Bootleg Beer Wils Pils

Great.

Another Pilsner.

A reluctant sigh was emitted when this was the beer on the menu tonight, as going through a challenge to drink 365 beers in a year involves the best and the worst of times. Many of the worst seem to involve a watery Pilsner.

This particular offering is from Bootleg Beer from WA. After some very unthorough research I didn't find out much info on them/it, apart from a claim this lager is brewed with rain water.

While not being as exciting as a blindfolded cage fight between Chuck Norris and a Kodiak bear, it is a surprisingly tasty beer. It's still a Pilsner, so the volume is turned down, but the floral tones and slightly malty body are mated with a clean but sturdy feel.

I suppose sometimes, you might argue that a barely audible volume is still better than that fuckhead on the train playing Euro trance loud enough to wake Helen Keller.

One of the better Pilsners I've drunk, extremely easy to down and a good example of the genre.

7.5/10

BBC Bighead

I'm having one of those 'what is wrong with the world?' moments. This beer proclaims to be 'Australia's first NO CARB beer'.

Moderation is the key people. MODERATION.

There should be no need for such madness!

It reminds me of those people that drink three coke zeros a day because they are 'no sugar' or 'no calories' rather than just controlling themselves and cracking the odd real coke every now and then. A slab full of masking chemicals are somehow more appealing.

At the end of the day the point is that drinking soft drink, of any sort, is as likely to help you lose weight as entering a donut eating contest to the death against Queen Latifah and Dog the Bounty Hunter's missus.

Apply the same logic to beer. If you are watching your weight, don't drink so much beer that you would make David Boon jealous.

Don't overdo it, go to the gym once in a while, and you can enjoy food and drink in it's true form and the way it was meant to be enjoyed.

Anyway, rant over, let's get to the beer...

This beer is about as exciting as a cardboard box convention in the middle of a dry zone in Canberra. There is no flavour, no body, no aftertaste. Credit where credit is due, I suppose creating a no carb beer is some sort of achievement in it's own right, but I might as well be drinking alcoholic mineral water.

2/10

J.W Dundee's Honey Brown

Another honey beer.

Beer.

Honey.

I like them both, but together rarely do they combine in a way that makes me think beer is worse off without the honey. Still don't really get the point.

While the honey beer does appeal somewhat to the female market, this would have to be the man version. It's not a girl with a sweet tooth beer, but more a Bear Grylls eating a live bee for protein beer.

It's a malty, bitter lager with a streak of sweet honey sitting in the background. It's quite refreshing, but very raw flavour wise. It's a bit like a slightly sweet above average mainstream lager. This beer is from New York, so I don't know how well known the brewery is, but it's weak compared to most craft beers I've been stung by.

4.5/10

St Kilda Brew

This is brewed by 'Some Saint Kilda guys' according to the bottle. The bottle bears the palm trees of the St Kilda shoreline, along with a mosaic of Luna Park, graff and street art.

This is a beer brewed with a purpose, and going at somewhat of a niche market. It declares itself to be a 'voluptuous full bodied and full strength blonde', perfect for a St Kilda session. I have to take this into account when drinking it, as it isn't the world's most exciting beer but I have to agree that it would be a great session beer down on the beach.

I'm not sure about full strength, but for a clean lager it does have more junk in the trunk than your normal skimpy, anorexic blonde beer. The curves might not drop the jaw to the floor but there's enough to warrant a sneaky glance.

It was priced fairly well, and hits it's target with relative accuracy. It isn't aiming to be a complicated craft beer, or a game changer, it's just a sessionable lager.

So if you're trying to expand your palette, don't bother, but if you're just cracking a few cold ones in the sun it will more than do the job.

6/10

Kooinda Black IPA

Kooinda's beers to this point have sat on a knife's edge. Very good, but still only on the verge of excellence.

Given I'd had a pretty good run with IPA's lately, it would take a doozy of a beer to rate amongst the others.

The Kooinda Black IPA is popping with malt and berry like flavours before a slab of hop driven bitterness is laid down, locking your tongue in a peruvian necktie. The carbonation is extremely soft, almost non existant, allowing for the flavours to really take to the stage from start to finish.

Definately not a session beer, but on it's own very solid.

I wasn't able to write this review while drinking it, so it's slightly less in depth than some of the others.


8/10

Tui East India Pale Ale

This kiwi beer is an 'East' India Pale Ale... I am unaware as to how this will differ from a traditional IPA, but in time we will find out.

Straight away I noticed it is 4% alcohol, which is VERY soft for something touting to be an Indian Pale Ale, regardless of repping the Eastside or Westside.

After taking a few swigs, it comes off as more of an amber ale than an IPA. There are some toffee/malt tones before a fizzy lagery aftertaste takes over. What the?

This doesn't taste anything like any IPA I've ever had before. Light feel, fizzy, no length in the aftertaste... maybe they are referring to different indians? Is this a pale ale that you would normally find in the mug of Chief Running Buffalo instead of Sanjiv? Is it drunk after a hard day of scalping or yoga?

It's probably a touch better than a run of the mill macro lager... but this does not resemble an IPA at all.

4/10

Pacifico Clara

Mexicans make some of most awesome food in the world, that of which is especially enjoyable after a few drinks. They are also the providers of Tequila, one of the great spirits of the world. Most likely also one of the main reasons Mexico has an extremely high birth rate.

Why oh why can't they brew a good beer then? I'm yet to taste one anyway. I'm sure I'm likely not looking in the right places but if there is a ripsnorting Mexican beer out there, of el grande burrito levels of dopeness, someone tell me!

This is watery, almost flavourless, with stinging carbonation. Very similar to your standard Mexican lager, slightly more hoppy, but still faintly flavoured.

Still, different mindstates, environments, and foods can alter the experience of drinking a beer.

If I was sitting on a beach in Mexico, under the sun, munching on a quesadilla, this would probably be hitting the spot right now.

As I am on a couch in Melbourne however, it isn't.

3.5/10