Good PR from a big brewer

You may recall my disappointment over the recent dark beer tasting conducted by myself and devoted AussieBeerBlog follower Darren (lol).

The Crown Ambassador results were particularly disappointing, and considering its profile and value, I decided to take the issue up with Foster's Consumer Relations.

I initially penned an email enquiring as to why the beer appeared to me to be off.  The response was somewhat condescending, advising perhaps that I was not used to the style of the beer, and maybe giving it some more time to mature.

My reply to this was that, according to well-known beer writer Willie Simpson, the 3rd release of this strong lager has been contaminated by the Brettanomyces microflora. And for Willie it took some prodding to get the Foster's chief brewer to actually admit that, yes, due to the blending of different ages and the use of oak barrels, some bottles may have Brett characteristics.

Therefore, it was a bit disingenous to suggest to me that the style was intentional. Particularly as the styles that do incorporate Brett and other microflora are distinctly Belgian ales, not strong lagers.

So, I advised, I believe that the resulting beer was not what the brewer intended, contaminated, and not what was advertised.  At no stage did I advise that I have a blog, and may in fact know my Brett from my Butt.

But... it ended happily.  Dave from the consumer relations team agreed and will replace my bottle, albeit with a 2009 edition.

So, after a couple of exchanges with major brew companies, I'm pleased to announce a progress score:

Fosters 1
Lion Nathan 0

A disappointing dark beer tasting

Darren came over on Saturday, to escape the ravages of his wife's Nutrimetics party.

As he's died-in-the-wool dark beer lover, I decided the time was right to crack open a couple of exotic beers.

On the menu:

   Bridge Roads B2 Bomber
   Crown Ambassador Reserve Lager 2010
   Malt Shovel Ten20 Commemorative Ale

Firstly, the B2 Bomber, described as "Belgian Black IPA" was hot, astringent, and hard to drink. This flew in the face of its popularity on BeerAdvocate, so maybe we got a dud bottle. Tasted more like a harsher foreign export stout or porter. Darren pointed out that hops were not as evident as one would expect in an IPA.

Then came the Ambassador.  Holy moley..... it was infected.  The sweaty, funky, bandaid aromas of Brettanomyces, a wild yeast that is welcome in some European ales (Orval, for example, or lambics), but usually considered a brewing fault. A quick Google confirmed our position:  Willie Simpson had identified the fault in a tasting session and written it up in a Good Living review some months back.  Fosters conducted an analysis, and indeed, "brett" was detected, probably as a result of the oak maturation of one of the blended components.

I tried to convince myself that in the glass it was improving, and we (well, I) managed to slowly get through. Dennis dropped in and took a sniff and went straight for an Oettinger (by volume one-thirtysixth the price of the Ambassador).

Some relief in the last beer. The Ten20 has been in the cellar for nearly two years, and was in fairly good shape. Nice chestnut pour, nice caramel & fruity hop aromas, flavours of figs and molasses.... not bad at all, and the beer of the day.

Crown Ambassador Reserve 2010

The third release of this remarkable beer is underway.

Matt Kirkegaard has a good yarn about a recent tasting, involving some notable folk and a range of Riedel glasses.

http://www.brewsnews.com.au/2010/08/crown-ambassador-reserve/

I enjoyed his appreciation of a certain descriptive phrase.....  it may also be found here:

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/16023/44038/?ba=vancurly

The 1st release was $52.  The third release is $90.  I guess some of this can be attributed to the inclusion of some oak barrel-aged 2009.

But also, the last couple of years have seen a significant increase in the demand and supply of international super-premium beers: Nøgne Ø, Mikkeller, De Molen, Rogue XS to name a few.

It would appear Fosters are attempting to ride this wave. 

As with previous years, I expect the beer will appear at Dan Murphy's. I'm not sure how quickly the 2010 will move at this price point.