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Beer Styles Buy the case, print-off this page, and compare your notes with ours! Cooper's, Best Extra Stout (Australia) A top fermented beer, Coopers Stout is brewed with specially roasted black malt and Coopers yeast. It pours a pitch black colour with a thick tan head. It is not huegely aromatic at first, just slowly releasing a deep well of malty, chocolaty aromas, but still retaining some estery notes of bannana and clove. The palate is full, rich and voluminous, coating the tongue in a thick layer of chocolate and toasty flavours, with a tugging core of bitterness and a liquorice edge adding tension. Satisfyingly long, this is a terrific stout and along with the Pale and Sparkling Ales, a star of the Coopers line-up 6.3% ABV, 33cl. Cooper's, Sparkling Ale (Australia) This pours (with a little agitation of the sediment) in a cloud of darker, gold/bronze with quite a tight, just off-white head. The nose is lovely, with a little hint of cinammon, fine hops and fruity notes. On the palate it is medium-bodied and smooth, with a rich moussy attack, and subtly toasty character. It is a very classy beer, with a tight-grained, bitter hoppiness and a lovely focus of quite fruity, herbal flavours and that subtle toast held in check. Long and excellent. 5.8% ABV, 37.5cl. Tui, East India Pale Ale (New Zealand) Tui's East India Pale Ale comes in a stubby bottle and pours an amber colour with a fairly thin off-white head. It has a little malt on the nose, and a suggestion of red fruits (berries and plums), but all rather subdued. On the palate it becomes quite creamy and mouth-filling, with an initial edge of sweetness. That sweet quality persists, though some fruity notes and a touch of raisiny character comes through. Malt is moderate, and hops are too, in a beer that is very pleasant to sip and would make a decent session drink. 4.0% ABV, 33cl. Maisel, Maisel's Weiss (Germany) (RP) A classic German wheat beer from Bayreuth. It is a hazy pale brown in colour and contains natural yeast sediment. It has a superb aroma of spices � coriander to the fore � and ripe bananas. Banana builds in the mouth, balanced by spices and ripe malt. The finish is long and complex: yeasty, spicy, fruity and wonderfully refreshing. A memorable beer. 5.7% ABV, 50cl. Weltenburger, Asam Bock (Germany) Weltenburger's Asam Bock is a doppelbock-style very dark beer, that is also strong at 6.9% ABV. It pours a really deep, rich, mahogany colour, with a huge, creamy cream-coloured head. The nose is deliciously inviting, with chocolate and coffee, deeply roasted cracked wheat notes and an impression of opulent, fruit-cake depth. On the palate this is thick and creamily textured, with a real sweetness to it. There are mouth-filling flavours and textures here, not just sweetness, but toffee and toasted bread, plummy fruit and a certain marmalade tang. The malty weight and breadth pillows beneath the whole picture here and yet, this beer retains plenty of freshness, with a bite of bitter hops coming though along with some tart acidity, to leap in and rescue the finish from becoming too sticky and sweet. A terrific beer. 6.9% ABV, 50cl. Cervecer�a Mexicana, Potro (Mexico) Firstly a word about the packaging of this Mexican beer, which comes in one of the most striking bottles in the beer universe. That sets the beer up for a fall surely, you might think, but no, Potro is a stout-like beer (officially described as a Porter by brewer Cerveceria Mexicana) that has plenty to commend it. The colour is a dark, burnt toffee, with a very thin tan-coloured head. The nose is surprisingly crisp, and although there is plenty of roasted, cracked wheat and toast there is also something cherryish and bright, with a herbal and fruity character. On the palate there is a clove-like, slightly medicinal note, and plenty more of those roasted grain flavours, but this beer is only medium- to full-bodied, and the crisp, refreshing red berry fruitiness comes through on the finish to leave it dry and appetisingly moreish. Don't come here looking for a big, sumptuous, velvety beer, but in its fairly unique style it is very successful. 4.7% ABV, 50cl. Duyck, Jenlain Ambrée (France) This biere de garde is brewed with three different Alsace hops, and richly toasted French malts to give it a warm ruby/tobacco colour with a moderate off white head. On the nose it is all fudge, chocolate and richly toasted aromas with some sweet stewed fruit notes. On the palate this is full and creamy textured, with a rush of sweetness, and a thick, malty pillow beneath. It is pretty well balanced, and although I'd have prefered a little more crispness and bite in the finish, it is a fine, sumptuous, strong, dark beer. 7.5% ABV, 33cl. Boag's, Premium (Australia) This Tasmanian lager is aromatic, with hoppy and lightly malted notes, and a creaminess on the nose. That impression really follows through on the palate, which is quite thick-textured and very rich, with a rolling, milky quality, and only very gentle effervescence. Its flavours are clean and dry, with a nice bite on the finish, but this is a very gentle and grown-up style of beer that I really enjoyed. 5.0% ABV, 37.5cl. Alhambra, Mezquita (Spain) Mezquita is a different sort of animal. Mezquita is not Mosquito, but �Mosque�, signifying this beer is Alhambra�s homage to the temples of the city of Cordoba, made in the style of an Abbey beer. It has a striking ruby-red colour and a high-rise, persistent white head just tinged with pink. There are cherry and floral notes on the nose, with a hint of old roses and fine, malty notes beneath. On the palate There�s a mocha-coffee richness, and plenty of sweetening, Belgian Trappist-style notes, with a great thrust of grapefruit pith acidity adding balance. This is a big mouthful of beer, with its 7.2% alcohol making its presence felt in a long, grippy finish. 7.2% ABV, 33cl. Caulier, Bon Secours Framboise (Belgium) Not a typical sweet and light fruit beer, but a heady 7% ABV brew on a base of brown ale. It pours a hazy dark tan colour with a creamy, persistent off-white head. On the nose there's a big hit of rasberry jam and confectionery, with some sweet malt and a sharp, wheaty clove and spice note. On the palate this is really quite dry and lemony, with much more of a tangy, citrussy character and only a lingering suggestion of the raspberry fruit. Long and spicy, this is certainly unusual, but is a good beer. 7.0% ABV, 33cl. Asahi, Black (Japan) This bottom-fermented 'black lager' is brewed in Osaka Japan, from three roasted malts and imported into the UK for sale in Wagamama and other bars and restaurants. It has a very dark ruby/chocolate colour, and a pillowing cappuccino-coloured head. The nose has bittersweet aromas of espresso, burnt toast, nuts and plummy fruit. On the palate it is quite smooth and full, with a fine balance between a malty, biscuity flavour, much darker chocolate and charcoal notes, and freshening hoppy acidity. With good length, this clean and crisp dark beer is most enjoyable. 5.0% ABV, 33.4cl. Fischer, Desperados Tequila Beer (France) Forget Tiujana, this Tequila-flavoured beer is brewed in Alsace, France. It pours a pale gold colour, and the fluffy white head dissipates fairly rapidly. On the nose it is intensely aromatic, with a massive hit of lime (which is another flavourant) and some exotic, perfumed notes. On the palate it is basically like a lime shandy (only far more potent), with the bite of the Tequila quite obvious, and the lime flavour overpowering any hop or malt character. It is undoubtedly refreshing, but more alcho-pop than beer. God at what it does, and proving very popular in bars. 5.9% ABV, 33cl.  24 bottle @ £45.00, including delivery Price includes delivery to UK mainland postcodes

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