I’ll admit it. Sometimes I can be a bit of a hypocrite.
For a while now I’ve been of the opinion that people in Wollongong take the beers at the Illawarra Brewery – made by the Illawarra Brewing Company – for granted. Plenty of people don’t seem to realise what they’ve got in the brewery and figure both it and its beers will always be around, so there’s no rush to try ’em, y’know?
I didn’t see myself as one of those people. And yet I found myself at the brewery on Sunday, asking for a Smashing Rumpkin only to find they were all-out. Oh, I’d been meaning to get down there and have a pint ever since it was released, figuring that there’d be plenty of time, so there was no rush, y’know?
That sure sounds like a hypocrite to me. At least I did get to sample it during a visit to the brewing company HQ, so I didn’t miss out altogether on that rum-infused wonderfulness. But I would have liked to try some more, because it was so, so, so very good.
But while that beer wasn’t there, I did get to try their new IPA. Well, I didn’t find out until I tasted it that it was an IPA, up until then I figured it was a pale ale.
Wait, I’m not a complete idiot – let me explain why I thought that. The beer is called “Slasher McKay PA” – as can be seen in the pic of the beer tap above (in case you’re wondering who Slasher is, I’ve included the Illawarra Brewing Company’s explanation at the bottom of this post).
So I’m thinking Slasher’s last name is pronounced like it rhymes with “hay”, and the “PA” at end was because there wasn’t enough room to write “pale ale”. But after drinking it, I suspect that his last name is pronounced so that it rhymes with “pie” so that when you ran the “PA” alongside it, it sounded kind of like “IPA”.
Anyway, I can’t say I was won over by the beer, which is due to personal preference than anything wrong with the beer. In fact, given the IBC brewers’ track record I think they’d struggle to make a bad beer.
But see, I have a strong preference for the fruity and/or piney styles of IPA. Slasher has loads of Aussie hops in it – Stella, Galaxy and Summer – added at every possible stage. The result is a beer that has loads of IPA bitterness in the mid to back palate but it’s a clean bitterness, that lacks that fruitiness I crave in IPAs. Call me a big wuss but I like that fruitiness to take the edge off the IPA bitterness.
Undoubtedly this beer is going to appeal to a lot of people, in particular those who lean towards bitterness in their beer.
UPDATE November 7: I went to the Illawarra Brewing Company HQ today to interview brewers Shaun and Ashur for a newspaper story. While I was there they gave me a glass of the Slasher, which very much changed my opinion of the beer. There was a much more noticeable fruity hop aroma and that bitterness that seemed to be the dominant characteristic, was counter-balanced by some quite nice caramel notes at the front. All-up it seemed like a well-balanced beer and one I’d drink again. So what went wrong the first time around? At a guess, the taps at the brewery might have been a bit colder than the ones at IBC HQ, thereby reducing the flavour. Other than that, I’ve got nothing.
Would I drink it again?: If it tasted like it did from the IBC HQ tap, definitely.

So just who is Slasher McKay? Here’s how the IBC explains it: “Summer 1960/61, Fourth Test Match, Adelaide Oval. Australia down to their last wicket against a rampaging West Indies pace attack. With the series locked, Australia need to hang on to take the series to a deciding Fifth Test. At the batting crease were Lindsay Kline and Ken “Slasher” McKay – an ironic nickname for a man known for his staying power rather than attacking verve. For over 100 minutes the pair held firm and, on the final delivery, McKay elected to take the ball on his ribcage rather than chance an edge or LBW. The test was drawn and Australia went on to win the series.”