Beer Dakari

Finally, Can Enjoy a Kolsch Now the German Has Gone

2012-01-28T18:58:00.005+11:00

So The whole time the German was here in Melbourne, about the only thing I heard from her regarding beer was how much she didn't like Kolsch, and was more of an Altbier drinker (ah, the old regional beer wars...still, as I said before, she hadn't even tried a Bamberg Rauchbier! Poor form). So as to not let her ruin my first taste of this 4 Pines Kolsch, that just made #4 in the Hottest 100 Aussie Craft Beers, I waited til she left before trying it.

Much like the Forrest Brewing Kolsch I had towards the end of last year, this one had the same citrus sweet malt nose and taste. The malt carries well into flavour and texture, with it coating the tongue quite well. There is some slight lemony dry hop character towards the back, and remains in aftertaste, but with also a little bit of residual sweetness. As is the style, this is a very 'smashable' beer, and possibly why it has gone so well in the Hottest 100 poll. With it being an ale, it means it has a bit more character than some pale ales and the all dominant lager style of this country. That is probably why I appreciate it a bit more, and covers both bases of being easy to drink and having character enough to contemplate over. After a hot day, it is going down quite well, and so don't understand why Kathrin was so down on this style (yes, I guess any of us can get bogged down in regional prejudice).

To find some faults from my personal taste, this Kolsch is a little too dry at the back, which may well help many just to keep going back for more after each sip (not a bad idea at just 4.6%). The other issue is one I gave it, pouring it into a glass that was not clean, which dulled it a bit. Keeping with personal taste, I guess for me, not having a very delicate palate, this still doesn't have quite enough flavour to satisfy me, so can't see it being a style I will go back to very often. Therefore, this is why I can understand why It has gone so well in the Hottest 100, as I have said many times, my taste does not reflect the aussie general public.

Anyway, I hope through this beer review I have annoyed one German...

Cheers,

Beefy

Australia Day Aftermath: this Bruce needs to hit the sheep dip

2012-01-27T09:15:00.003+11:00

With yet another Australia Day done and dusted, I can happily say the tradition I spoke of yesterday actually occurred.

Apart from some minimal resistance from the Indians, Australia continues in control of the cricket, there was the increasing call of 'What song is this? I've never heard it before' in the JJJ Hottest 100 (yep, we are getting old), and with me manning the bbq, I hopefully kept the meat to minimal singe and rawness (well, no one was sick while I was there). Big Thanks must go to our hosts for a splendid setting and for having a ping pong table to add another activity to the day.

I was a little disappointed with our home brew Bright Ale came out, it was very cloudy and had quite a yeasty back on it. It took us a while to sort out the pour, and even when we got it right, the cloudiness of the beer seemed to make it dissipate very quickly. There was a little more bitterness at the back which helped mask the yeast a bit, and overall we still managed to get through about 10-12 litres of it, so was still drinkable. After this, the Rye IPA really did taste pretty bitter, but still went down well, and along with the ping pong, we were able to play some Smash Brothers on the Wii to see how bad our hand eye co-ordination was getting through the day.

Ok, even though I knew beforehand I would not agree with the results from the Hottest 100 Aussie Craft Beers Poll, I was still a bit annoyed with what my alcohol infused mind was comprehending on this page. The top 10 is the top 10, I never expect to like those, but was actually happily surprised to see my favourite year round beer to be in there, in the shape of the Holgate Temptress. While it's big brother (the Empress) did make it into the top 100, of course it was not as high as I would have liked, but that happens with beers that are not so easily accessible. Similarly with the Moo Brew Imperial Stout, which did better than the barrel aged version of it.

Again, it was disappointing to see the Vale Ale in the top 10, a beer I hardly see around, see people drinking, or even talking about. At least one piece of solace was that at least it was not number 1 this year.

Sorry, I'm going to try and stay positive with this. That there is this poll that gives the opportunity for the punters to choose the beers they like, and in its own way influence the beers that come of the industry, I'm happy to see enough diversity in what is in the list to find that the Pale Ale or Lager society is being infiltrated by some more interesting beers. The India Saison from Bridge Road, a German styled Kolsch in the top 5, a Moon Dog at 90, and a personal favourite was to see the Thirsty Crow Vanilla Milk Stout at #29. I need to remember that beer is a humble beverage, and as long as there are brewers making interesting beers, then the Pales and Lagers have their place to allow brewers to branch out in these ways. Still

It was also interesting to see a fair bit of Mountain Goat in the line up, and to see the Hightail Ale beat the Steam Ale in the poll, and that the speciality 'Thorny Goat' came in 14. It was also good to see a medium strength beer make the list with the Rogers coming in at 80. It is good to see Little Creatures is being paid back for actually trying to improve this area of the beer market.

I am happy to say that all 5 beers I voted for made the list, including the Murray's Grand Cru which only just made it at #100, so at least it shows I have some idea of what is good beer, even if my taste is not in line with the general public.

So, as I slowly recover from the week and yesterday's session, I can be content that the aussie brewing scene continues to grow, and we are continuing to experiment, even if this is still not appreciated as much as I would like it to be. All I can do is vote, and keep looking for those new beers to try, and I thank the industry and its brewers for continuing to push the boundaries. I encourage this to continue, and now I work in a brewery, I am happy to do my bit, to question and learn.

Cheers,

Beefy

Happy Australia Day (2012), Bruce!

2012-01-26T06:24:00.005+11:00

While Australia is a young country in many ways, it doesn't mean there is not much tradition when it comes to celebrating the day a British fleet landed on these shores to start a new colony (and displace the native population, which is why it can also be referred to as Invasion Day...however, being a beer blog, this post will not delve into this aspect). Since making it to drinking age, Australia Day has become a much bigger day for me, and so to anyone who does not already know what happens on this day, this has just given you a big clue. However, other traditions have grown to meet the challenge of it just being a alcohol-infused public holiday.

Firstly we have cricket. A game you can sit intensely watching for the tactics and gameplay ball to ball, or just walk past the TV at random points to keep up with the score. At the moment India are 3-0 down in a 4 test match series, and with the Aussies bringing a strong start to the first 2 days of this last test, we could have a white wash on our hands, and may make for some interesting viewing over today. Of course, cricket is best viewed with a beer in hand.

Then we have music. We may not have the cultural depth of many other countries in this world, but for over 20 years, a national radio station has been allowing aussies to vote for their favourite songs of the past year, and using Australia Day to play the top 100 throughout the day. Being mates with musos, there can be some consternation over the day about where people's favourite songs came in, and general denouncing of one's 'aussiness' if the Australian public highly voted for an annoying song. Of course, this is best listened to with a beer in hand, and the sound from the cricket on the telly muted.

BBQing. It is an iconic aussie pastime, and with it being Summer down here, any chance to crank the 'barbie' is taken with so much gusto, there is generally a few pieces of meat that are over cooked, sometimes to the point of being unrecognisable. On certain occasions, a burnt exterior can even hide a raw interior, which brings it own problems to the consumer. Still, seeing the consumer is also consuming alcohol, this matter can be overlooked at the time of eating, with disastrous consequences. Of course, BBQing is best done with a beer in one hand, and a pair on tongs in the other, while listening to the radio, and watching the telly through the window (multi-tasking at its best).

One other aspect to look at it traditional attire. Australia Day brings with it the chance to try and 'out aussie' each other, through the use of flag capes, terry towelling/corked hats, thongs, singlets, boardies, sunnies and maybe a splash of fluro green/yellow zinc cream for the melanoma conscious. Of course the most important piece of attire is the bottle opener and stubbie holder, so you may drink and keep your beer cold while manning the bbq, watching the cricket and listening to JJJ.

Okay, maybe now I can talk about beer (sorry to take this long into a post on a beer blog before I brought it up). In terms of drinking, being a beer conscious person, I tend to go with craft beer for such a day, with my favourite aussie summer craft beer being a Little Creatures Bright Ale. This year, Stass and I have taken it a bit further and brewed a clone of this beer, so I will have a 20 litre keg of that to share with mates. Also, I have what is left of a case of Mountain Goat Rye IPA and what is left of a case of Mountain Goat Two Step apple cider, which I only just tasted myself a week ago. We will see what response I get from my crew on these brews.

In line with JJJ's Hottest 100 songs of the year, a beer equivalent has also been brought out, where we have been able to vote for our favourite craft beers of the year, and so am looking forward to seeing how disappointed I am with the results that come out for that today. At least I know my taste in beer is not the same as the general aussie public, so I may not get in the same rage over the craft beer 100 that my muso mates have with the music 100...maybe.

I suppose I should also explain why I have called you all Bruce in the title to this post. Being a fan of Monty Python, along with liking the 'poo-poo' of Australian Table Wines sketch they did, I also love their 'Philosophy' sketch, where ever aussie is called Bruce, and anyone not called Bruce is asked if it would be okay to call them Bruce (I guess it just makes it easier when you are drunk). Luckily aussies already have that matter sorted with out term 'mate', but for today, instead of using 'mate' I'll call everyone Bruce.

In fact, for the only time I have been outside of Australia for Australia Day, I was in San Francisco in 14 degree weather, but maintained an attire of shorts and shirt, spent the day visiting pubs across the city, watched the sun go down at a bar overlooking the beach, and then put my terry toweling hat on to purchase the only aussie beer we could find the the whole city, and proceeded to be in physical pain while trying to drink a 500ml can of Fosters. If that doesn't make me a Bruce nothing will...

So Happy Australia Day Bruces, I'm off to make a potato bake to accompany my burnt but raw sausage!

Cheers to Aussie Craft Beers!

Bruce

Yay, Summer Drinking!

2012-01-20T10:30:00.002+11:00

We have just had a few nice days of weather in Melbourne, and been trying to make the most of it beer wise.

I was rightly taunted into trying the Nogne O Barrel Aged Bruin recently at Beer Delux over the weekend, which had a great depth to it through the oak. Still, for the most I have been keeping to lighter coloured beers. After the Bruin I got onto Hefewiezens, with the Schofferhofer and Moo Brew coming out. The Schoff definitely had a bit more going on in terms of flavours, making the Moo taste a little watery in comparison, even thought I still rate Moo for making good beer.

On a 35 degree day earlier in the week, I finished work and for the first time this summer felt the need for a beer when I got home (ok, so normally I could just have a beer at the brewery when I finish work). Unfortunately not being a collector of many of those smash-able beers, I ended up tipping one of Stew's Holgate Mt Macedon Ale's down my gullet. The cloying sweetness did hamper my ability to 'smash it', but being a sweet tooth It didn't phase me too much, and so enjoyed it quite a lot.

The Mountain Goat Hefe has been kegged and was on show at the bar on Wednesday, so we got in early after a day of bottling to try it out again. It is seriously my beer for this summer, and have even contemplated with some of the boys of taking a keg home with me to enjoy over the summer, and take to my Australia Day celebrations next week (even if it was just me sitting at home by myself knocking back pints of this beer. Yeah, that is how good it is). So delicate, yet flavourful, with a good balance of flavours. I sort of wish the banana nose would convert more into flavour, but for your average aussie drinker, this will be just right to get you into this style of beer. I dare say it will not last long, but I guess like the summer itself, it is meant to pass, but just gonna enjoy as much of it as I can, while I can.

Yesterday was then a massive day where we finished bottling the latest batch of Rye IPA (RIPA), which while it may have been annoying to brew, ferment and then even gave us dramas the first day of bottling. after getting through 8 hours and 9 pallets of cases, even the super sweet front and sides-of-the-tongue bittering back tasted refreshing. Mind you, having sampled a fair bit of it, I hit the sack pretty quickly last night.

Anyway, this season seems to be the summer of Hefe, so I'll be back at Goat tonight to taste more of it.

Cheers,

Beef

Where is our Summer Drinking Weather?

2012-01-14T11:11:00.005+11:00

Hi to all you consumers of fermented vegetable drinks (mostly of the beer variety),

So we are about half way through Summer down in the southern hemisphere, and apart from a couple of days here and there, we have yet to really get any summer weather so far. While it may be a bit disappointing for us that enjoy a good Aussie summer (and the macro brewers that like to attach their swill to this season), it means I've been able to enjoy more of the beer styles I like to drink.

During the week I managed a visit to the Local Taphouse in St Kilda for my first tasting paddle for the new year, and while I could have gone a few of the Red Hill brews that have taken over the taps there at the moment, I decided to go more for the darker and bigger beers also available through their 20 taps, while trying out their parma.

I did start on Red Hill's Temptation though, and with it on tap, thought it a good way to introduce myself to it. There is a bit of citrus on the malt nose which helps meld it into some hop aroma, and this seems to correspond well into flavour. It is not a very intense beer in terms of flavour, which I would expect for at beer at 8%, so when the hops rise in intensity on the tongue, and the alcohol rises towards the back, the beers seems to separate a bit and adds a bit of a dry aftertaste. Some decent flavours going on, but just didn't meld all that well for me.

Getting onto New Zealand's 8 Wired Black Dwarf dry beaned coffee stout, I found that apart from the espresso aroma and a bit of astringency up front on the palate, it was a fairly straight forward stout, which at least clean up the tongue.

Trying something a bit different halfway through the paddle, a beer called 'Whatever you want me to be' from local brewer True South was definitely hard to describe and stylise. It has quite a fruity nose with a lot of cinnamon to go with it, which reminded me of hot cross buns and the Easter beer Murray's did last year. If anything, the fruit was a bit darker, and the cinnamon much bigger in this so called 'coffee and cassia bark infused ale'. Interestingly though, the beer has very little carbonation but has quite a light mouthfeel. The taste though I found hardest to describe. I could just say the smell came through in flavour, but there was definitely more going on with sweetness, bitterness and spice coming through in that order across the tongue, but none of it was offensive and melded ok together. However, I found it hard to pinpoint what sort of sweetness, etc was going on, but as it warmed, the sweetness did start overriding the other flavours.

Heading back to 8 Wired, their Big Smoke was next on the list, and a beer I had been meaning to try for a while. I found the mix of smoke and porter sweet aromas worked quite well, even if it is a little muddled. It doesn't quite have that smoked ham taste to it and to be honest, the porter overrides at the the front while the smoke comes through at the back, and it not very strong, only leaving a slight driness at the back.

I have to say, I had tried to keep with the summer season when I found Mountain Goat's Two Step Cider was available on tap, but finding the keg was dry, I was once again denied trying this brew from the brewer I work for but not yet even tasted. Therefore, I went to the opposite end of the scale, having a Murray's Wild Thing Imperial Stout, that has twice the alcohol the cider has. It has the classic malt, dark fruit and alcohol nose for the style, complemented in taste and with a good mouthfeel to let it cover the tongue before the alcohol cuts through towards the back. However, I found the alcohol cut through a bit too sharp, and so doesn't quite match overall.

Heading further along to Acland Street, and walking past the dour beach of St Kilda (not very inspiring as I try and steel myself for a big year going for a career in beer), I managed to drag a couple of friends into Acland Cellars. The salesman picked me as a beer nerd without me saying a word, and then proceeded to tell me that I would be bottling a beer next week at Mountain Goat, before we each picked a beer each to try. However, after putting them in the fridge at home, it was hard to know where to start between the Aecht Schlenterla Rauchbier Urbock, the Samuel Smith Imperial Stout, and the Ommegang Three Philosophers.

Over tacos, I thought the Rauchbier would be best to start on, as at least there was food to help cleanse the tongue. However, as soon as I opened the bottle, I realised the beer was very undercarbonated, even for the style. Of course very little head came from the pour, and completely diminished very quickly. Checking the use by, there is still 7 months left on it, but it sure didn't not taste fresh. While the level of flavour was even with the smoke and sweet still bringing the hammy sort of taste, it was not as intense as I remember it being, and not as flavourful as I remember having these types of beers in Bamberg. I also seemed to noticed a very slight sourness and maybe an added sense of dustiness over the normal smokeyness. Actually, I think I prefer the hickory smoke over the beech wood, but that is just through the Hickory Stickery Bock which probably has a lot more sweetness than the traditional smoke beers of Bamberg. I just wonder if the beech gives a bit more of a dusty smokeness than the hickory. In the end, the German that just tried her first Bamberg Rauchbier has been encouraged to try these style of beer when she heads back home.

After the slight disappointment of the Rauchbier, The Sam Smith had that really good English style Imperial Stout flavour. Actually, I was even getting a slight caramel with the chocolate malt flavour from this beers, and with a decent mouthfeel and at only 7%, it makes for a pretty drinkable imperial stout. With my limited and simple palate, I probably enjoyed this beer the most personally, even if the last one was much more impressive.

There were a few things that the 2010 Three Philosophers Quad had me interested in. Firstly, the connection of beer and philosophy has been something I looked at connecting in the past. Secondly, connecting a Belgian lambic with a Trappist style really triggered my interest seeing I really like both the Faro and Quadruple styles, even though (and because) they are on opposite ends of the scale for beers out of Belgium. Within the Quadruple style I was also interested to see they went with the blonde...but I will come back to that. I have to say the Kriek is integrated quite well into the beer with the sweet and sour going together alright. The lambic did bring a lightness and did sense a bit of separation between the styles because of it, but I guess going with a blonde would help make the malt less dense, allowing more of the cherry lambic to come through. Still, I found personally, I would have liked a darker malt quad to bring a darker fruit flavour to the cherry, but that is probably just my personal taste. Still, very flavourful with the belgian yeast as well to give it a Duvel with cherry lambic taste overall.

I don't know if I want to add this, but going to the 20-20 cricket game on Thursday night with the Melb Renegades vs Brisbane Heat I decided to pull out a beer my brother gave for me to try. My sister in law's husband has ancestry from Costa Rica, and somehow my brother ended up with an 'Imperial'. Sorry to end this post on a bad note, but apart from from decent mouthfeel, the only thing that is had over some of our own mainstream beers was a slightly less chemical tang.

Ok, that will do. I just hope we end up getting some better summer weather for Australia Day in a couple of weeks time. Then the Bright Ale clone Stass and I brewed will go down very well.

Beef

Welcome to 2012...Blood has already been spilt, but not beer

2012-01-09T15:30:00.004+11:00

Hi all,

I am somewhat in recovery mode at the moment, not from alcohol this time, but something that has an influence in my blood stream. I just gave blood this morning and seems that my body wanted to give more than they asked for at the Red Cross. No sooner had I been wrapped up and enjoying a tasty snack then I realised my shirt was clinging to me and felt wet. Looking down I realised blood was coming out from under the bandage and spilling down the side of my body and dripping on the floor. With the matter swiftly resolved by the lovely nursing staff, I managed to ride home (was going to blame a car from clipping me if anyone pulled me up regarding the bloody stains) and start soaking my clothes, before deciding to take it easy this arvo...just in case. After lunch and a dvd, I think I may be capable of at least writing here, but apologies in advance if I make even less sense than normal through possible light-headedness.

As is tradition at chrissy time, my folks get me a six pack of Guinness and Tooheys Old as an advancement to the thanks they give me for helping out on the farm, etc while I am up there. Seeing these are the first beers I can actually remember enjoying, and are therefore attached to my old life in Newcastle, I guess it is a bit nostalgic that I have these beer available to me (mind you, I wouldn't complain if there was better beer...still, free beer is free beer), and they still go down the same, even if the diversity of beers my palate tries to comprehend grows with each year. Still, sitting in the pool with the sun going down after a day's work on the farm, sipping on an Old was quite enjoyable.

Chrissy day was spent enjoying the wine our family gifted my brother and Nicolette for their wedding, and have to say, the Goldkapp Joh. Jos. Prum 2007 Graacher Himmelreich Auslese went down amazing for a warm chrissy day. Such complexity with the sherbert sweetness, melon coolness, just a hint of acidity towards the back to balance it out, and a little residual sweetness at the back, it was a joy just to let it sit on the tongue to warm up and let the body of it build around your mouth is a lovely experience, and why this is probably one of the only wines you will ever hear me go on about through this blog. At least we had it before lunch while our palate was fresh, as even though dinner was great, it would only have diminished the flavours and textures of this wine. After that I was on an Old or two for the rest of the day.

Taking it easy on the beers between chrissy and new years, I managed to still have some of the Guinness and Old for the Birubi New Years party. That and also a bottle of Murray's Anniversary Ale from 2010 that I had bought the year before on a previous visit to the brewery, and had forgotten about til I found it sitting in a cupboard on the farm. On the way down to Boatie on Boxing Day, as the driver I had the most say when I pulled in quickly to the brewery to pick up a bottle of the 2011 Anniversary Ale, so a little vertical tasting could be done with these two. I am not sure if the 2010 had just melded out quite a bit over the year, but for a Barleywine is was pretty stock standard with the across the tongue ruby sweetness which cloyed a fair bit but still ended nice enough to want another sip. At 10% it could have been just a standard british version of the style, and as we found, had nothing on it's younger brother. While there was still the classic up front sweetness in the 2011 edition, the use of Belgian yeast has really spruced up the beer to give some added fruitiness to the beer, add some additional alcohol to it, which in turn took away a bit of the cloy-factor, and overall make it feel like more of a refreshing Barleywine (if that should be possible in this style). As always trying to bring something a bit different to a group that had beers including XXXX was good to show a better depth to beer than what they may be use to. With a German in the ranks this year, there was also the opportunity to try some Killepitsch, which for me had a herbal dark spirit taste, and drinking it cold separated the alcohol from the rest of the beverage in texture, while I found the alcohol did not burn as much as I would expect from a 40-odd% liquor. Actually the closest to a beer I can think of the convey it would be a American Style Russian Imperial Stout, but maybe with herbs instead of hops. The other oddity was seeing that Team Harrod had found some Mountain Goat Steam Ale, so was good to see it making the rounds in New South Wales.

Coming back to Melbourne after New Years and heading straight back to work the day after, then helping my brother move house the next day (ending on a Little Creatures Rogers which went down nicely, followed by a visit to the first day of trade for the year at the Mountain Goat after finding the Royston closed), on Friday the brewers (including the new assistant brewer [me!]) had a tasting of some of the previous batches of beer we had bottled to see how they had help up over time. Even if it is from my limited intellect, my thoughts are the intellectual property of Mountain Goat, and will remain so (seeing they don't matter seeing no one reading this will probably be able to taste them anyway...actually, I'll come back to that later...), and also had a try of the hefeweizen which I should be kegging off tomorrow in between Hightail, Double Hightail, IPA, and I think an Imperial Pilsner was in there too. The 'Hef', or 'Hoof' which I think is more appropriate for this beer from Mountain Goat (seriously, that is marketing gold right?) was tasting really good, with a good balance of wheat malt to the banana esters and just a slight touch of bubblegum, but with a good sessionable feel to it...I'll be definitely taking the Killepitsch German to get her thoughts on it (even though she has touted herself as more of an 'Alt' drinker).

Speaking of the German, we went along to a friends party on Saturday, and couldn't help myself but take my last bottle of our homebrew Hickory Stickory Bock to show her and the posse there another lesson in what beer can be. Having given the 'evil eye' to a Victorian Pale Lager drinking (that was for you Mr J. Davidson), and telling him at least I wouldn't be stealing one of his beers I loved seeing the surprise on peoples faces when they could taste smoked ham in a beer. In fact, the smokey flavour seems to have held up better in the bottle than the keg. Before that though I had to share a bottle of Lindemann's Faro with the German, the host of the party, and the person the party was centred around (that's a lesson to all those people that turn up late to parties). It still reminds me a bit like the Prum Riesling and a favourite summer beer for me (light but full bodied like a cloud, flavourfully balanced in sherbert sweet with slight lambic sourness when letting it sit on your tongue for 20 seconds). Surprise surprise, the German (ok, I should probably start calling her Kathrin seeing that is her name) liked the Faro, but was even more into to Hickory Stickery Bock. Then, she tells me she has never had a Rauch(Smoke)bier before...she comes from the country that made the style famous, and she had never even tried it (what is this, I'm teaching a German about their own beer???!!!). Mind you, I guess with the regional aspect to beer culture in Germany, and that she probably lives on the opposite side of the country to Bamberg, I'll let it slip...maybe.

Yesterday then I did a sneaky trip out to Stass's to put on a Little Creatures Bright Ale Clone so it is ready for Australia Day in a couple of weeks, and found the Mulberry brew I made for my brother's wedding is still holding up ok, even if it has lost a little body and the tartness is negating the sweet fruity flavours that go with it. He also had a bottle of Mountain Goat beer from his time on the bottling line, so we opened it, just to see him agree with me on certain aspects that the Mountain Goat brewers had disagreed with me on during the tasting on Friday.

So that is it. Hope that all made some sense, but if it didn't (well, if it made even less sense than usual), maybe call an ambulance for me as I am possibly losing consciousness as I write this.

Now to get Phoenix's song '1901' in my head, so I can be playing it in my head when I am kegging Mountain Goat's batch #1901 tomorrow ('lie down, you know it's easy, like we did it all summer long'...actually, maybe I need a lie down),

Beefy

PS: saw this 'documentary' the other day and thought I would share it. Way over the top, which is the way of America and it's mainstream beer market (advertising beer, not the taste of it). Hope you can find the aspects worth thinking about through the haze of over-the-top-ness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC8SdkufNBo&feature=youtu.be

Environmental Impact of Beer 2

2011-12-20T19:30:00.002+11:00

Hi all and welcome to that mad time of the year called Christmas,

After nearly 2 years after the original post I did on this topic, I have found it is now the most viewed post I have done on this blog, and feel like revisiting it. As I have just finished my last day of work for the year, and as of the start of next year will become a permanent part-time member of Mountain Goat Brewery, I guess the question of social/environmental/etc conscious again comes to mind. I guess after over 3 years of being a casual worker, it has been easier for me to not focus on this much in terms of my work environment, as it sometimes changed on a daily basis. However, it has been something I am somewhat conscious of in general, through the original post on this subject. Also, I can remember the appreciation I had for a removalist company called Go Green I did some work with, who used vehicles that were fuelled by old cooking oil and negated their carbon emissions through their work practices.

Anyway, doing a round of research, I found this article, which I am happy to say is Australian based, and actually mentions Mountain Goat. As for point 1, after 4 months of filling kegs at Mountain Goat (actually filled 99 today), I would hazard a guess that on average a keg there is filled 12-15 times a year. This aspect is helped by the fact that probably 10 kegs a week go across the bar that is in the same building as the brewery. In terms of transportation then, it was actually just me with a trolley that moved about 10 kegs to the bar today. This then also connects to point 3...mind you, Goat now sends their beer across Australia and have started exporting to the U.S., and am unsure if this is being offset in any way. I guess the other thing with point 3, is that this is probably the point where I fall down the most in my own consumption of beer, as I am happy to try imported beers, and as I have found over the past few years, am very happy to travel to Ireland, the U.S, and a few countries in mainland Europe (as regular readers of this blog will already know) and try beers I find (and sometimes go to just have the beers I already enjoy in the place they come from) there.

I do also like the fact that Goat collect and use rainwater off their roof, use solar power, try and give as much of their used grain to farmers, have an organic beer (which became more important to me after reading Rachel Carson's 'Silent Spring' this year), and saw the clause in my contract today about the 'ride to work' bonus (I wonder if I still get that for walking to work?).

Going backwards to point 2, I do remember being impressed when doing the Coopers Brewery tour and hearing about the co-generation plant. I am sure for the guide at least it was one less question I asked that was just about the beer itself. I have also heard that Anderson Valley Brewing Company has the tag of 'Solar powered beer', and Brooklyn Brewery is one of the greenest breweries in the world. When I did the Cascade Brewery tour earlier this year, was interested to see that they actually reuse the carbon dioxide naturally produced during fermentation to carbonate their soft drink line. I am sure there are many other examples out there, so please let me know if you find more.

Of course, I still brew my own beer to cover point 4 in the article, and am even happy to say we have moved on from bottles to kegs ourselves this year, not only meaning less effort in packaging beer for consumption, but now less chance of wasting bottles from accidental smashing, or exploding from some of our experiments in beer. I guess this is the only improvement we have made since I last posted on this subject.

I guess bringing this to mind at Christmas time is also poignant for me, as we see consumerism take over our lives at this time, and think more about the things we could have, rather than appreciating and retaining what we already have. For me, the environment is one of those things, and so will be enjoying 2 weeks of summer days on the family farm and our little garage on the block of land we had had by the beach for 30-odd years, and still done very little to change it from the days where school summer holidays were done in pitched tents on the block.

I hope this Christmas period you can also enjoy the simple things in life, and appreciate even the simple things in life have an impact on the world around us. As many of you seem to agree, it is something worth questioning, even in something like beer.

Merry Christmas (Ale) and a Happy Brew Year to you all,

Beefy

PS: While I doubt it will happen where I am going, I'll let you know if I try any interesting beer experiences once I get back from my holiday.

31st Birthday Beers @ Josie Bones

2011-12-15T06:54:00.003+11:00

So after getting excited hearing about Josie Bones having chrissy beers available, I arrived right at opening to find they only had one available...yep, bit disappointing. Still, with such a range a beers on offer in general, this small set-back wasn't going to stop as tasting some good beer. Thanks to Mick, Nic, Joel, Mel, Stass, Jess, Mark, and Team Harrod for coming to share a few quiet beers with me.

Seeing there was at least one of the chrissy beers available, I thought I should start on it. Still, even this gave a fight not to be drunk as it wasn't pouring very well. Once James sorted it out and gave me the other half of my taster of it. The Nogne O God Juls is a really good example of a chrissy beer, but probably more of my slant with a bit more chocolate over the dark fruit flavours to go with the spice in it. Best of all, once it warmed up the chocolate flavour only increased.

Keeping with the spice and sweetness, I next moved onto the North Coast Brother Thelonious Belgian Abbey Ale, but this time with some caramel instead of chocolate. I remember trying a heap of North Coast beers while I was in the US a few years back, and all of them on tap had this incredible creaminess. Having this beer on tap just proved it was a one off at the brewery, and just annoyed me more when the barman at North Coast wasn't able to explain to me how all the beers came out so creamy.

Seeing I just wanted a quiet one I just had one more after that, and having recently been interested in trying the Moylan Hopsickle, I decided to try their Imperial Stout from the bottle. there was quite a range of flavours going on in this beer, especially while it was cold. There was a bit of a floury/dusty smoke in the sweet malt on the front of the tongue. This evens out on the midpalate before hops drive it home with a fair amount of bitterness on the back...well comparative to the style anyway. Definitely an American version of the style, also shown with the big 10% alcohol in it,and was feeling pretty tipsy once I had finished it. Luckily I picked up some food at this time, and seeing there was an ox tongue cooked in beer, hops and hickory, I gave that a go. Not as good at the black pudding I would normally go for. Growing up on deviled ham spread as a kid, there was a similar flavour and feel from the tongue meat, but was a bit disappointed not to get more of the flavours from what it had been cooked in. The imperial stout went alright with it, but Stass had a beer that went much better than mine with it...yep, a smoke beer.

This is the good thing with James and the staff in general at Josie Bones, you can go in there with no idea what to drink (well, they have to expect it with a beer menu as long as it is, to see people get confused over what to try), and you just give them a few words in flavour or even what you feel, and they manage to pick a good beer to fit your mood. I would call them beer psychologists in a way.

Anyway, Stass had managed to do this with James, and he had come back to him with a Brasserie Dieu du Ciel Charbonniere. While it is a smoke beer, it is definitely not as harsh as many others I have tried. in comparison, I would say the level of smoke is similar to the Aecht Schelenterla Rauchbier Weizen, but in a dark ale malt instead of wheat. Therefore the ham/meaty taste in it is not overbearing at all, and balances well with the sweetness in the malt. This is a good beer for anyone that has only tried a couple of smoke beers and is still finding an appreciation for the flavours in it.

Stass also got onto some Moondog beers. The Pumpkin Porter was on tap and has that density and full mouthfeel that I have become use to with this brewery, and with it a floury/dusty malt that also seems to be their style with darker beers. Of course, there is not much in terms of flavour when it come to the pumpkin part, but have to say, it help mellows out the dusty malt to make it a bit more easy to drink, and seems to thin it out a little on the tongue. No wonder this beer has become their staple...if a brewery like this could have a staple beer in their range.

Which brings us to the Moondog Skunkworks cognac barrel-aged IPA. The hops in this is pretty big when cold, especially in flavour. The aging must has settled out the hop bitterness to some degree (hey, there is still quite a bit of hop bitterness anyway). I'm not too sure what cognac tastes like, so can't really say how much of it comes through. As it warmed up the hops dropped off and a warming aspect came over the beer more, but not sure if that is from it, or just how these boys roll with alcohol in their beers.

Mick also tried a Saison from a brewery in Nowra, NSW. Luckily for them I can't remember the name of the brewer, as it wasn't a good example of a Saison. Firstly, the citrusy malt front was way too cloying and sweet for the style, and then there was this really weird orange juice chemical tang in aftertaste that just killed it completely.

After the Nogne O, Joel needed to step back from having too much flavour (it's ok, I don't get it either) and James again did the trick with a Brewdog Alice Porter. It kept some of the chocolate notes but with a baltic style, it much lighter on the tongue, perfect for 'lagerman' Joel.

The only other beer I recall from the night is Nicolette's Kristal Wheat beer from the oldest brewery in the world, and I remember it mostly because for the smallest person at the table, she had the biggest looking beer of all of us. Seeing she doesn't like the overbearing bubblegum that can come through in some German wheat beers, so going for this once meant the bubblegum was at a good level and the flavour is clearer and crisper than a Hefe (and maybe not as bloating either).

So, it was a nice relaxing day-after-birthday celebration with just a few good beers and mates...a bit different from last year. Luckily it was a quiet one, as the Goat chrissy party was on the day after, and that was not a quiet one...and had to work the next day after it. Still, The Grand's chocolate tart is amazing, along with the pork...and the gnocchi...which we had with the Brooklyn Brewery Local 1...which I am happy to say I had before the Corona someone thought would be really funny to buy a round of...and supposedly there was tequila in there as well. Anyway, I ended up with a Cooking with Beer book out of the kris kringle (the dessert beer recipes certainly got me excited) so looking forward to trying out more beer and food combos in the new year.

Cheers,

Beefy

Reflections on Another Year with Beer

2011-12-13T04:52:00.005+11:00

I suppose it is good having my birthday at the end of the year as it means I can reflect on where I am in life in general while I think about the year that has been. The past few months have been busy so haven't had much personal reflection happening, but at least this blog has been a bit of a substitute over the year, to at least look at the growing connection beer has in my life. From a little dissolution at the start of the year, things improved in my personal experiences and thoughts, I found some contentment and started my series on Situational Drinking (1, 2, 3, 4).

