St Patrick and his Goat

Happy St Pat's Day,

Like I hope many of you did, I had a great day yesterday. I managed to get to the Drunken Poet right on 12, and over the 8 pints was able to soak up the atmosphere of a real Irish style pub with the best Guinness in Melbourne. I reminisced of my St Pat's Day in Ireland 3 years ago, and traveling through the country.

Just as I was finishing my last pint before the Drunken Poet closed, I get a call from my mate Jimmy, who tries to inform me that Mountain Goat Brewery will be calling me to see if I can work their tomorrow (ie, today). Of course the rowdy crowd made it hard for us to hear each other, but managed to understand enough to get very excited, finish my Guinness and head out of the pub. I managed to sober up enough on the tram trip home and the walk to the Royston so that by the time Jane called me from Mountain Goat (while I was walking past Mountain Goat) I could have a half decent conversation and have it confirmed I will be working their today bottling their latest batch of beer. WHOOOO HOOOOO!

So then I get off the phone and walk into the Royston, high five Stass and get myself a Holgate Empress before sitting down the tell him my good news. Such a good experience having my second favourite aussie beer (sorry, Moo Brew Vintage Stout '08 still beats it) and my brother in beer together in that moment, and reminded me of when we sat down at Beer Delux and tried the Moo Brew Vintage Stout on tap. Another great St Pat's Day moment was made. Then after a feed and a couple Empress', we headed off to the Rainbow for a Twoks gig. The only unfortunate thing was after Guinness and the Empress, it was really hard to find a beer that didn't bring us back to earth. First I tried an Erdinger Dunkel, but the wheat only bloated me a bit, so went harder and Stass and I shared a a Chimay Blue, which while good, still didn't sit well. Anyway, in the end we were able to talk with an Irishman to finish off the day, so it all worked out.

So now I woke up at 5am this morning and had my life in beer flash through my mind as I take this first step of working in a brewery. I look forward to just being in that environment and soaking up the realisation something has happened, I have a start.

Here is to the luck of the Irish, and the steadiness of the mountain goat. Let's see what happens from here.

Cheers,

Beef/Guinness Man

Microbrewery Showcase 16/3/11

Hello Fellow Beerers,

So another showcase is on and got in early yesterday to try and give me a chance to chat to some brewers and pass out my resume to see if I could find some interest in my limited but enthusiastic experience with beer. Unfortunately, this setting just does not work well for talking to people about job opportunities, and my interest in beer took over from looking for work. Overall, I have to say that there is a lot more experimentation going on, so found it easy to find beers I hadn't tried before, and beers I wanted to try again. As well as speaking to the bar staff about the beers they were serving, I found it enjoyable to talk to general punters to find their flavour and give them some tips on beers to try (especially chocolate beers, but will get to that later). I also got to see a few familiar faces like Ian who I see at the Royston and Dave from Moo Brew in the crowd. For the first time I got through all my tickets, and had just returned my glass when random people started giving me tickets and the servings started getting big at the end of the event.

Ok, so with my notes, I did try and number them so I knew the order of tasting, but that fell through, so will try and get my journey as close as possible.

1) Prickly Moses - Otway Brewing Organic Blueberry Hefeweizen - Okay, I was warned by 'Irish' at this bar that this was not a starter beer as it was too flavourful, so maybe my tastebuds are getting too dulled, but for me this was a great starter beer. The style gave it the bubblegum i would expect and found banana in with the blueberry. It was quite refreshing with a light sherbert sugar that held on well into the midpalate. A very good start!

2) Kooinda Belgian Witbier - I had also wanted to try the Kraka Raspberry Wit and the Valhalla (darker ale), but unfortunately they hadn't made it. As for this beer, I found it a bit generic in fruitiness and had a good texture for the style. I could really see where some raspberry would fit in with this beer to enhance it, so will be on the look out for the Kraka and Valhalla. Also saw this brewery are using Eco-kegs, which was interesting to talk to the staff about and my thought that there may be carbonation issues was true.

