Red Duck Amber Ale

Just a very quick update tonight with a few notes on the Red Duck Amber Ale. The Red Duck line of beers comes from the Purrumbete Brewing Company in western Victoria smack in the middle of some terrific lake fly fishing country. Pours cloudy copper brown in the glass with a reasonable head that faded quickly leaving only minimal lace. Lots of toasty malt, caramel and yeast scents dominate the nose. Surprisingly sweet with low carbonation the flavors are all about the malts and fades to a bitter hoppy aftertaste. Overall a bit on the light side but still a very nice beer, I would certainly buy it again.

Tags - Beer, Beer Tasting, Beer Reviews, Australian Beer, Red Duck

Moo Brew Wheat Beer

Some time back I tasted and reviewed the Moo Brew Pale Ale and I was ultimately a little disappointed in the result. At the same time that I bought the Pale I also grabbed some of the Moo Brew Wheat beer and recently sat down to try a couple. I'm very pleased to say that the result for the Wheat is a very different story from the Pale.

The Moo Brew Wheat pours cloudy pale yellow in the glass, no head to speak of but maintains a fine lace and is very lightly (finely) carbonated. It is a very sweet smelling beer with pleasant bannana and citrus notes showing through. The Wheat exhibits typical wheat beer characteristics (wheat malt, yeast) and is a very light and summery beer. There is no significant aftertaste to speak of. The thing that struck me about this beer was the very fine texture and it has a very soft and light mouth feel that I quite liked.

I really liked the Moo Brew wheat beer but I'm not sure of the market segment, recall that this is a winery beer, gloriously packaged and priced accordingly. The Wheat as a standalone beer though is a bit of a summer evening quaffer and I'm not convinced that Joe Average is going to be prepared to lash out the extra shekels to buy the Moo Brew for a session. I guess the market for this beer is the outdoor fresco café style environment and I'm not convinced that this a big enough segment to support the continued production. In any case, if you stumble on the Moo Brew range go for the Wheat over the Pale, it's a much better beer.


Tags - Beer, Beer Tasting, Beer Reviews, Australian Beer, Moo Brew

2004 Cockatoo Ridge Shiraz

Recently I was having a long Sunday arvo session in the kitchen preparing a long overdue meal for my better half. As I recall it was slow roasted Lamb Shanks with peppers in honey & chilli. The recipe called for a bottle of shiraz (for marinade and sauce) and I only had a couple of bottles of good shiraz in the cupboard, certainly nothing that I wanted to consign to a recipe, especially considering the way that I cook. I raced down the local bottle shop to see what I could find and came away with the cheap Cockatoo Ridge Shiraz at all of $9. Ever watchful for post fodder I thought perhaps a review of a cheap wine might just be the order of the day.

Initially pouring the Cockatoo Ridge Shiraz it was a deep purple tending to red but was disappointingly hazy. On the nose the wine shows masses of pepper and spice smells with a plum/redcurrant undertone. The wine was surprisingly soft for such a cheap wine, big fruity plum and cherry flavours dominate and there is a long peppery aftertaste. All in all this wine rated 'as expected' for a sub $10 shiraz, it wasn't mind blowing but I was certainly not disappointed in it esspecially considering the price. For drinking, I will be sticking to the wines in the higher price brackets but if I had to recommend a cheap and cheerful, good quality quaffing shiraz (is that a contradiction in terms) you could do a lot worse than this Cockatoo Ridge cheapy.

PS. The shanks were fabulous and the Shiraz made a perfect marinade/sauce for this dish.

Technorati tags - Wine, Wine Tasting, Wine Reviews, Australian Wine, Shiraz, Cheap Wine

2005 Lawson Dry Hills Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc

A while back, Salil from "The Man on the Outer" and "Off Wandering" quite enthusiastically recommended the wines from Lawsons Dry Hills. I happened on a bottle of the Sauvignon Blanc in a beer buying trip of all things and so grabbed it with the view of opening it that weekend and wrapping out a quick review. One thing lead to another and quite a bit of time has gone past since then and while the LDH has come under threat of consumption many times I just struggled to find the time to open it. So tonight, finally, I have a quiet evening at home, the first in many weeks and have grabbed the LDH to keep me company. This better be good stuff Salil or I'm going to camp out at the MCG on Boxing Day and hunt you down!

Pours a pale yellow. Typical fruit salad driven bouquet of tropical fruit, passionfruit and gooseberry, as always a good SB is a delight on the nose. Clean, crisp flavours of lime passionfruit and some tightening hints of capsicum. All in all a very typically pleasant Marlborough Sav Blanc that I'd be more than happy to drink more of. Also of note is the price, when I checked back I found that I had gotten this wine for $16 and at this price the LDH Sauvignon Blanc is very good drinking indeed.

