On Saturday the 2nd of December I visited The Ekhidna Brewery within the Ekhinda Winery in McLaren Vale, South Australia. This brewery was started by Matt, the owner and wine maker, to attempt to fill a hole in the market, by becoming the first venue in the area with food, wine and beer available.
The beers that I sampled were:
1. Wheat, 5.2% abv, this has a golden straw colour and a very subtle wheat and yeast aroma. It has a mild sweet wheat flavour on a crisp finish.
2. IPA, 7.4% abv, this has a golden colour and no noticeable aroma. It has a initial malt taste and then a very slight fruitiness on a very gentle bitter finish. Rather bland for an IPA.
3. Dark Ale, 8.8% abv, this has a amber brown colour and a subtle malt aroma. It has a nice sweet malt flavour of caramel and toffee.
4. 50/50, 5.2% abv, this is half Wheat beer and half ginger beer with a straw colour and no noticeable aroma. It has a sweet ginger spice taste.
5. Ginger, 5.2% abv, this ginger beer has a hazy appearance and no noticeable aroma. It has a strong, sweet ginger spice flavour.
The Ekhidna Winery/ Brewery seems to do well with their wines and food. However, apart from the Dark Ale, the beers lack flavour and aroma. I don’t know if this is deliberate to try to appeal to mainstream beer drinkers or just the way they are produced, but they did not do it for me.
