Last years Vintage was worth the money IMO.
Cascade do make some nice beers occasionally. The stout isn't too bad and I have drunk the pale ale in copious quantities but that was before my palate matured.
Interestingly I emailed Cascade regarding a recipe for their Pale Ale and got the following response,
"Thank you for taking the time to contact us at Cascade.
Producing an exact copy of our Pale Ale using a homebrew kit is a tough ask.
Youd have to purchase pale malt (Gairdner variety) grown in Tasmania - yes it does make a difference. Crush the malt then mash, clarify and boil the liquid (for 90 minutes). Add hops (Pride of Ringwood) at the start of boil and 10 minutes from the end. Add adjuncts (liquid sugar - at 30% of total carbohydrates). Then cool the liquid (called wort) to 14 deg C and add the yeast (this last bit is a bit tricky because you cant purchase our yeast). When the fermentation starts keep the temperature at 14-16 degrees C for the duration of the fermentation; the fermentation will take at least 7 days. Cool the fermentation down to 4 degrees C thus allowing most of the yeast to settle in the bottom of the vessel. Transfer to sterile bottles and add a spoon of sugar for CO2 production.
I havent included volumes and weights because unless you have a large capacity and lots of spare cash and time it is beyond the means of most home brewers. Your best and easiest option is to purchase a can of Cascade Imperial Voyage - and dissolve the extract in hot water (>80 degrees C) and add the secret ingredient - plain white sugar, homebrew shop attendants would faint at this suggestion because it costs a fraction of what they would sell you. All the good stuff is already in the extract why bother changing a good product and spending more money?
Depending on Alcohol content add 1 kg for about 4.7% and 1.5 kg for a bit over 5% (Pale Ale). Thoroughly mix and make up to about 20L.
IMPORTANT: Do not add the yeast sachet to the vessel as it will slow down the fermentation. The better option is to collect about 50 -100 mL of the warm liquid into a clean/sterile container and cool it to room temperature, when cooled add the sachet of yeast, close the lid and shake well for a minute or so. Allow the container to sit at room temperature for 4 - 6 hours giving it a good shake every hour or so, please release any pressure build up during this time. At the end of the hydration period add the entire content to the fermentation vessel. After 7 - 8 days at 20 degrees C you should have a pretty decent drop of beer, allow the vessel to sit in a cool place for a further 2 days before transferring the beer to bottles.
It is very important to check the gravity of the beer before bottling otherwise bottles may explode - the final gravity should be below 1007.
Following these steps and using plain old white sugar should give you a pretty decent drop of beer closely resembling our Pale Ale.
Please contact us again should you have any further queries we can assist you with."
It gives you some idea of where they are at down there.
