Murray's Anniversary Ale 5 (2010)
Murray's Craft Brewing Co.

Murray's Anniversary Ale 5 (2010)Murray's Anniversary Ale 5 (2010)
Beer Geek Stats
From:
Murray's Craft Brewing Co.
 
Australia
Style:
American Barleywine
ABV:
10%
Score:
Needs more ratings
Avg:
4.25 | pDev: 3.06%
Reviews:
4
Ratings:
4
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Feb 22, 2013
Added:
Jul 17, 2012
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  0
This year’s Anniversary Ale marks the first major change in the base recipe since the inaugural batch. Brewed in collaboration with original head brewer Graeme Mahy to celebrate our 5th year the AA5 is still a wheat and barleywine at heart like the previous batches, and still oak aged, but we made some significant changes this year. This year’s brew is a lot darker with the addition of chocolate malt and roast barley to give the beer a distinctly darker colour and a solid dark grain bite in the flavour. The hop profile has also changed significantly with extra additions throughout the brew and a new blend of Green Bullet, Pacifica, Motueka and NZ Cascade hops used. The result is a beautiful dark ruby hued beer with aggressive hop aroma and flavour and a more assertive bitterness than previous batches. The caramel malt backbone of the beer is made more complex by the coffee notes from the dark grain additions. Classic American oak character comes through in the flavour and aroma further adding to the complexity of the brew.
Recent ratings and reviews.
Ratings by mulder1010:
Photo of mulder1010
Reviewed by mulder1010 from Australia

4.12/5  rDev -3.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
750 ML bottle poured into a tulip
Group purchase (MrKennedy, Dgilks, Spicelab, and Danieelol)
From long lost notes... Scary

A-- Pours a dark brown color with nice ruby highlights. Nice looking off white head, one finger in height. Held shape well and left nice spotty lacing while drinking.

S-- Big malt backbone of sweet toffee. Quite nice. Followed by touches of wheat and then stone fruit. Far more mellow as the kiwi hops have been restrained more and not so perfume like.

T-- As a group we all noticed that how well the alcohol was hidden for such a young beer. Quite complex, fruity, slight amounts of chocolate and bitterness. Just plain good.

M-- Medium bodied and light medium carbonated. Some slickness from the hops and just touches of oak in the mouth.

O-- Wish there were more Aussie reviewers as the whole AA series deserve more credit than it gets. Another splendid beer in this series. Probably Murray's best beer. The benchmark of Australian Barleywines.
Jul 30, 2012
More User Ratings:
Photo of MrKennedy
Reviewed by MrKennedy from Australia

4.18/5  rDev -1.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
750ml bottle from Slowbeer, split 6 ways and into a Fantome tulip.

Darkest and thickest pour of the first 5 years of the vertical. Nice deep brown and amber tinge. Darker beige foam on top. Nice glow to it.

Another of the more hoppy editions. Still holding up well with the nose, nice dark fruits backed by spice and caramel and toffee.

Big malt base on which the caramel sits. Nice fig influence and some spice cutting through at the back. Very fruity still. Still with some oak flavours coming though.

Loved the feel of this, a nice mix of big malt, oak and hop spice all working in cohesion.

Second favourite of the night. Drinking very well. Was laughable at the time to be able to still buy this in Melbourne nearly 18 months after release. Was even more enjoyable to be able to share this with the group as part of a really fun night. Should've probably finished on this one as the recollection of finishing on AA6 was not the best.
Feb 22, 2013
Photo of dgilks
Reviewed by dgilks from Australia

4.47/5  rDev +5.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Shared with mulder1010, spicelab, daniellol and MrKennedy at The Local Taphouse.

Hazy dark amber colour with a smooth, off-white head. Good.

Lots of sweet caramelised malt with some wheat notes. Plenty of NZ hop character and some nice fruit. Complex.

Lots of malt and fruit. Massive beer. No alcohol heat. Complex. Medium bitterness.

Medium-full body with moderate carbonation. Good.

A really complex ale well suited to aging. Lots of flavour and well balanced. Love it.
Jul 25, 2012
Photo of danieelol
Reviewed by danieelol from Australia

4.25/5  rDev 0%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5
Consumed at the Local Taphouse

Very nice appearance-wise, golden colour with really nice and healthy head. This one stands up really well.

Nose is a whole bunch of rich malt. Definitely get the wheaty influence in this too, adding a bit of its characteristic funk to the toffee. Just classic barleywine/old ale.

Taste is nice too, lots of toffee flavours, little bit sweet but noticeable hop bitterness. Alcohol is well handled/concealed on all fronts.

Mouthfeel is well done and enjoyable also.

Overall an impressively high quality beer. Did not expect this to be quite so good.
Jul 19, 2012
Murray's Anniversary Ale 5 (2010) from Murray's Craft Brewing Co.
Beer rating: 4.25 out of 5 with 4 ratings