Newstead Brewing’s home in Milton is opposite Suncorp Stadium, which means game days have the brewery buzzing with sports-based excitement. But to those who don’t follow the rugby, or curling, or whatever it is they play on that big grassy field, this beer is the only sportsball to get excited about.
Without jumping out of its style category, Sportsball is a little different from many of your pale lagers. It’s a honey gold colour, it’s full-bodied, and it’s flavoursome in a way that many lagers simply aren’t.
Have you ever had sticky rice made with coconut milk and banana? It’s a delightful Asian dessert (or breakfast, or snack, or…), and the variations I’ve tasted have a dialled-down sweetness compared to many Western desserts. Well, that’s the subtle sweetness I got from whiffing this lager - a soft sticky-rice-with-coconut-milk-and-banana sweetness that’s the combination of German specialty malts and a gentle ester profile. In the mouth there’s also a light toastiness (the malts again), which, along with the initial esters, hangs around as the dull throb of bitterness starts pounding away at your tastebuds with a thud, thud, thud.
But to be honest, none of this gets in the way of this beer being a solid, well-brewed Euro lager with a hit of flavour.
Newstead Brewing. Come for the sportsball. Stay for the Sportsball.
Mick Wüst
