It lost its title of ‘Best Australian Lager’ in somewhat controversial circumstances in this year’s Local Taphouse Hottest 100, but Knappstein Reserve Lager has reclaimed the top lager spot – and the title of Australia’s 5th best beer – in the Critics’ Choice list. I’m not sure whether it’s that lagers just don’t get much… Read more →
lists
Revealing the Critics’ Choice: #6
Beer styles are a funny thing. We need style definitions so that we can describe a beer and categorise it, and even to have beer competitions, but slavish adherence to style just stifles innovation and fossilises beer. So it is great to see that a beer that confounds style descriptions can still be critically acclaimed…. Read more →
Revealing the Critics’ Choice: #7
Little World Beverages has established itself as a big player in the Australian beer world as the owner of Fremantle’s Little Creatures Brewery and more recently in Healesville, Victoria, with the White Rabbit Brewery. Building the business on high quality and flavoursome, but marketable, beers is proving a winner and has seen the first beer… Read more →
Revealing the Critics’ Choice: #8
When I feature beers at beer appreciation classes and describe them as having flavours of chocolate, coffee and mocha and suggest pairing them with chocolate cake and ice-cream, I am usually met with blank looks at best, or sheer scepticism at worst. So a beer that is made with Dutch cocoa and whole vanilla beans… Read more →
How the critics chose
Creating a favourite beer list is an incredibly difficult thing. Is Australia’s ‘best’ beer an esoteric beer that only five true beer aficionados really appreciate, or some hop monster that is more in the way of trial by ordeal to test the drinker’s beer cojones. Or is the best beer the one that you choose… Read more →
Revealing the Critics’ Choice: #11
Beer number 11 in the Critics’ Choice has been announced, and it is Mountain Goat Hightail Ale. Critics’ Choice Editor-at-large and Australian Brews News contributor, Peter Mitcham, said it’s the beer’s “rich amber, generous hop character and refreshing drinkability that make it an easy inclusion in anybody’s ‘Top List’. Unlike yesterday’s Coopers Best Extra Stout,… Read more →
Revealing the Critics’ Choice: #12
The countdown has started towards the release of the new book, The Critics’ Choice: Australia’s best beers, with the revelation that Coopers Best Extra Stout is number 12 in the top 100. Lists are notorious things. In the wake of the controversy surrounding the results of Local Taphouses’ Hottest 100 in January, many pundits suggested it… Read more →
1001 beers you must try before you die
If you love beer and making lists about them, this is a book for you…
RateBeer’s best ANZAC beers list
New Zealand makes the best three beers in Australia and New Zealand, according to beer rating site RateBeer. What do you think?