Coopers Original Pale Ale

Brewed by Coopers Brewery
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Regency Park, South Australia, Australia

Hazy straw colour, zero head, skunky enough aroma and a bitter - dry flavour, nothing to write home about, shame on you Australia!

I have always heard that Coopers was the best thing to come out of Australia. Well, this isn’t really a shining example of great beer. In fact, this beer was quite insipid yet very drinkable. I could see myself throwing 2 or 3 of these down my neck before boredom sets in. Overall this is a decent pale ale but I would advise you to find something else.

Pours hazy straw-tea color into the glass, with dark sandy sediment "floaties". A biscuit nose, with earthen hops. The flavors are quite subdued, disappointing actually. There remains no biscuit, but introduces a yeast strain with tiny dough notes, building to a dry-hopped finish. The finish peppers slightly as doughy yeast lingers, but it doesn’t make up for the lack of body in the brew. Dry and pale, the mouthfeel is zesty, thin, and just "this side" of overcarbonated. The body is virtually nonexistent, lacking of substance. This goes down ok, I guess, but lacks any real contingencies to make it a "next-tier" offering.

Pours a slightly hazy deep gold with a thick white head. Some of the same characteristics of Cooper’s lager: same bready malt nose, a touch of fruitiness. A bit better than the lager, but still not great.

Botttle. Prettey and astonishingly creamy white medium high head. Hazy orange head. Hoppy fruity and well balanced low hoppy aroma. Very much, or should I wirte heavily, or what should I write to indicate that thiis in fact too carbonated, in my taste. it completely dominates the otherwise fruity (peaches and orangees) flavor. For the Germans: Sprudelwasser mit Alkohol. For the rest of the world: Bwadr.

12oz bottle. Hazy gold beer with a small white head that drops to a cap and then hangs around for a while and laces just a bit. Aroma is mild musty hops. Flavor is watery with some hop character and a bit of bitterness on the finish. Dry and seriously lacking in malt. Still drinkable and ok, but couldn’t be considered any better than mediocre.

Bottle. Pours pale copper with a smallish, quickly fading white layer. The aroma is that earthy, menthol, silightly bile-like character that seems normal in the Coopers’ ales I’ve tried so far. Flavor is a brisk mineral hop bite blendly brightly with a clean caramel malt backbone; finishes dry finish. Not exactly the fragrant beauty I usually value in this sort of beer, but it’s actually a lovely tasting, fresh, and very well balanced beer. And even after traveling around the world this is in nicer shape than many of the bottles of stuff I buy here that are brewed with in an hour’s drive.

hoppy, bready aroma; white, disappearing head; tastes of hops with a slight finish of malt--not much here; I found yeast bits disconcerting