Hello all,
Today I thought I’d give the Lorry Boys (Jim and Joe’s) pale ale a go and see what I think. Just a side note, truck boys doesn’t have the same ring to it even though we don’t use Lorry Boys in Australia. There is very little information put out there on the Lorry Boys however, what I did manage to find is that the label is owned by Liquorland (Coles/Westfarmers) which is one of the biggest supermarkets we have in Australia for anyone outsiders. It is produced by Macarthur Grange Brewery on Liquorlands behalf, in some bid to get exclusive liquor brands and/or enter into the craft beer range themselves. Woolworths have been there for awhile with the likes of Sail and Anchor, Gage Road and John Boston.
What I did notice was that they had EBC: 11 on the bottle which was something I wasn’t familiar with. EBC stands for European Brewery Convention, which is similar to the Standard Reference Method used to specify beer colour. I guess the easiest way to describe what this translate to is to just show you a picture. I’m surprised that they didn’t use the Standard Reference Method which seem to be more recongisned. Just for a note the Standard Reference Method involves measuring the attenuation of light of a particular wavelength (430 nm) in passing through 1 cm of the beer.
Location: NSW – Style: Pale Ale – ABV: 4.2% 330mL – Value: $45 for a carton
AROMA 5/10 – APPEARANCE 4/5 – FLAVOUR 6/15 –
PALATE/MOUTHFEEL 5/10 -FINISH 4/10
OVERALL 24/50
The colour is cloudy off golden in appearance, the head was very thin and by the time I poured it and pulled out my camera to take a photo there was hardly any left. The nose reminded me little hints of grass, but I could place the other aroma, it wasn’t bad just wasn’t exciting, to say the least. There weren’t any signs of hops in the nose or at least that I could tell.
The carbonation was reasonable, but still had a soft mouthfeel. I found that it had a little bit of sweetness up front, but very little in malt taste. It followed with a slight bitterness that wasn’t the most pleasant I’ve had, but a light tartness at the end of the palate. I couldn’t really say that I noticed any hops flavours in the beer, which is pretty disappointing for a pale ale.
Overall, this is an extremely light style pale ale. It could be good for the masses like at a party or BBQ, if you like beers that are very thin and light on hops and malt this might be worth a try. However, I know that, at least if you are shopping at a Coles owned chain like First Choice or Vintage Cellars, if you wanted to try their home brand pale ales give this a miss and pick up the Steamrail pale ale. But for me, I found it too thin and watery for my liking, but I do have the golden and bright ale to try as well so hopefully they are a little better.
hops right in 