Crown Ambassador Reserve - $90 A Bottle

[Dicko ACT]

We've stayed true to the DNA of Crown but we've overlaid with the Galaxy hop and used some additional flavours for complexity as well as pushing up the alcohol (to 10 per cent) to a place where (the beer) will have keeping qualities.

Surely a Crown Lager with double the dextrose is worth at least $100!

http://www.news.com.au/business/breaking-n...r-1225898549045

 

[Muggus]

Surely a Crown Lager with double the dextrose is worth at least $100!

http://www.news.com.au/business/breaking-n...r-1225898549045

$90 a bottle seems overly excessive for pretty much any beer.

I snagged a bottle of the 2008 Ambassador for $36, which was still steep. Didn't turn out to be a bad beer by any measure, but it certainly wasn't mind blowing, and there are plenty of beers for a quarter of the price which are far better. Once was enough for me.

 

[beerbrewer76543]

Crown Lager + dex + galaxy hops = $90 per 750ml bottle... Tell him he's dreamin'!

Interesting note at the bottom of the article:

The domestic premium beer market continues to lag behind the imported one with a 6.2 per cent share of volume compared with 7 per cent according to news.com.au

If these interwebs are to be believed then Australian brewers should have a look at why their beers aren't as popular as imports. My guess is that people don't like drinking beer that tastes like ass... :icon_vomit:

 

[bum]

If these interwebs are to be believed the you need to look at those figures again. The number of imported "premium" beers vastly outnumber the locally produced examples and the difference in market share is a mere 0.8%. This means that any one Australian "premium" beer is vastly more popular than any import. My guess is that Australians do like drinking beer that tastes like ass.

Walking in to any bottle shop would tell you that though.

 

[joshuahardie]

I just can't believe what they are charging people.

I spilt a bottle of the 2008 with some mates when it was $60 a bottle, and I thought it was steep then
Then I got given a bottle of the 2009 vintage, and I thought that was a joke at $70 a bottle

But $90 a bottle is just pulling the piss. I hope they don't sell a single bottle of it, to teach them a lesson, that there is a difference between charging a premium price for a premium product, and just bending the public over the barrel to see how much they will pay.

 

[bconnery]

My wife grabbed me a bottle at under 40, of the 2009.
Following a comment from a guy I met within the company that produces it I am now watching their price on eBay. If they continue to sell at high prices I will definitely sell mine.
Worth a try for interest's sake at a cost of 40 but if I can make that much again profit then as far as I'm concerned I could buy a lot of better beer with the profit.

I've read reviews that suggest it's a lot better than just a souped up Crown but the market will dictate if I ever find out

 

[joshuahardie]

I can't comment on the 09 yet, but the 08 was a wonderful beer, something that I would buy a couple of times a year for 30 dollars or so as a special occasion. It is a shame that they are pricing it out of reach of most.

 

[joshuahardie]

Hmm,
Just checked ebay. people are asking over $200 a bottle for them.

Wonder if people are actually paying that.....

 

[dcx3]

Saw the same article online in "money" thought it was a bit of a joke im sure they will sell, bought by cashed up bogans who will no doubt stick them in the "Pool Room" thinking of a chance to show off and act classy in front of there mates. The most interesting info was that the Hahn Millenium beer was now fetching $1500 a bottle.My mate and i {being cahsed up bogans} bought a couple for the big night and drank them,thought they were OK but a few years later my local bottleo' still had them and couldnt get rid of them i was offered but passed LOL.Also passed on a carton of DUFF.
Surely a better buy would be the coopers vintage and a much more rewarding drink.
I would also love to see a breakdown in those stats on beer sales. I would like to know whether sporting sales are counted cos im pretty sure that the boxing day test alone would cover most import sales

 

[DU99]

for a bottle of beer..i would prefer to spend that on a good single malt whiskey..

 

[King Brown]

For that price it better be served in a dead squirrel

 

[Banshee]

It claims to be a lager.
Can anyone say if it is a lager or it is an an ale?
Is it all malt or does it have adjuncts added?

I haven't tried it and never will unless it is given to me.

I do like Schloss Samichlaus 14% at $10 a bottle. I'm sure it ain't as good as that.

 

[Weizguy]

I just can't believe what they are charging people.

I spilt a bottle of the 2008 with some mates when it was $60 a bottle, and I thought it was steep then
Then I got given a bottle of the 2009 vintage, and I thought that was a joke at $70 a bottle

But $90 a bottle is just pulling the piss. I hope they don't sell a single bottle of it, to teach them a lesson, that there is a difference between charging a premium price for a premium product, and just bending the public over the barrel to see how much they will pay.

I agree that cashed-up bogans (and there are more than one would ever hope to see) will pay for it.

They featured (i.e. advertised) it on TV the other morning, and stated that its price commences at $100 per bottle.

