Category Archives: Australia

4 - Good (buy), Australia, Beer Reviews, Wild Ale, Wildflower Brewing & Blending

Wildflower Good As Gold

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Brewery: Wildflower Brewing & Blending
Country: Australia
ABV: 5%
Style: Wild Ale
Other Notes: Australian Wild Ale

Brewer Description: (from website) Good as Gold is a 50/50 blend of barrel aged Gold with fresh Gold that has just completed primary fermentation. This blend is composed of barrels 1850 (19 month old Gold) and 1722 (22 month old Gold) equally blended with the 62nd batch of Gold brewed in March 2020.

At release, this blend’s aroma shows flinty, wet stone, citrus zest and hoppy spice with soft creamy overtones. The palate is bright and vibrant with clean citrus lines. Really nice balance, mild acidity and palate cleansing gentle bitterness.

The base beer is brewed entirely with New South Wales cereals: Single Origin (S.O.) Riverina NSW grown Schooner ale malt and Coleambally NSW grown organic Red raw wheat thanks to Voyager Malt & Chris and Sam Greenwood. It is made with filtered Sydney water and Motueka (NZ) and Saaz (CZ) hops. Finally, it was fermented with our house culture: brewers yeast, foraged wild yeast and naturally occurring souring bacteria native to New South Wales. It was bottled on 15 April 2020 and naturally conditioned through refermentation for 16 weeks. At bottling it was 5.0% ABV, 25 IBU and 1.1°P (FG= 1.004 SG).

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.32
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 750ml bottle, blend #9, bottled in April 2020, and with a best before date of April 2025. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen Zenne glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy straw golden colour with a one finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly, while leaving only sparse spotty lacing.
Aroma: Funky, citrus zest, lemon peel, unripe mango, floral, and soft barrel notes.
Taste: Lightly sour and tart, funky, brett, mixed citrus juice, maybe grapefruit and orange, with a lemon zesty finish.
Mouthfeel: Light bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: A very refreshing, light, and easy to drink Wild Ale. Great on a hot summer day, but seems like it could be an all year round beer for me.

4 - Good (buy), Australia, Beer Reviews, Wild Ale, Wildflower Brewing & Blending

Wildflower Amber

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Brewery: Wildflower Brewing & Blending
Country: Australia
ABV: 6%
Style: Wild Ale
Other Notes: Australian Wild Ale

Brewer Description: (from website) Amber is a blended, barrel aged Australian Wild Ale. Amber Blend #27 is a blend of five barrels – 1727 (21 month old Amber), 1732 (17 month old Amber), 1754 (13 month old Amber), 1847 (17 month old Amber) and 1919 (9 month old Amber).

This blend has an intensely rich nose loaded with cola, fudge, currants and sweet spice. Sweet red fruits, cola, oak and spice fill out the palate and balance the acidity. Wonderfully moreish with great length and a hazelnut finish.

The base beer is brewed entirely with New South Wales cereals: Single Origin (S.O.) Riverina NSW grown Schooner Munich malt, Binya NSW grown S.O. LaTrobe Vienna malt and Riverina NSW grown chocolate malt from Voyager Craft Malt. It is made with filtered Sydney water and Saaz (CZ) hops. Finally, it was fermented with our house culture: brewers yeast, foraged wild yeast and naturally occurring souring bacteria native to New South Wales. It was bottled on 11 March 2020 and naturally conditioned through refermentation for 21 weeks. At bottling it was 6.0% ABV, 18 IBU and 1.4°P (FG = 1.006 SG).

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.38
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 750ml bottle, blend #27, bottled in March 2020, and with a best before date of March 2025. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen Zenne glass.
Appearance: A nice clear amber colour with a one finger beige head that dissipated fairly quickly, but settled to a thin ring around the glass, while leaving some spotty lacing.
Aroma: Coke, cherry, blackcurrant, fig, oak, acetone, with notes of caramel.
Taste: Sour, tart, cherry, plum, coke, oak, caramel, and lemon.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: Very nice aroma and flavours of blended Coke and Flanders Red type ales. Carbonation was a bit lacking for me, but other than that, this was enjoyable.