3) Mildura Choc Hops - This was the most interesting beer of the whole night for me (and Ian as it turned out). I am sure the staffy was overwhelmed by the excitement I showed over this beer, and yes I did go back later in the night for a second helping. My tasting notes go as this "wow - actually tastes like chocolate, most real chocolate taste I think I have ever had from a beer. So sweet on front palate, nothing after. Texture not there (problems with keg), but that flavour is incredible (How!!??). Smells like Chicos! Does dry on back palate but no flavour. All Choc sweet!". It was pretty cloudy (they used cocoa powder) and they use cocao nibs to get the chocolate flavour, but I was a bit confused as to how they got it so sweet as I thought these would bring more of a bitter style of chocolate to the beer. Still, it is what it is, and I was amazed by it. I would be happy if I could brew something similar.

4) Arctic Fox Chocolate Stout - After the last beer I had to then compare with this one. Well, like all my experiences with Arctic Fox, this one also left me disappointed. The beer was too cold. There was a slight sweet choc smell which converted to taste, but then bitters up quite early on the palate and lingers in aftertaste. What a comedown from the previous beer.

5) Holgate Temptress - Ok, an old favourite of mine, but had to go for it after the previous two. Compared to the other two as a great balance of sweet and bitter choc flavour and better roundness of flavour overall because of it. I also had the chance to try their new 'Empress' at the Royston the night before which is basically an imperial version of this beer (10% Woah!). Compared to that, the Temptress is a bit sweeter and rolls over the tongue a bit easier. Still, who wants easy when you can have a much more flavourful version of the Tempress in the Empress, which still retains good texture and the higher alcohol does not burn or take away from that classic flavour of the Tempress. Empress actually reminded Mick and I of the Rogue's Chocolate Stout, so had to congratulate the Holgate staffy on the Empress when I got this beer. Too bad they did not have the Empress there last night.

6) Mornington Peninsula Saison - After the chocolate beers, needed to refresh the mouth, so went for this beer. Was a lot darker than expected with a slight darker fruit smell that what is usual for the style. Has a decent flavour and is pretty standard for my taste, so is probably more robust than normal. was also a bit overcarbonated, but a good attempt at this style.

7) Bridge Road Chevalier Saison - After the previous beer had to taste off against this one. I prefer this one over the Mornington, as it has much more of a traditional Sasion flavour to it, and has the lightness and fruitiness that makes it such a good summery beer.

8) Bright Brewery Raspberry Lambic - So, while on Belgium styles I had to give this a go. Expecting it to be a real lambic I made sure the dull the tastebuds a bit before getting to it, but then cleanse the tongue with the previous saisons. When it poured I saw it was pretty light in the red colouring, and after tasting it, realised it was a very subtle version of a lambic which was fairly sweet and not much sourness at all. I guess not being able to use to real approach to lambic brewing in Australia really confines what you can achieve, but happy to see this is being attempted at all here.

Ok, from here I stopped noting when I had the beers.

9) Three Troupers Amber Ale - Sweet caramel smell with some artificial sweet caramel taste that dies off from the mid palate.

10) O'Brien Rat Bitter Ale - Good to see a mainly gluten free brewery at the showcase and to come out with a non-gluten free beer. While I guess from the title of the beer it is suppose to be bitter, there is only a very slight bitterness in the beer itself. There a pretty sweet caramel honey smell and taste before the slight bitterness on midpalate, but then the sweetness come back and lingers on the backpalate. Chatting to the staff from here I could finally have answered a question I had always wanted to know about their Gluten Free Brown Ale which was how they achieve the malt flavour, and found they are able to malt the sorghum same as other grains.

11) Cavalier Brown - Nice caramel smell but does not translate into flavour. Still has a decent amount of texture though.

12) 2 Brothers Chief (Oktoberfest Marzen Bier) - has quite a dark look and smells of dark wheat. There is some sweetness from the malt but not so much wheat flavour. It also has a fairly watery texture, which I probably only notice because I would expect more from the colour and flavour.

