# Coopers Green. Really That Good?



## Brown_hound (11/12/11)

Armed with flamesuit, I dare to say...

I've truly been trying over the years to justify why CG is any good?!

Yes, yes, it's a matter of taste, blah, blah, blah.

I myself am a megaswill born, megaswill raised bloke.. Who through the enlightenment of sites such as this one have learned it's ALL CRAP.

Coopers Green, you'll all agree is the same shit with a slightly different aroma- albeit, with the yeast (delicious yeast) in the bottle...

Bottle fermentation or otherwise, I have to conclude that this was Coopers gimmick to lure people in and convince them their brew is "Different".


Please tell me I'm wrong, and explain what my uneducated palate is missing here!


Hound.


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## manticle (11/12/11)

Coopers green is not an amazing beer. What is is though is a well made, basic beer that refreshes in the same way megaswill does (hot climate, cold beer etc).

Most megaswill is lager fermented at warm temperatures and served cold so most can't tell/don't care.

Have a coopers at 7 degrees and have a VB at 7 degrees. That's the difference (and **** trying to swirl the yeast up - I think that's so ccopers can cover their arse that everyone gets cloudy, yeasty beer. Tastes much better when treated like bottle conditioned HB).

Their stout and sparkling are also good.

Other good thing about them is that they are independent and the only mainstream brewery whose flagship beers are ales. Something a bit different.


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## MHB (11/12/11)

Really a pretty fair question, fundamentally the beer you enjoy is the best beer for you and bugger any elses opinion of what you should brink.

We used to play a little game with Mega Swill (yes I am biased and love CPA); line up some glasses of a few of the available mainstream beers, making sure your/their favourite is included.
Have a taste of some Coopers; then try to pick the usual tipple from the pack.
It is really dam near imposable they are all so similar that most players dont do better than random.
At least the CPA has enough character to pick blindfolded.
MHB


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## Logman (11/12/11)

Agree 100% with manticle - my brother drinks it and we had a 6 pack last time I saw him - I wouldn't buy it but was stoked that was the beer he had, far better than the norm. Agree also that the Sparkling and Stout are nice drops. In Sydney about 20 years ago the other brother lived 200 metres from a pub that had Coopers Sparkling on tap in Surry Hills (was rare back then in Sydney), we used to get so blind off it - he is such a pussy on the piss and used to call it 'tripping beer'. :lol:


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## neonmeate (11/12/11)

it really is a crappy beer, the sparkling, is so much better. although that's crappy too. flimsy malt, yukky dirty POR aftertaste, shit head retention, and not enough bitterness. why do i drink it? every now and again you get a longneck of sparkling at a pub bottleo that nobody buys it from and it's been sitting there for a year getting nice and fruity and mellow. that only happens 2% of the time though. i drink coopers a) as a last resort at mainstream pubs and B) out of sentimental attachment i guess


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## Wolfy (11/12/11)

Brown_hound said:


> Please tell me I'm wrong, and explain what my uneducated palate is missing here!


You're not missing anything in regards to your palate and preferences.

Personally I enjoy it more than Mega Swill and it's usually available in most locations, when Micro Brewed beer is not, it's also Australian owned, which is another + in my books compared to the usual pub-beer-choices.


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## Nick JD (11/12/11)

I had 2 Corona stubbies a few hours ago. They were really quite good. 

Take it for what it is. Aussie megaswill is made the way it is to maximise profits - that's what you're tasting - profit maximisation. 

No late hops, lots of adjuncts, low FG, cheap hops, cheap malts ... just basically cheap shit. 

Coopers is just VB with a different yeast. Fosters with a nip of pear juice and yeast. 

Crap. But I like drinking it.

If it's brown and fizzy, I'll drink it.


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## chunckious (11/12/11)

Try it on tap and its a (slightly) different story.
Out of all my locals around me without have to travel, CPA is the only tap different from the usual.....it's a ******* godsend. Drinking it next to shite Aussie lagers and it has something going for it however minute that might be.

The Stout is magnificent.


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## MarkBastard (11/12/11)

I don't really like any of Coopers pale beers, however their mid to dark beers are pretty damn good. It's a shame they aren't available more places. I love when a pub is obviously carrying some kind of Coopers license and has more of their offerings available.

That said the Coopers Pale Ale (bottled) is better with food than other mega swill.

