Beer Radar<\/p>\n
By John Kr\u00fcger<\/p>\n
Alternative Beers (First published in Wine Business Magazine in 2013)<\/p>\n
Looking for something a bit different? Check out some of these unique offerings that\u2019ll wet your whistle and blow your mind at the same time. They\u2019re also great beers for cooler weather.<\/p>\n
Feral Brewing \u2013 Raging Flem <\/u><\/p>\n
Don\u2019t worry, the \u201cFlem\u201d in the title is in regards to the Flemish brewers who took the art of brewing beer and gave it a few amazing twists and turns with their northern Belgian ales. Their yeasts throw an amazing array or spice, funk, and sometimes acid. This Feral beer is an unusual combination of Belgian funk and classic ballsy American style India Pale Ale. I\u2019ve never seen anything like it, and most beer fans take a step back when they hear about it; but wow, it works so well. There\u2019s still a bucket load of American hop aroma but the spicy phenolic yeast merges with it amazingly well. Loads of full malty body and a good kick of spicy tropical fruit from the hops. This brewery in Western Australia really knows how to push the boundaries of \u201cnormal\u201d beer, but still manages to make everything super tasty. Try some Raging Flem. It\u2019s essentially a kick arse IPA full of hops and funk.<\/p>\n
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Gage Roads \u2013 Abstinence<\/u><\/p>\n
Another Belgian style, and again, brewed in Western Australia. Belgian style beer are a little unusual because some people can find the funk and spice a little confronting, although this is also a beer with good balance and very approachable. This Gage Roads limited release is a Belgian Dubbel Chocolate Ale. Two different yeast strains have been matched perfectly to give a broad range of spicy flavours and aromas. It\u2019s a deep mahogany coloured ale with a load of caramel, toffee and vanilla aromas and flavours. There\u2019s also the unmistakable presence of real chocolate; Premium Ghanaian chocolate to be exact. This beer has seen the use of noble hops, which give a clean spicy finish without citrus and the tropical fruits derived from the popular American varieties. The whole lot works together amazingly well and I\u2019m guessing that development and trial batches would have taken quite a bit of work, especially with all of the different components being quite diverse. The chocolate is pronounced but doesn\u2019t dominate, and it\u2019s not that cheap Easter egg chocolate flavour either. There\u2019s an aftertaste of old fashioned creaming soda and a surprisingly dry finish. There\u2019s a whiff of alcohol as it warms and as it\u2019s a 7.4%abv beer, that\u2019s no real surprise. The vanilla and alcohol aromas behind the chocolate remind me of quality rum. In fact, I think I spent more time swirling and enjoying the smells than I did drinking it. Abstinence is an unusual beer no doubt, but it\u2019s still very enjoyable. Sip and swirl from a tulip beer glass or brandy balloon if you have one.<\/p>\n
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Young\u2019s – Double Chocolate Stout<\/u><\/p>\n
Staying with the chocolate theme but ditching the Belgian influence, here\u2019s a beer from the UK designed for dedicated chocolate fans. It\u2019s called \u201cdouble chocolate\u201d, but technically, could have been called \u201ctriple chocolate\u201d. One of the ingredients in the grist is Chocolate Malt; a dark, kilned barley malt (or wheat malt) that\u2019s been roasted specifically to produce a dry, powdered cocoa flavour in beer. It\u2019s quite amazing. Another grist component is oats, which contribute a beautiful silky texture. Young\u2019s also add real dark chocolate as well as chocolate essence to this beer. The base stout is fairly restrained in comparison to the ball buster, acrid style stouts most of us are used to, so the layers of chocolate are unmistakable, but it still has a dry, burned husk finish that is an essential character of a true stout. When it\u2019s warmed and opens up, it\u2019s almost chocolate overload for me but I\u2019m certainly no chocoholic. Imagine a large glass of after-dinner chocolate stout on a cool evening with a whisky chaser and a Dominican cigar. Now that\u2019s how to enjoy the cooler weather.<\/p>\n
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The Mash Collective – Aureus Chrysalis (Dubbel Scotch Ale)<\/u><\/p>\n
I was in two minds about the idea of The Mash Collective. One part of me observes an individual: one person\u2019s obsession and passion focused into a laser beam of biased creativity.<\/p>\n
Then I remember the joke about a committee designing something. The punch line describes a watered down, useless or lowest-common-denominator result.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not sure how and why the people involved in the Mash Collective are there. I\u2019m mostly interested in the resulting beer, although Tattooist Trevor Bennett has to be mentioned for some classic psychedelic label art that\u2019s \u201clegendary beer t-shirt\u201d worthy.<\/p>\n
With the beer, once again there\u2019s a style crossover. A classic European ale with a Belgian twist. I\u2019ll preface by saying I\u2019ve never really enjoyed the over the top toffee and caramel in a Scotch ale. They (sometimes) have a thick syrupy body and a load of cloying toffee sweetness with a counter bitterness offensive.<\/p>\n
The Mash Collective have made me take a step back with a really nice Scotch ale. This still has caramel coming out of its wazoo but it\u2019s not too sweet and the body is just right. Grippy charcoal and smoke, spicy yeast, over-ripe fruit and weedy herbal bitterness on the aftertaste leave it far from one-dimensional. It\u2019s a really interesting beer with a lot going on. 500ml bottles that you\u2019ll enjoy to the last drop. Tuck a few away for 12 months and compare.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Beer Radar By John Kr\u00fcger Alternative Beers (First published in Wine Business Magazine in 2013) Looking for something a bit different? Check out some of these unique offerings that\u2019ll wet your whistle and blow your mind at the same time. They\u2019re also great beers for cooler weather. Feral Brewing \u2013 Raging Flem Don\u2019t worry, the … Continue reading Alternative Beers 2013<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beerradar.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beerradar.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beerradar.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beerradar.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beerradar.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beerradar.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40,"href":"https:\/\/www.beerradar.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39\/revisions\/40"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beerradar.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beerradar.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beerradar.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}