Bastard Children of the British Empire

[Jaffa]

About a week ago I read about the special 6 pack 4 Pines Brewery released which it has called the Bastard Children of the British Empire, or 4 Pine's version of the history of pale ales.

After a fair bit of hunting around I finally found some at Warners at the Bay, which seemed to have plenty in stock (well...the Thursday before Easter when I visited they did anyway). It's a 500ml 6 pack that comes in an attractive box.

There are 5 'bastards'- an English and American IPA, and a New Zealand, Australian and Belgian pale ale, plus 4 Pines 'standard' pale ale (the 'Bastard No More'.)

Was most curious about the Belgian pale ale, so cracked this one first. Found it spicy and fruity on the palate and overall quite a nice drop.

I will post again when I have tried the others, but in the meantime would be interested to hear what others think.

Cheers.

 

[razz]

I've enjoyed the Aussie pale, Belgian and English IPA. Lovely toffee flavour in the English IPA. NZ was really thin on mouth feel and didn't have the nice foamy head of the others. I'll have to wait until tomorrow night to try the last two, looking forward to the American IPA the most.

 

[Kodos]

American IPA was excellent, I thought the English IPA was far too over carbonated, and while the flavour/aroma was pleasant initially, I found the bitterness a bit much by the end of the pint.

The IBUs were reportedly lower than the American IPA, so I'm guessing it's a bitterness from a fairly assertive use of Burtonising salts?

 

[siege]

Website says the Australian and NZ one are bottle conditioned, and I'd expect the Belgian one is too...
I can probably write this purchase off as "yeast farming/research"

 

[bconnery]

I didn't rate the NZ one too much, which was surprising as I love NZ hops.
The American was good but I wouldn't rave about it, ditto the Belgian.
I enjoyed the English and it had been a while since I'd tasted their standard pale and found it to be quite enjoyable, better than I remembered...
I really enjoyed the Australian however, both on tap and in the bottle.
I found it to be a great balance of light malt and fresh hop flavour. Lots of flavour but one of those beers I could just drink all night.

 

[stm]

Isn't it something like $40 for the six pack (500 ml admittedly but that still makes it $120 for a case-equivalent)?