Thoughts on Situational Drinking

I was labouring yesterday for 9 hours doing a residential move, and was lucky enough to have a client that was sympathetic to our work and was giving us beer towards the end of the job as a show of appreciation (and this was not her only good quality). Doing a hard day's work on a warm and humid day really brought the thirst on, and when we were finishing, a beer like Boag's Draught went down an absolute treat. there is something about drinking a beer like that in that situation that makes you feel like it is the best beer you have ever had. I had someone ask me the best beer i ever had last week, and was completely stunned by it. It is good to think about good beers you have tried, but very difficult to say which is the best. The more i think about it, the more it is the experience that the beer is with you in that i think tends to push your judgement one way or the other. I will always remember the first time i had Guinness, and while it was from a uni bar on St Patrick's Day 1999 (so probably didn't taste that great), when I think of Guinness I think of that moment. While on Guinness, I actually think the best one i ever had was in a place called Pontoon in Ireland that I stayed with the Taylor's at when I was there. the sun was going down over the still lake, and the people really knew how the pour a good pint of it. Good people, good place, good pint. I will also remember the worst pint of Guinness I ever had, which actually came in a schooner glass, was done in a single pour with head coming over the sides of the glass. I don't think I have ever gone back to that pub in Newy. the beer didn't taste bad, it just didn't have a taste.

Still, it is funny, having that bottle of Boag's yesterday gave me a similar feeling to when i have had great beers, and reaffirmed the situational aspect beer has. I realise with the seasons and food, there are beers to accompany them with, and hope I continue to improve in this aspect of situational drinking to enhance the tasting experience. And I realise with the experiences I have had with Guinness, this is my favourite beer, even if it may not be 'the best'.

Beefy

Cooking with Beer: Experiment 1

Hi All,

After enjoying the recent easter beers with chocolate-assorted foods, and seeing I haven't yet used my 'Cooking with Beer' book Gary gave me a while back, I thought it time i actually started to experiment a bit with two of my faves.

In making a mud cake and potato bake today, I thought I would replace water, milk or cream with beer, the result seen in this photo. Seeing I still have some of our beer choc milkshake beer (with extra sediment) left over I thought i would try it out on these, as we added a lactose boost to it. The sediment went mostly in the potato bake, as i normally use cream in it, with the little liquid in the bottle going into the cake and its icing. I have not tried that cake, but seeing it was just a packet mud cake, I doubt much will come through of the beer. However, having just had the potato bake for lunch, i can say that the beer definitely sweetened the food, taking away from the savory taste of it. it also tended to be a bit drier which wasn't very pleasing either. all in all it was strange tasting a potato bake this way.

As for the cake, am hoping to take it to my mate Jaimi's final gig tonight before he heads to Germany, so hopefully can smuggle it in to the Northcote Social Club for that. I wonder if anyone will be able to pick the secret ingredient.

In other beer news, have just seen a bottlo near me on Burwood Highway called Slowbeer, that has a great range of the Rogue beers from Portland and some other good beers to try. They also seem to be quite good on price, so looking forward to going by today for a quick look around (yes, 30 mins is a quick look for me).

Well, better get going to make it to Slowbeer before the gig tonight.

Cheers,

Beefy

Additional: we did have the cake and the latest malt brew after the gig, and while we also found the cake to be a bit dry (must remember to use more liquid than sediment beer in the future), but did find the caramel sweetness of the beer this add too the flavour of the choc mud cake. sweet!

Samuel Smith Nut Brown Ale

After 123 days of over 20 degree maximums in melbourne, I find it appropriate that I be drinking this beer when the start of the cooler weather arrives. I remember having this beer when my brother and i were in the US at sequoia national park during the winter. I think it is actually the first sam smith beer i had ever tried, so was good yesterday as the cold desended that we again be drinking this beer at the Standard Hotel and Fitzroy. Very nice colour and decent head upon pouring. the first taste actually reminded me of a 'ladyboy' i had during the microbreweries showcase at Fed Square a month ago, where Holgate were combining their choc porter with their nut brown. Think the cane sugar used in this beer adds a sweetness that took me back to that flavour. a nice amount of body in the beer allowed it to be smooth enough for this style of beer to coat the tongue in the sweet nutty flavours and easily slip down the throat. this flavour also seemed to hang around nicely in the aftertaste, so was content to sip it. Definitely a beer made for days like that, and much better that the magalotti (bock) we had with pizza before and the cooper's dark ale we had after it.