So I guess Salil is safe; the 2005 Lawson Dry Hills Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc was a good recommendation and I have quite enjoyed it. I'm off now to enjoy the rest of the bottle.

Technorati tags - Wine, Wine Tasting, Wine Reviews, Sauvignon Blanc,

1988 Lindemans St. George (Museum Release)

I had the opportunity last night to try the 1988 Museum Release of Lindemans St. George Cabernet Sauvignon. The St. George is one of my sentimental favorite wines. Many years back I was doing some work with the (then) Southcorp group and this had the run on effect of providing much cheaper access to many of the companies different brands. From that time I managed to collect quite a collection of the different vintages of the 'Trio' wines, mostly from vintages between 1994 and 1996. The downside was that I very quickly became accustomed to opening a Pyrus, Limestone Ridge or St George at any old occasion and once the work stopped, so did the cheaper access to my favorite wines. Very sad!
A few months ago one of the other members of the (local?) wine blogging community wrote about the Lindemans Pyrus and in post-Post discussion there was a comment that suggested that the quality of the 'Trio' wines may not be what it once was. I must say that I bristled a bit because I had very fond memories of my stash of well loved wine long since guzzled and soon after went and bought some of the most recent vintage to test the water and my memory. While it was a very good wine it didn't blow my socks off & I was a little disapointed. Approaching the 1988 St. George I was a little concerned, would this wine live up to my memories or would it let me down like the recent vintage? I need not have worried, it blew my socks off, I loved it and only wish that the other Old Bastards had not been there so that I did not have to share.

Brick red in the glass with lovely warm aromas of cassis, blackberry and plum. In the mouth the wine was silky smooth (oh sooo good) and soft, a sweet and juicy mouthful of berry fruit and blackcurrant with a long lingering aftertaste. This was so very nice I only wish that I could have had more.

Now a question, this bottle was noted as a 'museum release', to my understanding that means that the wine is from the original labeled vintage, but not from the original bottling, it is a more recent bottling of the 1988 vintage. Do I have that right? Confirmation or clarification gladly accepted in the comments. . Many thanks for the responses to this query.

Technorati tags - Wine, Wine Tasting, Wine Reviews, Australian Wine, Lindemans, Cabernet Sauvignon

Avoid Alzheimer's - Drink more red wine!

While the Old Bastards would probably concur on the notion that increased red wine consumption has an inverse relationship with memory retention, scientists are actually studying whether there may actually be a positive relationship between Cabernet Sauvignon and the reduction in the occurrence of Alzheimer's. This report indicates that 'moderate' consumption may reduce the risk of Alzheimer's. I've always said that CS is my favorite...now where did I leave leave that opener...

Technorati tags - Wine, Cabernet Sauvignon, Health

Hanging Rock 'S'

'S' is my missing link, my holy grail (ok, may be a step to far), my mystery wine and there is something poetic about the fact that it comes from Hanging Rock. Years ago on a winery trip out to the region I tasted the 'S', a late harvested dessert style wine and then for years after I was never able to find the wine again no matter how hard I looked. Recently however I was lucky enough to find a bottle of 2003 'S' and this inspired me to chase up the winery to find out where I could lay my hands on the current release on the wine and so managed to get a bottle on the 2006 vintage. When I first tasted this wine at the winery I am pretty sure that the wine was made from a Sauvignon Blanc, when I found the 2003 release I found that it was actually a Verdelho and then later still when I found the 2006 the wine was based on a Riesling.

2003 Hanging Rock 'S' (Verdelho)
Dark yellow, gold. Distinct muscat notes, lemon ,honeysuckle and tropical fruit smells. Sweet, light and juicy flavours of pineapple and citrus. Spectacularly yummy. Sealed under cork.

2006 Hanging Rock 'S' (Riesling)
Golden yellow, a lighter shade than the 2003 (ageing or variety?). The bouquet from this wine is all about the fruit and is a wonderful mix of lemon and citrus. Again, it's a sweet and juicy dessert wine with fabulous lemon, lime and pineapple flavours. Sealed under screwcap.

I've scoured the 'net but cannot find a photo of this wine to save myself which is a real shame because its as sexy damn thing. The differences between these two wines are pretty minor, for my taste the late harvest Riesling is a better dessert wine than the Verdelho but that said I'd be more than happy if either of these wines were available. I love the 'S' brand and wish I could get a more consistent supply, it's delicious.

Technorati tags - Wine, Wine Tasting, Wine Reviews, Australian Wine, Hanging Rock