In term of homebrewing, it has been great having Brad back in the brewing team and bring success in trialing a Mulberry beer that made a special appearance for me at my brothers wedding. However, I am still wary of my personal approach to homebrewing, and see I have much growth in this area to do if I am going to make it in brewing beer on a more serious level. Still it has been great brewing with these guys and going up against Team Harrod in our homebrewing contests to keep the fun aspect in it. As well as the Mulberry, it has been good to throw myself in the deep end trying the Hickory Stickory Bock, Stass with his Coffee Nut, and putting together another batch of Russian Imperial Stout. Unfortunately I had a casualty with the Milo beer, but hopefully will find another path for it in the future.

A year ago I well and truly celebrated my 30th birthday, including a big night with family and friends and Mountain Goat Brewery. For my birthday this year, it was nice to see that after having my first day of work there in March, it looks like I will become a permanent (part-time) member of staff, and wore my full Goat uniform for the first time, to celebrate birthday 31. While the 11 hours was a bit longer than I had hoped, I managed to pull myself together enough to go to the Royston by myself for a parma and try the Feral 'Raging Flem' Belgian IPA (pretty muddy looking with golden body. Get big hop smell and taste while cold, but an earthy funk takes over after 10 minutes of warming up, which also gives it a bit more body). A bit of a contrast to last year, but still visited Mountain Goat and Royston for it.

There have been some good beer events again this year, with beer launches and the usual Microbrewery Showcases, but by far the biggest was Good Beer Week, where I took the whole week off work to enjoy/recover throughout. I have heard it will be back next year, so that is definitely something to look forward to. Crafty's Festival of the Froth was also a highlight, especially seeing the team I was in won in the trivia.

In terms of my own journeys for beer, heading back to Hobart, trips to the Wheaty in Adelaide for Moo Brew and Rogue beers, and even heading North, to see how beer is growing in Sydney have been great to fit in earlier in the year, when I had time. As a faithful companion, the trip Stass and I took out to Beechworth was also special for me, and to finally hang out at Bridge Road Brewery.

I also managed to have a few beers during the Rugby World Cup (and probably went a bit too far trying to connect rugby to beer), and make sure there was beer not just at my brothers wedding, but also my cousin's. It was a good experience also this year to take a couple of my journeys with beer and turn them into entries into a beer writing comp, which while nothing came of, at least showed I should stick to just blog writing, and that any appreciation I try to give to others on beer should be done with a beer in our hands.

Speaking of which, I should probably talk about my favourite beers of this year. I don't normally do this, seeing I keep it very personal and is always hard to say what are my favourite beers. Still, after having done this for my European trip last year, this year I think I may be able to to do, so strap yourself in for a very biased list.

1) Southern Tier Creme Brulee

2) Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout

3) Holgate Empress

4) Les Trios Mousquetaries Porter Baltique

5) Rogues Chocolate Stout (on tap!)

Yep, definitely a trend in the beers I like.

Well, I think that will do. Am pretty content with the year I've had, and what I have to look forward to in my 32nd year of life. Speaking of which, I'll be back on here soon for a beer tasting I am hoping to have at Josie Bones of Chrissy beers (tis the season), so even with only a couple of weeks left in 2011, may still be a highlight to come...

Cheers to more beers,

Beef

PS: As always, thanks to you for checking out the blog over the year, culminating in nearly 6000 views over the past couple of years, and now over 230 posts (which would make for a boring week if anyone was to read over all of them).

Few Friday Knock Offs

2011-12-09T18:23:00.004+11:00

After another tiring week and not being able to have much of a weekend before it, I was well and truly ready to do very little at the end of it. However, after a crisis call during the week, I had to try and rework Goat to make it for another lawn-mowing Friday. At least with three of us, I found it good to smash through it pretty quickly, so I could still run an errand for my bro (while he is away on his honeymoon) and do some beer shopping with Stass after work.

Amazingly, feeling somewhat half awake after this and knowing Biero had a Vanilla Milk Stout on their taps, Stass got me into the city so we could check it out. Must have been funny seeing two guys in shirts with a landscaping logo on it in a concrete-filled city, and drinking a stout on a hot summer day, still it is a double contradiction I am happy to live with as the Thirsty Crow Jiminy Cricket Vanilla Milk Stout was well worth a try.

It poured with a translucent-edged dark brown colour with a slight brown tinge in the creamy head as well. Couldn't get much aroma at the beginning, but some slight high noted sweetness from the vanilla. Upon tasting though, we both delighted in the sweet vanilla flavour, and what I get as an alkaliny powdered lactose just after it, but generally mixed in well to help meld the flavours together on the front and midpalate. Stass smashed his a bit too quickly, so when it really sweetened up with time and warmth, he had very little of it left to enjoy. For me it got to a stage where the vanilla sweetness started creeping up the inside of my cheeks. which of course I personally enjoyed. I was happy to find that the beer did not sit too heavy on the tongue or gut, which is interesting to find in a milk stout, but while I coats your tongue generously with each sip, the almost refined sweetness of the vanilla keeps it almost refreshing in a way. The brewer has done very well in doing this and blending the lactose and vanilla flavours in this beer. I'd like to understand the base beer behind it more, and how they were able to integrate these two additional flavours above it in this fashion. It had me wanting to go back to trying at another homebrew choc/vanilla stout, or bringing in some brown sugar to get some caramel...unfortunately I think there would be too much sweetness to even pick up the different flavours in something like that. With warmth the alkaline did diminish a bit as well, so the vanilla really took over the tastebuds.

Seeing this was Stass's first visit to Biero, he was excited to try a few other beers on the menu (and on my recommendation, the pork sandwich). Seeing we had been shopping for a few smokey/peaty beers, seeing a Mash Smokey Amber Ale, we had to give that a go. I would say it looked more golden and amber and was pretty clean (maybe I am use to have wheat based smoked beers). Unlike the Vanilla Milk Stout, we found this one was better cold, as the smoke is very much on the fringe in terms of aroma and taste. The level of smoke melded better with the malt while it was cold, and would be a great beer for anyone that has never had a smoke beer before as an introduction to the style. However, as expected, when it warmed up the sweetness of the malt really took over, and the smoke was left to be simply on the sides of the back palate to clean up the sweetness.

I did make sure to keep some of the Vanilla Milk Stout for after this, but had to hold off again when Stass eyed the Mikkeller 1000 IBU, which I was surprised he hadn't tried before. Seeing he was driving he just had a taster of it, but that was enough. I mean, they have tried to have some up-front sweetness to help bring some balance of flavour, but if anything it sets you up for a bigger fall when to bitterness kicks in just off the tip of your tongue. I was surprised that it didn't offend me as much as when I had tried it previously, but then previously I was halfway through a beer tasting, so I probably reacted a bit more to it in that situation. Still, the dry bitterness just sits and stays in aftertaste, and learnt quickly not to let it sit on your tongue for too long.

Trying to end on the last of the Vanilla Milk Stout just spun my tastebuds out of control as the massive sweetness up front still wasn't enough to remove the bitterness left from the 10000 IBU. At that I started to flake and so we left, so I could tipsily and tiredly get the tram home to crash and start relaxing for the weekend.

I look forward to doing very little this weekend, even in terms of tasting beer...I know, tough times...

Cheers,

Beef

My Bro's Special Day...and How I Infiltrated it with Beer!

2011-12-03T08:12:00.004+11:00

Congrats to Mick and Nic on getting married!

It was a couple of hectic days leading up to it trying to do what I could to help the day go smoothly for them. Mind you, with the bride and groom both being engineers, it was planned so well I was actually trying to find things to do to feel like I was being useful to them. This was sorted with me brewing a beer for the day. With the Mulberry not holding up very long after brewing, by the time we went to pick up the keg the day before the wedding, it had started to sour off a bit. Luckily the keg was not full and had some spare jars of it available to dilute in some warm water and add to the keg to fill it and bring back some sweetness to balance out the beer.

That afternoon we had the rehearsal and dropped off beer and wine (luckily the keg fitted in the fridge) at the venue, where after thinking I was just going to be a signing witness in the ceremony, I was to be standing next to Mick for much of the ceremony, give a short announcement before, and be 'chairman' of the ceremony (literally, I was in charge of moving the chairs behind the happy couple during the times they were standing or sitting down). Then, upon finding the matron of honour wished to make a speech at the reception, I was asked to do the same. What I needed was a few 'stouts' to 'steady' myself over dinner that night with the two families, so a Coopers Stout and Guinness did the trick at the Union Club Hotel in Fitzroy. Finding one of Mick's mates was drinking a Carlton Draught, I quickly ordered a Coopers Pale for him to try and counter the effects of all the chemicals he had just ingested, and was happy to see a few of the girls trying out Little Creatures Bright Ale.

A potential mistake the night before a wedding was for my sis and I to head out to see a few bands, with the Twoks and Dancing Heals (a band I had been promising the drummer [previously of Dirty Pink Jeans/Roaring Years] I would come and see for a year) playing nearby. With a pint of Coopers Pale I felt old with the volume level being way too high, and a bit disappointed with Twoks only playing a 4 song set after the 'rockstar' late arrival of Xan. Still, managed to get to bed by midnight before Mick was around just after 8am to get on with sorting out things before the ceremony. Having picked up food, flowers, a few other bits and pieces, and giving Mick some time to relax and get changed, we arrived at the venue an hour before the ceremony to set up the courtyard for the post ceremony afternoon tea. I managed a quick taste of the mulberry as I set up the keg to find it at least fit for human consumption before realising there was only 30 mins before the ceremony was to start, so had to run to where my folks were staying to shower and change before running back to the chapel just as the bride was about the arrive. With the priest putting in my cuffs, my dad doing my tie, and mum pinning the flower to my jacket, I jogged down the aisle, made my announcement (which Mick had already done in my absence), and stood beside Mick just as the bridal procession began. Luckily the rest of the ceremony went smoothly, and was happy when it was done and I could just start pouring beer for the crowd. It was pouring pretty heady as seems to be from the tap we have for it, so was having to do two half pours for each pot.

Still, the addition of the fresh mulberry syrup not only countered the sourness well (actually, probably too much), but the additional sugars really added some body to the beer, that was tasting a bit too thin and watery before, and with the headiness gave it a wonderfully velvet texture on the tongue that I probably liked the most about the beer. Of course, in the setting of a wedding, everyone was being very nice and saying good things about the beer, and I do agree it was a very good refreshing brew and happy to see there was no residual sweetness to cloy the tongue, making it easy to go back to, sip after sip. The sourness/tartness came very late in the midpalate but created enough depth to give the brew some character. The closest I had to some critical feedback was from my aunty who said that it wasn't her sort of thing, but that it was still nice. Of the 20 litres I had, about half of it was gone in the hour and half we had after the ceremony. It was funny, not many people came up to try it while I was pouring out beers, but everytime I walked away to get something else for the table, I would find all the beers I had poured gone, followed by random people coming up to me to comment on the beer and ask a few questions (which I happily answered of course). Still, I managed to mingle a little bit before we had to pack up and head to the reception. Was happy to see Joel had been able to make it, so we had a taste of the beer together, he helped me pack up, and I gave him a Rogers as a roadie to get home on (trust it, I only had to open one beer bottle the whole day and I cut my finger while doing it).

Seeing I had to help pack up the courtyard, pack the hire car with any leftover beer and wine, drive it back to Mick's before I trammed it to the reception, I was also one of the last people to turn up at Matteo's to continue celebrating.

Of course, my brother had sorted out the wine at the venue for the reception, so only three beers were had over the whole evening by our whole party. I had one of them (LC Pale Ale) as I arrived, and it didn't last long as I started to unwind. Quickly getting a photo with the happy couple and chat to a few more people, we were directed to our tables, and from there I was on the special selection of wine Mick had sourced for us. I went with the Riesling with the mushroom ravioli, and the Pinto Noir with my beef main, but stayed away from the Chardonnay that was a bit too dry for my taste. Mind you, the dessert I had without any wine, as it didn't need it! I was enjoying the wine so much I was probably a little tipsy by the time I had to get up for my impromptu speech, which helped me get through it but probably made it a terrible speech. But like the beer, people were saying nice things anyway.

The next day, Mick dropped off the half filled keg, and seeing he didn't get to taste it on the day, we poured a few glasses for him and Stew to try...again, nice things said. Stass has come over to pick up the keg, so was using the time til he arrived to drink as much of it as I can, and seeing it is only 3%, I managed a couple of litres before he came over, to drink a bit more with me before he left with it. I would say it will deteriorate pretty quickly from here, so hopefully Stass gets on it to finish it soon.

Well, it was a good experience to be able to provide a beer for another wedding, and this time it was one of my own, and am happy to say it came off pretty well for me. I guess I need to thank my brother for trusting me to provide beer for everyone at the wedding, and to the bride's family, who we are still getting to know. So far, so good...

Cheers,

Beef

Endeavour 2011 Reserve Amber Ale (5.2%)

2011-11-27T19:00:00.003+11:00

Just been hanging out with Stew and Jarrod and went to our closest bottle shop to pick up a beer. This beer was as close to interested as I could get so I am writing up our thoughts while the boys get down to being funky with a jam.

This beer has a best after date on it, but unfortunately can not read what the date is, so not sure if I am drinking it too early. It has a dark copper colour, almost to a brown, and is relatively clear even though I found quite a bit of sediment on the bottom of the bottle, which I am not sure whether to mix in or not. What stops me is a pretty dusty, cardboardy aroma and back palate taste, which I am not sure a yeasty sediment would help. I am trying to let it warm a bit to see if this diminishes, but still ending up with a pretty dry mouth after each taste. My cynicism has me asking who is behind this Endeavour brand as the label looks a bit flashy, and have seen a connection to Fosters by one of the brewers....warning bells are ringing!

However, I do have to say I enjoy the use of chocolate barley malt in this beer, and that is heightened with warmth. The boys are focusing on this aspect to show they like the beer, but as you can see I am not truly convinced. Being a hop head, Jarrod is picking up the hops a lot better than me, and said he got a hit of like a Little Creatures Bright Ale fruitiness from the hop, but I am not really getting that. I am getting a slight bitter flavour (like a noble hop) from the back palate just the clean up the beer so there isn't a sweet residual aftertaste, so instead I get that dryness. There is a fair bit of body to the beer coming from the use of the barley malt, and while there is a bit of sweetness it isn't too syrupy.

Maybe I am just thinking too much about it (well, this is a beer blog), but mainly for the dry, almost astringent aftertaste I am not enjoying this beer that much, though I would have to say it is much better than the rest of the beers we could have been drinking from the Coles bottleshop we purchased it from.

Anyway, we also have some Bright Ale and I may dig into my stash to make sure we finish on a better note than this beer brings me. At least their tunes are helping me enjoy it a bit more...

Cheers,

Beef

Tasting with the Brewers

2011-11-22T22:07:00.004+11:00

I have been lucky over the past week or so to get in a few tastings with the guys at Mountain Goat, and happy they have wanted me involved, as another palate to try out their beers, and some of Stass and mine.

Last Friday, the boys and I had an hour before the public came in to try out some of the range of beers, just to see how they are tasting in general. It is funny how often this doesn't happen, even when I am tasting them quite a bit when 'testing' for carbonation when I am doing a keg run. I guess it is nice to be able to just sit down and concentrate on the beer itself, instead of being caught up in an environment of getting work done, and focusing on one aspect. All in all we tried the Steam, Bock, Hightail, IPA, IPA through coffee beans in Randal, and the Rye IPA. It was also good to talk about what sort of beers would interesting for them to try out. I was particularly happy when someone brought up chocolate beers, as it allowed me to rant a bit over my love for them, and the fact I have not done very well at my own homebrew attempts at them.

But the guys did ask me about what homebrews I was doing, which got me thinking...

The opportunity came up this week to invite Stass along to Mountain Goat to do a days work on our bottling line. Seeing he is the keeper of the kegs from our homebrewing, I wondered if he could bring in some of out beers taste with the boys. He ended up bringing all our kegs into Goat, so once we had finally finished the bottling for the day, we have the Goat boys a taste of our 'Nuts about Coffee' Nut Brown/Coffee beer, my latest batch of Birra Dut Pekmezi (Mulberry Molasses Beer) and our latest Russian Imperial Stout. It was interesting getting the opinion of the boys to them. The coffee beer is getting a bit old now, but the nut flavours are coming through a bit more. Like I have said about this beer before, I would like less coffee to have allowed more of the nut brown flavour come through and balance it out, as now the coffee taste is not fresh against it. I am pretty happy with the flavours coming from the Mulberry, but just seems a little watery, so luckily I have some more mulberry molasses that I can add to it to bring it up a bit. The RIS is just about ready for drinking after nearly 3 months of aging in the keg. I think some more malt character up front could come through to bring more dark sweetness to the beer, but apart for that it is balancing up well and definitely has enough alcohol in it.

I actually had a bit of moment at one point when we had stopped for lunch. Stass and I were having a bit of a stretch at the entrance to the brewery when Cam and Dave came through, and there was a second where two brewing duos came together, one pair that have just been brewing in a backyard shed for the past 6 months (a bit step up to what we were brewing in before then), and the others having developed a brewery that has been around nearly 15 years. It was funny to see from that moment a few parallels that came to mind from it for me...but it could be one of those moments I go back to if Stass and I take this brewing thing any further than where we are now...

Then on Thursday, as I was trying to finish off a big batch of kegging (well, get halfway through it), I was invited for my second brewers meeting, where the big news was hearing that Danish gypsy brewer Mikkeller will be doing a brew with Goat (that has got me researching a bit and thinking about what could be done) next year, but also that they are putting together a job description for me so they can out me on permanent part-time. So there is much excitement all round.

With that said, after a big week of nearly 50 hours of physical labour, no matter how much anticipation may be on my mind, my body needs rest, and am content with the past week.

Cheers,

Beefy

Bro's (Un)Bucks Beer Bonanza, but Bereft of Boobs

2011-11-22T07:30:00.004+11:00

I have recovered with 11 hours of sleep to go with the 11 hours of drinking we did on Sunday. The pace was good, and the beers even better, so have been looking forward to reliving this experience on here.

After some dramas getting just getting to Southern Cross Station, we made it out to Woodend with time to check out the local market to find Mick a wig for the day before Harts pub (Holgate Brewery) opened. Of course we started the day with a beer paddle, trying all 8 of the beers on tap. As is tradition, our first taste of beer for the day was a sip of the Temptress, which while cold has some good qualities but nothing like it has when it gets warmer. Both the Pilsner and Mt Macedon Ale had much more flavour than I remember previously, especially with hop character, and found I actually enjoyed the Macedon more with a decent balance between malt and hop. Tim enjoyed the refreshing aspect of the White (Unfiltered Wheat) Beer, which was not over the top with the banana/bubblegum yeast character I am use to with this style of beer. If anything it was a little too flavourless, especially after having had the previous 2.

The sweet malt character of the Big Reg Marzen drew me in with its copper red colour and sweet caramel aroma and taste. The ESB was again contentious, as it still seems to be a watered down version of the original that I enjoyed so much. Actually, we heard from the staff that an original ESB had been available on the Friday before we arrived and run out that night (not surprisingly), still I just pulled out an old trick I learnt at Cascade Brewery and with a 3:1 ratio of the ESB with the Big Reg, found I could blend up what we thought was what the original ESB tasted like. With the UXB being an upgraded version of the ESB, the beer was too big to allow this blending to work for it, especially with the hop character, but like the ESB is still a bit thin on the tongue and need more malt character to balance it out better.

I also found myself a bit disappointed in the Road Trip, which had no where near the amount of hop character to taste like an American IPA. Ok, so I am naturally not a hop head, but still understand style enough to know this didn't fit the bill. The body was fine on it, but for some reason (old batch?) the hop flavour and bitterness just did not come through. After this, the Temptress (oh, it was on handpump too!!!) was at its best, and we lovingly sipped on this out in the sunshine...and then got two jugs of it to keep on enjoying it over lunch (I went the porterhouse with black pudding and the steak had a Temptress butter...hmmmm).

As we finished dinner I pulled out a bottle of the Empress (lucky I brought a bottle of it with me as they didn't have one at the brewery!) so for dessert we tasted this against its younger brother, the Temptress. The latter really loses a lot when drunk side by side with the Empress, which is just so much richer and deeper in flavour, and yet still has a amazing amount of balance between the chocolate and coffee, with 10% alcohol but retaining such good mouthfeel. Pure Quality! No wonder it is one of my favourite beers for this year. Of course, we pulled out Mick's wig while on the Empress, and I failed dismally to even try to improve on the Empress by blending some Temptress with it.

Feeling greatly content and buzzed we made it back to the train station. We left Woodend to head back into town, where we made our way to Beer Delux just as it was filling up with lots of Polish ladies (well, there may have been men but we weren't looking at them) with a Polish festival finishing at Fed Square.

Seeing the Korbinian on tap, I had to go that, whereas Mick went the Murrays Dark Knight and Stass hit the Dark Force. Joel brought things down just going a Stone and Wood Pacific Ale. Having had the others before, it was only the Dark Force that was something new. It had a lot of Extra Stout to it, almost to Russian Imperial, but the wheat character really lightened it up on palate to make it a bit easier drinking, so could be a good for those that find strong stouts a bit too cloying on the tongue. Of course, seeing I dig the Korbinian, a sweet cloying palate is not an issue for me.

Next round, I decided to try out the Monks Stout Dupont, and decided to step Mick up to the Rochefort 10, seeing he was a little disappointed with the Dark Knight. Joel I think stepped up to the Nogne Imperial Pilsner, which for me seemed to had a slight woodiness, and only way I could think of it was like some of the hop plant got in with the hops. Stass managed to find an even bigger beer than his previous with the collaboration beer Bitch Please, between 3 Floyds and Brew Dog. The sheer peatiness of it was enough, but at least the dark barley malt character was enough the heighten the palate a bit, even if it was a bit muddy with the peat...not to mention the alcohol. In someway it balances out alright overall, even if it is a bit over the top in many ways. That is probably the most impressive thing about it. My Monks Stout Dupont in contrast had very little malt sweetness, going more for a roasted character and not much else, and by that time, the 4.5% alcohol wasn't doing much for me either.

After that there was only one way I could see us going, and that involved a 750ml bottle of Chimay Blue. For most of us it was a step up, but not for Stass. While we were at Beer Delux, Brad and Seda stumbled in, and so happily had a couple of beers with us, and arm wrestled each other.

By this time, Mick and I had a parma craving, so we headed out to Richmond to hit a quiet Royston. I tried a Red Hill Temptation, which I found to be very flavourful for a Belgian ale, definitely one I would like to try again on a clean palate. Still, for the most part just enjoyed the classic parma that comes from that pubs kitchen, as we all reached that stage where we remembered we had work the next day.

Still, by the time the boys grabbed a cab and Stass and I made it back to my place, Stass wanted more beer, so pulled out a Brooklyn Brewery Local 1, which I have to say was pretty lackluster after the Temptation, especially as they are similar styled beers. Luckily by the point Stass was ready to call it a night before I had to go for the Yeastie Boys Rex Attitude to finally end any resemblance of taste buds we had left.

Anyway, safe to say work was not a very enjoyable prospect, or enjoyable in practice the next day. Well, I am happy to remember that much, so going to leave it at that. Thanks to Tim, Joel, Stass, Brad, Seda, and of course Mick for their involvement and input into the day...now we just have the wedding to get through in a week and a half.

Cheers,

Beefy

Yay! A Drunken random Post...

2011-11-20T23:18:00.003+11:00

Stass and I at my place listening to Midlake and Yo La Tengo and drinking Brooklyn Brewery Local 1 and about to crack the Yeastie Boys Rex Attitude...Happy bucks to my bro! We didn't see any boobs, but we drank some good beers over the past 11 hours, which I hope to talk about on here after I sober up and not enjoy the start to a new week at work...this may hurt. That is all. Sorry for wasting this post with drunken banter.

Stass is in the toilet, and taking a long time to come out...

I'll stop now.

Beefy

PS: my chocolate fudge is tasting good right about now.

PPS: Sorry!

Trying to Remember Remembrance Day...and Recover

2011-11-13T10:08:00.004+11:00

Look, I don't normally have big sessions nowadays (mind you, good weather is coming at the moment which does draw you into have a few beers), and as is always the way, when you don;t expect to have one, they tend to happen.

I had started the day really well for Remembrance Day. I had booked in to give blood at the Red Cross at 11:15, which meant after riding my bike into town on a lovely looking day, I could have my minute silence at 11am, seeing the city stop for a bugler playing near Bourke Street mall, before walking in to give blood.

Riding home I stopped at Mountain Goat to sort out work for next week before recovering at home with a good book (yes, it is about beer). Heading back into Mountain Goat early 'just for a couple', but after a couple with Crafty and Naz, it turned into more than a couple. With the Goat IPA going through Seven Seeds coffee beans in Randy, and getting a taste of it early when the beer had been steeping in the beans for a couple of days (tasted really good...and I don't drink coffee...it was nearly as good as Stass' latest coffee beer attempt) I then stepped up to the Double Hightail (mistake) before Naz and I moved over to the Royston for a Moon Dog Pumpkin Porter (still roasty...actually, I think I saw the Moon Dog boys at Mountain Goat...and Damo [which reminds me, I need to ask Damo when we are sharing in our spoils from the Festival of the Frothy trivia night]) and then tried a Mornington Penninsula IPA (which I have to say, is probably the best beers I have ever tried from this brewer). Somehow I ended up back at Mountain Goat (ok, it isn't hard when it is just across the road). leaving there to go home, I saw Naz was at his place with a few of the boys, and so stopped in for one or two more before getting hit in the balls by his girlfriend and finally deciding to call it a night at 2am. Phew!

8 hours later I was making my way out to Stass' place to keg the beers I was trialing for my brother's wedding in a few weeks, and of course, this meant drinking more beers. Firstly, we had to finish a keg to have 2 that we could use to keg the beers, then there was tasting the beers while doing a final gravity reading. After that Stass decided he wanted to taste his coffee beer again to see how it is aging, then seeing he had a taste for roast we cracked open a Stone's Smoked Porter, which while went down a bit like barbed wire, I could still appreciate a good level of smoke that was balanced well in the beer...not as big as what I would expect from an American brewer.

With a bit of 'hair of the dog' in me, I made it back into the city and managed to do some chrissy shopping before heading over to Mick's place to trial the beers with him and Nicolette and have them chose one for the big day.

So, it is fair to say, I will be off the beers for today, and may only be keeping to one tomorrow after a bottling session at the Goat.

My apologies for connecting Remembrance Day to my conduct that night. It is only through those that have given what they have in the past that allows me to pursue the life I am leading today, and while it may seem that I do not appreciate it through this post, I do feel very fortunate for what I have, and to paraphrase Midlake, I realise my path in life is not solely my own.

Cheers,

Beefy

Hmmm...Mexican Beer and Bogans?

2011-11-09T19:34:00.003+11:00

Last night we hit a mexican restaurant and of course reading the beer list didn't impress me that much. I wonder if Corona and Sol in Mexico is like Fosters in Australia; synonymous but not actually drunk in the country they 'come' from.

I have just finished reading a book on 'bogans' (generally meaning an uncultured person here in Australia [that is why it is quite unfortunate I have Bogan for a last name]) and one of the classic quotes to come from it reads as-

"the bogan enjoys beers that are brewed here [Australia] but are labelled as foreign to give the fictional imprimatur of international cool...the only genuinely foreign beer the bogan drinks tastes like cat's piss, and requires citrus-based assistance to enter the nebulous realm of 'drinkable'...Drinking a pale, watery version of beer somehow confers cultural cachet onto the bogan, purely because it is sourced from a Latin American country with many poor people."

-of course, they are talking of Mexican beer like Corona and Sol in the passage, therefore, at least my expectations were not high with the prospect of going to a mexican restaurant and having a beer.

Looking through the list, seeing a beer with 'amber' in the title, gave me some hope I may find a beer from Mexico that may be interesting to try, and not needing 'citrus-based assistance'. When the Dos Equis XX Amber came around, I saw at least it came in a coloured glass bottle, so felt a little more help the brewers are intending to keep sunlight for the beer, therefore making me think this beer might actually be worth something. I poured some into a glass to see what colour the beer was, and my first disappointment was seeing it barely showed much more colour than some pale ales I have tried. Upon tasting, there was not much more body than the lagers Mexico is known for, and while there is a little bit of sweetness with the slightly added malt character in the colour, it was generally pretty bland (surprise, surprise).

After that I had another look through the beer list, I saw the Negra Modelo and thinking Negra might mean 'dark', I thought I would give it a go. Well, it came in an even darker bottle than the previous (I wasn't going to be swayed twice by this), and the bottle was in an interesting shape (hmm, by now I was thinking 'the more effort in the package, the worse the beer inside may be'). Pouring it out, it actually resembled a dark beer, and while on the palate it still came out pretty thin (not the worst thing as it had been a warm day and didn't mind it as it didn't sit heavy in the gut), there was enough flavour to be able to taste it over the meal (of course, keeping with my blog name constituted mostly of beef) and there was some malt character to it.

Neither beers had many signs of bitterness or other hop character, and there was little lingering on the backpalate apart from some residual sweetness. They were both pretty clean beers so, inoffensive (unless you like more flavour in your beer) and easy to have a session on.

So, while I am literally a Bogan, unfortunately I do not enjoy 'bogan' beers. In fact, after having read the book 'Things Bogans Like', there were not many things in it I can affiliate myself to. I know, it doesn't make this post very funny. Ok, I'll stop now before I entertain you any less.

Cheers,

Beefy

Brewing for my Bro, and Drinking With my Bro

2011-11-06T07:20:00.002+11:00

After relaxing on Friday night, I had work to do the next day.

Heading into Brewcraft and trying the shop keepers golden ale 'with a bit more hops' (well, it was nearly midday), I grabbed some brew enhancer dextrose, some Hallertau and yeast, before Stass took me out to his place...and we proceeded to try all of our stock of kegged beer. Ok, we should have just got brewing straight away, but Stass was too excited to have me taste the coffee beer we will be putting up against Team Harrod next weekend. Then of course, I had to try it against the other coffee beer he made with the wattleseed we have been experimenting with recently...and then there was our previous mulberry molasses beer to see what I had to improve on with these next brews...then the homebrew Cooper's Pale Stass wanted me to taste to see if the alcohol really was as high as he had worked out from his final gravity reading...then the Russian Imperial Stout had its 2 month tasting to see if it was aging in the right way.

So with the hard part of brewing beer out of the way, we could just relax into actually brewing the two beers I was trialing for my brothers wedding in 4 weeks. Having picked up some mulberry and grape molasses during the week, I made up the two pots and ended up with 15 litres of each, which I to taste next weekend. Actually, the grape one was looking pretty good, and with a higher gravity reading, we may be able to get a bit more alcohol or body out of the beer which would be good, especially being able to take a grape 'beer' to a wedding of two people that enjoy there wine more than beer (yeah, I don't get why they would like wine more either).

Having finished with Stass and getting a lift home from Jess (lucky, as was feeling the effects of the hard work I had put in drinking before before brewing) I had enough time to sober up a bit before meeting up with my brother at the Royston for a very quiet parma and a couple of beers. Everyone must have been enjoying the good weather and cranking the bbq. So, with the pub basically to ourselves, we first tried the Moon Dog Pumpkin Porter. I have to say I couldn't taste any pumpkin, but then didn't really expect to. I assumed there would be a bit more body in the beer, and felt this was found to be correct. Where I was surprised with in the amount of roasted malt I could taste, and just how this lingered dryly on the back once you swallowed it. I can only think that maybe the brewers thought some sweetness may come from the pumpkin and so they felt the need to use a darker malt to balance it off.

With not much else on offer for a man who frequents this pub as often as I do, the only other beer I wanted to try was the Little Creatures 'Big Dipper' Double IPA. Maybe it was just I had already drunk a fair bit of beer during the day, but there was not a great amount of hoppiness of bitterness coming from the beer. It is probably one of the easiest drinking DIPAs I have ever had, so not sure if it has hit the mark. Hey, if I find it pretty low on hops, I can't imagine what a beer drinking that appreciate hops more than I would think.

On that, I get back to my relaxing Sunday, including reading more of a book on bogans (no, not my ancesters, but the Australia subcultural entity that is the 'bogan'. There are some hilarious aspects that come up with regard to a 'bogans' relationship with beer that I will have to share sometime.

Cheers,

Beefy

Situational Drinking 4 : 'After a Long Week' Wind down

2011-11-05T06:54:00.004+11:00

Just what I needed yesterday, 10 hours of pushing a lawnmower around. Still I was ready for a beer or two at the end of it.

It seems like a month ago I was MCing for my cousin's wedding, but really it was only a week ago. After that, some more family events, trying to organise a home brew and a bucks party for my brothers weeding in a month, and even with a week of work that had one day off for a horse race, I still feel like I am in recovery mode from it all.

Heading to Mountain Goat last night, it only took two beers, but had the wind down I needed. While a week previously I was wearing a silly hat and talking to a room of a hundred people, last night I sat in a room full of hundreds of people, and didn't speak to any of them, apart from the bar staff to order my beer. And the beers I went for were to two highest alcohol beers I could get from the bar. It was funny though, while I have had the Bock and Double Hightail a few times now, last night I found myself quite sensitive to the texture of the beers, and in both cases, wishing they were less carbonated. I know I am normally susceptible to texture, but especially with the Double Hightail, I wished I was drinking it from a handpump to make it warmer and with less carbonation. It took me an hour and a half to drink them both, but with each sip the alcohol in them continued to relax me, and by the end was pretty content to just have the two, and just look up and seeing the cobwebs in the brewery's roofspace.

Ok, so in general I am a pretty quiet person, but last night and at the Two Birds Brewing Launch of their Golden Ale the night before, I found myself gravitating even more to a quite corner of the bar just to chill out and appreciate a couple of beers. For me it is a bit different from Situation 1, where there is more of a physical desire for refreshment from a beer, and is better if the beer is not too high in alcohol so you can drink it quickly. Even from the bushwalking in Situation 3, there is a real group environment seeing you feel that sense of physical isolation. With this it is more of a desire to just relax within yourself, think of all you have done, and then slowly let those thoughts leave you as the beer takes its effect.

Still (or especially), being within myself, I knew when I had had enough, and even the temptation of seeing Moon Dog's Pumpkin Porter wasn't enough to make me want another beer.

I really appreciate having had the bushwalk a couple of weeks ago, and if I thought it had been a month since last week, it felt even longer since I had been on the Great Ocean Walk. Anyway, I have had my little moment last night, and seeing it will be a month til things can settle down again, I may be having more moments like these. For today though I will be heading over to Stass' to trial some brews for my bother's wedding, and hopefully have a taste of the coffee beer we will be going up against Team Harrod in for our upcoming contest.