Out of a tap I find it pretty horrible, and I don't agree that it has the same thirst quenching as other swill. I would rather drink something like Super Dry at a BBQ in the hot sun than CPA. But then I'd rather drink a hell of a lot of other options before those too, including Coopers Extra Stout (yes even in the hot sun).


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## pk.sax (11/12/11)

From experience, CPA used to taste better down south. Take what you may from it, I liked the CPA more than the Sparkling. The sparkling always tasted a bit too alcoholy to me, and I quite enjoy IIPAs and belgians.

CPA and Goat hightail were beers of choice in uni, I still love the goat


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## sim (11/12/11)

yeah I kinda decided that i thought it was crap and so i havent had one lately, but...

i had it on tap in adelaide a year or two ago, and was really quite surprised how enjoyable it was. like a really smooth, fresh, crisp, toned-down english bitter, without the firm bitterness.

otherwise im not very happy with it, i just get a dull mucky gunk sorta impression. generally lean toward the sparkling if im going down that route.


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## pimpsqueak (11/12/11)

I was never really impressed with it until a few months back when I forgot I had half a tallie out and it warmed up to maybe 12deg before I remembered. That was a tasty glass of CPA.


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## DUANNE (11/12/11)

i always wonder why coopers gets such a big rap around here. to me it tastes like dirty dishwater.the only thing i can think of is because its brewed as an ale in smallish quantitys some poeple like to believe it is somehow crafty. if i had the choice between a carlton draft and a coopers ill pick the draft every time(and that is in no way a praising of draft). that being said the yeast can make an extremely nice tasting beer if it is treated right in a homebrew situation.


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## Lecterfan (11/12/11)

I like it. :icon_cheers:


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## J Grimmer (11/12/11)

I like the CPA, and most of the time it is my mega swill of choice, but i guess that is my palate, having said that i do like alot of mega swills, carlton draught and xxxx gold included, but then i do enjoy other more complex beers aswell. At the end of the day i guess i ddepends on the individuals palate.


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## Muscovy_333 (11/12/11)

Horses for courses I say! 

Imagine a world where everyone else was just as obsessed with malt and hops as us. 

It would make us so much less significant. We wouldnt be able to drop big beer making words like mash and sparge at BBQ's to impress strangers. 
We would be mere mortal again!

One mans trash is anothers treasure...!

I like CPA, but I dont have high expectations of megaswills...I just accept them for what they are, and try to make my own beers sooper dooper.


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## yum beer (11/12/11)

I too find CPA to be nothing really exceptional, though I do much prefer it poured quietly like a home brew, I find the yeast is bloody horrid,
but give me a sparkling ale and its gotta be full of yeasties....taste like nothing without it and still one of my favs.


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## hoppy2B (11/12/11)

:huh: Man I could go a CPA right now. I could go just about any mega swill as a matter of fact. I haven't had a beer in a couple of weeks. <_< 
I have 7 long necks of stout I bottled in August just sitting in my conditioning fridge. They just keep getting better so I'm trying to put them away for a year and see how they turn out. I might have one for Christmas as a treat.
Just waiting for the brew I have in the FV to finish so I can bottle. Come on hurry up.


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## black_labb (11/12/11)

I'll have a CPA or a toohies old if at a pub if there isn't much of a range (or if the range is VB, superdry, TED, Toohies new, cascade light, heineken, becks, stella ect)

I agree that it is a nice simple beer for australian conditions, but nothing special. I prefer my own beer but my beer is brewed for me. 

The yeast is a monster though. I just bottled a split batch from a terribly wrong brewday. Part of the issue was that I mashed at 73*. One half was diluted down to 1070 with boiling water in the cube, the other was left at 1077. The coopers yeast fermented the 1070 wort down to 1010,where the s-33 fermented the 1077 wort to 1022!!! A serious attenuation difference!!!


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## Doubleplugga (11/12/11)

If I am at a pub and its the only mega swill of choice then yeah, I will choose it over say a CUB owned beer. The only reason I have drunk it over the years is for the crown seal tallies!!! Its just not a favourite of mine and no matter how much water etc I drink on the same night all Coopers beer gives me a massive.... massive headache the next morning. I dont know what is is


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## Fish13 (12/12/11)

its much better then west end draught.......