13) Holgate Road Trip (American IPA) - Very hoppy smell and just enough malt to carry the hops. Still, this was getting later in the tasting, so am sure with a fresh palate this would be way too overbearing for me personally. Therefore, it is a good attempt at an American style IPA.

14) Bridge Road Red Rocket - A 9% beer with caramel and big hop smell. Was a little unsure on the taste of this one. Wasn't sure if it was a dark fruit or a spice flavour I was getting out of it. It seemed to be a bit heightened but wasn't harsh, just distinct. It melds alright with the red ale style and of course do get the alcohol, but was only when I went back that I found they used Muscat barrels. Very interesting.

15) Bridge Road Robust Porter - While I was back asking about the Red Rocket, I got into this old favourite.

16) Mornington Peninsula Brown - Waited way too long to try this beer, but then was too cold, had an artificial sweet brown taste, and was overcarbonated, so not much of a loss.

17) 2 Brothers Guvnor - After the Red Rocket, thought it was time I tried this Barely Wine. It definitely had the dark red colour and dark sweet smell I would expect. There was a good creamy texture and tasted pretty sweet with some wine flavours coming through. However, it does not leave an aftertaste, so was quite easy to go back to.

Okay, from here I went back and tried the Choc Hops again, had a hit of the Mirboo Midnight and 2 hits of the Supershine also from Grand Ridge, and then a taste of the Hawthorn Pale Ale and Amber Ale. Ok, so all up that is more than 20, but who is counting.

This event just seems to get better each time they have it. I really like the European slant that I could take with my journey, and seems there is more out there for fruity, sweet, and chocolate drinkers, which am sure will be good to attract women into beer.

Well done to everyone involved and even though I didn't get to do much to help me job wise, as always just good to see what is happening in Victorian brewing.

Now to keep the drink up for St Pat's Day. If I can remember it I'll let you know how I go. My plan though is to hit the Drunken Poet for the best Guinness in Melbourne, then maybe come back this way for some Empress at the Royston before hitting the Rainbow for a Twoks gig. Bring it on!

Cheers,

Beef/Guinness Man

Europe do over does me over, and other tales of beer...

Going the a BBQ on the weekend, and seeing Joel, Sean and myself had all been to Europe, I had a few beers to try out and get them in on.

However, to start with, seeing Summer had only just past and found Red Duck do a Bright Ale, we were able to taste it off with the great one from Little Creatures. While I could get the citrus notes on the nose with the Red Duck, it just did not have the taste or texture. It tasted more like a wheat beer with only a slight hint of citrus towards the back. It was also quite cloudy and seemed to be a bit watery which also denoted wheat. I will get back to wheat in a bit...

I also had two Belgium beers to try. The first being Brugs Zot Bruin, which Joel brought back from Brugge. I think I remember having this over there and not being overly impressed by it. Some dark malt and a bit too much carbonation maybe, but not a lot of texture. Mind you, we were watching the Super Rugby so not all of my attention was on the beer. The other beer was the Duchesse de Bourgone (or something like that). I had remembered having it over there for the Belgium Beer Weekend, but could not remember when I was at Slowbeer whether I had liked it or not. Upon tasting I was reminded that I didn't, and out of the bottle was worst than when I had it on tap. definitely a lighter lambic taste with some of the slight serberty sweetness, but not enough to overcome the sour. Much prefer a Faro over this.

The last one was actually from Czech Republic, the one beer that taunted me while I was in Prague...The Cenra Hora Granat. Unfortunately it tasted pretty much like the other dark Czech beers I tried over there, but a bit worst (possible from traveling, as Joel also sent this one back). Had less of a the sweetness I generally had with the dark beers, about the same texture, but also this alkaline flavour. I know Joel and Duff mentioned it was highly carbonated when they tried it over there, so maybe this is an effect from that after the beer has aged a little while.