-Beefy

Easter Chocolate Beers

Happy Easter Everyone,

Yesterday hung out with a few friends having a feast, and seeing it was for Easter thought it appropriate to bring along some chocolate beers to have with the hedgehog slice I made for the event. I had tried them all before apart from the Meantime Chocolate, so decided to start with that one first. it has a subtle, if not delicate chocolate aroma and flavour to it which made it perfect to start the choc beer drinking with as it lulled me into the taste of chocolate. After that the Rogue's came out to really boost the flavours as we got into the meal, followed by the Holgate. having been long enough now and having had the Rogue's from the bottle for a while now, can really appreciate it instead of just wanting the taste sensation I had the first time I had in back in the US. As dessert was served and the taste buds had dulled slightly it was time for the Southern Tier, and weren't we happy to leave this 11% choc beer til last, washed down with the hedgehog slice (which was quite rich in chocolate in itself). Again, the alcohol level really made this taste more like a liquor than a beer, so was probably the one i enjoyed the least. The rogue's is a real fave now, but was really excited by how much i enjoyed the meantime for the more subtle flavours in it. Of course, all these beers make our first choc beer attempt look pretty bad, but at least we are learning more how not to do a choc beer, so hopefully our next attempt will be better. but before we do that we are looking to redo a raspberry ale to see if we can improve on a previous attempt that went pretty well for a first go. watch this space.

The other beer news of the day was Stass and I trying our new malt beer. There was great body to the beer as it came out of the barrel for the second fermentation, but the carbonation process did diminish this mouthfeel in the final product. However, one pleasing aspect was the caramel flavours we were able to get from it, and in the end it is an easy drinking autumn ale, which is what we were looking for. hmm, could this lead to a caramel fudge-like beer in the future?

After the 11% Southern Teir, we thought it appropriate to have a Grand Ridge Supershine, seeing we wouldn't actually be increasing the alcohol level, something of an event in itself. I can safely say it was not as intense as previous times I had tasted it, but i would have hoped so after the beer journey.

Enjoy the rest of your Easter,

Beefy

Imperial Oak Aged Robust Porter (8.5%)

This Victorian brewer has an interesting range of beers, and my brother and I do enjoy the standard Robust Porter Bridge Road Brewery make, and so we both jumped at the chance to get a bottle each of this oak aged version. This excitement is enhanced coming from having tried the Moo Brew Oak Aged Imperial Stout (especially on tap). These beers are perfect for trying out this method of aging, as the beer is allowed to mellow and even gain body from the oak.

While the standard robust porter has great chocolate, coffee and caramel favours coming through, the only down side seems to be the thin mouthfeel. However, this is where the oak aged version shines creating a great mouthfeel to go with the favours in the beer. and while the standard robust porter allows the drinker to separate between the flavours, the mellowing of the flavours in the oak melds them all together for a greatly complex, but single taste in the beer that with the mouthfeel just makes you want to roll it over your tongue and slowly sip this beer away. warming the beer does not seem to ruin this sensation either, which is also a bonus.

For me, having had the Moo Brew oak aged stout on tap, I rate that over this beer, but would also like to see Bridge Road keg some of their next batch to see if they can add more complexity to the beer as seems to have happened in the Moo Brew.

While, like the Moo brew, I wouldn't recommend a person that doesn't like stouts or darker beers to try this, for anyone that does enjoy them, this is one beer to try, and see the higher potentials possible for stouts/porters.

Cheers,

Beefy

La Trappe Attack

Finally, we have got around to putting up notes on these beers. So here are our notes tasting the range of beers from La Trappe Brewery.

