On August 16th I visited Castle Glen Brewery, Winery and Distillery near Stanthorpe, Queensland. It an unusual, interesting, castle set amongst vineyards. They have a Huge range of Liqueur, spirits, wines, ciders and beers. These are all made onsite by Cedric and bottled here in his unique bottles. The beers, ciders and liqueurs that I sampled were:
1. Pale Ale with Rye, 8.3% abv, this is a golden straw coloured Ale with a spicy fruit aroma. It has a sweet fruity flavour and then a nice hop bitter finish.
2. Black Granite, 10.3% abv, this is an amber coloured beer with a subtle citrus fruit aroma from the dry hopping carried out in the making of this one. It has a great malty initial taste gained from the double roasted malted barley used then a good citrus fruit finish.
3. Blackbrew, 10% abv, this a dark amber coloured beer made with single roasted malted barley with a nice, sweet malt aroma. It has a nice malty taste and then an almost tart finish.
4. Summit Stout, 7.2% abv, this is a dark brown Stout with a sweet aroma. It is made with German yeast and is a fairly light bodied stout. The taste is sweet and then with citrus flavours on the finish.
5. Granite Ale, 5.4% abv, this is a golden coloured Ale with sweet fruit aroma. It is made with Rye added to the barley and has a nice initial taste of malt and then a quite tart fruit finish.
6. Wheat Beer, 10.3% abv, this is a golden straw coloured beer with a subtle yeast and wheat aroma. It has a sweet wheaty flavour that lingers gently through the crisp, dry finish.
7. Cracked Corn, 7.3% abv, this an almost clear beer made from the leftover cracked corn from bourbon making. It has a taste of smooth malt and then a strong citrus lime finish.
8. Peated Barley Beer, 6.5% abv, this is a pale straw coloured beer with a sour, tart aroma. It has a sweet peaty flavour and then a tart, sour finish. An interesting one.
9. Half Roast, 5.0% abv, this is a golden coloured beer with a smoky cheese aroma. It has a nice smoked meat taste very much like a mild flavoured Rauch bier. Nice.
10. Brown Rice Gluten Free Beer, 4.0% abv, this is clear in appearance with the subtle sweet aroma. It has a very watery taste with just a very slight sweetness. Not for me.
11. Ginger Brew, 8.8% abv, this is a cloudy ginger beer with a wonderful sweet ginger aroma. It has a strong ginger flavour that is smooth yet with a spicy hot finish.
12. Blackberry and Plum Hard Cider, 9.8% abv, this is a wonderful dark plum colour and a sweet fruit aroma. It has a fantastic taste of sweet berries and then a delicious smooth plum finish. Very nice!
13. Apple Cider Hard, 10.5% abv, this is a golden coloured cider with a sweet apple aroma. It is made with mainly Granny Smiths apples and some Red Delicious thrown in. The taste of sweet apples and then a gentle general fruit flavour.
14. Pear and Raspberry Cider, 10.5% abv, this is a light pink coloured drink with a sweet raspberry aroma. It has a super sweet pear taste and then transitions into a gentle tart raspberry finish.
15. Queensland Delight, 25.0% abv, this is a rum, chocolate and coffee liqueur. It has a dark brown colour and a lovely smooth chocolate and coffee flavour. Very good!
16. Musk Stick Liqueur, 25.0% abv, this is a bright pink coloured Liqueur with a sweet musk lolly aroma and it tastes just like drinking a musk stick. Very sweet.
The beers that I sampled were all bottle matured and made in small batches of 700 bottles. This means that the range can change regularly as batches finish and recipes are tweaked. Cedric also produces many more fruit ciders, wines, spirits and liqueurs that I did not try. With the huge selection on offer there is a good chance that should be something to meet every taste.