There’s a rocky reef off Point Lookout called Manta Bommie. It’s considered one of the top ten dive sites in Australia, since it’s packed to the gills with marine life. Not just manta rays, but also shovelnose rays, stingrays, eagle rays, leopard sharks, wobbegong sharks, turtles… it’s a mad house down there. And named for this complex place adjacent to Point Lookout is Manta Dark Lager, a complex cousin to the brewery’s pilsner (Point Lookout Lager).
Manta was the first beer Straddie put through their pilot brewery, and they haven’t changed the recipe since - they nailed it right from the start. While other dark lagers (like schwarzbiers) are often all about the malts, this Czech-style dark lager holds its spicy Saaz hops at the centre, with a slightly sweet caramel and a dark toast thread hovering at the perimeter. It’s a lovely deep reddish-brown, but if you close your eyes this beer is remarkably similar to the brewery’s Czech-style pilsner, with the main difference being the way the dark malt character rounds off the edges of the pepperiness.
Mick Wüst
