On the 12th June I visited the Red Dragon Brewery in Cairns today. They are a place where you can brew your own beer, as well as a brewery. They don’t have a bar/ tasting room as yet, but are in the process of creating one. They brew beers for other bars and restaurants, most of which is relabelled with the other establishments label and name.
They gave me some of their beers to take away and review. Here they are:
Ginger Beer, 4.0% abv, this is a clear straw coloured ginger beer with a lovely ginger aroma and a wonderful ginger flavour that is not overwhelming and is still rather crisp. Very easy drinking.
Dragon Cider, 4.8% abv, this is a clear, rosy coloured drink with a mild sweet fruit aroma. It has a sweet, red apple taste that is very refreshing and not too sweet or too dry. Making it the perfect cider for knocking back on a hot afternoon.
Cairns Super Dry, 4.9% abv, and Cairns Super Dry, Midstrength, 3.4% abv, these beers are golden in colour and should both appeal to drinkers of mainstream beer of the dry style. They are smooth, crisp and dry on the finish. The full strength variety has a more malty flavour along with the extra alcohol, but the midstrength is very sessionable at 3.4% abv, making it a great beer for a hot afternoon.
Cairns Premium Lager, 4.7 % abv, this golden coloured beer is a very true to style Lager. It has a gentle initial malt taste and then a crisp, dry finish. Very easy to drink.
Outback Beer, 4.5% abv, this golden coloured beer is very much like a standard draught beer. It has an initial taste of sweet malt, a gentle bitterness and a crisp finish.
Cairns Old Boy, 4.3% abv, this dark amber coloured beer is of the dark Lager style. It has a lovely, sweet malt flavour with subtle hints of caramel and a dry finish. Quite delicious.
Wheats Dragon, 4.9% abv, this is an amber coloured beer with a caramel aroma. It has a wonderful smooth malt taste with hints of caramel that linger on the palate. Very nice indeed!
Whiplash Pale Ale, 4.9% abv, this is a golden coloured ale with a subtle sweet, citrus aroma. It is of the Australian Pale Ale style and has a mild initial palate of sweet malt and then very nice flavours of tropical fruit on a crisp, dry finish.
Down Under Pale Ale, 4.9% abv, this Australian Pale Ale has a golden colour and an aroma of sweet caramel malt. It is a malt driven Ale with great flavours of sweet caramel and a very mild bitterness. Lovely!
Stout, I am not sure of the alcohol content of this one as it came without the label. It is dark, as a stout should be, with a white creamy head and a sweet aroma of caramel and coffee. It has a wonderful smooth, rich, complex taste which fills the whole mouth with flavour. Delicious!!
Green Ant Imperial Stout, 8.5% abv, this is a stout that is made for the Green Ant Cantina. It is very dark with a brown creamy head and has a subtle aroma of roasted coffee. It is very smooth to drink with a complex malt flavour with hints of coffee and liquorice. Magnificent!!
All in all, the Red Dragon Brewery are producing some wonderful beers. They are true to their style and full of flavour. If you can’t find a beer in their range that you like then you don’t like beer. When their tasting room opens ( very soon) , I can see this brewery going from strength to strength as more people get the opportunity to try their range.