Cheers,

Beef

PS: I guess I should note that yesterday was also the 2nd anniversary of beerdakari, so I guess a little bit of contentment last night can be put towards that (maybe this situational drinking post is also a long 2 year wind down). Now I am really looking forward to that beer with Stass today. So after 222 posts (Richie Benaud's favourite number), a big thanks to all those that have made up the 5,500 views of the site, and those that have added their own two cents to my rambling thoughts and tastes on beer.

Two Birds Brewing Golden Ale Launch

2011-11-03T19:48:00.003+11:00

So have just made it back from Beer Delux after a couple of glasses of Two Birds Golden Ale on tap.

Having been given a lovely badge to display to help me get their beer at the bar from Jayne (yes, a magic badge that gives me free beer!), who should I see at the bar trying to take a dodgy photo of his beer on his 'smart phone' but James. Having grabbed my first beer, we had a chat...of course, about the beer. To be honest, I didn't actually taste anything different from when I tasted it out of the bottle at the Microbrewery Showcase. However, their was more flavour from the keg. The spice was a bit more noticeable, and the malt body really held up well to give it a good mouthfeel. I guess the only issue from this is that it slightly loses a bit of its sessionableness, but makes it a great spring beer...finally, someone is having a beer launch with a beer appropriate for the season.

With a good sized crowd, and an appropriate day to launch a beer from all women brewing team (it is Oaks day down here, which in horse racing is Ladies Day), the beer went down pretty well, and the second one didn't last that long.

After such success of their first brew, I am looking forward to seeing where they to next with future brews. Bring it on Birds!

Cheers,

Beef

PS: I also heard today is International Stout Day, but seeing it seems to be a twitter thing and it is nearly summer here in the southern hemisphere, I am going to disregard, even though I am generally happy to drink a stout anytime of the year.

Grand Imperial Porter, Poland (8%)

2011-11-03T15:00:00.003+11:00

After the big weekend I was happy to see the empty keg of Hightail Ale sitting in front of my bedroom door on Monday. Taking it back to Mountain Goat, I then filled it that day with more Hightail...and so the cycle continues.

Having taken it easy after such a weekend, it was only yesterday that I finally visited a mate that move to Melbourne a couple of months ago and had a beer with him, then proceeding to leave my keys at his place and finding trains to be a mess, I eventually got home ready for another beer. Luckily from last week's beer shop, the overcast weather led me to the Grand Imperial Porter, one that has been on the list for a while to try. It poured with a good amount of head, but this diminished fairly quickly. There is a definite red hue to the dark brown body, and while cold, chocolate sweetness and dark malt was all I could get in aroma. On first taste there is definitely a syrupy sweetness on the very front, fairly bland on midpalate before some coffee notes come towards the back and linger with some dryness. Unfortunately, after my experience in Germany with many syrupy, high noted/artificial sweet dark beers, sensing that here turned me off a bit, even if it is guided with a chocolate flavour, and with a rich body that coated my tongue completely in it.

At this point I could not help feeling a little disappointed, even if previous experience should have informed my expectations better. As it warmed up, and Stew and I listened to the new Wilco album and thought of Stass when hearing the keys part in one of the songs, the alcohol did come through a bit more in aroma and on the back of the palate. I probably enjoyed it a bit more as it warmed up as the dark malt come through a bit more too to give the beer a bit more depth. I guess it reminded me of the Asam-Bock I had the other day at The Local Taphouse, but instead of caramel high notes, this was chocolate, but both still with just enough depth in malt to make them enjoyable.

Now I am off to the Two Birds Brewing launch of their Golden Ale.

Cheers,

Beefy

Beer Shopping, Tasting and Mr & Mrs Saaksjarvi

2011-10-26T16:36:00.006+11:00

Hi,

So I am still in recovery mode from Friday night, and have a few days to catch up on here. Taking a few days off working to get myself ready for Anna and Pete's wedding, and my role of MC for the reception, I decided I needed to do some beer shopping for them...and of course get a few for myself while I was at it.

Having heard that for the Queen's visit to Melbourne, Chapel Street Cellars had 6 bottles of a special beer available, I made my way down there as soon as it opened.

As you can see from this post's title, the happy couple have a fairly unusual surname (I should know with my own last name being Bogan), and with Pete's Finnish heritage, it was great to find the Nogne Sahti available, as it is a traditionally Finnish style of beer that is used to help celebrate marriage in Finland. This then became one of the beers I gave to the couple on the day.

Also from Nogne, and again with Pete's Finnish background, a beer with a sense of Viking was also purchased. Having tried a barley wine while on Pete's bucks day, I thought the Andhrimnir Barley Wine Ale would be appropriate. I have yet to give him this beer once things settle down.

So the beer available for that day was the Brew Dog Royal Virility Performance, a beer brewed for the Royal wedding between Wills and Kate earlier this year, and brewed with such ingredients as herbal viagra, chocolate, ginseng and Horny Goat Weed. Seeing Anna cannot drink it herself (she is gluten intolerant) it can be a beer she can get some pleasure from without drinking it. Therefore, I told her on Friday night to 'dispense at her own will'.

Seeing I was down that way, I thought I should visit The Local Taphouse, seeing it was a while since I had been there, for my usual paddle of beers to try.

With a fresh palate I decided to start on the collaboration India Saison between Bridge Road Brewery and Nogne that I had tried the week before. The tropical fruit on the nose and tongue was as I recalled, and really enjoyed picking up on pineapple, orange and apple aroma and flavour. It flowed quite well across the tongue with the bitter notes picking up on the sides of the midpalate, which builds towards the back. However, even with the light fruitiness of the beer, the 7.5% alcohol is well hidden, and the bitterness is well balanced with sweetness. Overall, it is just a bitter topical fruit punch for mine.

Next was the Weltenburger Kloster Asam-Bock, a bit of a fave since coming back from Germany and with my current interest in the Bock style. However, maybe having delved into this style a beer quite a bit since first having tried this particular one, the caramel sweetness came off a bit too high noted in aroma and taste, and with it a sense of artificialness to it. Still there is enough malt body to help round it off a give it a bit of depth behind the high notes.

Testing my theory of Murray's not coming out with a bad beer, I tried their Best Extra Porter. With the smell of dark malt and alcohol and a light but full texture, it definitely has an imperial edge to it, however, not with a massive amount of flavour.

Stepping up to a Russian Imperial Stout, the Murray's Wild Thing has a very brown head and chocolate aroma helps dull the alcohol sting on the nose. Some licorice does come through through this combo, and there is a creamy body to boot, but it does come up a bit too roasted on the tongue that lingers in aftertaste. As the beer warms, coffee aroma does become apparent, and the alcohol does come through more.

Finally, I ended on the Nogne Batch 100 Barley Wine. There is the classic amber malt and alcohol nose you would expect from a beer of this style. There is a nice tight head over a hazy dark amber body. It is quite light and fluffy on the tongue with a sweet body upfront. The alcohol does come on hard on the backpalate, but bitterness cleanses and lingers in aftertaste. As it warms the malty front does become sweeter, but the bitterness does come off a bit stingy for my personal taste.

After that I was ready to do more beer shopping at Slowbeer, with new shipments of Rogues Chocolate Stout and Grand Imperial Porter having come in. I found Chris speaking to Jayne from Two Birds Brewery offloading some of their new Golden Ale (which I embarrassingly said I thought had aspects of belgian yeast/spice in it...seeing I have the blog, everyone should know my memory is terrible) . After a chat she gave me a couple of the beers to take home, who I shared with my sister as she was staying at my place for the wedding.

Speaking of the wedding, I also stopped off at Mountain Goat Brewery and took a keg of Hightail Ale, that I am happy to say was finished at the reception...well, as good as. Picking up the keg from the venue the next day, I thought there was still enough in it to share with the family my brother is marrying into. However, having just set it up and pushed through the stale beer in the line, I was just about to put the glass under the tap when the keg blew, so for the first meeting of Nicolette's family, I was embarrassed by the keg.

So, after a few very busy days, I am happy to say I have to time to write up about all this and recover from it all. I am also happy to say I managed to get a few pots of the Hightail (and now just have to get the equipment from my place back to the brewery), and the presentation of the Royal Virility Performance helped save my performance as MC. Congrats to Anna and Pete, and also well done to myself for hopefully not ruining the day for them (thanks to those that made me feel better by saying I had done a good job).

Cheers,

Beefy (cousin to a Saaksjarvi...but don't ask me to pronounce it)

Situational Drinking 3: Bushwalking

2011-10-24T13:01:00.003+11:00

Ok, so maybe not a situation we find ourselves in that often, but there is a certain sense you get from these moments that bring a certain desire and reaction to the beers I have when on the trail.

I just came back from a weekend away on the Great Ocean Walk, just doing the last 40kms from Johanna Beach to Princetown Tavern (yes, I always helps to have a pub at the end of the journey). At the end of each day, with the sun going down over the bush/coastal scene, it seemed appropriate to have a great beer to go with it.

In the simplicity of trekking, the senses seem to become more sensitive as you become more in tune with your surroundings and yourself. There is also the sense of contentment at the end of each day knowing you have made it to your destination, set up shelter and nourished your body ready for rest. At this time there is only one thing that can improve it, a tasty and bodily numbing beer.

On the first night, having reached Ryans Den, set up camp and just finished dinner, we went to the lookout to watch the sun set with a Moylan's Hopsickle Imperial Ale. Having given this to Harriet for her birthday last week, it seemed appropriate to bring it out here where we could all share it together. Having only had this beer once before when I was pissed on Russian Imperial Stouts, I was interested to try it again on a fresh (and sensitive) tongue. There is a great amber malt sweetness on the nose, melded greatly with the American hop character. This corresponds well into the flavours, with a good amount of body in the beer to help it coat your tongue early with the sweet malt, with the hops rising from the midpalate, some bittering sting coming through towards the backpalate , but still with some residual sweetness to keep it just in check before as it lingers into aftertaste...For me, this is a classic structure of an IPA, and happy to find that in one of the most hoppiest beers I have ever had (hoppy, not bitter), this structure is upheld, to show off a balance overall. Okay, personally, after a few sips the hoppiness does become overbearing for someone of my palate, but the undeniable quality shown in this beer was expressed by all of us tasting it. At its alcohol content, and after a day of physical exertion, the buzz came quickly, and contentment even faster.

On the second day, as the trials became slightly more difficult to overcome within ourselves, but our bodies became more use to the constant effort of another 15km of walking, we were again rewarded with a lovely view over the beach at Devils Kitchen campsite. Again, as we prepared for rest, the sun appeared from behind the cloud 30 mins before it set, and so we could enjoy another beer as light left the day. This time we had a different beer to try. After the trials of trying to find this beer after having it during Good Beer Week, it seemed appropriate for me to bring this out after the efforts we had gone through for our final night on the trail. I doubt if Les Trios Mousquetaires Grand Cuvee Porter Baltique has been drunk in this setting much before, but for me, it was a perfect ending to the day. Save, I could have enjoyed many other beers in this state, but for me this beer had an added edge that makes it memorable for me.

The look of tar being poured out of the bottle is the first impression this beer gives as it filled my enamel mug. A lovely tight but fluffy off white head sat over the top even in this vessel that is less than perfect for pouring this beer into. There is almost like a creamy and dark malt/chocolate aroma that comes from the beer that instantly relaxed me and encouraged me to take my first sip. It is like a sweet dark cloud of malt has landed on my tongue, with a mix of coffee and chocolate to give it a mocha flavour. However, unlike many mocha porters I have had, the lager aspect of the beer allows it not to sit so heavily on the tongue, and for a dark beer, not heavy on the stomach either. This also then gives it a refreshing aspect perfect for having while doing a walk, and gives it a delicate quality and gives the beer nowhere to hide when it comes to a balance of flavours.

And this is my point. Even though we have two quite diverse beers, there are two things both have, quality and balance. Quality is one of those hard to describe terms, but something you know when you experience it. Both these beers have it, and I hope somewhere in what I have written above, this comes through. Balance can also be hard to describe as we are all sensitive to different aspects and flavours in beer. Words like 'evenness' and 'roundness' are probably terms I use when it comes to taste and texture when I think of balance, but then that only puts in a second tier of meaning that can make it even harder to bring general understanding. But let me say this, having been 18 months since I had last done a multi-day walk, the contentment I feel from doing a walk, after so many days being caught up with life in the city, it is nice to bring back some simplicity, bring back some sense of balance in life. For me, these beers show it by themselves and in diversity against the other.

I don't know if what I have said is going to make sense to anyone reading this, but I guess it is just another example of seeing the situation in the beer, which is the point to these series of situational drinking posts. I guess by now, anyone having read a few of my posts can see that I like the story behind the beers I drink, and trying to remember the beers I have had over the past couple of years with this blog, I am also remembering the story and situation I had that beer in, and how they may have 'coloured' the way I tasted it.

Anyway, like I was saying, we finished the walk at a pub where I enjoyed a country pub meal of a chicken parma. Though, with my initial thoughts on a drink, we quenched our thirsts with a Coopers Pale (which of course tasted good because of the situation) before I pulled out a round of Baileys to gives us something to contemplate our journey over...hey, sometimes something else fits the situation better than the beers that were available to us...mind you, a Southern Tier Creme Brulee would have done just as good.

Thanks to Brad, Seda, Stass, Jarrod and Harriet for organising and coming on this 'journey', and to the breweries that produced beers suitable for this situation.

Cheers,

Beef

Microbrewery Showcase 19/10/11

2011-10-20T04:26:00.002+11:00

I managed to get to Fed Square early again this time around so had time for a Murray's Big Wednesday before I started on the tasting (I thought it appropriate for what could become a big Wednesday). Again, quality shows through with some nice citrus notes coming through with the malt, but think there was a bit too much alcohol for a starter beer. Anyway, to what I can recall and have noted on the beers I tried.

1) Two Birds Brewing: Golden Ale - Had to try this first up while my palate was still fresh out of respect for Jayne, and have to say I was pretty impressed. A good sweet malt aroma with a tinge of spice/dryness that corresponded well into flavour. Rounded mouthfeel that had some length to it and a slight dryness at the back to help clean up the palate.

I think the Big Wednesday had done it's job when I forgot to give one of the 'Birds' a ticket for the beer, and then proceeded to lose my glass between this tasting and the next. Maybe this was going to be a long and big Wednesday...

2) Mornington: Sorachi Kolsch - With the use of a Japanese hop, unfortunately all I could see, taste and smell was a standard Japanese lager/pils with too dry a backpalate and aftertaste (Kirin)

3) Forrest Brewing: Kolsch - After the previous disappointment, this one came up much better and a good start for me at trying out what this new brewer has to offer. Clean, slightly lemon and malt aroma, with the ale character allowing the beer to coat the tongue well with the lemony malt but still having a refreshing feel and only slightly dry at the back to make you want to go back for more.

4) Kooinda: Valhalla - Smelt slight sulphur with malt, but some decent malt flavour. Tainted with what seems like overcarbonation in flavour, but somehow does not come through in the texture with a cleansing hop at the back.

5) James Squire: Spear Tackle Ale - Heard this was brewed for the Rugby World Cup (even though it is an American Pale Ale) so had to give it a go. Would say it is a standard aussie pale ale, with only with a bit or a dry bitterness at the back to have any sense of 'Americaness' to it.

6) Grand Ridge: Vienna Rye - Spicy sweet smell that gives the beer a bit of a dark honey aroma, with good sweetness on the palate to go with it. There is also decent texture to go along with the flavour and slight dry back to help cleanup.

7) 2 Brothers: Super Rusty - Just to step up nicely from the previous beer, this Belgian ale was super sweet, which allowed me to personally enjoying it. The belgian spice was offset not just was dark malt sweetness, but also a sherberty sweetness that made me think of candied sugar. Sweetness hits the palate upfront as well as at the back, and belgian yeast characters come through on the midpalate as it warms up.

At this stage, I stumbled across Brad in the crowd and so we shared the next few beers.

8) Cavalier: Belgian Golden Strong Ale - I haven't any notes, but did put a tick next to it, so can only say I found it a good example of the style, and continues the quality of beers that seem to be coming of this newer brewer.

9) Buckley's Beers: Dark Bock - Again, just a tick next to this one, but having been getting into bocks at the moment, did find this one pretty good for the style, with a refreshing palate but with enough dark malt flavour to keep it interesting. Was caught talking to one of the brewers that seems to have had a bit too much of his own product (or product from other brewers), which didn't help with my note taking.

10) Black Heart Brewery: Dunkelweizen - Why on a German tangent and getting into darker beers, thought this dark wheat would be a good step. While the malt was pretty good, I did find it a little off in carbonation which gave it an alkaline smell and taste.

As always, from here, the order and notes on beers start getting pretty dicey (ok, dicier than previous notes anyway) so will get down whatever I can.

11) Moon Dog: Black Lung - Having seen one of the Moon Dog boys at the Local Taphouse stall, we had a chat regarding our respective recoveries from the previous Saturday and gave this beer a shot. Had me thinking of our own Hickory Stickory Bock with light palate, but with dark malt and smokey character to it.

12) Hawthorn Brewing: Belgium Witbier - good wheat cloudiness with spice and yeast aroma. Is pretty light on the tongue and a bit blandish in flavour, but cleans up at the back alright with no dryness

13) Red Duck: New Holland - Touted as an 'aussie dubbel' it certainly had the darkness and alcohol reminiscent of the style which I enjoyed. I am not sure where the aussie came from, but there was something different in the spice high noted flavours I would normally expect, but was not offensive. At this point started chatting to a few people so they could of distracted me, along with seeing Red Duck's Ox available.

14) Red Duck: Ox Imperial Stout - Pretty classic to the style, and as have probably noted before, like it over the Red Hill Imperial Stout, well, at least the one I had a few nights ago in the same spot. Worth it for the two tickets I gave to have a taste of it.

15) Holgate: Temptress - This one was thrust upon me by James after we spoke a bit about our thoughts on where Holgate is at the moment, and the quad we tasted from them a few nights ago at the Festival of the Froth. Normally I leave this beer til last, but not going to say no to this beer at any time, and happy to see it was tasting good after some recent mixed reviews.

16) Tooborac Hotel: Swaggies Stout - with a head that was as dark as the beer it floated on top of, this beer showed signs of the malt being heavily roasted, and unfortunately for me tastebuds, just tasted too much like coffee for me to enjoy it much. Luckily my tastebuds had died off a bit by now.

17) Forrest Brewing: Oatmeal Stout - Having enjoyed their Kolsch, thought I should try one from the other end of the scale. There was a nice chocolate malt nose, but the oatmeal limited the flavours coming through on the palate. Still, it helped give it a decent texture and sweetness did come through on the midpalate. Another win from this new brewery.

18) Bridge Road: India Saison - Had thought my tastebuds would have been too far gone to get on this, especially as I was expected quite the nuance between the hop characters of the Indian with the fruitiness of the Saison. But I have to say, I still enjoyed the tropical fruit punch aroma and taste that came from this beer, getting quite a bit of pineapple out of it. Really well done and what you expect from this quality brewer. Will want to taste this one again with a fresher palate.

19) Using my last two tickets and time running out to use them, I did the bolt back to Holgate and had a double of the Temptress. Always a great way to finish the tasting, and having seen me go for the double, was mimicked and officially given legend status by some pissed people trying to finish off their own tickets.

And so another Showcase is completed for me. I have to say the crowds are getting bigger and earlier each time it is on. Luckily I get in as early as possible, hoping to be finished by the time the crowd gets too big, and each time I am running around trying to use up my tickets before the stalls close. Maybe I should stop talking to people there and just get the drinking done. Still, with me only getting more known in these circles, it is going to only get harder. This is why the industry people get on it early...I just need to become one of those.

Anyway, top three beers would have to be the Super Rusty, India Saison and Dark Bock, with special mention to the Vienna Rye, and to Forrest Brewing.

Good luck to those that head to the second day today. Unfortunately I will be heading down to Apollo Bay with the Showcase is on, for a three day trek on the Great Ocean Walk.

Cheers,

Beefy

Pete's Buck's/Festival of the Froth Drinking Sess

2011-10-19T06:31:00.006+11:00

I survived, and in not too bad a state either. But asking me what I had to drink and my thoughts on what I drank is a very hard task. After 18 hours of drinking, and not often having the same beer twice, it is hard to remember them all. Still will attempt to, and see what photos I have to help jog my memory.

So, at 11am 10 of us started Pete's bucks with a tasting of beers at Slowbeer. While we waited for a few stragglers, we had a taste of the Weiphanstephaner Festbier, which was a nice light and crisp beer to get out palates ready for the tasting. The first beer was The Timothy Taylor Strong Pale Ale. There is definitely some upfront sweet malt but it dulls off on the midpalate and ends with a dryness that was a bit too much for the beer. Fuller's Golden Pride was next, and had some really good malt sweetness body, and a beer that converted many of the mainstream beer drinkers in the group. It probably doesn't stack up against the modern barleywines now available, but at 8.5% it was still enough for us as a morning beer. Moving from the UK to Germany, and a Bamberg Helles really hit the vegetarians in the group with a bit of ham flavour in the beer. It is probably even lighter in flavour than the weizen version of this smoke beer, so was a great choice to show of this style of the group.

Stepping up to 12%, the Aventinus Weizen Eisbock put a shock through the system of most of the drinkers, and the freezing technique used in it really does build up the body of the beer to make it coat your tongue. Moving onto Belgium, 2 classics came out to be drunk, the Tripel Karmeliet and the Rochefort 10 (okay, I won't go on about these). Getting into some modern beers, the Shmaltz Coney Island Pilsner seemed to me to go too far against the style to be overtly coying on the tongue. The hops seemed to be quite good for the flavour of the beer, but the texture just did not site well and found I probably wouldn't be able to have a session on it because this (even if the boys did like the label). Lastly, the Yeastie Boys with Pot Kettle Black I found to be a good Black IPA with a decent blend of malts and hops, even if the hops do feel a little overbearing. Still, was a good beer to end on the freshen the palate.

Over lunch, we had a Heineken which really brought me back to earth (in a bad way). I hope this then showed the boys the difference between mainstream and craft beers. Things improved slighty with a Squire's Golden Ale, but this was just the step down I needed for what was to come.

I like lawn bowls, and it is a great way to spent the arvo. The beers may be a bit cheaper too, but the quality is quite low, and apart from Little Creatures Pale, I just could not handle the beers on offer. Of course by this stage, the boys were not worried about flavour, and just wanting the alcohol hit from the beer (the best man ended up doing a streak along the bowling green at this stage, even including a handstand in the venture). Even moving onto a couple of pubs from there, the majority of boys were sticking to mainstream beers (what was mainly available at the premises), but happy to see after the beer tasting in the morning, some boys were trying out some beers they hadn't had before that they could find in the fridge behind the bar. Then just as I was leaving the boys to dinner at Gasometer, I managed to find 2 Brothers James Brown Belgian Ale, which I enjoyed a bit of belgian yeast with some darker malt flavours. I have not heard from the boys since, but hopefully they came through the night ok.

I quickly ducked home to get changed and arrived at Beer Delux just was we were being allowed into the atrium to start the dinner and trivia. There was a Stone and Wood Pacific Ale on arrival to our table, so reset my tastebuds on that while looking on what to have. I was finding it pretty hard to get a beer during the event (unfortunately the Bridge Road Saison wasn't pouring well), and ended up only managing a Mountain Goat Steam Ale from the atrium bar. Luckily I was able to go into Beer Delux to grab a Red Hill Imperial Stout and a Moo Brew Barrel Aged Vintage Imperial Stout and let them warm up over the evening. I literally tasted water when the mystery beer came out (Corona from a can), which only made my tastebuds ready for the Holgate Beezlebub Quad Belgian Ale, which I actually found to be quite subtle for the style and what my palate expected. Mind you, the alcohol was quite high at 12%. The Moon Dog boys on our table also gave us a taste of their latest beer, which had quite a bit of a lambic flavour with cherry and belgian yeast flavours in it which intrigued me quite a bit. I did manage to get the Feral King Brown as well, but by then the tastebuds were dying fast, or maybe my focus was more on the trivia, as we ended up winning it!

We ended up hanging around at Beer Delux til about 3am before I headed out to Moon Dog (just around the corner from my place) for a couple more beers and a brewery tour in the wee hours of the morn.

I was surprised to wake up 4 hours later and feel somewhat ok...mind you, it has taken me a while to get around to writing up on it.

Still, no rest for the drinker. Today is the microbrewery showcase at Fed Square so will get there this arvo to taste some more beers and see what is new in brew.

Cheers,

Beefy

Just in case...no, not 'case' as in 'case of beer'

2011-10-15T07:29:00.002+11:00

Ok, I have a buck's party starting with a beer tasting at Slowbeer at 11am, with drinking to continue through the day before then going to Crafty Pint's Festival of the Froth from 7pm, which I have heard may not finish til 5am.

If I don't happen to make it through the next 18 hours of drinking, I would just like to say it was worth it, and in the words of Bridge Road Brewery, who paraphrased Ned Kelly, 'Such is Beer'.

However, if I do survive I expect to be in quite some pain, so I hope you all appreciate the lengths I will go to for beer. If I can recall anything from the day, I will try to put up what I can here...if I survive...

Cheers to beers,

Beefy

Rugby World Cup and Beer: Quarter Finals

2011-10-10T15:20:00.003+11:00

Holy Fermented Vegetable Beverage Batman (!), Wallabies make it to the semi finals, and with a terrible performance. Luckily my own performance on beer was ok, but like Quade Cooper, saw plenty of shockers.

After drinking a bit more than what I should have on Friday night (the Mountain Goat Rye IPA was just tasting too good), I managed to get down to Cherry Tree and test out my stomach on a Little Creatures Bright Ale before Goater Naz rocked up, so we pulled up a pew just as the first quarter final began between Ireland and Wales. I have to say it was a pretty enjoyable match to see equally matched teams go at it, but having seen Ireland play over the past four rounds, I thought they would have superior fitness to get them over the line. However, my prediction was proved false, and as I finished my nicely refreshing but sufficiently tasty Bright Ale, I found the Welsh and my belly were stronger than first thought.

With the England vs France game about to start, Naz and I got onto a beer we taste quite a bit of through Mountain Goat Brewery, the Hightail Ale. The decent texture of the Bright was only improved with the Hightail, and with a bit more sweetness going on, my tastebuds appreciated the upgrade as well. However, what I saw around me did have my laughing quite a bit. With a decent selection of beers on tap and in the bottle, I still found a couple of people drinking long necks of Melbourne Bitter, and was further astonished to see a bloke with a longneck of Carlton Draught sitting in an ice-bucket, yes, and ice-bucket.

The hilarity both Naz and I got from this was only improved when seeing France get some early points, and make England start trying to play real rugby to get a try. Of course, they just couldn't convert with drop balls, bad passes and plain losing of the ball at every opportunity that came up. My desire of seeing a world cup where running rugby began to show its dominance again in the sport was coming to fruition, and just liked watching England lose, and lose in such fashion. That has definitely been my favourite game to watch in this World Cup, and even recorded the game and watched it the next day, just to relive the joy of it all. Is it bad to hate a team more than you like the Wallabies.

Still, when it came to the Wallabies, there was not much to like with their performance. Set play was dismal, our backline found it hard to fire, mainly through the disappointing performance of Quade Cooper. Luckily there is enough depth in this squad to allow us to continue even when our main play maker is struggling, and our work in defense and at the breakdown were good enough to see us through. As I was so agitated at the game (probably the worse game I have seen for quite a while from the Wallabies), I only managed to get one beer down, but at least it was a good one in Moo Brew Pale Ale. Still, with focus on the bad game and terrible reffing to go with it, I am happy to say I already know this beer is good as I have tasted it many times before, as I failed to register much this time around.

After my brother and I paced around his place for much of the game in frustration, and be astonished that we actually beat South Africa, it was nice to go round the corner to Little Creatures Dining Hall, for another Bright Ale and a Rogers while celebrating Harriet's birthday (Hoppy Beerthday Harriet!!!!!!). I was happy to find Rogers is still a good midstrength beer with enough sweetness and body to stand up against decent full strength beers of similar style. It is nice to see some breweries are still putting some effort into these types of beers, as the market is generally poor for those wanting less than full strength beers.

Getting home after this, I found that New Zealand had beaten Argentina, and so we are to meet them next Sunday, where we will probably be demolished after having put in such a massive effort to beat the Springboks. Still, at least we have made it further than England, and with the French having played their 'big' game of this World Cup, I expect a Wales vs New Zealand final...which reminds me of when I saw the two teams play each other in the 2003 quarter finals, Welsh were playing out of there skin and leading the All Blacks for most of the game, when...

As for beers next weekend, I have Pete's bucks party starting with beer tasting at Slowbeer at 11am, then Crafty Pint's Festival of the Froth to go to on Saturday, so unsure what state I will be in for watching the semi's...

Cheers,

Beefy

Red Duck for Dead Duck?

2011-10-01T11:55:00.003+10:00

I would have never thought the Wallabies would be in a position where they could not make the quarter finals of the Rugby World Cup, especially when we are in one of the weakest pools of the tournament. Still, here we are needing to win our last pool game against Russia to try and get into the finals, and even then we will have to wait for the very last pool game of the tournament to see if we make it. We have lost control of our own destiny it could be said, and I can tell you this is probably the most nervous for their easiest game.

What does this have to do with beer. Absolutely nothing! Still, doesn't mean I can't make it connect. So, in the potential of us becoming the dead duck of this World Cup (one of the major teams not making it to the final rounds), I am going to be drinking Red Duck beers, and probably adding my own 2 cents on the game as it progresses.

As Ealsey gives his pre-match talk on Channel 9 (finally, they are showing games live), and as I have been reading a bit about the history of beer, I crack the Canute the Gruit Dark Medieval Ale. This dark beer has no head and smells quite unusual. There is a smokey sweet dark fruit sort of aroma...Wow, that is weird, my tastebuds just imploded a bit with my first sip, the smokiness and fruit do come across in flavour, but there is this high noted zingy taste (yeah, I'm really good at this beer tasting caper aren't I!?) that has quite an edge of sourness to it. The back end of the palate has a weird combo of the sourness punching through the smoke, before the smoke is left to linger in aftertaste. There may be no hops in this beer, but there is definitely some interesting flavours going on. I can't say I enjoy it (it could simply be my palate is just use to malt and hops), but the dominating combo of smoke and sourness really throws the tastebuds too wide for my limited palate. This beer is really strong at the back, and again is different from the sweet creamy beers I generally enjoy. To be honest, If I didn't know what beer I was drinking, I would have said it had gone off with such a stringent sourness and dusty smokiness. I just gave Stew a taste, and he said he really liked it. So it is possibly a polarising beer. Russia is putting some pressure on in the game, but making some simple mistakes. Mind you, could have missed some of the first 5 mins as channel 9 were showing an empty corner of the field for a minute...woah, a simple step and Barnes is over for the first try of the game for the Wallabies. O'Connor misses the kick...hold on, upon restart Drew has just gone through for another try, O'Connor gets the kick...he may get some practice today....ah, now McCalman has a try...Samo is just to big out on the wing...Ok, Pocock just got our bonus point try within 15 minutes of the game.

26-0 at the 20th minute and the game is still stuck in Russia's half and have a taste of the Queen Bee Honey Porter. This is a much simpler brew, with strong dark honey aroma and taste dominating as much as the aussies are dominating the game. There is a pretty light brown body to the beer in looks and texture, whereas Pocock is not light at all in body - he has just gone over for his second try. There is quite a bit of carbonation in the beer, which I have also noticed in beers we have brewed with honey. It must just get a lot of second stage fermentation going on in the beer. If the dark malt was balanced with the honey I would quite enjoy this beer. I do enjoy the taste of the honey though, but think it is just a bit too much. Possibly with more body in the malt the beer could have become too syrupy though. Russia showing some intent here and are in our 22. They just got held up over the line! Ahhhh, Russia get a try!!!!!!! Good one Vlad, and nice support by their fat loosehead prop bumping our guy out of the way to stop tackling him. Wallabies reply with a quick try to Moore after a great pass back inside by Drew. whoops, not Adam Ashley-Cooper (the redeemer) is in. Half time 47-5, and a bit like the beers, some sweet and sour moments in the game. We are throwing the ball around seeing there is space out wide, and our forwards are dominated in the set plays, but Russia are not putting much pressure on the breakdown, but are coming up ok when they do. Therefore I feel we have not learnt from our loss to Ireland where they did that so well...Hmm, don't tell me I am becoming an opinionated drunk after 2 beers.

While Ealsy gives some half time comments, I get onto the vanilla porter. Can definitely smell a bit of Belgium yeast or spice that I would get from a classic Triple, but with a dark malt background. The vanilla does come through up front on the tongue before this lovely creamy sensation comes over the goes so well with the vanilla flavour, before a yeasty back that cleans up really well. Probably the one I have enjoyed the most so far, as another fat man goes over for a try for Ma'afu to start the second half. back to the beer, there is enough body (like Ma'afu) and dark malt flavour to sense the porter, but like the previous beer, does not dominate but just does enough the carry the flavour through.

Now Russia make another attempt at our line, but get a drop goal instead????!!!!!! Weird. Wallabies counter with a try to Drew again, but is all looking a bit messy out there. not what I want to see from this game.

With Cooper giving away a dangerous tackle penalty and Drew having a hamstring injury, I move onto the Red Duck Belgian Blonde, which has a bit of citrus and amber malt aroma with the classic yeast. The sweet malt does come through much in taste along with the yeast. Does remind me quit a bit of a Leffe Triple actually, especially the alcohol, so enjoying it quite a bit.

Cooper stuffs a pass to give away a try to Russia!!!!!!!! Rubbish. We really aren't focusing on the game now we have it in the bag and some injuries are starting to come on, and Russia are starting to make some ground on us. This weather isn't helping either with some drop ball starting to come into the game.

As I crack the Ox Russian Imperial Stout, Russia go over for their third try. They have fought hard and won over the crowd which is a good sign for them. We have just lost the ball on their 5 mtr line in a scrum, which does not look good for our ability to control the ball. As for the beer, there is the classic dark malt and alcohol aroma that is expected from this beer. This comes through quite well in taste, and there is a good smoothness (a bit of a trend in most of the beers) the help meld the malt to the alcohol. The alcohol is quite well contained (unlike what the wallabies have done to the Russians in the second half)...There you go, it takes a good opportunity by Barnes to get us one more try towards the end to make this half look a bit more respectable for us. Still, the damage has been done, and we end the game on that. I think having a Russian Imperial Stout at the end does show where the game swung in the second half, where they were able to annoy us into mistakes and unsettle our gameplay. Unfortunately I don't feel any more confident at our chances after that game, but not because the opposition was not enough to test us, it is because they were, and they did.

