Hawke's Lager
Hawke's Brewing Co.

Great fun naming your brewery after one of the most colourful characters for over a half century in Aussie politics. Hawke not only lends his name, but he is a great choice for a brewery serious about its product making fun for many. While Hawke hailed from near Adelaide, I suppose it is still appropriate for the micro to be in suburban Sydney since they try to provide a full community program. Also, they take sustainable brewing seriously. Besides this beer is good, too. So for all this cleverness and goodness, I give Hawke's very good Overall hugs.

Hawke's Lager Looks only slightly above average, a decent foam fades too fast. Smells are likewise; mostly sweet malt and lacks the character of the real Hawke. But Tastes are better-balanced and finish with a mild hop twang. Refreshing and medium-mouthed. I can't wait to taste Underdog.

In honour of Australia's greatest Prime Minister and legendary beer sculler (sculler?) Bob Hawke. If you can't appreciate him, you're a bum!

Vessel: 425ml Schooner at the Strawberry Hills Hotel, Strawberry Hills Sydney.

Appearance: Light Pale Golden. Lighter than a standard Aussie adjunct lager. Nice 1-2cm white frothy head. Slightly hazy, although might just be a chill haze.

Smell: Light stale vegetable smell, a bit grainy. Possible pride of ringwood in this. Smells like an Aussie adjunct lager, not overly appealing unfortunately.

Taste: Light basic malt, got that vegetable matter flavour typical of the Aussie mass produced adjuncts, with a slightly bigger bitter punch at the end of the mouthfeel. A grainly barely like front of the mouthfeel. Hops are most certainly Pride of Ringwood. It's cleaner than your typical Aussie Macro however

Feel: Thin, highly carbonated. Stereotypical Aussie lager. Nothing exciting.

Overall: Bob Hawke was a great bloke. He loved his beers no nonsense, and he put them away like an absoloute champion. This tastes like the 80s. It's not bland per se, but it's carbon copy of your a-typical Aussie adjunct lager.

That would have suited Hawkey just fine. But it's not my cuppa tea.

#️⃣9️⃣6️⃣

A Christmas Beer from 2022, drunk in May 2023.

L: Standard lager light straw yellow, with a fluffy, bright-white head. Lots of carbonation flows up the glass.

S: Slightly yeasty, floral hops, but no obvious malt body. Not a lot to separate this one from the usual macro offerings in the lager category in Oz.

T: Medium level of floral bitterness and a little bit of that yeasty twang redolent of the classic Australian bitters/lagers, but otherwise quite nice and drinkable.

M: Mouthfeel was full with a carbonic prickle sitting on the high side of medium.

O: This is as close as a macro-tasting craft lager that you're likely to get. That's not a bad thing, but I think it means that the value proposition of buying this beer is not really there when pretty similar beers can be bought from the Big House at a lower investment.

Cheers!
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