From Fresh, The West Australian, June 5

Australian lager icon takes a royal step forward

Fans of the “Crownie” will not recognise its latest incarnation. They’ll be blown away. Crown Ambassador Reserve is 9.2 per cent alcohol. It’s a full-bodied lager designed to be kept for at least three months and as long as 10 years before drinking from wine glasses. It comes in 750ml brown champagne bottles with yeast still beavering away to enhance the already complex flavours. Each of the 5000 limited-edition bottles is numbered – and No. 1 was presented to the Queen on June 2, the anniversary of her 1953 Coronation.

This demands an historical note: Australia’s first premium lager was brewed in 1919, but only for visiting dignitaries; it was released to the public as Crown Lager in 1954 to mark Queen Elizabeth’s visit.

Ambassador Reserve not so much breaks the Crown mould as projects it to a new dimension. “It’s the way brewing has to go – competitive development of new styles and tastes to show we just won’t bow down to imports,” said the luxury lager’s creator, Fosters master brewer John Cozens.

Ambassador is fermented by classic Crown yeast and the bittering hops are Pride of Ringwood, used in Crown Lager since they were first grown. But the rest is different, with longer fermentation (11 weeks from mash to bottle), a richer colour imparted by pale and crystal barley malts and the real signature ingredient – Galaxy hops.

Mr Cozens was involved with the Cascade First Harvest brew in Tasmania last year and was so impressed with the fruity, fragrant Galaxy hop variety – developed at Myrtleford in Victoria - that he just had to have it for the Ambassador project.

“It was a great hop crop this year, and Galaxy was the first to be ready,” Mr Cozens said. His team was in touch daily with the Myrtleford hop growers for the moment Galaxy ripened. “Then we went out there,” Mr Cozens said.

“The weather was lovely, the air was fresh, the hop garden was bursting with life and I felt it would be wonderful to capture some of that in the beer. We selected just one vine, stripped it and drove back with the hop cones that night. Next day they went into the kettle as late hopping, fresh and green.”

Mr Cozens shared a preview tasting of Ambassador with me last week at the Rockpool – sited appropriately in Melbourne’s Crown complex. It married beautifully with all the dishes on a special menu, from prawns and goat cheese tortellini, through seared snapper with tomato and chilli braised peas, aged sirloin, potato and cabbage gratin to prune and Armagnac crème brulee. It even smoothed out the acidity of olive oil and lemon vegetable dressing.

Poured clear into wine goblets, Ambassador shows deep amber with orange tints; pouring with sediment enriches the colour. The head is firm and exudes constantly changing fruity, floral aromas. Fruit dominates the unfolding flavours and a spirity bite carries a long, luxurious aftertaste. Overall, this is a mellow vintage beer to delight ale and lager drinkers alike.

“I advise people to buy two bottles, one to drink soon and one to lay down for much later,” Mr Cozens said. “There’s enough in each bottle for three to share, so 15,000 people might taste this vintage lager. It took a year to develop. At times we looked at making it darker, heavier and stronger but settled on a style that reflects what Crown Lager might have become. I’m very pleased with how it turned out.”

Crown Ambassador 2008 Reserve Lager will be in the shops in presentation boxes on June 30, priced about $55 a bottle.

Ale from the Vale

Another household name in Aussie beverages has produced a new craft beer, again with a hop emphasis. Vale Ale, from South Australia’s McLaren Vale wine region, is a 4.5 per cent brew designed as an alternative to wine while dining.

“The wines are internationally renowned, the quality and variety of the restaurants are second to none, but until now there hasn’t been a beer McLaren Vale could call its own,” Vale Ale Brewing Company chairman and co-founder Adam Trippe-Smith said.

Vale Ale is very pale in colour even for a pale ale. Pouring lively from secondary fermentation in the cool-looking, understated bottle, it presents a sudsy head of loose bubbles. A pleasing citrus and nuts aroma comes from US Cascade hops and European-style Brewers Gold and Saaz varieties from New Zealand.

Don’t serve over-chilled or it has a rather thin feel. Fruit and nut flavours kick in around 8C, and the long, nicely dry finish goes on longer when warm.

Explaining the low-key bitterness, Mr Trippe-Smith said the idea was not to overpower food “but at the same time we wanted it to be interesting and have real flavour” and to avoid the clean, crisp beer trend which “often sacrifices flavour”.

He added: “We sought to create a beer that would suit the Mediterranean (SA) climate

and marry the food from the region.”

Well, WA is said to have a Med climate so Vale Ale should be welcome here, too. The ale, launched last week in Adelaide, will be sold in WA in coming months when distribution is finalised.

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ALE TALE

Tiger Lager (5 per cent)

The beer you drink when in Malaysia and Singapore – or in many other parts of the world. This lager, brewed in Singapore since the 1930s to match Asian dishes, has grown a widespread following since earning 30 international gold medals, being crowned the Brewing Industry World’s Best Lager in 1998 and winning the 2004 World Beer Cup European-style pilsener title. What’s all the fuss about? Well, it contains no additives and Asia Pacific Breweries proudly cites 250 quality control checks to ensure consistency. All this is evident in the grainy, fresh-smelling head and silky, beautifully balanced, delicately flavoured drop. The satisfyingly long finish carries honey notes and just a hint of hop spice.