Scribbly Gum Lager & Portamarillo

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mikem108

mikem108

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Had the Mad Brewers Scribbly Gum Lager on saturday night, very soft unfiltered lager with just a hint of smoke, beautiful white creamy head a joy to drink followed it up with the Epic/Dogfish Head Portamarillo which was really interesting, there were some vegetal notes from the fruit but it sat well with all the other flavours,interesting way to get smokiness into a beer, unusual and worth a try. From the website:

An Imperial sorta-porter fermented with Brazilian Rapadura sugar and a couple of really unique New Zealand ingredients.

We collaborated on this beer with our friend Luke of Epic Brewing in Auckland, NZ. To make the Portamarillo we first grilled tamarillos (sweet, fruity NZ tomatoes) over Pohutakawa wood at our pub then pureed and added them to the boil. Luke sourced this unique wood for us from his motherland - Pohutakawa has found an important place in New Zealand's culture, both of the European settlers and Maori - being venerated for spirituality, strength and beauty.

The wood and tamarillos do truly add a smoky, fruity, roasty beauty to this beer."
 
Sounds tasty to me, but then I've always liked the taste of tamarillos. Where did you get your hands on the Portamarillo? I was in Platinum not long ago and they only had Epics pale ale, Armageddon and Mayhem.
 
I Had the Mad Brewers Scribbly Gum Lager today i got it from tee tree gully hotel Adelaide $8 a long neck. I liked it. 6.5%abv.
 
Had the Scribbly Gum at Squires Bounty in Hobart on Friday. Very delicious, I got hints of bacon...
 
Scribbly_Gum_Ad_2.jpg

Info from email sent to me today.

Cheers WoolBrew :icon_cheers:
 
I liked the scribbly gum when I tasted it a week or two ago. Quite enjoyed the smokiness.

I've always considered a tamarillo closer to a passionfruit than a tomato though. Had a tree when I was in Newy - love the fruit, will have to keep a lookout for the beer!

cheers

Grant
 
Interested to hear more reviews/tastings of the scribbly gum lager as I am unable to try it myself.
Did the smokiness resemble anything like the native bush? I wonder if they used eucalyptus smoked chips?
 
beer007 said:
Interested to hear more reviews/tastings of the scribbly gum lager as I am unable to try it myself.
Did the smokiness resemble anything like the native bush? I wonder if they used eucalyptus smoked chips?
Click to expand...

IIRC they used scribbly gum honey, the smokiness is very similar to the smokiness you can detect in the honey, although a lot more pronounced probably due to the balancing sweetness of the honey being fermented.
 
Smokiness is slight, not pronounced. It seems to add an aromatic element to it, but not much flavour of smokiness. Works well when drunk from a glass, of course.

But as a "lager" it tasted like a typical home brewed pale ale of average quality. I expected "lager" to be crisp with the smokiness as an overlay (much like a peated whiskey), but instead it tasted like average home brew with a slight smoke smell.

I'd up the smoked malt myself and make a decision with the hops and what they are trying to do with the hop flavour. It was illdefined at best.

It had the makings of a good beer, but just a couple of execution issues let it down. Not worth $7 a bottle.

Goomba
 
pimpsqueak said:
Where did you get your hands on the Portamarillo? I was in Platinum not long ago and they only had Epics pale ale, Armageddon and Mayhem.
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I saw one at the Concord branch of Platinum a little while back.
 
Son and I enjoying more of this tonight! Bloody nice beer!

This will have to remain on their regular line up, if a beer can sell so well at $8.50 per 640ml here in Gympie then that's a fair measure of it's acceptance.

Screwy
 
I thought the scribby gum lager was bizarre and really not very nice. I thought it tasted and smelled somewhere between the way your clothes smell the morning after a night around a campfire, and bacon.

The bottle said something about capturing teh australian BBQ... the beer was like smoke and bacon. Bacon in beer? **** NO.
 
whitegoose said:
I thought the scribby gum lager was bizarre and really not very nice. I thought it tasted and smelled somewhere between the way your clothes smell the morning after a night around a campfire, and bacon.

The bottle said something about capturing teh australian BBQ... the beer was like smoke and bacon. Bacon in beer? **** NO.
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One day your palate will develop!

There's a world of beer out there!

Screwy
 
Missed the boat to Rottnest last march sent the missus & kids over had to go home drop the car off & come back by bike

I had a few hours to kill in Freo so what would you do
\
Thats right hit the pubs

The orient watching the Nott girls go by then finally finished off at the MONK

Had quite a few of there beers when I got a free sample of I forget but ti was a bacon beer

It was really well brewed bacon all the way through but must admit the sample was fantastic but that was enough not a quaffer thats for sure but I must say his kolsh w
as right up there

So I recon Screwy is right half a dozen eggs with a pint of bacon flavoured beer for breakfast hard core lol
 
The scribbly gum lager can be purchased over the bar at the AB hotel Glebe for a whoping $21.

crooks
 
ive still got a bottle of scribbly gum in the fridge i cant give away. probably end up drinking it on a night when im to fucked up to care about good beer.
 
As my first taste of a smoke beer, I was very impressed with Scribblygum. It tasted odd cold, it needed to warm up quite a bit closer to room temp than normal to get even a small grasp of the taste. Would easily get it again. My mates agreed so it looks like a smokebeer sesh is on the cards with a brew to follow.
 
Brend0 said:
The scribbly gum lager can be purchased over the bar at the AB hotel Glebe for a whooping $21.

crooks
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Don't waste your money, as you can get it at the Top Ryde Dan Murphy's for $7.50 a bottle. I was there on Sunday and they had about 12 or more bottles left.

Btw, I enjoy the beer but as has already been said you need to let it warm up a fair bit from fridge temperature to get the full flavour.

Cheers,

John
 

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