Well,
Mell and I went down to 'sample' the wares.......I'd be interested
to see the brief that was handed over to the brewer for the selection
of beer styles considering it is in S/W Sydney.
The 2 beers on offer from the brewery are the Macarthur Wheat and
the Appin Ale.
The wheat is a Belgian wit beir, similar to Hoegardden(sp?) that you
can get at Dan Murphys for a comparison. It has a hazy apperance and
is tart, as you would expect with a wheat based beer. More to the
phenolic side rather than the citrus flavour and will be a great
thirst quencher come summer time.
The Appin Ale took a little time to come across what style it was
aiming for, considering our thoughts were fixed on the name 'Ale'. We
were expecting a coopers type or an American Pale ale. What Mell and
I settled on was ethier a Kolsch or German Altbeir(see cat. 6&7 on
http://www.bjcp.org/styles04/ ). We felt it was most like likely a
bit under carbonated. Very clear, almost polished appearance, with a
fluffy white, persistant head. Deep copper to amber in colour. Malty
on the nose to almost a honey-like aroma. Full malt flavour in the
mouth with little to no hop flavour but sufficient to balance the
malt and come thru in the bitterness and dryish finish. It will go
down well with the food on offer in the dining area.
It was a little up there in the costings as it was $5.40 a middie
and $6.80 a schooner. Maybe a little better priced if it were pints
and halves?? Then again, it is a Rydges hotel and not the club hotel.
The information from the bar staff was a little vague as we were
informed the brewer was from the '"Nine" islands brewery' and they
were brewing 'constantly' on site, yet not a single sign of anything
ever happening in there apart from the installation and also a
noticeable lack of support equipment for the brewery(mash paddle,
buckets, cleaning equip, etc).
Just my observations......