So, unfortunately not one of the best beer tastings I have had for a while, and sorry to put you guys through it.

However, things did pick up as Stass and I bottled our Russian Imperial Stout and had a go at an Ace of Spades Stout which was quite chocolaty, and enough texture to help it go down nicely. I did sense some alkaline as well on aftertaste, but then realised my glass was a bit dirty when I poured it, so that may not have helped. Still, in terms of the Russian Imperial Stout, there is some good texture out of the barrel, and looking forward to it mellowing out for a few months before we taste it. The barrel did take some punishment with this brew, so hopefully it was worth it. I have already set the date for the tasting, and managed to have 15 other Imperial Stouts to taste it against, which will be awesome.

Okay, as for our next brew, as with our Choc Raspberry Stout, Team Smith/McKnight have challenged us to a Honey Wheat beer off. I have heard from Smith that their beer is in the bottle already, and we have yet to start brewing ours (a bit different to last time!). Still, after some discussions with Stass, we have found an approach that we think will bring something interesting. I haven't actually brewed a wheat beer before, so is a big leap to try what we are. Still, I hope over the last 40-odd brews I have developed a little commonsense to be able to pull this off. I will not give away anything yet (I know they will be reading this), except to say we will probably use the grain mill the opposing team gave me for my birthday.

Finally, I have to thanks all my friends for giving me a voucher for Purvis for my birthday last year. You will be happy to know I spent it all in one go this week, and picked up enough beers to keep me tasting and putting notes up here for a long time to come. The hardest part was carrying it all home, but there was no way I was going to drop any. I look forward to being able to share many of them with you.

Here for Beer,

Beef

Ode to Mark Leahy

This is the man...

And this is Stass and I trying out one of the Black Chocolate Stout's he brought back from New York for me...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tdX07asmF0

Thank you Mr Leahy! Come the start of winter, you will be invited as a special guest to our Russian Imperial Stout taste off that will include this and many other RIS's (including the one Stass and I are about to bottle and will be unveiling on the night). After a mild summer, expecting a cold winter, so will be great to have these 'warming' beers on hand.

Speaking of coolish weather and great men of Irish heritage, looks like this St Pat's Day will be great for Guinness drinking here in Melbourne. I nearly went for one yesterday at the best place in town for the black gold, but think I will hold off til the day. Your pints will be on me Mr Leahy! Only 2 weeks away...

Cheers again to you Mark Leahy,

Beef

Termi Tasting and Russian Imperial Stout

So,

In this week's update, Kristy and I hit the Terminus Hotel in Clifton Hill last Thursday to meet up with our mate Jimmy who works behind the bar, and sample some of the brews they have available on tap and in the fridge. Of course Kristy kept to the ciders (I quite liked the Kelly Brother's one they had), and I stuck to the beers.

I was lucky enough to see they had Mountain Goat Craig, and so, this time was able to make a couple of notes after my feeble attempt last time. I didn't remember to bring paper or pen again, but luckily Kristy and Jimmy could sort me out, so managed to note down that is had a good caramel taste with only a slight hop backpalate to cleanse.

Jimmy recommended I try the Brew Dog 5am Saint (as Damien did from Purvis), and have to say I was quite surprised by it. It has a dark caramel smell with a big toffee kick on the front of the tongue. There is a good meld from the malt to hop flavour, which lingers for a long time after swallowing. The aftertaste actually reminded me a bit like the Holgate Chocolate Porter, which must use a similar hop that works well with the sweet, dark, malt flavour. It also had a good medium body to it that worked well with the flavours.

Ok, one beer I have seen around for a long time but had never tried was the Tim Taylor Landlord Strong Pale Ale. It strong must denote flavour as the beer is only just over 4% alcohol. So, it starts with a nice caramel malt and this flavour hold on well through the beer when the beer is warm (10-12 degrees), but there is a dry and stringent hop finish that doesn't compliment the main flavour of the beer. This is worse the colder the beer is. So english ales are meant to be tasted warmer.

