Beer Tasting Friday...

Sorry it has taken me a few days to get this up, but after my excitement with the previous post, I was happy to let this slide til I had time.

It is starting to become a bit of a routine that I have been hitting both Slowbeer and Purvis for free beer tastings, and have to say I did pretty well last Friday. Getting to Slowbeer right on 5pm, I had to wait for the Jagiello beer rep to turn up. Having already tried 2 of the range, I wanted to see what the others were like. There was a Pilsner, a Honey and Cherry beer along with these, so I knew there was going to be a lot of sweetness. The Pilsner was easily the easiest drinker of the bunch with good texture and less hops than I would expect. The rep said this beer was the most popular in Australia, and after tasting it was easy to see why.

The next was the Honey, which had a decent floral honey smell and the standard super sweet taste from these beers. The texture was fairly watery but funnily enough, there was no massive sweet aftertaste. However, the Cherry outdid all of the other beers for sweetness. It tasted like I had like a cherry sherbet in my mouth. It was almost too sweet for even me, and this is supposedly the most popular in Poland. I would still say the chocolate is my favourite from this Polish brewer, and happy that I still have a bottle of this at home.

After that I went to Purvis and met up with my Cus as had found they also had ciders to try. The three ciders came from the single company (can't remember which) and all were different apple types. Of the Cox, Katy and Gold, I found the Cox to have the most flavour and more enjoyable to drink, then the Katy and then Gold. Having found out that Kristy had to drink Gluten-free, the guys recommended she try an overseas beer that has been selling best in their gluten free range. However, reports are that it is no good, but will not repeat what she told me. So it seems that the O'Brien's Brown Ale is still the best we have found.

Of the beers on offer, they all came from Brew Boys, which I have to say is not a brewer I have had much of. The Maiden Ale was pretty flavourful with a good malt body. The Seeing Double Scotch Ale was pretty good too, with some good caramel taste and small hop aspect. The Stout was super roasted and the burnt carbon from the malt really hung around in aftertaste. The boys also tried a black and tan by adding the Maiden with the stout and have to say they balanced out each other quite well to give a long taste profile. Then as a little treat they boys cracked a Amager and Mikkeller collaboration beer. The alcohol was pretty high and definitely had some spirit qualities, but to be honest I have tasted better beers of this style, but there was a decent mouthfeel and a good dark malt backbone. Still, not enjoying the Weasel Brunch series, I hope that the Amager part of the combo is good.

Still, it didn't finish here. Celebrating the last night of Brad and Seda staying at my place, I took them out to the Royston for good food and beer. I started on the Brew Dog Punk IPA whcih even for me I find to be well balanced with the hops lingering for a good amount for this style. The malt is good enough the carry, and meld into the hops. Jimmy arrived (with good news that his Trivia nights will be back next week) and joined us as we got onto the Bridge Road Red Rocket, which went down a treat with after after dinner. Feeling ok after all this, we hit Mountain Goat and was amazed to find they had Holgate Temptress on tap. Along with the cucumber sandwich, skipping girl and steam through a cascade-hopped randy, I ended up getting another pint of the Temptress. The Rocket and the Tempress were easily the best beers of the night, and Brad even said it was one of the best beer tasting night he ever had. I hope we have many more to enjoy, and we even had one on Sunday when at a little housewarming for Brad and Seda I took across my growler of Brew Dog 5am Saint. It really is a well rounded beer with some great flavouring. The hops is a little too much for me, but still balanced enough with classic Brew Dog malt background to make it an enjoyable beer.

It is good to have this level of tasty beer available to me within walking/cycling distance to me, and that I am able to enjoy it just about anytime I like. Not to mention the stash of beer I am still getting through at home, it really is an important time for me with beer, and really rising the wave that I hope will keep taking me to where I want to be...not just drunk.

Cheers,

Beef

Two Favourites Team Up This Easter!

Ok, here is the first story. January, 2009 my brother and I are traveling the N/W of the United States and arrive at Portland, Oregon, having taken the train from Seattle. We get to our hostel, and seeing it is getting dark, visit a few brewpubs near there for our first night. The next day we walk through the city and out to the S/E burbs. My brother being big on coffee has found a patisserie in his travel guide that he wants to try. We arrive, sit down, I open the menu at a random page, and as if by magic, I open it to this page.

