.



Nice, would easily get smashed on this with hot wings as recommended.

Style: Russian Imperial Stout
Malts: 2-row, caramel malt, malted wheat and a blend of American roasted malts
Additions: Contains wheat
Hops: Willamette and American Fuggle
Alcohol by Volume: 10.0%
Original Gravity:  24.5° Plato
Food Pairings: Chocolate desserts, cheesecake, fruit tarts, ice cream, and strong cheeses, such as Stilton.
Availability: October-March

Was ok flavour. Didnt tase very alcoholy for 10%

Im on the dark stuff because winter is almost finished...

Põhjala Must Kuld - Colombia


COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION
A special version of the Must Kuld porter, brewed with a Caturra coffee from Finca La Chorrera in Colombia.EST. CALORIES: 234   ABV: 7.8% 

Good. Its like a very light un bitter sweet espresso. 

 BEER INFO 

Brewed by: 
Napa Smith Brewery 
California, United States
napasmithbrewery.com   

Style: American IPA 

Alcohol by volume (ABV): 7.10% 

It has mixed reviews onlibe but I like it. Quite fresh. 

Germany, 4.7%. Drinkable ipa nothing special



Denmark 10% Imperial Honey Stout. Ashy sweet coffee. Gives a buzz.




USA 10.5% Russian Imperial Stout. I really liked this one.

Ummm, exactly what is that picture on the Pohjala bottle meant to be ? I might have to try it.

Recent convert from Cab Sav to Pinot Noir myself.

Sours... give it another go... but try something from almanac brewing. They have a fantastic range and border on warhead sour. So good.

image on the right looks like a busted vag

Can not be unseen :laugh:

Cheers for the tip

Those hot Belize nights

PETER, PALE & MARY - GLUTEN FREE

MIKKELLER

•  4,6%
 
•  330ml
 
•  DK

It's Midsommar today, Glad Midsommar, so I will have Founders All Day IPA 4.7% it's ok, Kopparberg 7% pear cider, Elderflower schnapps, g&t and Pripps lager to complement the pickled herring and potatoes.

In September I organised  a team of drinkers, mostly seasoned home brewers, to attend the Tasmanian Microbrew Festival.

It was one of those events where most beer was free. All breweries had tasting glasses, with small volumes of alcohol. We focused on drinking beers we'd never tried before. We probably sampled about 50-70 beers. The samples probably  range from 30 - 100 ml.

All breweries at the festival had at least one excellent beer. All Tassie breweries are  looking over each other's shoulders at quality of product. 

Probably the most outstanding  new beer, was the Ironhouse Red Ella. This has even superseded the Last Rites Bette Midler Red Ale. 

Last Rites is a combo of Columbus hops, with a late addiction  of Tassie grown super hop - Ella.

Ironhouse also uses  Ella as the prime hop in its Red Ella beer.

These American Red Ale styles are a combo of American Brown Ale ( blackish in colour), Black IPA, English Brown Ale, English effervescent  Amber Ale, American Pale Ale and IPA.

Until Ironhouse and Last Rites I'd never tasted a really good one. They are so good, even some of my favourite IPAs and American Pale Ales can taste slightly insipid as a follow up beer style. The American Red Ales are hoppy, but very full bodied and viscous compared to most pale ales.

The  Tasmanian Derwent Valley grown Ella, Galaxy, Enigma, Helga , HPA- 035 and Summer hops are organic and  sometimes grow  wild in ideal hop conditions. In global terms these are relatively rare, hard to grow and are highly sought after.

Pacific Ale, from Byron Bay's Stone and Wood Brewery uses Tasmanian  Galaxy hops as its core ingredient. This is supposedly Australia's most popular craft beer.

 Add Cascade, Willamette, Fuggle, Halleratau, Saaz, Spalt, Astra and new varieties Ellendale, Triabunna and Campania, and the Aussie beer industry is heavily reliant on these hops.

At one time before the craft beer revolution, only HPA - 035 was grown in Bushy Park for the mainstream beers, which were virtually   all golden lager.

The Tasmanian  grown varieties Ella, Galaxy, Cascade, and Enigma, and combos of them, are producing amazing beer in the right hands. Steve Brooks from Captain Bligh, Will Fletcher from Van Dieman,  and the young body pierced brewer from Bruny Island are producing some fabulous, unique all Tasmanian product beers. They try to use only Tasmanian products.


