From Fresh Jan 22

Any public holiday is an excuse to concentrate on beer, and Australia Day has to focus on the nation’s top drops. As well as an array of beers for informal gatherings and barbecues on Monday, I recommend trying some of the new vintage brews in posh champagne bottles for sharing at the dinner table.

VINTAGE

Crown Ambassador Reserve Lager 2008 (9.2 per cent): With the next vintage being prepared by Fosters, now is the time to crack open the bottle you’ve been hoarding. Late hopping with Galaxy seals the complex, rich flavours of this amazingly full-bodied beer, the biggest lager imaginable.

Gage Roads Saison (5.8 per cent): Belgian-style deep-amber farmhouse ale, slightly sour at first then smoothing out to complex cherry, berry, vanilla and herbal-spice piquancy.

Murray’s Anniversary Ale No. 3 (10 per cent): NSW crafted wheat and barley wine, blended from two fermentations with different yeasts, matured in shiraz casks and giving an Aussie twist to Belgian brown ale with dark, rich malt and oak hints ending in bitterness. Supplies have just arrived at International Beer Shop and Cellarbrations at Carlisle.

Sebastion Reserve (6 per cent): Cloves, banana and sweet stone-fruit characters tells you this Matilda Bay ale conditioned in its 750ml bottle is based on Belgian wheat beer, despite its dark, almost caramel sweetness.

LAGERS

Bootleg Wils Pils (4.9 per cent): Floral aroma and hoppy accents in flavour and bitterness make for a silky, Czech pilsener experience.

Cascade Green (4.5 per cent): Forget the low-carb and environmental worthiness and just enjoy this prime example of Aussie session lager.

Holgate Pilsner (4.5 per cent): Few Australian brewers get pilsener right, but Holgate of Victoria has nailed it. Excellent.

James Squire Sundown Lager (4.4 per cent): A new lager for the mass market, an astute step-up from most sweet mainstream brands.

Knappstein Reserve Lager (5.6 per cent): Nelson Sauvin hops are credited with lifting this SA lager to afficianado status. Enterprise brewery has made an extraordinary individual lager.

WHEAT BEERS

Bootleg Sou’West (4.7 per cent): German Hersbrucker and US Willamette hops lend countryside aroma but no bitterness. The WA brew is all about sweet, soft, refreshment.

Hoes Garden (4.9 per cent) The whimsical Brew Boys of South Australia call their Belgian-style witbier “half-wit” beer – half the mash is wheat – but don’t be deceived: the spicy, banana aroma and taste is serious.

Feral White (4.6 per cent): Swan Valley’s best bottled beer comes from Feral. Even Belgians take to this full-on wheat ale.

ALES

Billabong Australia’s Pale Ale (5.1 per cent): How the Myaree brewer achieves so much fruity ale flavour in a gluten-free beer stands testament to assiduous research and application.

Bootleg Settler’s Pale Ale (4.8 per cent): Citrus and grapefruit niff stamps this as a US-style pale ale. Note the pleasant stone-fruit bitter aftertaste.

Gage Roads IPA (5.1 per cent): India pale ale must be sweet up front, dry and fruity in the middle and bitter at the end. It’s all here.

James Squire Golden Ale(4.5 per cent): Designed for WA and now loved nationwide, it’s evocative of England’s light, flowery, summer quaff.

James Squire IPA (5.6 per cent): Late hopping with Fuggles and a nice orangy backtaste add to the enjoyment of the Malt Shovel brewery’s fragrant, hop-driven ale.

Jarrah Jack’s Pemberton Ale (4.9 per cent): A light-drinking take on German kolsch with subtle flavour.

Little Creatures Bright (4.5 per cent): Sunshine ale with citrus bite from Fremantle.

Nail Ale (4.7 per cent) Bottle-conditioned, Australian-style full-bodied, fruity ale crafted in WA.

DARK BEERS

Bootleg Raging Bull (7.1 per cent): Multi-award-winning favourite from Margaret River full of roasted malt, chocolate and cockle-warming contentment.

Matso’s Smokey Bishop (4.7 per cent): Broome Brewery’s dark, roasty beer named after a local character.

Temple Special Bitter (4.7 per cent): A delight for hop-heads, the mahogany-hued, English-style offering from the eastern states is an earthy, dry, fairly bitter ale.

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QUICK ONES(w.pic 15)

Australian home brewing is rising along with economic gloom, marked by a 26 per cent jump since July in sales of Coopers top-end International Range of brewkit concentrates. Overall, sales are up eight per cent. “It seems that discerning beer drinkers want to continue to enjoy premium style beers, but are looking for a more cost-effective way of accessing these styles,” Coopers’ brewing products marketing manager Scott Harris said. “They realise they can make premium quality beers for only 35 cents per stubbie.”

Mad Monk brewery-kitchen in Fremantle has at last gained a permit so customers can now be served a drink without a meal, indoors and on the terrace. The brewer’s line-up: Epic English-style bitter, Aus pale ale, Rogue kolsch, Freja Belgian ale, Stone German-style smoked beer, Centurion porter and Samudra India pale ale.

St Arnou continues to expand its presence WA with the NSW craft beer going on tap at Havana's in East Perth and Bouchards in Mount Street, Perth. “WA, albeit our smallest market, has been extremely receptive to St Arnou and going very well for us,” managing director Matthew Beggs said.

By Vic Crossland