My brother loves it but i will drink it in SOuth Oz as per above.

tooheys old is my megaswill of choice


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## bung89 (12/12/11)

I don't drink much of it these days because most pubs have at the very least either James squire or Matilda bay on tap and they do much better beers. but if there's no craft beer on tap coopers is my first choice. 
I prefer the sparkling but wouldn't go out of my way to find either.


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## mje1980 (12/12/11)

I used to really like it on tap. Then i had a few bad ones, and after that, the JS beers started becoming more popular and available. I think on tap, when its been handled properly, its bloody great, not as full on flavourful as some beers now, but a very nice session beer. 

Lets be honest, the lighter flavoured beers are harder to get right than full on flavoured beers. Much easier to whack a shitload of US hops in, than to make a simple grain bill session beer.


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## Muggus (12/12/11)

Interesting question actually...Poll!?  

Personally i'm a fan. Mainly as a homebrewer, because it is such a basic but typically "all Aussie" brew that is bottle conditioned with a unique yeast strain which contributes a fair bit of character to the beer...so really it's a pretty achievable by most homebrewers. 
I think what else helps is that it is a point of difference...all your mates are drinking pale fizzy stuff, you're drinking this cloudy thing...and it seems textually it's got an edge, bit of yeast creaminess and more prominant bitterness than most mainstream lagers.
The other thing, that a few have already mentioned, is that it IS palatable at standard "cask" temps of 10C+. Where an mainsteam lager goes to crap at anything higher than 4C! And I think having the beer at this temp helps apreciate the subtle fruity character you get from the yeast.

One more thing (yes i'm ranting now), live yeast in the bottle...not only can you culture it, but there's potential to put one of these beers down for a few years and see how it changes...an exciting prospect for all beer nerds...


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## going down a hill (12/12/11)

I've always prefered it over mega beers, I found it in my early 20's and stuck to it like a magnet for a good 10 years. Their dark and sparkling ales are still a go to at a bottle-o. 

Since getting into homebrew it does shit me when you see a bar tender rolling the beer without asking. I suppose I should ask not to seeing it is what they do with the beer.


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## yum beer (12/12/11)

going down a hill said:


> I've always prefered it over mega beers, I found it in my early 20's and stuck to it like a magnet for a good 10 years. Their dark and sparkling ales are still a go to at a bottle-o.
> 
> Since getting into homebrew it does shit me when you see a bar tender rolling the beer without asking. I suppose I should ask not to seeing it is what they do with the beer.



As I posted earlier I dont like yeast in my pale ale, got one at the club and the barmaid looked like she wanted to rip me a new one when I asked for one she had not upended.


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## Yob (12/12/11)

I used to drink CPA as religion for many years... then I started brewing and discovered hops... that was the end of that love affair :lol: 

its been a long time since my local served me a coopers..

if it aint got some nice ballence of hops going on they can feck off... I do have quite a collection of Coopers longies though  

That said it is still a good_* fallback *_beer.. a few weeks ago when I ran out of conditioned beer I cracked a stubbie of CPA (that had been in the cupboard for quite a while) and threw some hop pellets into it... er... I wont do that a second time :lol: 

Yob


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## super_simian (12/12/11)

If you like Carlton Draught (not *draft*!) over Coopers, check in the mirror - you may be missing a tongue! In case you don't get it, I'm all for CPA. With or without yeast, cold or cellar temp. Stubby or keg, it's all good and all better than megalager. Decent Aussie session beer, drinkable by most and loved by many. But then again, haters gonna hate...And there ain't no snobbery like beer nerd snobbery!


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## petesbrew (12/12/11)

I must say I prefer an old over a CPA.
Gotta try a few more of the CSA's... but I LOVE the Best Extra Stout.


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## stux (12/12/11)

CPA is my favourite fallback... and if its not available Carlton Draught

If there are some Squires brews on tap, I would probably have them in preference... sometimes.

CPA is sentimental to me... I proposed to SWMBO in Adelaide... and as you know, there is pretty much only one beer going round in Adelaide... its where I learnt to love CPA 

And drinking it reminds me of that time


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## super_simian (12/12/11)

Is Old available on tap elsewhere? I don't think I've seen it in Melbourne...


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## going down a hill (12/12/11)

super_simian said:


> Is Old available on tap elsewhere? I don't think I've seen it in Melbourne...


