# Pepperjack Ale



## Back Yard Brewer (30/8/07)

Just opened up the local rag today and pickle me grandmother another beer has hit town. Saltrams Wine Estate, part of the Fosters conglomerate has released a beer that is apparently made at Matilda Bay. Its called Pepperjack Ale named after one of their wine labels called Pepperjack. It seems Fosters will stop at nothing to gain some leverage in the ever growing savvy beer market. Its available only at Saltrams cellar door (or so it says) here in the Barossa. $18 a six pack. I will have to shoot across on the week-end to see what the fuss is all about. The article I read seemed to be one of those corperate wank articles  

BYB


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## GMK (30/8/07)

Will share a six pack with you.

Just bought the Boags Wizard Smiths Ale today that was mentioned in the same article...


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## Back Yard Brewer (30/8/07)

GMK said:


> Will share a six pack with you.
> 
> Just bought the Boags Wizard Smiths Ale today that was mentioned in the same article...




BBC next meeting or maybe a private tasting B) 

BYB


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## Mercs Own (30/8/07)

I had a bottle of the Boags Wizard Smiths Ale the other night and whilst it was drinkable and generally enjoyable it wasnt anything special - thinish body with a big hop finish - pretty similar to First Harvest.

They call them ales.........


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## tangent (30/8/07)

AHB 

I bought a 6-pack yesterday.... interesting.


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## Back Yard Brewer (24/9/07)

Mercs Own said:


> I had a bottle of the Boags Wizard Smiths Ale the other night and whilst it was drinkable and generally enjoyable it wasnt anything special - thinish body with a big hop finish - pretty similar to First Harvest.
> 
> They call them ales.........




I would also have to agree. Had a BBC meeting here and GMK left a bottle in my fridge. Do they use E.K Goldings?


BYB


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## Ross (24/9/07)

I had the Pepperjack last week. A very nice beer in my book, especially for a bottled one. Great hop aroma & flavour. I only got to sample 1 bottle as i was driving, so not sure how it'd go as a session beer.


cheers Ross


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## Screwtop (24/9/07)

Back Yard Brewer said:


> Just opened up the local rag today and pickle me grandmother another beer has hit town. Saltrams Wine Estate, part of the Fosters conglomerate has released a beer that is apparently made at Matilda Bay. Its called Pepperjack Ale named after one of their wine labels called Pepperjack. It seems Fosters will stop at nothing to gain some leverage in the ever growing savvy beer market. Its available only at Saltrams cellar door (or so it says) here in the Barossa. $18 a six pack. I will have to shoot across on the week-end to see what the fuss is all about. The article I read seemed to be one of those corperate wank articles
> 
> BYB




Pepperjack - Pure Neck Oil IMHO


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## sinkas (24/9/07)

Great beer, hope they contiue playing around with this genre of beers, well worth a sixpack.


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## roger mellie (27/9/07)

This has me thinking.

A friend of mine makes about 400L of wine per year - a mix of grapes but mostly Merlot and Shiraz.

Has anyone else tried incorporating Grape juice into Beer? Could get out of hand quite quickly - with all the fermantables available.

Would be interested in trying this next year - need to do some more research first.

Has anyone seen this in Perth - want to try it first.

RM

edit - for anyone who didnt see the article in the Age <snip>

That's right - a beer made from malted grain and grape juice. In this case, a generous amount of shiraz juice is added to the brewing kettle and while the resulting ale is fundamentally beer-like in character, the grape adds intriguing complexity.

When Saltram Wines' chief winemaker, Nigel Dolan, decided to make beer he approached Matilda Bay's head brewer, Brad Rogers, with a proposition (both work for the Foster's Group).

"I wondered if you could use grape juice to make beer and what it would add to the final character," Dolan says. When Rogers said it could be done, they made some test brews at the Matilda Bay Garage Brewery in South Dandenong.

The juice is a concentrated version of the same Barossa Valley grapes that went into 2006 Pepperjack Shiraz, with some 90 kilograms in a 2500-litre batch; about a third of the fermentable sugars that make Pepperjack Handcrafted Ale come from grape juice.

Apart from the shiraz, Dolan and Rogers selected grains including malted barley and malted wheat and hops that they felt would be complementary.

