Gipps St. Pale Ale
Stomping Ground Brewing Co.

I got a few of these with my Melbourne GABS tickets, so a reminder, if you don’t have yours…why not? This brew has some serious character, the flagship beer for Stomping Ground and plenty to talk about so let’s dive in.

Gipps St @stompinggroundbeer

Pale Ale – American

5.2%

Packed into the smaller 355ml can, this beer pours a deep gold with a tall bright white head that retains well into the bottom third of the drink. There is a big hit of tropical fruit and citrus with a good serve of pine as well. The aroma is a big tell, even before the taste you go in knowing this is a hop forward experience.

The malt base is a biscuity caramel that evenly balances the bitter pine and herbal notes. Full of grapefruit and stone fruit with a prickly carbonation. It has a light to medium body with a dry moderate finish. The beer has more assertive bitterness than other Pale Ales but still remains refreshing drinkable.

Cheers

355ml can. Has the packaged on date on the bottom. This one was packaged on 18/12/2018. Poured into a tulip.

Look: Pours ambery gold. Not a lot of head, about 1cm, which pretty quickly subsides and I'm left with a circle of head around the edge, and a small island of it in the middle, some lacing.
Smell: Fruity hops straight up. I'm getting a little bit of pineapple and peach. Some citrus comes through as well and maybe the briefest hint of pine. Smells pretty good.
Taste: fruit forward, citrus and peach. The pine is a touch more prominent than on the nose, and there is something a bit vegetal in there. Malt doesn't really stand out to me at all. The bitterness is a little aggressive.
Feel: lighter bodied without being watery, bitterness has a pretty good length, very drinkable.
Overall: I thought it was a very solid pale ale. I could easily sit back on a warm summers day (like today) and happily drink a half dozen or so of them.

Another day, another new Melbourne brewer popping into existence. This time it’s Stomping Ground Brewing Co out of Collingwood. I’ve seen neither hair nor hide of this brewer so in my time-honoured tradition I’m giving one of their core-range a go. First up is their Gipps St Pale Ale, a classic American Pale Ale with plenty of New World hops including Doc’s old favourites: Simcoe, Cascade and Mosaic – so this should be plenty good. Originally brewed to raise money for Movember last year I’m looking forward to a decent Aussie take on the APA style, even though I’m much more an IPA-man (NEIPAs are my bag baby) I can appreciate a lighter brew like an APA, maybe this Gipps St Pale Ale will become my stomping ground Pale?

Poured from a 355ml can into a nonic pint.

A: Presents a clear amber-tinged gold body with a great deal of carbonation action inside the glass, a foamy 1 centimetre white head that hangs around for a while and leaves a nice sticky lace on the way down – looks pretty decent hey. 8/10.

S: Nicely more hop-forward than most APAs, with a floral/piney/green hop note upfront, dash of stone-fruit and a splash of citrus, rather good nose on this brew. Hints of biscuit and cracker malts lingering in the background as well. So for a well-balanced APA that isn’t spectacular but it does the job with a hint of gusto. 8/10.

T: Grapefruit, hints of lemon, stone-fruit and that piney/floral hop character upfront which is then tempered by a dry cracker/biscuit malt base leading through to herbal/green medium bitterness in the finish. Gipps St is pretty refreshing, though it’s more on the bitter side than it needs to be for an American Pale Ale. As far as the flavour profile goes this is pretty much on the money, although there are plenty other finely balanced APAs out there. 7/10.

M: Mid to light bodied, nice creamy/dense carbonation, no major negatives here – this is solid stuff. 8/10.

D: Yeah I’ve had better APAs before (Liberty Yakima Monster, Melvin Hubert, KAIJU! Krush, Modus Pale, Yona Yona – to name a few), but I’ve also had worse, and that list goes on almost into ∞ [I’ve drunk many a Pale Ale o’er the years]. So my message to Stomping Ground is: Take heart – this is a pretty decent stab at the APA style and a springboard into bigger/better things… just needs a bit more balance in the finish, perhaps less boil hops and more dry hops would balance out that bitterness a touch. Still, I wouldn’t say no to more cans of this... 7/10.

Food match: Pizza [yes I’m going to phone it in again, gimme a break].