Badlands Brewery English Pale Ale

In the early years of The Crafty Pint, there were enough British style beers on offer to warrant a chapter of their own in the two books I wrote on Aussie beer. As the market has demanded all things hoppy, fruity and florid, their niche has become ever smaller, which might explain why the word "English" is much smaller than "Pale Ale" on this nod to Jon Shiner's homeland.

Indeed, when I was presented with a "Dealer's Choice" tasting paddle by Badlands' venue manager on a visit to their Orange taproom, it was quite a surprise when I took my first sniff and swig of the beer marked on the paddle as simply: "PALE". A pleasant surprise at that as this stands proud in its English stylings and apart from almost every other pale ale in Australia: earthy, twiggy hops meet classic Maris Otter malt flavours and a broad, earthy bitterness laced with gnarly marmalade flavours.

James Smith