# Rooftop Red Lager



## tangent (15/9/05)

i tried one last night
not that aromatic but malty and great colour
kinda wish it was an ale instead of a lager - quite liked it!

anyone else tried it?


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## NRB (15/9/05)

Yeah, I love the stuff.


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## tangent (15/9/05)

i keep trying to read your post NRB but your avatar keeps me mesmerised!


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## barfridge (15/9/05)

It's a top session beer. I'd prefer a bit more body, and more hops. But I guess I'm not the target audience.


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## Jazzafish (15/9/05)

I had it at the melbourne airport...

Not a bad drop, but it wasn't for me. Then again, I had been on the dogbolters all arvo, which is more of a brew for me.

However, the guy at my local HBS loves the stuff.


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## Snow (15/9/05)

I quite like it and bought a carton. It's not a bad example of a Vienna lager, and the malty aroma really shines at about 12C. For the price ($53 per carton) I thought it was a good buy. I even got 2 free Matilda Bay glasses with it!

- Snow


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## Aaron (15/9/05)

I guess it is good for what it is.

Not really my favourite. That said I had a few one afternoon at the pub.


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## Murray (15/9/05)

Would it be a fair assumption that the pub was serving it too cold?


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## Aaron (15/9/05)

Murray said:


> Would it be a fair assumption that the pub was serving it too cold?
> [post="77401"][/post]​



Don't they allways? I went to a Maltshovel night with Chuck Hahn there and the beer was still served too cold.


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## Kai (15/9/05)

I concur, it's served too cold. Warming it up really brings out the malt and balances it a bit more.


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## tangent (15/9/05)

Interesting...
I couldn't wait for mine to chill for long and poured it into a pint glass to get a decent sniff.
Glad I was impatient


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## Scotty (15/9/05)

After reading this post hour ago, I went and bought a six pack. Its great stuff, im up to my 2nd.

Scotty


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## Wortgames (10/11/05)

Well I know I'm slow but I had my first taste of Rooftop Red last night on draught (in fact we drank the hotel dry of it between two of us)
h34r: 

Faced with the choice of Crown, Cascade or Bees Nees (little more than a novelty beer IMO) I ordered one at the start of the evening, and got through a few pints of it before heading off for dinner.

What a thoroughly pleasant drop. As a fan of malty beers, I am often frustrated that finding a 'premium' beer usually means YET ANOTHER coarse and excessively-hopped pseudo-pilsner. I thought this was a well-balanced and satisfying beer with good body and flavour. I didn't seem to get any fruit flavours or the compounding sweetness that others have mentioned, and if the bar hadn't run out I would probably never have had dinner.

Hopefully they'll have a new keg by the time we get there tonight.

:beer:


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## wessmith (10/11/05)

Only tried the bottled version but have to say its way too sweet. According to the label they have used both melanoidin and carared malts. Well, carared has no place in a lager - should only be used in an ale. It is a very sweetish (and very red) crystal. Spoilt it for me but would like to try the draft. Probably not as filtered and the bittering might come through a bit more.

Wes


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## ausdb (10/11/05)

wessmith said:


> Only tried the bottled version but have to say its way too sweet. According to the label they have used both melanoidin and carared malts. Well, carared has no place in a lager - should only be used in an ale. It is a very sweetish (and very red) crystal. Spoilt it for me but would like to try the draft. Probably not as filtered and the bittering might come through a bit more.
> 
> Wes
> [post="89682"][/post]​



My question is how do they get a stated 60EBC from this beer using only carared and melanoidin?

http://www.matildabay.com.au/ourcraft/brew...es_rooftop.html

Going by weyermann's recommendations they say 20% max in batch for melanoidin and 25% for the carared. With the rest of the batch made up of some sort of pale malt promash gets about 28EBC for a 1.052 SG batch. Are they doing a mega caramelisation there or is someone telling porkys?


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## jayse (10/11/05)

60 ebc must be a typo, that beer is only around 30ebc at a rough estimate.



Jayse


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## wessmith (10/11/05)

Jayse, your quite right - no way 60 EBC - thats a dark porter! At the most 30 EBC.

Wes


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## ausdb (10/11/05)

wessmith said:


> Jayse, your quite right - no way 60 EBC - thats a dark porter! At the most 30 EBC.
> 
> Wes
> [post="89736"][/post]​



I actually emailed them questioning it and got a reply from Brad Rogers confirming it, so I don't know how they measure it!


