Australian Ale
Bridge Road Brewers

Australian AleAustralian Ale
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From:
Bridge Road Brewers
 
Australia
Style:
English Pale Ale
ABV:
4.4%
Score:
77
Avg:
3.02 | pDev: 16.89%
Reviews:
14
Ratings:
15
Status:
Active
Rated:
Sep 09, 2012
Added:
Oct 22, 2005
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  0
No description / notes.
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Ratings by Cs1987:
Photo of Cs1987
Reviewed by Cs1987 from Australia

3.36/5  rDev +11.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Appearance - Huge head, light amber with floating bits.

Smell - Weak, with an unusual mix of odours.

Taste - On the bottle it is rated 1.5 out of 3 for both malt and hop profile, which is fairly accurate. Unfortunately, this makes it a little dull, more of an American PA than an English PA, but not particularly hoppy or fruity. As much as the brewers probably don't want to hear this, I can't help but think of this as a dumbed down version of James Squire Golden Ale.

Mouthfeel - Low carbonation, fairly smooth.

Drinkability - Certainly goes down easily.

Overall - Unfortunately not one of the better Australian ales.
Apr 30, 2009
More User Ratings:
Photo of soju6
Reviewed by soju6 from Missouri

2.98/5  rDev -1.3%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
A: Pours a slightly hazy copper color with a decent head that fades to lacing.

S: Mild aroma of citrus with grain and a bit herbal.

T: Taste is also mild with a bit of hop crispness, just a bit of malt sweetness and grain. Mild bitterness and a dry finish.

F: Fairly light body, crzisp and quite smooth and clean. Just not a lot of character.

O: Easy drinker, but quite ordinary.
Sep 09, 2012
 
Rated: 3 by Kornoms from Texas

May 23, 2012
Photo of doktorhops
Reviewed by doktorhops from Australia

2.69/5  rDev -10.9%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 2.5
Back into the brew drinking after an extended flirtation with red and white wines, and lets just say it's good to be back! Well now Bridge Road, as I recall the only Bridge Road beer I've reviewed is the crazy good Chestnut Pilsner and I have here an "Australian Ale", which I'm a little apprehensive about as Australian ales usually end up as a Franksteinian mixture of a crisp lager and APA, which never really works for me. Let's give it a go then!

Poured from a 330ml bottle into a nonic pint.

A: Right out the gate this ale froths up a massive head - I nearly ran out of glass! Snow white head sits cappuccino froth atop a bold cloudy amber body... it all looks good but is ruined slightly by the odd shaped full decaying head.

S: Fruit aromas of peach, grapefruit and a hint of passion-fruit which ends with a slight grain malt musty body, not bad at all - very reminiscent of the Stone & Wood Pacific Ale, which is a damn nice (albeit weaker than what I like in an ale).

T: Taste is interesting as the hop heavy aroma takes a back seat to the grain body taste, it might be a slight shock to any APA drinkers. The main flavour is a toffee malt that is followed by candy sugar and ends with a mild citric bitterness and some off yeast flavours. Not a great deal impressive and I'm left wanting a pint of a real pale ale (LCPA, Murray's Nirvana or Sierra Nevada).

M: Body is light bordering on watery with a champagnesque carbonation which I feel gets a little bit too busy on the taste buds.

D: There's something not quite right with this brew and I'm sure Bridge Road must know this as they are pretty decent brewers, but why it was made and sold, and for what market segment, these are the questions it raises for me. Perhaps their drinking audience for this is the average Australian who is fed up with the Macro brewers and just wants an ice cold pale ale with and even temperament? Who knows. In any case it's not my type of brew and if I was having a session with mates I could only foresee drinking it over VB, Tooheys and the like. Other than that I will be moving along ("Nothing to see here folks!").

