Eighteen years is a long time. But that’s how long Burleigh Brewing have been around.
Understandably, the brewery’s lineup has changed over the years for various reasons, but for their birthday they re-released five beers from their earlier days in 500ml biggie bottles.
I’ll admit I haven’t been drinking Burleigh beers since they first launched; I probably first encountered them around 2010, so some of their beers implanted themselves in my memory in my earlier days drinking craft beer. And since Burleigh Brewing have taken a trip down memory lane, I figured I would as well.
Duke Premium was Burleigh Brewing’s first beer. At the time, it wasn’t an easy sell: a European-style lager that cost more per drink than commercial lagers and didn’t have big TV ads? No thank you. But, as Burleigh gained momentum, punters discovered Duke Premium for what it is: a great pilsner. And, like many great beers, it balances flavours and textures in a way that makes it something of a paradox: a nice, full body … yet with a crisp dry finish … yet with some golden-syrup-on-toast sweetness … yet characterised by a thwack of floral bitterness. Very drinkable, but also quite thinkable.
My key memory: I’m actually not sure I drank the Duke Premium back in the day, even though I have a photo from 2012 of my mates drinking it at a café in Burleigh – I was more a Duke Helles guy myself.
I first got into craft beer through malty styles, and My Wife’s Bitter was there for me right at the beginning. Lovely caramel and toffee character, and if you have the patience to let the beer warm up a little (you should), these will open up more and more. I was surprised to find it drier than I remember, but that’s exactly what you want in an ESB if you’re planning to sink a few – or even work your way easily through a nice big bottle.
My key memory: Drinking these at my mate’s wedding. A very welcome change to the macro lagers on offer at most other weddings I’d been to!
Our original write-up for HEF begins: “It seems that pretty much every microbrewery in Oz has some form of wheat beer in their range…”
You definitely wouldn't say that today. We’ve talked about how no one in Australia seems to drink wheat beers. And so HEF, with its soft, cloudy pour,* big candied banana on the nose, and bread and baking spice joining the banana on the palate, never gained much traction – even though it took out gold at the presigious 2012 World Beer Cup. It may not have got the popularity it deserved in Australia. But that never stopped HEF from being a damn fine beer.
My key memory: For a few months in 2011, my Facebook profile picture was me wearing the moustache from a Hef label. It’s possible I couldn’t grow a mo at the time…
Before collab beers were a dime a dozen, there was Black Giraffe. At the time, if you’d mentioned “dark lager” to an Aussie, you’d probably be met with: “What, like drinking a XXXX in a blackout?” But Burleigh not only brewed a dark lager, they stuffed it full of locally-roasted coffee from nearby Zaraffa’s. It was a seasonal release that changed a little from year to year, but at the time my palate was fairly immature and I didn’t pick up anything other than coffee. It’s great having the chance to revisit it and experience more of the nuance going on here.
This time around, the coffee wasn’t even the first aroma I picked up: vanilla cola beat it to the punch, although smooth coffee and sweet cream followed in close behind. My first real hit of coffee was when I gave in to the temptation and scooped up some of the thick foam with my finger before I took a sip; that foam was bitter espresso all the way.** The liquid itself played with rich coffee and bitter cocoa, with the taste bringing less sweetness than the smell, but adding a dusting of chocolate powder to make up for it.
My key memory: I’m what they call a slow adopter, and my friends got into both beer and coffee before I did. But they raved about this beer to me and got me to try it, and I wasn’t angry about it.
Finally, we get to FIGJAM IPA, and here we need to begin with my key memory. I was at Archive Beer Boutique drinking an amber ale, and my friend ordered a beer called FIGJAM. It sounded nice and sweet and easygoing – it has jam in the name! – so I asked him for a sip. I’d never tasted an IPA before, and hoooooboy. The bitterness just about burned a hole in my tongue. I imagine my face looked like my dog’s face that time he ate vindaloo.
While my tastebuds have changed and are no longer cowering in terror, FIGJAM is still a bitter beast. But it’s a lovely earthy, nutty bitterness, and it’s accompanied by caramel, some resin, background pawpaw and mango, citrus pith…
Was that all in there back when I first tasted it??
Mick Wüst
* Obligatory reference to hefeweizens being the OG hazies.
** Not a part of most conventional tasting notes, perhaps. But do you really come here for “conventional”?
Published November 19, 2024 2024-11-19 00:00:00
