Pepperjack Ale

[NRB]

Unfortunately it didn't do it for me. I love their wines but the beer didn't appeal to my tastes. Aroma was great, body was thin and lacked somewhat.

 

[Jazzafish]

I had this before a wedding last night. It may have cost me $6 but it was better than paying $4.50 for a schooner of VB! The improvemnet was worth more than $1.50 in my opinion. I found the body to be something like a JS Amber Ale, which was what I was drinking before I sampled it. On a commercial scale the hopping was pretty generous with Amarillo and I think I got a bit of Nelson Sauvin in there too? The wine gave it a amber red colour and a interesting spicyness/slight acidity that complimented the hops.

I agree this is not a session beer but a step in the right direction for commercial brewing. We need more creativity from the big brewers!

 

[Adamt]

Actually tried it for the first time last night.

Only wine I gleaned from it was from the colour, and about 5 minutes after I finished it I could had a red winey taste in my mouth. Other than that it was quite hoppy, typical American hops, and rather bland from the malt aspect. Could comfortably have a few of these and be happy.

 

[fixa]

Had a bottle last night. Was not to my tastes, but the missus loved it. Too red wine - ish for mine. definetlt tasted like shiraz, got a hint of nelson sauvin too, though that could have been the red...

 

[Murcluf]

Scored a six pack from the Saltram's Cellar Door Friday, haven't tried it yet waiting to have a Barbie and a few friends over before giving it a go. Anyway I got told that it is in limited supply (running out soon) and they are not making any more. They said they not looking forward dealing with disgruntled customers when it runs out, as it starting to get quite a following. I think the following is only for the novelity value thou.

 

[mika]

How would you go about gettig hold of the grape juice ?

 

[Jye]

Scored a bottle from Chad the other day and the first thing I thought like others was a belgian yeast would be great. Otherwise great colour and appearance, terrible head retention which is probably due to the thin body. From the colour I was expecting a caramel, malty beer but it is very dry and nearly astringent. On a plus the hops are american and stick out but the aroma is very lacking.

Not quite a session beer for me due to the dry/astringent finish.

 

[Chad]

I might as well add my review of this beer too. I've always been a big fan of their wine, and their Shiraz is the best you can get for under $30, so I was excited to give the beer a go.
The first thing you notice is the colour, which has a wonderful red hue to it. The hop aroma was very present without being overwhelming, same as the hop flavour. The only thing that I didn't like, that others have mentioned, was that it was a little thin. Maybe the 33% grape juice fermented out too much.

SWMBO loved it, and if she wasn't gluten intolerant, this would be her new staple beer.

Although being a little different, I can see this being more an introductory beer for the wino's, but I wonder how much of an influence the label would have on their decision.

I wonder how close you could get, if at all, by get mixing 1/3 Pepperjack Shiraz with a really good APA .

 

[devo]

My wife said she had one of these last night at a work function and commented that it had a great floral aroma but lacked body and was a tad thin for her liking.

 

[homekegger1]

Happy top say I have just finished one. It won't be the last. Wish I grabbed a six pack actually. Quite nice indeed.

Sorry about the starter of the extra topic. I did a search and found nothing. Perhaps I missed it. Sorry again.

Cheers

HK

 

[Weizguy]

Scored a six pack from the Saltram's Cellar Door Friday, haven't tried it yet waiting to have a Barbie and a few friends over before giving it a go. Anyway I got told that it is in limited supply (running out soon) and they are not making any more. They said they not looking forward dealing with disgruntled customers when it runs out, as it starting to get quite a following. I think the following is only for the novelity value thou.

I'm already one of the disgruntled customers.

The price on these beers has been reduced to something like $3.60 each or about $15.99 per 6-pack. So, it's not the price that's upsetting me.
Is it the Use-By date perhaps, you ask? That's closer to the right answer. The bottle proclaims 2007 Vintage, with a date of 22/11/08 (which one is to assume is the use-by date). An APA which is over 6 months old? Is that a good thing? Maybe it's saved by filtration prior to bottling?

Yeah, the body is a bit thin, but the Amarillo aroma hops are there to pick up the slack. First sip, all I could taste was stale Yank hops. Yuck!
I thought that the right drinking order is to consume the ales after the lagers, so I side-by-side tasted 2 Kozel Czech Pilseners first (old-style bottle vs new-style bottle).

I left the Pepperjack out of the fridge for a little while before cracking the lid. I believe that was a mistake. Not the bit about removing from the fridge, just not cracking the lid. Maybe this beer has to breathe first, or the red wine component is nasty when served chilled? Either way, it tasted like the beer was old/stale/oxidised. Either way I could not drink any more.

I left it overnight, open on the table, in a glass actually. Even the fruit flies here don't like it, as there were no dead 'uns in the glass this morning. I attempted a sip (yeah I know that sounds disgusting, on many levels, but this 355ml beer cost more and gave less satisfaction than the 500 ml Czech Pils and I needed to gain my satisfaction from it). So, I tasted it again.

Warm, at about 16C (according to my MashMaster thermometer) the red wine has settled down, and this ale smells like a JS Golden, with all that late Amarillo. I get little to no red wine aroma, possibly overwhelmed by the hops. There is still a supporting effervescence, but not so fizzy now - not that this was a fizzy beer initially. The stale hop flavour/aroma is gone, and I get a dry, slightly tannic aftertaste from the red. Not unpleasant, though, but not a patch on my freshly brewed APA (on tap now!).

