It's easy to be jaded about the quality of Australian beer, especially with the oceans of hyperbole ads from mediocre swill monger, Fosters. But just between you and me and every other serious beer drinker in the world, Fosters was never Australian for "beer" -- it's Australian only for "bad tasting water in big friggin beer cans". If you're really serious about beer, then you probably already know that the only Australian word for beer is pronounced "Coopers", and their most-real product is the deliciously complex Coopers Sparkling Ale.

What the HECK is "Sparkling Ale"?
I've never really bought into the notion that the Sparkling Ales of Adelaide are really a unique beer style in and of themselves. I see them as simply very authentic examples of a bottle-conditioned pale ale. I fully understand that I may be a heretic in the beer world for holding to that view, since the legion of Michael Jackson devotees will point to his outstanding discussion of the beers in his Beer Companion.

Coopers Sparkling Ale was first brewed back in the 1860s, based on English pale ales, but with adaptations to reflect local conditions and ingredients, the main deviation from English style being a goodly dose of priming sugar to force a secondary fermentation.

The beer is pale in color (though Jackson says it was once more of an amber) with significant haze and a huge foamy head. Otherwise it tastes like any other good pale ale, with a hearty dose of hops on top.

About Coopers...
Coopers Brewery is one of those rare breeds in the brewing world. It is a company that puts true drinking quality and dedication to its traditions ahead of the incessant drive for mass popularity. Coopers hasn't sat still though. Their brewery has gone through periods of refurbishment, techniques have changed here and there, and the recipe has undergone some tweaks over the decades, but by and large, Coopers Sparkling Ale retains much of the traditional character and flavor of bygone eras.

The brewery got its start around 1862, when Thomas Cooper -- an immigrant from Yorkshire -- started brewing ales for his family and friends. He developed a bit of fame for himself, but he held rather strange principles for a brewer. Being a devout Methodist, he shunned pubs and wouldn't sell beer to them -- not exactly a sound business strategy for most brewers, but that kind of philosophy continued to guide Coopers, even after Thomas had passed on the business to the next generations. Jackson claims that by being the one brewery without a chain of pubs promoting its products, Cooper was an undesirable takeover prospect during the relentless brewery closing spree of the mid 20th century. The brewery continues to focus on traditional methods and styles. Although they do make a lager nowadays, their real products continue to be ales, including a classic dry stout, and of course, their flagship product -- Sparkling Ale.

Coopers Sparkling Ale is brewed from a grist of 2-row pale malt with added cane sugar to a starting gravity of 11.5 degrees (1045) and is hopped using only Pride of Ringwood hops to a level of 25 IBU. The real kicker though is their fermentation regime, with a distinctive house yeast strain that's known for its assertive ester levels. After fermentation, the unfiltered beer is bottled or kegged and warm-conditioned for at least 6 weeks, giving it a very aggressive carbonation level, and earning it the right to be called a "real ale" -- one that can easily stand up to the very best real ales of Britain.

A Tall Cool Pint of Cooper's...

Appearance:
Deep golden color with a thick rocky head and a milky white haze that's as cloudy as a nice tall glass of freshly poured Bavarian hefe-weizen.

Aroma:
Spritzy and fruity and light with a bit of pear ester on a first sniff. As I come back, I'm getting more of a soft caramel malt scent, and as the beer warms slightly, it becomes more complex, with a mileau of enticing scents, especially a wonderfully unmistakable splash of fresh apricot.

Flavor:
Sweet malt that slyly turns to a light tingly apple and pear fruitiness until slipping away and leaving a big, long, deep-seated hop bitterness that hangs on the palate like the scent of a beautiful woman after an all-too-short kiss under the mistletoe. As the beer warms, that aftertaste seems to hint at anise and slightly pungent spiciness.

It's a smooth beer, with a rounded mouthfeel and a delicate balance like a circus highwire act, where one misstep could have tragic consequences, but with utter mastery, the beer's flavors meld and flow and separate, complementing each other and contrasting against one other, seemlessly and almost imperceptibly.

Overall Impression:
A pale ale seems like such a simple pleasure, it's hard to imagine a brewery being able to do anything groundbreaking. Coopers does it, and they do it not with invention, but with tradition. This beer bucks the trend. It's got an aggressive yeast signature where other breweries strive to get rid of distinctive yeasts. It's cloudy while everyone else goes to "cold filtering". And it's very much an alive real ale, while all the big beers today are pasteurized, sterilized, and along the way, utterly homogenized. Coopers is a beer that's confident in itself, and that's managed to carve its own niche in the beer world.

One of a kind -- a true classic ale.





Recommended: Yes