Czech saaz is used for a spicy bitterness and Amarillo provides tropical fruit notes, all of which balances the lively acidity and touch of tannin from the shiraz.

"The brewing process has parallels with winemaking," Dolan says. "In both you are converting natural, raw ingredients into fermented juices. Selecting different grains is like choosing different parcels of fruit for wine."

<snip>


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## THE DRUNK ARAB (28/9/07)

roger mellie said:


> This has me thinking.
> 
> A friend of mine makes about 400L of wine per year - a mix of grapes but mostly Merlot and Shiraz.
> 
> ...



I intend to brew this before the end of the year. I have 2 litres of muscat juice (thanks kirem :beerbang: ) and it will be going into this brew:

http://www.byo.com/recipe/1011.html

Going to be using the Schelde Ale yeast as that was what was recommended by Andy Tveekrem from Dogfish Head.

C&B
TDA

Edit:spelling


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## tangent (28/9/07)

I'm going to try a brew like the Feral Belgian style. Probably Shiraz or Durif.


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## Back Yard Brewer (1/10/07)

Well I finally got around to trying the Pepperjack Ale today. A very nicely balanced hop driven beer  

The only thing that stung was the bloody ridiculous price!! I was in a bit of a hurry, left my wallet at home and all I wanted was 1 bottle (355ml) to take away and try with a mate. So I scratched around for some loose change in my car and went into the cellar door and asked for 1 bottle. Well I almost told sales to go and get %#%#*d. 7 bloody dollars for a 355ml bottle. If anyone from Fosters who has any sought of influence, get your act together. The rep quite politely said it was better value at $18 a six pack. What urks me is JS is the same price a six pack and a single is around 3.50 - $4.00. 

Again a very nice beer but at a ridiculous cost :angry: I wonder what market they are aiming at!

BYB


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## Doc (2/10/07)

Willie Simpson has done a writeup on it in the Good Living section of the SMH today.
Sounds like a very interesting drop. Also sounds like they had to have a few stabs at getting it right 

Doc


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## deadly (2/10/07)

A bit thin for me, I had two and that was enough - SWMBO had one then moved to homebrew.
Vintage Cellars is selling it in WA


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## Back Yard Brewer (3/10/07)

deadly said:


> A bit thin for me, I had two and that was enough - SWMBO had one then moved to homebrew.
> Vintage Cellars is selling it in WA




Actually I will admit it is a bit short at the end, did not linger on. Still the initial tatse and the aroma of the hops is what I did like. What price is it in W.A


BYB


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## Jagungal (3/10/07)

I had one on the weekend at a restaurant, quite nice but a I did comment to the other people there that it was a bit thin for my liking. If I was making it I would throw in some kind of Belgian yeast to compliment the fruitiness of the wine.


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## deadly (3/10/07)

> Still the initial tatse and the aroma of the hops is what I did like. What price is it in W.A


Yep it does smell nice,it cost me $18 for six or it was $3.75 a stubbie.


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## bugwan (3/10/07)

Pepperjack is a great wine, so this one caught my eye in the bottle shop. It seems the thing to do - market your beer with a wino angle (Knappstein for instance).

I thought this beer was really enjoyable, good malt levels and well balanced hops. The wine flavour adds something different. I've made better myself, but that's homebrewing I guess


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## bconnery (2/11/07)

I had this one tonight. I found it very nice. The aroma didn't come through as strongly as the description would suggest but I enjoyed the flavour and didn't find it too thin. 
The colour was great and it had a kind of spicy subdued dark crystal aspect, I think, which I suppose some might hate but I thought worked well. 
A belgian yeast would have gone well with this beer as suggested earlier in the thread...


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## NRB (5/11/07)

Unfortunately it didn't do it for me. I love their wines but the beer didn't appeal to my tastes. Aroma was great, body was thin and lacked somewhat.


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## Jazzafish (11/11/07)

I had this before a wedding last night. It may have cost me $6 but it was better than paying $4.50 for a schooner of VB! The improvemnet was worth more than $1.50 in my opinion. I found the body to be something like a JS Amber Ale, which was what I was drinking before I sampled it. On a commercial scale the hopping was pretty generous with Amarillo and I think I got a bit of Nelson Sauvin in there too? The wine gave it a amber red colour and a interesting spicyness/slight acidity that complimented the hops.

