On July 30th I visited the Bargara Brewing Company in the heart of Bundaberg. They have been around since 2014 and in that time they have established a quite extensive range of beers. I spoke with Andrew, the head brewer, and his passion and enthusiasm for producing great craft beers that are true to the style but still individual was very evident. The venue is great and they also serve food, the pizzas were delicious. My thanks go to Lauren for the excellent service.
The beers that I sampled were:
Turtle Lager, 3.5% abv, this is a straw coloured European style Lager that is very light, smooth and crisp. Easy drinking and true to the style.
Thirsty Turtle, 4.5% abv, this is a light straw coloured Czech style Lager that has a subtle malt aroma. It has a sweet taste and is very refreshing and crisp.
Hip Hop 2.0, 3.5% abv, this session IPA has a straw colour and a sweet fruit aroma. It has a wonderful fruity taste of apricot and a gentle bitter finish.
Drunk Fish, 4.5% abv, this is an Australian style Pale Ale that has a straw colour and a subtle citrus aroma. It has an initial sweet malt taste with hints of nuts followed by a tropical fruitiness then a good hop bitterness on the finish. Very nice!
Rusty Roo, 5.5% abv, this is an Irish Red Ale that has a dark amber colour and a malty caramel aroma. It has a wonderful complex malt flavour with hints of toffee, caramel and subtle coffee and then a nice hop bitter finish. Excellent!!
Funky Pumpkin, 4.8% abv, this is an amber coloured Spiced Ale with a nice toffee apple aroma. Nutmeg, cinnamon and star anise are used in this brew. It has beautiful toffee malt flavours with very smooth, mild spice notes. Yummy! It reminded me strongly of the US style of spiced pumpkin beer.
Black Tail, 4.7% abv, this is a midnight black Stout that is available both as a standard CO2 pour and as a Nitro pour. First the standard pour, this has a wonderful roasted coffee aroma and a smokey malt flavour with a lovely espresso bitter finish.
The nitro pour gives off the same aroma, however, it has a stronger espresso bitterness and roasted malt flavour as well as the expected smooth mouth feel associated with the nitrogen.
Convict, 6.9% abv, this is an original English style IPA with an amber colour and citrus and malt aromas. It has a great, strong, sweet, complex malt palate and then transitions to a fruity hop bitterness on the finish. A true malt driven IPA and quite delicious!!
Ginger Ninja, 4.8% abv, this is a ginger beer with an amber colour and strong ginger and citrus aromas. It has a sweet malt and ginger taste with an interesting spiciness. Very, very nice!
Great Barrier Reef, 3.5% abv, this is a session IPA that is golden in colour with subtle malt and fruity hop aromas. It is made using all Australian ingredients and is mild tasting and smooth drinking with a gentle hop bitter finish. It also gives back to nature with 50% of the profits from this beer going to help the Reef.
Phat Heffa, 5.4% abv, this is an unfiltered Hefeweizen that is golden coloured with an aroma of sweet bananas. It has a wonderful banana taste, from the Belgian yeast used, with a lovely sweet wheaty finish. Quite delicious and very true to the style.
Goldihops, 5.6% abv, this is an Australian style golden Ale that has a dark golden colour and sweet tropical fruit aroma. It is very well balanced with an initial taste of sweet malt and then a gentle hop bitter finish. Very good and very easy drinking.
SMASH Pils, 4.7% abv, this is a single malt, single hop, low gluten Pilsner with a straw colour and a subtle sweet tropical aroma. It has a mild malt flavour and then a lingering but gentle bitterness on the finish. Very nice indeed. Available in cans only.
Hard Apple Cider, 4.8% abv, this is a clear, straw coloured Cider with a sweet green apple aroma. It has a very light, semi sweet apple taste and is quite refreshing and very easy drinking.
Hop Chief, 6.9% abv, this is an American style IPA that is a dark golden colour with a sweet citrus fruit hop aroma. It has a sweet, complex, malt initial palate and then a BIG fruity, lingering hop bitter finish. A true hop driven American IPA with 60 IBU. Very true to the style and quite delicious.
I really enjoyed the beers available at the Bargara Brewing Company. They have an extensive range that should cover all tastes in beer drinking and satisfy even the most picky of drinkers. Well worth a visit!!