The recent release of Coopers 2010 Extra Strong Vintage Ale marks the 10^th edition of this annual brew. It was first released back in 1998, with further vintages in 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.

The earliest vintages were somewhat varied but, lately, the beer has settled into a familiar style, marked by an appropriate mid-winter release date.

The robust palate features generous dollops of crystal malt and a multiple hopping regime which is given a fresh tweak each year. As with last year’s brew, German varieties Magnum and Perle are used for bittering, with English-grown Styrian Golding employed for aroma. But the hop flavours have been given a significant lift with the New Zealand Nelson Sauvin strain, which provides an appetizing tropical fruit character in mid-palate.

Coopers Vintage Ale is also more readily available on tap, whereas earlier releases were bottled only.

Coopers Brewery has now joined the serious production league with some 62 million litres of beer brewed over the past 12 months. To keep up with demand, the brewery is introducing a permanent second brewing shift from 1 September.

Husband and wife team Brennan and Peta Fielding are behind the Burleigh Brewing Company, based just north of the Queensland border. While their regular brands include Duke Pale Ale and Hef, their newest release Black Giraffe is a strictly limited edition, comprising only 600 cartons.

Billed as a “black coffee lager”, the beer represents the combined expertise of brewmaster Brennan Fielding and local south-east Queensland coffee roaster Kenton Campbell. The beer’s name is derived from Campbell’s Zarraffa’s Coffee business which, in turn, comes from the Arabic name for giraffe.

“We love beer and we love creating beer that excites people,” says Peta Fielding. “Black Giraffe was an idea which took six months to bring to life. Brennan and Kenton spent many hours in Zarraffa’s tasting room carefully sampling and selecting the ideal roasting parameters for the coffee which we used in Black Giraffe.”

The Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel in The Rocks is another to roll out a new winter brew with their brown ale named, simplistically, 2IC.

“Second in command is a nautical term,” says licensee Blair Hayden. “2IC sits second to Old Admiral as a seasonal variation on our award-winning dark ale.”

The new brew features some nice biscuity characters and is a well-balanced English brown ale style.

Gage Roads Brewing Company has been through a change in ownership since it debuted in Western Australia in 2005, and the re-badging of its flagship Gage Premium Lager reflects a marked shift from craft beer to something with more mainstream appeal.

Derived from the original Gage Roads Pure Malt Lager - which was a fulsome, malty and well-bittered German style lager, the new label proclaims “extra smooth” as the descriptor for what is a rather inoffensive pale lager. The dropping of the “roads” part of the name suggests that Gage Roads – the waterway off Fremantle where the 1987 America’s Cup yachting challenge was held, was never widely recognized outside its home state.

TASTING NOTES

BLACK GIRAFFE (5%)

Dark brown-black, beige head. Aroma: hints of espresso, roasted malt and dark caramel. Palate: Coffee-laced notes upfront; medium body, roasted malt and coffee flavours dominate moderately bitter finish. Overall: pleasant coffee characters wrapped around a relatively easy-drinking black lager.

COOPERS EXTRA STRONG VINTAGE ALE 2010 (7.5%)

Cloudy amber-brown; thick, creamy head. Aroma: toffee, spice, peaches and cream. Palate: dense, chewy caramel notes upfront; lychee and melon notes mid-palate with robust bitterness emerging; finishes full-bodied and complex with sweet malt characters balanced by substantial bitterness with fruity overtones. Overall: fresh, lively hop flavours dance around the now familiar “vintage” style.

GAGE PREMIUM LAGER (5%)

Pale gold. Aroma: clean, malty. Palate: moderate body, subdued mid-palate and restrained bitterness. Overall: just another Aussie premium lager.

LORD NELSON 2IC (5%)

Dark amber-brown. Aroma: clean with toffee and spice hints. Palate: biscuity malt notes with stone fruit hints in mid-palate; rounds off with caramel and peach notes, retrained bitterness. Overall: well-balanced brown ale, suitable for cool weather session drinking.