I agree this is not a session beer but a step in the right direction for commercial brewing. We need more creativity from the big brewers!


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## Adamt (11/11/07)

Actually tried it for the first time last night.

Only wine I gleaned from it was from the colour, and about 5 minutes after I finished it I could had a red winey taste in my mouth. Other than that it was quite hoppy, typical American hops, and rather bland from the malt aspect. Could comfortably have a few of these and be happy.


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## fixa (11/11/07)

Had a bottle last night. Was not to my tastes, but the missus loved it. Too red wine - ish for mine. definetlt tasted like shiraz, got a hint of nelson sauvin too, though that could have been the red...


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## Murcluf (11/11/07)

Scored a six pack from the Saltram's Cellar Door Friday, haven't tried it yet waiting to have a Barbie and a few friends over before giving it a go. Anyway I got told that it is in limited supply (running out soon) and they are not making any more. They said they not looking forward dealing with disgruntled customers when it runs out, as it starting to get quite a following. I think the following is only for the novelity value thou.


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## mika (12/11/07)

How would you go about gettig hold of the grape juice ?


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## Jye (24/11/07)

Scored a bottle from Chad the other day and the first thing I thought like others was a belgian yeast would be great. Otherwise great colour and appearance, terrible head retention which is probably due to the thin body. From the colour I was expecting a caramel, malty beer but it is very dry and nearly astringent. On a plus the hops are american and stick out  but the aroma is very lacking.

Not quite a session beer for me due to the dry/astringent finish.


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## Chad (25/11/07)

I might as well add my review of this beer too. I've always been a big fan of their wine, and their Shiraz is the best you can get for under $30, so I was excited to give the beer a go.
The first thing you notice is the colour, which has a wonderful red hue to it. The hop aroma was very present without being overwhelming, same as the hop flavour. The only thing that I didn't like, that others have mentioned, was that it was a little thin. Maybe the 33% grape juice fermented out too much.

SWMBO loved it, and if she wasn't gluten intolerant, this would be her new staple beer.

Although being a little different, I can see this being more an introductory beer for the wino's, but I wonder how much of an influence the label would have on their decision.

I wonder how close you could get, if at all, by get mixing 1/3 Pepperjack Shiraz with a really good APA  .


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## devo (30/11/07)

My wife said she had one of these last night at a work function and commented that it had a great floral aroma but lacked body and was a tad thin for her liking.


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## homekegger1 (30/11/07)

Happy top say I have just finished one. It won't be the last. Wish I grabbed a six pack actually. Quite nice indeed. 

Sorry about the starter of the extra topic. I did a search and found nothing. Perhaps I missed it. Sorry again.

Cheers

HK


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## Weizguy (29/3/08)

Murcluf said:


> Scored a six pack from the Saltram's Cellar Door Friday, haven't tried it yet waiting to have a Barbie and a few friends over before giving it a go. Anyway I got told that it is in limited supply (running out soon) and they are not making any more. They said they not looking forward dealing with disgruntled customers when it runs out, as it starting to get quite a following. I think the following is only for the novelity value thou.


I'm already one of the disgruntled customers.

The price on these beers has been reduced to something like $3.60 each or about $15.99 per 6-pack. So, it's not the price that's upsetting me.
Is it the Use-By date perhaps, you ask? That's closer to the right answer. The bottle proclaims 2007 Vintage, with a date of 22/11/08 (which one is to assume is the use-by date). An APA which is over 6 months old? Is that a good thing? Maybe it's saved by filtration prior to bottling?

Yeah, the body is a bit thin, but the Amarillo aroma hops are there to pick up the slack. First sip, all I could taste was stale Yank hops. Yuck!
I thought that the right drinking order is to consume the ales after the lagers, so I side-by-side tasted 2 Kozel Czech Pilseners first (old-style bottle vs new-style bottle).

I left the Pepperjack out of the fridge for a little while before cracking the lid. I believe that was a mistake. Not the bit about removing from the fridge, just not cracking the lid. Maybe this beer has to breathe first, or the red wine component is nasty when served chilled? Either way, it tasted like the beer was old/stale/oxidised. Either way I could not drink any more.