I also tried the 3 Ravens Uber Special Bitter (USB), which seemed to have a fairly uniform taste profile from start to finish, mainly coming from the dark malt. There is an easing of hops towards the end of the beer, but it didn't quite sit well with me. I am not sure if it is the type of hop used or the clash of hop and malt.

So, in big news, Stass and I have just put on a Russian Imperial Stout on the home brew. We made it with a lager can, dark ale can and a stout can, and added all 21g of yeast that came with the three cans...and we only made a 15 ltr batch, so could be quite intense. We do have video, but I can't seem to get them onto my imovie to put it together and up here. We have to wait 3 months before drinking once in the bottle, which will exactly get us to the start of winter...perfect timing!

Anyway that is it for now. I do have to say that one of my choc raspberry stouts exploded at 6am Sunday morning. In better news, both Stass and I will be heading out of town this weekend for some camping. Am sure a few home brews will be had while cooking on the bbq, and just hanging out at the campsite...very much looking forward to it.

Beef

Post 'Love-in' post

G'day again everyone.

Just made it back from Adelaide and wanted to let you know how the Valentine's Day plan worked out.

Well, I have a slight sunburn from the visit to the beach, but apart from that the drinks went down well, and we all got up for Phoenix.

So the line up last night before the gig went as such

1) J.J. Prum 2007 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spatlese - Okay, so not normally do you start with a wine and then go to beer, but this German Riesling is so delicate with the fruit and lovely serberty sweetness that I had to have it first. Was great to find this in Adelaide (good on ya East End Cellars!), and share with my sis, Jac and Pete. Not the best Prum I have ever had, but had all the lovely flavours and textures that I dig in this wine. Okay, okay, enough on the wine.

2) Anderson Valley Boont Amber Ale- So I have tried the stout from these guys and was a little put off by it, but must say this was the perfect beer to come off the Prum and onto the later beers. There is a lovely caramel malt that drew through from the sugar of the Prum and held very well through the beer til the 'cleansing' hops (yes, quite mild on the hops thank you very much) came on the back palate. Big thanks to the staff at the Wheatsheaf Hotel for putting up with my questioning for and hour and for picking this beer after all that. It worked a treat!

3) Rochefort 10: Okay, have spoken many time about this beer, and only had it recently with Brad and Seda, but is a damn good beer and can enjoy it anytime. The caramel flavour from the Boont was darkened further through this beer, with all of us tasting the chocolate hint that the malt goes into with this beer. You definitely feel the alcohol jump up as well at 11.3%, but at least there were 4 or us sharing it.

4) Moo Brew Vintage Stout (09 edition, # 674) - my second tasting of the '09, and was prepared for the over-carbonation this time, so didn't waste as much as previously. The overcarbonation really takes away from the smoothness of the '08 edition that allowed the fuller flavour to come through and transport you out of your body. The differing technique used on this edition may not have worked, but am still amazing that this beer only got to 50 in the top 100 craft beers in Australia. I understand that it's limited status really does skew the result, so guess am happy to even see it there at all, even if in my mind it the best beer produced in Australia. A great 'blockbuster' beer to end on before hitting the gig, and amazed to find such a limited beer in a pub to purchase.

So again, big thanks to the Wheatie for helping me put together this journey, thanks to Cat, Jac and Pete for coming on the journey with me, and thanks to Phoenix for putting on another great show after we had had a taste of all this. Sweet pub, sweet drinks, and sweet tunes, all on a syrupy Valentine's Day.

Cheers,

Beef

Beer is in the air....

It is quite unfortunate that I finally get a chance to put up this weeks notes on Valentine's Day, but at least it means I have nothing better to be doing, and what is better than discussing beer anyway...

