E-Malt.com News article: Australia: Coopers Brewery’s 2007 Extra Strong Vintage Ale is gone on sale from June 26

Coopers Managing Director and Chief Brewer, Dr Tim Cooper, said he expected the 2007 Vintage, the seventh in the series, would be the best ever following the highly regarded 2006 Vintage Ale. “Every year we learn more about brewing this style of ale and the lessons we have learned since last year have been incorporated into this year’s Vintage,” he said.

“While the 2007 Vintage will certainly be enjoyable immediately, with careful cellaring it will continue to improve and after two years will have developed into a very distinctive beer in terms of aroma, roundness and balance.”

Dr Cooper said the 2007 Vintage Ale was redder in colour than the 2006 Vintage with a slightly higher bitterness and a late hops aroma.

The alcohol content has been retained at 7.5% alcohol by volume, making it the strongest beer produced by Coopers and one of the strongest produced anywhere in the world. “Because of the high alcohol level, it should be savoured in moderation,” he said. “It will complement strongly flavoured cheeses and hearty winter dishes. “The higher alcohol content also helps enhance the flavour of the beer and its storage qualities. “A vertical tasting last year of all our Vintage Ales produced since 1998 showed each of them was still drinkable, although the early vintages had certainly changed in terms of flavours and complexity.

“There is considerable debate how long ales can continue to develop, especially after the recent discovery in Britain of a cache of ales brewed in 1869.”

The ancient beers, including bottles of Ratcliffe Ale brewed in December 1869, were found earlier this year in a vault under the streets of Burton on Trent by the Worthington White Shield brewery, now owned by Coors.

When opened, the oldest ales were found to be nothing like modern beers, but instead had developed into something that was more like port, sherry or Madeira with intense flavours.

“While it is impossible to say whether the 2007 Coopers Vintage Ale will still be drinkable in 140 years time, patient drinkers will certainly be able to enjoy them in 2010,” Dr Cooper said. Coopers Marketing Director, Mr Glenn Cooper, said that like previous years, only a limited amount of the 2007 Vintage Ale has been brewed and would be allocated to retailers on a first come, first served basis.

“This year, we’ve produced 350 kegs and around 25,000 cases of Vintage Ale for release in Australia, with another 5000 cases for markets in the US and UK,” Mr Cooper said. “A number of special presentation 750 ml bottles have also been produced. “Once this year’s Vintage is gone, that’s it and consumers will have to wait until the next Vintage, expected in 2008.” Coopers Extra Strong Vintage Ale was first released in 1998, with further vintages in 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006.

Tasting Notes
The 2007 Coopers Extra Strong Vintage Ale is a very full flavoured, robust ale with a slightly higher bitterness and a more pronounced red hue than the 2006 Vintage.

It has a pronounced aroma of banana and dried fruit with distinctive hop characters from the use of generous amounts of Czech Saaz hops.

The flavour is initially sweet and malty, toffee-like, balanced by slightly higher bitterness levels than 2006. This becomes more noticeable on the aftertaste and results in a refreshing finish for such a full flavoured ale.

The pronounced fruity-estery flavours result from Cooper’s ale brewing process that uses traditional secondary bottle fermentation.

The ale has a predominance of South Australian barley malt of the Gairdner variety from the 2005 season, which was of excellent quality.

This has been supplemented with wheat malt and an increased amount of crystal malt to produce a more pronounced red hue and some sweet toffee notes.

Multiple hop additions with Australian Pride of Ringwood bitter hops and Czech Saaz aroma hops in the brewhouse and again later in the fermentation stage provide a fine hop aroma and robust bitterness to ensure excellent storage quality.

The ale was fermented with Cooper’s traditional ale yeast and underwent an extended primary fermentation. Specially nurtured yeast, which had been vitalized, was then added for bottle conditioning.

A slow secondary fermentation in the bottle completed the development of the flavour characteristics and imparted the refreshing sparkle and dense foam.

The 2007 Vintage is great to drink now but, like the earlier vintages, will change and develop complexity with careful maturation.

Stored under cool cellar conditions, the hop bitterness is expected to soften and the fruity, estery character will diminish over time. After anything up to five years or more, the patient drinker will be rewarded with a truly distinctive beer.

Vintage Ale has a hefty 7.5% alcohol by volume and would complement strongly flavoured cheeses and hearty winter dishes.


27 June, 2007