Beer reviews: Maisel's Dunkel Hefeweissbier; Wychwood Brewery Pile Drive Ale

In the second week of March, BentSpoke brewer Richard Watkins received a consignment of hop flowers, fresh from Rostrevor Farm, on the Ovens River, Victoria.

He says brewers generally use dried or pelletised hops. But the annual hop harvest gives him the chance to capture the flower's most delicate oils and aromas.

Watkins says, "We'll brew next week using a hop-back and should have the beer on tap about a week later [late March]". He says the red ale, to be sold as "Reflector", is one of the few beers he uses flowers in.

The hop-back sits between the boiler and the fermenter. As the liquid cools and flows between the two tanks, it extracts hop oils and aromas from the flowers in the hopback.

Watkins took some of the precious flowers to a Canberra winery to season an experimental white wine. But that's a story for another day.

Maisel's Dunkel Hefeweissbier 500ml $5

The label translates to "dark wheat beer with yeast", indicating a yeast haze in this Schloss Shanahan favourite. From Maisel brewery, Bayreuth, northern Bavaria, the ale captures the regional specialty beautifully: dark colour, luxurious head, sweet, enticing, fruity and clove-like aroma with rich, smooth, brisk palate and precise flavour-aroma match.

★★★★★

Wychwood Brewery Pile Driver Classic English Ale 500ml $6

Wychwood's loveable, deep-amber ale suits cooler weather, with its warm, malty, molasses-like aroma. The rich, smooth palate reflects the aroma. And spicy, herbal hops cut through the malt adding flavour and a long, persistent bitter finish. The malt-hops combination delivers flavour galore despite a modest 4.3 per cent alcohol content.

★★★★