Speight’s Gold Medal Ale
Brewed by Speight’s Brewery
Style: Bitter/Pale Ale
Dunedin, New Zealand
Founded in 1876, by James Speight, Charles Greenslade, and William Dawson on the South Island of New Zealand in the city of Dunedin. The Speight’s Brewery brew Speight’s Gold Medal Ale, a bit of a New Zealand institution. Popular amongst the working man and Scarfies (A Kiwi university student) for generations, offering up a unique taste of NZ beer.
The Gold Medal Ale that adorns their beers, came about after the beer won an award in 1880 at the Melbourne International Brewing Awards over a century ago, and the brewery decided to keep the iconic emblem, even though the beer these days is neither an ale or, arguably, gold medal material!!
Speight’s is famous for its promotional branding based on being a real southern man’s go to beer, and being ‘the pride of the south’. Speight’s also gave rise to a series of Speight’s Ale Houses across New Zealand. Alas, it is now owned by, the Japanese controlled holding company, Lion. Go Figure!
Review: 330ml brown bottle of Speight’s Gold Medal Ale: 4.0% vol.
They call this beer “The Taste of New Zealand”, ok well lets see. It is my first beer from the home of the Kiwi and the All Black.
Has a triple star, “3 stars”, rating on the bottle with “pride of the south”, in a nice brown bottle. These stars apparently come from both the original provincial arms of Otago, and the fact that Speight’s was awarded gold medals at the 1877 Brewery awards in three different countries.
On appearance I am getting a light brownish looking beer with a very small white thinish head.
Looks shit with no real head, some small carbonation and kind of looks like a glass of mud! Weird in the colour, brownish and dark amber looking beer with a purple hue.
An interesting aroma, a kind of perfumy note on the nose, all nice and fruity. The smell is very nice. Also a bit like a stout aroma, with caramels and very toasty. Quite distinctive.
On the taste I am getting a very light beer, nothing immediately sticking out at me, some caramel found early on, but overall not too bad, clean, light in the mouth, and tasty enough.
Getting to enjoy this beer the more I drink of it, finding it very tasty, and quite filling and nourishing. Fruits and malts are tasty.
The hops are light and inoffensive, soft and easy to manage. Not sure how this can be classed as a bitter, as its very light, but anyway.
Overall goes down well, If I see it again I will buy it. Smooth enough, clean and crisp and one to sip n enjoy, not bad at all. Not the best tasting beer, or the most flavorful out there, but does the business making this beer-drinker happy enough.
Oppigårds Bryggeri is a microbrewery in the small Swedish town of Hedemora, Dalarna County. Björn Falkeström founded the brewery in 1996, with the The Oppigårds farm been in the family’s possession since 1735.
Bought in Aldi Switzerland. Interesting logo on the long necked bottle, orange background and label with a pic of an elephant, simple but stylish, their “tribute to India”
Typical IPA taste and flavour in the taste, the fruits and malts, and the hops are prominent but all nice and very manageable. 
The Vauclair Abbey was a Cistercian abbey founded in 1134 by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, located in the North of France. Supported financially by rich families, the abbey quickly prospered and was given several estates and farms, until the French Revolution in 1789, when it was finally demolished and sold as “national property”. Then World War one lead to further damage from artillery fire…..to where today only ruins remain. What remains of the site is an arboretum of apple and pear trees and a medicinal herb garden. 
The aroma is quite strong in this one, very hoppy smell, very piercing, and very sweet. Must be the dark roasted malts and the fruits. 
Not without problems it has to be said, as Heineken, or more like their Greek subsidiary, Athenian Brewery, were fined £25 million by the Hellenic Competition Commission (HCC), for abuse of the market by squeezing out competitors through exclusivity agreements and aggressive practices of domination, over a 15-year period. The company was found to be in breach of Greek and EU competition law. Macedonian Thrace Brewery who initiated the lawsuit are also seeking damages from the parent company, as a small Greek brewery they felt stepped on by the large multinational and its aggressive behaviour in distorting the local market. It is said that Athenian Brewery had used “exclusivity agreements” to force publicans to stock Heineken brands, and by offering wholesalers “significant economic motives” to promote their own specific brands while at the same time to refrain from introducing competing products. Well all is fair in love and war I guess!
Aroma is of sweet malts, but overall it is quite light on the nose. 