So, it was a bit of an opposites in beer and rugby, I probably enjoyed the second half of beers, whereas I liked the first half more from the Wallabies.

I am now half cut after 5 beers in 2 hours, so gonna leave it at that. Well, it comes down to tomorrow to see where we end up in the pool.

Beer is like Rugby...???

2011-09-29T05:19:00.002+10:00

OK, so have done 3 rounds of drinking during the Rugby World Cup, and after my last post, making tenuous links between the beer, the weather and the RWC game I was all engaging with at the time, I thought it a good idea this morning to try and piece together some other weird connections seeing I have a few hours before I am to start the days work at Mountain Goat.

So, it is not the first time I have tried to connect beer to other activities (eg, music), and guess it is easy choosing activities I like to drink beer while watching to then connect beer to in this way...it's ok, I know how bad this makes me look and how badly I will do in the attempt...

I guess we can start with basics, ales and lagers, forwards and backs. If you like your fast paced drinking with crisp flavours, in terms of beer, this is probably lager-like. A fast, attacking backline needs quick, clean, crisp passing and kicking, and especially with a kicking game, you can get further down the field faster, and therefore drunk faster drinking that way. Lighter bodied individuals normally play in the backs, and lighter coloured beers generally tend to be of the lager variety. Personally, I like a good backline play to bring some fast moving excitement to a game of rugby, and sometimes I drink this way too while watching a game, but it is generally not how I like to appreciate a game or beer.

For me there is nothing like a good forward play with rolling scrum or maul, like a good ale rolls around on your tongue, smoothly and strongly edging its way downfield or over your palate ending with a most satisfying finish that tends to linger more on the mind and tongue. There is generally a bigger body (some may say 'stout') to ales and forwards. While I spent most of my own rugby playing days in the front row, I do have a soft spot for many Wallaby number 8's/locks (Willie O, Kefu, Palu and now a nicely aged Samo) - big, darkly coloured, softly spoken but making a big impact on the field, that relates a bit to my taste in beers - bold, craft brewed stouts.

Ok, looking now country to country, I could also find a few similarities between the national rugby team and national style of beer. Here is Australia, the general approach to rugby people appreciate is running rugby, and therefore suited (in my mind, as shown above) to lagers. Games dominated in the backline where a well timed pass or a very slight change in running line can get you a long way. It sort of makes me think a little like Thunder Road's Pale Lager, which while it's timing on the Aussie market could have been better (launching a lager in winter?), the different line it runs being a bit more of a dry pilsner (I reckon) means it can have a bit more of an impact and get this lager swilling nation onto craft beers. However, having this approach to rugby means we can lack a bit in body upfront, and can get easily dominated by more 'malt' driven UK beers/teams. For me an English Bitter/ESB describes the England team quite well. The forwards drive the ball over the midfield, and then a backs kicking game is used for position and points. For me an English Bitter has a big malty flavour up front, then a slight bittering hop kicks in from midpalate to 'clean' up. To be honest, generally it is not overly inspiring in rugby or beer, but it has tradition on their side, which England use very well behind the scenes in both aspects.

Turning to the USA, they are probably more matured in beer than rugby, but they do have a gold medal in Rugby at the 1920 and 1924 Olympics. I noticed in their game against the Wallabies a couple of weeks back our forwards dominated them quite easily at the set play, so the US seem to be less 'malt' based then us. Still, what they do have is enthusiasm, shown no more than in their 'Phil Smith' like captain Cleaver, who darts around the park like a mad man contesting over the ball at the breakdown. They may need a bit more structure and a bigger player base to make a more rounded team, but they are willing to go out there and be attacking with the ball. Therefore it is pretty easy to see them as an IPA/APA, big on attacking hops and alcohol to boot, they zing across your tongue but also linger in aftertaste to make them a beer and team to look out for and go back to when something new comes out of it.

So, to the Kiwis. One of the most dominating forces on the rugby field, and also increasingly in their craft beer. Very well balanced in both forwards and backs on the field, I would like to say the All Blacks are like a Black IPA or Double IPA. Big malt body to help carry the hops over the tongue but with enough clinicalness to make a clean, clear finish...well, unless the ABs choke and the fans are left with an overtly bitter aftertaste in their mouths.

I guess as a Wallabies supporter, while we could become like a Bock (strong lager) with a strong backline, I would like us to become like a Baltic Porter, still technically a lager but with a bit of malt body upfront. Maybe 2 Brothers Voodoo could be my beer mascot for the Wallabies? Still, if there was a beer nation I would like replicated in rugby, it would have to be Belgium. With a mix of big, bold, and traditional trappist/abbey ales, with fruity (maybe going a bit sour) lambics at the other end of the scale, it would make for an interesting rugby team. Bring on Belgium for Rugby World Cup 2015!!!!!

Well hope you had a bit of laugh like me during this, or worst case you think I have way over thought this...which I probably have.

Cheers,

Beef

Sinha Stout (8.8%)

2011-09-28T17:37:00.002+10:00

Seeing a tropical type storm has just come over Melbourne (the first of the Spring), I thought an equally weird beer should go with it. I don't think of Sri Lanka when I think stout beers, but here is one, so I guess for this novel weather day, this novel beer fits in alright.

Okay, so I am watching the play by play commentary of Romania vs Georgia in their Rugby World Cup match, and looks like an interesting game between the minnows at 12-6 (lots of kicking going on)

So, for the beer... It pours a browny black with a very brown head that dissipates pretty quickly. Does not appear to be much body to it from the pour, so not getting overly excited about what I am to put in my mouth. Hmm, actually getting a bit of chocolate on the nose with dark fruit and alcohol, which has pricked up my ears a bit. Okay, on the tongue there is a bit of depth to the malt, and a bit of body to it to, but the alcohol is a bit too high for the beer to handle. Mind you, the beer is a bit on the cool side so it could warm up a bit (sorry for this line of description, maybe just getting caught up in the play by play commentary I am reading while tasting this beer...which by the way, Georgia is starting to dominate having just made a try to push it out 19-6).

There is a slight bit of coffee coming into the beer as it warms, and the alcohol spike is reducing a bit (or maybe my tongue is just resetting itself to it), still, it the alcohol is becoming a bit drier at the back (Romania seem to be losing face as the game goes on).

I have just read the back of the bottle, and happy to say that many of the things I am tasting are actually stated as what is suppose to be in the beer. That doesn't happen often. Don't tell me this beer is starting to charm me a bit?

Well, apart from the slight alcohol sting and this bottle being slightly overcarbonated, I am enjoying the beer more than I thought I would, maybe as I am enjoying this storm (well, now I am out of it and it has settled down) more than I thought, and enjoying this game more than I thought.

Romania had the last chance with the ball and stuffed it, so the game finishes 25-9 to Georgia. The beer does not seem to improving with more time either. There also seems to be quite a bit of sediment on the bottom of the bottle as well. The alcohol is starting to take over in terms of taste, and after what feels like a long week at work already, it is affecting my consciousness as well. Luckily I am at the end of it now.

Well, I hope someone else out there reading this had had this beer before and can attest to the legitimateness of this beer I thought would be quite novel...ok, it was novel, but not in the way I thought it would be. Maybe they can let me know I am not in the right state of mind...well, I am off to feel drunk now.

Cheers,

Beefy

Rugby World Cup and Beer: Round 3

2011-09-27T05:33:00.002+10:00

Hmmm, unfortunately this round I didn't get to watch much rugby. Basically the only game I saw was the Wallabies vs USA, which was predictably one sided. Still, doesn't mean I wasn't drinking beer, so all is not lost.

However, I should start with last Tuesday when before going to watch the Pearl Jam doco at Hoyts, Jess and I went to the Royston to hoover a parma. This also meant I had to smash a pint of Mornington Penninsula Porter. This has probably been the best of this breweries beers that I have tasted. Unfortunately that was more out of the fact that I did not find it offensive. There was some decent sweetness true to the porter style, and just enough body to carry it through (also true to style), but apart from that there was nothing of interest. This could have been because it was going down so quick I could not really appreciate it and give it the time it needed. It only made the parma harder to eat as the beer filled my belly. Still made it to the cinema on time so that was all that mattered to me at the time.

On Friday was the Wallabies vs USA game, so seeing Channel 9 were not showing the game, I went over to Joel's again with the last 4 of the top 12 Critics choice beers from last year. Starting with the Bridge Road Saison, that same fruity factor was still there with the nice yeasty ester. Unfortunately, the same old story for me at the moment, as it seemed to be past its best age wise. There was a very slight sour edge to the fruit at the very back of the palate and the beer had just started to separate a bit in the mouth ruining the body a bit. Luckily I have had this one a few times, so know how good it is.

I hadn't tried the Matilda Bay Alpha Pale Ale (funny seems like my sort of beer...Ha!) but was surprised at how much malt sweetness was in it. It was pretty comparable to the Mountain Goat Hightail Ale I had after it, which has a good amount of amber malt sweetness, which may be more pronounced as the hops may have died off quite a bit in the 6 months it had been in my possession for. I was expecting a lot more hops in the Alpha as seems to be Matilda Bay's approach.

One interesting thing with the Hightail was that the carbonation seemed quite low, which I know is meant to be a bit with this beer, but was so low in this bottle the malt sweetness was a bit syrupy, which for me is not a bit deal, but for your average drinker may put them off a bit.

Ending on a Coopers Stout (now the biggest Australian owned brewery) while the wallabies ran riot over the US (we were even dominating in the scrum a lot...even though they made their only point in the game from a back of the scrum move. Still, the USA hooker was good enough to win the ball well, so they must have a generally weak scrum) was ok. I don't really like a yeasty quality in stouts, and so not sure if the bottle conditioning works so well in this case. Hmm, this is a beer I tend to be a bit up and down on. When I was first drinking this stuff, there was not much choice in Australian made stouts, and found it way too coffee for my liking. Still, as we know I not partial to coffee much, and this aspect would have helped is separate it self quite a bit from other beers on the aussie market. Now, with so much overseas and newly developed aussie stouts on the market, I just don't think it compares so well, and is definitely not one I go searching for.

As for the Wallabies performance, I find as a supporter, we are always wary after a loss to see if they have hit a bit of a slump again. While they won the game convincingly on the scoreboard, they did not really reach a clinical gameplay that I like to see when they are dominating. It just looked like they were at a practice game and throwing the ball around letting the backs get tries. I would have preferred to see more structure and focus as they will need it for the later games when they come into the quarter finals. Still, seeing we are going to have to wait til the very last game of the pool rounds to see how Italy and Ireland go against each other, it is a bit up in the air for us. We have already lost a bit of control of our own progression, and I think that is also the disappointing thing to see. At least it means we just play each game as it comes, but not sure if that is good or not for World Cup Rugby.

I guess with both beer and rugby, things are a bit in the air at the moment.

On Saturday, we had Jess' turkish inspired party at their place. Seeing I unfortunately have not been available to do any brewing with the boys for the past few weeks, I was interested to see how the new batch of Mulberry beer came out, and see how Stass was going with the coffee beer we are looking to do for the next round against Team Harrod. Unfortunately he made a mistake in cleanliness (How could you Stass!!!!????) and has had to start again on the coffee beer. Still, the approach I think is sound (don't think we have given up Team Harrod), so we have a really good chance to take this round out, if we can produce a beer from it. As for the Mulberry, a different brand of molasses was used that was a lot sweeter, so I found it had less body, almost no tartness to balance the sweetness, and the hops did not meld as well with it. At least we know which brand is better for it then for the next attempt. At the end of the night, we also had a taste of the young russian imperial stout. Hmm, 11.2% is pretty big, and the alcohol is pretty dominating. However, there seems to be some good body in the beer, and in the young stage, there is definitely some high noted flavours from the yeast coming through in the form of a dark bubblegum taste. The malt really needs to age a fair bit more to balance it out, but there seems to be some good potential in it. I am not sure though if we will hit the highs we had in our first batch, but will wait and see...

On Sunday I caught up with my brother who had some terrible news for me. No, nothing about his upcoming wedding, but about beer (of course). He and Nicolette had been out to Holgate the weekend before and upon getting their Temptress chocolate porter, had found it watery!!!!!!!!!!!! I paniced. What?! The ESB seemed to have become watery over the past 6-12 months, but now the Temptress? No, it can't be, they can't do this to us! Luckily the Temptress we had at the Napier Hotel did not show signs of this wateriness (only signs of bad pouring...too cold!) but now in wait to see if the next batch of this beer comes out as Mick said. It will be a sad day for me if that is to happen.

Later on, over a Ladro pizza, I tried out an Italian Wheat beer, a Le Baladin Isaac Belgian Witbier. Trying to pour it clean at first, there was not much nose and apart from some slight sweet malt, there was a slight herbal flavour coming from the midpalate, a little bit like a grassy hop, but not bitter, and not characteristic of any hop I have tasted before. It was pretty easy drinking as expected, and only when all the sediment was poured in (by the waitstaff, not me), did some wheaty bubblebum come though in aroma and taste. Cannot really see myself coming back to this one.

So after all that, not much rugby to speak of, but at least some beers of note. Last round of the pool matches approach, so soon all will be decided in who makes it, and who plays you for the finals. At least after this week the NRL and AFL with be over, so maybe Channel 9 can show more rugby knowing they will have aussie sports fans tuning in. Please Channel 9! Hmm, looks like another Rugby World Cup ruined by the coverage. Hope at least I have good beer and can actually watch the games at least.

Cheers,

Beef

$12 Billion for Bad Beer????!!!!

2011-09-22T16:26:00.002+10:00

I wasn't going to make anything of this, seeing I don't drink beers from Foster's regularly (unless I feel like putting myself through the pain of tasting it and then getting a hangover from being dehydrated from the chemicals in it...ahh, so much to hate), but have been interested to see it is in the process of being sold to overseas conglomerates that like to make money through beer.

I can't help but wonder, If they are willing to pay that much for a brand that predominately makes bad beer, I wonder what they would be willing to pay for a brewery that makes good beer. I know whether it makes good beer or not makes no difference in the matter (yes, that is enough to make my head spin anyway...silly humans), but what are they really getting for their money. A recognisable Aussie brand, a company with some power in the beer market here and overseas, or is it just a process of this massive corporation to take out its competitors? How that question is answered by SAB Miller, then brings up second stage questions, that depending of the influence Foster's has had on your life will mean different things for you. What will happen to the employees, will they keep the breweries they now own making the beer they do, how will the public react to whatever changes they may bring, what new opportunities or threats may come to the beer industry in Australia, etc, etc. I guess by the fact I am asking these questions just shows the influence Fosters has, whether I like it having that influence or not. Even though I don't (knowingly) drink Fosters beers, I know the influence they have on the market will bring change.

This, with the potential changes to the tax system in relation to alcohol in Australia, I hope will bring change for the better.

What is my idea of change for the better? As with most things with me, it is very simple...good beer, and better accessibility to it. However, I know it isn't that simple. Even just by wanting 'good beer', you have to ask what is good beer. It is going to be a bit different for all of us on a personal level, and as you may see in the 200 odd posts I have on here, I am still trying to define that for myself. I guess through the 5000 views to this blog, I guess there are others curious like myself in finding that answer.

For me then, the question from all this is, in the face of quite a bit of potential change in the beer and brewing industry, what sort of industry do we want for beer here in Australia?

Coming back to earth though, I have to accept that the reason this company has taken over Fosters is to gain the control it has over the industry, and they probably aren't planning to give it up.

So, all in all, this is 'pie in the sky' stuff, and I have been talking crap in the hope there could bring something better to the industry, which is why I wasn't going to put anything up here. Still, I guess with this hope, the only ones hurt are those that have wasted their time reading this, but that some of you have the same hope as me, and are also curious to see if this situation could get us closer to it...good beer.

Beef

Rugby World Cup and Beer: Round 2

2011-09-19T02:36:00.002+10:00

So, two weeks into it now, and happy to say that overall the games have been pretty interesting to watch, with not as many walk-overs as I was expecting to start seeing by now, while the same can not be said for the beers I have been having through it.

Things at Mountain Goat have been stepping up a bit with more regular work starting to come from them which has got me pretty excited, and started engaging me a bit more in it. Have been learning kegging, and apart from a few near misses (one in which I nearly burnt myself with hot water when I didn't turn off the pump being used for the hot liquor tank before attempting to change over the hoses) and 2 long days, it has been great to start getting more involved, and getting my 'day-to-day' casual worker brain into something more involved. We will see how many more mistakes I make in this process, and hope I don't hurt myself or anyone else in the process. Still, it was a little poignant for me when I was given my own set of brewing gloves on Wednesday, and after a long day it only took one Bigfoot Stout before I hit the wall. I also had my first taste of the Rye IPA when we attempted to keg it. I quite liked the full mouthfeel and the sweetness the rye brings to the beer even if the carbonation was a bit low, both of which diminished a bit for me when we finally kegged it on Thursday. Still, will be interesting to try again this week.

Anyway, onto the rugby...The first game I managed to see was New Zealand vs Japan, and left with 20 mins to play it was looking predictable where the game was going. Still, Japan managed an intercept try. The other things that had me leaving that pub early was the unpleasing selection of beers available. getting on a Montieth's Golden Ale just didn't cut it for me. The was some slight malt sweetness, but generally fairly bland. Luckily though, before heading to the game, I was able to celebrate my latest beer anniversary of it being a year since making it to Berlin and hanging out with some aussies there by having some Weihenstephaner beers at the Purvis tasting. The new Festbeir (in time for Oktoberfest) had the characteristic sweetness and slightly higher alcohol, but still did not enjoy it as much as the Hofbrau Oktoberfest beer I have had previously and there was a slight bitterness at the end that while it certainly something I have tasted before in the style, I don't really appreciate. It is almost like a carbonation bitterness and slight dryness as well right at the back of the palate. The Kristal was also fairly sweet but being use to the german wheat beers, just doesn't have the roundness the Hefeweissbier has, and the classic yeast character does not come through as much either. Of course the Dunkel is much more to my liking, but think the Erdinger is one I enjoyed more (or maybe I am just being nostalgic) when I was over in Germany. Could just be that I had the Erdinger on tap, whereas this is out of the bottle. Still, for me the Korbinian is my fav from this brewery with it's luscious caramel that helped inspire us to brew our Hickory Stickory Bock. Combine the Korbinian with another classic German beer in the Rauchbier style, and that is about it. I look forward to being at Stassy's this weekend to finally get some more of this (if there is some left).

After leaving the game at the pub and heading back past Purvis, I shared a New Zealand 'Mash Up', that supposedly is a collaboration of 44 of its breweries to create an IPA. The term 'too many cooks spoil the broth' came to mind when all I could taste was bitterness and nothing else. As it warmed up and as my tastebuds got over the bitterness, some sweet, slight citrus malt did start to come through but not enough for me to enjoy it. Damian also did not find it as enjoyable as the first time he had had it.

On Saturday I was geared up for the Australia vs Ireland match, but listened to the last 10 mins of Romania vs Argentina on the Rugby World Cup site, then grabbed one of the last honey wheat beers from my homebrew stash to watch South Africa beat Fiji, where I was disappointed not to see Fiji do better in attack. Well, the honey wheat is pretty old now, so have definitely found it is best fresh. Grabbing the next 4 beers in my Critics Choice pack, I had to head back to Joel's to watch it live (as bloody Channel 9 won't show it live apart from on GEM down here...hmm, maybe I am deluded to think rugby union has any standing in Australia). It was frustrating to see Ireland slow up the ball in the Wallaby ruck and mall, but had a good enough forward pack and showed enough enthusiasm to get the ref on side, and the Wallabies just didn't step up to meet them. During a tight first half, the Knappstein Lager had actually gone down alright with enough sweetness and body up front to keep me interested, and with a slight wine wine finish, which is more of a note rather than being a dominating aspect to take away from the beer. The Hargreaves ESB was not doing much for me at all, still tasting more like an IPA than an English Bitter, with not much up front and even getting a sort of alkaliny bitterness at the back. As we got into the second half of the game, the White Rabbit Dark Ale was ok, but fairly bland (or maybe my attention was just too much on the game as Australia continued to struggle in showing any dominance or momentum to get things going). As I started seeing the game get away from the Wallabies, I was however comforted by on of my own favourites, the Holgate Temptress. In spite of the losing battle on the rugby field, my tastebuds were in joy of sweet vanilla and luscious chocolate, and have to say it is probably the best Temptress I have ever had out of the bottle. The carbonation was just right to keep the alkaline taste I normally get out of the bottle non-existant in this example. If only Australia had won, I may have even been able to enjoy this beer more, but when we did, I at least had this beer to keep me positive (the power of good beer people!!!!!).

Sunday then was spent getting into the dvd of "Wonders of the Universe" and had me thinking back to the posting I put up a few months ago trying to connect my own philosophy/approach to life in beer. I brought up in that post about the elements of beer and the elements of the world, and I guess in that way, expanding that through looking at all elements of the periodic table, and how they come from the life and death of stars has given me a bigger perspective on this, and engaged my curiosity a bit more. It is interesting that this expansion of my thoughts and curiosity come at a time when brewing is become a bigger part of my life and the thoughts of doing a brewing course come more to the fore in my mind. Having never had a great interest in chemistry before, I need something like this to help me start engaging in the topic, as it seems to be pretty important when getting into brewing and a course within it. I hope from this, it helps me to start engaging in this area, to keep a sense of 'natural development' in myself, as I find it hard learning with a 'means to an end' mentality, as this journey of beer shown in the last 2oo-odd posts in this blog attests to.

Anyway, after that 'moment', I had brunch with the gang for Joel's birthday. Still feeling the vibe of being in Germany a year ago, hanging out with some cool people that were encouraging me more to involve myself in beer (and missing Joel's birthday in the process), I took a bottle of Weihenstephaner/Sam Adams collaboration beer, Infinium. Over cake, we got into this beer, that for me had the sherberty sweet smell of a Faro of a JJ Prum Riesling, with some citrus, tropical fruit flavours up from before the alcohol really hit home towards the back of the palate. probably the alcohol was a bit too high for it, and I could sense a bit of age coming into the beer with some slight dusty malt and hint of sourness between the fruit and alcohol flavours. Apart from that it is a pretty well structured and flavourful beer, and one I savoured more than the others drinking it with me. The alcohol did really hit home on it, which helped slow me down, but with some lager 'sessionableness' to it, you could quite easily get pissed quickly on it at 10.5%. Luckily it costs too much to think about buying too many bottles of it.

Getting home from that and seeing the lovely day was continuing, I hit the park at the end of my street to keep reading my book on the Wallabies, when a strange occurance happened. Okay, 2 month ago with kicking the Guinness Gilbert (GG) at the park, in my attempt to put up a bomb, the ball was stuck in a palm tree. Our attempts to retrieve it failed and so thought out time with GG was over. However, as I sat in the park enjoying the book and the sun, a see a bloke walk through the park with a ball looking very similar to our beloved GG. Upon walking up and giving them a description of GG, it ended up being the same ball, and heard from the guy that he had climbed the same tree to get it down. He happily parted with GG after hearing my tale (I offered him money but he refused), and ended up hanging out with them for the arvo drinking a tsingtao around the bbq (one of the guys heads to China quite a bit and always brings case of this back with him. It's actually pretty good and the perfect summer sessionable beer with some good malt body and easy finish to keep you going back for more), and me bringing some Mountain Goat beers and our own Mulberry beer for them to try out. I guess it is just one of those stories, and again had me thinking of hanging out with new people back in Germany a year ago and spreading the word of beer with them.

Happily, I was able to present Joel with the ball I had originally given him after my trip to Ireland (yes, it was from the Guinness Brewery), and we sat and watched Canada put up a decent fight against France in the last game of the day.

So, has been quite a weekend, and back to Mountain Goat this morning to hopefully get the week off and running again. If you don't hear from me again, I have probably killed myself in some random rookie way at the brewery.

Cheers,

Beefy

Rugby World Cup and Beer: Round 1

2011-09-13T04:50:00.002+10:00

So another 4 years have rolled around and the Wallabies have much to atone for from the 2007 RWC. As some would say, when I am watching rugby I have 2 modes of drinking. One is the slow sipping away at a brew, and the other is knocking them back pretty quickly. There does not seem to be an in-between.

However, while the pool rounds are on, there is a better chance for me to be able to still enjoy a beer, but maybe just not focus on it as much.

For the opening ceremony/New Zealand vs Tonga match, I had some of the current batch of Mountain Goat Double Hightail, that I had only just bottled at the brewery the day before. Apart from it being slight over-carbonated (a few swills sorted it out pretty well though), the rich malt come through quite well in this amber ale. I also had another 'anniversary' of my beer trip to celebrate, so by the time New Zealand were on top of the game towards the end, I crack open a Rochefort 10 I took with me out to Beechworth the weekend before but did not drink. It had been a year since visiting Rochefort in Belgium, and walking around trying to find the abbey they brew the beer in, and a day where the only beer I had was the 10 at one of the bars in the town. Of course drinking it took me back to that day quite well, with the big malt and alcohol being quite distinctive, plus what seemed a little bit of dark bubblegum flavour trying to make its way through.

On Saturday I met up with some of the crew to be involved in Anna and Pete's wedding next month, and could only find the 'Dirty Swan' open in Richmond, so had a Fat Yak while watching Fiji dominating Namibia towards the end of the game. Not much to note on that beer (just better than the mainstream stuff), but moving to the Great Britain down the road, was happy to see the Little Creatures Dreadnaught on tap, so gave it a go while hearing some Pies supporters going off about their team winning their AFL game. While the Dreadnaught is 7.4%, it almost seems more in this beer, and close to what a Imperial Stout would be. Maybe it is just me, but too use to Little Creatures beers being light and fruity, and could not help but get a little bit of that from it which was a little strange. Don't get me wrong, it is a bold beer, and nice to see them come out with something like it (though, I think they had an Oatmeal Stout out recently as well), but with all that big malt and alcohol, the slight high notes contrasted with it. Walking back to Bridge Road for dinner, I walked back past the Dirty Swan and Town Hall Hotel, to see Argentina was ahead of England at half-time in their game, which got me a bit excited. Therefore, when Channel decided to show the game at 4am, I was up for it, only to be disappointed by the coverage and the usual terrible approach to rugby England had in it. Luckily I did not have a beer during it, or I probably wouldn't have liked it.

Later on that day though was the Wallabies first game against Italy, so made a potato bake, a mud cake with M&M's on it, and a selection of beers to enjoy. Seeing it was the anniversary of the Brugge Bier Festival, where I met Willy and tasted the Liefman's Cuvee Brut, I shared this with the gang that came over the watch the game. While there is quite a bit of tartness, there is enough sherberty sweetness to balance it out, and I found it going down quite easily while the wallabies had a harder time getting going in the first half of the game (which did take my attention away from the beer and reliving that lovely day in Brugge). Also tasting the top 4 of the 2010 Critics Choice for best Australian Beers, while the Stone & Wood Pacific, Little Creatures Pale, and Feral Hop Hog are all good examples of their style (the LC being a classic sessionable beer), the one that really stuck out was the Murray's Icon2 IPA. The hops and malt are very well integrated, even at this level of a double IPA, and was the best beer of the 4. Also, it was a great way to finish the game with the Wallabies really getting some momentum going.

The Critics Choice beers will now be a theme for the next 2 Wallabies games (Ireland, then USA), again, drinking them in the order in which they came in the list, while saving a big tasting for the game against Russia, which will be our last before the quarter finals start. I'll hopefully have some other good beer news to share before then as well...

Cheers,

Beef

ESB: Holgate vs Hargreaves

2011-09-07T20:44:00.003+10:00

Just a quick one (unless I get on a rant),

I was just at the Royston with Stass and seeing the day was nice but a little cool, we both felt a Extra Special Bitter may be the way to go. Seeing they have 2 on tap at the moment, we thought we would try them both out against each other.

If you said to me a year ago I would enjoy the Hargreaves over the Holgate, I probably would strongly disagreed (to say it mildly), especially after the trip Mick and I went on last year out to the Holgate Brewery. For us, it was the best beer in the range overall, and having it available on the handpump had only improved my enjoyment of the beer. Still, in recent months I have found myself a little disappointed in it, with a watery body and taste up front, a little caramel malt on the midpalate and a fairly subdued finish. What was a nice staple of mine is now relegated as a 'once in a while' beer, just to see if it has improved to where I thought it was previously. Yet, for me, it just hasn't.

As for the Hargreaves, I remember trying it earlier this year, and being disappointed for probably the same reason I am disappointed in the Holgate ESB now. Tonight though, it seems to have changed, and they have really ramped up the bitterness in it. To be honest, it sort of reminded me more of an IPA than English Bitter, but then I may be relying too much on style, and in comparison with the 'watery' Holgate. But for me it is just funny that a brewery I have a great deal of regard and enjoy many Holgate beers, that I see just this one quite diminished. I was actually just having the Chocolate Porter just last night with Mick, Nicolette and Stew, and it still has that creamy body with luscious chocolate (in fact it seemed even more chocolately!), so I just don't understand why I have felt this change in the ESB. I know they have an upgraded version of the ESB in the UXB, which on the Holgate visit I found a bit extreme at either end of the scale.

So, not a great experience to have, to feel a beer has changed for the worse (in my opinion), but I guess that can happen in the brewing industry, for whatever reason...

Beef

(B)romantic Weekends: A European Beer Journey...in Beechworth?

2011-09-05T19:30:00.005+10:00

Well,

This time a year ago I was getting over (or was it only just getting started with) my Belgian Beer Weekend before exploring more of it and a few other places in Europe. For that weekend and more, I had a good mate in Jaimi tasting beers and recovering when he could along the way. A year later, and I am heading of trains and buses once again for a beer journey, but this time staying within the realms of Victoria heading out to Beechworth, the home of Bridge Road Brewery, a place I have wanted to visit since first trying their Robust Porter and its oak-aged version. Instead of Jaimi, it was Stass who I accompanied, as the winner of a contest during Good Beer Week. This entitled him to tasting, lunch, private brewery tour and a night's accommodation at the pub 10 metres away from the brewery, and I managed to tag along with all of it...

After a Friday night of tasting our bacon-like Hickory Stickery Bock and putting on 30 litres of our second batch of imperial stout (yay!), we made it to Beechworth by lunch on Saturday, just in time to make use of the free tasting a pizza lunch.

Starting with the Hans Kopler Hefewiezen, we greatly enjoyed this german style beer that showed good levels of bubblegum over a refreshing body that was perfect to start on after 4 hours of traveling. We enjoyed it so much we went back for a full sized version after lunch.

While there is quite a slant to Europe in the range of beers available from Bridge Road overall, I was happy to see the attempt to bring in an Australia style to beer seeing it seems to something we are still struggling to find in the industry. However, I found I did not personally enjoy the Australian Ale, with a yeasty finish that reminded me of a Carlton Draught, but without the dehydrating chemical sensation from the mainstream example. It also had quite a dry flavour on the back, but did not entice me to have a session on it. I have said previously that my tastes will not equate well with the general aussie palate, and this just proves it. Still, if you are looking for a 'one step away from mainstream' beer for that stubborn mate or relative that sticks to only the mainstream beers, this is a good start. I was actually interested to see many of these going out the door as six packs, so it has definitely made an impact on the public.

The Pale Ale comes back to a british style with a decent malt body but with some somewhat strong hop character for a pale ale. Luckily, our pizzas arrived by this time, so it was a good beer to have with them.

Next, I was again happy to try for the first time the next beer, a Celtic Red Ale. With a toffee like malt and limited bitterness, this was really my style of beer. While it is quite sweet comparable to the rest of the range, there is a good mouthfeel to go with it, and the hops at the back cleanse so well I found myself wanting to go back to it quickly after each sip. Definitely a standout I will want to try in the bottle now, and for me it went well with the honeyed-lamb pizza.

I have tried the Robust Porter a number of times, and have to say, it tasted a lot more roasted coffee than I recall previously. I think I prefer this beer in the bottle, as it seems to reduce that roastedness to allow the sweet dark malt through more to balance it out more to my taste. Still, I did like the Oak aged version of this beer, with this process diminishing or melding to coffee better with the overall beer. Still, was slightly disappointed and goes to show, sometimes fresh isn't always best.

Finishing the tasting with the Bling IPA, the freshness aspect was shown again with the hop character in this beer being pretty big, and bigger than when I have had it previously. Okay, my tolerance for bitterness is not high, and while the malt is there to try and balance it out, but when even Stass is showing signs of this beer being at the upper level of his own tolerance, we were both happy to still have a few slices of pizza left the cleanse to tongue with each sip. We found it quite similar to Team Harrod's attempt at the IPA is our latest brewing contest with them.

Having tried the Hefeweizen again, we tasted the new Saison Noir which we heard was basically the robust porter but using the yeast of the Saison. It was really all over the place on first taste, with a smell that reminded me a bit like the earthy spice I get from out Wattle Seed beer (which I am happy to say has settled down quite a bit in the sourness we were getting from it early on). The flavour kept changing as well, as it was quite malt dusty while cold, but then as it warmed up the saison yeast was able to bring more fruitiness. By the end it was almost a dark fruit flavour, and much more enjoyable.

It was at this point Ben was available to take us for a private brewery tour. It was great to get behind the scenes to chat one on one with him, and compare bottling systems between his and Mountain Goat. It was interesting to see the industry from his perspectives, the good and bad of being situated in rural Victoria, and the relationship he has with other breweries...big and small.

After this we started getting into the Chevalier range, starting on the Biere De Garde. It had been a few Microbrewery Showcases since I had tried this beer, and was happy to say it reminded me of our Honey Wheat Beer we had made for another contest with Team Harrod. This beer has a fair bit more going on above sweet malt and bubblegum, with a long smooth body allowing fruitiness to come through and almost sweet honey end. The flavours all melded well which is typical of the style and I also enjoyed just seeing the dark colour to it, as I would have equated the taste to a lighter beer.

We ended the day at Bridge Road with the Hefe-Dunkel, a style I particularly enjoyed while over in Germany, with its great combination of both being refreshing but also having a depth of character that you could appreciate. For some reason this time the beer tasted a little old with a dusty malt character coming into it that I haven't tasted in their beer before, and did not end as pleasantly either. The banana and bubblegum were still there, but maybe a bit shorter than I recall, and the body was still good to carry the flavours along the palate. So it was only slightly diminished, but then that could come from just having had it from the bottle, as it may loss a little freshness compared to on tap.

