Otway Estate Summer Ale

With Summer approaching I figured it was a good time to sample a beer called "Summer Ale".

When I first poured this beer there wasn't a lot of activity in the glass and very little head. In fact it looked flat. I am not sure if it was due to poor storage (even though it was in the fridge the whole time) or if its normal for the beer - I only had a single bottle. Although the colour was a wonderful golden straw colour the complete lack of activity has caused me to dock a few points

On the aroma front there was a light malt sweetness that was rounded off by Pineapple and possible a little passionfruit. Not a very strong smell, but sufficient when you raised the glass to your nose.

The initial flavours are quite sweet and lack a lot of complexity and most of the action is in the aftertaste. It didn't smell like there would be a lot of bitterness, but there is a fantastic tartness to the aftertaste that reminds me of a Hefeweizen.

Overall an excellent refreshing drink, that if it were carbonated would have been rated much higher. I hope it was purely a one-off bad bottle and I'd like to try it again in the future if I can get my hands on another bottle.

If you have easy access to it, I suggest buying a six-pack for the next BBQ you are going to as it seemed like a very sessionable beer that is quite refreshing.