Twisted Palm Tropical Pale Ale
Burleigh Brewing Co.

Reading through the two other reviews, I'm going to say that Twisted Palm has improved in the last 3 or so years. That's good. For that progress and for a thoughtful website and Burleigh bringing more brewing culture to a subtropical region in which thirst quenching is priority #1, I give BBC good Overall Hugs for improving the tourist trade.

In rating Twisted Palm, it is at a disadvantage in the famous American PA category. (UnTappd styles Twisted Palm as an Aussie PA, a fairer comparison.) But working with the styles we BAers got, Twisted Palm looks average among APAs which are noted for their foam and lively yeast. TP's Smells are muted and tropical fruit instead of western piney. Tastes are balanced by sufficient hops, but also not interesting relative the competition. On the light side, though refreshing.

 

As per the only other review of this beer, it's a lower-strength beer that leaves taste behind in order to make itself approachable and low-risk to the brewery's non-core audience, and it suffers badly for it.

In the glass it's light copper, almost p*ss coloured. There's no evident carbonation and no head at all. The washed-out, watery look is a hint of what's to come.

On the nose, there's the faintest hint of pineapple with some light spicy yeast, which might also be the pineapple. There's not much else going on, but there's nothing offensive present, either.

The taste is where this beer really falls down. There's the mildest hop presence and a hint of pineapple but at the end it's thin and watery. It's like the beer has been diluted. Not enjoyable at all.

Despite the beer being thin, there's a moderate carbonic prickle on the swallow, but it sits awkwardly with the rest of the thin, washed-out presentation of the beer,

Overall, this is not an enjoyable beer. It's thin, watery, aiming at the session crowd but being too high in ABV to meet their needs and only getting to that point by removing body and taste. In trying to be the one thing it's not, it's killed off the one thing it should be.

Cheers!

 

Happy New Beer!!! It’s 2017, and I’ve decided to begin the year with a hush rather than bang (I’m getting on these days you see), so without further ado: Burleigh Brewing Twisted Palm Tropical Pale Ale. A Burleigh rep gave me a free sample of this to bruview - since I’m partially-but-not-really famous for my craft beer reviews in the SEQ (South East Queensland, Stralia) region I now get the occasional free beer. BUT WORRY NOT DEAR READER: My strong moral values are enough to protect my reviews from a “free beer” bias taint, so you can rest assured that if it’s truly bad I will trash it in my usual humour-laden manner.

Poured from a 330ml bottle into a nonic pint.

A: Slightly fluorescent orange/amber body that is lightly hazed with an off-white 1 centimetre foam for a head. The head doesn’t stick around too long but that’s a common theme in most “Pacific” Pale Ales (i.e. Australian/NZ Pale Ales). 6/10.

S: Fruity hops give this PPA a nice ripe and green papaya character, along with hints of mango, caramel malts and a touch of bubble-gum. It’s fresh and fruity nose stands out given the low 4.2% ABV and it reminds me of a cross between Matilda Bay Fat Yak and Stone & Wood Pacific Ale… those are some decent bedfellows to have as well. 8/10.

T: And the penny drops… let’s face it - this is one Pacific Pale Ale that is light in flavour and with it: complexity. At 4.2% ABV I wasn’t expecting to be bowled over, but still S&W Pacific Ale has a great deal more flavour for a measly extra 0.2% alcohol. Yes, the ripe and green papayas, hints of mango/caramel are there but they are for all intents and purposes quite restrained, and as such this lets everything down IMO - bring a little bit more punch next time Burleigh! 5/10.

M: Entry-craft it may be but at least the mouthfeel is done well: Mid to light bodied with a light and creamy carbonation… pretty decent here. 8/10.

D: The other day I had a Fat Yak for the first time in years and you know what - they’ve definitely weakened the flavour in that beer considerably (since being bought out by macro brewer Carlton United of course) and Twisted Palm is more like the shadow of a beer Fat Yak is now than a decent craft brew, which is a shame, because all of these craft brewers doing entry-craft beers are only turning away their biggest customers and supporters (people like me) and for what? Who the f__k knows, not me. 5/10.

Food Match: Chips and aioli… or whatever - anything that doesn’t have flavour.