Stone & Wood are a Byron Bay brewery that took the local beer scene by storm with their award winning Pacific Ale. The Pacific is a very light and fruity summer beer, so I was interested to see how they fared upon defecting to the dark side. While I wasn't quite sure of the style they were aiming for with the 'Jasper Ale', the maroon label led me to believe it may be a red or amber ale. For some reason I also couldn't get 'Ol' Jasper' from The Simpsons out of my head when staring at the bottle.
"Moonpies. What a time to be alive." Indeed.
Upon pouring the beer, all suspicions were laid to rest as a darkened amber colour filled the glass, with a rich streak of red, packing real depth and lacing. Visually, it looks great. I'm choosy with dark beers, but this one looked as solid off the bat as a Dean Jones hook on a hard pitch. Pale Ales tend to have that Hayley Williams 'ranga' sort of colour to them, whereas this is more of a Christina Hendricks blood orange, and it appears to pack the same junk in the trunk. It was now time to investigate further.
I will give them this... Stone & Wood do not conform to any trend. They do not pigeonhole themselves, or try and reinvent the wheel. Their own legacy is forged. The reason this ale has an ambiguous title is that it brings with it a cavalcade of attributes that you could relate to various genres of beer. It has the caramel hues that some APAs have, it has the nutty and sticky toffee feel of an amber, combined with the malt driven base of a red ale. They've taken the better part of predominantly winter beers and forged their own indoor friendly gem. Despite all of that interbreeding, this low carbonated affair goes down like an Italian soccer player during a light breeze, and is truly as well rounded as Karl Pilkington's head.
If anything, it's perhaps a touch restrained. Some of these well crafted flavours could have been bigger, but I know that isn't necessarily their style. S & W beers are well balanced and easy to drink. This would be the textbook perfect dark beer to introduce to someone who has never ventured outside the realms of fizzy yellow swill. A fellow who lives on Porters and Stouts might feel it to be a touch anorexic, but at the end of the day this beer finds it own spot on the shelf and holds it down.
Top stuff Stone & Wood.
7.5/10
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