Food match: Fish and chips??? Maybe... nothing too exciting as we never want the meal to overpower the beer. Or even a $5 (boot leather) steak at the local RSL would do... as if you would even find this beer on tap at an RSL.
May 02, 2012
Photo of Stew41
Reviewed by Stew41 from Thailand

2.98/5  rDev -1.3%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 3
Poor head retention this time around. Colour about on par. Nose still has sweet traits but they have eased off. Similar story to taste - super easy going sweeter but has certainly tightened up and has a nice spice edge. I have had a few skuncky bottles of this over the years.
Aug 11, 2011
Photo of laituegonflable
Reviewed by laituegonflable from Australia

3.03/5  rDev +0.3%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Had on tap at the brewery 07/11/10.

Pours a shiny gold colour with slight haze around the edge. Head is white and dense, sinks to a thin film after a while but leaves some nice dense lace behind. Slow bead. Fairly blah-looking actually.

Smells largely bready with a lot of raw grain aroma and slight green apple overtones. Yeah a hint of cloying yeast but not overwhelming. Still too bready for my liking.

Tastes a bit bland as well. Lots of grain on the front with barley and cereal notes and a touch of earthy POR bitterness on the mid. Slight cloying yeast character is left at the end which is unfortunate, but just the result of underplayed hoppiness - for which I'm actually grateful. Bland, doesn't quite cross into unpleasant though luckily.

Fairly thin body with a noticeable fizz. Not harsh though, just noticeable. Pretty decent for the style.

Yeah, it's a pretty bog-standard Aussie style ale. Not bad drinking, I just like more oomph and flavour in my beer.
Nov 17, 2010
Photo of mulder1010
Reviewed by mulder1010 from Australia

1.65/5  rDev -45.4%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 1.5
330 ML bottle poured into an Odell Imperial Pint

A-- Poured a hazy straw yellow. Lots of carbonation, with a lot of small bubbles on the sides of the glass and a large white 2 finger head that slowly became a large layer of film that left uneven, streaky, lacing on the glass. Good head retention.

S-- Sweet biscuit smell, carmel, and a little bit of a plastic smell to this. There is a little bit of a floral hop smell to this but the malt and the plastic smell hide it.

T-- A sweet, carmel, hop bite. Soft taste but get a mixture of soft hops, sweet biscuit and carmel. Get a bit of a soapy taste as well in this. As warms up becomes a soapy lemon taste

M-- Highly carbonated and creamy. Much more of a sweet floral taste in the mouth. No real bitterness to this and thin and watery. As it gets warmer it gets more soapy, taste and feel wise and seems more like a typical Australian Lager. Not a good way to go.

D-- One is enough.Not a great version of an EPA. Slight better lager. Soapy quality is not that great and as it warms is gets more bloating and not that good of a taste. Thin, watery, and sweet floral tasting. More like bad homebrew. They do much better with their IPA's.

Best guess is this is infected all the way through. Not very enjoyable and only finished half the beer
Jun 03, 2010
Photo of dgilks
Reviewed by dgilks from Australia

3.27/5  rDev +8.3%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Lightly malty with a crisp, slightly citrussy hop aroma.

Mostly clear, dark straw colour with a small, short lasting, white head.

The thin, pale malt flavour with just a hint of bitterness and hop flavour is okay. The refreshing lemon tartness adds a kick to the end which clears the palate and is quite nice (even if it is infected). Slightly astringent.

Medium-light body with moderately-high carbonation. Not as smooth as it could be.

Easy enough to drink. Unfortunately, this example is slightly infected (an issue I am seeing more and more of from Bridge Road) but the whole is actually tasty and refreshing.
Apr 14, 2010
Photo of CrazyDavros
Reviewed by CrazyDavros from Australia

2.5/5  rDev -17.2%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5
Pours amber with a small head.
Aroma shows some floral and spicy hops, but not much else except something vaguely salty and almost sour, geueze style.
Flavours share those sour notes, with some caramel in the background. Lemony sourness is off-putting.
Quite watery.
Jan 15, 2010
Photo of ADZA
Reviewed by ADZA from Australia

