YULLI'S BREWS AMANDA MANDARIN
Don’t let COVID19 kill the conversation, rather lubricate one (virtually if req!) with this wonderful drop.
Origin – Alexandria, New South Wales
ABV- 6.7%
Size- 375mL can
Style- Indian Pale Ale
“Woman... woe-man... whoooa-man. She was a thief, you got to believe, she stole my heart and my cat. Judy, Betty, Josie and those hot Pussycats... they made me horny, on Saturday morning... girls of cartoo-ins will leave me in ruins... I want to be Betty's Barney. Jane... get me off this crazy thing... called love.”
“Manda's day starts at 11, with a long black and a dart. The herald and the crossword can also play their part. The afternoon and evening, are when she plies her trade. She writes she jams, she teaches; but she lives for the stage. With her dad's guitar and a mic, she is at her ease. Amanda breathes performance, her artistic release. She finishes her set, and she folds into her beer. Then with a neat shot of tequila- she chews an old mate's ear.”
So, what does the Yulli's rhyming Amanda have to do the Mike Myers beat poetry inspired romantic black comedy, 'So I Married an Axe Murderer'? Namely, both were well ahead of their time. Yet despite their respective slightly sluggish pace of acceptance, both have gone on to build a cult status of sorts. Bombing at the box office, Axe Murderer went on to boom many years later on the home video market. And although many initially raised their eyebrows at Yulli's citrus-driven IPA, it became so popular it found its way into the brewery's core range of crafts that are now available in bottle shops across the country.
Yet the Amanda isn’t the only success story. Since Karl Cooney and James Harvey - who originally began crafting beers for the legendary Yulli’s restaurant in Surry Hills - won first-prize at homebrew competition in 2014, the pair have produced a wide array of illustrious beers, all adorned with entertaining cartoon characters and matching poetry. While Karl and James have a soft spot for the Norman Australian Ale, as the beer that got things rolling for them, it’s this American style IPA that is their current favourite. On the pour, it shows fantastic clarity despite being made from a healthy serving of cold-pressed mandarins. In spite of that mandarin bitterness dominating the nose, Amanda is superbly balanced in the mouth, seemingly by the sweetness of orange peel liqueur that’s added directly to the boil. While there's undoubtedly citrus from start to finish, it's elegant, layered perfectly and certainly not overbearing.
To sum this one up I’ll borrow a quote from Mike Myers as Charlie Mackenzie - 'Heeeeeello!'