Blonde (6.5%)

Nice honeycomb colour, head dissipates due to the alcohol rising up to the surface. There is a thin texture of the beer. Very yeasty with a faint hint of a sweetness/bubble gum on first smell. Through the taste you get a hint of the bubble gum sweetness as it moves back towards the back of the mouth which brings out the sense of the alcohol and the light carbonated sensation which lingers in the mouth, re-hashing the flavours of the beer. This flavour of the carbonation is used in a similar way to the way that hops is generally used; as a finishing agent. This beer is better enjoyed at around 6-8 degrees C to let the full flavour and aroma of the beer to come out.

Dubbel (7%)

Reddy brown in colour, like a dark caramel. Slight raisin smell which really comes alive in your mouth. The body of the malt helps to blend all the flavours together when compared to the blonde we tried just before. Comparatives easy between this and the blonde as the structure seems to be very similar apart from the darker malt in the dubbel.

Tripel (8%)

Slightly darker in colour than the blonde and shares a strong yeasty aroma. The body/texture of the beer is much fuller than the blonde but the most noticeable difference is in the sense of alcohol across the pallet. There is a blending of the carbonation ‘zing’ with the alcohol ‘sting’ which is well executed. To be honest, quite disappointed with this after having tasted good examples of tripels (karamelite, leffe. Etc). can tell there is some complexity in the beer but does not come through well in taste. Maybe could have been left to warm longer to get more flavour.

Quadrupel (10%)

Slightly darker than the tripel. But not as dark as the dubbel. Alcohol overwhelming in taste and smell. Head is very fine showing more of the alcohol seperation from the rest of the beer. Still, very smooth in texture, though maltiness is not able to overcome the taste of alcohol in this one. As it warms, the alcohol and malt flavours create a caramel taste, so it is well worth letting sit and get to room temperature, if just to let your body deal with the alcohol you get from it. Luckily we have an annoying game of Mario to keep us occupied while we let the beer warm. maybe it is annoying because the beers we have had are lessening our hand-eye co-ordination.

Well, overall, the dark malt of the Dubbel has been our pick, but the texture of the Quad was also very good. Worth the $15 for the pack.

-Stass and Beef

St Patrick's Day 2010

Well, it is post St Patrick's, but seeing i was busy on the day, and maybe not is the correct state to be writing in this blog then, now may allow a much more coherent celebration recollection.

I won't say what time i had my first Guinness of the day, but safe to say i had one before i went to work. I am sure some of you reading this can work out from that when abouts i had the first. even though i did work, i was able to keep up my tradition of not working after lunch, which in turn allowed me to keep having guinness with lunch (or was it lunch?). the afternoon brought with it a visit to Fed Square, where the microbreweries showcase was on. Stass and my brother were able to attend with me this time, which in turn meant we were able to try many beers sharing samples, etc. I was very interested in Holgate's 'Ladyboy' (cross of nut brown and choc porter), Matilda Bay has a great selection of beers, Red Duck's belgium was interesting to see aussies trying to replicate this style, even though it was 10.5%. The Sweetwater Golden Bitter was okay too along with the True South Red Truck Lager (yes, i do enjoy lagers...sometimes). However, Tooborac had a good body in their beer, Coldstream had a porter that tasted very similar to Guinness (maybe it was just because of the day), and the Hawthorn Pale had good texture and taste too. However, much excitement was found when i saw a case of Grand Ridge Supershine sitting at their table, and that they had moonshine available to try. this is what we ended out tastings with, getting the last serving of it for the day, and we were able to stand in the quiet and the crowd dissipated and enjoy this last morsel of beer. 

However, more was to come, as we had seen that Beer Delux had a keg of the Moo Brew Aged Imperial stout, and for $23 each, we sampled a pot of this amazing beer and felt the world mellow in the presence of this beer. quite spectacular body and from the keg the head created a new, lighter layer of taste just to complexify the beer even more than before, the balance of sweet and bitter as the beer descended down our throats brought with it such a sense of content it felt like a bargain to have got it for $23, and made us feel sorry for those that had not tried it. Apart from a Guinness (which i had earlier anyway), this was the best beer to celebrate a day known for stout drinking. I can't even remember how long it took for us to drink that pot, but it is the slowest i have ever drunk so little an amount of beer, and it easily lasted an hour as Stass and I got lost in it's tasting.

well, it was a delightful St Pat's Day, which a much more sophisticated Guinness Man enjoyed. and there is going to be more enjoyment to come from it, as we made an investment in our happiness by ordering a case of the supershine which hopefully will be in our possession by the end of the week, where much wintery contented drinking will come from, and not just for this coming winter either.