Up until this point in life I had only ever tried a Young's Double Chocolate Stout and not been impressed, but upon opening this page, the decision of what to have is made up. The partisserie actually has a keg of this stuff seeing the brewery is in Portland, and so the Rogue's Chocolate Stout is poured and served to me with the warm Queen Sheba Chocolate Truffle cake.

This photo is the last photo of me before I became enthralled in the world of chocolate beers, and I seem pretty excited for it to happen. It may seem a bit sad to say a beer has changed your life, but along with a very select few, this was one of those moments.

Story two. About 6 months after the first story, I am visiting my sister in Adelaide, playing Mario Kart on the Wii and finding 250th Anniversary cans of Guinness (my first life changing beer). Knowing my enthusiasm for beer, both my mate Jaimi and my sister recommend I visit a pub they know about that they say does good beer over there. With a little skepticism (hey, Victoria is the craft beer state of Australia), my sis and I make our way into the Wheatsheaf Hotel in Thebarton. My eyes light up when I see the taps they have (including my favourite aussie brewer Moo Brew), and even more when I see the list of bottled beers they have available. This is a photo of me on my first visit to the Wheaty.

Here is where the two stories begin to merge. Look at the final beer on the list. That's right, Rogue's Chocolate Stout. The first time I ever see this beer outside of the US. I am amazed. I drink one there (whilst talking the ears off the barstaff), and bring one back with me to Melbourne to share with my friends. It is now a tradition each time I go to Adelaide to visit the Wheaty, which is helped by my sis living near it.

Now, let's take this story even further and to the present. I recently got onto the Wheaty's newsletter, and through that found out they had new stock of the bottled Rogue's Chocolate Stout. I was starting to contemplate getting my sister to send me across a bottle, as I can't even seem to find a bottlo in Melbourne that has it. Then, in an even more recent newsletter, I hear they are actually getting a keg of the Rogue's Choc Stout in their bar. A Keg! After 2 years, I finally have a chance to try this beer on tap again. I contact my sis immediately to get her to keep an eye out for it, and contact the Wheaty to ask if they can let me know when it will be on, as I am willing to come over to Adelaide for it (Hey, I went to Ireland for Guinness, and Belgium for the Belgium Beer Weekend, this is nothing compared to that. Hmm, does that make me sound even sadder?).

In response, 2 days ago Jade from the Wheaty sends me this email

"Howdy John,

Now that’s the kind of commitment to good beer we love!

So much so, if you let me know when you can make it over here (within the next 3 weeks) I’ll make sure we don’t tap the Keg of Rogue Chocolate until you arrive – and we’ll shout you a pint or two for your troubles. There’ll also be plenty of other brews to play with – and to help justify the ‘cab fare’…"

Of course, I am amazed they are willing to hold off tapping it til I get over there, so contacted my sis to see when a good time is to visit her and booked my flights to be over in Adelaide for Easter. Come the 20th April, the two beer stories at the start of this post will fully merge, and I can have a pint of one of my favourite beers in the world, from the tap in one of my favourite pubs in the world.

Forget your chocolate eggs, I have chocolate beer for this Easter!

Cheers,

Beef

First Visit to Josie Bones (Sorry Bro)

I found out yesterday arvo that Josie Bones was about to finish off a keg of Holgate Empress, so an hour later I was walking into the restaurant to sit down and have a couple. I had actually been waiting til my brother was available to come with me for my first visit to this beer and food mecca of Melbourne, but with the limited availability of this brew, and it being my second favourite beer made in Australia, I just had to go.

I think my excitement walking in and seeing the Empress on the beer board made me come across quite strange to the waitress that approached me, but once she realised I liked beer and was there for the Empress, she soon got me seated and with a glass of the good stuff. I am not sure if the pour was so good on the first one, or if after a week at the bar the beer was just not as fresh, but there was a bit of a chalky flavour in the beer, much like when we added too much cocoa powder to one of the choc porters Stass and I made. The texture was also a little off with it a bit watery and the flavours were separated a bit, but still had enough velvety chocolate heading into liquorice before the alcohol hits towards the back.

