Young Henry's Newtowner - Put this town back on the map

What do Stevie Nicks, McDonalds, a barbell set and a Chinese phone have in common? Nothing really - they've just all been involved in my day so far. It's exhausting work so far which mean's it's time for a beer!

(And an artistic beer shot with the new phone!)

Bloody good shooting there Huawei Mate 9!

And the first to step through the ropes in our latest Triple Threat Cage Craft Match Cataclysm? The young beer known as Henry...


So today started at 4:45am when the alarm rudely ruined my dreams of saving the world again and propelled me to the radio studio where I spent the next 6 hours answering calls after every song explaining to listeners that no, that wasn't a Stevie Nicks song. When I did play a Stevie Nicks song and they made it through the phone, then I'd give them Stevie Nicks tickets. Points for trying.
After being watched momentarily waving my arms around like a mad man by the next crop of radio hopefuls, I jumped back in the war wagon and drove to the McDonalds close to home where my kids were doing there part in the building of an absolutely incredible wall of noise.

A bit delirious from lack of energy (and sleep) I decided that it was high time to list some more of those barbell things rusting away in the back and did that for half an hour, almost falling asleep as soon as I sat down. A mini power nap interrupted by 'Dad the Xbox controller needs new batteries' and suddenly I found myself really craving a well earned.

Alright Henry, show me what you've got.

What am I smelling here?: As soon as I opened the can, I got a waft of pine forest and metal. Pouring it into the glass got rid of the metal but the pine quickly changed to malt + the faintest smell of wet grass that's just been mowed. Eventually the grass smell dissipated and left just the malty aromas.

What am I tasting here?: A bit of bread, malt and just a quick pass of caramel in there too - it's not a complex flavor here but it does not do this beer a disservice in the slightest. Aftertaste is mildly bitter but that eased up over time.

Initial thoughts: Nice creamy soft gold with a nice looking head. Starts off okay but seriously starts to improve with every sip. Usually it goes the other way but thankfully not here.

Even the ant farm looks impressed!

What to drink it with?: Something toasted. A steak sandwich with fried onion, a slice of bacon, lettuce, tomato and dab of tomato sauce. Wow, now I'm hungry. Wish I had some steak handy..

Overall: Henry really grew on me, going from 'not a bad start' to 'Impressive turnaround by the last drop'. The strange of wet grass faded, the bitter at the end eased up and my initial thoughts of 'would I go another?' changed from 'possibly' to 'that's not a bad idea at all.' While it's not a be all and end all fatal attraction to race to the fridge ala the Brooklyn Lager or perhaps the Fig Jam, there's a bit of appeal build up going on here. Basic but they really did nail the basics here.

Not a bad start to this triple threat clash at all really!

4 out of 5 Sydney towns.