3.45/5  rDev +14.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
This beer pours a hazy golden colour with nice carbonation that leaves a two finger head that quickly settles down into a layer of froth,the aroma is quite weird its very herbal and lavender scented aswell quite a different smell to what im used to for this style but in saying that its not horrible,it has an average mouthfeel with average tastes of citrusy hops and some malt on the finish but that lavender weird smell comes thru a little on the taste so not the greatest brew for me.
Oct 05, 2009
Photo of lacqueredmouse
Reviewed by lacqueredmouse from Australia

3.2/5  rDev +6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3.5
Pours a very pale yellow, with light cloudiness. Head gushes with masses of streaming carbonation, billowing into a massive coarse-bubbled mess of white foam. The carbonation starts to disintegrate the head after a while. But it looks pretty reasonably. The head's just so chunky it looks hard to drink.

Light pleasant organic skunkiness on the nose. A bit of crushed leaves, lemon myrtle and seltzer water. Overall, it's quite an acidic character, not unpleasant, but not all that powerful either.

Rather thin palate, a light biscuity entry pans out to a moderate hop resin bitterness, before a touch of tartness on the back. Mouthfeel is genuinely overcarbonated, even when I don't get a huge mouthful of suds, but it's not so bad with the light acidity.

A suitably refreshing beer - it's quite clean and pleasant, and certainly easy to knock back. Tone down the carbonation though, it left me feeling bloated.
Mar 28, 2009
Photo of vancurly
Reviewed by vancurly from Australia

3.43/5  rDev +13.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 4
Pssht knocked the top off, got an initial note that reminded me of Coopers Sparkling: noticable pear flesh.

a) Pours a very sparkling hazy mid-yellow, nice white head that sinks slowly. Looks suspiciously like a wit....

s) The pear flesh gives way to a soapy, herbal note, like lavendar or similar. Hints of pineapple, pale malt

f) Touch sour. Lemon/lime zest.... Did I say it looked like a wit ? Tastes a bit like it too. Picks up at the back with some malt body, yet finishes with little bitterness to speak of.

m) Quite light & tart, with some back palate body. A refreshing summer drink. Did I say it looked (and tasted) like a wit ?

d) Quite drinkable. Just seems a bit confused.
Mar 17, 2009
Photo of Kulrak
Reviewed by Kulrak from Australia

2.69/5  rDev -10.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3
Pours a cloudy golden straw color with a decent amount of foamy head. I'm sensing a theme since the last bridge road beer I reviewed was much the same. I'm not really picking up any smell though, smells very clean. The taste is malty sweet but without any real hop flavor or bitterness to it. It doesn't taste bad, but there's really not much taste there at all. The mouthfeel is creamy and heavy, slightly tingly from the carbonation. Overall, it's pretty drinkable, but so is water.
Jan 28, 2009
Photo of brendan13
Reviewed by brendan13 from Australia

3.03/5  rDev +0.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
Pours a golden straw colour with a thick head that quickly falls to a centimetre. Patchy lacing is left throughout.
The smell was quite yeasty with some floral esters and a very faint metallic tinge.
A bit of biscuity malt is aparant in the taste with a slight tartness.
Mouthfeel is moderate & quite creamy feeling.
A drinkable beer and I can see why it is their most popular at the brewpub up in Beechworth.
Cold pints of this on a hot summers day would be pretty refreshing. But personally I'd grab the pale ale or Bling IPA before this.
May 27, 2007
Photo of jarmby1711
Reviewed by jarmby1711 from Australia

4/5  rDev +32.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
This opaque/cloudy teak red beer has held a large head throughout the glass.
It was predominated by hops that were flowery on the nose.
The taste also had that floweriness but there was a sweetness all underpinned by a pleasnt yeastiness.
The sweetness was caramel but still retained a sharpness>It was very fizzy which added to the enjoyment.
The brewers suggest this is a good session beer and I agree.
Great with aged cheddar and pickled onions.
Oct 22, 2005
Australian Ale from Bridge Road Brewers
Beer rating: 77 out of 100 with 15 ratings