Today's patient under examination is a Pale Ale by a brewery named 'Sail & Anchor', from Fremantle in WA. While this is all contentious, many do consider Sail & Anchor to be one of the pioneers of craft beer in Australia. The founders started the brewery in the early 80's, also gave birth to Matilda Bay, and then were involved with the legendary Little Creatures. Such a prestigious pedigree must lend to a brilliant sense of excitement... however all is not as rosy as the background suggests. Sail & Anchor was bought out by Woolworths (ALH Group), the historical brewery then shut down, and operations moved to another location. S & A is now a mere marketing operation by one of the giants of food & beverage in Australia, so it is hard to know what to expect, but my inkling is that this will be but a sheep in wolves' clothing.
The pour of the beer makes no attempt to allay this by wearing a traditional APA amber colour. It looks nice, but on further inspection is completely transparent and clear as day. The label pronounces that the Monkey's Fist packs a 'hidden punch' so perhaps this was all part of the plan. Am I simply being lulled in to a false sense of security before a hop-fisted orangutan socks me in the jaw?
No. No I am not.
Unless they have hidden it in the surrounds of Area 51, this beer has about as much place in the world of 'punch' as Gary Glitter does in childcare. There are some stone fruit flavours, and a graze of hops, but all in all listening to a Kim Kardashian monologue about paint drying to the soundtrack of 'Titanic' is a more exciting prospect than drinking this again. There's always a feeling of disenchantment when you sit down to enjoy something you love, and then find yourself wishing it would just hurry the fuck up and finish. Transformers 2 being the pinnacle of such emotions.
The bottle says that it packs a hidden punch, a knock-out blend of hops, and a tingling bitter aftertaste. You would struggle to find a copywriter so willing to stamp such bullshit on a campaign, but I guess Mitt Romney's writers are now looking for ways to pay the bills.
To be fair though, it isn't a horrible beer. Politics aside, it is just a very weak, run of the mill APA that the industry just does not need. There are far worse beers, and from memory it was very reasonably priced. For someone already jaded with the world however, seeing a massive corporate behemoth gut a microbrewery just to don it's skin and prance about like 'one of the little guys' leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Literally and figuratively.
5.5/10
No comments:
Post a Comment