Hallertau Copper Tart Red Ale Review

21 May 2017 - Best Beer HQ

Hallertau Copper Tart Red Ale Review

I bought this bottle of Hallertau Copper Tart Red Ale to share with a mate, but I’m a really shitty friend, so I’m just going to drink it all myself and write about it…

ABV: 4.2%

IBU: 25

Blurb on the bottle: This’d surely be a miner’s delight. Substantial. Satisfying. Deserved. Malt. Forged. Caramel. Bitter. Chocolate. Rich. Worthwhile. Smooth and dry. Earner of a knowing smile.

Taste test: Wow, Hallertau’s chief bottle label writer sure used a lot of adjectives to describe this beer. I’m going to take a leaf out of their book and just throw some out myself: sweet, subtle, lightly bitter, toffee, biscuit, red, big head, mellow, thin, faintly carbonated, average, disappointing.

The verdict: That’s right. As much as it pains me to say it – because I usually love Hallertau’s craft beers, especially fresh from the brewery in Riverhead – this beer was a complete let-down. I don’t know whether I just got a bad batch, because there was an outrageous amount of head when I popped open the bottle, but it was just so thin and flavourless and disappointing.

On the bright side, at least I’ve spared my mate the disappointment of trying this beer by drinking it all myself. I guess I’m a pretty good friend after all.

Movie/beer combination: The thought that a miner would like this beer (see blurb on the bottle, above) got me thinking about my all-time favourite mining movie: My Bloody Valentine.

I think I read somewhere that it’s Quentin Tarantino’s favourite slasher movie, and he’s usually got pretty good taste (except that he really likes women’s feet for some reason), so take it from the director of Pulp Fiction if not from the editor of Best Beer HQ that this is a ludicrously fun popcorn horror flick…

Craft Beer New Zealand / review /

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