After a quick lap of town, we came back to Transwells Commerical Hotel for a dinner and Stass brought over a large glass of Leffe Blonde. In all the places, I never thought I would find this standard Belgium beer here in Beechworth, and again just reiterated the number of European style beers we had over the day. Having seen a Creme Brulee on the specials board, dessert was a must, before Stass and I sat in front of the fire at the bar with a Robust Porter, and saw a local come in to order a Carlton Draught with a dash of Stone's Green Ginger Wine....hmmm...just got me thinking 'if you don't like the taste, don't buy it'...ah well.

After a well deserved night's rest I awoke, sat up in bed, looked out the window, and was happy to see I was looking directly at the brewery below. What a great way to start the day, looking forward to the prospect of tasting more of the beers just under my window. After some breakfast and a couple of games of pool at 10am (ah the joys of staying in a pub), we walked out of the pub and back the the brewery just as they opened, and remained in front of the fire by the bar for the next few hours.

Seeing it was still morning, we started the day with the Smokey Breakfast Lager (Brew 500) which I have to say I enjoyed more out of the bottle than on tap. I think the smoke just stays a bit too fresh in the keg and takes away from other flavours in it. Out of the bottle I could get more of a honey-like flavour from the maple syrup, and a better balance overall, which was helped by the oatmeal to give it the body it needed to coat your tongue nicely.

To finish off the session and the last beer for us to try, we grabbed the standard Saison. For me the fruitiness is a little subdued for what I would like in a Saison (as seen in the Saison Session I had previously, but was still a nice light-flavoured beer to finish on. Maybe if more could be coaxed out of the yeast to make more of the flavour, and then balance it with a good malt body, it would rival the older, traditional Belgian Saisons, but as a nice step for the general public to help them appreciate this style, I can understand why it came #9 in last year's Critic's Choice Awards of best beers in Australia.

With this and a pizza in us for lunch, it was just a matter of getting some merch (a very well made and warm hoddie for me), a quick stop at the local bakery, and the bus/train back to Melbourne to recover overnight for the week's work ahead.

A massive 'thanks' to Stass for allowing me to tag along and make it is great 'bromantic' weekend, and for Ben, Bridge Road Brewery, and Beechworth, for setting the mood for a relaxing beer filled journey back in a small country town that reminded me somewhat of where I grew up. Finally, I can tick that one off the list of breweries I have wanted to visit here in Australia, and was great to have that European slant to remind me of the good times I had a year ago in that part of the world.

Ahhhhhhh,

Beefy

End of Winter Warmers/Wedding Bells Wednesday

2011-09-01T05:35:00.002+10:00

I was all set to try out a new stout last night to help celebrate the end of winter, when I get a call from Stass saying he is 5 mins away and can we go out for a beer. Of course, answering in the affirmative, and having seen the Royston had just put on some great beers, we headed down there. There was only one font we needed, the one with both Holgate Temptress and Red Hill Imperial Stout on it. Two of my favourite winter beer, and a great way to end the winter on. The chocolate porter went down a dream as usual, and with me looking at the menu board, and seeing again the Milk Chocolate Creme Brulee, I would have loved to combine them similar to how I did the week before.

The warmth coming off the back of the imperial stout was also great, so could not think of two better aussie beers to be had together at this time of the year. This combo had Stass and I looking forward to putting on our second batch of russian imperial stout tomorrow, and had me rethinking the Milo beer I want to try again.

Then to get into the swing of spring, we headed across the road to Mountain Goat, only to find they had the Double IPA going through the hop infuser with (you guessed it) more cascade and galaxy hops in it. The hope flavours really come out quite well, and personally I am happy to have to bitterness not to be overbearing (mind you, I had just had a chocolate porter and imperial stout to dull the taste buds a bit). I think there is a bit of sweetness in it that helps keep the bitterness a bit diminished, so of course I liked it. Still, it is definitely big, and had me thinking of some of the hoppy beers I had in the US, Portland especially.

Actually, this reminds me of last Wednesday when I first tried the DIPA at Mountain Goat, and I suppose now I can tell the story from this day.

Having started at Mountain Goat at 6am to finish off the labelling of the Coffee IPA (which I hear has just made it to stores, and is best fresh, so get in a try it now!), I didn't stop til 1pm, when the last bottle went through. With the weather so good (it has been a long hard winter this year), instead of having a lie down I went to the park to enjoy the sun with a good book, and then headed back to Goat in t-shirt, shorts and thongs for the DIPA, Big Foot Stout and their latest Bubble and Squeak - Oaky Porter, with vanilla beans in the Randy. The vanilla came through pretty strong in the porter, but the beer is big enough the carry it, and melded together well. The Bigfoot is a nice upgrade to the Surefoot stout, so of course I really liked it. The alcohol is a little strong tasting, but expected at 7.3%. Funnily enough though, there is less of the alcohol flavour in the DIPA, even though it is 8.8%, but I guess with the amount of hops it has, this is understandable. The DIPA also has a good body on it, which I think helps carry the alcohol without stinging the tongue too much.

By now I was starting to feel a bit tired but knew I had dinner with my brother and his girlfriend planned. My brother being the wino, we tried a couple of these as I caught up with both of them. Then, as we sat down to have dinner, they told me they are going to get married at the end of the year. Of course this news woke me up, and we excitedly spoke about it for a number of hours. During which, we cracked open two Moo Brew Barrel Aged Vintage Stouts, an '09 and '10. After a number of disappointments with the '09, this one happened to be the best of this vintage we have ever had. The carbonation issue was not in this bottle, and to be honest, with it's additional year of aging, it came out better than the '10, with a deeper malt and better integration of flavours. Still, the '10 is still quite good, and think it may even be comparatively better after another year in the bottle. However, it was finally having a successful tasting of the '09 that really made the taste off, and having good conversation to enjoy it over. Seeing they were still waiting to tell more of the family before letting everyone know, I have had to hold off putting it up here until now...well, I hope it is now ok to put up here. But then knowing not many people look at this blog means it should be alright to put up here anyway.

So as we head into spring, and I prepare myself for a big weekend, today is the day I left for Belgium, and had 26 hours straight of travel to get there.

Cheers to my brother and soon-to-be sister-in-law, the continuing journey life brings in general, and the beers we have through it all.

Beef

Two Metre Tall Huon Dark Ale (5.5%): Take 2

2011-08-30T18:33:00.002+10:00

After recently trying this beer, and finding I had come to it late, I was lucky to have my boss bring me another bottle of this beer today, so am going to try it now while it is as fresh as I can have it.

The apple smell is similar to the original tasting, and there is a cleaner aroma to the malt in it. While the apple does dominate, there is a real sense of a fruit beer, with even a bit of ester to make it similar to a belgian lambic. I've not had an apple fruit beer before and wonder in Lindeman's does an apple lambic, still, the dark malt does lessen any dominance this fruity ester would have. There is still a bit of a separation of fruit and malt, but is definitely more integrated than the previous tasting. The body is again a bit thin, but a lot more understandable with the juice, and there is enough to help the integration of malt and fruit, and this holds over the tongue quite well. The sourness is also diminished as that sense of fruity ester is all I get more at the end. It still leaves my tongue a bit dry in aftertaste. There is quite a bit of carbonation in this bottle, which while I guess helps to distinguish flavours/aromas, it does not help with the dry finish, and is probably the big thing that turns me off this beer. Still, I am glad to have been able to give this beer a better appraisal, even if I still don't personally enjoy it that much.

The talk of lambic/belgian beers has reminded me that this weekend will bring up the first anniversary of me going to the Belgian Beer Weekend. Therefore, it is appropriate that I enjoyed that beer filled weekend with Jaimi, I would have another beer journey this weekend, this time going to Beechworth, this time with Stass, who won the trip during Good Beer Week this year. I look forward to hanging out at Bridge Road Brewery and remembering all those lovely Belgian beers I had with another good friend.

I also remembered I have yet to tell the other news I was going to over the weekend. I did not end up doing the brew day with Stass, so am yet to try to the Hickory Stickery Bock, but Stass has been updated me and things are looking good. We look to try it out now at the end of the week. As for my journey from Wednesday, I will be able to bring that to you tomorrow. I look forward to sharing...

Cheers,

Beef

Situational Drinking 2: Beer and Food

2011-08-27T07:49:00.003+10:00

Just like when you are in a certain mood and find a perfect beer to compliment or contrast it (for the good), it is always good to find a combination of beer a food when each heightens the other. I have spoken of it a few times on here, and enjoyed when it has worked out.

In combining beer and food, I have heard there is a new book out called 'cooking with beer', and I have been on here before talking about my own 70's version book of the same name (though, shouldn't be taken as seriously). I have also recently seen a cooking with beer blog that I have been enjoying. I have had my own attempts of putting beer in food, starting with the classic beef and guinness pie, but also put our chocolate stout in a chocolate cake which did improve it some, and even tried putting the same beer into a potato bake, which did not work at all.

So coming back to chocolate beer and chocolate, this has been something big for me since first having a warm chocolate truffle cake with a Rogues Chocolate Stout in Portland back in 2009, and then backing it up by going to a beer and chocolate event during Good Beer Week this year. In this, the taste of each against the other compliments each other so well, and not out doing each other. Some may think that having chocolate on chocolate would be overbearing, and am sure this may be for others, but for me I find it hard to be out-sweetened, even after trying a Polish kreik beer that tasted like ultra cherry sherbert. It is just my personal taste.

Bringing this combination to a new level, having beer that tries to mimic the taste of some foods is also well known. Many christmas beers try basically to taste like the pudding that is eaten so often at this time of year. In a country so well known for its pork dishes, it is not surprising that the German's have produced a style of beer that for me tastes like liquified smoked/cured ham. Over this winter, I have been inspired by hickory smoked bbq sauce, and has led me to try brewing a smoke beer of my own, which I look forward to tasting tomorrow. Also, one of my favourite beers of this year is a beer actually called a Creme Brulee, which had luscious burnt caramel with vanilla. It is this that brings to a recent experience this week at my local, The Royston Hotel.

Normally I go for a parma and just have an IPA or something similar to help cleanse the palate for eat bite of the parma. With a meal that good, I just like a contrasting beer to allow me to appreciate every morsel of the food. Seeing it is steak night on Thursday's, I was able to get a good and well priced porterhouse with fat chips and gravy (and salad my body enjoyed) and drunk it with a Holgate Nut Brown Ale. The dark but not overbearing flavours of the beer went great with the steak (actually, with the slight nutty flavour, I reckon it would be a good base style of beer to put Stass's wattle seed with), but then things got even better when I noticed the dessert menu. Seeing a Milk Chocolate Creme Brulee (with honeycomb ice cream, with honeycomb pieces) and noticing a Lobethal Oatmeal Stout on tap, I jumped at the chance to try these off with each other. Apart from residual sugar from the creme brulee that would cause the beer the fizz across the tongue a bit, the texture of the beer went so well with the custard/ice cream. I found the best way to consume this was the have the creme brulee, then the ice cream and then the beer. Of course the sweetness was outrageous, but of course I loved it.

After the steak experience, I think with Australia's love of bbq's, I reckon there is a better approach to beer that will help aussies get into darker beers, and even smoked beers that can compliment bbqed meat. Having a cold can of mainstream beer just doesn't cut it for me at these times. To be honest, the only times I drink a mainstream beer is when I don't care what beer I drink (eg, after a hard day's work) or if I am drinking to just get drunk (boring).

Anyway, I hope you all find a beer and food combination that works great for you.

I am busting to say some news I also received during the week while on a bit of a beer journey, but I have been told not to say anything about it until I have been given the 'all clear' to announce it. However, seeing the story is so much a part of me expressing my beer experiences, I wouldn't be able to talk about the beer without letting the cat out of the bag. Therefore, I will hold off until then. Also, I look forward to tasting the Hickory Stickery Bock tomorrow, so will discuss that later also.

Cheers,

Beef

Home Brew: Trial and Error Approach

2011-08-22T09:45:00.002+10:00

I guess after a few years of home brewing, I can see pretty clearly the approach Stass, Brad and I are taking with it now. We have gone through the stage of just learning how to make beer with extract and enjoying to simpleness of it to get an idea of differing styles on a general basis, and then improving on those to try and clone the beers we like, again, mainly through the use of extract can with minimal addition. We have been lucky in a way to come into brewing at a time when it is expanding, and home brew shops are coming out more with clone kits that are simple and easy to make yourself, our recent Guinness showing we still use this approach.

I guess looking at home brew sites and forums I see that one aspect we have not fully engaged ourselves in is the technical aspect of brewing, and doing full mashes to get into the real basics of brewing. As I now look at trying to get involved in a brewing course, and seeing my own personal lack of chemistry knowledge, I can see this is going to be a difficult challenge for me to overcome.

At this time I look at the way at which I like to brew, and how we generally like to be a bit experimental in our approach. We have a pretty basic understanding, but enough for us to try and bring some common sense when doing a brew. Still, it does get a little disappointing when a 'trial and error' means we make many mistakes, and I really feel that lack of knowledge hit home. While we have some successes with the Mulberry Molasses Beer, and and Honey Wheat Beer, we have also had the Milo beer that we had to tip out, and there is some trepidation with out latest Wattle Seed Beer that we kegged last night.

We also put on a new experimental beer last night, and ended up making a mess when trying to caramelise sugar for it. We ended up stepping it back and the wort tastes very interesting. I guess it is a little strange though that we had the name for the beer before we thought of how to brew it...Hickory Stickery Bock. I'll leave it to your imagination to see what we have done with it at the moment, and will see this weekend how it come through the fermentation process.

Overall, I just feel a little downhearted that we have to go through the mistakes, even though this is offsetted by the excitement of just trying to do something different. I can't help but think we may be making simple mistakes that a lack of technical knowledge is bring us down on. But knowing I am not naturally a technically minded person also brings with it much uncertainty of trying to make a career in brewing.

Ok, so it may seem like I am being melodramatic, but I guess at this time, I am quite concerned in my weaknesses as a person and how it has affected my approach to brewing, and how that will affect me getting into, and being able to do well in, a brewing course.

Anyway, just wanted to get that down.

Cheers,

Beef

Darkness Reigns after 200

2011-08-20T17:16:00.006+10:00

So after 200 posts, it is fitting that I celebrate with a night out drinking predominantly dark beers... the only problem is trying to remember all the beers I tried.

The night started with the usual Friday tasting at Purvis, and was good to see Belgium get a start with two trappist and a saison. However, even before that, I arrived just as Damien was cracking a few other beers. So under the new beer sign over the table, we tried out these seven beers.

The Doss Blockos Pale Lager had some slight malt sweetness, but was pretty short on flavour for me. The James Squire Pale Ale was even more featureless, apart from some slight sulphur in aroma and flavour. Brewboys Ace of Spades is one I have had a few times, and just find the coffee to be a little too much for my taste, and has some dryness at the back for those that like that roasted aspect in their stout. I was happily surprised by Little Creatures 'The Dreadnought', which had a great dark malt body and was even picking up licorice in smell and taste coming from the malt and alcohol (7.4%). Pretty close to an imperial stout actually. A bit of a change getting onto the Dupont Avec Les Bons Voeux after that, but with 9.5% alcohol, this saison actually held it quite well, and had some good fruity flavour. The Orval actually tasted better than I remember, and went well after the saison with some nice citrus going on in it. Still, having the classic Chimay Blue reminded my why the Orval is still one of my least favourite trappist beers. I guess it is tough at the top, and for me that velvet caramel will always out do a blond.

With the tastebuds engaged, Damien and I went into Biero, and with the menu looking like this, I was very excited to try out the beers on it I hadn't tried before. I wanted to start off with the black IPA's, but the Kooi had some trouble in the keg. Speaking to one of the brewers he said it wasn't pouring very well as they were a late call up for the night, so again I missed out on trying this beer. So with the Feral Karma Citra, we just tried the Meantime London Stout. Both are pretty low in alcohol, especially when compared with the imperial stouts they had on show. I don't mind the citra hop so enjoyed this beer. Having the Meantime against this was probably not the best idea, especially as Meantime seem to be quite subtle in the brews they do. Still, I quite like the malt and body to the Meantime, and found it a good cleanser, to keep my tastebuds up for the next round.

But before that, we tried out the Viven Imperial IPA while trying out the pork burgers Biero had for the night (delicious by the way). I really liked the balance in this beer, and was very well rounded with a great meld of malt and hops. In terms of balance, it even reminded me slightly of the Les Trois Mousquetaires Porter Baltique. It was pretty short in length, but just made you want to go back and try it again. One aspect I quite like to find in beers, and was happy to find it again in the Nogne O Two Captains Double IPA.

Ok, now for the main event: a taste off of imperial stouts! grabbing a Bright Brewery Stubborn Russian, Feral Boris and Hargreaves Russian Imperial Stout, I happily lost my taste buds with these beers. The Hargreaves was the most impressive and the one I enjoyed the most with good malt and warming alcohol, which does become a bit overbearing. But luckily I had already had quite a few beers before this one, so the tastebuds were dulled by the time it came to this one. The Feral Boris is probably one of the most disappointing imperial stouts I have had, with it tasting more like a black IPA with an overuse of hops. It is suppose to have 11.5% alcohol, but none of that warming aspect came through, and the malt is quickly dominated by the hops. The Bright are known by me to be quite limited in flavour, and this one held that tradition for me. Very standard, and was almost a good middle ground for the others.

Before finishing up there we also had a quick try of the 2 Brothers 'Terminator' Double Bock. Expecting (and wanting) that lovely caramel, I was disappointed not to get that, and to find it had a fairly thin body to it as well. We have also tried one or two other beers before we left, but by then the tastebuds were dying quickly, and my ability to remember was also diminishing.

Making our way to Penny Blue (my first time at this bar), I saw the Hargreaves was on the handpump (dangerous), but before I could tempt fate Damien brought me a bottle of the Kooi black IPA I had missed out on trying at Biero. I actually did not enjoy it that much as I felt the malt was thin and fairly flavourless. Speaking to the brewer about this, he said they actually intended this, which I was pretty surprised with, but understand if you don't want the malt taking away from the hop flavour they wanted to get from the beer. The hop is quite strong and was even able to make a mark on my tongue, so must have been pretty hoppy. After another couple of random beers (one was called Hopsickle I think, and another was a decent stout), we finally called it a night.

Well, that is as much as I can recall from that night, and happy to get as much of it down here as I could. I can definitely say that without this blog I would have forgotten many of the beers I have had over the past 18 months, and do find myself coming back to remind myself and compare beers I have had previously.

My thanks and apologies to those that have come this far with me.

Cheers,

Beefy

Two Metre Tall Huon Dark Ale (5.5%)

2011-08-18T18:40:00.003+10:00

Getting into tomorrow nights Biero dark beers extravaganza, but still with the fruit feel that the mulberry beer, I thought it appropriate to try this dark ale but with the use of apple juice.

Unfortunately, I think I have come to this beer a little too late. I smelt the dustiness that comes from older malt in a beer, but could still smell the apple in there as well. With the flavour, the dustiness of the malt comes through, which isn't helped with the carbonation. Body has been lost in the beer, so it comes across quite thin on the tongue. There has definitely been a separation of the beer with the apple juice, which I am not sure if that is a by-product of age or how it came across fresh. The apple juice dominates from the midpalate and with age has turned a bit tart/sour on the finish.

Therefore, yet another disappointment from this brewery, but at least this time it is my fault not drinking it sooner, as is seems to have been brewed 14 months ago.

Ah well, doesn't seem to be too bad, so may just finish it anyway. Can't let good (ok, maybe only decent) alcohol go to waste. Still have another day of work to get through before the weekend starts. I may need this drink to get me through it.

Cheers,

Beef

PS: I have been able to come back and try this beer again. Click here to see a better appreciated review of this beer

Wigram Harvard Honey Ale (6%)

2011-08-17T17:35:00.002+10:00

Keeping with the theme of honey from the last honey beer I had from my stash, I decided to try out this New Zealand attempt.

The translucent copper body holds a slight veil of head. The honey has a much better aroma in this than the previous honey beer I had. With a lighter malt, it mixes better with the honey, and without a sense of artificial sweetness on the nose, I am definitely more tempted to try this one. The first thing I really notice with this beer is the texture. It almost coats the tongue like honey, and the sensation of it rolling over the palate is quite enjoyable. Of course, the honey dominates in flavour, and the malt seems to simply be a vehicle for the honey in the beer. There is one thing that I think honey in general takes away from beer. All the honey beers I have tasted or attempted to brew have had a taste like there has been too much dextrose or carbonation sugar used, leaving a zing across the tongue and a sort of residual sweetness that doesn't smell of taste like honey, but must be a by-product of the process of brewing with honey. It does take away slightly from the beer to have this high noted aspect that does leave a little bit in back palate/aftertaste, but I guess it is only through having such a decent version of a honey beer, I can see this must just be something that is common with many honey beers. Luckily though, this aspect does not linger long. I guess it is the same thing that turned the honey porter into something that taste like cola. Still, this is probably one of the better honey beers I have had, so well worth a try.

A few weeks ago, I noted finding a beer style called sahti, and have been lucky enough to find some more bottles of it around. Therefore, I had a chance to taste it a week ago. The juniper berries do actually come through quite a bit, but like these honey beers, the honey in it dominates quite a bit. This doinates brings with it a slight medicinal aspect which I think is just a bigger sign of the aspect I have found in most honey beers, but by far the biggest thing in this beer is the alcohol, at a staggering 11.3%. The alcohol doesn't sting, but then doesn't quite have the warming aspect (in taste anyway). Mind you, it doesn't take long for the bodily effects of the alcohol to start coming through. I have to say I was pretty impressed overall.

After my recent taste of the Mountain Goat Coffee IPA, I did a couple of days work this week doing a bottling run of this beer, and have to say it does have a lot more coffee sense the fresher it is. The gang did leave the beer to sit on the beans for a bit longer, and the body of the beer has definitely improved through the process. The hop aspect is slightly diminished through this, but with good carbonation in the bottle, the body of the beer really holds up well. Mind you, I had this beer after two days of hard work bottling the stuff, so my enjoyment of seeing it was all over may have slightly affected my experience (for the better). I also took in a bottle of our Mulberry Molasses Beer for the boys to try, and am happy to say they were pretty positive, and got us talking about fruit beers in general. It is quite sessionable and the fruit sort of fits between raspberry and blackberry in the beer, bringing a good balance of sweet and tartness. I noticed there was a little more acidity in it that may come from age, and something I wasn't getting so much from the keg. I look forward to us trying it again, and remembering what the the recipe actually is...

Well, I missed out on brewing last weekend, but hoping to make up for it this weekend to put on a brew that has been rolling around our heads for a little while. Am wondering if it is a good thing to come up with the name for a beer and then trying to build a recipe around that. Well, looks like we will find out soon.

But before that, have found Biero has a black beer friday this week, so looking forward to a situation similar to the the Font of Darkness I had recently at the Wheaty. Let's see what I can remember from it to put up here.

Cheers,

Beef

Bridge Road Stella vs Feral Hop Hog @ The Royston

2011-08-12T19:22:00.002+10:00

Just back from the Royston for the second time this week (damn their parmas are good!) and while introducing Joel to the Hargreaves Imperial Stout, I decided to do my old thing of trying a hoppy beer with food (yes, still trying to train myself onto hops).

Starting with the Bridge Road single hop 'Stella' batch, did notice a bit of citrus aroma on a fairly light malt body. Not much malt comes through in flavour but the zesty orange does come through quite well with the hop, but does not quite have the bitterness I was expecting, unless it is hidden well with the zestiness. Therefore a good start for me. There is not much at the back, and with low bitterness seemingly though this hop variety, it did not need much to clean it up at the back.

Having not really had much of the Feral Hop hog on tap, thought it a good opportunity to taste it off against the Bridge Road attempt. The malt does come through a bit more on this one, but think it is needed with the more bitter hop also coming through. There is a still a little bit of fruitiness coming through with the hop, but it is the bitterness that is more that star with this beer. To be honest, I think there may be a bit more flavour or power to the hop in the bottle form, unless it is simply that after having the 'Stella', my tastebuds were already in that mode of hoppiness.

In terms of personal taste, I may just prefer the Bridge Road, just as there was more flavour and less bitterness in the hop, but in terms of a well rounded beer, I think the Hop Hog wins with good use of malt melded with the hop flavour and then also having bitterness to step it up further.

After these I ended up 'helping' Joel finish his Imperial Stout, and noticed more a roasted coffee flavour on midpalate and in aftertaste that I did not get the other night. It was good to have this beer warm and while my tastebuds were still working, and not just getting the major flavours of licorice and alcohol. It really does give you a bit of a warming jolt with its alcohol, but still, not so much of the warming contentment that I like to get from this style of beer. Have a I gone too far when I start assessing the type of 'warming' to come from a beer?

Cheers,

Beefy

New Beer Routine

2011-08-11T18:59:00.002+10:00

I have decided with all the beer sitting at my place, I need to make an effort to get through it all...okay, not a problem most of you with sympathise with me over.

Before I get on that, I should note a few beers I have been having recently. On Tuesday I snuck into Purvis just after a rep from Tooborac Brewery came in with their Pale Ale they have started bottling. Damien decided to crack one while I was there, and has to say, while it is easy drinking with a good malt texture, the beer overall left me a bit wanting. There was quite a bit of sulphur on the nose, and was only as it warmed up that this dissipated to show a very slight fruitiness. Damien noted it had a sort of wheat beer feel, taste and look, and have to agree, it did seem a bit cloudy. Too be honest, I could not find much of note to say about this beer.

After my Southern Tier tasting a couple of weeks back, I have been anticipating further beers to come from this brewer, and Damien recommended we share a bottle of their Phin & Matt, with Damien describing it as smelling and tasting like wort. While there is a little more refined malt flavour up front, there is still a dank depth of malt sweetness that I do normally taste in an unfermented beer. While this does sit a bit heavy to midpalate, from here, the hops come through to nicely cleanse and show this beer really is a beer.

Later that night I hit the Royston with my brother for a parma. Upon seeing the Hargreaves Hill, Russian Imperial Stout (11.7%). I found quite a bit of chocolate when I first tasted it cold, but big malt body to cove your tongue quite well. There was also some liqourice before the alcohol hit. I was impressed to find that even with this high an alcohol content, the taste did not spike much. However, with that high an alcohol, its flavour came earlier on the palate as it warmed up, and while the texture held, the malt flavour was lost to the licorice. Towards the end, the warmth from the alcohol was going straight to my head, and was happy not to have another beer after it. Still, pretty impressive all round I thought.

Yesterday after being rained on during work, I stopped off at Mountain Goat (I have work there for Monday and Tuesday...yay!), I had a couple of beers with one of the brewers Craig (giving me a chance to talk about brewing courses with him). Seeing they have a new Coffee IPA, just had to give that a go. It is an interesting combo seeing both coffee and hops can produce bitterness which may make it hard to discern in the beer. However, they have tried to bring body and roastedness from the coffee, and let the citrus hops cleans. In terms of flavour, the coffee was quite diminished, with only the slightest of coffee roast at the back. Would be interesting to see a bit more coffee come through, but as the beer is a few weeks old, the coffee may be the first flavour to leave it. Then, seeing the Bigfoot Stout is back after a couple of years, I had to try it again. I think it has actually improved since last I tried it. Really good dark malt body up front, and with 7.3%, reminded me a bit like the stout from the night before. Will have to go back for that again.

Ok, as for a new routine, I have gone the lucky dip into one of my boxes of beer. Having seen a Honey Porter bottle while at Team Harrod's place, I was happy to see Taverner's Honey Porter come out. However, not reading the label before pouring quite a bit of yeasty sediment came out. The head dissipated very quickly and it looked like coke. There is quite a bit of artificial sweet smell over the dark malt. There is a very thin body on the beer, and the smell comes through quite a lot in flavour. The honey flavour is not as artificially sweet as in the smell, and there is a bit of a malt backbone to help it taste like beer...yes, taste like beer. To be honest, it takes me back to a lot of the german dark beers I had nearly a year ago, and has me thinking of coke. The honey does got very slightly sour towards the back but apart from that, the thinness in the beer means it does not linger long in aftertaste. This may be the best thing about this beer...

Anyway, not a great start to my attempt at a new routine, but hopefully it means there will be more stories to be told here, and more regularly,

Cheers,

Beef

Beer Challenge 3: IPA

2011-08-08T12:32:00.002+10:00

On Friday Stass, Brad and I met up at Josie Bones for a team meeting before the battle. After having tried the Reniassance Chocolate Oatmeal Stout at the Wheaty a couple of days before, I saw their porter was on tap, so gave it a go, and have to say I found it quite enjoyable with good dark malt backbone and a good blend of hops to go with it. After that, Stass and I tried a Orkney Island Dragon Head, which had good malt up front, but then watered out a bit on the midpalate and then a coffee aftertaste came through. While on that, Brad tried his first Rauchbier, with the Marzen from Schlect. Having become accustomed to such beers, I found it quite enjoyable (mind you, I only had one sip) but seeing Brad did not have any food to cleanse, even with the initial impact being big for him, it only got bigger with each sip. To be honest, he was probably still tasting it by the end of the night.

After our 'briefing', we made it to Team Harrod's brewhouse for the taste off. Ok, so by now we knew our beers was not going to win, seeing it tasted more like an English bitter than an IPA. Still, the beer they came to us with was really good, and just made us feel worse with the effort we had made with ours. The malt was really good on the front texturally and the Amarillo hop flavour came through well on the back of that. The rising hop was fairly intense, and definitely of the American style. With food it was fine, but have a few sips without something to break it up, the hops bitterness did get bigger with each mouthful. It was a good beer to be having the day after International IPA Day, and would be appreciated by many hop heads. We told them they need to name it, as it will be one they will have to brew again.

As for the next challenge, we are going to coffee, coming on the back of some musings our team has had, and after tasting the 'Poo Moo' beer at the Wheaty.

Good Luck Team Harrod! We are even as things stand now, but that will change...

Cheers,

Beef

Moo Brew Vintage Imperial Stout 2010: 3 Ways @ The Wheaty

2011-08-08T09:22:00.004+10:00

So, as we all know now, a visit to the Wheatsheaf Hotel in Adelaide for the sake of a great beer is not an unusual premise for me as I showed at Easter. As I said in the last post, after hearing the Moo Brew Barrel Aged Vintage Imperial Stout was to be on tap at the Wheaty, I quickly booked my flights to make sure I could make it for the unveiling of their 'Font of Darkness', that this beer would be a part of.

Arriving in Adelaide and having lunch with my sister, I made a bee-line for the Wheaty to get myself prepared to the big event. The only other keg of this beer to be tapped on mainland Australia was at Beer Delux, which I sampled after having a few beers beforehand at the Microbrewery Showcase in March '10. To replicate that tasting, I decided to have a few beers to get my taste buds in the mood. Seeing the Font of Darkness was under wraps (literally covered by brown paper bags) I had a Mikkeller Cream Ale (which only proved to me that I don't like cream ales...reminded me a little of our recent Milo brew experiment) and a bottle of Weihenstephaner Dunkel (hmm banana and caramel). While in the beer garden I had been reliving my trip to Europe and watching the movie of the Berlin boys tasting the beers I left behind for them, so really enjoyed having the German dunkel. As I finished it my sis and some of her friends arrived and we geared up for the unveiling...

Right on 6pm, the paper bags were withdrawn, and dark beers flowed forth from the Font of Darkness. Grabbing a Renaissance Chocolate Oatmeal Stout, a 'Moo Poo', and one taster from each of the Moo Brew Vintage Imperial Stout kegs (while one of the Wheaty Staff took photos of at the 'Font' to put on Twitter), we began...

I remember having had the Renaissance Chocolate Stout previously, and enjoying it much more on tap than out of the bottle, and once again, it proved itself with dark chocolate flavours and a lovely velvety texture. Seeing the last time I was at the Wheaty for a chocolate stout, it was great to have another good chocolate beer to try out here. Interestingly, I normally sense vanilla to help sweeten the cocoa in chocolate beers I enjoy, whereas this time I was getting sweet chocolate but without the use of vanilla. It was impressive to see, and only hoped that they were able to do as well with the bottle version. I guess it is a usual chocolate stout thing that it just has to be tasted on tap to get the most from it. Actually, I think my sister has since gone back to try this beer again, as she has been texting me to ask where she might be able to find it.

The well titled 'Moo Poo' did not actually include cow dung (something I am quite familiar with having grown up on a farm), but instead was a combination of the Moo Brew Stout (standard, not the Imperial or the Vintage Imperial) and Kopi Luwak coffee (well known [and priced] as coffee extracted from beans, which themselves are extracted from the manure of a South American animal). With 250g in the Wheaty's hop infuser, the coffee flavour is quite dominate, but with much of the bitterness seemingly reduced (maybe it was stripped by going through the animals digestive tract or possibly the malt in the stout sweetens the coffee flavour), it was actually a flavour I could enjoy, even though I am not a coffee drinker. This combined with the texture of the beer helping coat the tongue and carry the coffee flavour across the tongue made it a very enjoyable beer and a great experiment for Jade to attempt.

Ok, now for the main event. Jade had somehow gotten her hands on 2 kegs of the Moo Brew Barrel Aged Vintage Imperial Stout 2010. One was to be tapped regularly, while the other was to be put through the handpump. Having just received my our allocation of the bottled version of this beer, I took one of them with me to Adelaide, meaning we could then taste the beer 3 different ways, probably the first time this had ever happened. The beer has definitely decreased in the amount of alcohol with each year (which probably says more about the tax issues breweries have in Australia than the beer itself), and has lost some of its warming alcohol effects to be reduced some since first tasting in '08, and definitely did not bring the amount of mellowness that completely overtook us when we tried the '08 on tap. The other difference I noticed overall was a slight spiciness that seems to come from the use of french oak barrels Moo Brew have started using for this beer. However, what hasn't changed is the quality of this beer. It may not be the '08 I fell in love with, but the depth of malt character with that slight red wine touch brings it back from the '09 that disappointed me slightly with the carbonation issue it had. Interestingly, the bottle version seem to contain a good level of flavour, and where I could pick up most of the spicyness, which brought a sense of refreshment from the beer, which is a little strange for a beer of this sort, but enjoyable all the same. I found I was torn between the flavourful bottle version and the texturally amazing handpump version that just coated the tongue with that classic malt body.

The regular tap version seemed to be inbetween the two others, which meant I could enjoy each version equally for different reason. In terms of alcohol, with carbonation from the keg and bottle, these seemed to hit my head a bit more, whereas the handpump made an almost cleansing aspect of it, with the 'watering' alcohol cutting through the rich mouthfeel of the malt body. I look forward to seeing how this beer ages even further, and for finding anymore kegs of this beer going around. Anyone know where it may be on in Melbourne?