4 - Good (buy), Australia, Beer Reviews, Wild Ale, Wildflower Brewing & Blending

Wildflower Gold

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Brewery: Wildflower Brewing & Blending
Country: Australia
ABV: 5%
Style: Wild Ale
Other Notes: Australian Wild Ale

Brewer Description: (from website) Gold is a blended, barrel aged Australian Wild Ale. Gold Blend #27 is a blend of 6 barrels – 1705 (15 month old Gold), 1746 (4 month old Gold), 1769 (6 month old Gold), 1813 (13 month old Gold), 1821 (11 month old Gold), 1836 (12 month old Gold).

Intense nose – ripe citrus (Meyer lemon), slate and oak melded together. Full and well structured palate. Citrus dominant but supported with dark earthy spice, cellar funk and energetic acidity. Pops of stone fruit and vanilla. Incredibly long and persistent. A standout blend of our Gold.

The base beer is brewed entirely with New South Wales cereals: Single Origin (S.O.) Riverina NSW grown Schooner ale malt and Coleambally NSW grown organic Red raw wheat thanks to Voyager Malt & Chris and Sam Greenwood. It is made with filtered Sydney water and Motueka (NZ) and Saaz (CZ) hops. Finally, it was fermented with our house culture: brewers yeast, foraged wild yeast and naturally occurring souring bacteria native to New South Wales. It was bottled on 26 February 2020 and naturally conditioned through refermentation for 23 weeks. At bottling it was 5.0% ABV, 25 IBU and 1°P (FG = 1.004 SG).

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.45
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.4

Intro: A 750ml bottle, blend #27, bottled in February 2020, and with a best before date of February 2025. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen Zenne glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy golden colour with a one finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly, while leaving some spotty lacing.
Aroma: Funky, leather, oak, lemon zest, white grape, with apricot notes.
Taste: Tart, lightly sour, white wine grapes, oak, funky, apricot, green apple, and lemon zest.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: My first Wildflower bottle and wow, this was enjoyable. Good balance of funky, citrus and stone fruit flavours.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Australia, Beer Reviews, Farmhouse Saison, La Sirène Brewing

La Sirène Reserve Saison

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Brewery: La Sirène Brewing
Country: Australia
ABV: 7%
Style: Belgian Saison
Other Notes: Avant Garde Collection. 2016 vintage. Barrel-aged vintage Saison – rustic, vinous, wild. Oak 3.5/6, fruity 3.5/6 and funk 4/6

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Reserve Saison is composed of a blend of our classic Saison vintages that have been aged in Burgundian barriques & hogsheads since 2015 and 2016. The Reserve Saison displays generous oak character & balance with ethereal yet rustic notes of the indigenous wild yeast residing within the walls of our brewery. The Reserve Saison is the ultimate expression of our site and house style, imparting a sense of place, time and season to this wild ale.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.94
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.8

Intro: A 375ml bottle, batch no. 230313, bottled on July 2018. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy golden orange colour with a big two finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly to a thin layer and left nice curtain lacing.
Aroma: Light funk, brett, lightly vinous, grape, some stone fruit, peach, apricot, lemon peel and a touch of lime soda.
Taste: Sour, light funk, brett, vinous, grape, oak, lemon, lime and a bit pithy.
Mouthfeel: Light bodied with high spritzy carbonation.
Overall: Nice Saison with lots of citrusy notes on the finish.

4 - Good (buy), Australia, Beer Reviews, La Sirène Brewing, Wild Ale

La Sirène Cuvée de Bois

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Brewery: La Sirène Brewing
Country: Australia
ABV: 6.2%
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: Avant Garde Collection. 2018 vintage. Oak-aged Wild Ale with chardonnay – solera method. Funk 4/5, sour 2/5 and oak 2/5

Brewer Description: (from bottle) La Sirène 2018 Cuvée de Bois is a special wine hybrid mixed fermentation farmhouse ale blended with select French oak barriques of La Sirène Saison. Using our vintage basket press, Australian chardonnay free run juice was brewed into a specially designed farmhouse beer, then blended with our barrel-aged Saison. The 2018 Cuvée de Bois is a delightful blend of balanced wild farmhouse complexity and grape forward acidity crowned by the elegance & depth of toasted French oak.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.21
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 375ml bottle, batch no. 230230, and bottled in February 2019. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A clear golden straw colour with a big two finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly and left only some sparse spotty lacing.
Aroma: Light funk, sweet white wine, grapes, peach, apricot, with a hint of oak and citrus.
Taste: Sour, tart, funky, white wine, grapes, stone fruit, peach, apricot and lemon peel on the finish.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Nice enjoyable grape and stone fruit flavours.