Beer Blog & Beer Reviews

St Austell Proper Job Delivery

Proper Job is a strongly hopped, 5.5% IPA from Cornwall’s St Austell Brewery. St Austell’s beers are almost always good so I am expecting good things.

St Austell Proper Job IPA

From the Austells Mouth

Proper Job is an authentic IPA brewed with Cornish spring water and malt made from a blend of malts including Cornish grown Maris Otter barley.

Does it smell like a Proper Job?

Proper Job Smells a little like lemon curd, grapefruit and malt. It smells much more fruity than I expected, a result of the chinook and cascade hops I imagine. It is medium gold in colour and has a light medium mouth feel.

The taste is all about grapefruit when you first try it, and as expected it is very hoppy. There is clearly a excellent selection of hops in here yet it doesn’t have a biting bitter nasty taste that you can get from overly hopped beers.

When you have had a bit more than half a pint, the yeast and hops mingle into a place where there flavours dance and balance. The bitterness comes through more and interacts with the fruity flavours, but says balanced in a happy place where there is malt sweetness, fruity bitterness and lots of drinkability.

The balance and poise that is almost a trademark of St Austell are the thing which always shines through for me and makes everything they touch turn to gold.

St Austell Proper Job is 5.5% so you can keep your Stella, this is a proper man’s drink and I could drink it all night long if only a local would put it on tap.

If you are looking for a nice and fruity session IPA then this is definitely a good choice.

Proper Job is dedicated to the 32nd (Cornwall) Regiment who stoutly defended their garrison during the Indian Mutiny in 1857-58. Throughout the siege the traditional “Sunset Ceremony” (beating the retreat and lowering the national flag) was ignored as an act of defiance to the mutineers. In recognition of a “Proper Job” Queen Victoria awarded the 32nd the honour.

You can buy it directly from the brewery at St Austell Brewery.

I’ve been waiting to try this beer for a few weeks now and have intentionaly put of drinking it untill I was ready to write a review at the same time. This is kind of a special beer becuase its come all the way from San dieago to get to me, and by all accounts previously its a fantastic beer.

I didnt pay too much attention to the label which is unusual for me, becuase I was eager to get at the beer inside and just drink it no fuss, no pomp or ceremony. Its a big bottle by british standards but im not complaining.

Port Brewing, Wipe Out IPA

From the smell I expected complex, matly as heck heavily hopped ‘Double’ IPA. I havent done much research about this beer other than on twitter. So this is all new to me.

Wham! first taste is crazy! It took me quite by suprise and I feel bad about spoiling the suprise for you if you are going to drink Wipe Out for the first time, but im going to. Stop reading go buy some!

From the first sip to the after taste there is about 5 different things going on in quick succession. Flavors come and go so quickly its quite a ride. its really difficult to describe…

But after four or five mouth fulls the bitterness becomes the head of the table and the loudest flavor.

A friend comments that it smells citrusy but tastes of toast! im not so sure but each to there own.

There is definalty a strong malt and strong hop flavor which is confusing because you are trying to taste one or the other but both come at the same time and it leaves you thinking “What the hell”. There are even some caramely burnt flavors in the dying seconds of the taste.

It’s definatly one to at least try to see if you like it or not. I think it will probably be a divisive beer in a group situation.

On reading the bottle all makes sense, 5 different hops! this really is a DIPA. There is cascade, amarillio, centtenial, simcoe and summit.

I know I couldnt drink pint after pint of it. It definatly makes for a occasional drink which will be a converstation starter and a party peice.

The one thing i can definatly say is… the wipe out was the converastion for the night, a beer which all the other were corpaired too. Buy some, try some.