Holgate Brewhouse Wild Red Ale

Style
Flanders Red Style Ale
ABV
6.0%

At March's Good Beer Week Gala Showcase, a brewer who's never shy with his opinions approached with what can only be described as the zeal of a zealot – yes, that much zeal.

"Have you tried the Flanders Red yet?" he demanded.

"The Boatrocker one? Yeah, it's good but pretty straight up and down compared to some of the beers they've done."

"No! Holgate. They've got a few bottles under their bar. It's probably the best Australian beer I've had in a year."

Seventeen seconds later: "I hear you've got something special under the bar..."

It's fair to say the zealot's zeal was well placed. Were one to be given a glass of Holgate's Wild Red, their take on the Flanders red style of beer made famous by Rodenbach, and a glass of said Belgian brewer's iconic Grand Cru you'd be hard pressed to pick a favourite. The local version – the result of them ageing and souring a rich red ale in a variety of barrels, then sampling from each over time, working out which were the best, then blending them – is genuinely fantastic. It achieves the complexity that makes the style, and not just in combining the sweet from the malts, the sour from the bacteria, the character of the oak and a balsamic like acidity through both flavour and aroma; they've achieved complexity of texture too.

If you care even a little about trying the best beers to come out of Australia, you should make sure you get your hands on one of the 1,200 bottles (not beers as we originally wrote...) they've released, pour yourself and people you really like a glass, let it settle a few minutes like a red wine, then sip, savour and cross fingers they can recreate it again in the future.

Published April 22, 2016

Name
Holgate Brewhouse
Address

79 High Street
Woodend
VIC 3442

Phone
Hotel, Bar and Restaurant: (03) 5427 2510 Brewery Sales: (03) 54 273 522
Open Hours

11am to late

Tours

Sat & Sun: 3pm
Book via website

Black Bad Boy Bao 2024 B
CBCo Goldy

More from Holgate Brewhouse

Holgate Brewhouse x Molly Rose Entwined
Mixed Ferment Rye Saison
5.1%
Holgate Brewhouse Hazed As Bro NZ Hazy IPA
NZ Hazy IPA
6.0%
Holgate Brewhouse Mango Passionfruit Sour
Fruited Sour
6.0%
Holgate Brewhouse Premium Pilsner
German Pilsner
5.0%
Holgate Brewhouse Millennium Falcon 2023
Imperial IPA
9.0%
Holgate Brewhouse Hefe Weissbier
Hefeweizen
5.1%
Holgate Brewhouse Breakfast Club Non-Alc Lager
Non-Alc New World Lager
<0.5%
Holgate Brewhouse Cherry Sour
Cherry Gose
4.5%
Holgate Brewhouse Mountain Mist
Hazy Pale Ale
5.0%
Holgate Brewhouse Draught Lager (cans)
Helles Lager
4.3%
Holgate Brewhouse Mt Macedon Pale Ale (2022 On)
Pale Ale
4.5%
Holgate Brewhouse Citrus IPA
Citrus White IPA
6.0%
Holgate Brewhouse Empress 2022
Imperial Mocha Porter
10.0%
Holgate Brewhouse Imperial Stout 2022
Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout
10.0%
Holgate Brewhouse Gluten Free Low Carb Tropical Pale
GF, Low Carb Tropical Pale
4.9%
Holgate Brewhouse Explorer
Lager
4.0%
Holgate Brewhouse Big Pash
Passionfruit Sour
7.0%
Holgate Brewhouse Wild Red Ale & Sour Brett Ale 2021
Wild Red Ale & Brett Pale Ale
Both 7.0%
Holgate Brewhouse Campfire Red IPA & Double Stout
Red IPA & Double Stout
7.0% & 8.5%
Holgate Brewhouse Millennium Falcon 2021
Imperial IPA
9.0%