Both are 5% ABV and the strikingly yellow one on the left is Earl Grey Pale Ale. They've done one of these before, back in 2019, and I enjoyed it more than most beers made with the citric tea that I've tried. It wasn't as shockingly pale as this one, though. Still, it's not thin: the substantial gravity sees to that. There's quite a welcome smoothness, in fact, with a gently cleansing sparkle. I couldn't taste tea, but it is citric, with a burst of fresh and summery lemon. That could easily be from hops alone so novelty-seekers may be disappointed with this. Don't expect any spicy, oily bergamot or floral whatnots. While lacking complexity, it's still a very tasty beer, and that's all that really matters. A nice nod to sunnier days ahead.
And speaking of sunny, I think Australian Sparkling Ale is a new style for the brewery. With scintillating imagination they've called theirs Fair Dinkum. It's a similar copper colour to the Cooper's archetype, though without an iota of haze. Having only experienced Cooper's Sparkling in bottle-conditioned form, I feel haze is a requisite. Maybe it's a different creature on draught. The aroma offers dry cereal, with a suggestion of sweet fruit: plum and sultana. I thought there would be a goodly measure of hop character in the flavour, but while there's a light bitterness, little more than a mildly dry rasp, that just feeds into the impression it gives of a saison. On top of the dry base there's soft peach and pear, finishing on a bite of black pepper. It's not what I expected, but it's still pretty decent, and makes up for any complexity missing from the previous beer. I'm tempted now to pick up a bottle of Cooper's to see how close they got.
Overall, it's quite a basic start to the year at the overgrown homebrew kit in St James's Gate. I'm hearing that things of a botanical nature are in the offing for the coming weeks. I will, of course, be reporting back on that when it materialises.
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