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## Lebowski (11/11/05)

One of my favourite beers at the moment.


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## Wortgames (11/11/05)

OK, had a few more on draught last night, definitely not too sweet for my taste so maybe there is a difference between the bottle and keg versions.

I have no problem with the malt selection, I don't particularly demand authenticity from commercial beers (that's why I brew) and the way I figure it if this was an ale it may never have made it to the bar I was drinking in.

If a brew like this can be 'mainstream' enough to hold a tap in a hotel bar then that's a good thing as far as I'm concerned - I'll certainly choose it over a Coopers or any of the pilsner knock-offs.

:beer:


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## NRB (20/4/06)

I bought the Matilda Bay mixed 12 pack (Beez Neez, Bohemian Pilsner, Rooftop Red and Redback) a few days ago as it included a glass and was the same price as 2 six-packs. I have opened (amongst others :unsure: ) 2 Rooftop Reds and am so dissatisfied that I'm contemplating sending the brewery an e-mail. It's nothing like I remember it - it's now incredibly sweet, to the point of being cloying with a bitterness that's lacking in such a sweet beer. I'm no beer judge and have difficulty describing what I actually taste (that will change with formal training), but the balance is just not there.

I'm having difficulty actually drinking it; to me it tastes like it's underattenuated. I'm waiting for a sample to warm up so I can get a hydrometer (and refractometer for the hell of it) reading. 

My bet is that it's going to be an expected FG, but perhpas the recipe has now included too much of the sweet malts and less base/roast malts than in the past. Either that, or the beer was sent out of the brewery after too short a conditioning phase. It's not a butterscotch flavour, so I doubt it's diacetyl.

Has anyone else had a bottle of this recently and care to comment?


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## Josh (20/4/06)

I quite like this beer. I tried getting a shirt at the Glenmore but they told me they didn't have any for sale. Staff only. I tried emailing the brewery and was told they don't sell to the public........

....But because of the lateness of the reply, I got one. Looks great, I just need to lose a few kilos to fit into the XXL.


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## PostModern (20/4/06)

NRB, I think you may have been sold beer from an old batch. I tasted my first ever Rooftop about 2 weeks ago and it had a solid bitterness. Very nicely balanced I would say. I think it would have been well served by some ale yeast esters, but for a defined ale, I think it was fine. Anything but cloying.


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## major (21/4/06)

I went to a wedding recently where they served Redback and Rooftop Red all night. Much better than the normaly New or VB that would normally be served at these type of shindigs. 

I therefore proceeded to taste quite a few bottles to ensure batch to batch quality isn't an issue for the brewery  .

Mind you, the couple that were married aren't too strapped for cash either, so that might have been a factor.


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## pokolbinguy (12/4/08)

FNQ Bunyip said:


> Thanks Pok and Karl ,
> 
> Any saving is a good one and I'm more than happy with shopping in Oz when every possible .
> Will contact Karl, Monday ..
> ...



Bringing up an old thread but has anyone mate a clone of this beer? Tried the beer once and enjoyed it, thought it might be worth copying.

Cheers, Pok


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## rough60 (12/4/08)

Tried this for the first time the other day, pretty good and would also like a recipe on a clone.
I got it in a mixed case with bee knees, redback, and boh pils. Not a bad deal but would have been better if they have swapped one of the wheats for alpha pale ale.


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## pmolou (4/5/08)

rough60 said:


> Tried this for the first time the other day, pretty good and would also like a recipe on a clone.
> I got it in a mixed case with bee knees, redback, and boh pils. Not a bad deal but would have been better if they have swapped one of the wheats for alpha pale ale.



whered u get the mixed case wouldnt mind one


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## rough60 (4/5/08)

got it from bws at berowra (northern sydney)


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## Guest Lurker (4/5/08)

NRB said:


> Has anyone else had a bottle of this recently and care to comment?



Not recently, but that is exactly my experience from drinking on tap. Most of the time it is quite well balanced, and then every now and then a batch comes out that tastes of cloying crystal malt, tastes completely different, seems a very small change in attenuation or something makes quite a difference to the flavour.


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## NRB (20/5/08)

GL I've actually still got the remaining bottle in my fridge! I never opened it after my experience. Perhaps I should purchase another and taste them back-to-back...


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## balconybrewer (13/8/08)

so can any one help with an AG recipe???


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