Recently, I wrote a piece on the Sabie Brewery being bought over by Hollow Hops Brewery. After the visit, I took home some of their beers, and in this #BeerSaturday beer review, I will be drinking a trio of beers from this brewery. I love the brewery's creativity when it comes to the labelling and names of their beers.
On the menu for the day is: Glynn's Gold Golden Ale, Safari Gold Marula Infused Blonde Ale, and the Cockney Liz Wild Card (English Bitter).
I loved the visit to the brewery, and I really enjoyed their Dravidian IPA, so I had some high hopes for these beers...
Sadly, they did not really impress that much. Beyond the very impressive art, names, and backstories, these three beers left much to hope for, but they did quench my thirst after the jogs!
Please join me as I go through my drinking notes of these beers!
Glynn's Gold Golden Ale, and Safari Gold Marula Infused Blonde Ale
After working on my PhD for the whole day, I went for a jog, and then I needed to drink away the stress from the work.
I immediately went to these two beers, two light ales, one a golden ale and the other a local-style blonde ale infused with marula (a local indigenous fruit).
The Glynn's Gold golden ale is named after the person who found Sabie, the area where the beer is brewed in, but also the gold he found in the area! What better name to give a beer than this!
The Safari Gold, a blonde ale infused with the marula fruit, is a homage to local tree, which is known for the fruit fermenting on the ground. This causes animals who eat the fruits to get intoxicated - just Google some of the videos, it is really funny!
The beer poured a very light color, and without much head. This was characteristic of all the beers, none of them really had a good head and the carbonation was very low. The pour released a very yeasty smell (which I liked). I am sure this was due to the beers being bottle-conditioned.
Unfortunately, the beer was very light, I could not get much on the first sip. What a disappointment really. There was a bit of bitterness, very refreshing though, but due to the low alcohol, nothing really "hit" me. As I drank it, and it warmed up a bit, the alcoholic taste became more pronounced, but nothing besides that.
This beer poured a bit darker. The same pleasant yeasty note hit my nose as I poured it. But again, after that, there was nothing there. I could get no real smell from the glass. The first taste was very refreshing, like the previous ale, but it did not taste anything like a Belgian blond ale. (I have ranted so much about this issue, I am not going to do it again!)
As the beer warmed up a bit, I got a more maltier note than the other ale. It only then became a more pronounced beer. But again, I was a bit disappointed, with the infused fruit I thought we might get much more fruity notes and esters, with yeasty malty goodness, but nothing of this was realised...
Cockney Liz Wild Card (English Bitter)
This was literally a wild card! It was a rotational beer, one they did not always brew. This time around, it was an English bitter (I am not sure about the ABV or IBUs).
The first smell after the pour was pleasant, sour, and it reminded me of my first homebrewed ales. Soon after, I got the same yeasty notes as with the other beers.
The first taste was incredibly sweet, and there was no lacing and no head. I wonder if they sold be beer too soon, with the residual sugars not fermented through.
Underneath the bitterness (this beer is much more bitter than the others) I found a delightful maltiness. But after a couple of sips, I realised that this was actually a very boring beer. There were no strong hoppy notes/flavours, nor too much maltiness. But it had that similar tasting grassy hoppy note - I suspect that they were using, I think, Perle hops. If I remember correctly, these were the hops I used for my IPAs, and it gave that grassy note.
Postscriptum, or Is there something as a bad beer?
I am reminded by the quote, even bad pizza is still pizza. But does this translate to beer?
Sometimes beers disappoint. I wanted these beers to be more than they were.
In the end, I still enjoyed them, and they were refreshing after the jogs, and they took my mind off of the PhD. So, that is a plus.
Either way, beer is beer, they say!
Enjoy a cold one.
The drunken-tasting notes are my own, and they might differ for you. Take them with a sip of beer. The photographs are also my own, taken with my Nikon D300.
