Beer La Sirène Oak Season

It's not that long ago that the vast majority of brewers in Australia doubted cans were the future for craft beer. Some were still investing more than a third of a million in bottling lines just a couple of years back. And yet here we are with a barrel-aged, blended wild ale inside them. What's more, it registers at not much weightier than a mid-strength.

Oak Season is a beer that punches above its weight, however, with much to be discovered within this palest of liquids. It possesses a creaminess of aroma and texture thanks to the oak and the mixed culture within; it's not far off an oaked chardonnay – at 4 percent ABV. In a can. Pretty radical, eh? There's plenty of vanilla, some orange citrus, a little stone fruit and a faint whiff of lingering funk, plus much in the way of: "How did we get here?"

James Smith