Bottle. Hazy gold with a modest white head. Aroma of hay, bread, meadows, a little spice. Creamy mouthfeel. Taste is moderately sweet with restrained bitterness and a little lager sourness. Full of light bread and hay. Clean and fresh with a nice mouthfeel it ticks all the boxes for the sort of beer it is.

Bottle. Brown with an inch of beige head. Aroma of chocolate, toast, grass, a wisp of smoke. An out-of-place banana note is there too. Taste has some caramel sweetness and apples with insistent but gentle drying roasted bitterness. Nice creamy texture with low carbonation. Alcohol is not noticeable. The fruit doesn’t really belong but the mouthfeel is lovely and it’s tasty and drinkable. Won me over after a dodgy start.

From a 330ml bottle on 4/5/2011. Pours pretty much black with a good tan head. Has a pleasant bready, roasty, fruity aroma. The taste is impressive - a lovely balance of roasted malt, dark chocolate and dark fruits, with a medium bitter finish. The texture is slightly creamy and the carbonation is spot on. An excellent, beautifully balanced Aussie stout.

Bottle. Mahogany with a lovely beige head that lasts and laces spectacularly. Aroma is vinous with dark berries and weeds, then beer-like notes creep in - caramel, grass, a wisp of smoke, vanilla. Taste is very complex and again a mix of wine and beer notes - dark berries, chocolate, vanilla, smoke, toasted malt. Nothing really dominates and it’s just mouthfilling. It’s very nicely done, but I appreciated it more than liked it.

Pours dark amber wtih a small head.Nose shows sweet nutty malt, some caramel and a little banana. Quite light.Flavours include more of the same, but then its all taken over by solvent-like alcohol.Carbonation is kept moderate, suits the beer well.Good try at an obscure style but not quite working.

Bottle. Chestnut brown with a light beige head that rapidly retreats to the rim. Aroma of raisins, dried peaches, dark sugars and grass. Taste is mildly sweet with the dried fruit, grapes and caramel before a crisp grassy finish with some herbal notes. Very slightly syrupy, moderately carbonated. Subtle and interesting malt, good balance - but not really my sort of thing.

Pours copper with a small head.Nose shows fruity and floral hops (lots of orange) along with slightly toasty malt and hints of coconut. Very sweet, later on some spicy cloves show.Similar flavours with lots more orange peel. Some soft alcohol shows, merging with the sweetness.Carbonation is distractingly high.

500ml bottle. Clear reddish amber with a small light beige head that disappears. Peppery aroma with some light honey, banana, lemon and flowers. Taste is a little sweet with some caramel and rye bite and depth. Almost hot black pepper at the finish, but no real bitterness. Don’t quite know what to make of it - apart from the spice it’s rather one-note; but that malty/ rye note grew in complexity as I drank it. Interesting.

500ml bottle, 10C. Dark brown with a beige head that retreats to about a cm leaving sticky lace. Smells of toasted hazelnuts, dried fruit, grass, a little chocolate. Sweet and slightly syrupy with rich caramel, raisins, candied dates and a touch of roasted as well as hop bitterness. Balanced chocolate finish. In the end I wasn’t disappointed that it’s rather lighter than the doppelbock the name suggests.

Pours very dark copper with ruby hints and a creamy off-white head quickly fading leaving nice lacing.Nose is rich and dark, with loads of sweet bready malt and plenty of melanoidin characters. Restrained spicy hops also show along iwth soft molasses and nutty hints.Flavours are more roasty but still quite sweet. Charred oak mixes with sweet bready malt and finishes with a big roasty bitterness that suggests a higher alcohol content than is actually present.Soft carbonation suits the style. Body is quite rich.