Steam Exchange Steam Ale - Steam Exchange Brewery

dgilks

Australia

3.88/5  rDev +15.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Moderate citrus aroma with a very light malt backing. Yum.

Moderately clear amber colour with a small, off-white head.

Smooth, crisp malt backed up with a refreshing dose of American hops. This toes the line between Steam Beer and APA.

Medium-light body with moderate carbonation.

A crisp, refreshing ale with good flavour. Not really a steam beer but tasty all the same.

Serving type: bottle

09-08-2010 07:54:44 | More by dgilks

laituegonflable

Australia

3.53/5  rDev +5.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Pours a bronzey red colour with a nice quick trail of bubbles up the glass. Head is quite beautiful, beige and densely packed with good retention. Lacing is quite good, could be better. Overall, quite a charming looking beer.

Nose is pleasant and mostly fruit. Nice floral notes with a nectar tinge to them and a good whiff of sweet, fresh fruit including rockmelon and some citrus. Slight grassy hop notes but it's dominated by malt and fruit esters. Subdued, but appealing.

Taste is actually quite English, at least at first. Fair amount of malt with hints of English toffee and some roasted barley edge to it. Has a mustiness that comes through late-mid with an earthy hit of soil, slight woody notes and a resinous hop character. A slight phenolic aftertaste of furniture polish. Not strong, though - for the most part this is sweet, quite mild, drinking.

Feel is a bit lacking but goes down smoothly.

Bitterness at the back is slightly too earthy for my taste, but it has a nice balanced progression from sweet start to the more bitter-but cleaner - finish. A decent drop and a decent steam beer.

Serving type: bottle

05-13-2010 05:29:33 | More by laituegonflable

lacqueredmouse

Australia

3.9/5  rDev +16.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Pours a light copper colour, brilliantly clear with a foamy and thick head of sheeny white bubbles. Lacing is excellent. An excellent looking beer all up, and a great looking steam beer.

Lightly sweet rosewater characters on the nose, with a bit of spice and pepper. Perhaps a thin vegetal organic note through the center. Lots of sharp, fragrant and very pleasant notes.

Slightly grain-malt forward on the front, with a rustic organic sharpness followed by a slightly astringent coppery bitterness on the back. Clean and crisp finish, and crisp in the feel without too much carbonation.

It's hard not to compare any California common to Anchor Steam, but this beer does a cracking impression of it. It has the clean crisp bitterness through the back, the light but refreshing body and the fragrant but slightly off-kilter aromas on the nose.

This style is not a huge or robust one - and it is based largely on one canonical example - but this beer is a very good representative of the genre, and Steam Exchange have done a very good job replicating it here in Australia.

Serving type: bottle

05-11-2010 08:35:29 | More by lacqueredmouse

WHROO

Australia

3.98/5  rDev +18.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A: Fruity, dark orange...thin head with sudsy lacing

S: Think summery fruit...some sweetness...a little delicious

T: Again a great refreshing summery taste...fruity, tropical, carbonated...& a little multilayered...starts tropical citrusy, with a lingering orangy/mandorine exit...suprisingingly nice

M: Typical aussie carbonation (a little high)...just a nice hot summers beer that could easily be sessioned...enjoyed & a little more complex than the Mountain Goat Steam Ale.

D: Yup!!! Done well!!!

Serving type: bottle

05-01-2010 07:21:27 | More by WHROO

CrazyDavros

Australia

2.78/5  rDev -17%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Pours dark amber with a small head.
Aroma includes some juicy, fruity hops and golden syrup. Some funky rotten apple character permeates through as well.
Similar flavours with a nasty metallic dull bitterness.
Body is lacking, somewhat watery.
Not great.

Serving type: bottle

04-05-2010 02:03:59 | More by CrazyDavros