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

Beer Journey of Adelaide

Hi Fellow Beeries,

Just back from a trip to Adelaide. Unfortunately I didn't try a West End lager :(, but did get to try a few beers while over there. First I did a brewery tour of Coopers, which ended up being the best value for money brewery tour i have ever done. Not only was the tour interesting (sorry to all the other tourists for having to endure all the questions I asked), but as you can see, we tried their whole range of beers, including 2 of their vintage ales and we got to keep the tasting glass we used. 

Of these, I quite liked the light, but malty and citrusy taste of the clear (yes, even the tour guide agreed low carb beer is an oxymoron), of course the best extra stout, but the overwhelming best was the 2008 vintage ale. I had never actually tried this one after being slightly disappointed by the 2007 vintage, but was it ever great. low, and well blended level of hops with a velvet dark malty taste, that even after 8 other beers still came through so well. I will be on the look out to find some more of this (if I can find it). The other well remembered part of this experience was to hear from the tour guide that technically, beer does not need hops to be a beer. Take that you american hop heads!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also, as to be expected, i did make a visit (or two...or three) to the Wheatsheaf Hotel. The first visit i had a Rouge's Pilsner on tap (yep, just too hoppy for me), a Southern Teir Raspberry Ale (hmm, sweet raspberry) and an Ace of Spades Stout (bit too coffee, but velvety texture). The second visit was kept to one beer.

This is a Southern Tier Imperial Chocolate Stout. And did it ever pack a punch. it felt like i was drinking chocolate essence, with a strong bittersweet chocolate taste and 11% alcohol. It took me 2 hours to drink the 650ml bottle and 4 hours to stop feeling drunk afterwards. it was an experience, and almost too much even for me!

Third visit i kept very quiet just having a Samuel Adams Black Lager, in the style of a Carlton Black or Tooheys Old. I actually found this to be very enjoyable and even just sipped it to enjoy it longer and let it warm. it was quiet malty but didn't have the wateriness of a lager. it was quite smooth which was a pleasant surprise.

Another beer of interest was a Maiden Ale by locals Brew Boys, which seem to be quite an experimental brewer.

Two other gastronomical experiences occurred that were of great interest to me. One was a good Lamb and Guinness Pie I had with a Pint of the Black stuff I had at the Irish pub across the road from the Fringe Festival's Garden of Unearthly Delights. Gravy in the pie was awesome. The other is the Top Deck Hot Chocolate and White Mud Pie I had at a place called Cocolat. Good dense cake, and good blend of white and dark chocolate in the drink. I think these say a lot about my taste in beer as well...

Cheers,

Beefy 

Beer Journey of Perth

Hi all,

Having come back from Perth early this morning and while the trip is fresh in my mind thought i would divulge my trip to Perth. To be honest, beer became just something to accompany the great time Joel and I had over there. I only really tried a few different beers. 1) Swan Draft. For a mainstream beer is actually went down ok, and the normal yeastiness was not as present. Trust WA to do a half decent mainstream beer. Still, it has a great amount of competition. 2) Monkey Brass Stout by the Sail and Anchor in Freo. Fairly standard aussie stout, but had a good texture and did appreciate the vanilla in it from my own musings. 3) IPA, again by Sail and Anchor. Good hit of malt on impact with the tongue but then overidden by hops which is right for the style.

Ok, so the first beer i had was a Guinness  in Yokine's Mighty Quinn Irish Pub. Suppose to be quite good with the pour and while 2 were quite good for aussie standards, one was not quite with them. good texture even though slightly watery. Also had a beef and guinness pie, which was tender but had something else in the gravy that did not sit well.

Of course the carlton at the rugby (force vs brumbies) was not great, but being midstrength it went down quite too quickly to notice taste, plus as my attention was more on the game.

Anyway, as with most people, Little Creatures is the place to visit when in Perth, so we decided to go both on Saturday and Sunday. As you can see we got excited seeing the big vat of Bright Ale behind the bar, and hoping it had sufficient stock in it. We had two great visits where the atmosphere creates a time warp where 4 hours goes by in 30 mins.

Also on the Sunday, we were lucky enough to have friends with a boat that offered to take us out to Rotto (what is it with shortening words with 'o' in Perth?), so of course we took it and after exploring it by boat we stopped at the Quokka Arms (yes, i thought it would have been small seeing quokka's have small arms. Hey, there's the Dad Joke you were after Em!) for lunch and soak up the great place. 

As you can see, having got a good possie, James Squire Golden Ale became the beer of choice here, and for most of the rounds we had over there. 

Anyway, thanks to Zven, Em and Phil for their great hospitality to go above and beyond to make our trip so amazing. I look forward to heading back over there. Maybe next time we will have time to try out the other renowned breweries we didn't have time (would you believe i didn't make time for that!!!!) to see this time.

Cheers,

- Beef 

Deus, Belgium/France (11.5%)

I just spent a week up at my folks farm and had one night out with my friends Kate and Cam and so hit Silo on the foreshore for dinner. Apart from a local Murray 'Endless Summer' (easy drinking lager with a hit of hops) every other beer I asked for was not available. therefore I just had to spend big on one bottle of this stuff (at $65 for the 750ml bottle). A spiced ale brewed in Belgium and aged for a year in a cave in France, this 2006 vintage sounded more like a wine than a beer, and then when it was served in an ice bucket and champagne flutes I was quite interested to see if it actually tasted like beer. 

