AUSTRALIA DAY BEERS

Not so long ago, breweries rolled out their new summer brands in early December to make the most of the run-up to Christmas and beyond. It’s a sign of the highly fragmented beer market that Australia Day has been earmarked by Cooper’s for a major new release, and a couple of craft brewers have joined the party with limited-edition brews.

When Coopers Brewery relocated to a flash, modern brewing plant on the other side of Adelaide in late 2001, they left behind more antiquated methods and lifted their production levels to the point where they are now the third-largest beer maker in the land. And while they are happy to continue trading on their “family owned” image, they are clearly in a different league these days.

Coopers Pale Ale on tap is becoming ubiquitous to the point of being mainstream. It’s still cloudy in appearance but the palate has lost some edginess, apparently, in search of broader appeal.

Which brings us to Coopers Clear – the newest brand in the family’s 148 year brewing history.

“We see Coopers Clear as the next generation in Coopers’ products,” says Coopers executive chairman Glenn Cooper. “We are excited to offer something that new, allowing us to cater for a broader range of drinkers.”

A lightly-hopped, clear lager in a clear glass bottle suggests that Coopers is targeting younger drinkers who might perceive their traditional cloudy ales as old hat. The launch of Coopers 62 Pilsner a few months ago was a similar play for such a “new generation” of beer consumers.

At a somewhat different end of the flavour spectrum is Murray’s Endless Summer from the Port Stephen’s based outfit, launched in time for the usual cricket, eski and barbeque activities associated with Australia Day.

Like many of Murray’s brews, the beer is inspired by various Belgian styles like saison, blonde ale and trippel ale, without actually committing to any single one.

“The basic idea for this beer is that it is an ‘invented’ style,” says Murray’s head brewer Shawn Sherlock. At 7 per cent, Murray’s Endless Summer is anything but a quaffer and is available on draught at their Port Stephens home and the Local Taphouse, Darlinghurst.

Australia Day also sees the launch of the 1.9-litre “growler”, a fully-recyclable glass container which can be filled and re-filled with any of the house beers at Murray’s Brewery in Port Stephens.

Mad Brewers Orchard Ale is the limited-edition summer release from the off-shoot of Dr Chuck Hahn’s Malt Shovel Brewery. It is similarly inspired by the Belgian saison beer style but with the added twist of being made with a 20 per cent blend of apple juice sourced through the Small Acres Cyder Company in Orange.

The combination of fuji, granny smith and pink lady apple juice gives the ale a refreshing edge on top of prominent spicy yeast character. The release is limited to 3,400 cartons and on draught at the James Squire Brewhouse, King Street Wharf for a strictly limited time.

TASTING NOTES

MAD BREWERS ORCHARD ALE 5%

Copper colour. Aroma: hints of spice, citrus and apple skin. Palate: delicate spicy yeast notes initially, restrained apple characters emerge mid-palate, with tropical fruit notes in the softly bittered finish. Overall: well-balanced ale with enough spice and apple characters to sustain interest, wrapped up in a refreshing, summery number. RRP: $8/640ml; $55/9-bottle carton; released nationally 1 February.

COOPERS CLEAR

To come …