I was a little surprised by the name on the side of the bottle of this weeks’ Drop, Fat Yak Pale Ale, if only because of Aussie slang terms for “having a yak”. Yet even now, a week or so later, I still can’t work out whether I like this or not. I’ve even forked out for another six-pack to get my head around it.
Let me go off on a sidetrack for a minute.
My final test of a beer is simple; I want to know “Would I pay money for this”? And by that I mean will this taste as equally as well on Friday night, when the kids are in bed and I’m watching the footy, as it will at a Saturday night barbeque or Sunday dinner, or is it one of those beers that will only taste great when the stars are aligned, you’re at a barbeque, eating fish with the fork held in your right hand and have a chicken balanced on your head?
Sure I can say that I look for colour, aroma’s, mouth feel, aftertaste, tastes of herbs and spices etc but I’m not a complete tosser. In the end my final test is that I want to know that if I buy it, am I going to be able to drink it when I want to, or is it going to stay in the fridge and be lumped on unsuspecting visitors?
And that’s where Fat Yak falls. Sure it’s an interesting beer. It has a fantastic colour to it, one of the best looking golden ale colours I’ve seen in beer for a while. It’s very, very hop driven in taste, but still leaves your mouth feeling clean. I could even see myself having a couple while out, especially if it was on tap. But the six-packs I had, which I tried over a few days, mostly by myself, but two with a beer fanatic (who has a good beer palate) at a dinner weren’t consistent. Sometimes they were great, and you couldn’t wait for your next one, yet others, mainly the ones that were had with food, were average at best.
In the end it gets the “would I buy this” test? The short answer is “No”. Apart from the cost (RRP $65 carton), I found that it just didn’t work with me. However, would I take a six-pack (at $20rrp) to a barbeque? Yes. Would I be disappointed if someone gave me a carton as a thankyou? Yes, because it will sit in the fridge and take a long time to get through, as it would need to be the right time. That, and I don’t have any chickens to put on my head.
Go out and try it and let me know your thoughts.