Saturday, March 14, 2015

Beer - #559 - Garage Project - Beyond the Pale China White

Garage Project - Beyond the Pale China White, Fringe beer, Fringe music, on the fringe and from the fringe.

'infused with White Tea, Jasmine and fragrant Orris root"


This is their standard 650 ml bottle, of beer that is 4.6% ABV, making it  2.35 standard drinks and this would be 138 calories a serve size.

Brewed by Garage Project in the style that is  Sour/Wild Ale and they are in Wellington, New Zealand

[caption id="attachment_10608" align="alignleft" width="300"]The terribly sunburn me and the beer The terribly sunburn me and the beer[/caption]

Beyond the Pale, each year a new brew, something a little ‘out there’ for the New Zealand Fringe festival. 

For this year’s avant garde offering we present China White. Sour, wheat and pilsner malts, infused with White Tea, Jasmine and fragrant Orris root, create a uniquely aromatic, effervescent and refreshing festival beer. 

Definitely out of the ordinary - and a fitting brew to raise a glass in celebration of 25 years of Fringe fun and mayhem.

What could go wrong with that ?

Well. Aroma is something like Weetbix, wet oats or something, but a note of sourness too. Perhaps I might mean tobacco ash.  (Dried orris root (Iris) smells like violets, and is puckeringly bitter to eat).  I didn't get violets.

Beyond the Pale China WhitePour is pale yellow, almost translucent colourless, but it does have a really white contrasting head that is persistent and a good depth.

Lot more of the florals note in the glass.

Oh wow, now that's interesting, and not totally in a good way, is my initial taste thought, which go something like;

Bitter, not too intense, perfume dryness, floral aroma, bitter linger.

Second, slightly bitter sup is equally as conflicted.

It's not often I'll admit to a mistake in buying beers. This though might be one of those moments.


  • I like sour beers.

  • I like aromatic beers.

  • I generally like Garage Project beers



This though is one of those that I would put to one side and avoid. For me not a beer that I'm enjoying, and I've made this decision almost immediately, it didn't creep up on me, it was the opposite of love at first sip.

To it's redeeming features.


  • It looks great

  • The aroma is nice and pleasant

  • It isn't puckeringly sour and is at this level nice and drinkable and would be quaffable



If only it wasn't like drinking perfume, which would be a combination of both the bitter and flavour from the Oris, which is used primarily as a base for natural toothpastes, and as a fixative in perfumes to enhance other aromas.

I read that on Wikipedia where it also says "If it will be used internally, it is recommended under the care of someone experienced in this herb" Here's hoping.

Naturally the good people at GP don't just throw things together and I'm sure that this is a beer as they expected it to be, judging from some of the other on-line reviews it's a bit of a hit, I picked this quote

"slosh it around to get the full potpourri effect"


Safe to say then that this isn't a beer for me, and some people like a beer that is like a potpourri, so if the inside of a handbag or a cupboard is the thing that rocks your boat I'd say get in!  Although the aroma is quite pleasant I'm not sure MrsPdubyah would appreciate a glass of beer left lying around to fill the air with pleasant odour.

I'm going to frown a bit and finish the bottle, it'll take some time and I'll need to have something to recover my palate.

The pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 5 a of its things from the thing. I'm calling as as I see it, and I've been up-front in saying that I don't like it, but that it does have redeeming features, which sadly, for me, don't outweigh the things I don't like about it. 

The double dip review


  1. Am I enjoying it? Not in the slightest.

  2. Would I have another? Sadly I have a half of a bottle to finish, it's going to be a struggle

  3. Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? No, you;d punch me on the arm or worse if I turned up with this I think.



Thought I'd mellow up my day with some  Underground Lovers (sometimes stylized as undergroundLOVERS), are an Australian indie rock/electronic band. This is a track "Au Pair"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1shnAtJak4

SOUR/WILD ALE



Sour ale is a broad spectrum of wild ales, from the fruity and acetic Flanders Red Ales and Oud Bruins, to the experimental ales gaining popularity in the United States which use lactobacillus, brettanomyces and pediococcus in new and wild ways.

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