Looking over the food menu I saw they had a black pudding with apple slices and ginger sauce, and seeing I had a pretty dark beer, this was probably as close as I could get a meal that would suit the beer. However, I then realised they also had the Rogue's Dead Guy Ale, which while is probably the most accessible of the Rogue's beers, is one I had not tried before, so decided to break up my Empress journey with the glass of this over dinner.

Expecting a pretty hoppy beer from Rogue's, I was happily surprised to find it flavourful and pretty easy drinking. A nice, maybe mainly krystal sweet malt front, melded great into citrus hops with no lingering aftertaste. Flavourful but not overpowering, was surprised with the lovely balance of the beer. Maybe I am starting only to remember the big hoppy beers from my trip to the N/W of the US.

The black pudding itself was really good too. Was surprised to see so much apple slices next to the pud, but after seeing how flavourful and creamy it was, found it took a lot of apple to give a really good balanced taste overall. I did make this comment to the waitress, and she did explain how they got it so creamy, but once I got back onto the Empress for my final beer I had forgotten what she had said.

As you can see from the photo, the second pouring of the Empress went pretty well (though I think the keg was nearly out as it took a while for the barman to get it to me after a few pour-and-settles), and could get really lost in the beer. Now I just have to wait til Slowbeer get it on the growlers and Holgate finally put it into bottles.

Great beer, great food and great service make this a well worthy place to visit, and I look forward to getting back to Josie Bones when Mick can make it, to see what other beers come across their bar.

Cheers,

Beef

Saison Tasting

So, the tasting went pretty well on Saturday. Jami, Nadene, Stew and myself got together to taste 4 Saisons; Bridge Road Saison, Bridge Road Printemps Saison, Saison Dupont Biologique, and the St Feuillien Saison.

Testing out my new camera, I put together this vid from the tasting. Not so much about the beers, but about the good times had around beer, so thanks to all of you for coming along for it.

Having just recently tasted the Bridge Road Saison (seeing it came 9 in the critics choice of aussie beers) I knew the nice light fruity flavours from this beer, so was interested more in its comparison with the Printemps version. There was definitely more roundness in the flavours and more depth of fruit. almost like a blueberry addition to the blend that worked well and added more body to the beer. I think a definite improvement on the base, and so thought it might stack up well against the true Belgian Saisons. Well, was I ever proven wrong. Not to say this Aussie attempt is not good, but the originals are still the best. The Saison Dupont had more texture and sweetness upfront that really rose itself above the Printemps, but it was really when we hit the St Feuillien that even more texture and a lovely caramel came into the beer to give it an even fuller flavour. I sensed that this may have come from having used a dark candied sugar like what Stass and I have used in out honey wheat beer, so if something like this result can come through into our, I will be greatly pleased.

Turning the tasting further from the easy drinking start to a more robust finish was a great journey into these beers, and have to say, finished on my favourite from the tasting. I think everyone else noticed this as well, and the taste (and silliness) progressed well through the beers. unfortunately I did not take any detailed notes, but did notice some of us found more dryness in the Belgian beers and a bit more of the bubblegum that is classic Belgium yeast. Still, the Bridge Road attempts are great for most aussies that will have not tried this style of beer before, and as I said in previous posts is a good step for the aussie palate getting away from mainstream beers.

Cheers,

Beef

To Boozy and Busy Weekends

So happily the weekend is over. Nice to have a Monday to recover with.

It was a great Thursday night at the Rainbow Hotel seeing Tim Cannon and Twoks play on the same bill. My friends Brad and Seda came along who are staying with me at the moment, in an effort to make up for the great help they were on my Istanbul leg of my Beer Journey of Europe. Then who should turn up by Jaimi Faulkner who was my other drinking partner during most of my trip and who I had not seen since I was in Berlin. Having started on a Mountain Goat Hightail and then a 3 Ravens Golden with Brad and Seda, I used the $10 Nadene gave me for picking up some cups and saucers from Ikea to get a Montieth's Black, then finished off the night with an Erdinger Dunkel and Holgate Temptress with JF.

Was also a good event to test out my new camera, and have to say it came through pretty well. I very pleasing experience where the beers helped heighten the pleasure.