Overall, I am very happy with the latest edition of the amazing beer from Moo Brew, and am extremely thankful to Jade and the Wheaty once again for the effort put in to source these sorts of beers. Unfortunately this time my brother could not join me for the first taste of this year's edition, but now he is back in Melbourne, we will be trying it together soon.

Cheers,

Beef

PS: I also took over our own home brew of Imperial Stout to taste against. As I have said before, I think ours carries itself quite well in comparison with other Imperial Stouts. However, I did take a bottle that had quite a lot of sediment in it so there was a definite yeasty character. Cheers to the Wheaty and a couple of the patrons for giving it a try from some feedback.

PPS: Now for a drink at some place called the RAB...

Success, Failure and Sunday Sess with Stone & Wood

2011-08-01T08:35:00.004+10:00

I woke up this morning with thoughts of the success of the beer we kegged yesterday, and the failure of the first experiment of trying to brew a beer with Milo.

10am yesterday I made it out to Stass's place, and 10 minutes later was re-acquainting myself with our successful experiment of a mulberry molasses beer we have now labelled Bira Dut Pekmezi to relate to it's Turkish influence. After a photo op with the Guinness and Milo beer filled fermenters we took a final specific gravity read of both, and tasting them realised the Milo beer was not fit for human consumption...well, anyone with tastebuds anyway.

There was only the very slightest of milo malt flavour on the front of the tongue before the sourness came through, which as I feared, would come from the milk powder in the Milo. It also looked like cloudy urine, and had heaps of sediment on the bottom (I wish now I had stirred up to see how it would taste in the beer). Anyway, as in most things you have to take the good with the bad when experimenting, and at a loss of $20, it is not that bad. I am hoping though we can come up with another way of adding Milo to beer.

Once we kegged the Guinness, we gave it time to carbonate for a couple of hours before having our first taste. After having to wait 3 weeks for it to carbonate in bottles last time we brewed it, was happy to be drinking it so soon, and being very impressed with it from the tap. We are still having a few problems with the pour on most beers, but the Guinness poured very well, which we were extremely happy to see. The malt body definitely needs to mature a bit more, but the beer is there, and as good as it was in our first attempt, so looking forward to a few more sessions on it over at Stass's as this cold weather starts to dissipate. Still, was a lovely day for drinking in the sun yesterday, so to have the Bira Dut Pekmezi's dark fruity goodness to drink in with it was great.

In the afternoon I made my way to Fitzroy, and the Worker's Club, where within Stone & Wood were having the launch of this years Stone beer, which I recalled having enjoyed a couple of years back. While it still has that toffee element to it through the use of heated rocks reacting with the malt during the brewing process, I am not sure if the hops related well to this flavour and feel, and as James pointed out to me while I was there, perhaps minerals from the rocks themselves may have affected the flavour of the brew. It could also just be a case that my palate has developed over the past couple of years (possibly for the worse) and so found myself not enjoying it as much as I had before. Hmm, am I becoming a beer snob? Still, I did enjoy the toffee element that has been retained in this beer. Other factors I saw effecting my experience initially was that I was standing near a newly spray painted art piece that was being made at the event, and after having been drinking for 6 hours, noticed quite a bit of chlorine in the water I was using to cleanse my tastebuds for the beer.

While I was in the area, I took a walk to a new bottlo on Elgin Street called 'Booze'. Unfortunately it was closed, which while was disappointing for me, seemed to affect more a girl that came at the same time as me, who let it known quite vocally how much of a bastard she though those in charge of the business were for not being open when she wanted alcohol. While on this stroll, the need to eat was felt before I went back to the Stone & Wood Festival. Seeing I will be in Adelaide on Wednesday to sample the latest Moo Brew Vintage Imperial Stout at the Wheaty, I thought 'this Bogan should prepare for this 'un-bogan' beer, by having bogan food'. Remembering the Rochester Hotel does a bogan parma, I thought that appropriate. With a Fat Yak, I got into this egg topped parma, which while the meat was good and the use of bacon went well with the egg, the cheese was a bit plastic, the crumbing burnt a bit and the tomato not very rich (hmm, am I going to start criticising everything now?). Still, I may visit the Napier Hotel to have their bogan burger before I head to Adelaide to make sure I am fully prepared.

Getting back to the Workers for one more pot of the Stone beer, chatting to a couple of people, listening to more bands and checking out the art on display and being created on-premise, I started to feel the effects of having started drinking around 10am, so made my way home.

I look forward to writing up a report from my trip to Adelaide, the Wheaty, and continuing my work as the unofficial ambassador of Moo Brew...

Cheers,

Beefy

Southern Tier Tasting @ Chapel Street Cellars

2011-07-31T04:48:00.002+10:00

Hi All,

A while back I heard about an amazing beer from Southern Tier called Creme Brulee, but found out too late to try any. I then heard Chapel Street Cellars was having a tasting that included it so was onto it straight away to get a spot. On Wednesday I made my way down there for it, and after being warmly greeted by Joanne and Rob, I sat down and prepared myself for the 8 beers they would have on show.

The first beer was a cherry saison (8%) which was translucent caramel in colour and some slight cherry sweet smell over the top of the typical fruity nose you get on a saison. Joanne showed off her tasting skills by noting a vinegary yeast aroma which I related to a white wine. There was some slight sweet fruit on the front of the palate which ran into some light sourness on the sides which transforms into tartness on the back. Still, with all these flavours being slight, it did not linger too long. I knew though not to let it warm up too much, as the sourness and tartness became stronger in aroma and flavour, but was interested to see it kept a little sherbert sweetness. Rod (the bloke sitting across from me) was not so lucky, as he let his sit too long, and his tastebuds (and his face, but the way it contorted) were tortured by his last sip of it.

Next was was the Hoppe (8%) an American strong ale which had a slightly darker caramel colour to the cherry saison, but just as translucent. Some definite caramel malt smell and to me some slight dankish hop. The malt body coats the tongue well before fresh hops hit from the midpalate to clean it up by the back. Pretty well balanced, and the meld of malt and hop only improved as it warmed up. I also found it went well with the chicken pizza I was eating halfway through the tasting. Definitely my favourite from the first half of the tasting.

A Double IPA then came to step up from the hops in the previous beer with the Un*eartly at a decent 11% alcohol. It had a reddish hue to the caramel body, that came through in aroma and upfront in flavour. However, flavour dissipated on the midpalate before a sharp rise in the bitter hops and then the alcohol leaves a bit of a dry aftertaste. This beer did not change as it warmed up

Letting malt start to take over the tasting, the Iniquity Black IPA (9%) came up, which while black, still had quite a bit of translucency to it. A balance of bitter and sweet in a dark malt nose with a hint of liquorice. Like the Hoppe, there is good body through the malt with a slight spike of hops before it cleans up reasonably at the back. As it warms, the spike in hops is noticably reduced, which of course I enjoyed more.

From here on we were going into Imperial Stout territory (Woohoo!), so while we ate pizza to help us get through it, we were also able to taste a couple of the beers they had on tap. First was the Mikkeller 1000 IBU, which has a very short sweet front before citrus hops hit and rise long and sharply to then die off slightly at the end. But it isn't done yet, as 5 seconds after swallowing the hops come back to hit hard in aftertaste and linger for quite a while. All I can say is that I am happy we were eating pizza at this stage. Of course, the Harviestoun Bitter and Twisted tasted like water after the Mikkeller, but seemed more even in profile.

Our first step into the Imperial Stouts was the Javah (10.6%), which surprisingly had very little coffee as far as I could tell. Maybe if I didn't know it was a coffee beer I may not have noted the very slight coffee aroma that was all I could get of that aspect in the beer. Where it was bold was in the classic malt smell that also had alcohol mixed in with it, just so you know what you are in for when you get your tongue near it. There was a pinching sweetness on the very tip of the tongue before the hops even out and then the alcohol kicks in, which helps clean up the flavour, but left me phleming a little bit at the back. As it warms the sweetness holds on longer and the alcohol hits from the midpalate, both removing any trace of hops in the beer.

Coming from that it was natural to move onto the Mokah (10.9%) which was dark viscous with a hint of brown in the head. Some lovely chocolate and vanilla smell that was quite sweet and reminded Rod and I of Cottees Chocolate Ice Cream Topping. Unfortunately this did not come across in the flavour, leaving me very disappointed with the front palate flavours before the typical hop and alcohol hitting after. These later aspects in themselves spiked quite a bit on the tongue creating further disappointment, but luckily as it warmed both these aspects died off a bit, and more of the smell came through in the flavour. Well worth letting it sit for 20 mins before drinking.

As we neared the end, the Oat (11%) appeared showing little carbonation and smelling pretty subdued to go with it, apart from hints of liquorice. Dangerously easy drinking Imperial Stout with texture and classic style flavour holding over the whole palate very well and allowing it to slide down your throat. Even with that much alcohol, it hardly cuts through the texture of the beer, even as it warms up.

Finally, the beer that brought me here, the Creme Brulee (9.2%) appeared in front of me, and was almost surprised by it as I had really let myself get into the tasting and had nearly forgotten about it...nearly. Still, from now on I will remember it as the beer that smelt like Cottee's Caramel Ice Cream Topping, a combination of luscious burnt sweet caramel with a touch of vanilla, and luckily this time in transfers well into flavour. It is lighter in mouthfeel so it feels like you are drinking a cloud, and this beer may as well come from the heavens, as even with this lightness, it still coats your tongue lovingly with only the slightest sting of bitterness to bring you back to earth and cleanse the tongue. Absolutely amazing, and one of the most impressive and enjoyable beers I have ever had. Even better, as it warmed up, this profile held on, with only the alcohol coming through a little more.

Needing time to settle down after that last beer, I sat around talking more to the group I had been tasting with, and also Rob and Joanne. The store itself is very interesting having a good selection of beer even with limited space seeing they also have wine and spirits available. They even also have around 5 taps of beer to try, and Rob was nice enough to give me a taste of the latest Red Duck IPA, which I found to be of similar profile to the Bengal, but more towards the hop in flavour, probably making it a better balanced IPA, but of course not as enjoyable for me personally.

Cheers to Chapel Street Cellars and all those that came and appreciated the beer journey with me.

Beefy

PS: Also had a tasting of Durham Brewery at Purvis on Friday. The Triple came out on top as the best beer for me in the range, as the IPA, Barelywine and Imperial Stout all seemed a little dull overall. Also had a try of the Brooklyn Brewery Local 1 Belgian Golden Ale. Wow, a very good example of the style with slight spice, zesty orange and non-spiky yeast character. Overall a very nice even beer for the style. I look forward to drinking the bottle of this I have at home.

PPS: Stass and I will be kegging our latest brews today. One is a Guinness that we tried a couple of years back, and now we have the keg, want to see if we can get it any better than that. The other one is a very special brew I have been contemplating for most of my homebrewing life...but more on that later.

PPPS: Have just found out The Wheaty in Adelaide will have kegs of the Moo Brew Vintage Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout on Wednesday. Yes, like the Rogue's Chocolate Stout I went over there at easter for to have on tap, I will be doing the same for this.

PPPPS: Basically anything is a post script after that Creme Brulee!

The Best Guinness in Melbourne is at...

2011-07-23T07:57:00.002+10:00

...the Drunken Poet, especially while also enjoying a Tim Cannon gig. Good Guinness (and only $8 a pint!!!), good people, good vibes.

65 Peel Street, West Melbourne (across the road from Vic Markets), in case you are wondering where it is.

Prickly Moses Tasting @ Young and Jackson

2011-07-20T06:29:00.002+10:00

I only found out yesterday this tasting was on, but managed to get myself and Joel in their for a tasting. While Joel had a parma, I saw that they had the Hunter Chocolate Porter on tap, which I tried nearly exactly a year ago in the bottle. Again I wasn't highly impressed by it, but there was some decent sweetness, and maybe they have tweeked the recipe a bit. The texture still isn't there as much as I would expect from this style of beer, but again, inoffensive, and is tasting better than the alkaline that came out of the bottle version. Therfore, it could have been simply a carbonation problem previously.

Getting to the tasting, I saw the chocolate beer they were suppose to be showing was not on tap yet, so after having ordered a Session Ale and a Blueberry Hefewiezen, I then also added a Stout after hearing from one the brewers the chocolate beer would only be put on tap once the stout was finished. The Session Ale wasn't easily drunk, especially with a hop characteristic which didn't seem to blend well with the malt, and left me with an aftertaste that didn't sit with me very well. The up front taste profile was a bit disjointed too, so found it hard to pinpoint this beer. The Blueberry was much simpler and therefore I found it easier to enjoy with sweet fruit aroma which translated into flavour. The usual banana yeast character of this style of beer wasn't present, but the wheat body carried it well enough to make it a nice, refreshing beer, even as the sweetness did increase as it warmed, and even seemed to separate from the fruit a bit. The Stout again was pretty simple with a good roasted malt flavour but managed to steer clear of bitterness or dryness that sometimes comes with this. Like the Red Hill Imperial Stout I spoke with fellow blogger James about at this event, this stout is an easy drinking beer for the style.

Finally, the Grounded Pleasures Chocolate Ale was available, so grabbed a glass and got tasting. While cold I was a little uncertain as was getting both sweetness and an alkaline aroma from it. Joel was getting an iced coffee smell from it himself, so both of us were a little confused. On taste, there was some choc sweetness when went into an orange and/or light malt sweetness before a strange aftertaste came over at the end and seemed to linger for quite a while. The beer has a cloudy translucent browny body and quickly diminishing head. To not make a chocolate stout or porter is an interesting approach by the brewer, and have to say this intrigued me greatly to go and try this beer yesterday. The aspect that the sales of this beer will go towards Uganda (where the chocolate is sourced from) is also an interesting slant. I would recommend everyone try this beer out for themselves, especially those that have tried chocolate in beer before. With such a different approach, I can understand why I may not have enjoyed it that much (my experience with chocolate beers maybe being a disadvantage to me). probably the closest chocolate beer I can relate this beer to is the Magnus Czekoladowy, with a lot of upfront sweetness but not much body to it.

Well, I am still waiting patiently for my Moo Brew Vintage Imperial Stout to arrive, and realising my brother get back on the 6th August, we will be getting together to try this while watching the first Bledisloe rugby union test. Still, I am sure I will be back on here before then with a few more adventures in beer to share.

Cheers,

Beef

Finally, Red Hill Imperial Stout on Tap!!!!!

2011-07-18T13:30:00.004+10:00

Ok, it has been a couple of years now since I have been waiting to have this beer on tap. Everyone I talk to has talked up this beer, and for the past couple of winters, I have always been away when it has been on tap anywhere, and gone by the time I get back. This says enough in itself, so have been pretty eager this year to make sure I didn't miss out. I thought I might have missed the boat again when I went up to Newcastle for my Grandpa's 90th, and had heard from Red Hill they had sent out the kegs that weekend, but luckily a couple of places I went to recently had it on tap.

I think this photo en-capsulates my relief at finally being able to try this beer on a visit to The Local Taphouse. Thanks to my mate Cam for taking the photo for me in this state, and sharing my first taste of this beer on tap. As you can see there is a generous creamy brown head over the motor oil black body. Was picking up a trace of chocolate and liquorice on the nose while it was cold, with a slight hint of hops to create some depth in aroma. Once it warms though the alcohol really stands up over it. In the mouth there is that dark sweet malt hit before a somewhat dulled liquorice comes through that sits a little heavy before the alcohol comes through the clean up the palate. The mouthfeel was creamy but not as much as I expected, which left me a little dissapointed, and after tasting a fair few Russian Imperial Stouts, found it to be fairly easy drinking for the style. Again, as it warmed up, the alcohol became a lot more noticeable in flavour and sensation, but didn't quite reach that level where the warmth rises from your stomach, into your lungs and a contented sigh as the alcohol rises out through your mouth and also up into your brain.

I then took the opportunity to try it again at the Royston on Friday night, and have to say, it displayed better than when I had it earlier. There was definitely more creaminess, and having let it warm up this time around, the dulled liquorice on the midpalate was diminished as the alcohol came through earlier. Having tasted a few other beers before getting to this one, the alcohol did hit me a bit harder. Overall, I would say an easy drinking version of the style which is great for the general aussie public that may not have experienced this style of beer before. Probably an even more delicately flavoured version would be the Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, with chocolate and vanilla aspects coming into it. Unfortunately I personally like a bit more depth in this style, so would rather a Moo Brew Vintage Imperial Stout on tap over this, with bigger malt characteristics and that contented alcohol sigh I spoke of before. Also, as I found recently in a taste off, the Clout Stout from Western Australia also bodes well for an aussie version of this style of beer.

Ok, now to some other beers I have been 'puttin down me gullet'. While I was at The Local, I tried a few other beers on the tasting paddle. Was interested to see that they had a lambic beeron tap, so made sure to get that while continuing my education on IPA's. I was initially told to have the lambic last, but seeing the tradition is to have this beer before or over food, I had it first. Ok, Lindemans maybe isn't the most traditional lambic brewers in Belgium, but to be confronted with a kriek with almost no sourness at all, and a very sugary sweetness that had me thinking I was drinking liquified cherry sherbert, I was a little disappointed. The red of the beers was so bright it looked like an alcopop you would see chicks drinking, unfortunately though with an alcohol content of only 4% and a price of $13 for 310ml, I doubt that would work for many of them. While I do enjoy the Faro Lindemans produce, and yet to try the better versions of their lambics (ie, cuvee range), I was well and truely ready for my meal by the time I finished this beer.

While I tucked into the 3 beer burger, I tried my luck on the IPA's. The Murray's Icon Double IPA has a good blend of malt and hops, and again, found this to be just another example of this brewery not putting a foot wrong with the beers they display. The Red Hill Black IPA showed me more of the muddled liquorice flavours that took away my enjoyment of the Imperial Stout, but the big winner was the Doctors Orders Pulse Belgian Oatmeal IPA. Ok, so we all know by now my 'wuss' status with hops, and while the oatmeal did help to soften the flavours in this beer, I was delighted to see a great delicate balance of hops and malt, along with a sense of banana from the Belgian yeast here. An intriguing combination of ingredients has brought about a beer I would happily recommend anyone just getting into IPAs to try, or people like myself that appreciate a subtler style of IPA. Ok, the banana could be a bit strange for a first timer, but this was limited while drinking it cold. Still, I reckon Cam also found this one enjoyable, and I hope he doesn't mind me saying he is probably slightly limited in his exposure to beer...well at least compared to me. So to find a beer we both enjoyed equally was a good find. I hear this beer will be going into growlers at Slowbeer soon, so will have to go and get me some of that when it is tapped.

I have also picked up a bottle each of the two Brooklyn Brewery beers that have made it to our shores (Lager and Local 1). Sharing a lager with Damian at Purvis, there is a nice light honeyed malt sensation on the front of the tongue before what seemed like a dulled hop flavour came over it that hung around a bit in aftertaste along with some dryness. I found some similarities between this and the last lager of this type I had (Thunder Road Fullsteam Lager) with some nice malt up front and the dry finish (though not as dry as the Thunder Road), but their was a bit more in the body and mouthfeel of the Brooklyn (expected seeing the Thunder Road is more of a pilsner in my opinion). Not sure if this dulled hop finish is intended (I doubt it) in the Brooklyn, but have another bottle of it to try and find out later on.

I also tried a Cuvee Des Trolls while I was there. Not sure if it was over carbonation mixed with some citrus zest/spice, but after a spritz of this the light malt body evens out on the midpalate and then easily cleansed with alcohol on the back. Easy drinking apart from the 7% alcohol which may hit the unsuspected drinker.

While I was at the Royston on Friday, while I was waiting for my Red Hill Imperial Stout to warm up, I tried the latest batches of Bridge Road Bling IPA, and the 2 Brothers Voodoo Baltic Porter. The Bling had a bit more hop zing (or 'tang' as someone I spoke to about it at the bar said) than I remember having last time I tried it, which was a little overpowering for someone like me, but still has a nice freshness to it, even if the malt doesn't quite carry (or dull as it may be in my case) it through. The Voodoo though was tasting good, maybe not quite the weather to enjoy a dark lager in, but still with enough roasted character in the malt, but with a light body so any newcomers to dark beers could appreciate without the fabled weight in the stomach that turns off many a straight pale lager drinking from turning to the dark side of beer.

Alright, I have said enough. Happy drinking to you all, especially to Rowan, whose birthday it was yesterday. I hope you enjoy brewing the Russian Imperial Stout as much as you liked drinking ours.

Cheers,

Beef

Moo Brew Excitement!!!...and other stuff

2011-07-13T16:17:00.006+10:00

WooooooHooooo! Just received my first bottle of Moo Brew's Barrel Aged Vintage Imperial Stout. Big thanks to Jon and the rest of the Moo Brewers for sending this up for me. They even made note of my blogging by putting it on the parcel they sent up to me...I look forward to getting the rest of my allocation soon, and hopefully drinking it once my brother is back from overseas (as Blackboard would say on Mr Squiggle...Hurry Up!).

I also need to thank Damian from Purvis for setting aside a bottle of another imperial stout, this time the 8 Wired Batch 18, which looks pretty interesting. Both these beers, along with the left overs from my first Imperial Stout tasting for the Winter will go together well to make up the next one, which I hope to happen soon now my arsenal is large enough, and my limits of storing beer has been reached. I also need to get a taste of the Red Hill Imperial Stout on tap, so if someone knows where it is on, please let me know (I have never had it on tap before!!!!!!). Still, while I was a Purvis, the shipment of Brooklyn Brewery beers (no, not the Black Chocolate Stout, but the Lager and Local 1) came in, so look out for a tasting of those coming up.

While speaking of tasting, I should mention that I was on Little Creatures Pale over the weekend, while attending my Grandpa's 90th (official 'Happy Birthday' for yesterday!!!). I did not have time to bring some beer to the event, but luckily I had a beer angel in Pete to bring the Pale's along to give me some flavour of the beer type. It went down well, probably too well...

On the homebrew side of things, Stass, Brad and I had a taste of our attempt at a mulberry fruit beer, which came in a molasses form that Brad had found while living in Turkey. I have to say, there is some nice fruit tartness in it towards the back, and while our hop selection may not be bang on (even though it tasted alright at the wort stage), it has at least evened out the sweetness from the fruit that may have been a bit overpowering up front. I hope though that sourness does not come on too early, so it has enough time to carbonate and for us to drink before it goes bad. Come on hops, do your thing! I also need to hear from Team Harrod about our IPA taste off. We will need it soon before the hops start to die off, so bring it on!

We have some interesting thoughts starting to come in terms of brews to come, and now we have the second fermenter, we can keep on doing a bit of an experiment each time we do some brewing, which I am looking forward to.

On Monday I also had a visit to Josie Bones with my mate Cam. With the weather as it is, I recommended the Beard and Brau Black Milk Snout which went down so well for me the week before. The same creamy chocolate smell leaning towards a Baileys was still there, but in flavour coffee was coming out a lot more than I recall, and had thinned out in texture a bit. I went for the Brew Dog Citra IPA, which had a lovely sweet orange smell to it, and a nice amber malt backbone to display the citrus hop over. Was pretty fresh seeing they had only tapped the keg the day before, so enjoyed it quite a bit (well, as much as I can personally enjoy an IPA). Then showed Cam my namesake in the style of a burger (Bogan Burger) over a Holgate Temptress. Argh, it took me forever to get the cold out of it so there was not the chalky/alkaline-ness that so ruins this beer, still, managed to get there by the end, and with that massive burger to consume, we had time...

Cheers,

Beef

Bourgogne des Flandres Bruin, Belgium (5%)

2011-07-05T16:45:00.002+10:00

Finally, after a week I have a chance to try out this beer...

I actually found this beer at Cool Wines in Hobart, and seeing the weather has cooled again today, a dark beer aged in oak barrels feels right.

On the pour I initially had some syrupy red wine, then some chocolate, before it seems with an alkaline smell that reminded me quite a bit of dark beers I tasted from Belgium. There wasn't much head to come from it, and some slight winey/dark malt sweetness is coming back into the aroma as it gets exposed to the air.

One first taste there is quite a bit of flavour, but is evened out better than other dark beers I have had from Europe. I assume it is the oak aging that has brought about this mellowness. It is funny though, the sweetness in flavour seems to increase as it passes over the palate, but the alkaline in the aroma seems to help cleanse the sweetness on the back, along with the fact that the sweetness does have a thin, refined and artificial sense to it that helps remove it easily from the taste profile. It is also interesting to have this sweet and then alkaline flavour on the front of the tongue, before the even out on midpalate and slides down with very slight alkaline aftertaste, but does not leave the tongue too dry. As I said, the oak aspect does allow for a general mellowness making it much easier to drink that some other dark beers of this style, and better melding of the flavours, so there is no big spike or overbearing aspect. I would expect there may be more spikiness if I had cooled this beer before tasting, and the sweetness does take on a caramel slant as it warms/oxidises further. I would assume it was about 8-10 degrees when I tasted it. The oak would also seem to add some body to the beer, and while it still has that familiar thinness in texture, it still manages to coat the tongue substantially to allow the taster to appreciate the flavours and their profile. I am actually fairly impressed with this beer, maybe just as I have tried a few of its type and been mostly disappointed with the aspects I thought I might find in it. Maybe I just don't appreciate the raw flavours that normally come from a Belgium Brune, and so why I was attracted to the oak ageing, and which for me, have helped me enjoy this style better. Anyway, happy to have found and tried this beer to get a better understanding of it.

In other news, I took around some gluten free beer for my cousin's birthday yesterday, and it seemed ok, and has a definite European slant that I found interesting and not offensive (not bad for some of the GF beers I have tried). The Estrella Daura has a fairly refined sugary front before it waters and evens out in flavour on the midpalate before a dry and astringent end comes through at the end.

As my cousin is about to marry a bloke with Finnish ancestry, and I have been asked to MC the gig, I have neem doing some research and found that there is actually a style of beer from Finland that is traditionally drunk at weddings. It is called Sahti and has notes of juniper and honey. Thanks to Craig and Paul at Purvis, I managed to get their last bottle of a Nogne O Sahti to give to them last night, in the hope they can contact some of his family to get some real Sahti from over there. Anyway, if anyone here can give me a hand in understanding or sourcing more of the Nogne O Sahti or even 'real' Sahti, that would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Beef

A Traveling Russian (Imperial Stout), and other Beer Adentures

2011-07-04T12:34:00.004+10:00

Sorry it has been a week since I was able to post anything.

On Wednesday I caught up with Stass and drank a few Black IPA's to prepare us for our own we are brewing in competition with Team Harrod. I had a bottle from another mate that attempted his first black IPA as well, and seemed the malt character overpowered the hops in terms of flavour, but there is still some bitterness that can be kept to start working on Tim's next attempt. Good luck mate!

I also had a bottle tucked away of Mountain Goat's Thorny Black IPA, which I find has a great balance of hop aroma flavour and bitterness, with the malt carrying it well in all facets. One of my favourite Black IPA's I have found thus far. I think much of it comes down to the use of Marlborough hops from NZ.

I was also quite impressed with the Otway Black Panther IPA, which has a strong malt body to create quite a bit of texture to it, and the dark malt works well in flavour with the citrus hops, something I hope to bring out in our own attempt. However, I did find the bitterness at the end was a bit overpowering, but then I have limited enjoyment from this aspect of beer, so I can see why many people would love this beer.

After sitting in the sun with Stass to try out these beers, I met up with my brother in the afternoon for a visit to Josie Bones. Having gotten into the Korbinian recently, seeing another German bock on their taplist was something I just had to have a try of. The Weltenburger Kloster Asam Bock has very similar caramel malt character that I appreciate so much, but doesn't have have the residual sugar that I enjoy in the Korbinian. So as Mick enjoyed this I went for the Beard and Brau Milk Stout. I have tried this before, but out of a bottle and have to say I wasn't that impressed. However, out of the tap (with sparkler attachment) the creaminess of this beer really came through in flavour and texture, and combined with some choc malt and alcohol taste, I have to say I was tasting the beer equivalent to a Baileys, which had me very excited. Finally, my two favourite worlds of alcoholic beverage came together. Okay, I would probably prefer a Baileys over it, but was interesting to see that the flavours and texture of it could even be approached in a beer. I guess for me there was quite a bit of liquorice which took away from the Baileys flavour I could get.

After that I could only go downhill from there, but had a De Ranke Bitter, where the bitterness ended up just finally making my tastebuds give up, and after all the other bitters beers I had through the day, it was understandable for someone of my limited capacity for bitterness. I can't even remember what Mick had now, but must not have been that impressive.

After that I needed to get back on my sugar to allow my taste buds to come back to life, so after a sweetly syrupy reisling we went to Ladro and I had the Nord pizza which has honey as a topping.

On Friday, after a failed attempt to get the Hitachino Nest Espresso stout in a Slowbeer growler, I went to the Royston for a parma and a taste of the Wee Jimmy Scotch Ale from True South before heading to Purvis for the free Friday tasting. I found the Rogues Santa's Private Reserve and Anderson Valley's Brother David Triple to be quite nice. The Rogue did not quite have the dark fruit flavour I would expect from a Chrissy beer, but found the malt character to be to my liking, as with the Triple. I also had another taste of the Korbinian and a Renaissance Porter which I found a bit too dry for my liking. The Anderson Valley Brother David Double I found had a decent Dubbel profile, but the alcohol was a bit too high in it.

Saturday then I headed out with Stass to Grain and Grape, to get a second fermenter and get some supplies for our next brew. With Brad now back in the brewing team, he came in with the idea to using a molasses spread that he enjoyed while in his time living in Turkey, so we thought we would try making a beer with it. Not having tasted it, we still thought we should get some hops to balance out the expected sweetness of a fruit molasses, and seeing Stass has a Hallertau hop plant growing in his backyard, we should try it out and see what we can expect from that hop. I have to say that the combination of mulberry molasses and the Hallertau was quite well balanced after the boil, so we have some interesting thoughts on how it may come out.

I then made my way back to Slowbeer to finally get a growler of the Espresso Stout, and while there, gave Chris a taste of our hombrew Russian Imperial Stout. Was happy to find he seemed fairly impressed with it, so then went down the road to Purvis to give Damien a taste, who also seemed equally interested in it. I then met up with my mate Rick and shared some of it with him and a few of the gang at his farewell to Europe for 5 months with his girlfriend. They picked up on the port aspects in it which was good to see, before I then kept the bottle going at my brother's for dinner, giving him, his girlfriend and her brother a sister a taste of it too. Then on my way home I saw Tim was at Joel's place so gave him the last of the bottle to try out. He seemed to be the least interested in it, but then he had been drinking for a while before getting to it, and probably isn't his style anyway. So was able to share one bottle of our Russian Imperial Stout with about 10 people, and all in about 7-8 hours.

Yesterday then was my friend Mel's birthday celebrations, so hit Prudence in North Melbourne. The coffee and chocolate cake Stass made went well with the Coopers Extra Stout, and only a little worse with the growler of Hitachino Espresso Stout that I had brought along as my contribution to the event.

So I am looking forward to seeing how our homebrews start coming along, Stass and I have also been discussing taking this blog and getting into a proper website with it. I have finally just received the latest Beer and Brewer mag after yet another stuff around with my subscription, and thinking of going to the upcoming Josie Bones dinner focusing on British fare. If anyone has any advice or thoughts after reading this blog of how we could improve things taking it to a website, please leave a comment to let us know your thoughts. We would be very interested to get some feedback on what people like and don't like about this initial manifestation of beer media.

Cheers,

Beef

PS: Happy Birthday to my cousin Anna, who is only able to drink gluten free beer (poor didums). Hopefully one day I have brew a decent gluten free beer for you.

A Day of Smelling the Roses...well Hops

2011-06-28T19:29:00.003+10:00

After my day of 'crawling' around Fitzroy during Good Beer Week, I decided to use this morning doing a walk around the suburb to find any other hidden pubs in the area. I saw a few pubs on Wellington (The Vine, The Gem, The Fox) and walking past what use to be Lambs Go Bar (had to make sure it had actually gone), I tried peeking through the window at Josie Bones to see what was on the taps menu there, and see what I can try when I go there tomorrow with my brother. I then made my way out to Purvis Cellars in Surrey Hills as had been a while since I had been out there seeing I had Purvis Beer near me. I was lucky to find a bottle of Les Trois Mousquetaires Porter Baltique (probably my favourite beer from the 100-odd beers I had during Good Beer Week). With Winter well and truely established, and after enjoying the rauchbier I had during the Slowbeer tasting during Good Beer Week, I saw Stone's Smoked Porter as an interesting investment.

I then made my way down to The Local to have my first look and the bottleshop and provisions store they just opened up down there. Was happy to see some beers I don't see anywhere else, that they had beers sorted by style rather that region/country/brewery, and with books, merch and cured meat and cheese that give a nice touch to the beer shopping experience. I also had my first look at the growler filling stations they will start using soon.

All of this made me pretty thirst for a beer, so went next door to try out the latest selection of beer the Taphouse has on offer. While making my choice for a paddle, I had a 4 Pines Kolsh which was nicely refreshing with the malt giving it a good amount of body to the beer. I also had a taste of Murray's Vesuvius, just to be proven once again that I have yet to find a bad beer from these guys. There is good aroma, flavour and bitterness from the hops, which the malt carries through quite well, and the bitterness is not too harsh on the back so it cleanses ok too.

While I haven't been impressed with any of McLaren Vale's beers, I decided to have a go at their Schwartzbier, only to be disappointed by a bland tasting beer with minimal dark malt flavour which seemed to only give a slight dustiness on the back palate. I am starting to lose patience with Vale beers...

I also had a crack at the Otway Raconteur IPA, which while has a nice caramel aroma, does not come through in flavour, but provides just enough body to carry the hops. You can tell the hops have been added quite generously, as it dominates all aspects of the beer. There is a bitter aroma that bring a piney hops flavour and bitterness that lingers in aftertaste, but happily does not become overbearing.

I decided to give the Abbey Collabey another taste, after it had been a while since I tried it at Mountain Goat Brewery during Good Beer Week. Initially there is a chocolate/liquorice smell with maybe some yeastiness, which turns more sweet caramel/maple syrup as it warms. There is a yeasty flavour which reminded me of the waffle aspect, which bring more alcohol as it warms. On the back though it seems like it going slightly sour but at least still cleanses ok, and overall seems to be getting a little more watery than I remember.

