I hold a soft spot for Bridge Road Brewers, pioneers in the Australian craft beer scene, having established in 2005. In the mid-2000’s they were the standout brewer in cases of random Australian micro-brewed beer I used to have delivered and a visit in 2012 to their Beechworth brewery cemented my thoughts (try the pretzels!). Their Beechworth Pale Ale has been around for as long as the brewery.

Bottle. Pours a cloudy gold, with frothy off-white head and strong lacing. Deliciously inviting aromas of passionfruit and grapefruit, with backnotes of honeydew melon, tropical fruits and caramel. Plenty of bittering hops throw off citrus and spice, without reaching the flavour profile you expect from the aroma. Quite a dry beer, with the balancing malt becoming more pronounced as it warms to about 7 degrees. A great food beer (went really well with a chorizo, chicken, prawn and squid paella).

Appearance: 4/5
Aroma: 8/10
Flavour: 7/10
Palate: 4/5
Overall: 13/20