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