Pepperjack Hand Crafted Ale
Saltram of Barossa

 

 

Bottle: a standard dark brown 330mL bottle, with a nice label - classical minimalism. Nicely done.

Appearance: pours a clear amber / copper colour with a small off-white head that dissipates a little too quickly. Decent lacing though.

Aroma: very nice, light aroma of orchard fruits and grass hops. Some spices too - ginger and nutmeg.

Taste: predominantly the orchard fruits and hops, with some caramel. Spices and bread malts. Nicely complex.

Aftertaste: the grass hops linger with a decent bitterness, some toffee and caramel shine through also. Slightly dry on the finish.

Mouth feel: fairly light in body with a moderate carbonation. Clean and crisp.

Overall: interesting beer, definitely worthwhile. Funnily enough I found out that this beer actually contains some wine... Weird huh? But quite tasty none the less, or perhaps because of it. N.B. This is apparently brewed using Shiraz grapes.

 

 

 

 

 

Pours a one finger head over a clear bronze body. Head dies quickly - good lacing.

Smell of earthy hops.

Taste is very hoppy and dry, but no real body. Hint of caramel and orange peel. An oddity but that is what I suppose a 'brewed with Shiraz grapes' would get you (you can't taste these). Dryness builds, as it goes down. This is a Bad thing.

Mouthfeel is OK with good carbonation.

Top 100 beer? I don't think so.

A - Burnt orange amber with a finger of white fizzy head.

S - Grassy hops, bread, ginger, orange peel.

T - Nice balance of biscuity malt to earthy, grassy hops. Not a powerful flavour.

M - Light to medium body, moderate carbonation.

O - Better than I expected, pretty sweet and soft but I could revisit without a problem.

Drank from my Duval Tulip

A - Poured a nice amber/ruby colour with a off white small head that disappears very quickly leaving a little lacing.

S - Sweet malt aromas, fruity and some toffee/caramel

T - I get the sweet malts and a little caramel up front. Along with some citrus fruits to go with an average dry finish.

M - Light bodied with medium carbonation

O - An average beer that initially starts well with the sweet malts but I was disappointed with the very ordinary and rather tasteless dry finish. It definately lacks that real full flavour that leaves you wanting more.

 

This was sent to me from MrKennedy, a big thanks to him!

This brew showed up on the top 100 list from Australia so I figured I'd give it a try. The beer pours out as a nice amber color with a slight orange highlight to it. The head is thin and white but leaves a good lacing down the glass. The smell of the beer has a strong malt aroma, there wasn't too much in the way of hops. The smell is also a little sweet. The taste is full of malts, can't really get the grape flavor too much. There is a slightly sweet dryness inthe flavor. The mouthfeel is about medium bodied and pretty smooth. Overall this beer turned out to be a bit different than I expected. The name made me think it might be spicy but it was more along the lines of just a standard amber ale. It was a good brew though and very happy to have tried it.

I'm amazed at how this beer polarized reviewers. I found it poured with a beautiful tea colour and an explosion of spicy aromas. Not much head though. Aroma had grapefruit, rose hip and ginger and maybe more if I were good enough to find it. Flavour is crisp and spicy with a clean bitter finish and grapefruit tang. Mouthfeel is sparkly and dry but I found drinkability down a little because of the big hop finish.
I was surprised at how much I ended up liking this as I thought it would be another wine boutique experiment. Saltram is ages old and a respected winemaker from the Barossa and this beer is a good addition to the marque.

A beer with ShirAZZ grapes from the Barossa Valley...WHAT!?!?! That can't possibly be good! WELL I WAS WRONG! This beer is quite pleasant and yet different from other beers. It had a Amber color and decent head. The scent contained a citrus fruit aroma, very subtle not overpowering. The taste was good. The grapes gave the beer a hint of west coast pale ale. I probably could drink 1-3, but anymore than that would be tough. Not a Session for me, but well worth the taste!

Pours a light layer of white head. Color is a burnt copper orange.

Aroma: Floral grassy hops. Bready, caramel malts. Amber-ale like.

Taste: caramel, bready, and biscuit malts. Grassy, earthy hops. Pretty simple.

Mouthfeel: Creamy and smooth. Light bodied with a medium body. Ends fairly clean.

Overall, basically an amber to me. Simple is a good work to describe it. Average drinkability.

Moderately clear copper colour with a small off-white head.

Mild fruity aroma, slightly nutty with a hint of toast. There's also a fair bit of caramel. Not bad.

Smooth, mild malt which lets some fruity hops shine through. You can't really taste the grapes but this is a well crafted beer.

Medium-light body with moderate carbonation. Good.

A decent APA with plenty of fruit notes. Pretty good for something put out by a winery.

I gotta admit its been a while since ive last tried this and was interested in refreshing the palette,it pours a ruby amber hue with average carbonation that leaves behind a fast vanishing one finger head and very little lacing in fact only a rim of it,the smell is not bad with hints of grape,mango,lychee,fruity hops and barley,the mouthfeel is abit of a let down in my eyes as it is very thin almost wineish and could be fuller and the taste is abit better with flavours of toffee,raisins,lychee,light caramel and it finishes with a light citrus burst,overall its a very easy beer to drink that lacks a nice mouthfeel and could be more flavoursome i detect very little grape characters but they are there and i would be most interested to see what this brew would be classed as if not a fruit/vege brew.

Pours dark amber with a large quickly fading head.
Nose shows lots of fruity hops: pineapple, mango and orange blossom are all noticeable. A fair bit of caramel, toasted and nutty malt shows as well.
Flavours almost perfectly mirror the aroma - lots of light fruity hops with caramel, toasted and nutty malt following.
Moderate carbonation suits the beer well.

I have to say the stylish labeling on the bottle compared to it's neighbors in the freezer case upped my expectations (as well a bartender telling me it was a recently popular craft brew).

Overall a decent ale with a reasonable amount of hoppiness balancing out a mellow malt. The fruit flavors do come through (as per the description on the bottle!) but overall the flavor is well balanced.