Brewery Tour Of The Margaret River Region

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beerbrewer76543

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I spent the weekend touring the Margaret River region in the South West of WA and thought I'd share my lovely experience with you all.

First up heres some piccies: Link to Photos

I visited the 4 breweries in the region (that I knew of at least): Colonial, Cowaramup, Bootleg and the Duckstein

Here's some of my sampling notes and ratings (note technical terms like "yum"):

Bootleg Brewery:
#1 Raging Bull - 7.1%, strong flavour, malty, coffee, delicious
#2 Sou'west Wheat - 4.7%, soft / delicate, low IBU's, not very wheaty, good summer session beer I'd say
#3 Wils Pils - 4.9%, Grassy, lingering bitterness, yum
#4 Settlers Pale Ale - 4.8%, very resiny, grapefruit aroma, bitter
#5 Tom's Amber Ale - 4.0%, malty, deep colour
#6 Hefe - 4.7%, Distinct yeast character, sour apples / cider taste

Colonial Brewery:
(forgot to take notes but I know they had a seasonal Porter that had run out and I couldn't sample :( ]

Cowaramup Brewery:
#1 Special Pale Ale - Nummy num nums, rockmelon(?)
#2 Pilsener - not resiny, fruity'ish, lingering bitterness, yummy
#3 Stout - jelly bean(?), roast, coffee, golden syrup
#4 Feral Cow - smoke'ish, yeast character(?)
#5 Hefe - wheat, banana, not as yeasty as Bootleg

Duckstein Brewery:
#1 Altbier - bitter finish, smooth, ESB'ish, very nice
#2 Dunkel - light malt finish, not very hoppy, quite nice
#3 Doppelbock - strong, malt driven, coffee'ish, yeast character(?)
#4 Pilsner - Very resiny, sweetish
#5 Hefeweiss - Quite wheaty, fair bit of banana

I also bought way too much cheese and stuffed my face with way too much rich food... Needless to say I'm eating salad for lunch for a week...

How did everyone else find these breweries?
 
I spent the weekend touring the Margaret River region in the South West of WA and thought I'd share my lovely experience with you all.

First up heres some piccies: Link to Photos

I visited the 4 breweries in the region (that I knew of at least): Colonial, Cowaramup, Bootleg and the Duckstein

Here's some of my sampling notes and ratings (note technical terms like "yum"):

Bootleg Brewery:
#1 Raging Bull - 7.1%, strong flavour, malty, coffee, delicious
#2 Sou'west Wheat - 4.7%, soft / delicate, low IBU's, not very wheaty, good summer session beer I'd say
#3 Wils Pils - 4.9%, Grassy, lingering bitterness, yum
#4 Settlers Pale Ale - 4.8%, very resiny, grapefruit aroma, bitter
#5 Tom's Amber Ale - 4.0%, malty, deep colour
#6 Hefe - 4.7%, Distinct yeast character, sour apples / cider taste

Colonial Brewery:
(forgot to take notes but I know they had a seasonal Porter that had run out and I couldn't sample :( ]

Cowaramup Brewery:
#1 Special Pale Ale - Nummy num nums, rockmelon(?)
#2 Pilsener - not resiny, fruity'ish, lingering bitterness, yummy
#3 Stout - jelly bean(?), roast, coffee, golden syrup
#4 Feral Cow - smoke'ish, yeast character(?)
#5 Hefe - wheat, banana, not as yeasty as Bootleg

Duckstein Brewery:
#1 Altbier - bitter finish, smooth, ESB'ish, very nice
#2 Dunkel - light malt finish, not very hoppy, quite nice
#3 Doppelbock - strong, malt driven, coffee'ish, yeast character(?)
#4 Pilsner - Very resiny, sweetish
#5 Hefeweiss - Quite wheaty, fair bit of banana

I also bought way too much cheese and stuffed my face with way too much rich food... Needless to say I'm eating salad for lunch for a week...

