Vale IPA

Style:American IPA
Alc %:5.5
Brewery:McLaren Vale Beer Company
Country:Australia
Tap/Bottle?:bottle, 330ml
Where/When:Home, July 2012
Cost:approx $14 for 4
Rating:7

As the label says, a lovely scent of passionfruit on the nose.
Orange, light copper body with a white head that decreases.
I get a nice passionfruit and mango taste followed by a spicey hit and finishing with a fairly mild bitterness and a reappearance of the passionfruit.
I do like this fruity drop and also appreciate that it's widely available (in bottle stores rather than bars) - I wish my local pub would have it on tap but in many ways that says more about how poor the selection is at my local than how much I like this beer- and I do like it- i'd just prefer it to be my fall back choice rather than the best of a bad bunch at any given pub in Sydney.
If I had this next to a Feral Hop Hog it would lose out but next to a James Squire IPA it would come out on top.
It could be suggested this has more in common with a decent fruity APA rather than a overtly hoppy IPA.

Vale/Dark

Style:Euro Dark Lager
Alc %:4.9
Brewery:McLaren Vale Beer Company
Country:Australia
Tap/Bottle?:bottle
Where/When:Home, 2012
Cost:approx $5
Rating:6.5


I smell roasted malts mostly.
Nowhere near as smooth as I remember it- i think it was out of the fridge for a little bit that time.
The malts show up with a touch of caramel and a little sting of spice. Once it warms up a little the flavour fleshes out just a little- the malt and caramel become more pronounced and the spice sting softens.
Nothing mind blowing but fairly pleasant all the same.

Beer Videos/ Beer Spiel

I haven't watched this (above) vid for a while, but apart from it being just a little bit American for my tastes, what I like about it is: rather than being anti-corporate it's instead being pro community. Simple. Smart. Relevant & Positive.

However, the below trailer for Beer Wars gives the impression that being pro community isn't quite enuf- as if it would be- and the big boys will do what they can to maintain and preserve their market share- of course they ain't gonna walk away, eva.

The impression I get from the trailer is if craft breweries can't get their brews on the shelves in the supermarkets etc then they will become extinct!

(As a side note, I was told by a reliable source that Brew Masters, the beer doco shown on Discovery Channel hosted by Sam Calagione was cancelled because the 2nd series was to profile (for lack of a better term) a range of US craft breweries to create an awareness of the breadth of American Craft Breweries. Anheuser-Busch got wind of this and threatened to pull advertising. If anyone can add details to this theory I would welcome them.)

I've been to Los Angeles and New York and in my experience NYC (esp Manhattan) was far superior for getting ones hands on some juicy beverages- LA being so spread out doesn't help at all. I went into a fairly average supermarket in LA and found the range of US craft beers fairly limited and once I found a decent bottle shop I found I couldn't buy singles of smaller (355ml size) bottles!

No idea what it's like in the middle states of the US but I imagine ordering via mailorder would be your main option.

Which brings me to AUS & NZ.

I can only vouch for Sydney, specifically the inner west; the good news is that the chain booze shops are stocking certain craft brews and a couple of indie liquor stores are doing a good job.

If all else fails, I order from Melbourne which it's pretty safe to say is ahead of the rest of the country. Slowbeer has 1 rotating tap for Growlers (Flagons in NZ) and an impressive list of worldwide brews.

Now to NZ. I can vouch for New Plymouth and Auckland.

In NP (and NZ) you have the option of both supermarkets and bottleshops which will help you get your hands on a decent array of NZ craft beers, tho it has to be said o/s (particuarly US) brews are hard to find.

So when I go home and I'm not passing thru Liquor Land in Newmarket I will order something over the net. I recommend Regional Wines.

So, what does this all mean? There is no doubting that craft brewing in Australia & New Zealand is healthy and advancing, both in quality and infiltration. I have no specific stats to verify this but the evidence is out there: quality breweries selling quality beers, liquor chain stores having varied brews, bars and stores like Slowbeer, Local Taphouse & Red Oak etc.

Also journals such as Beer and Brewer and the success of beers festivals (Good Beer Week & Beervana in NZ).

It's all good!

What brought all this on you ask? Today I went to a bar in Balmain, The Riverview Hotel, and they had four taps of McLaren Vale Beers, a Stone & Wood Pacific Pale Ale and also Little Creatures. All in this little albeit classy out of the way suburban pub. The food was above average too.

I had the MV IPA. It was fantastic. No Hop Monster but showing real class and lovely fruity flavours.

That simple.

Vale/Dry

Style:American Pale Ale
Alc %:4.5
Brewery:McLaren Vale Beer Company
Country:Australia
Tap/Bottle?:bottle
Where/When:Home, June 2011
Cost:$20 for 4 approx
Rating:5/10

Big white fluffy head. Pale gold and a little cloudy.

Nose: straw like and a little earthy.

Alot of spice which makes it bitey and not so friendly- softens off with a bit of pear but not alot else going on here.

It's not that bad but it's not that great either. Not a flash follow up to their first beer, which showed just a but more depth and class.

5/10

Vale Ale

Style:American Pale Ale
Alc %:4.5
Brewery:McLaren Vale Beer Company
Country:Australia
Tap/Bottle?:bottle, 330ml
Where/When:Home, April 2011
Cost:approx $20 a four pack
Rating:6.5

Nicely presented bottle I must say- you can't see in this photo but the label is kinda embossed and nicely designed- makes sense since this is brewed in South Australia.
A little white head with a light gold/straw colour body.
Nose is faintly herby and grape like. Subtle but pleasant enuf.
There's a grainy melon like sweetness, clean and well balanced- nothing really stands out tho it is a little spritzy or high on carbonation that gives it a little sting on the tip of the tongue.
Look, I confess to not liking this when I first tried it.
It had won the punters choice top 100 beers in Oz, so I went out and bought a 4 pack and tried one straight away. I had hopes it would be up there with the Knappstein Reserve Lager but it just didn't impress me at all and I wasn't pleased that it had received such regard by the average punter out in beer drinking land.
However, this tasting i'm not being as hard on it and I can see why it's so popular and worthy of it's regard by those who voted for it.
It is fair to say that for an American APA it doesn't at all fit the mold. Which really makes it an Australian APA!
That said it's still not my cupa tea, so 6.5/10.