On August 18th I visited Four Hearts Brewing Company at the Pumpyard Bar & Brewery in Ipswich, Queensland. They have a great bar/brewery venue and produce a good selection of beers. The beers that I sampled were:
1. Ipswich Challenger, 2.9% abv, this is a light Ale with a golden colour and has a subtle fruit aroma. The taste is initially of gentle malt and this is followed by a strong hop bitter finish.
2. Slip and Slide, 4.0% abv, this is a golden Ale with a sweet malty aroma of caramel. It has a very well balanced flavour that starts with a good maltiness and then transitions into a smooth, gentle fruit hops finish. Nice!
3. New World Pilsner, 5.0 % abv, this is a seasonal brew with a straw colour and a subtle citrus hop aroma. It has bitter/sweet initial flavour and then a fruitiness on a bitter finish.
4. Pale Ale, 4.8% abv, this is a golden coloured Ale with an aroma of grapefruit. It is full of flavour, starting sweet, then fruity and finally a healthy hop bitter finish.
5. Red IPA, 7.0% abv, this amber coloured IPA has a strong sweet tropical fruit smell and a wonderful sweet malty initial taste and then a fruitiness that lingers into a good hop bitterness. Very good!!
6. Coal Miners Stout, 5.5% abv, this is a black coloured stout with an aroma of roasted malt and espresso. It has a smooth full mouth feel with strong flavours of dark chocolate, smoke and bitter coffee. Lovely!
7. Ben’s Extra Pale Lager, 4.3% abv, this is a collaboration brew with Ben the winner of a Brewoomba competition in Toowoomba. The Lager is a golden straw colour and has a gentle fruit aroma. It has a good sweet malt initial taste and then a gentle fruit flavour on a crisp dry finish.
8. Raspberry Saison, 6.0% abv, this is a pink coloured Saison with a sweet berry aroma. It has an initial sweetness and then a tart raspberry finish. Very good.
9. Smore Than A Feeling, 9.2% abv, this is a black coloured milk stout with a sweet malt aroma with hints of coffee. It has a wonderful strong, rich malt backbone with tastes of biscuit, coffee and liquorice on a mild bitterness. Delicious!
Four Hearts Brewing is making some great beers. I thought that their range of beers was consistently good and true to the style across the selection with a few lovely standouts in the Stouts and the Red IPA. Worth a visit!