How did everyone else find these breweries?


great area of Australia for those fortunate to live there! :icon_cheers:
 
I went down there a few months ago.

Bought a few "take aways" from Bushshack. Got their Lavendar ale which pretty much tasted something mum would give us for a cold, although it was interesting, twisted lemon lager which I could easily drink all day and the Chefs "Wicked" Chocolate Beer, which was most delicious. They told me they were still bottle fermenting when I bought it, so I left one out of the fridge for a couple of weeks, and refridgerated one straight away. Seems the longer you leave it, the more the chocolate flavour gets eaten up. I love Bushshack because they seem to experiment a lot.

I was absolutely in love with Colonial. I'd love to buy somewhere like that! The atmosphere was just awesome. I can't remember the beers specifically, but I loved both their wheat and their pale ales :)

Only managed to stop at Bootleg for quick lunch, but tried Toms Pale which was really good too.

I made the mistake of going on a long weekend, so everywhere was pretty busy :p Next time, I'll take notes about the beers too, but I'm probably still a bit far from "connoisseur " :p
 
Dude, the bush shack beers are awful, and I fail to see how making alcohlic soft drink constitutes "experimentation".

The place shoud be blown up.
 
I spent the weekend touring the Margaret River region in the South West of WA and thought I'd share my lovely experience with you all.

First up heres some piccies: Link to Photos

I visited the 4 breweries in the region (that I knew of at least): Colonial, Cowaramup, Bootleg and the Duckstein

Here's some of my sampling notes and ratings (note technical terms like "yum"):

Bootleg Brewery:
#1 Raging Bull - 7.1%, strong flavour, malty, coffee, delicious
#2 Sou'west Wheat - 4.7%, soft / delicate, low IBU's, not very wheaty, good summer session beer I'd say
#3 Wils Pils - 4.9%, Grassy, lingering bitterness, yum
#4 Settlers Pale Ale - 4.8%, very resiny, grapefruit aroma, bitter
#5 Tom's Amber Ale - 4.0%, malty, deep colour
#6 Hefe - 4.7%, Distinct yeast character, sour apples / cider taste

Colonial Brewery:
(forgot to take notes but I know they had a seasonal Porter that had run out and I couldn't sample :( ]

Cowaramup Brewery:
#1 Special Pale Ale - Nummy num nums, rockmelon(?)
#2 Pilsener - not resiny, fruity'ish, lingering bitterness, yummy
#3 Stout - jelly bean(?), roast, coffee, golden syrup
#4 Feral Cow - smoke'ish, yeast character(?)
#5 Hefe - wheat, banana, not as yeasty as Bootleg

Duckstein Brewery:
#1 Altbier - bitter finish, smooth, ESB'ish, very nice
#2 Dunkel - light malt finish, not very hoppy, quite nice
#3 Doppelbock - strong, malt driven, coffee'ish, yeast character(?)
#4 Pilsner - Very resiny, sweetish
#5 Hefeweiss - Quite wheaty, fair bit of banana

I also bought way too much cheese and stuffed my face with way too much rich food... Needless to say I'm eating salad for lunch for a week...

How did everyone else find these breweries?

preferred Colonial last year while spending a week in the region. Particularly their option of purchasing a growler for take-aways. ;-)
 
I think I must be the only person to be disappointed by Colonial. It has a great reputation and the Kolsch took out recent awards, but none of their beers do anything for me.
 
Bootleg's Raging Bull is a fave of mine and the Grandfather MkII Barleywine (Seasonal) was absolutely stunning.

Colonial's IPA is another standout for me. The growler is an awesome concept :icon_drunk: .

Sinkas (ever the man of understatement :p ) reflects my sentiments of the Bush Shack.

Looking forward to the Cowaramup Brewery experience :)
 
Colonials IPA I liked also....

Ive never being to the bush shack so cant comment. Blowing the place up is a little harsh! Try drinking there beer through a straw though get drunk way quicker. :icon_cheers:
 
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