Bières sans frontières, Great British Beer Festival 2007. For more selections see previous post.
ABV: 5.8%
Origin: Regency Park, South Australia
Website: www.coopers.com.au
Coopers Sparkling Ale
The survival of the Coopers brewery with its unique style of Adelaide sparkling ale amidst a tide of amber nectar you wouldn’t give a XXXX for, as recently as 2007 fighting off a hostile bid from Australasian giant Lion Nathan, has been widely discussed and celebrated by beer writers. So I won’t go into detail here about the history of this extraordinary beer, originated in 1862 by a recently-emigrated Yorkshire couple.
Made with pale and crystal malts and pelleted Pride of Ringwood hops and dosed in the bottle with unfermented wort and sugar to reawaken the unique house yeast, it’s a rich golden beer designed to be served cloudy. A subtle sweetish aroma has a pineapple chunk note with spice and fresh baked biscuits, followed by a prickly sharpish but mild, fresh and fruity palate that has light hops and building honeyed tones. The long finish turns drier with rounded pepper, honey and juicy lemon fruit, and a late resiny leafy hop note. A refreshing quencher with plenty of subtle interest to linger over if you care.
More Bières sans frontières selections in the next post.
Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/coopers-sparkling-ale/1589/
Leave a Reply