Beer – Interesting Facts 8
In ancient Egypt, two containers of beer were the minimum wage for a day’s labour.
Matthew
Tags: Beer Facts
Beer Review Golden Ale – Red Hill Brewery.
Ladies and Gentleman, boys and girls, welcome to FortyBeers.com – where it is Beer O’Clock all the time….
Especially on this VERY hot Melbourne summers day… 38 degrees celcius / 100 degrees fahrenheit makes for excellent beer drinking weather.
After the last few beer reviews where I broke away from the “birthday beers” format with my Special Guest Beer Reviewer, Simon, I thought it was time to return to the ‘fridge and grab myself another unknown wrapped up cold one.
So, here we are with Birthday Beer number 11, which turned out to be “Golden Ale” from Red hill Brewery, near Melbourne, In Australia.
Golden Ale, at first tatse, was great. And the second mouthful proved to be even better. A subtle and slightly sweet taste initially, it quickly gave way to a more European style hop sensation. It was, in fact, quite golden in colour, and had exactly the right amount of bubbles….. I didn’t count them, so I can’t quite put a numerical value to quantify “extactly the right amount of bubbles”, but it was juuuust right.
Crisp and dry, this Golden Ale is a beer to be consumed…. savoured slowly, quaffed quickly… it doesn’t matter, because either way it tastes fantastic.
Red Hill is an area about an hours drive south west of Melbourne, Australia. It’s in a delightful little part of the world known as the Mornington Peninsular, where there are beach towns and farm land in abundance. Red Hill is known for its wineries – some absolute gems of wines come from this area. Simon ( aka one third of my Forty Beers, and Special Guest Beer Review Dude) and his lovely wife Jen were married at one of these wineries.
The Red Hill Brewery website mentions that they are ”a beer oasis in a sea of wine”. They make a big deal of growing their own hops, and it would appear that they are a destination – cafes, restaurants, bars, brewery tours, etc. While I have never been there, next time I’m in the area I certainly will make the time to stop by and have a look, and most definately a taste. Or two. Or three…… I’d better get my wife to drive home….
I like Golden Ale from the good people at Red Hill Brewery. On the Forty Beers Cheers O Meter, I reckon this is a very worthy 9 out of 10.
Stay tuned for more exciting episodes of FortyBeers.com !
Thanks,
Matthew
Need a DIY Website ?
Or another Beer Review ?
Tags: Ale, Australian Beer
Beer Review Jamieson Beast IPA.
Ahh – another day in Jamieson, where the air is fresh, the atmosphere is relaxed, and the beers are plentiful. I can feel another “non-birthday” beer review coming on.
As mentioned in another post on this beer review blog, the sleepy little bush town of Jamieson is about 3 hours drive north east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 150 Years ago it was famous for gold mining. Now it is famous for, among other things, being the home of the Jamieson Brewery.
(note – I love Jamieson….it is my “happy place”. My wife’s family have a long history here. Jamieson is also famous for many other things – fishing and bushwalking for example – check out http://www.jamieson.org.au ).
My Australia Day long weekend in Jamieson with my family, and that of my friend Simon, was happily spent (partly) sitting under some trees, watching our children play and swim in the river, and sampling various amber fluids and foaming frothies.
Among these beers was the Jamieson Beast IPA.
The striking label on the Jamieson Beast bottle was the first and most obvious way to begin. The comic-style-cartoonesque picture of a muscle bound sabre toothed monster in the Aztec jungles traumatising the fair damsel in distress suggested that this was likely to be a beer that was not to be messed with….. or at least one that is likely to smack you over the back of the head if you aren’t paying attention.
First sampling of this Jamieson Beast was not as “up front” as the label would suggest – it was surprisingly and unexpectedly sweet and a little fruity.
A second mouthful brought the stronger hops flavours to the forefront for both Simon and I, and each mouthful after that tasted stronger. Overall, based on the label and the “IPA” style, I guess we were expecting something much stronger. This was not a bad thing, and in fact I doubt I would have liked it at all if it was any stronger.
A quick visit to the Jamieson Brewery website suggests that they have added “hops, hops, and more hops……we have added six hop additions” to the Jamieson Beast beer. The Jamieson Brewery / Lakeside Hotel website also has a list of stockists where their various offerings can be purchased.
As Simon mentioned in our beer review video above, the “IPA” stands for Indian Pale Ale – which is essentially a style of beer made with extra hops and extra alcohol. In the “olden days”, beer used to go off and spoil during the long ocean journey on the ships between England and India. The brewers (and the sailors too, presumably) at the time were obviously keen to stop this horrible disaster… they discovered that extra hops and extra alcohol would not only act as natural preservatives, but tasted mighty fine as well.