You can occasionally get it in a pub in Melbourne, rare though.


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## Fish13 (12/12/11)

yeap its mainly out of a bottle now a days but i got a pot in AUgusta pub 3 weeks ago. oh how mine was so much better


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## Xarb (14/12/11)

going down a hill said:


> Since getting into homebrew it does shit me when you see a bar tender rolling the beer without asking. I suppose I should ask not to seeing it is what they do with the beer.


Coopers actually tells the bars to roll the bottles around before serving. So if you don't want them to roll it around you definately have to ask before hand!


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## Dave70 (15/12/11)

To me, Coopers beer tastes like a bottle of fizzy yeast. 
For some, this may be part of the charm, but I hate yeasty tasting beers. Also it leaves me with a horrible hangover that seems disproportionate to the amount I've consumed.

Few others can touch their stout though.

I'd rather a schooner of new any day.


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## Renzo (15/12/11)

CPA is unique and is personally not my fav beer but can be ok sometimes. Gonna get slightly off topic here but what I don't get is that out of all the new breed of micro's distributing their beer around the country none of them has managed to put out a german style lager ( that I'm aware of) with that rich bready, doughy melanoiden taste you get when you drink any of the imported german lager style beers (e.g. Weihenstephan Bayerisches Original or even Heninger has it) . If the germans can do it on a macro scale and their beer is revered all around the world then why wouldn't someone locally give it a go? Tank time can't be an issue coz I can pump one out in 4 weeks using weyermann and s-189.


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## kieran (16/12/11)

Why do I only hear people from eastern states call it Coopers Green/Coopers Red?

Anyway I digress, it is the quintessential original Australian Pale Ale, if there ever was one. You could say that IPAs are traditionally more "Australian" because they were majority brewed here first.. however, a pale ale, with a well known Australian hop, bottle conditioned.

Its as ******* far from lagerboy megaswill as you'd ever get, while sort of being miniswill (i guess).

On a ball burning hot summers day, a coopers PA can be had cold and be a great thirst quencher. In winter it can be a few degrees warmer and taste more hoppy, and still be pretty good.

It isn't my favourite australian beer. I personally hold Brew Boys Ace of Spades as my #1a and Bridge Road Galaxy Single Hop IPA as my #1b commercial beer right now.. but as far as the big boy beers are concerned, Coopers Pale Ale kicks the arse off of most of them - and its likely the only Ale you'll see at a bar with an 'iffy' tap selection.


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## GalBrew (16/12/11)

It has its place, especially if it is CPA or VB on tap. That being said CSA is by far the better beer and the stout is an outstanding drop (especially for an Aussie stout). As for Old in NSW it's on tap nearly everywhere but hard to find on tap in Melbourne.


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## jphowman (17/12/11)

I was in the Qantas Lounge on the way back to WA a few months ago and had CPA at the bar. 
The bar wench didn't roll the glass, but upended it into a glass creating a big foamy head and the aroma was amazing. Pear and apple with some herby hops in the back ground. It was probably the freshest CPA I've ever had.
A few weeks later I had another one at the Kumerina roadhouse between Newman and Meeka. The transport had changed it into a hugely different beer. Very bland.


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## Deebo (18/12/11)

Is this the confess your megaswill drinking thread? I dont mind a cold wife basher after a long days work in the heat. 

I dont mind the coopers pale ale but I think the yeast can do something funny to my gut if I drink enough.


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## sama (19/12/11)

i like it...but i like it more when i make a similar version myself.With 3 kegs on tap, i find it nice when the others are filled with a brown and a APA or ESB


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## stux (20/12/11)

kieran said:


> Why do I only hear people from eastern states call it Coopers Green/Coopers Red?



I've always called it "Coopers Pale"

I guess, if I liked Coopers Red, then perhaps I would call it Coopers Green


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## jyo (20/12/11)

I call it green. A mate's old man refers to the Pale as "go" and the Sparkling as "stop".


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## Mr Flibbles (8/1/12)

Best Coopers beer is the stout, which is excruciatingly difficult to find on tap in the lager minefield that is Sydney's pubs. I bet it was even better before they reduced the abv down, less watery. And yes, any stout is drinkable and tasty even if its 40 degrees out.


