Coopers Sparkling Ale

Coopers Sparkling Ale

Brewed by: Coopers Brewery
Brewed at: Regency Park, South Australia
5.8% A/V
Type: Strong ale
www.coopers.com.au

First Impression
Sort of a retro type of bottle. The label could have been designed anywhere from 1800 to 2010... A choice is offered as to how to properly enjoy this beer. The two options for consumption are laid out in the fine print on the back label, but as no one tends to read the fine print, I've just poured it in a glass. It sure looks like a quality article. A touch cloudy, which, had I read the fine print would be due to the natural bottle conditioning...

First Sip
Only slightly tart in the nostrils, and surprisingly mild for a yeasty beasty strong ale!

Halfway
Entertainingly complex, the malt and hops-and in the case of this particular sort of beer, the yeast-are cooperating very nicely!

Bottoms Up
The average beer drinker (not you!) will probably not be overly impressed with Coopers Sparkling Ale as it is for grown-ups. It is not dull. It's certainly not shy. It makes no apologies, and coming from a fella who lived the best part of a decade in 'Stralya it doesn't get much more 'Strayne than that! Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!
83/100

Früli

Früli Strawberry Beer

Brewed by: Van Diest Beer Company, London UK
Brewed at: Belgium
4.1% A/V
Type: Belgian White Fruit Beer

First Impression
An intriguing package. A smaller than average bottle. A Belgian white beer made with strawberry juice... Buckle up this could be quite a ride! The effect of the strawberries is evident right off the hop, smells very much like strawberries, is bright red like strawberries...

First Sip
Not surprising at all by now, but it tastes like strawberries. A lot like strawberries. It certainly isn't beer flavored strawberry juice...

Halfway
Still berry, berry unbeerlike. A beer for people who love strawberries.

Bottoms Up
Wow! That was different. If you're looking for a beer that most people would never guess was a beer, and you like strawberries look no further!
61/100

New Format

Hello all! You may have noticed a bit of a delay in posts over the past week... Apologies, a thousand of them. I've changed the format of my posts in an attempt to expedite things... The material is the same more or less. Any comments about this lazy new look are welcome! Enjoy!

Summer Break

Summer Break
Brewed by: Niagara College Teaching Brewery
Brewed at: Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario
5%A/V
Type: I'd be guessing... Ale?

First Impression
That, ladies and gentlemen, in the picture below, is a "Growler". A 1.9 liter jug of brewing freshness. The label is the small paper sticker attached at the time of bottling to identify the beer and when it was bottled, as the contents of a Growler should be consumed within a few days. Pale amber color, little in the way of head, Summer Break looks like a warm weather choice...

First Sip
Okay! Well done class! The light hue and minimalist head fail to let the cat out of the bag regarding the delightful character of this beer! A truly incredible blend of mild but delicious hops with nicely sweet malt.

Halfway
Summer Break is fresh tasting, easy to drink without being dull, and even though it was unseasonably cool outside when i sampled this, it is quite clear that this is a patio champion!

Bottoms Up
This is the best summertime, barbecue season beer that I've had, bar none! Hey big brewers! Give these people some well paying jobs and let them do their thing! Packaged like it was brewed in a basement and marketed as well as a garage sale, the beer itself is perfectly executed. If you are within a ninety minute drive of this brewery, it is well worth the trip to see what the future of brewing looks like...
99/100

Boris Organic

Boris Organic
Brewed by: Brasserie Licorne Sas (?)
Brewed at: Saverne, France
Type: Lager I'm guessing
5% A/V

First Impression
A hip, cool, funky-fresh looking can with a sort of pre-apocalyptic-modern-urban-protest motif. Boris Organic from France... Lets have a go shall we? In a glass its a bit hazy, light gold with a charming, little white head on him. A very active effervescence.

First Sip
Slightly tart, slightly metallic and a really active effervescence gives it a nearly fizzy mouth feel.

Halfway
Holding up well as a lightly hopped beer with just the slightest nod to the influence of any malted grains which might have been involved in production. The tarty character of the yeast is loosening its grip at this stage.

Bottoms Up
Fairly light tasting. For a French environmentalist Boris is a very reasonable sort of chap. Any seasoned beer enthusiasts will find that this beer tastes much like it looks... Light, with the hazy quality of a proper organic brew accompanied by the almost active- yeast properties of tartness and the overall flavors of a light organic. Not unpleasant, just know what to expect from a beer of this nature...
75/100

James Ready 5.5

James Ready 5.5
Brewed by: James Ready Brewing Company
Brewed at: Niagara Falls, Ontario
5.5%
Type: American Blonde Ale
www.jamesready.com

First Impression
James Ready five and a half! A blue collar, union made beer in the working man's reusable brown beer bottle as evidenced by the very worn glass edges visible in the photo. Looks reasonably like beer... Military spec in its appearance (see my Budweiser review) White head? Check. Amber liquid... Check! Five and a half percent alcohol soldier? Sir Yes Sir!

1st sip
Okay enough of the monkey business, this has a nice malt overtone for an apparent ethanol delivery system. Mocking aside, not bad upon passing it across the old tastebuds...

Halfway
Nice and smooth for a beer of greater than five percent alcohol. Not offensive, can be happily consumed by most I'd imagine...

Bottoms up
Overall this beer is a pirate. It's all dressy with its dark green and gold label sticker. But it's rough-around-the-edges, everyman heart belies a fun-loving, unshaven, cutlass wielding pillager of a brewing and swilling fermented libation. You could easily do worse.
72/100

Chimay Trappist Ale

Chimay

Brewed by: S.A. Bières de Chimay
Brewed at: Scourmont Abbey, Baileux, Belgium
8% A/V
Trappist Ale

First Impression
A strong ale brewed with fresh hops and yeasts by Trappist monks at an abbey in Belgium! This could be the promised land of brewing... With that sort of heritage I just had to dust off a brandy snifter as is called for on the back label.

First Sip
Were I an observant Catholic the names of saints would surely flood to mind... The smell, the flavors... Hello you must be God. Nice job on this beer, your exaltedness...

Halfway
Chimay is simply not something that ought to be mentioned in the same breath as Budweiser or Heineken. This is beer royalty.

Bottoms Up
For the true beer enthusiast. (You there, in the Bud Light t-shirt! I'm NOT talking about you... I don't care how many you can put away in a weekend...) This is every bit as enjoyable as a hand-rolled Cuban cigar, a fine single malt Scotch whiskey, or a hand built Italian super car. For just as six hundred horsepower under one's right foot or a glowing ember three inches from one's lips require, this strong ale demands close attention. Peerless.
99/100