I didn't know that my Hahn Millenium (I have bottle of Millennium and one of Special Vintage 2000) is worth $1500 per unit. Any buyers out there? I think Tony has some as well.
How about an unopened case of Coopers Vintage batch 1?

Seriously, they're not for sale.

 

[pokolbinguy]

Interesting article from the SMH on tuesday

WILLIE SIMPSON

"Crown Loses Shine"

It pains me to write this but if I had ordered the bottle of Crown Ambassador 2010 sitting in front of me in a landmark Melbourne restaurant, I'd be sending it straight back.

As my host is the man responsible for it - the head brewer for Carlton & United Breweries, John Cozens - I let good manners prevail. Besides, we've just enjoyed a leisurely bottle of '09 Crown Ambassador over several courses of tasty tucker.

This brew has mellowed nicely during the past 12 months and developed some pleasant flavour nuances, particularly as it warms.

But the 2010 vintage - $90 in bottle shops - is something else, I'm afraid. The first whiff is rank and confronting, while a quick swallow confirms a certain unwanted presence. I wait for my host's reaction.

"It does have a hint of sulphur," Cozens says. "Which I think is due to this year's hops. It's a bit pongy at first but it does flash off quickly. It does have the potential to be a better beer in a year's time."

Beer tasting is highly subjective. Where Cozens detected a whiff of sulphur, I reckon it's chock-full of feral yeast flavours and the telltale presence of wet horse blanket. Brettanomyces, to be precise, a wild yeast character known as brett, favoured by Belgian lambic beer producers and some English farmhouse cider makers but feared by most winemakers and brewers.

How on earth did it find its way into this third vintage of Crown Ambassador?

Cozens puts the flavour variation down to the Galaxy hops and the different conditions they experienced while harvesting them at the Myrtleford hop garden in mid-March.

"Last year it was sunny, I was wearing a hat and there wasn't much water in the river," Cozens says.

"This year we picked in the rain, we got rather damp and the hops were noticeably greener and bigger."

While Crown Ambassador is bittered with regular Pride of Ringwood hops, the fresh, unkilned Galaxy hops are added later in the brewing process for flavour and aroma.

"I think we'll get more of a vintage variation this year," he says. "We used pretty much the same formula as last year but added a small amount of '09 Ambassador, which had been in French oak for 12 months."

The wood-aged beer accounted for about 7 per cent of the 2010 vintage, comprising some 7000 numbered long-neck bottles. The wood-aged portion was added to the current batch immediately before bottling.

Could it be that one of those wooden barrels, which previously held Penfolds white wine, was infected with brett, I ask? "We had them all thoroughly tested and they were fine," he says. "There may be a slight bottle-to-bottle variation."

Cozens wants Crown Ambassador to be taken seriously but my tasting of the 2010 vintage suggests it will have a lot of ground to make up on that score.

Crown Ambassador Reserve 2010, 750ml, $90.

Crown Ambassador 2009 (10.2 per cent)

Murky copper-amber. Aroma: toffee, faint spice and winey notes. Palate: sweetish toffee/caramel notes upfront; some ripe tropical fruit mid-palate; caramel-laden finish with hints of dried peaches and cream and some hot alcohol notes as the beer warms up. Overall: mellow in character with some appealing dried-fruit notes.

Crown Ambassador 2010 (10.2 per cent)

Hazy copper-amber. Aroma: twang of wet horse blanket mixed with strong barnyard characters. Palate: harsh horsey flavour notes give way to sweet caramel, ripe fruit and a substantial, resinous bitterness, with a jangling, unbalanced finish. Overall: keep your money in your pocket.

 

[Fents]

scott no mates was good but brett no mates sounds better! sounds like one for the lambic crew.

 

[manticle]

Interesting article from the SMH on tuesday

One of the best reviews I've ever read.

 

[maxmcbain]

I see the 2009 on Ebay for around $120 dollars and people are bidding on them so it could be away to make some cash if you could get your hands on some

 

[jakub76]

Could it be that one of those wooden barrels, which previously held Penfolds white wine, was infected with brett, I ask?

No more free crownies for Willie Simpson me thinks.

Can anyone else that's tasted this beer vouch for the supposed wild yeast infection? Surely a commercial brewer would notice if his entire batch got an unwanted brett infection. I call bullshit on Willie. I guess it could have been a single infected bottle but for most of us that article is as close as we're going to get to tasting that beer so he could have pretty much written anything. I'm sure he'd rather us spending our $90 on his 'Seven Sheds' beers.

 

[manticle]

It's a big call. I doubt he made it just so he could sell his own beer. Are they direct competitors?

He was also quite praiseworthy of the 09 vintage. I guess only a rich, experienced palate can tell us now.

 

[rossp]

Noticed at the MCG for the footy last week they were selling bottles of this in the "Percy Beames" bar inside the MCC Members. Not that I saw anybody drinking it, but it was on display.

Who the hell goes to the footy and downs a $100 beer? Sure, I can see some guys downing $100 of beer over a game... but not in one bottle.