@mazzle Reviews Beer (under the supervision of his pup) - Furphy Refreshing Ale!

A little late for #beersaturday but here's @mazzle's beer review for the week!

This week I'm sipping on a Furphy Refreshing Ale (with my dog, who doesn't seem to hold the same passion as @mazzle for beer). I've seen this beer all over Melbourne but hadn't heard amazing things about it.

_{Someone wasn't passionate about the photoshoot}

This beer is brewed by Little Creatures, which once started as a small craft brewer but has since been bought by Lion Holdings. Furphy Refreshing Ale is brewed in Geelong, Victoria and made with local ingredients. The brewer says this about the beer:

Furphy is a new, refreshing ale that is Geelong born and brewed from 100% Victorian ingredients. The first sip is clean and crisp, with a subtle balance of fruit and malt to keep it interesting. The finish is smooth and pleasantly refreshing. Given our brewery used to be an old mill, it’s no surprise Furphy is an easy-drinking ale that’s perfect for a session of yarn spinning.
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The basics:
Volume: 375ml (bottle)
ABV: 4.4%
Origin: Victoria, Australia
Style: Ale

So, what's it really like?

The beer pours a clear, medium depth amber colour with minimal head that lasts only a matter of seconds. To be honest, I didn't detect much of an aroma from the beer. The first sip is certainly clean and crisp, however I got little in the way of fruit or malts, which didn't make it particularly interesting. It is low on hops and bitterness which, overall, makes this a fairly tedious beer as far as I am concerned.

It's obvious that the beer is made with decent quality ingredients and has been made by a brewer who knows what they are doing. I simply found the beer to be lacking in complexity, structure or any complex flavours or aromas.

It is a refreshing beer, but boring all the same. A good quality pale ale would be a better choice. Much like the Boatrocker pale ale that I reviewed last week. So, in summary, while this is a well made beer, it isn't a good beer. And definitely isn't one that I would bother drinking again.

@mazzle also has a new rating system to introduce! I'm going to rate all my beers against Victorian Bitter (or VB as it's commonly known).

I drank a couple of VBs today while at a Christmas Party. This is the first time I've had this beer in about 10 years. It is quite simply one of the worst beers made in Australia. It isn't the worst but it would sit in the top 5 in Australia very comfortably. VB is a beer that tastes as if no care was put into making it. It is absurdly bitter, carbonated too heavily, and the taste lingers on your palate for an exceedingly long time after drinking it. Everything about VB tastes cheap.

So, my rating system is very simple. I will compare all beers to VB and rate them as how many times better than VB they are.

The Furphy Refreshing Ale, being as average as it is, is only 2 times better than VB.

Finally, I've decided to only provide recipes for beers that I actually enjoy. There's no point providing recipes for average beer, and Furphy's Refreshing Ale is exactly that.

Have you had this beer before? What did you think?

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