Name: Burleigh Brewing Co My Wife’s Bitter

Style: Bitter

Country: Australia 

ABV: 4.8%

Beer description: Burleigh Brewing Co comes to us from Burleigh Heads in Queensland, Australia. Burleigh Heads is an iconic Australian surfing spot, and many of Burleigh Brewing’s beers are geared more towards the hot weather and surfing culture. While this beer is made to be a bitter, Burleigh says this is a more coastal version of the style. Let’s see how it turns out.

The beer pours without too much head, but probably a bit more than your standard flat British style bitter. But, this one is right on colour for a bitter: caramel brown and extremely enticing looking. The little bit of head settles down very quickly, leaving what looks to be an ordinary bitter.

The aroma of this beer is fairly subdued: it’s there, but you have to take a deep breath. With the deep breath, there’s the obvious sensation of salted caramel and a fresh crispness. Hints of spice mingle throughout the aroma, but this is more incidence than anything. It’s not a beer that’s filled with aroma, but it’s also not a beer without aroma. Perhaps it’s just a subtle maltiness that doesn’t scream anything out.

In the flavour, the salt really begins to come out. It separates someone from the caramel, which comes later. As with the taste of the beer, it’s subdued, but not bland. It’s a sweet(ish) beer, but it all mingles with the salt and subtle spiciness that really makes up the style. For a bitter (which actually isn’t a bitter style), it’s surprisingly bitter, particularly at the end. This isn’t to say it’s a bitter beer, just for the style; especially as the bitter, dry, earthiness tends to sit in the back of the throat.

For a bitter though, it needs a little more body. This beer has been designed for warmer weather than the original style, so the lightness is understandable. There’s a certain amount of lemon and crispness to the beer that makes it a nice beach beer, which seems to be the point.

A interesting take on the style, but it seems to lack the point and the charm of the original style.

Check out other bitter reviews.

Go to other reviews of beers by Burleigh Brewing Co.

Editor’s note – people’s often why the style is called “bitter,” especially when it’s anything but. We’ve done the research. Learn why the style is called bitter!