I left it overnight, open on the table, in a glass actually. Even the fruit flies here don't like it, as there were no dead 'uns in the glass this morning. I attempted a sip (yeah I know that sounds disgusting, on many levels, but this 355ml beer cost more and gave less satisfaction than the 500 ml Czech Pils and I needed to gain my satisfaction from it). So, I tasted it again.

Warm, at about 16C (according to my MashMaster thermometer) the red wine has settled down, and this ale smells like a JS Golden, with all that late Amarillo. I get little to no red wine aroma, possibly overwhelmed by the hops. There is still a supporting effervescence, but not so fizzy now - not that this was a fizzy beer initially. The stale hop flavour/aroma is gone, and I get a dry, slightly tannic aftertaste from the red. Not unpleasant, though, but not a patch on my freshly brewed APA (on tap now!).

My overall opinion is changed now, from last night's shocker. I now believe that this beer needs to be served room-temperature warmish, and needs to breathe for a while before consumption. That may be due to the red wine component, or the high co-humulone hops flavour and aroma from the Amarillo. Either that, or it was DMS that I mistook for stale hop flavour.

2 and a half out of Five.  
Les


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## Muggus (29/3/08)

Les the Weizguy said:


> I'm already one of the disgruntled customers.
> 
> The price on these beers has been reduced to something like $3.60 each or about $15.99 per 6-pack. So, it's not the price that's upsetting me.
> Is it the Use-By date perhaps, you ask? That's closer to the right answer. The bottle proclaims 2007 Vintage, with a date of 22/11/08 (which one is to assume is the use-by date). An APA which is over 6 months old? Is that a good thing? Maybe it's saved by filtration prior to bottling?
> ...


Mmmm Kozel. Haven't had one of them in a while.

I also found Pepperjack got better as it warmed, which is probably little suprise. Seems to be the case with quite a few of these Aussie made APAs. Though some are pretty poor at any temperature.


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## Weizguy (29/3/08)

Muggus said:


> Mmmm Kozel. Haven't had one of them in a while.
> 
> I also found Pepperjack got better as it warmed, which is probably little suprise. Seems to be the case with quite a few of these Aussie made APAs. Though some are pretty poor at any temperature.


This may be off-topic, but Kozel is still great. Just don't grab any older bottles. They're great bottles, but the beer is better when fresher. You can still taste the hops, whereas the older ones have little hop flavour.


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## Muggus (29/3/08)

Les the Weizguy said:


> This may be off-topic, but Kozel is still great. Just don't grab any older bottles. They're great bottles, but the beer is better when fresher. You can still taste the hops, whereas the older ones have little hop flavour.


I've noticed that actually. The first time I bought it was just a single bottle and it was fantastic, best pils i'd ever tried. The next time I bought a whole case because they were trying to flog it at my local Dan Murphys. Didn't notice until I got home that it was almost out of date. Still wasn't bad drinking but wasn't nearly a flavourful.
On the plus side I scammed 20 solid 500ml bottles for my homebrew! :icon_cheers:


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## Steve (18/8/08)

I saw this Pepperjack the other day and by sheer surprise 'er in doors bought me a 6 pack of it last night from our IGA local shops. $21.99!!! Fark! She liked it - I didnt. Nice hops but very thin and and watery. This will not sell in our local IGA. I'm tempted to ask the owner why he got it in instead of something like LCPA or James Squire?
Cheers
Steve


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## Back Yard Brewer (18/8/08)

Steve said:


> I saw this Pepperjack the other day and by sheer surprise 'er in doors bought me a 6 pack of it last night from our IGA local shops. $21.99!!! Fark! She liked it - I didnt. Nice hops but very thin and and watery. This will not sell in our local IGA. I'm tempted to ask the owner why he got it in instead of something like LCPA or James Squire?
> Cheers
> Steve





The more I here about this or should I say Fosters, the more it makes sense why the great Saltrams Winemaker Nigel Dolan pulled the pin late last year.


BYB


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## .DJ. (19/8/08)

If anyone is interested, the Pepperjack is made from

pale malt
caramunich
wheat malt
flaked wheat
carared
melanoidin

Amarillo Hops

4 % Grape Juice....