I am actually writting this from my sister's place in Adelaide, so am spending my Valentine's Day with family, friends and my favourite band Phoenix who are to be playing just down the road from here at the Entertainment Centre.
As per usual I have made a visit to the Wheatie Hotel and sampled Moo Brew Hef and Dark Ale on tap, and I Hardcore You (Mikkeller/Brew Dog) and Brew Dog's Hardcore IPA through an Infuser filled with Cascade Hops (hoppy much!!!!), and will be heading back today to keep sampling more beers and a special beer that I will speak of later.

While talking Brew Dog, I should start with the Brew Dog Beer tasting I had on Thursday at Purvis Beer. I'll just go through the order and put my notes on each.

1) Abstrakt AB:03 (10.5%) - comes out with a light brown/reddish colour and definitely get the smell of strawberries and raspeberries. The main flavour I get is sourness on the sides and back of the tongue and reminds me a bit like a lambic beer with a dry finish.
2) Bashah Reserve - Imperial (8.7%) - has almost a red wine look to it, and while it has some of that fruit sourness of the previous beer (through the raspberries and tayberries) it is not so harsh, with a darker fruit flavour with the oak taste. There is a decent body on this beer to help as well and overall find it a complex beer but well balanced.
3) Abstrak AB:04 (15%) - pours like motor oil with no head but with a surprising chocolate and vanilla smell. This beer has Naga chillies in it, but lucikly I only get a little on the tip of my tongue, and the sweet, rich stout flavours (licorice, dark fruit) take over the taste buds. I also like the full body on this beer so the stout texture is there as well. There is definitely alcohol in it but it doesn't burn, and the flavours in the beer balance out this well.
4) Bashah Reserve - Highland - This beer reminds me of the Mikkeller Black in Islay Whiskey barrels with that smokey, peaty smell. There is a nice malty sweetness upfront and alcohol coming through the back. But has a great taste profile and a good body to it.
Alright, now for the big guns...

5) Tactical Nuclear Penguin (32%) - Not a beer I would buy, but definitely interested to try for a while, so happy it came with this tasting. I would not class this and the next tasting as beer, as it is basically distilled with freezing, but just goes to show what you can do. Anyway...Big malt, big alcohol, big smoke/wood flavours are about all I can get. The taste to the midpalate reminds me of the Brew Dog Tokyo, and definitely has that smell as well, but once the beer hits the midpalate the alcohol just errupts from it, and the burn begins.
6) Sink the Bismarck (41%) - Stepping it up ever further, but this time with a quadrupple IPA instead of an imperial stout with the Penguin, this beer is as hoppy as it comes, and could see the American market all over this beer. Hops and alcohol, that is all, and don't both burn! The hops burn my nostrils and the alcohol explodes in the mouth. The sheer heat of the alcohol expands in the mouth and the burn goes from the tip of the tongue all the way through to the stomach. It even looks like Whiskey! This had me coughing slightly from the intensity of the alcohol, and with the only other flavour hops, is definitely not a 'beer' I will be going back to. Still, as a drinkable mouthwash, it would sure kill off any bacteria you have.
Luckily we were not given big tastings of these beers, or I could have ended up like after a big beer tasting at slowbeer, but would have liked more time between beers to get more notes and appreciate each beer a bit more. Thanks to Tim and Stass (eventually) making it down with me for this beer tasting, and everyone involved, especially the Purvis boys for organising such a big beer tasting.
Ok, now at the opposite end of the scale, I was in at the Garden of Unearthly Delights in Adelaide yesterday, went up to the bar and as always, was instantly disappointed by the 'array' of beers they have available at public events. Yes, I understand why, but when I 'choose' to drink a XXXX Summer Bright Ale only because it was the only one I hadn't tried, and would rather try that over anything else they had available, that sort of said it all. Okay, on the plus side the 'XXXX flavour' is a bit diminished to make it a bit easy drinking, but apart from that, was happy to get across the road to The Stag for a Little Creatures Pale just to cleanse the palate, along with a decent chicken parma.

