Last night the beer I opened up was Coopers Sparking Ale. It’s billed as a bottle-conditioned beer, and I believe it; there was a lot of sediment in the bottle (a bunch of which made it into the glass). It turned out to be a decent beer, probably a little on the yeasty side for my taste, but drinkable.

And, it’s from Australia, so I guess I’m continuing my international beer tour.

Appearance: Cloudy. The beer itself is a golden straw color. Lots of sediment; in fact, there’s even sediment in the glass.

Smell: Yeasty, bready—like raw bread dough. There’s a fruity character in there somehow, possibly the yeast as well.

Taste: Yeasty lager flavor, is what it reminds me of. Kind of neutral. There’s a bitterness there that I can’t attribute to hops; it’s almost tannin-like. Possibly from the sediment?

Mouthfeel: A bit heavy, though not thick. "Sparkling" is right—it’s very carbonated in the mouth.

Over on BeerAdvocate it scores 83 (out of 100) with 90% approval. On RateBeer, 3.19 out of 5.

Have a Sparkling Ale! (Sorry, that’s an inside joke for Central Oregonians. I couldn’t resist.)