Bitter
Big Rock Brewery

 

 

 

One of the 'Original' beers from Big Rock celebrating their 30th birthday.
We went to the brewery for the Birthday Party weekend, and got to try the draft version. The Throwback 6 packs were flying out the door, and I believe the brewery store was sold out before the afternoon was over.
Poured clear, medium gold color, with a solid pile of foam. Head receded slowly, leaving chunky lace.
It smells of citrus, leafy and herbal hops, as well as some malt, bread.
The taste is well balanced blend of caramel malt, and citrus, leafy, herbal hop bitterness.
The carbonation is low giving a creamy smooth mouthfeel.
An enjoyable beer, with nice level of bitterness, but not the hop bomb everyone keeps pushing. I can imagine 30 years ago this would have been a scary amount of hops though

330ml bottle poured into tulip 25/9/15

A clear golden liquid that looks a little still but manages to pump out two fingers of soapy foam that eaves dome polka dots

S orange peel, some hard to place spice, herbal hops, and plenty of sweet malt with very faint metallic notes

T lots of citrus, lemon rind, caramel, more spice, sweet grainy bready notes, has more intensity then the nose

M has some weight to it, creams up from the bubbles, a mild bitter bite, a little gritty, rind and faint pine linger, no complaints here

O I thought it was a decent bitter and its already gone at this point typing so that says something

I have some hope for Big Rock after the porter and this one, respectable beers and dirt cheap at the moment, this will be the first time in a long time I go back for Big Rock seconds

330ml bottle, the second 'new' part of the recently released 1985 throwback mixed pack from Big Rock, their promotion tied to the 30th anniversary of their operations. And at less than 9 bucks a sixer, they're off to a pretty good start!

This beer pours a clear, bright medium golden yellow colour, with three fingers of puffy, foamy, and somewhat rocky off-white head, which leaves some dense tree branch lace around the glass as things evenly recede.

It smells of bready, crackery pale malt, a bit of biscuity breadiness, subtle apple skin and citrus rind fruity notes, a touch of smoky peppercorn, and understated earthy, leafy, and mildly herbal hops. The taste is bready, doughy, and fairly biscuity caramel malt, underripe apples and pears, fading citrus peel, some free-range, and strangely innocuous yeast, and steady leafy, weedy, and herbal hop bitters.

The carbonation is fairly light and inviting in its well-rounded frothiness, the body a decent middleweight for the proclaimed style, and pretty smooth, for something, as just inferred, called a bitter. It finishes off-dry, but leaning increasingly towards the latter, as the indistinct hoppiness just keeps me hangin' on (a reference a year or so too late for the general conceit here).

Not a bad brew overall, and lacking (I think) the typical modern day Big Rock yeast problem - did the throwback effort include some kind of time capsule recipe manipulation? Hard to say, but I'd drink this one again, especially if I were able to time travel back to my main Big Rock imbibing days on Whyte Avenue during the mid-90s.