Ohh, speaking of parma and Little Creatures, before I got on my flight to Adelaide on Friday, I quickly hit the Royston for a parma and to try out the lastest Little Creatures Single Batch Golding Hop Ale, which while I found better than some of the hoppy beers I had the night before, the hops were a bit too overpowering for the malt flavours I got from the beer. Still, the beer did really well to cleanse the palate from each bite of the parma, and so allowed me to enjoy every mouthful of parma like it was my first bite. It also gave my Holgate Chocolate Porter (yes, on tap!!!!!) time to warm up and enjoy for dessert after the parma, so was quite content after that.

So, as for this retail day of love, there is a plan formulating in my head of what to do (and drink) with family and friends before we enjoy Phoenix. I found out the Wheatie has my favourite aussie beer (Moo Brew Vintage Stout) and the East End Cellars has my favourite wine (J.J. Prum), so splurging on good tastes, sounds and times on this Valentine's Day. Hope you are all doing something you love for this day, even if it is ruined with commercialism.

Just call me a beer romantic...

Beef

I drank beer, just didn't make any notes

Hey all,

So I am trying to get back into things, beer included.

Relying on some favourites, while friends Brad and Seda were in town, we purchased my two best Belgium beers (Rochefort 10 and Linderman's Faro...ok, very different, but show off the sheer diversity of beers coming out of a country half the size of Tasmania), and found I was able to enjoy them almost as much as I have previously. Unfortunately, the Rochefort 10 just made me sleepy. So taste buds diminished, but still working to some degree.

I also hit the Local Taphouse (recent winner of best beer venue in Australia...I am not convinced...hmm, so not only am I tired, but getting arrogant through it) to meet up with Rick to try out the latest batch of beers on tap. Tried to get a bit of a mix, and think I did ok. I went the Weihenstephaner Hefeweizen, Bridge Road Chevalier Saison, 2 Brothers 'The Chief', Dogbolter Munich Dunkel and Hargraves Hill Stout. To be very unlike me, I forgot to bring a pen so did not make any notes, and my memory is not working well enough to give you any notes, but none were offensive. The Hef was perfect for the summer, Saison a bit sourer than I remember. Chief had good malt I think, as did the Dunkel. Don't think the stout did much for me. Sorry for these lackluster scribblings.

On Friday I hit Mountain Goat and tried the Skipping Girl Summer Ale (bit too hoppy for me, typical of my relationship with Mountain Goat beers), the Hefeweizen (lovely sweetness with orange rind in Randy, and not over the top with the coriander. Again, good for the summer), Craig Pale Ale (Hmm, don't really remember), and Double Hightail (not bad actually...argh, should I stop trying now?). When it started pissing down with rain and not only was the water coming through the roof, but also backing up through the storm water drain, like everyone else we hit the Royston, and managed to get a pot of Vale Ale (ok, bit not worth number 1 of craft beers in OZ) and thanks to Helana behind the bar, a taste of the True South Mint something (yep, pretty bad when I can't even remember the name of the beer, but tasted creamy and nice level of mint flavour too), and some other beer I can't remember at all but didn't think much of. Still, had a Baileys cheesecake at the end of the night which I remember quite liking.

The only other drinking I have done in the past week or so is for Stass and Jess's engagement party. It started well with standard Boag's Premium, but then turned south with Crownies. Still, managed to drink enough of the Boag's (and quickly towards the end) to keep down the flavour of the Crownies. However, this also had the effect of bringing more alcohol to my rest deprived body and mind, getting me quite intoxicated (as some photos from the night would show). I did still managed to slightly taste the ginger in the Monteith's Summer Ale we had at the Croft Institute in town, so I wasn't too far gone.

Well, I am going to stop now before I forget anything else, unless I have already forgotten anything else I could have written up here.

Now to save my taste buds til Thursday's big Purvis beer tasting.

Beef

Rogue's John John Ale (5.6%)

Ok,

Getting back on the horse and finally on a beer my sis brought over for me for our birthday a month and a half ago (hmmm).

