Otway Light
Prickly Moses

Drank this one at a cafe in Torquay, the day before the 2022 AFL Grand Final with a table of Geelong players opposite me. Tried to play it cool and not geek out on beer and footy at the same time. My success is debatable...

In Australia a light beer is light in alcohol, not calories or carbs. For many years these were the only option if you were driving but wanted to have more than one, thanks largely to our strict drink-driving laws.

This is listed as a Blonde Ale on Untappd, but the only Blonde Ale option on BA is Belgian Blonde and it's definitely not one of them, so have chosen Light Lager as the next best option.

A: In the glass it's a golden copper colour. It has a small rim of foam. There was no head, but the glass it was served in was straight out of the fridge so that could explain things.

N: On the nose, there's barely anything detectable. Maybe the slightest sweet, dusty malt aroma, Otherwise nothing at all.

T: It's moderately bitter, with a sweet, corny malt base and a sweet and slightly cloying corn aftertaste. That said, it's actually pretty good for an old-style light beer.

M: Soft and light, appropriate for the beer.

O: This is nice, but has been overtaken in taste by the newer, tropical, hoppy, zero alc beers out there now. Regardless, it would have been a significant improvement on the light beer that can't before.

Cheers!

No BB. Gift.

Pours a clear dark straw/light gold. Head fades, spotty lace

Aromas are moderate and mainly grains, with a slight stewed veg adder.

Taste is severely into macro light beer beer mediocrity. Malts mid palate, a hint of lemon zest on back palate. No real hops. Bland.

Mouthfeel Ok - light, zingy.

Overall, its a light beer, I didn't buy it, so I should not complain. However, Otway should complain that I am not buying it again, and do something about it, like brew a 'different' light beer.

Pours orange/amber with a large, fading head.
Nose shows sweet malty notes of honey and nuts alongside a little fruity, floral hops. There is a faint vegetable character, but it's not too strong.
More malt as a flavour, with quite prominent nutty hints. Falls short quickly though with an insipid finish made up of a plain bitterness and faint lemon tang.
Very light body, carbonation is too high.
I must say, this surpassed my expectations.

Pours a slightly pink-tinged golden colour. Head is non-existent, lace is not much better - slight haze in the beer, carbonation is pretty much also non-existent. Looks flat and boring. In other words, bad.

Nose is quite sweet and grainy. Slight lemon zest aroma but sweet, so it comes across like an artificial lemon ester. Yeah, reasonable grain, barley and some puffed rice dominate. Not exciting, and too sweet but decent for a light beer.

Taste is... well, fairly bad. Mostly grainy on the front, lots of malt extract with some pearl barley, corn notes and that slight lemon flavour. Gets dry and grassy on the back with a slight acerbic soda flavour as well, alkaline on the mid then a bit watery on the finish with trace elements of POR. Underwhelming but not too offensive. I don't much like bland lagers - there, I've said it.

Very dry feel, sizzly and a bit prickly - in spite of flat appearance. Not good, doesn't have enough body to make it enjoyable.

Yeah look it's inoffensive enough to slam down at the footy, but not good enough for me to say it's good in any way. I know it wasn't created to be tasted and enjoyed by connoisseurs but your average designated driver isn't going to bother reviewing so you've got to prepare for harsh reviews. Otherwise why bother with a low-alcohol beer?

Pours a pale golden colour, a little deeper orange in the thicker bits, with a very poor filmy ring of foam around the edges. Not great. Froths up a bit when it's swirled, but it's not a particularly good look all up.

Nose is a little bit grainy, with a light yeast funk, and a slight phenol mustiness. Even a slight hint of sourness around the edges as well. There are things to appreciate, but it's not an overly exciting nose overall.

Lots of grain bag husk character on the palate. A hint of yeast rankness. Very organic, but with little funk or earthiness that would give it the crisp and vivacious character of, say, a Saison. It feels a little thin and wayward.

Overall, I'm not a huge fan. It doesn't have the complexity or depth of flavour to be really interesting, and what it has is not all that pleasant.

A - Poured into a pint glass a slightly cloudy golden colour with a 2 centimetre fluffy white head that slowly falls away.
S - Slight biscuity grainy aroma as well as some vauge floral hop notes & some fruity esters.
T - Along the same lines as the smell.
M - Light bodied with a low to medium carbonation level.
D - Nothing to get excited about but I suppose it's decent for a light beer if you must.