So to Friday where I was waiting at the front of the Local Taphouse at midday, and was the first to get in to start drinking through the top ten aussie beers they had on tap. The only one they didn't have on tap at the time was the Knappstein, so had the terrible decision of choosing one of the other beers on tap for the two beer flights I had that afternoon, washing it all down with a much needed 3 beer burger.

1) Stone and Wood Pacific Ale (4.4%) - very thirst quenching beer that is perfect for the aussie summer, and which was giving me pineapple when it was cold and passionfruit when it warmed up. Easy drinking and easily accessible to the general beer drinker. A good start for those wanting to take their first steps off mainstream beers, and for the hope that brings me, it is worth giving it the number one spot.

2) Little Creatures Pale Ale (5.2%) - another easily accessible beer. I wasn't getting much from this beer on first taste apart from the nice texture that is the style of LC. But as it warmed the fruitiness did come through. Not quite to the point of my fav LC Bright Ale, but still good none the less.

3) Feral Brewing Hop Hog (4.7%) - Hmm, not being a hop head I found the hops to be too overpowering for the background malt of the beer. The dryness on the back did not satisfy me either, but at least the hop did not linger much on the back palate. My first time trying this beer, and not sure if I will go back...much.

4) Murrays Icon 2IPA (7.5%) - Much better bodied beer to keep up with the hop flavour. Good texture and malt taste to meld nicely into the hop before the hops really spike at the end and linger for a long time after swallowing. Probably a step up from the Red Duck Bengal IPA that I have enjoyed previously.

5) Hargreaves Hill ESB (5.4%) - With no Knappstein on tap at the time, had to jump to this one. Baically the only thing I can say is that I prefer the Holgate ESB over this. I little caramel at the front, but no body or flavour to carry it through. Just sort of goes watery and slides down your throat, which was disappointing for an 'on tap' experience.

6) White Rabbit Dark Ale (4.9%) - Another beer that fails to interest me that much. Yes, I can taste the malt, and yes, there are hops after that, but with a meld from malt to hop that I don't particularly enjoy and a watery texture, it is always going to score badly for my personal taste.

7) Holgate Temptress (6%) - Of course, my pick of the top 10, and am greatly satisfied to see it here. I will just quote the Taphouse notes and say "Luscious chocolate and coffee flavours with a smooth, creamy mouthfeel." Basically, my type of beer!

8) Bridge Road Chevialier Saison (6%) - a bit like the Stone and Wood with the light body but fruity flavour that is easy drinking but with enough flavour to make it interesting to also contemplate over. My second favourite from the line up.

9) Matilda Bay Alpha Pale Ale (5.2%) - with the use of a bittering hop, is sort of tasted similar to an IPA, so didn't ring any good taste alarms in my mouth.

10) Weihenstephaner Korbinian (7.4%) - What a great find to see a German Doppelbock on tap, so easily a perfect substitute for not being able to try the Knappstein. This beer made me think of all the overtly sweet dark beer I had in Germany and made me think this was the benchmark they were trying to reach but never made. There was much more depth to this beer so the sweetness did not overpower it. In the end I was tossing up between this and the Temptress for my favourite beer of the tasting, but the Holgate won with chocolate flavour, whereas this had caramel (yeah, it was a tight battle).

So after all this I made my way home and got prepared for Stass and I to bottle our latest brew of a Honey Dark Wheat beer. Stass was running late, and seeing I had more tastings to get to I got started without him. Still, he managed to get here in time for capping and to let me know there was still 4 bottles left in a box he had brought over previously, when I thought I had run out of bottles. We did manage a taste and Have to say I am pretty pleased and looking forward to giving them a try in a few weeks. I found the honey was well presented and with the added chocolate malt helps it keep the flavour going across the tongue. Anyway, no judgements yet. While we were bottling I decided I should have a Knappstein, just to make sure I had some on this day. It actually tasted better than I remember, with some good fruitiness.

Stass then joined me for a trip to Purvis for the free beer tasting, and lo-and-behold, there should be tasting of 5 of the beers that made the top 10 in the critics choice, that I had on tap jut before. So went through the Pacific, LC, Saison, Hargreaves and Hop Hog again with Stass and the boys from Purvis. After a quick Mojo Pizza with Stass I made my way across to Slowbeer to catch the tailend of their Haand tasting. I didn't make any notes on these, bu do remember the smoke beer did remind me of the Bamberg Wheat smoke beer. Overall there was not a great amount of depth to them, but had a good European style to them. While I was there I booked in the for the 'Round the World' tasting to happen next month and had a growler filled with the Bre Dog 5am Saint...I am still waiting in anticipation for the Holgate Empress to come on.