So, the John John is a collaboration between the spirit and brew masters at Rogue's (both called John), and is touted as an 'Ale with natural hazelnut flavor aged in hazelnut spice rum barrels'. Having enjoyed a Samuel Smith Nut Brown recently I can taste the similarity with this beer, but can taste the spice on the midpalate, and the slight rum at the aftertaste. Two things I really liked about this beer was the great smooth body this beer had, and the malty backpalate, showing the lack of hops I personally like. The head was tight and could be well coaxed with a swill, but it didn't hang around long, but could really get the nutty and slight spice smell when it was charged up.

However, overall, I was not taken by the beer. The spice doesn't do anything for me, and the combination of flavours didn't create a profile I could enjoy. I don't know if it was a Rogue yeast or my familiarity with nut brown ales, but did get a recognition from the beer.

So, a good attempt by Rogue's to get more into some aged beers with some difference, but just wasn't rounded enough for my taste. But that is a bit of the hit and miss that comes with beer.

Cheers,

Beef

The Way We Drink Vs The Way We Think

Firstly, apologies.

1) Sorry I have not been posting much on here over the past month, and discussing any new beers I could have been trying.

2) Sorry, but this post will not be discussing any new beers I could have been trying either.

To be honest I haven't been trying any new beers (apart from the really bad Mornington Peninsula Kolsh I had at the Royston last Sunday...therefore not worth discussing), and even worse, have not really been drinking at all. In the aussie summer where party season ensues, where we have just had New Years, and then Australia Day during the past week, I have not been enjoying it with and through beer much.

Now, the dreaded 'f' word, feeling. I realise I am a very lucky person, and one thing I feel lucky about when it comes to drinking is that when I am not feeling well within myself, instead of turning more towards drink, I actually turn away from it. I have probably brought up the 16th century philosopher Michel de Montaigne who discusses a little about how and why we drink. I don't drink beer so alcohol can deaden how I feel (there are much better sources of alcohol if you are looking for that), I prefer to have my feelings heightened and tastebuds stimulated through beer. This is where my interest in the versatility of beer and my own personal taste come from. When I am not feeling well, I also find my tastebuds are not so receptive, so why drink good beer?! It makes sense to me, but obviously this does not seem to be the case for many in this society, with alcoholism being a major problem in our world and it being tied to psychological problems and mental illness. Seeing a nation that still has VB and XXXX as the biggest selling beers, and even finding my own taste within craft brewing not represented well in some recent craft beer polls for Australia has annoyed me a bit.

Still, that is just beer. For a pretty docile kind of guy, I am finding myself getting easily annoyed with things in general, and probably annoying my friends and anyone around me in the process. Still, I guess one other good thing I feel lucky about is the way I deal with times like these. Unlike some that may get too caught up in their own world, I feel that drive to still be useful outside myself, and in the past couple of weeks been giving my time and blood to charity, things I like to do regularly anyway, but just become more poignant for me in times like these.

For me though, I feel the need for rest, to take the new tent I have from my birthday, find a quiet State Park near Melbourne, set it up, and just lie there for a week. At the moment I don't feel I have the time/energy to be doing what I really want, finding a job in the beer world. But, again returning to fortune, I am lucky that I still am feeling excited about beer. In a couple of weeks I will be hitting Purvis for a beer tasting of some immense beers, I have also set an overseas beer challenge trying to get access to a Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout, and Stass and I are looking to take a new step in our home brewing.

So like Michel de Montaigne said, we should always have the desire for a drink in our heads, I still have things I am looking forward to with beer, and am hoping in a couple of weeks things will change to give me the rest and energy to get on with the year I want for myself.

If you have read this and now feel disappointed, I did warn you and apologise in advance. And to my friends I have annoyed or felt I have not been engaging with them very well, I want to apologise for that too. Yeah, so normally I have a different outlet for this sort of writing, but thought for those 2 people that have been wondering why I haven't been updating this blog much, I should explain myself. Also, I may find out how many of my friends actually read this crap.

Maybe like you, I look forward to getting back to my usual drinking and describing ways.

Cheers,

Beefy