On Friday the 1st of December I visited Red Poles restaurant and art gallery in McLaren Vale, South Australia. This is the cellar door and tasting room for Vale Brewery. The brewery itself is located in nearby Willunga.
Although, the brewery was recently purchased by Bickford’s they are intending to continue to make the same beers as before the change of ownership. To this end they have retained the head brewer, Jeff Wright, so that consistency can be maintained.
The brewery is very community minded and regularly supports local events.
They have a good domestic market and are also exporting their beers to China.
The brewery has two ranges of beers, one under the Vale label and one under the Fox Hat label.
The beers that I sampled were:
Vale Brewery Beers.
1. Vale Lager, 4.5% abv, this has a golden straw colour and malt aroma. It has a sweet malt flavour and a clean, crisp finish.
2. Australian Pale Ale, 4.5% abv, this has a golden straw colour and a citrus and tropical fruit aroma. It has a sweet fruity flavour of citrus, peaches and passionfruit on a crisp finish.
3. American Amber Lager, 4.5% abv, this has a copper colour and a malty caramel and coffee aroma. It has a lovely sweet maltiness with hints of caramel, chocolate and coffee. Nice!
4. American Pale Ale, 5.5% abv, this has a golden colour and a fruity aroma of stone fruit, citrus and pine. It has a well balanced sweet malt initial taste and then a fruitiness of passionfruit and stone fruit on a gentle bitter finish.
5. Vale Mid Coast, 3.5% abv, this is a Bright Ale with a golden colour and a citrus aroma. It has a sweet citrus fruit flavour on a gentle bitter finish.
Fox Hat Beers
1. Lusty Lager, 6.0% abv, this has a golden straw colour and subtle fruit aroma of apricot and melon. It has a sweet buttery malt taste and then a nice fruitiness of tropical fruit flavours on a gentle bitter finish.
2. Phat Mongrel, 6.5% abv, this is an Oatmeal Stout with a black colour and a roasted coffee malt aroma. It has a smooth mouth feel and a strong malt flavour of dark chocolate and espresso on a nice, gentle bitter finish.
3. Metric IPA, 7.0% abv, this is a West Coast US style with a golden colour and a subtle fruit and pine aroma. It has a strong, sweet fruitiness on a generous, resinous hop bitter finish.
4. Red Pelt, 7.8% abv, this is an Indian Red Ale with a golden amber colour and a subtle sweet fruit aroma. It has a sweet malt taste and then a fruity flavour on a good hop bitterness.
5. Full Mongrel, 10.0% abv, 100 IBU, this is a Russian Imperial Stout with a black colour and a dark creamy head. The aroma is of roasted malt with a slightly burnt coffee and chocolate tone to it. It has a nice smooth mouth feel and a strong, rich flavour with tastes of chocolate, coffee, spice and fruit on a slightly bitter, boozy, warming finish. Delicious!
I enjoyed both of the ranges of beers produced by Vale Brewery. The Fox Hat selection have a stronger alcohol content and a fuller flavour than the standard Vale selection, but all of the beers are very well made and taste great.
I would like to thank Roz and Lilly for their hospitality when I visited Red Poles to try the beers.