Ended up having a quiet Friday night as had about 10 hours of yardwork to do on Saturday. Half with a volunteer group I do some work with, and the other half at Jess and Stass' new place. Stass and I got stuck into setting up out brewing shed and envisaging how it will look all set up with our brewing equipment in it. It was an exciting moment and was great to be there to help prepare it for what it will become.

After a couple Coopers Pales and a quick change at home, I went out to the Edinburgh Castle in Brunswick to see Tim Cannon play another gig. I saw they had Montieth's Black, so after a couple of those, got on the Ranga's with the boys after the gig, played some table tennis out the back, then got a lift with Tim to watch the final of the Cricket World Cup with dodgy Italian beer in cans, a Red Hill Golden and a Samuel Smith Organic Ale at Ben's place.

With 5 hours sleep under the belt (thank good for the extra hour coming out of daylight saving) I did a tip run with Joel, had lunch then watched the Rebels Vs Force game he had recorded from the night before. I grabbed him a Knappstein and I tried a Mussel Inn Dark Horse Stout, which actually reminded me a bit of the Holgate Temptress with the chocolate and texture, however, it did not have the depth of flavour in it. Still, an interesting beer that was worth a try. After a quick kip and some dinner, Kristy drove us out to the Northcote Social Club to see Jaimi do his only pub gig. After the weekend I had had, I kept myself to trying the Carlton Black on tap, which was pretty inoffensive and actually found I could enjoy it, even though I wasn't really focusing on it.

Anyway, after a good night sleep I am feeling a lot better, and just downloaded all the footage I took from his gig last night on my camera. So hope to show him it this evening when he comes round to do a Saison tasting with me. So keep tuned for that...

Ah, now to rest a little...

Beefy

Gearing up for Beer Awards

G'day all,

Have been gearing up for the Beer Awards starting tomorrow, and looking forward to hearing what the critics choice is of the best beers in Oz after having been disappointed by the voting polls that came out a few months ago. Have been keeping updated as we count down the top 12 beers (and putting my 2 cents in as well), and was happy to find out yesterday that I have been one of the lucky people to win a pack of the top 12 through the Beer Lovers Guide to Australia page on facebook. Was really happy to see the Holgate Temptress get in at my lucky number 8, and the Bridge Road Saison at 9. At the time of writing this, we are still yet to hear what is number 1, but whatever it is, I will be getting a sample of it to try (if I haven't already had it before), and be at the Local Taphouse tomorrow arvo to try them out on tap.

The only problem I have is with so much beer at home already, I am running out of room to hold it all. It may mean a session of drinking is upon us to cull back the stocks to make room for this, and the bottles of the honey dark wheat beer we are to bottle tomorrow. I just bought a new camera yesterday, so the first photo I took with it was of 'Beer Alley' beside my bed to give you all idea of the beer I have sitting in my bedroom at the moment.

After buying the camera and giving blood, I thought the best thing I could do was fuel up on a parma at the Royston and have a couple of beers there and across the road at Mountain Goat. Being in wheat beer mode at the moment, had another of the Bridge Road Hefe Dunkel and then tried the Jameson Beast IPA. Luckily I had the parma while I was tasting this beer, as the hops were pretty intense for my palate, but at least the beer cleansed the palate so I could enjoy the beer, and found the acid from the tomato in the parma helped cleanse the mouth of the beer. I was surprised at the fruity hop smell from the Beast, and the nicely textured sweet malt front palate to it. The hops definitely came through on the mid palate, but have to say I enjoyed the taste profile which seem to go from sweet malt, the citrus before the hops came through. If I had not had the parma, am sure the hop flavour from each mouthful would have become too much for me, but with food it was quite bearable. Ok ok, the saying 'there are not strong beers, only weak men' may apply here, but am happy to say that when it come to hops, I am a weak man. I think my recent tasting of Brew Dog's Sink The Bismark would make that pretty clear.