Michael Briggs, from Ironhouse,  the two skinny brewers  with Ned Kelly beards from Last Rites, Paul Morrison from Morrison Brewery, the recently deceased Tye Capaci from Double Head, Cornell from Shambles, Scott Obendorf from Hobart Brewing Company, Willy Simpson from Seven Sheds and the farmer/brewers from T Bone,  are   combining  imported products like Amarillo and Mosaic hops with the  fantastic Tasmanian Cascade, Summer, Galaxy, Enigma, Fuggle, Hallertau, Wilamette, and Ella hops to make some extraordinary beers.  

 


Spotty Dog has fabulous beer, but is heavily reliant on American imported products. It uses Calypso, Mosaic and Ahtanum hops, plus Pale, Carapsil and Crystal grains.



Popular grains for Tassie brewers  are the Westminster barley grown in the Tasmanian midlands, oats from Kindred Organics and Bruny Island wheat. 

At the Tasmanian  Microbrew festival, the outstanding  mid strength beer at 3.5%, was the Shambles Mid Strength Session Ale. It is ostensibly a light IPA.

Last night at a new drinking hole nearby,  it outshone the high quality full strength Moo Brew Single Hop at 4.8%.

This peerless Shambles Mid Strength Session Ale is in a class of its own. It has a strong citrus flavour,  is hoppy, with good balance, but quite viscous and full bodied.

On a recent trip to NNSW and SE Queensland I was impressed with a light, passionfruit / citrus style of beer.

Pacific Ale from Stone and Wood.

XPA from Mick Fanning's Balter Brewery.

A light Mexican style from a NSW brewery.

California Pale Ale from Burleigh Brewing.

Three Quarter Session Al e,  at 3.5%, from Newstead Brewing.

These are much lighter beers than most of our beer in Tasmania.  In craft beer venues scantily clad, sun-tanned young women who know little about beer, serve beer. 

The only sour ale I've liked is Sour Cherry from Seven Sheds.

Unless you do a lot of exercise, you must be a big fat bloke!

Balters xpa is australias best session style beer. But its got nothing on brewdog dead pony

You cannot pontificate without tasting everything else.

It is also subjective.

On tap, I prefer Bruny Island Farm Ale and Shambles Afternoon Delight Summer Ale to Balter XPA. The local brewers use the best tap water, triple treated and /or spring water. Mixed with those fresh types of organic, super hops from Tassie's Derwent Valley they are producing some mind-blowing beers.

Every month breweries improve. I'm comparing  them to top breweries in England, Scotland, Canada, France, Portugal, the USA, Singapore and Germany. I've also drunk decent beer in the Cook Islands, NZ, Switzerland, Greece and Italy. Not so good in Malaysia, HK, Thailand and India.

T Bone had mediocre beer 8 months ago. They now have at least four outstanding  beers. A chocolate stout that tastes like chocolate more than any other dark beer I've tasted, a Double IPA, a pumpkin ale and another amber ale.

 A mate of my daughter's told me how good they were a few months ago. He contended they possibly eclipsed  the beer at one of my favourite drinking holes  - the Shambles Brewery.  I didn't believe him till I tasted them at Dark MOFO.

They are  seven breweries within a couple of kilometres  of each other in Hobart. They are all looking over each other's shoulders. T Bone, Captain Bligh, Hobart Brewing Company, The Winston, Devil's Brewery, Fox Friday and Shambles are in close proximity to each other. Last Rites is only another 10 kilometres away, as is Moo Brew.

Balter XPA is a fine beer, but there are plenty of Tassie session ales as good or better IMO.

Im not fat. 

They had this beer because its October. Was good. Very easy to drink. 



I think it was 5.5%


nine to five wizard ipa from brew dog. 7.5% Had a very nice taste imo

Last beer was
 
Fullers imperial IPA limited edition. 10.5% , it was very thick and syrupy. Almost like a stout and you could taste it was strong.
Very smooth however but 3 swigs in I could feel this one straight away. Tried to milk the bottle a bit because it was strong but had a intense drunk 5-10 minutes midway towrds the end of the bottle.