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## therook (19/8/08)

Tried this for the first and last time last Friday, it's just not my my cuppa tea so to speak

Rook


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## kirem (19/8/08)

Back Yard Brewer said:


> The more I here about this or should I say Fosters, the more it makes sense why the great Saltrams Winemaker Nigel Dolan pulled the pin late last year.



and Brad has left the building as well......


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## trevc (19/8/08)

Tried a bottle once. I really hated the wine flavours. Grapes have no place in beer!

I was drinking a selection of nice Belgians at the time, so that definitely didn't help the Pepperjack along either.


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## MitchDudarko (19/8/08)

I have tried this, only for it's novelty factor. It turned out to be okay, but not something I could drink everyday. There was a definate peppercorn aftertaste, which took a little getting used to also.
Mitch


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## gilmoreous (19/8/08)

I am on the the James Squire mailing list and when I heard about this new release (in an email from them), I sent an email expressing my interest. That was at least a month ago and I have heard nothing since. Anyway I picked up a six pack from Dan Murhpy's last week. I can fully appreciate what a complex and wonderful beer that it is but like Mitch, it just isn't my thing. Maybe it needs to be consumed when slightly warmer that fridge temp.


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## trevc (19/8/08)

gilmoreous: Maybe you're thinking of the JS Pepperberry Winter Ale?


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## Muggus (19/8/08)

trevc said:


> Tried a bottle once. I really hated the wine flavours. Grapes have no place in beer!


...dunno about that... B)


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## Millet Man (4/3/09)

I've tried the beer before and it was ok, good beer but nothing too special.

Sipping (ok half a bottle) on some 2005 Pepperjack Shiraz tonight and it's one of the best reds I've had for quite a while - the other half of the bottle is looking nervous!

They should leave the grapes for the wine IMO, it's wasted in the beer.

Cheers, Andrew.


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## jayse (4/3/09)

Yeap the shiraz is pretty damn good while the beer is only quite good.


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## eamonnfoley (4/3/09)

got half a carton of this sitting here - got it as a gift in november! just cant get to like it


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## jbirbeck (4/5/09)

tried the beer on the weekend at Salters. Nice beer, although I got nothing like Amarillo out of it...twas very fuggly for me, more english than american (stale hops or poor brewing technique?). I got no wine out of it which to me means it was a waste going in there in the first place. 

lovely colour. easy to drink, and was probably the highlight of the day - although I only had one though and I'd only give it a 2.5 out of 5...restarurant service 0.5 out of five food quality/value 1out of 5 and wine a 1 as well. 

I'd say try one if you're interested because its nice enough but don't bother going into the restaurant or the cellar door to try the wine unless you want to pay for the Metala :icon_drool2: (AND you have to pay to taste this <_< -how come every other winery in the Barossa will give you a free taster of their premium stuff - have a look at torbrek...mmmm. Won't let me taste, I'm not going to buy.).


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## manticle (17/6/10)

Tried this tonight. I had no idea it actually contained grape juice and didn't pick it up.

Reminded me a little of mountain goat hightail (which I also have a bottle of waiting.

I enjoyed it and would try again.


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## Back Yard Brewer (17/6/10)

Rooting Kings said:


> tried the beer on the weekend at Salters. Nice beer, although I got nothing like Amarillo out of it...twas very fuggly for me, more english than american (stale hops or poor brewing technique?). I got no wine out of it which to me means it was a waste going in there in the first place.
> 
> lovely colour. easy to drink, and was probably the highlight of the day - although I only had one though and I'd only give it a 2.5 out of 5...restarurant service 0.5 out of five food quality/value 1out of 5 and wine a 1 as well.
> 
> I'd say try one if you're interested because its nice enough but don't bother going into the restaurant or the cellar door to try the wine unless you want to pay for the Metala :icon_drool2: (AND you have to pay to taste this <_< -how come every other winery in the Barossa will give you a free taster of their premium stuff - have a look at torbrek...mmmm. Won't let me taste, I'm not going to buy.).





I will agree I am quite over it, the beer that is. Now the wine is another story. Have not been to Saltrams Cellar door for a while now but it does not surprise me about having to pay to taste the premium gear. But a lot of places will give you the payment off the price of a bottle should you purchase. The last time I was at Torbreck they had a tasting fee (again, some time ago) but that by the sounds has changed?

BYB


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