After being satisfied by the Royston parma once again, I went to Mountain Goat to sample the Hightail with Cascade hops through the infuser. Was glad for a step down from the previous beer, and probably why I was able to enjoy it more than what I would normally. As I was handed the beer, I found Shane was doing a tour of the brewery so tagged along to get a better idea of how they do things here. Was pretty good to get that insight and picked up a lot from Shane's tour, and manage to get in a few questions during the tour and have a quick chat to Shane after the tour. Then one of the ladies in the crowd came up to us and asked to get a photo of me seeing I was wearing my 'I'm what Willis was talking about' shirt on (you know, Different Strokes...'What you talking about Willis?'), so I roped in Shane into the shot with me.

Anyway, tomorrow looks like bottling latest brew, hitting the Taphouse for the beer awards, then beer tastings at both Purvis and Slowbeer, where I can hopefully also fill up my growler with Brew Dog's 5am Saint, which I am interested to try from the tap. I will also sign up for Slowbeer's 'round the world' tasting happening in May. Still, for today, I get to test out my camera so I can use it for a Twoks and Tim Cannon gig at the Rainbow tonight. Finally, I get to see two of my favourite Melbourne bands in the one night.

Here is to Beer, and to craft brewers at the beer awards.

Beefy

PS: Hot off the press, I hear that the Wheatsheaf Hotel in Adelaide will be having the Rogue's Chocolate Stout ON TAP(!!!) next month, so have teed up my sis over there to let me know when it is on so can do the dash to try it out again. I am sure I have put it too high on a pedestal 2 years after having tried it for the first time in Portland, Oregon, but it holds too dear a place in my heart not to go over for it (oh, and see my sis of course!).

PPS: Oh, and as for the wedding I went to on the weekend, luckily the groom asked for Fat Yak, as am sure the Carlton Draught would have stopped me getting on the dance floor and made me worse for the morning after. Cheers Tim and Sus!

Another Local Taphouse Tasting

Having found out on my way to the Eddie Vedder gig on Thursday (by the way, the gig was amazing [comparable to the Brew Dog Tokyo]!!!!) that the Local had Brew Dog Tokyo on tap (!!), I had to go back yesterday and try it out. Of course having a look at the other beers on tap, I had to have a tasting paddle, and while I was initially told that the Tokyo could not be put on the paddle, after willingly paying more, they happily added it for me (Yay!).

So the order of tastes went as such:

1) The Zephyr (5.6%) - Have not heard of this Doctors Orders brewery in NSW, but was pretty impressed with this Belgian wit. By the end of tasting it, the analogy of a pastel painting came to mind, as it is nearly a blank canvas, but with delicate flavours going on. This beer reminded me of the big difference between delicately flavoured beers and tasteless beers. Could pick up on the citrus and spice, and the slight favouring of sweetness which I also enjoyed. Overall well balanced in flavour with a slightly dry back palate and fairly watery texture that worked well for the style. The bar staff were also nice enough to give me a taste of this beer through the Randy they have filled with pepperberries and orange zest. The pepperberries brought a nice sharpness to the beer (sort of like mint/peppermint) and removed the slight yeasty flavour in the uninfused version, and the orange comes over more in smell than taste, but is still present and helps keep it balanced enough. Got me thinking of the Faro style of beer that has that nice delicate fruitiness with the sherberty sugarness that I really like.

2) Imperious (11%) - Okay, a bit of a step up in alcohol, but again impressed by another brew from Murray's Brewery. There is some mild hop smell, but is overpowered by a slightly heavy/dark citrus smell, which made it a good step up from that last beer. For an Imperial Belgian Blonde I got very little yeastiness and hops from it overall, as the citrus sweetness takes over the front to mid palate, then the alcohol comes through from the mid, but then finishes sweet again in aftertaste. Still, the texture allows for the flavours to meld nicely so the alcohol does not spike and this balance gets even better as it warms.

3) Bridge Road Robust Porter (5.2%) - Was surprised to think that I hadn't had this beer on tap before, so had to give it a go here. It was funny, but the first flavour I got was a sort of dry smokiness on the back palate, but I guess for a porter this is pretty delicate, and the previous beer was big. As it warmed the smoke became more coffee but quite light, and more chocolate comes out in smell as well. Overall, on tap there is a better roundness of flavour but the texture is still a bit watery.

