Amazulu

I bought it for $39 a case not long before christmas so shop around. Tesco have it for GBP13.28 for 12, so AUD42 a case - no different to here.

ianhutch1

Try John Squires Sundown Lager, Golden Ale, Amber Ale or Porter all great brews in my opinion for about $50-55 a case and much better than most of the imported stuff (I cant stand the taste of European mainstream beers since starting to drink some of the Aussie "boutique" beers).

Little Creatures do White Rabbit which is decent as well but hard to get hold of in Bottle Shops.

Push the boat out and try some of the obscure beers you see in the bottle shop ive been highly impressed with most of the stuff coming out of some of the small breweries.

asprilla

real ale in Australia ? To be honest, I don't think that you have any options. If they do exist, they are likely to be very expensive options.

Best bet for you, would be to check the "international beers" section of the Dan Murphy's website.

In terms of Australian beers, I would suggest that the following 4 will give you a good intro to the type of brews on offer:

Cascade Premium
Brewed in Tasmania, apparently from the crystal clear spring water that they have down there. Quite a nice lager, with a decent bit of flavour.

VB
Australia's best selling beer. Also marketed as "the best cold beer". Whether or not it is the best cold beer is debatable. It is certainly the worst warm beer, on earth. If your image is important to you - don't drink VB. It certainly isn't fashionable and you will be labelled as a lower class citizen. Your drinking friends may shun you. If this worries you at all - stick to Corona.

Coopers Pale Ale
This one is a cloudy "ale", the sediment is not removed in the brewing process. I tend not to drink the last few gulps because of this. This beer is a bit like Perth - it's not for everyone.

Little Creatures - Bright ale
A nice example of a beer from a "boutique brewery". It has that slight essence of homebrew to it, but it is certainly a nice drink.

colonel

That Harviestoun ale looks like good stuff....lol

$39 for a case of Corona looks good...This is Mrs Colonel drink of choice !

asprilla

hmm, I'll be sampling that beer in the near future if I can get hold of it.

DeadVim

I have started firm friendships on the basis of recommending that, the others from the same brewery look good too.

We have a local brewery on the mountain, MT, and it's OK but vastly overpriced.

Hmmmm, back to the cask ...

Phlanger

[QUOTE] - stick to Corona.QUOTE]


...the bogan microphone.

asprilla

well, I can't find it on the Dan Murphy's site.... or on boozle. So it looks like I won't be trying that one for a while.

Another beer that, for some reason, I really want to try, is Tui East India Pale Ale. A neighbour of mine tells me that it is New Zealand's version of VB.

DeadVim

Only available on the mountain and down at The Bearded Dragon I think ... it's not worth hunting that hard for my money.

A Kiwi version of VB ... yeh, why, DO you want to try it?

killerhales

I'm employed in the brewing industry, so clearly biased, but on the other hand I know a few of the brewers and breweries on which I base my recommendations:

Us industry types hate the term "real ale". What's all the other stuff we brew: imaginary?! Please use the term "cask conditioned ale" in future. I thank you.

You like Corona, but then go on to talk about other "cooking lagers"! You know there's a reason they put a lime in the top?! Still, the customer is always right and there is no accounting for taste!

Now: you're in Perth and like ales, so Little Creatures Pale Ale and other flavoursome Little Creatures brews are a must.

Please don't fall for the "imported is best" propaganda. Beer is best when fresh. Locally brewed Stella, Becks and Heineken are better unless you prefer beer that has been heated in a shipping container and therefore tends to be stale. Heineken is my personal favourite (brewed in Sydney). Becks a close second.

VB is awful. Also has to come a long way to get to Perth. The other (big) local brewery is Swan. They make Tooheys Extra Dry so again fresh, and a great beer for the hot weather, also very good for price as only a bit more expensive than your "cooking lagers".

Finally: James Squire. The lovechild of possibly the most iconic microbrewer in Australia: Chuck Hahn. Still brewed in a lovely microbrewrey in Camperdown, Sydney. The IPA is great (although I wish they would tone down the bitterness a bit), and my favourite is Golden Ale, which is more like a British Summer Ale. Whilst on about Chuck, if you like hops then try Hahn Premium.

Finally, I agree that Murphy's is better than Guinness and you can get it in (most) Dan Murphy's.

Happy Drinking!!

asprilla

I disagree- it isn't awful at all. It isn't the finest beer on earth, and I won't pretend otherwise....but the sales volumes speak for themselves. It is certainly the beer that people love to hate.

Then you go on to say that Toohey's Extra Dry is a "great beer" ..hmm..... I think you need to get your eyes checked mate, and re-read the labels of the beers you are drinking. Because they can't be Tooheys Extra Dry.

Having said that - I agree with you on James Squire.... and Hahn Premium is also worth a go.

cheers !

asprilla

Just wanted to add another beer to this thread, not really as a recommendation though.

Bintang - Indonesia

I bought a carton of this for $45 the other night, thought I'd give it a go. Probably sells for $10 a carton in Indonesia.

Having just read the wikipedia entry, it seems that this is the best selling beer in Indonesia I may need to re-think my earlier comment "VB sales volumes speak for themselves". Here are my tasting notes:

bintang - This is a classic "holiday lager". Tastes similar to those bottles of French beer that can be purchased in cartons of 12 for GBP2 from Sainsbury's in the UK. Don't go out of your way to purchase this one. To be honest, I feel like the bottle shop pulled a fast one on me with Bintang.

asprilla

well, I'm not really sure to be honest. I think I just like the sound of the name.

Amazulu

Corona is a great hot weather/chilling in the pool beer - one of the best IMO. I wouldn't want to be drinking Guinness in 40c heat - but that's just me.

I like loads of different types of beer, depending on the situation. The types I cannot stomach and make me heave are British bitter-style beers. I can't think of a decent beer that comes out of the UK.

freebo

ACA (yes, I know) did a blind taste test and the beers which won were the no-name supermarket brews like "Sail and Anchor", which Aus breweries won't produce for fear of the competition for their own brands.

I haven't tried them myself mind!