Red Duck Canute The Gruit
Purrumbete Brewing Company (Red Duck)

Beer Geek Stats
From:
Purrumbete Brewing Company (Red Duck)
 
Australia
Style:
Gruit / Ancient Herbed Ale
ABV:
4.4%
Score:
Needs more ratings
Avg:
3.16 | pDev: 11.39%
Reviews:
7
Ratings:
7
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Oct 13, 2011
Added:
Jul 26, 2011
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  0
No description / notes.
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Recent ratings and reviews.
Photo of dgilks
Reviewed by dgilks from Australia

2.97/5  rDev -6%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3
Opaque dark brown colour with no head.

Lightly chocolatey aroma with some hints of tart roast and a herbal character. Interesting.

Very tart with an odd fruity note. Some herbal character. Almost like Echinacea. Weird.

Medium-light body with moderate carbonation. Okay.

A truly strange ale. The tartness is over the top for me with it not gelling well with the light but harsh herbal character.
Oct 13, 2011
Photo of laituegonflable
Reviewed by laituegonflable from Australia

2.95/5  rDev -6.6%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3
Pours a dark chocolate colour, brown around the edge. Head is lacklustre, just a cloud but a vigorous swirl revives to a thin, dense film. Beige lacing is OK. Bit blah.

Smell is very coffee-esque with roast espresso hiding a slightly sour, dark berry aroma. Spice notes as well, but mostly an organic, almost charcoaly dark bitterness. Bit too much dark bitterness, doesn't really smell appealing.

Taste is insanely sour, and tastes like a mad scientist put it together. Hints of spicy espresso roastiness all the way through with a dark, sour cherry edge, some unripe berries and hint of red wine. The coffee notes underlying add a charcoaly edge that I'm not a fan of, but otherwise the sourness seems to mellow out with further sips, and actually becomes a bit watery. Bit of a pull on the back reminds you of the tartness. Very weird beer, can't say I particularly love any aspect though.

Bit of pull from the acidity, dries up late but otherwise flat and uneventful.

I think a greater malt presence and body would help this beer in every way. It's just lacking balance, and is mostly weird as a result.
Oct 04, 2011
Photo of lacqueredmouse
Reviewed by lacqueredmouse from Australia

3.6/5  rDev +13.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
Purchased from Slowbeer, shared with @LaitueGonflable and @tobeerornottobe

Pours a very dark brown, quite hazed and chocolate-coloured, with very minimal head—just a fine ring of mocha brown around the edge of the glass. Body looks quite thin, although it's almost completely uncarbonated, meaning it has a stillness and depth to it that's unusual. Looks weird, but interesting.

Nose is undoubtedly weird. Big roasted, almost smoky grain characters backed up with a brazen acidity and a spicy, earthy peppery bite, like arugula. It's a weird and oddly intoxicating mixture, but it's one that doesn't really entice me to take a sip.

Taste is certainly acidic, with a tartness on the front that only mellows late as the chocolate grains come through. Not a lot of the spice or earthy characters, and, authentic as it may be, the acidity reeks of unplanned homebrew-style infection. But that's just prejudice on my part—in fact, the acidity gives it a fine drinkability, and a refreshment I wasn't expecting at all.

A very interesting brew, but not a particularly complex one. The acidity is more pronounced than in other gruits I've had, and it lacks the odd complexity that some of them get. But still, it's great to see breweries trying such weird styles and doing a reasonable job at them.
Oct 01, 2011
Photo of shambeano
Reviewed by shambeano from Australia

3.42/5  rDev +8.2%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
shared this one with a mate.

A- pours a very thick cola like browny black, with very little head, just a wisp of carbonation at the top. looks...interesting.

S- unexpectedly, this one is pretty smokey upfront, a touch of tart fruit in the backround, and maybe a bit of sweet malt (although im really searching for it at this point), again interesting, but i like the smokiness.

T- wow, sour, straight up unexpectedly sour, but followed by a smokiness in the backround. pretty much the opposite of the nose. towards the end i definitely get something that reminds me of the single time ive eaten stinging nettle soup. wierd.

M- a little uncarbonated, but a nice body, pretty good.

O- this beer is really interesting, reminds me a bit of a coca beer i had in peru recently, something in there makes it sour, the smokiness was unexpected, but not unappreciated. i dont really know what to make of it, but it was an interesting experience.
Sep 05, 2011
Photo of Macca
Reviewed by Macca from Australia

2.52/5  rDev -20.3%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2.5
This pours a dark brown with a light beige head that disappears quickly.

Well I wasn't expecting the big whack of coffee and smoke on the nose.

The smoke comes through on the palate but for me it's the sourness that dominates. In the first mouthful I thought it was saltiness but as I got used to it I realise that it's sourness.

The mouthfeel is rather thin.

This is one of those beers that will really split drinkers. It's definitely not my cup of tea.
Aug 17, 2011
Photo of CrazyDavros
Reviewed by CrazyDavros from Australia

3.1/5  rDev -1.9%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
Pours black with a small, quickly fading head.
Aromas include smokey, roasted malt and a faint elderberry-like character.
The smoke transfers through as a flavour too, before a mix of sweet berries and acidity rolls through. A bit too far out there for me. Seems like it needs some extra malt or something to fill up the gap between smoke and tartness.
Aug 05, 2011
Photo of ADZA
Reviewed by ADZA from Australia

3.57/5  rDev +13%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
This is one weird brew with some weird ingedients including barley,oats,spelt,hawthorn berry juice and stinging nettles and it pours a dark cola hue with little carbonation that produces no head and no lacing,the smell is oak,berries,smoke and fresh cut grass,the mouthfeel is lightbodied and has sour tastes of wild berries,seaweed,oak,barley and finished with a leafy wild berry sourness and overall this is one out there brew and hats off to them for trying but its definately a love or hate affair and if you love sours you will love this.
Jul 26, 2011
Red Duck Canute The Gruit from Purrumbete Brewing Company (Red Duck)
Beer rating: 3.16 out of 5 with 7 ratings