Only having tasted 'a few' beers in my time on earth and some concentration could I taste the beer. My mate Cam thought it tasted like a light rum. As you can see in the photos it is clear like a lager and as usual the head did not hang around for long after pouring. The initial taste was a bit of a head spin. I don't really get into spiced beers but with the aging this one had it was quite mellow of the foretaste, then as you would think the alcohol starts to take over as it slips down the throat. However, even this was mellowed and there was no alcohol sting or aftertaste. 

Even the change from spice to alcohol in taste was very easy in this beer, so like a couple of beers of this alcohol i have tasted now, for what it was it was quite easy drinking (unlike the 14% Epic beer i had in Portland over a year ago). I have tasted beer with 7% or 8% that have a harsher alcoholic taste, along with a harsher masking taste to dilute the alcohol or over-stimulate the tastebuds ready for the alcohol hit. While it is not really a beer I enjoy the taste of that much, it had been brewed very well and so can appreciate the effort that had been done to produce it. still, my whole mouth was very furry the morning after. One beer I can say I have tried and don't need to taste (or pay for a taste) again.

Am heading off to Perth today so who knows what beers I may find there...

Cheers,

 - Beefy

Bright Staircase Porter (5.7%)

Having just done the climb up Mt Bogong on the weekend, and knowing this brewer did a beer named after the track used to get up the mountain, I thought it appropriate i try this when i went into a great bottlo today (am sure to discuss this in later blog entries with shopping for beer). This beer poured dark with very little on the nose which isn't too uncommon for a porter. what little i can get in smell is slight cocoa and even a touch of alcohol (still, not as much as the brandy we drank while on the hike). I am not sure if it is just this batch or individual beer, but upon opening the beer, head started to come out the top, and while it has settled in the glass, everytime i take a sip it heads up in my mouth. I am finding the very hard to overcome to be able to taste the beer. It really is very difficult to taste this beer as carbonation takes over, and finding i have to sip so my mouth doesn't explode with foam. it does seem to be quite standard with a coffee/choc foretaste, but then as it slides over the tongue a chemical mid-palette appears with a dusty cocoa aftertaste. However, this doesn't seem to linger for long, and it not bad enough to make me not want to try it again (in the hope for something better). the carbonation level is so high i am feeling bloated after only a third of the beer, which again is quite disappointing. Like the walk it started with a lot of energy (head) but has become a very slow process as i continue along, with a need for periods of rest. there is also a lot of air/carbonation being processed. one difference is though that unlike a heavy pack, this beer does not sit hard on the stomach, which at least makes it easy in one regard to drink. The further i go along the stronger the chemical taste seems to become (or is it more just the carbonation?), which again only takes me further from enjoying this beer. In a final comparison I think like Mt Bogong, i will probably not be trying this beer again.

Beefy

Beer Journey Coming Soon and Maybe More

Greetings all!  Well, the holiday season is almost a distant memory as most of us get thrown back to the reality of the daily grind.  Beef and I have tried to remedy this with a spot of retail therapy, in the form of a beer gift pack. On special might I add!
We were looking for the next beer to experience and write up on BeerDakari when Beef came across this box set for $15!  Grabbing one box each, we excitedly exited the shop and chatted about the amount of money we'd saved as well as when would be a good time to start this beer journey.
We decided that since we had 2 boxes (containing: 1x La Trappe Blond (6.5%), 1x La Trappe Dubbel (7%), 1x La Trappe Tripel (8%), 1x La Trappe Quadrupel (10%) and 1x La Trappe tasting glass), we should enjoy one box and then use the second box to take some more detailed notes about what we were tasting and our thoughts.  This one is going to be interesting so stay tuned!
One other thing that could be in the pipe line is a blog entry on shopping for beer.  What you might look for in a kit beer, what equipment you might need for basic brews and where is a good place to start for supplies.

We look forward to bringing you more entries over the coming weeks.

- Stass

Samuel Smith Imperial Stout (7%)

Ok, going to take this a bit slower. this Samuel Smith offering pours with less head but definitely darker in colour than the Taddy. I must confess that i have tried this before, and am generally a bit taken aback but Imperial Stouts. they seem to be hoppier and leave an aftertaste i do do enjoy. still, after the taddy, will be interesting to see how different this is in comparison.

If i thought the Taddy had some taste about it, this one is a fist slamming sort of beer. the intense sort of caramel taste in it is, while enjoyable, almost too much for a simple man like myself. The alcohol smell is also more pronounced and am glad i didn't drink this one first. much more robust than the taddy, i find it almost overbearing. each taste by itself is quite nice, but in combination, and with the higher alcohol, it is too much for me to enjoy. hopefully like the taddy, if i let it warm if may mellow out in taste.

As it warms, there does seem to be a slight mellowing. hopefully this is a sign the tastes are blending a bit more so it is not so intense. still, the alcohol taste still resides high. still, the aftertaste is also more bearable. After a great australia day weekend, this beer is now starting to make me sleepy. While i didn't have beers like this on the camp, many homebrew bright ales were consumed with great pleasure. It may not be right, but it made a great breakfast beer yesterday. I hope everyone else had a great day too, even (or especially) if you didn't start it the way i did with 2 longnecks at 8am.

anyway, as for this beer, unless sleepiness and alcohol are taking effect, the warmth has made this beer much more drinkable, however, as i have said, the intensity of this beer is too much for me to enjoy. maybe on a cold winter day i would contemplate this beer, but maybe only if shared. it sure doesn't taste like 7%.

Good luck to those that give this beer a go, and Happy Post Australia Day Everyone.

Cheers,

Beefy