I enjoyed my tasting of the Jamieson Beast IPA, as did Simon. However, we both felt that this is a beer for savouring, not for swilling, and may be a case of quality over quantity. Sitting by the fire on a cool winters evening, preferably with a good meal, sipping slowly might see this beer put to better use – having several on a long, hot day during an Australian summer does not instantly spring to mind. And with a 7% alcohol content, I imagine life would get a little blurred around the edges if too many were consumed too quickly… 
All in all, a very respectable 7 out of 10 on the Forty Beers Cheers O Meter for this beer review. If you are in the area, or find yourself near a Jamieson Beast IPA, then by all means grab it and enjoy it !
Other Jamieson beers reviewed here on Fortybeers.com are:
Jamieson Pale Ale
Jamieson Beast
Thanks once again to the Special Guest of this beer review – the legendary beer connoisseur himself – Simon (thunderous applause)….. Without whom FortyBeers.com would be at least one third smaller.
And also thanks to my daughter, Kathleen, for providing the drumming in the background of the video during the triumphant opening of this beer.
Matthew and Simon
Beer Reviews and more at FortyBeers.com
Tags: Ale, Australian Beer, Beer Review, IPA
Beer Review Jamieson Pale Ale.
Dear diary….. this beer review represents the first of several “non birthday beer reviews”…..
For those new to FortyBeers.com, the whole premise around this website is that I received 40 individually wrapped beers for my birthday a while ago. I have been opening and reviewing these beers here, and enjoying them immensley. However, today I have broken away from this tradition, and have tapped in to some unauthorised-non-birthday-beers.
As unauthorised at they are, I realise that there are more beers out there than just those Forty Beers given to me for my 40th birthday by my good friends Simon, Phoebe and Chris.
So much so, that here I am on a little get-away on this Australia Day Weekend in a beautiful little town called Jamieson. Jamieson is near Mansfield, near Mount Buller in central Victoria, about 3 hours drive north-east from Melbourne, Australia. Steeped in goldrush history, it is a beautiful bush town surrounded by Aussie bush, rivers, trees, birds, sounds, scents, scenery and serenity.
I love my father-in-laws holiday house (thanks Noel) – staying here is very relaxing, and we don’t do it often enough. This time, however, I find myself sitting by a river with my lovely wife and two beautiful daughters, and with my good friend Simon, his lovely wife and his two beautiful daughters as well.
“Do you need a beer ?”, Simon asked as we watched our children spash in the water.
“Yes,……yes I do” I replied.
(note – Simon and I have been known to share several/many/lots of beers together over the last 22 years…..)
So – first on our local sampling list was Jamieson Pale Ale.
Unfortunately, it was a quite a hot day in Jamieson – late January being the middle of Summer here in Australia – and the Jamieson Pale Ale did not stay as cold as we would have liked in the walk from the ‘fridge to the river setting. Having said that, both Simon and I were pleased that we had carried it the 500 meters or so from the house to the river.
Once we had set up the video camera, and established that our children were safe and not drowning in the river, it was down to business. Not having brought any glasses to the river with us, it was a bit difficult to tell if the Jamieson Pale Ale was, in fact, pale or not. It certainly did not taste pale – in fact it tasted quite strong….. hops, malt, and a slight bitter twinge.
The yellow label, complete with Rainbow trout logo, was very apt given our setting. “Brewed Mountain Fresh in the High Country” was also appropriate. What I love about Jamieson is the fresh air, fresh water, the calmness and the unhurried relaxed atmosphere of this small town. During the Australian Gold rush of the 1850’s, Jamieson boasted 11 pubs. Now, 110 years later, there are only two – one of which has their own micro-brewery, the Lakeside Hotel, that produced the Jamieson Pale Ale sampled today.
(another note – the Lakeside Hotel in Jamieson has been known to serve great country pub meals, and is well worth the visit should you be passing by).
Simon and I had made our purchase a little earlier in the day from the Lakeside Hotel / Jamieson Brewery, where many a good beer and meal have been consumed.
We both enjoyed our Jamieson Pale Ale, and I was pleased to see that Simon appeared to be quite comfortable and confident in front of the video camera – even with bemused children, wives and passing strangers watching.
Overall, I would suggest that this Jamieson Pale Ale is a worthy 7 out of 10 on the Forty Beers Cheers-O-Meter. Several points were lost on the temperature of the beer… but that was our fault, and certainly no reflection on the brewer, nor the beer. Neither Simon nor I were sure we would like to consume multiple bottles of this beer in one sitting, but we were both very pleased to have tasted this one.
“Save water – drink beer” so says the label. And I must agree.
We purchased several of the Jamieson Brewerys offerings…. which will undoubtedly be mentioned in another “non birthday” beer review…..or two….
Thanks,
Matthew,
with Special Guest - Simon.
Tags: Ale, Australian Beer, Beer Review