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## Cooperspaleale (12/6/14)

ok ok..
I Think that your all playing the devils advocate for the sake of an argument. 
No Coopers pale ale will never be as good as a good homebrew.
But its the best commercial beer available.
- and anyone who would consider putting a vb to their lips really dosnt have enough of an informed opinion to make a comment regarding its quality.
and the hangover is mild compared to most.
so yes its really all that. show me a better alternative and i will commit to it.


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## Yob (12/6/14)

Hop hog.. 

Game over


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## mje1980 (12/6/14)

Rodenbach grand cru


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## mosto (12/6/14)

When I started brewing, I 'acquired' a taste for CPA whilst building my collection of longnecks. Now my tastes have evolved further I'm not as big of a fan. I still quite enjoy CSA though. I'm a massive fan of the yeast though and use it often, however, I don't think it suits dark beers, so I'm surprised by the wrap Coopers Stout gets as I think the yeast and the malt in it are a complete mismatch.


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## bigmacthepunker (12/6/14)

Coopers dark is good but doesn't come in 750ml


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## pedleyr (12/6/14)

This winter I've actually given up eating and have subsisted solely on Cooper's Stout.


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## rehabs_for_quitters (12/6/14)

mje1980 said:


> Rodenbach grand cru


I'll raise you a Cantillon


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## Ducatiboy stu (12/6/14)

Coopers green isnt the best.

This one is.


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## mje1980 (12/6/14)

rehabs_for_quitters said:


> I'll raise you a Cantillon


Mmmmm yum, why can't we have those type of beers as swill. I'd happily pack up the kit and become a drunk


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## Ducatiboy stu (12/6/14)

pedleyr said:


> This winter I've actually given up eating and have subsisted solely on Cooper's Stout.


You should try this


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## mckenry (12/6/14)

If driving I get a coopers mild. It has to be the best mid strength on the market. Better than LC Rogers in my book, which is great too.


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## jaypes (12/6/14)

Cooper's Celebration Ale is also a nice drop (especially out of the tap at Cooper's bar at Adelaide Airport)


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## Ducatiboy stu (12/6/14)

jaypes said:


> Cooper's Celebration Ale is also a nice drop (especially out of the tap at Cooper's bar at Adelaide Airport)


Thats on tap at my local. Bloody nice.

And the Mild is by far the best midstrength.


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## pedleyr (12/6/14)

Ducatiboy stu said:


> You should try this


If I see it I'll grab some to try. 

I've got 60 litres of stout fermenting at the moment though so that'll do me for a little bit, hoping to brew enough to keep my stout pipeline full for the rest of winter. Might brew more this weekend to be safe.


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## Ducatiboy stu (12/6/14)

Stout. The ultimate breakfast.


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## storeboughtcheeseburgers (13/6/14)

I am with the OP, but I had this one a while back and reckon it is way better than either Coopers green or Red.

Coopers green is seasonal for me.. in colder periods it seems nicer, but not a summer beer for me.

Megaswill is too bloody expensive IMHO - I'll drink an oetinger or lowenbrau or such as I cannot justify the price of the local swill.. and yes, I am aware that Lion Nathan imports a lot of the euro stuff.. anything that is direct import I am first sure to check the used by date, as often times it can be stale.


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## storeboughtcheeseburgers (13/6/14)

storeboughtcheeseburgers said:


> I am with the OP somewhat, but I had this one a while back and reckon it is way better than either Coopers green or Red and is overall a nice bloody beer
> 
> Coopers green is seasonal for me.. in colder periods it seems nicer, but not a summer beer for me.
> 
> Megaswill is too bloody expensive IMHO - I'll drink an oetinger or lowenbrau or such as I cannot justify the price of the local swill.. and yes, I am aware that Lion Nathan imports a lot of the euro stuff.. anything that is direct import I am first sure to check the used by date, as often times it can be stale.


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## sponge (13/6/14)

This thread surprisingly got resurrected yesterday.

By a member known as cooperspaleale.

With one post supporting CPA.

Which was made 15min after registering.




Well played Thomas...


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## CrookedFingers (13/6/14)

I know this beer is not enjoyed by everyone…but if I had to put up an alternative aussie beer that is readily available and is an alternative to CPA it would be Gage Roads Atomic Pale.
Cheap, tasty and a very sessionable beer IMHO.
It is my 'go to' beer when I cant decide on anything else.

CF


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