Mt. Macedon dominates the landscape overlooking the Holgate brewery. It’s massive, moody and magnificent – not to mention insanely popular with tourists and locals alike. No wonder they named it after our beer! The real Australian Pale Ale, using Australian grown Cascade, Ella and Topaz hops, balanced by a malt base of Australian Vienna giving this brew a delicate caramel malt flavour. The result is a pale ale of broad appeal and, like the mountain, a local landmark.”
From the Central Ranges of Victoria, this is Holgate’s best selling signature brew. Served into a shaker glass the appearance displays a translucent golden-amber pour with a modest fingers worth of white head that dissipates quickly. With a respectable hop profile including Nelson Sauvin, Amarillo and Citra this pale ale offers a gorgeous balance of resinous hops, pine, subtle grapefruit and orange atop a lovely caramel malt base. Mild carbonation with a smooth, almost creamy mouth feel. Good body. The first thing that comes to mind is that it’s exceptionally smooth. Initially soft resinous hops, orange and caramel fill the mouth. The mid-palate provides a highly palatable mix of assertive hop bitterness and caramel malts that are balanced beautifully to produce an extremely clean finish. A tad short, but in its defence it’s very sessional. The 4.5% ABV adds to its drink ability. Clean, crisp and sessional pale ale. Not bad.