Inside the Philosopher's Beer Fridge
| Bavik | Brews: |
|---|---|
| 🍺 Super Wit |
| Belgian Beers | Brews: |
|---|---|
| 🍺 Duvel Tripel Hop Citra IPA | |
| 🍺 Maredsous Bruin | |
| 🍺 Trappistes Rochefort 8 |
| Boet Beer Brewing Co | Brews: |
|---|---|
| 🍺 Boet Beer Lager | |
| 🍺 Boet Beer Easy Blonde | |
| 🍺 Boet Beer Pale Ale |
| Cederberg Brewery | Brews: |
|---|---|
| 🍺 Voertsek IPA |
| Cape Collective | Brews: |
|---|---|
| 🍺 Session IPA |
| Clarens Brewery | Brews (All Brews Reviewed in this post): |
|---|---|
| 🍺 IPA | |
| 🍺 Hazelnut Brown Ale: Clarens Goes Nuts | |
| 🍺 Stout | |
| 🍺 Tondon Pilsner | |
| 🍺 Village Lager | |
| 🍺 Weiss | |
| 🍺 English Ale | |
| 🍺 Blonde | |
| 🍺 Mulled Apple Cider | |
| 🍺 Red Ale |
| Darling Brew | Brews: |
|---|---|
| 🍺 Warlord Imperial IPA | |
| 🍺 Arrow Head Russian Imperial Stout | |
| 🍺 Long Claw Modern Saison |
| Devil's Peak Beer Company | Brews: |
|---|---|
| 🍺 Jucy Lucy Hazy IPA | |
| 🍺 King's Blockhouse IPA |
| Drakensberg Brewery | Brews (All Brews Reviewed in this post): |
|---|---|
| 🍺 Cathedral Peak Pilsner | |
| 🍺 Champagne Castle Blonde Ale | |
| 🍺 Giant's Castle Stout | |
| 🍺 Amphitheater Red Ale |
| Hey Joe Brewing Co | Brews: |
|---|---|
| 🍺 Session IPA |
| Jack Black Brewing Co | Brews: |
|---|---|
| 🍺 Skeleton Coast IPA | |
| 🍺 Butcher's Block Pale Ale |
| Route 96 Brewery | Brews (All Brews Reviewed in this post): |
|---|---|
| 🍺 Zamalek Lager | |
| 🍺 Summer Blond | |
| 🍺 Africa Pilsner | |
| 🍺 Stout |
| Sabie Brewing Co/Hops Hollow Sabie Brewery | Brews: |
|---|---|
| 🍺 Dravidian Draught IPA |
| Saggy Stone Brewing Co | Brews: |
|---|---|
| 🍺 Bear Jam - Session IPA | |
| 🍺 Pale Weizenbock | |
| 🍺 Rocky River Pale Ale | |
| 🍺 Bomb Squad Lager |
| That Brewing Co. | Brews (All Brews Reviewed in this post): |
|---|---|
| 🍺 That Blond Ale | |
| 🍺 That Subtropical Ale (Delicious Monster) | |
| 🍺 That American Pale Ale (APA) | |
| 🍺 'el Juicy IPA | |
| 🍺 VESS KISS IPA |
I'm not really a beer drinker, but your photos are absolutely sublime, makes me want to have a beer!
Have a wonderful weekend @fermentedphil
Thank you so much! I must admit, the lighting when taking these photographs were just perfect. Textbook stuff. Thanks again, and I hope the weekend was good!
Exquisite photography with the beers, good labeling to sell what sounds not too impressive beer.
Have not seen this brand, always nice to know.
I am not sure how far they have distributed and sold. But the brewery is a fun place to hang out a bit and drink a beer or three. But yes, the labelling is much better than the beers, sadly.
Thank you so much @ewkaw! Keep well.
I definitely think there are bad beers. Doesn't look like these are them though! I definitely prefer my bold malts and hops but do have an appreciation for lighter golden and pale ales. Probably would have gone for the Bitter myself but it is disappointing it was not as good as every ESB I have ever had.
That seems like a solid brewery with the styles and the design.
Thanks so much! True, and the same here, I always go for the heavy pale ales, IPAs, and stuff like that. Or just generally higher ABV beers as they tend to be more full-bodied beers. These light beers are excellent after a jog and on a warm day though, as you cannot really appreciate a big and full beer when you just want something to cool you down.