I ended this tasting comparing the Malt Shovel Noir Stout with the tried and true Moo Brew Imperial Stout. While the Noir does have good texture, the liquorice does seem to outbalance anything else in the beer. Comparatively, the Moo Brew was stronger in malt, alcohol and body overall with a sort of creamy smell. However, I can see it can be improved with mellowness which only makes me look forward more to the vintage version coming out soon.

Having had my fix, I went back to the bottleshop to get a La Chouffe Bok (never seen one of those before), try out a bickie beer and get one of the new Red Hill Imperial Stouts, along with a book on beer tasting (hopefully it means my comments here will become more accurate, and not just more).

On my way home I stopped off at Purvis Beer, where Damien and I shared a Red Hill Imperial Stout, which is pretty good once warmed, so am looking forward to tasting the one I brought home with me to taste against the ones I have been aging.

Hmm, was going to taste one more beer for this long relaxing beer day, but don't want to overdo it and want to make sure the tastebuds are clean for this Belgium beer that I am really intrigued to try. Anyway, that can wait til the next post...or the next...

Cheers,

Beef

PS: Stass and I keg/bottle our first IPA tomorrow, and I have a few ideas of brews to do after this thoughful day.

Brew Dog Rip Tide Stout, Scotland (8%)

2011-06-23T14:45:00.002+10:00

Talking of stouts in the previous posts, I found I had a bottle of this in my stash and having never tried it, decided now was good. After an irish stew for lunch on this cold day, this looked like a good choice.

The rich dark malt aroma is pretty intense with the alcohol, and has me thinking of the Tokyo these guys also do. To be honest, the taste does the same, so for me is just a lighter version of the Tokyo. Seeing the alcohol is dimished, the malt stand out much more, which is great up front. On the back the malt comes back through again, to leave a grainy roasted dryness, but much slighter then yesterday's Viven Porter. The alcohol just doesn't linger as much as the Tokyo, which is understandable, with the Tokyo at 18%. Though, there is enough alcohol to thin and cleanse the beer from the tongue.

The big bold sweet malt on the front palate really agrees with me, much like the malt characteristic of most Brew Dog dark beers do for me. It is almost a bit too cloying on the front, but for me I really like that. The alcohol does come in pretty early, much like the Tokyo, but certainly does not warm as much. I'm not really feeling the alcohol that much, even though it has nearly twice as much as a usual beer would have. Simple but bold, of course it is going to by my type of beer. I would prefer a better back and aftertaste, but for the upfront flavours, I don't mind it if is a bit bland on the back, as it just makes me want to have another taste, even thought it is satisfying enough to sip away on.

Cheers,

Beef

Just Watched 'Beer Wars'...

2011-06-23T12:32:00.004+10:00

I just had a look at the Beer Wars movie/documentary, and have to say I was happy to be able to get that sort of understanding of the brewing scene in the States. It was interesting to see this week that Fosters knocked back a bid by one of the 'big guys' and funny to see the two ends of the scale happening here in Australia. Ok, so we are not at the stage of the Americans, but there is a definite growth in craft brewing over the past 5-10 years here in Oz, so is interesting to see while there are more smaller players coming on the scene, the international big brewers are trying buy out our domestic big brewers.

It is pretty easy to look at the big guys and just see greed, especially against the opposite end of small breweries trying to focus on flavour and making good beer while trying to keep their breweries afloat in the marketplace. Being a simple bloke, I am probably only more receptive to see this greed in the big/international players. Still, being this simple bloke, I end up coming back to one thing...the beer. If the big guys came out with a decent beer, I would probably drink it...I mean I still look at Tooheys Old with nostalgia, as the first beer I can remember enjoying to some degree. Still, now I would prefer a Brew Dog Zeitgeist over it (in the style of Black Lager), as I have used the Old as a start, not an end to finding my flavour, and interesting flavours in beer.

One of the great comparisons I loved in the movie was that you wouldn't base your understanding of beer on mainstream beers, just as you wouldn't base an understanding of food on the fast food giants. Accessibility should be only one aspect, not 'the' aspect that draws us to something. Maybe it is just our lifestyles that have made this factor prevalent in our decision making process, whereas I have given more time (and so thought and energy) to question, find and even attempt to make beer I will enjoy more.

I guess without the distribution issues here is Australia as they have in the States, we don't have to look so much locally to find 'our' type of beer. Still, putting on my environmentally conscious hat on, there would be less need for transportation and bottling if we drank more locally brewed beers. However, without some outside influence we may stop looking to do better with beer, and the mainstream might gain back some momentum. With the information age, it is much easier to share recipes now, and I guess it may be less of an impact to transport ingredients than ready to drink beer. In their search for efficiency, the big international brewers have used this technique by licensing contract brewers to make a certain beer in each country, or sending beer extract so that water can be added. Still, I see microbrewers that search the world for their ingredients, so they can make similar styled beers here in Australia. As I have said previously, it only takes small changes in the ingredients to bring about massive change in the character of beer, and the differing environments around the world bring these differences naturally.

I guess what I am getting at that was one of the main things I saw in the movie was instead of the competition that builds in beer industry, industry in itself and where we are as a society, collaboration is a more natural attribute, which we will need anyway to help diminish the impact mainstream beer has. Sorry, I have changed from Capra's 'Web of Life' to Rachel Carson's 'Silent Spring' in the reading I am doing, so the environmental slant is continuing in my musings. Still, I am happy to say that collaborations seem to be a big thing at the moment, in terms of brewers from different breweries across the road or across the world getting together to learn more and make better beer with each other. This is the sort of inclusiveness that will help build a ground swell of interest in craft beer, I hope.

Anyway, another issue I found from watching the movie, was just that sheer amount of different beer in the States. Once you opened yourself to the world of craft brewing over there, you would see an overwhelming amount of choice available, and would almost want to turn back to your Bud, Coors or Miller, just so you wouldn't have an overbearing decision of what to drink put in front of you. Per capita we are probably getting to a similar situation in Australia, having a tenth of the population, and maybe about the same fraction in the amount of breweries in comparison, but the creativity needed having that many breweries in the States is enormous. Luckily for me though, I am a stout man, so the awash of lagers and pale ales our aussie industry has means I have a better chance of trying out my style of beer from the different breweries here. Still, even with that I have a lot of trouble keeping up, and so there are probably many stouts just in Australia I am still yet to try, which in a way helps keep me going in that unending search for better/more interesting beer.

In the end, like I already said, I will always come back to one thing...beer. I have found, and continue to find, my own taste in beer, and so would ask that everyone else try and find your own. When I talk to someone new to beer, I try to ask the questions they should ask themselves to help them find a beer they will enjoy, as I am pretty sure it can be found, and if they are having trouble, they could even consider brewing themselves to find it. Versatile and accessible...the potential in beer. Ok, I'll stop now.

Cheers,

Beef

Viven Porter, Belgium (7%)

2011-06-22T13:00:00.002+10:00

So it is the time of dark beers with winter hitting hard, and after finding a couple of good stouts while on my journey of Belgium (Hercule Stout, etc), I decided to give this belgian porter a go when I stumbled across it in Slowbeer.

Being just a few km's N/E of Brugge, Brouwerij van Viven in Damme is pretty close to the Netherlands, and being in the northern half of Belgium, will have flemish influence, as explained on the bottle.

It is quite dark as expected with a brown head that diminishing fairly quickly. Has a bit of a dark malt and slight alcohol nose, but then also has what seems to be quite a bit of smoke with it, which is quite surprising, but seems to blend ok. This seems to relate well into the flavour, with the smoke being significant, but then the alcohol blends and cuts through it a bit from the midpalate, before being left with a dark grainy malt aftertaste which is also a surprise to get. It is like the aftertaste I get from just eating straight dark malt (as I have done on a number of brewery tours), and has a dryness to it with linger for a long time, but leave the tongue fairly clean after the dark malt and smokey aspects. Am wondering if the bottle fermentation means a fair bit of malt grain also also left in the bottle to influence the flavour. There is also quite a bit of carbonation up front in the first mouthful, but this diminishes after a few mouthfuls, and seems to the take the smokiness with it.

I am finding either my palate is getting use to the smokiness, or the warmth/air is diminishing it from the flavour, but the graininess is getting bigger towards the back and in aftertaste. Of course, the warmth is also helping bring out the upfront malt sweetness too. It really settles down with warmth to become more of a standard porter but that graininess remains.

Well, I do not enjoy it as much as some of the dark beers I had in Belgium, but that graininess does remind me of a few of the European beers I had, so I guess it is somewhat true to the style over there. The smokiness is a bit different, but may be just be from using very roasted malt. Well, that is as much sense as I can make. At least it is more appropriate than the Thunder Road Pale Lager from last week.

I guess I should also use this to let Team Harrod know Team Bassteef have put their IPA on for our next contest, which we are quite interested to try. We also tried our latest dark ale that has come out pretty dusty (and we are having an issue with the keg seal), and retried our honey wheat to find it turning sour. So it means it must be drunk pretty quick now before it gets worse.

Cheers,

Beef

Situational Drinking 1: After a Hard Day's Work

2011-06-19T06:54:00.003+10:00

I just had two different types of hard days work over the past two days, and the beers I had at the end of it were like bloody heaven.

On Friday I did a day at Mountain Goat doing the bottling run. The labeling machine wasn't working when we started, so we ended up double handling all the bottles once the labeling machine was fixed after we had bottled it all. Anyway, made for a fairly long day with much of it repetitive. While it isn't overly difficult, doing the same motions over and over for 8 hours does wear you out. I guess the other thing is once you get into a rhythm, you can really start going a bit quicker at it (just so it can be over as soon as possible). Just as we were getting to the end of it, Dave sat down a glass of Steam Ale next to me, which only made we want to finish the work even sooner. Anyway, we finished, the beer started going down a dream but then had to just sit down and relax for ten minutes, to let my mind and body wind down from the repetition and pace. In this case, I think the beer really helped to just calm down on, and was something to focus on while going through that re-stablisation phase after it.

Yesterday then, I was helping my cousin move house. While I have done a fair bit of this sort of work, having 4 flights of tight stairs is always a killer. Luckily nothing was that heavy, but just the awkwardness of access can really tire you out in the way you have to move stuff. By the end of it, both Pete and I were pretty giddy from the strenuous effort we had just put in, add beer to that mix, and we were both pissed after only a couple of Little Creature Pales. Still, there was that desire when the bottle was in our hand to suck down that beer fast, again only making our states worse. Knowing this, I had to start having a break between each beer just so I wouldn't pass out on the couch I'd just helped bring up.

I guess it is funny for me to see beer can be used differently depending on what sort of day's work I have had. And with days like these it doesn't really matter what beer you have at the end of it. I am a little shamed to say it, but even a VB can go down great after a big day, so I guess bad beers even have their place in this world, not just to show us what good beer is.

Actually, speaking of bad beer, this reminds me of something I wanted to ask everyone. For my birthday last year I pulled together some of the most interesting and enjoyable beers I have had over my beer drinking life, and spent a day going through the range from Faro to Imperial Stout(s). However, while I remember discovering my enjoyment of these beers, I also recall some of the worst beers I have had. Once I had my appreciation of beer, the worst beer experience I have probably ever had was in San Francisco, for Australia Day a few years ago.

Seeing my brother and I had been walking around all day tasting beers, we hadn't come across one single aussie beer to celebrate the day with. By 10:30pm we walked past a bottlo near our hostel, and could only find a 500ml can of Fosters. Needless to say we bought it, and seeing after one sip by brother couldn't stomach it at all, it was left to me to do the deed. With some salted nuts after each gulp, I managed to finish it, but it scarred me. The photo taken of me with that beer says enough, so here it is.

So while this blog is here to help promote good beer, I guess we can only fully appreciate that when we have bad beer to compare it to. So, please comment and leave your story of the worst beer(s) you ever had, so I know I am not alone with the disgust I have had in beer and so I am not just laughing at myself through my own story.

Ok, so maybe there are some beers in this world that even a hard day's work wouldn't even make taste good...

Cheers,

Beef

PS: as well as holding onto some of the bottles of beer I have enjoyed, I also have this can of Fosters in my collection. Just as a reminder.

Thunder Road Pale Lager and Sierra Nervada Torpedo

2011-06-16T20:04:00.002+10:00

Free Beer!

Managed to get away from work early enough to get to Beer Delux by 5pm to try the new Thunder Road beer. Ok, it is a lager...a pale lager, so already I am not too interested. Also, it is winter, and not the best time to be trying out these beers. Still, I had 30 mins to waste, and can't say no to free beer, so gave it a go.

I have to say, it was better than I expected (ok, my expectations were not high), with a decent body, very crisp and refreshing, and even got a little hint of honey as it warmed up a little (maybe just wanting honey because of the weather, so misjudged the malt). Still, the first sip put me off a little, as it was almost too crisp, bringing with it a dryness that reminded me of a pilsner or even towards an Asahi.

Later on I happened to go past Purvis and see it still open, so headed in and as he was closing up, Damien and I had the Torpedo IPA. Had a similar nose to the Stone & Wood with the fruity aroma, but as it warmed up, the caramel malt came out much more, which of course I enjoyed more. This caramel came out more in flavour as it warmed as well, but diminished the hop of course. Therefore, I probably don't appreciate it for what it really is, but that is the relationship I have with hops. While it was cold, I was getting two hits of bitterness, one on mid-palate, then another in aftertaste. Still, the mid-palate bitterness settled a bit as it warmed. It is a hard bitterness, but does not seem to be overbearing, which is strange to find, and probably one the better things I found in this beer. The after taste bitterness really does linger, and shows most of the bitterness in the beer. So while there is aroma and bitterness from the hop, I didn't get a great deal of flavour, but that could just be from the aroma and bitterness being as big as they are.

Anyway, just got home, and have another day of work at Mountain Goat tomorrow, so better get a good night's rest, and so I can maybe do some knock off's after bottling, and a quick Brew Dog tasting (Yay! More free beer!)at Purvis on my way to the rugby for The Rebels final game of their inaugural season.

Cheers,

Beef

Another Local Taphouse Beer Journey

2011-06-14T16:26:00.003+10:00

Just to show I haven't lost my mind in the past couple of posts, I thought I would bring the tone down and just do a standard entry.

As I said, I hit The Local Taphouse in St Kilda as saw they had Moo Brew Imperial Stout and The Yeasty Boys Rex Attitude. When I arrived, I saw the Rex Attitude had gone (luckily I have a bottle of it in my stash at home), but managed to pull together a list of 5 (well 6 in the end). Unfortunately I have lost the list, but will try to use whatever mind I have left to piece it together.

1) Hofbrau Dunkel - Just as a reminder of the day 9 months ago when I drank 6 litres of this stuff at Octoberfest at the Hofbrua beerhall in Munich with my mate Jaimi. The first sip took me instantly back to that day, and was a little off putting seeing how that day ended for me. Still, that caramel sweetness with a little too much artificialness to it and the watery texture/body. At least you can put away 6 litres of it with that wateriness.

2) Paulaner Salvator Doppelbock - Having recently had the Korbinian, this beer just reminded me so much of it, but maybe just a little subdued in body and a little more artificial sweetness in the caramel. Initially this was given to me as the first beer to taste, but after tasting it, new it needed to be after the Dunkel, especially with 7.4% on the alcohol reading.

3 and 4) Yeasty Boys, Pot Kettle Black/Croucher Patriot - In trying to get an appreciation of Black IPA's, I gave these ones a go. I was a little confused as the noted description for one seemed to describe the other, unless they were accidently swapped or not noted down properly on the sheet. One had quite a hoppy bitter taste overall as you would expect for an IPA, whereas the other had a very distinctive coffee flavour at the back to bring a bitterness more from the malt that the hop. Though, without knowing which was which, I can't make a certain description. This was further confused by the fact that initially instead of giving me one of the black IPA's, I was given an Ace of Spades Stout (therefore, beer number 5). I wondered why I enjoyed this more that the Black IPA, but this error soon explained it for me.

6) Moo Brew Imperial Stout - A classic beer of mine, and was sort of good to have it with the Ace of Spades to compare. It definitely had much more body, flavour and alcohol over the Ace of Spade, but so it should as an Imperial Stout. It was on this beer the epiphany began on my previous post, that nature has a wisdom it is not even aware of, unlike humans that can be aware.

Unfortunately, that is all my brain can recall through the confusion of it all. Still, through the confusion, that last beer and Capra's book, something new came from it in my mind.

Anyway, I'll leave it at that. I think I have put enough on this blog for one day.

Cheers,

Beef

Beer and Philosophy?: An Attempt Through the Self

2011-06-14T08:10:00.005+10:00

Ok, How to start this... after having my self-reflection in the last post and getting over my hangover, getting back on a few beers at The Local yesterday and finishing one of my favourite books in the process, I was awoken this morning at 4:30am with thoughts buzzing around my head, and so am back again to see where it takes me this time.

Putting alcohol and philosophy together is nothing new. I think it may have been the Greeks that would get drunk and start philosophising, probably much as we still do to some degree today. Also, I have already spoken of Michel De Montaigne in previous posts, regarding his philosophical views 'on drunkeness'. However, he also said 'to philosophize is to learn how to die', which in one sense may not be good to then connect to beer, but I see it as that it is just a sense of things outside yourself, and how you relate as an individual life form with a finite time to experience life. Seeing I had my moment purely 'within' myself in the last post, without the hangover I can now look beyond, and take that reflection elsewhere. Still, as the human condition is to be aware of our own awareness, these thoughts on beer have to stem from the aspects I see in myself and the world around me which is why I have put 'An Attempt Through the Self' in the title. I am not drunk at the moment, and so not 'out of myself' in these musings. Apologies to those that have already lost interest in this post, at least you know not to go any further.

So, the book I was reading was Fritjof Capra's 'The Web of Life', and as well as bringing up aspects similar to the carbon tax we are in the process of debating about at the moment (this book was written 15 years ago), some other aspects jumped up at me that had me relating it to myself, and the beer nerd in me.

As well as the diversity in beer I brought up the other day as a powerful principle of mine with beer, the interconnectedness of it was also highlighted to me through the example of nature in the book. It is probably why this picture showing both of these aspects of beer made such an impact on me the first time I saw it. The other thing that came to me, which is just symbolic, is that in nature the four elements of air, earth, fire and water (sorry for sounding like an episode of Captain Planet) can also be seen in that there are four 'elements' of beer (yeast, malt, hops and water). The 'potential' I spoke of in beer the other day, and relating it to life probably came from this unconscious thought that as these four elements of nature brought out so much diversity of life now, and all that have represented life in the past, with four ingredients in beer, we also get a great deal of diversity available, but also the connectedness of similar styles coming from these four basic ingredients. This picture could almost represent the tree of life in beer, with kingdoms (lager and ales), species, etc.

The four ingredients themselves add a simplicity to beer, as it was probably by accident why the first beer was ever brewed. Grain left in water with some air-born yeast (a type of yeasting still used in lambic style brewing today via open fermentation), and next thing you know, you have beer. This 'natural' aspect of beer has probably been one of the things that has attracted me more as I have come to learn about beer. As long as the yeast has sugars and the conditions to survive and grow, they will make alcohol, and alcohol can make us walk funny, Horray!

Taking this approach to beer, I probably need to talk of the life given to beer through yeast. While it is not aware it is making alcohol, we can create an almost symbiotic relationship, like we have with the many bacteria we already have in our own bodies. We can feed yeast what it needs to survive and we feed off the waste product of alcohol. It may not be symbiotic in the true sense that we need to survive off it's waste product, but at least we have seen a value to it that lets us appreciate its existence, even if we only really see if for our own gain in alcohol. Ok, that argument is pretty weak, but there are plenty of people in beer that cultivate their own yeast (ok, it is not like owning a pet), and with alcohol aside, yeast impart a great deal of flavour to a beer, which I think people need to think more about than the alcohol.

Just on alcohol, I have to say I agree with Montaigne that alcohol can harm our mind, body, others and our relationship with ourselves and others. While it generally has a lower level of alcohol than many other sources, beer is abused widely, and I guess the respect I have gained from beer is something else I want to impart while promoting it. Beer is something that has been part of humanity for such a long time, yet with our way of generating life within our species, each generation has to relearn, and unfortunately some don't. I have made my fair share of mistakes with alcohol and beer, and been lucky enough to survive, and sometimes silly enough to make the same mistakes again. But I guess coming back to what I wrote in the previous post, beer was not about getting drunk for me. Sometimes in the moment where the high of having alcohol and the social situation drives you to have more, I was outside of myself (not that it is an excuse), but having learnt more of what I can enjoy from beer, I can have my own 'highs' without it being purely through the alcohol, and is probably why I never really got into drinking beverages of higher alcohol. I get so much more from the flavours, smells, textures and feelings other than drunkenness, that drunkenness is now more a distraction from enjoying the beer. The main problem I have now though is with so many different beers to try, I inadvertently start to get a bit tipsy, but at least realise that is happening and can choose to stop, through the experiences I have had with beer.

Anyway, back to the nature of beer, the diversity from simplicity is what I also enjoy when I see the potential that I do in beer, as it only takes minor changes in the yeast, malt, water, hops to bring out a completely different beer. Therefore, there is a level of complexity going on behind this simplicity which can seem a bit contradictory, but is something that keeps us beer nerds intrigued. This simplicity even goes into brewing. In the usual household, the only addition you need is a fermenter (just a barrel with an air-lock) and you can make your beer at home, as I have for a few years now. This simplicity then allows for the accessibility I also spoke about in the previous post. The adventure of brewing I also brought up then also makes sense, as another aspect of that diversity through simplicity brings flexibility of what sort of beer you can make. The adventure also comes from that little question of what will happen. While brewing has become a bit of a science, and brought with it the use of added ingredients and chemicals to try and control the output of the brewing process, at its heart there is still that little bit of uncertainty for me, which I enjoy, and is probably why I have liked experimenting with beer. There is a robustness to beer and the process of brewing that can allow for many things to be added the affect certain aspects. Still, as you can see from above, for myself, I wish to keep it as natural as possible, and not rely on a quick fix through advanced science.

This then brings up a point within me of patience. As some will have noticed through this blog, my steps into working with beer have been slow and may show a lack of ambitious hunger. I have already been very lucky in life, and so from it felt that lack of desire to get any more than I need. While all this may show someone that I am very self conscious, I am hopefully only conscious of my own development as a person, and not greedy for possessions. Beer in itself is a fleeting thing, once you have drunk it, all you have is the memory of the sensations you had while drinking it (which I try to put down here) and a vessel that beer came in. Anyway, back to patience (see, I even have the patience to allow myself to go off track with my thoughts), beer needs at least a week to ferment, and if their is bottle conditioning, you can be waiting a month from wort to drinking beer. Even when we were advised with our Russian Imperial Stout to let it sit for 3 months after bottling, I did not have too much trouble waiting for it. My love of stouts means that letting them sit and mature a bit in the bottle is not unusual, and I even have beer sitting in my bedroom that have been their for years. Yes, there is a question of timing it right to open a beer, but having that patience (and having many other beers to try while you are waiting) is something I can relate to with the beers I like. The Moo Brew Vintage Imperial Stout sits for 9 months in Pinot Noir barrels before it is bottled, and I have let some sit for a year after that, and still going. It is only the excitment of wanting to see what it tastes like that makes you want to open it, and that is mainly for our home brews anyway, to see what we have to learn. Time can be that missing ingredient, or it may be that there is more than the sum of it's parts in beer, or maybe I am having a systems thinking wank.

Ok, so I have internalised too much by now to make this generalistic and allow people to relate to. Maybe I only wish I could to keep spreading the word of beer, seeing I have reached this level of understanding with it. So maybe my attempt has failed, just as my attempt to make a great chocolate stout has never quite made it, but at least we develop a bit more with each attempt. Through this I think I have come to understand more my own interest in beer and why it has become what it has to me. I think taking a naturalist/ecology approach to beer is something others have seen value in as well through this blog, as one of my most read posts is on the environmental impact of beer. I look forward to come back to this topic, as have started finding examples of breweries with an environmental conscious (like Brooklyn Brewery).

Anyway, the comment button is there for those that want to complain about another idiot blogger trying to relate too much with little understanding on the topics brought up within and outside beer. Still, I hope for most, this is just another way to look at beer, and help them develop their own respect for it.

Beefy (who would take anything seriously a bloke calling himself Beefy has to say on his beer blog anyway?)

PS: Just reached 4000 hits for this blog, and this is our 180th post. Hooray!

After the Detox...The Hangover...and the Question: Why?

2011-06-11T12:04:00.004+10:00

Hangovers and funny...when they are not yours. I haven't watched any of the Hangover movies, so no, this post will not be about that. I'll try not to even talk about my own, just so I am not thinking about it.

After Good Beer Week, my trip to Hobart, Stass's bucks and then his wedding last weekend, I have just come through 5 days without a beer, and was feeling much better. I may have kept it going (nah, probably not) but the Mountain Goaters were saying farewell to Jayne, so jumped a bit too hard into the deep end last night (probably didn't need to pull out my Russian Imperial Stout towards the end). My first beer getting back on the horse was Holgate Temptress at the Royston... At least waking up drunk this morning and feeling the hangover kick in now, I know it is only the alcohol that is affecting me, and not the other chemicals that can be present in beer...

While having a week off beer, I have been reflecting quite a bit on the impact beer has had on my life, and where I am now in terms of finding my career in beer. From the six year old having a taste of his dad's VB, and my further disliking to beer as a teenager, it wasn't a good start. I found it very difficult to just drink beer to get drunk, I maybe only had one or two Tooheys New after my Year 10 formal, and ended up just looking after my mates that were getting drunk. I had one or two the year after, after my rugby grand final (we lost) and I still didn't like Tooheys New. I probably only started liking beer when I was of the age where I was legally allowed to drink, but then it was many years later before I started to really appreciate beer, and that story is already on this blog.

I guess it is interesting for me to look back and see this in myself, to see how much things have changed. My mum doesn't drink, and my dad is likely to go for a light beer. While I know what I like, I don't have a very good palate, and it has taken me a long time just to get it to where it is. I'm still not sure how I got to where I am with all this, but it has been something that has grown naturally, as seems to be my way with anything in life. It is funny though, growing up I thought I would be one of those guys that would find a job, and I would just do that forever. Interestingly though, I think the course I did at uni to have that future set me up to do the very opposite, to question, and develop my own sense. That is what has led me from farming, academia/teaching, project management, labouring, and all the sorts of things I have dealt with through and between them. I guess even in another 10 years, I'll still be wondering what I am going to do with my life, but then that is the potential of life. As I have written before, even if finding a job in beer doesn't work out, I know beer was always be a part of my life.

I still have way too much beer sitting in my bedroom, but still wanting to go and get more. The Goaters have been good to let me in the brewery to do odd jobs, and let me get some sense of myself in that environment. I am also waiting eagerly to see how my entires in the beer writing comp went. I continue to keep meeting new people through beer, and have loved traveling Oz and the world with beer as a focus. Still, I enjoy just throwing $20 into a homebrew with my mates, and seeing how it will come out. The accessibility of beer I guess makes it a bit of an adventure, and the diversity that can come out of that means the potential of beer is as great as what we could do with our lives.

Anyway, sorry to bore anyone reading this. Like my notes on beer, sometimes I just feel the need to put this sort of stuff down, and seeing it has a beer slant to it, I thought here was a good enough place. Wow, it's been like one of those flashback episodes programs have. Maybe it just means I have had this blog for a while, maybe too long. Well, that is my story, or where I am at the moment, and has given me something to do while recovering from the night before.

Cheers,

Beefy

Back to Hobart

2011-05-30T18:09:00.004+10:00

After a short detox after Good Beer Week, I made my way down to Hobart, and went straight to Monty's for my customary Cascade Export Stout over lunch, getting in contact with Moo Brew to book a tour and talk to Jon about catching up with him before the tour the next day.

With the weather good, I went for a walk around town, ending up at the New Sydney Hotel where I tried a Stark Raven Stout with a wallaby pizza before hitting a Brew Dog Tokyo, that was on tap! The local Stark Raven had a very luscious licorice flavour to it that made me think the alcohol was quite high, but after heading back to the bar to ask, found it was only 6%, so felt much better going for the Brew Dog after that. Still, getting half a pint of it with a pint of water, I sat at the bar (to make sure someone noticed if I fell off the stool) and slowly sipped away at it for over an hour. As a little experiment, I had a bailey's after the Tokyo, and apart from a very slight taste of alcohol, it was basically like drinking a chocolate milkshake...a very strange experience. With only a few drinks under the belt, I was able to get to bed early for a big Friday.

Getting on the first boat out to Moorilla the next morning, I spent a few hours going through the new MONA building that was not open last time I was down here. Meeting up with Jon to taste a few of the beers in the bar, I checked out one of the only 13-odd 55% 'End of History' Brew Dog beers, that the owner of Moorilla payed something like $2,500 for a scottish costume wearing taxidermic squirrel stuffed with a bottle of this beer in it. The Hop Harvest was pretty strong in hop aroma, with a somewhat sharp bitterness at the back, but found the hop flavour did not come through as much. The Saison was tasting better than my last try, but still getting some wateriness towards the back. Still, a few more weeks has helped build some body to it. The current stout has some decent roastedness to it, which is diminished in the previous years stout. In both I did get a strange taste I am not use to in stouts, but found it hard to pick what it was, but was less in the '10 stout.

I quick trip from there, Jon took me out to the new brewery to show me how much better they are now set up, and how they are looking to increase the range and amount of beer they can get from this new facility. Of particular interest was seeing the pinot noir oak barrels holding the current stock of Vintage Stout that they will be bottling as I write this, and filled me with excited anticipation to try the latest version. After seeing a few familiar faces, and meeting a few new ones that the new facility has helped bring into the fold of Moo Brew, we tasted a second batch of the Saison, that I have to say I prefer, with an even fuller body of taste and less wateriness to it.

Scotty is one of the newer members of the Moo Brew crew, who has come across from the states to help build the range of the brewery and bring his own touch to the beers they brew. As he was going to be taking the tour that afternoon, he took me back to Moorilla, where I met up with Mick, and tasted a couple of wines with him before the tour. There was only 7 of us on the tour, so Scotty kept things pretty casual, basically letting us crack open any beer we liked while doing the tour. With the sun going down, the balcony view was again stunning, and was nearly enough to forget I was on the tour. Still, with a lovely beer in my hand, it brought me back to the tour. Scotty was very knowledgeable on beer, and not shy is stating he wished to up the amount of hops used in the brewery's production. Being so knowledgeable though, answering some of the questions from the crowd were made a little difficult, and his pure passion for beer came through in how much he wanted to inform us on what he knew. This was great for an equally excited person like myself, but I still tried to ask questions that I hoped would help the party understand instead of become overwhelmed with the beer information coming to them. During the tour, Scotty even opened a Vintage Stout for all of us to taste. With the rest of the crowd having had enough, it was left to Scotty, Mick and me to continue chatting after the tour, when who should turn up but Dave taking a few mates around the brewery. Having heard he will be heading up to work with Temple Brewery, I look forward to the new facility opening up in Brunswick.

With Scotty seeing us off with a few 'spare' beers from the end of the tour. Mick and I made our way into town, and headed to New Sydney for locally made 5 Hop Frenzy and 77 Elephants before heading to dinner, where I was underwhelmed by a Two Metre Tall Pale Ale. Finishing the night with a quick visit to Monty's to see the karaoke over one last Cascade Export Stout.

Needing a quieter day the next day, we visited Cool Wines, where we were recommended to visit as the beer bottlo in town, finding a Brugge beer I decided to bring back with me, and having a good chat with the staff member, and exchanging each other some good beers to try. Getting back into my brothers forte, we did a quick trip out to Pooley Wines to taste the nice rieslings they have before getting on a plane back to Melbourne to attend Stass's Buck's night. After a long night of bowling, boag's beer, bailey's, some bad karaoke, and of course boobs, I am now on another break from beer until the need to celebrate Stass and Jess's marriage this weekend, will again bring back the necessity to have a beer or 10.

Big thanks to the Moo Brew boys for organising for me to check out the new facility and for throwing a few beers our way, particularly Jon and Scotty for being tour guides. Another great visit to Hobart, and now just waiting for our assignment of Vintage Stouts to come my way...

Good Beer Week: Day 7 - 'Surviving' Sunday & See Ya GBW!

2011-05-23T08:03:00.004+10:00

I'm Alive, I'm Alive!

The final day of Good Beer Week started with Stass and I feeling ok (except for an alcohol burnt tongue) after the big beers from the night before, but feeling the bloatedness I've had to contend with all week. After some brekky I decided to take Stass to one of the best venues I'd been to on my travels during the week.

We sat down at Josie Bones to gawk at the tap list and start the day with the Moon Dog Black Lung and Gulden Draak. The dark spirit and woody smell and taste came through on the Black Lung, but it was pouring even worst then on Friday, so some taste and texture seemed to have been lost from it (maybe my tastebuds were just finally giving up). The Gulden Draak had a really nice caramel nose and straight barelywine taste when it was cold. As it warmed up more of the caramel came through, and with a good creamy body to carry it over the tongue, this became another favourite from the week. We also tried out the Nogne O #100. While cold, the hops were pretty strong on the nose and midpalate, but still cleaned up ok with a decent body overall, helps with the malt backbone. As it warmed up, the balance of hops and malt really came through to make it a really good example of a dark/black IPA. Was interested to see that instead of the dark bitter malt to meld into the hop that seems to be the norm with this style, there was a sweeter malt and more citrus/fruit hop that melded quite well and more to my own personal taste.

Moving onto the Dog's Breakfast (one more time), the smoke still overpowers, but have heard that in the bottle this is diminished to help balance it out a bit. Stass was interested to get some 'mushy pea' smell from it, which I could sort of pick up, but had no idea where it came from. Still, who can say what can come out from a beer with the ingredients it does. Still this was easily outdone in the round by the Hitachino Espresso Stout, which had that same mocha porter smell and taste for me. Still, I was getting less mouthfeel to let it coat my tongue better (again, maybe just where my tongue is at after this week), and Stass wasn't digging it as much as me. He was digging the chicken giblets that I have to say were good at cleansing the tongue enough to keep enjoying each beer.

We could have finished this part of the day now, but after the Gulden Draak I had a caramel craving, and seeing the Weihenstephaner Korbinian was in bottle form here, I had to try it again. Out of the bottle it sat a little heavier on the tongue and so seemed a bit more cloying than when I'd had it on tap. Still, that sweet caramel smell and taste, that just holds and holds across the tongue, leaving with some residual sweetness on the back that almost makes it overbearing, even for a sweet tooth like me. Simple, clear but cleaning up just enough for my palate at the back with alcohol and very mild hop makes this my personal favourite from the week. I now want to try and brew something like this, even though I know Stass will ruin it wanting more hops to balance it out (boo!).