4) Nogne O Porter (7%) - Again, a very light on flavoured English porter style which was surprising for this Norwegian brew. There is some chocolate on the nose which translate into the front palate flavour before a heightened fruit flavour takes over to then leave with a slight dry finish. It is an interesting combination of flavours which while light, has a good texture while cold to hold it together. However, it does water as it warms, along with a bit more coffee flavour.

5) Brew Dog Tokyo (18.2%) - The Big Mumma! What can be described about this beer? The Taphouse notes are pretty good, and better than anything I can do. There is a dark (almost spirit) alcohol smell with some spice, and can get some dark fruit on the tongue that becomes alcohol pretty quickly. Still for me, the main reason to have this beer on tap is to see if the texture is any better, and that it definitely is. The smoothness just helps compound the expanding and warming alcohol sensation in the mouth, down to the gut, then back up through the lungs and back out the mouth. Letting this beer sit on your tongue for 10 seconds does help reduce any burning you can get at the back of the throat. I get so caught up in the experience of this beer, I must just lose the ability to describe it at all as I get lost in its immenseness. It had such an impact on me that my nose started to bleed (it's okay, just an old rugby union injury that comes back to me when my head gets overheated in a certain way, not helped by the alcohol thinning my blood) after I finished just 70 ml of the stuff. Luckily I could get on my bike and ride home, and let the cool air flow over my head to cool it back down.

So a bit thanks to the Local Taphouse as usual for a good array of beers and knowledge to go with it to help me on my journey, and to the two blokes that had a sit and chat with me just as I was getting towards the end of my journey. Thanks for taking my suggestions and hope they got you through til your girls had finished their pampering next door.

I also have to say Happy Birthday to my brother Mick, and my grandma for yesterday. At least someone got to drink some good beers for your big day.

However, the day did not end there beer wise. As a welcome to their new home, Stass and Jess had an impromptu housewarming for their first night in the new place. The shed out the back is ready to start our next stage in brewing (WOOHOO!), and I took around the growler of Kooinda Raspberry Wit for us all to try. So with 3 JUMBO (yep, I mean jumbo) and crownies (special occasion!) from the pizza place (yep, we felt like we were in the burbs! Cheers Redgum Pizza. We will be back!!!) we went back to the new home and I cracked the wit. In the end nearly everyone had a taste which says a lot. The raspberry is good in it and if anything a little more powerful than what I thought looking at it. More raspberry flavour than what I expected after having the Belgium Wit at the Microbrewery Showcase and guessing how raspberry could combine with it. Still, was happily surprised by the sweetness, the lack of yeastiness and the bloating that I would normally expect from a wheat beer. I have a little left over from last night, so seeing how it goes a bit flatter as there was a bit of fizz on the tongue last night. A good beer that we found last night is a good all rounder that many can enjoy.

Now to get ready for a wedding where probably the 'best' beer will be crownies (another special occasion). Come on Tim, I have better faith in you than that. Let's hope there is something decent...

Cheers,

Beef

Gimme some shugga' for making 150

Welcome to the 150th post on this blog!

I have decided to keep with my personal flavour and try out a sweet beer I saw a couple of months ago and have wanted to try it since. Having a sweet tooth, when I saw the Lagunitas Brown Shugga Ale, it caught my eye, and thought 'even if it may end up being a novelty beer, it was worth a go' and on an occasion like this, seems appropriate to have a novelty beer for a novelty beer blog.

With a dark amber colour, smells of sweet caramel (hmm, good start), but even more on the sweeter side. I have actually tried using brown sugar before in a scotch ale, and really liked how it came out, and the smell reminds me a bit of that. There is a nice caramel sweet upfront taste, and a decent body to carry it along to the midpalate. I am actually tasting a bit of trappist beer with the sweetness up front, like a Chimay Blue or Rochefort 10 but not as dark (am I building up this beer too much because of the occasion?). Coming back to earth, there is a bit of a fizz that comes over the tongue from mid palate that does take away from the flavour a bit. However, am hoping this reduces as it warms. There is also a hop on the back palate that while isn't bad, also takes away from the flavour I enjoy on the front, but does cleanse the tongue quite well. As it warms the fizz does diminish, but the hop flavour does increase. I guess that has to be expected from a U.S. beer, but still an flavourful and interesting beer overall.

