We had a tasting in Canberra today. I had planned to invite a few BAs but the final plans came together at the last minute. The lineup was: AleSmith Decadence 2011 The Bruery Chocolate Rain 2012 Lost Abbey Framboise de Amarosa Stone Quingenti Millilitre 2010 Old Guardian in Bourbon Barrels AleSmith Old Numbskull De Struise Black Albert 'Batch 0' The Bruery Melange No 3 De Struise Double Black Overall, I was impressed. The Stone was great as were the Black Albert and the Bruery beers. Melange No 3 is really fantastic and full of sweetness, chocolate and toffee. The Double Black is sweet and intense with a clear phenolic going on. The Old Numbskull was great with all the right flavours and the Framboise de Amarosa is a very good beer. Black Albert also surprised as a very good beer. In fact the only beer one might call ordinary was the Decadence and that is a little unfair. The final tally was 4 people, 8 beers and 1 person in the gutter. Fortunately, it wasn't me and I'm glad we have a few beer geeks in Canberra.
That's an awesome lineup. I found Double Black and Framboise de Amarosa to be among the best beers I've ever had I'm very jealous of the Old Guardian (and everything else)
Double Black was good but intense. I preferred the Chocolate Rain and Melange. The Old Guardian and Framboise de Amarosa were surprises brought back by a friend who didn't quite know just what he had on his hands.