Thanks once again to the staff at Josie Bones. It is good to be able to go in there at quiet times to chat with them and get their thoughts on beer they have in stock at the moment. Also caught up with Rose who I had seen a couple of times during the week, and found a 'treasure' of my own with the German Beer Drinking songs album they have on display. I want to hear that album next time I go in!

Making our way to Slowbeer for our final event of Good Beer Week, my brain started to play up knowing it was nearly over and soon would not have to concentrate of keeping me going though the alcohol haze that became each day. Still, before it could switch off completely we had the final 18 beers to get through as we traveled the old and new world of beer taste established brews with an aussie equivalent. I though the order was a little strange, but in true 'Slowbeer' style, with the breadth of beers instead of depth in this tasting, they still managed to play around with our taste buds (what was left of them).

The Saison was between Dupont and Otway, and having heard the latter was pretty good, was excited to try it off against the classic. The light, fruit/yeasty Dupont was quite refreshing, even with a little driness on the back, whereas the Otway sat heavier on the tongue and had a slight smoke back to it. There is a darker fruit smell, but the darker malt to go with this seem to mask the fruit. The body does lighten up a bit when left to sit on the tongue though. Stass made a good point that the alcohol in the Dupont, while not coming through in taste, was a bit high for a refreshing beer like this, and would like it about half of what it was.

The Abbey Dubbel was between a Rochefort 8 and Bright Fainter's Dubbel. With me love for the Rochefort 10, I wasn't sure if I had even tried the 8 before and after the Korbinian I'd had earlier in the day, my tastebuds went straight back to that, even though the higher alcohol in this helps cleanse it a bit more. I did find however the carbonation did ruin the texture. The Fainter's had a dusty and lackluster dark caramel, that sat heavier on the tongue and doesn't clean up so well in comparison.

Onto the Hefeweizen duel, the Weihenstephaner had the banana, lightness (to the point of watery) with the dry wheat aftertaste, while the Bridge Road Hans Klopeks was even lighter in flavour with a slight orange and wheat on the back.

Fittingly, as we came into the Smoke/ Rauch style, I hit my 100th beer for the week, so put on my pink elephant silly hat to celebrate for the rest of the tasting. However, I had to endure a Bamberg Aecht Schlenkerla Urbock, as my final test to the ton. Ok, it is not that bad. The sweet smoked ham aspect is stronger in smell than in taste and it cleans up ok with a bit of ham. The 3 Raven Dark didn't come close to it with a very sedated smoke that was not as sweet.

Moving into English Pale Ale: the Timothy Taylor's Landlord Ale has a bitter hop and light malt smell. A caramel malt rises on the tongue and leads into the hop well before cleansing on the back. Quite refreshing with distinguishable flavours and only slight hop aftertaste. The Van Dieman Ragged Jack has slight fruit and caramel smell, with a heavier palate that the hops don't rise out of.

The Samuel Smith Taddy Porter came up against the Holgate Tempress in the English Porter style, so was probably the most interesting one for me. The Taddy had a choc malt smell similar to the Holgate, but is a bit watery a bitter. The milk chocolate we had with it boosted and sweetened the chocolate taste in the beer though. However, it did nothing for the Holgate, which while is one of my aussie favourites, did not do it for me this time, with carbonation and a watery body really ruined this match up. Mind you, just shows these beer need to be on tap to taste off at their best.

Coming into a more American style of pale ale, the Sierra Nervada had a bit of a fruity nose which is refreshing but with a dry bitterness on the back. However, a slight overcarbonation with hop fizz did take away from the body. The Stone and Wood Pacific Ale really came through well, with the passionfruit/pineapple nose and taste with the light malt body and cleansing bitter finish.

The Emersons came up against Knappstein in the Pilsner class. There is a slight citrus with the wheat and yeast nose on the Emersons, but for me the hop was too dry on the midpalate even if it helped clean up the back of the beer. The slight passionfruit in the Knappstein was much more pleasant for me personally, with the light malt pushing into this hop flavour that also had a bit of grass about it that lingered in aftertaste.

The final style of the night was coffee, and between a stout and a lager within the category! The Hr Fredriksen Vaesel is a collaboration beer between Amager and Mikkeller that has a sweet coffee and dark spirit smell and a bit malt/coffee front that leads into an alcohol that while cleanses, leaves a way too bitter aftertaste for me. James came over to me at this point to say he preferred the Mikkeller aspect of this beer by itself and I could see where he was coming from, as the spiritness of the Amager does thin it out and strip back the coffee flavour. I think there is some sort of balance found in blending these beers, but if you like one more than the other, of course you will be disappointed to have that 'muddled' by another beer. Anyway, as for the final beer in this tasting and of my whole week, the Burliegh Black Giraffe has a bit more of a fuller coffee smell that doesn't rely so much on bitterness. Still, as a lager, this beer cleans up well and the bitter chocolate that was paired with these pair of beers went great with this beer.

Not a bad way to finish the tasting after enjoy a Rogue's Mocha Porter and the Hitachino Nest Espresso Stout, but as I said, the Korbinan was a personal favourite and the Les Trios Baltic Porter being the best beer I tasted over the whole week. Apart from the Russian Imperial Stout tasting at my place on the Saturday (with silly hats, mates and my bed 5 metres away), my favourite venue was Josie Bones with their amazing selection of beer on tap. I have really enjoyed this week and has given me some memorable moments and a great oportunity to try beer and meet looks of other people doing the same, and being involved in the making of those beers. I've been able to peak into the beer society, but probably just enjoyed trying as many beers as I could to get over the 100 for the week. Thanks to all the random people I met, and mates that came along with me on the parts of the journey they could.

Overall, I hope as well as helping beer nerds like me experience more with beer, I hope this week has helped many other people just getting into beer, or helped other by getting them into beer, maybe with random attendance at a beer event they may have accidently stumbled upon. Everyone has a flavour that they can find in beer, and even if some didn't quite find it, they may have been inspired by the versatility of beer to keep searching for it, and have their mind opened to the potential of beer that they can appreciate outside their own tastes.

I look forward to this event getting bigger and better next year and snowball the influence it has started with this week. It will make it harder to get to all the events and venues as I did this week, and maybe enjoy them in the way I have this first time round, but then I am already into beer, and if more people get into it, more can come out of the beer scene in Australia, with greater variety and quality in aussie brews, etc.

Thanks to all the venues for getting involved in this week, and the people for going out and visiting these venues to open or continue your appreciation of 'good' beer. Well done to the organisers for being able to pull this gig together is such a short amount of time, and offering such a variety of events to keep all sorts of beer 'consumers' happy.

Now to detox from the week of good beer and retox to what I normally do with beer. Grab a case of Pure Blonde and get smashed on a park bench. I look forward to getting back to offending passers by soon with drunken abuse.

Feck off yer gits, I'm not dead yet (yep, it's all coming back to me),

Beefy/John

PS: My GBW Tally: 111 beers, 16 venues, 14 events...and countless people annoyed by my presence.

Good Beer Week: Day 6 - Imperial Stout Saturday

2011-05-22T08:00:00.004+10:00

With the weekend upon us and GBW begins to end, I was able to attract a few friends to get on the bandwagon with me (and help me if I fell off), most importantly my brother in beer, Stass.

We headed out to the System Wars event at Grain & Grape, where we started our education on doing full mash brews with 4 approaches on show. It was great to get an idea on the differing approaches (but maybe not so good to see the cost for a fully automated system) and just chat to the guys, and discussing the different methods and their mashing techniques in general. While we were out there we did a shop of things for an IPA we are going to go against Team Harrod on, and caught up with Ross, who I met on Wednesday, and also the Crafty Pint camera crew who were looking the worse for wear trying to get to as many events as possible this week.

Getting back to my place, both Stass and I had a craving for a Royston parma, but seeing it didn't open til 3 (curse you!) we went plan B with a Mojo pizza. Seeing I was only going to allow imperial stouts to be the beer to go down my gullet this day, we went next door to Purvis and found a spare Amager Hr. Frederiken in the fridge that had not been drunk at the tasting the night before, and caught up with a 'gravely' Damien to see how the beer awards went as we purchased the beer.

By the time we got back to Mojo's, our woodsman pizza was ready, so we cracked the Amager and drank it in the sunshine. The bbq sauce and meaty texture of the pizza went well with the beer, but the salami just made the alcohol burn more on our tongues and increased the bitterness. Holding back some of the beer for the walk home, we finally regained our tastebuds to appreciate it. However, we were both feeling a little unsure that we would make it through the rest of the tastings we had prepared for the day. Grabbing some snags, Mersey Valley Vintage Cheddar, King Island Smoked Cheddar and some apples, we started getting into the imperial stouts.

Samuel Smith Imperial Stout - dusty caramel malt up front but cleans off quickly. Good texture but a bit of fizz across the tongue, and some slight hop bitterness in aftertaste. Pretty light overall which made it a good starter. Seeing there was only 4 of us drinking, we just had smaller serves as we ran the gamut of them. We came back to the leftovers after. When we came back to this one, there was an increase in dark raison smell and taste.

Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout - one of my faves that we know is lighter so wanted to get that on in early while our taste buds could fully appreciate it. the nice creamy chocolate nose with alcohol over the top which comes through the same in taste, with the alcohol rising with warmth, with only slight burn. It cleanses well and with no one aspect overbearing the others, shows great balance and profile of flavours.

Brasserie Dieu Du Ciel Peche Mortel - slight bitter coffee smell. Very light, bitter/roasted coffee/malt that builds into the back and lingers. Not tasting much alcohol, and on second round the smokey smell came out more.

Can I say, our own Russian Imperial Stout comes up pretty well compared to these beers, in fact it is the best of our beers in comparison. There is a dark fruit smell, an unrefined but nice rise of malt and alcohol over the tongue with a good body and texture. My last two words were 'mellow' and 'good!!'. Actually, I may have even said that if I would have liked to put this beer in for a competition, apart from the fact it is solely brewed from extract. A win for us!

Red Hill Imperial Stout - I have had this beer aging for about 18 months, and have to say and getting more impressed with it. The dark fruit smell, with a lighter caramel body but good texture is starting to build up a bit more, and hoping this caramel keeps improving with the other bottled I have. Am looking forward to trying this one on tap soon, as Red Hill have told me this should be coming out at the Royston again for Winter.

Murray's Wild Thing - dark malt and alcohol smell. Has a decent body but a little light on taste. In the second round, there was a sweeter malt smell.

Durham Temptation - quite a vinous smell for this style that translates well into taste, with the alcohol rising from the mid-palate.

Amager Imperial Stout - Pretty thin on taste, but rounded in the standard flavours of this style, with decent texture.

Nail Clout Stout - dark fruit with a slight vinous smell. Fairly standard taste (sorry, tastebuds are definitely dying by now), but a bit of vinous and alcohol on a good smooth texture and cleanses well on the back. Good balance overall with no spiking flavour.

De Molen Rasputin - having tried one of these brewers Imperial Stouts recently in Adelaide, I decided to keep these ones til last. This on had some vinous and dark fruit smell and taste but good body overall. Some alcohol heat but cleans up ok with some smokey notes.

De Molen Bloed, Zweet & Tranen - smoke dominates the nose and thins the malt on the front of the palate, with peatiness on the mid, with some sweet smoke on the back.

Overall, impressed with our own that it was even able to keep up with the others, the Clout was probably the best, but still find it hard to go past the Black Chocolate Stout personally. The tongue is a little burnt from the intensity of the alcohol in these beers, but with the food and keeping up on water, we got through it relatively unscathed and not feeling overly bad the next day. I am looking forward to taking Stass for a beer or 3 at Josie Bones around lunch before we prepare ourselves for the final event of Good Beer Week, the Slowbeer tasting. Having chalked up 87 beers so far, lucky number 13 of the day will get me to 100 for the week, with a few more than that...just to make sure of it.

Good Beer Week: Day 5 - 'Fitzroy-Crawl-and-First-Class-Tasting' Friday

2011-05-21T03:17:00.004+10:00

Hey, I'm still alive! That is a good sign, and brings with it the potential to drink more beer...

Ok, having missed out on the Josie Bones lunch event yesterday, I decided to do a bit of a crawl around Fitzroy until they open in the arvo after the private function. With the sun out and wanting to start the day on a light note, I hit Little Creatures beer hall for a summery Bright Ale. With that 'settler', I went round the corner to the Rainbow Hotel, and noticed they had Good Beer Week maps in there. Talking to Jason I found they were actually a Crafty Crawl venue, and so got a photo with my first Craft Crawl treasure, while enjoying a Holgate Temptress. Hmm, a Bogan, wearing an anti-bogan beer shirt, drinking a 'just-like-a-chocolate-'milk'shake-only-beery' beer and holding a poster that seems to contain the secret to lactose brewing...that has to be one of my better photos from the week.

Finding out Grumpy's Green was also a 'crawl' venue I made my way to Smith Street, walked in and asked what their treasure was. Nick did not know, so I just grabbed a pot of Bridge Road Pale and sat outside to keep an eye on Josie Bones to see when it would open. Who should be out the front but Tom who I meet at the opening dinner to GBW on Monday, who found out for me what the treasure was. I went back in and told Nick, who then allowed me to stand behind the bar to get the full effect of the paper cranes above me.

After finishing that beer, I went across the road to see if Josie Bones had opened, just to find Jade from the Wheaty coming out of the lunch and looking desperately for a coffee. Directing her to Gertrude Street and seeing Josie Bones was still cleaning up from the lunch, I went back to Grumpy's to get a 2 Brothers Brown Ale and chat more the Nick.

Finally, Josie Bones opened and as I sat down James came across and introduced himself to me and we had a quick chat about the week, the beers they have on tap (just amazing!) and events he was looking to do. After giving me a quick taste of the Black Saison (light choc malt smell and front but with classic fruity flavour you would expect from a normal saison. Not what I was expecting, but pleased to find) before he left me in the capable hands of Sarah and Stewart, who continued my day of chatting to bar staff, and furnished me with a 3 Ravens Ale Noir. With this one I was expecting a big malty beer that would normally be barrelled, but for me it was like a lightly smokey red ale, and then after one of the tastings later that night, found it was actually more of a barleywine than red ale flavour I was getting from it. Again, I was pretty impressed.

With this Bridge Road Brew 500/Dog's Breakfast still teasing me after 2 attempts, I decided to try it again here. The vessel and temperature this third one came to me in was much better than previous, and not sure if I really just want to sense it, but did kind of pick up on a honey/maple syrup smell and slight tingle of it on the midpalate. I also seemed to notice a little more body from the oats, and of course, the smokey bacon. I'm still not quite there with it (still not getting coffee, but maybe not being a coffee drinking to making it hard for me to pick it), but this was definitely the best one I have had this week.

I then had the Moon Dog Black Lung porter, and have to say now this was more of a 'hit' then the 'miss' I felt with the pineapple beer, and the 'passable' stout. The first taste hit me pretty hard actually, with a sharp vinous quality dampened with the malty front and smokey back. Still, it seemed to clean up pretty well in aftertaste, so wasn't offensive, and the porter style didn't make it too heavy on the tongue. After that first intense taste, it came off more rounded in flavour with subsequent sips. none of the mirky midpalate on this beer, clean and sharp better describes this one, and happy to finally find a decent beer from a brewery I'd like to be more supportive towards.

Being on a purple patch so far at Josie Bones, and with just enough time to try it, I had the Hitachino Nest Expresso Stout. Wow, nothing like the bitter and thin beer I had tried from the bottle all those months ago, and the staff were right to recommend this one. With some chocolate on the nose, that combined with the coffee to make it taste a bit like a Mocha Porter, the richness in taste and texture this beer had completely blew me away. Again some wine character going on in midpalate, but the malt and creamy texture didn't make it sting the tongue, and again cleaned up pretty well on the back with little alcohol as well. Though, by now I started feeling it a bit. Still, this is one beer Stass needs to taste, and already thinking of getting him back here on for lunch on Sunday so we can try this, the Black Lung again, and the Nogne and Gulden Draak I didn't get to try.

With just enough time to duck home for a quick bite I wandered down to Purvis for the Gold Medal Tasting event, and finding the place starting to fill up quickly with people, grabbed a pen and tried to get my taste buds through the next 16 beers. Overall I found the order of beers to be pretty good for the mix of styles on offer, and happy to see the last 5-6 were bold beers to keep my taste buds going and get into my sort of beers. So will just go through the order, and what notes my diminishing palate/vocabulary could pick up on.

Trumer Pils - hops are too strong on that light a malt body (sorry, my personal bias comes out a lot more by this stage of my beer journey day).

Estrella Damm Inedit - sweet light malt smell with a bit of a light spirit taste to it (sorry, don't know my spirits that well). However the spirit flavour is light enough to intrigue and not offend me. Interesting.

Bridge Road Saison - light fruit but a bit sweet on smell Same on tongue and cleans up quickly while still on the midpalate. Slight sour on back but not much aftertaste.

Cantillon Rose de Gambrinus - deep, but not overpowering sour smell but with some balancing sweetness. Much rawer sourness in taste but the raspberry sweetness again helps combat this.

Holgate ESB - big malt and hop smell, but the caramel that comes off as a meld between the two helps as a balance. Same on the tongue and cleanses well on the back

St Bernardus Tripel - full blonde yeast smell with slight citrus, spice and caramel malt to carry it into the realm of a belgian tripel. Malt comes through more in taste with a smooth texture and some orange zest.

8 Wired Hop Wired - seeing I tried this the night before I didn't bother to write down any notes.

Feral Hop Hog - Stronger hop flavour than the 8 Wired but still well balanced and clean well on the back. Hops also rise on aftertase but don't linger too harshly. Reminds me a bit like the Epic's from last night.

Weihenstephaner Vitus - banana/bubblegum smell with some orange which come through more on the tongue and includes a light sweetness.

Schneider Weisse Tap 6 Aventinus - slight sour and dark fruit smell on a dark malt backing. Fruit and yeast come through more in flavour but still quite light overall.

Schneider Aventinus Weizen-Eisbock - compared to previous, this has a darker fruit with some sweetness on the nose. Alcohol really warms up as it sits on your tongue but with a decent body to carry it. Yeast lingers on the back.

Holgate Beelzebub's Jewels - deep red ale smell with alcohol - bit vinous? Good texture with warming alcohol that slightly burns at the back, making the flavour a little one dimensional, but enjoyable...that is barelywines for you.

Gouden Carolus Cuvee Van De Keizer - dark fruit and caramel/toffee smell heading toward a smooth scotch/whiskey which comes across into taste but cleanses well on the back to just leave a nice warm alcohol sensation.

Orkney Dark Island Reserve - dark spirit smell with caramel to not make it overpowering. Smooth, dark fruit flavour but seems to cleanse to early on the palate to draw much from it, but there is a hint of dark fruit on the back, which with the alcohol brings with it that barleywine flavour.

Nogne Imperial Stout - dark malt smell, touch of sweet chocolate in the smell that reminds me of Brooklyn Brewery's Black Chocolate Stout. Toffee malt up front with slight bitterness on the back and cleanses well in aftertaste. Well balanced overall.

Armanger Hr. Frederiksen - rich/deep dark malt smell with alcohol. Light in body but smooth. A warming alcohol and slight bitter aftertaste (almost a 'knee slapper' for me).

So, probably my biggest day so far with 25 beers tried. Still, was finished by just after 8pm, so was able to come home afterwards and chill out before going to bed. It is now 5 am and have 5 hours til Stass and I meet up at Grain and Grape for the system wars, then start preparing ourselves for our own Russian Imperial Stout tasting. Bring. It. On!

Good Beer Week: Day 4 - Thrifty Thursday

2011-05-20T09:07:00.003+10:00

8 hours sleep! Just what I need with 3 days to go, and they are looking rather large days too. After Wednesday I needed a quiet Thursday, and with Purvis my local bottlo and a 5pm start last night, meant I was home by 7:30pm.

Alright, as for last night, of course I arrived there a bit early to say hi to the gang and take a pic of all the beers before the place was full of people. Jade from the Wheaty rocked up and so was able to say g'day to her before the tasting began.

So, there were 14 beers on show, and I decided just to run the gauntlet through Epic, Tuatara and 8 Wired as they were laid out on the table. I didn't take any notes as was talking to the brewers and people around me too much, so I'll try to recall what I can.

I really enjoyed chatting to the guys from Epic as I started the journey. The lager was really light in colour and body (through a pilsner malt I think), but the classic tail of hops that distinguishes these guys did come through. The Pale built up the malt a bit more, as did the Mayhem and Armageddon. While the hop character cleanses on the back but rises in aftertaste, it was good to see that they still maintain a balance in each individual beer, so the hops don't give a burn. Ok, so hops aren't my thing, so I guess that is what made me even more impressed to see I did not get offended in any way with these beers. The Portamarillo is definitely a bit of a change in structure after the 4 previous beers send you down a certain path with this brewery. The smoke is pretty good and brings more creamy texture to the beer when it hits your tongue. The smoke is enough to remind me of the 'liquified smoked ham' flavour of Bamberg beers from Germany.

However, for my personal taste, the Thornbridge Stout was my fave from here. Good dark malt and the use of new oak barrels from the U.S. brings a vanilla, but even more so, a coconut smell and taste that I really enjoyed. I guess these flavours act to sort of balance the malt, as a good hop would, but also the aging helps mellow this out too, along with any hops they used in it. The aspect of hops and freshness of beer was one thing I gained a lot from talking to them about the beers they do. While generally, they find after a month the top note of hops starts to go (probably from the use of dry-hopping they do with most of their beers), and by three the other hop flavours are diminishing, I think they said after 6, they seem to rise again before dying off. Maybe it is just with the variety and process they use their hops that brings them this, they haven't even figured out how or why it happens. I guess there is always a bit of luck involved, as they said the Pale had been in the bottle for 6 months and was tasting great.

Moving onto Tuatara, the Munich style Helles actually offended my nose a bit and with the lackluster flavour become a cleanser beer after what I had from Epic. The Ardennes, once I walked away from the crowd to focus on it did give some decent Belgium yeast and golden ale malt character, but was pretty thin in body, even for a beer within the belgian style. Then the APA had a big grassy hop nose and taste, reminding me much of the James Squire Sundowner, or to a lesser degree, a Fat Yak (sorry, did I just get too commercial in the beers I mention on this blog?).

Getting onto the 8 Wired, overall I noticed a subtle, if not thin, taste to the beer, but compensated with a sort of creamy texture which worked alright together, but a combo I don't notice much apart from maybe what you get get by putting some beers through a hand pump. The Hop Wired, Imperial Red Ale, Brown and Smoke all had the classic taste of each style, but all were pretty diminished. The creamy texture of the Big Smoke did impress me though to really spread that smoke flavour across your tongue, but was not be overpowering smoke taste. However, the big daddy of this brewer, and of all the tastings on the night was the iStout, which at 10% has some imperial qualities included some slight vinous notes I also got from the Baltic Porter I had the day before. the semi-subdued malt melding into the hops, which then rise, and cleanse with some alcohol at the end had me going back for more when I saw there was still some left in the bottle at the end of the tasting, and no one was looking.

So, was most impressed overall with Epic on the night, and now having done it, maybe have wanted to leave them last and maybe taste off their Thornbridge Stout with the iStout from 8 Wired.

Was also great talking to all sorts of people there (it is pretty easy when all you have to say is 'how good is free beer?' to get a conversation going). A couple of beer nerd regulars, two guys from Canada/NZ, who I had a very interesting conversation about a beer chocolate they are trying to make (actually, I have an interesting idea for them on this if I see them again), and talking all sorts of beer with a fellow homebrewer from Torquay. Apart from the beer nerds, these other guys did know much about Good Beer Week, so spread the word and got them interested in a few other events. Then as the Purvis boys were kicking us out of the place, Jade and I had another chat before she headed into town and I toddled off home, without having paid a cent for any of the beers I tried.

Cheers to free beer!

Good Beer Week: Day 3 - 'Weighty' Wednesday

2011-05-19T09:34:00.008+10:00

Just did a system check, and apart from the sounds, smells and slight irritation that I am getting from my body, there is no need to replace my head and go offline for 48 hours...yet.

Yesterday started with a trip down to the Local Taphouse, where I came across Ross, who was down from Brisbane to plug his gear at Biero last night. We both happened at the bar at the same time wanting the Moondog, but was told there was a problem with it. So, with us both waiting for it to get resolved, Ross grabbed a paddle while I stuck to just a Brew 500 from Bridge Road to get me started for the day.

While trying to keep up with Ross's knowledge of beers and brewing, at least we had beer travel to fall back on for anecdotes and even there he easily beat me with a 320 beer journey of the U.S. in 2 weeks (he worked out on average it was a different beer every 30 mins)!

As for the Brew 500, I did not mind the bit of smokiness and the light body of the dark malt was alright for the first beer of the day. As I finished it, the call came that the Moondog tap was working again so we picked up one each. What a great looking Imperial Stout! The tight foamy white head contrasting the black 'as the ace of spades' body. The smell was a little lackluster as was the taste, but the texture was really good. Funny, while the Red Duck Ox Tail Imperial Stout gives so much on the nose but not much in flavour, at least your expectations are not put too high when you smell the Moondog. One thing I also noticed was the same sort of muddling aspect on midpalate which I think also stopped me tasting much pineapple from the Mrs Parma's Moondog beer. I am now not certain if I could get any pineapple at all from it if this muddling is a style of theirs. Just as we were about to leave I asked the girl behind the bar what she was getting into on tap, and she mentioned the Murray's Easter Ale. My mum (god bless her for promoting my drinking) sent me an article about this beer, and so got excited when I actually saw it available. The three of us had a taste each and I have to say, there is some definite cinnamon on the nose and taste, with a yeasty/bready backpalate/aftertaste to make it actually taste like a hot cross bun! With warmth, all of this became even more prominent. Amazing!

With this step forward, we moved out of the Taphouse and onto Cookie. While Ross had the beer knowledge I had the Melbourne knowledge, so was able to get on a tram and find our way there in good time. While Cookie isn't a place I go to often for a beer, I knew they had the Bridge Road Dogs Breakfast, and not knowing it is also know as Brew 500, ordered that again, only to find out they are the same when tasting it. This was when the beer disappointed me, as I wasn't getting any coffee, oats or other aspects that were suppose to be in it. Maybe just a bit of bacon from the smoke character. With that second one finished I tried to convince Ross that Bridge Road do good beers, so got him on the Chevalier Biere De Garde, which was on tap. I have to say I still quite like it, but Ross found the malty front unbalanced the beer a bit and left it cloying on the back. I could taste that as well, but for me I enjoy that aspect of the beer as the malt just adds a deeper flavour under the fruit. After that I stopped trying to convince Ross and he decided to look over the bottled beer menu.

The Les Trios Porter Baltique is one I had been meaning to try for a while, so we both agreed to give it a go. Once I helped the bar girl get the cork out we poured out one for each of us, and seeing it was a 750ml, we offered some to the girl sitting next to us at the bar, as an apology for putting up with our beer talk. Well, isn't this just a classic of the baltic porter style! really nice chocolate smell with a hint of alcohol, big dark sweet malt/fruit up front with some vinous (reminded me a bit like a grappa my uncle let me try) but then a great cleansing back to make you want to go back for more. This was a beer both Ross and I could equally enjoy, even if our palates were a bit different. So clear in flavour, just the right amount of texture for a porter and clean on the back, so at least on taste you did not notice the alcohol much (9.2%). Mind you, the alcohol buzz hit our heads, so lucky we had half an hour travel before getting to Mountain Goat.

Getting in we noticed the beer industry types had assembled and had staked the best spot in the place, and as I lined up to finally try my first Wig and Pen beer, who should I see but Brad also at the bar doing a round for his workmates. Grabbing my Feral Funky Junkie (we realised we had the wrong beer after tasting and consulting the beer menu) we got drinking and chatting. There seemed to be a good authentic sourness to the beer, but wasn't too sharp and cleansed well enough to keep you going back for more. The body was pretty light, which helped as well. Mind you, the taste buds were getting a bit hazy and not even sure the order I drank the beers in but will try and eek out what I can.

I also got to chat to the Goaters and feel a bit more part of the brewing society all together in this one place. This was the first time I saw this sort of collective, and while I caught up with Chris, who I sat next to at the dinner on Monday (we are both looking at hitting the 100 marks of beers tried this weekend), I also got to listen in (well, what could I contribute really) while hanging out with heaps of others, like Matt from brewnews, who I think was chatting with Jason from the Taphouse (ahh, too many people and behind the scenes info for this newbie!). I saw a familar face in Owen from Moo Brew, and also meet other beer nerds like me, just trying to get to as many events as they could in the week. The pirate boys were out in force (getting Crafty in on the act) and met with James Davidson who actually came up to me to have a chat (is it bad to be getting recognised by people I haven't met?).

The collaboration Dubbel tasted a bit better then what I recall a couple of weeks back.

The flavour had become a lot clearer, so could taste the under current of dark malt and fruit, but there was also a lighter sweetness over the top which I quite enjoyed before that yeastiness comes in. I could sense a bit of belgian waffle from this, and didn't the warm belgian chocolate parcels just go so well with it. The two together reminded me of the chocolate coated waffles I had in Belgian, and while the 'beery' aspect does take away from it, the chocolate really gave a good boost to not just the flavour, but improved the texture as well, and it went down a dream.

I actually saw one of the girls from the chocolate and beer tasting event from the night before standing by the cooker waiting for more of the parcels to come out so she could have them with the beer. We agreed it was up there with what we had tried the night before.

All in all it was all a bit of a head spin and not just from the beer. Though, I did realise I needed to eat something substantial, and after have been stood up by a friend I was suppose to meet up with for dinner, I went to the Royston for a hearty parma and help out a random team doing trivia next to me. I saw a couple more beer nerds from the night before there, and I made sure to sit near the tap that normally has Carlton Draught on, just to smile and continually see it not there. I went with the Swartzbier, which was true to style, and so couldn't do much for my languishing taste buds. I did manage though to get back to Mountain Goat to try the final beer on the list, the Saison DuMoo, that Dan gave to me half price, as he only had pint glasses available and I wanted a pot. With that pint I reached the top of my stomach, but at least could sense I enjoyed it a bit more than the first time I tried it. As the beer industry types headed off to Biero, with a weighted tongue from tasting, a weighted stomach, a weighted head from all the info I was trying to absorb from industry people, and a slightly weighted heart from having been stood up by a friend at another beer event this week, I made my way home...

Good Beer Week: Day 2 - Choc Beer Tuesday

2011-05-18T09:21:00.003+10:00

Hey gang,

Well, after Massive Monday I was happy to keep a low profile for Tuesday. Recovery and catching up with my new flatmate to explain what is happening this week, and warn her of the Russian Imperial Stout tasting I am having here on Saturday was about all I was capable of.

After a journey out to Seddon that took me 3 trains and 2 hours to do, I ended up being half an hour late to the chocolate and beer tasting at Sabroso. Not only was I late for my favourite event of the week and annoyed at the metropolitan train system, I was tired and still feeling the effects for the big session on Monday. Also, Jarrod was crook, so ended up heading to the event by myself again, and to top it off, I had missed the first round of tasting. However, with there being some left over beer from the first round still available, a plate of chocolate put in front of me, a table of people that let me sit with them, and a room full of people consuming and discussing chocolate and beer, I somehow got my frazzled self into it.

The first beer was the Grand Ridge Vintaged Hatlifter Stout, but seeing I was late I started on the Holgate Double Trouble Belgian Abbey Ale. It definitely did not look much like a Dubbel, and while the smell had some classic yeast and alcohol, the dark malt character did not come through for me. It looked more like a triple, and probably tasted more like one too. Still, the style of beer did got ok with the chocolate and blue cheese. The chocolate tasted like easter egg, and the blue cheese centre twisted your taste bubs about. In combo it also brought almost a salty character, so the beer was almost like a cleanser to it, however, as it warmed, the beer became a bit more watery which didn't help.

I didn't have any chocolate to go with the Hatlifter, but have to say I didn't mind the beer by itself. I have had a Hatlifter before, but there seemed to be a more even and deeper flavour to it than I remember. There was nice chocolate and dark malt smell and taste, and was actually happy to have had this second, as it was a real boost to the taste buds after the Double Trouble. I am not sure if this beer normally comes as vintaged, but could definitely taste that sort of aspect from it.

The Holgate Tempress was meant to be had with a nut covered chocolate, but for me the nut took away a bit from the combo, and so the beer was used to more to wash the nut pieces stuck between my teeth and nut taste off my tongue. I find many Grand Ridge beers have a naturally nutty character in the malt (Well, they have the Nut Brown Ale), so I may have liked this more with the Hatlifter. Still, once the chalky coldness in the Temptress had warmed out I liked sipping on this one for a bit, even if I am looking a bit worse for wear in the photo.

The last one was a bit of a surprise for me. I may have wanted the Holgate Empress to make a showing, but was impressed to see the Rogue Mocha Porter come around the tables, a beer I had only a few weeks ago at The Wheaty in Adelaide. Then we had been drinking it with easter eggs, and finding a more bitter choc went well with the sweet coffee of the beer. Here we had it with a coffee cake, and I have to say, this was probably the best combo of the night in terms of complimenting each other. Both seemed to have a similar taste profile but the beer was a little stronger in flavour. Still, the flavours did not become overbearing, so the cake did well to keep, but subdue the flavour so you could go back for another sip of the beer quite easily.

While I was finishing this one off and before I started falling asleep at the table, I managed to get Ian from Holgate to sit down for a chat about their beers (especially the Empress!), leading me into chocolate beers in general, and how things are going at the Woodend brewpub. I am sure I came off a little weird in my sleepy excitement, but it was good to have the opportunity to talk and shake his hand at the end of the night. Luckily the trip home went much better and so now feeling much better to get into day 3. Am hoping to hit The Local Taphouse for the Moondog beer they have on, and would like to try the Dog's Breakfast at Cookie, as I hear it will be coming out on the growlers at Slowbeer this week. Then to my old stomping ground of Mountain Goat to finally try a Wig and Pen beer along with the collaboration Dubbel brew Mountain Goat were involved in. I had a try of it the other week while it was being filtered, so wanna see if a couple of weeks have helped it come along some. Then maybe a cheeky visit to the Royston to continue tasting the Crafty Taps I started on Monday.

Thanks to the staff of Sabroso and Ian Morgan from Holgate for putting on the best event of the week for sweet toothed beer drinkers like me, and I hope my boss continues not to call me to come into work for the rest of the week (Thanks Tim).

Alright, back on the horse...or is that dog (moon/breakfast), or maybe mountain goat...