My overall opinion is changed now, from last night's shocker. I now believe that this beer needs to be served room-temperature warmish, and needs to breathe for a while before consumption. That may be due to the red wine component, or the high co-humulone hops flavour and aroma from the Amarillo. Either that, or it was DMS that I mistook for stale hop flavour.

2 and a half out of Five.
Les

 

[Muggus]

I'm already one of the disgruntled customers.

The price on these beers has been reduced to something like $3.60 each or about $15.99 per 6-pack. So, it's not the price that's upsetting me.
Is it the Use-By date perhaps, you ask? That's closer to the right answer. The bottle proclaims 2007 Vintage, with a date of 22/11/08 (which one is to assume is the use-by date). An APA which is over 6 months old? Is that a good thing? Maybe it's saved by filtration prior to bottling?

Yeah, the body is a bit thin, but the Amarillo aroma hops are there to pick up the slack. First sip, all I could taste was stale Yank hops. Yuck!
I thought that the right drinking order is to consume the ales after the lagers, so I side-by-side tasted 2 Kozel Czech Pilseners first (old-style bottle vs new-style bottle).

I left the Pepperjack out of the fridge for a little while before cracking the lid. I believe that was a mistake. Not the bit about removing from the fridge, just not cracking the lid. Maybe this beer has to breathe first, or the red wine component is nasty when served chilled? Either way, it tasted like the beer was old/stale/oxidised. Either way I could not drink any more.

I left it overnight, open on the table, in a glass actually. Even the fruit flies here don't like it, as there were no dead 'uns in the glass this morning. I attempted a sip (yeah I know that sounds disgusting, on many levels, but this 355ml beer cost more and gave less satisfaction than the 500 ml Czech Pils and I needed to gain my satisfaction from it). So, I tasted it again.

Warm, at about 16C (according to my MashMaster thermometer) the red wine has settled down, and this ale smells like a JS Golden, with all that late Amarillo. I get little to no red wine aroma, possibly overwhelmed by the hops. There is still a supporting effervescence, but not so fizzy now - not that this was a fizzy beer initially. The stale hop flavour/aroma is gone, and I get a dry, slightly tannic aftertaste from the red. Not unpleasant, though, but not a patch on my freshly brewed APA (on tap now!).

My overall opinion is changed now, from last night's shocker. I now believe that this beer needs to be served room-temperature warmish, and needs to breathe for a while before consumption. That may be due to the red wine component, or the high co-humulone hops flavour and aroma from the Amarillo. Either that, or it was DMS that I mistook for stale hop flavour.

2 and a half out of Five.
Les

Mmmm Kozel. Haven't had one of them in a while.

I also found Pepperjack got better as it warmed, which is probably little suprise. Seems to be the case with quite a few of these Aussie made APAs. Though some are pretty poor at any temperature.

 

[Weizguy]

Mmmm Kozel. Haven't had one of them in a while.

I also found Pepperjack got better as it warmed, which is probably little suprise. Seems to be the case with quite a few of these Aussie made APAs. Though some are pretty poor at any temperature.

This may be off-topic, but Kozel is still great. Just don't grab any older bottles. They're great bottles, but the beer is better when fresher. You can still taste the hops, whereas the older ones have little hop flavour.

 

[Muggus]

This may be off-topic, but Kozel is still great. Just don't grab any older bottles. They're great bottles, but the beer is better when fresher. You can still taste the hops, whereas the older ones have little hop flavour.

I've noticed that actually. The first time I bought it was just a single bottle and it was fantastic, best pils i'd ever tried. The next time I bought a whole case because they were trying to flog it at my local Dan Murphys. Didn't notice until I got home that it was almost out of date. Still wasn't bad drinking but wasn't nearly a flavourful.
On the plus side I scammed 20 solid 500ml bottles for my homebrew! :icon_cheers:

 

[Steve]

I saw this Pepperjack the other day and by sheer surprise 'er in doors bought me a 6 pack of it last night from our IGA local shops. $21.99!!! Fark! She liked it - I didnt. Nice hops but very thin and and watery. This will not sell in our local IGA. I'm tempted to ask the owner why he got it in instead of something like LCPA or James Squire?
Cheers
Steve

 

[Back Yard Brewer]

I saw this Pepperjack the other day and by sheer surprise 'er in doors bought me a 6 pack of it last night from our IGA local shops. $21.99!!! Fark! She liked it - I didnt. Nice hops but very thin and and watery. This will not sell in our local IGA. I'm tempted to ask the owner why he got it in instead of something like LCPA or James Squire?
Cheers
Steve

The more I here about this or should I say Fosters, the more it makes sense why the great Saltrams Winemaker Nigel Dolan pulled the pin late last year.


BYB

 

[.DJ.]

If anyone is interested, the Pepperjack is made from

pale malt
caramunich
wheat malt
flaked wheat
carared
melanoidin

Amarillo Hops

4 % Grape Juice....

 

[therook]

Tried this for the first and last time last Friday, it's just not my my cuppa tea so to speak

Rook

 

[kirem]

The more I here about this or should I say Fosters, the more it makes sense why the great Saltrams Winemaker Nigel Dolan pulled the pin late last year.

and Brad has left the building as well......

 

[trevc]

Tried a bottle once. I really hated the wine flavours. Grapes have no place in beer!

I was drinking a selection of nice Belgians at the time, so that definitely didn't help the Pepperjack along either.