Happy Post St Patrick's Day everyone,

Guinness Man (Beefy)

Full Malty, Wales (4.8%)

Welcome to Autumn!

And what a way to bring it in with this beer. As a lover of malt, when i found this beer, I just had to try it. I have to say this is the maltiest beer i have ever tasted, and didn't Stass see that when he saw how excited I was after the first taste. Trust the welsh to make a ball-busting malt beer. Velvety in texture, it was able to tick many boxes of what i enjoy in beer. While Stass tried to convince me that it needed something to offset the sweetness of the beer, I recalled what I had heard at the Cooper's brewery tour the week before where i was told that hops were not a necessary part of beer, and savoured the full malt sweetness of this beer.

I have definitely been inspired now to try and make my own malt beer, and maybe even add some honey for more sweetness. Hey, when have Stass and I ever brewed by halves? Which came into question not long after trying this beer, when we tried our half sediment/half liquid choc stout. Let's just say it was quite an experience, and if you have any of the photos of us trying it stass, put them up here, as a warning to others that may try it. Still, I managed to finish my half of the...beer?

Cheers to beers,

Beefy

Last Weekend of Summer

Hi anyone,

Seeing last summer i spent half of it in the winter of Canada and the US, as you can see this summer have made the most to enjoy it around australia. I decided for the last weekend of summer to go back to basics, so made a trip to Foster for their annual country show and hang out with fellow brewers Gary and Kim who actually had beers entered in the show for judging.

From the entries you can see in the photo, Gary came second in the Lager section, and Kim came first in the Ale, second in Cider. Of course there was much comparing of beers later that day to make our own judgements, and many outlandish statements made over whose brews were better. I wasn't able to put in any of our own homebrews into the show, but was able to take our bright ale replica and choc stout for some other homebrewers to try out.

The next day we enjoyed a walk on the beach and I took my last swim for the summer at Waratah Bay (near Wilson's Prom), before taking my leave and heading north to a brewery I had been meaning to visit since i tried their scotch ale a few years ago. 

Grand Ridge Brewery is nestled in the rolling hills of Mirboo North. I tried a stout and of course a Moonshine on tap, along with one of their great steaks (the left over grains from brewing are given to their cattle to provide the steaks). Here is a photo of the premise with the bar with the vats in the background. It was good to chat with country folk here and over the whole weekend. The one disappointment was that they are not bottling their next batch of Supershine til tomorrow, so I missed out on getting some of that while i was there. It is so hard to find it i thought for sure i could get some here, but alas missed out.

Then once I got back to Melbourne, was able to enjoy an evening hanging out with friends (of course with a few beers). All in all, a great end to summer. Hope you all had a good summer too. Now I get to look forward to enjoying fuller bodied and tastier beers with Autumn to cool things down.

Beefy

Phoenix Lager, Mauritius (5%)

As one of my last international beer of the aussie summer, and as to celebrate my favourite band starting their tour of Oz today (they will be in melbourne on Friday), I thought it appropriate I have this beer. I have been looking for this beer for many years after hearing the joke that Phoenix (the French band) named themselves after this beer. It is one of the interesting things with the band that they have these quirky tales about themselves, and I reckon some of that is even in this beer. It is an easy drinking beer, but also has a maltiness and a quirky sense of apple (?) to sweeten it. While being lager it also seems to be smooth, so the similarities with the band continue. Also, because of it's style, the beer is very much a summer beer, as Phoenix produce summery sort of tunes. Much like aspect of the band and their music, the Phoenix beer has aspect that intrigue and don't fully understand, but only add to my liking of it. A smooth, sweet lager is not very common in my experience, especially with the yeasty and hoppy beers that seem prominent in Australia. It almost seems like fate that I finally find this beer just weeks before the band come here, however, I think I will be enjoying this friday's gig more than this beer. Still, I am quite happy to find that I enjoy both. A fitting farewell to summer!

Beefy