As always, thanks for checking out this blog, and big thanks to Stass for setting it up, even if he doesn't contribute this much up front. Still, his behind the scenes support has helped this blog and myself to where we are. I'd also like to add that we have also reached the 3000 mark in terms of people coming and looking at the blog, so averaging 20 views per blog, which I am pretty pleased with. I hope though you have taken into account my personal bias into any accounts I have made on beers and those thoughts I have around beer (which I guess is pretty wide for me). Anyway, thanks for checking it out. It continues to be an interesting journey for me, and happy to have documented the hundreds of beer I have been able to record in this medium. From my own and other beer tastings, brews we have put on, beers I have tried while traveling, the people I have met through all this, and to have my first day working in a brewery as a bookend to all this so far, it has been a great experience, and has helped develop me this far.

I have chosen a good day to bring up this mark, as am about to head to an Eddie Vedder gig tonight. So, in his words...UUUMMMQQUUAAAAAYYYY

Cheers,

John/Beef

Otway Limited Release Organic Raspberry Ale (4.5%)

Seeing I am on a sugar rush at the moment, thought this fruit beer would give me some different sweetness from the chocolate beers I have been on recently. It looks pretty light on in the red hue, but there is some good raspberry smell coming from it. There is a bit of sourness to it and unfortunately is a bit more watery that I would like, having tried brewing my own raspberry beers. I noticed this beer was brewed for the summer and so has had a few months in the bottle, and from my experience can understand that it has probably come on sourer and more watery as it gets older. I know it only took a month after bottling ours that we noticed these things come into the raspberry beers we have brewed, and probably why we headed towards going towards sweeter and thicker stouts to overcome these issues. The only other aspect I found was it had a slight dryness on the back and there was a slight sherberty/fizz feel on the midpalate. Overall, would be a great summer beer with a bit more flavour, if not a bit more texture.

However, to have tried this beer on tap I reckon it would have tasted much better to get a bit more mouthfeel and carbonation to bring out the flavour of the raspberry more. Having had Otway's blueberry wit on tap at the microbrewery showcase last week, it definitely had better flavour and texture, and so would think this raspberry ale would have more going for it. I have also just found out that Slowbeer have the Kooinda Raspberry Wit on tap so think it would be worth getting in on the growler and trying this beer out (I also heard Slowbeer will have the Empress on soon too, and will definitely need to have some of that at home).

One last thing, I tried a new recipe for beef and Guinness pie yesterday that Stass gave to me, and have to say it was pretty good. I look forward to making this over the coming winter.

Beef

Magnus Czekoladowy (6%) and my first day of work at a brewery

Hi Gang,

Found out through Slowbeer that they had this Polish beer, so went in their over the weekend to pick this new chocolate beer up. Yes, I know I already have 50-odd other beers, but you should know by now, when it come to chocolate beer, 'I must 'ave it!', and having just had the Choc Hops beer at the Microbrewry Showcase, I just had to try it straight away.

I had heard it was pretty sweet, and if I hadn't just had the Choc Hops, this beer would have had more of an impact than it did, but to be honest it is very sweet and was pretty difficult finishing the bottle. It definitely has that similar 'chico' smell but with a darker edge from the chocolate used. I baked a chocolate mud cake and made sure it was still warm when I had a slice with the beer. The warmth of the cake boosted its flavour, and so brought out more of an alkaline and bitter taste in the beer. However, I noticed as the beer warmed this reduced quite a bit. To be honest, the sweetness is pretty similar to the Choc Hops, but unlike the Choc Hops that was all front palate, and no back, this left the mouth with a sweet aftertaste, making the Magnus harder to go back to after each sip. It was probably good to have the cake, just to cleanse the mouth a bit. It has a decent body to the beer and works for the flavour in it. Did not notice the alcohol at any stage, but the sweetness just overrides anything else that could be in this beer. However, I would still say the Choc Hops is slightly sweeter due to the darker edge the Magnus has. For those like myself that were impressed with the Choc Hops at the Showcase, definitely try out this beer.

I also have the standard version of the Magnus without the chocolate to try as well. There is not so much of the sweet choc smell but still has dark malt, and the head retention is a bit better with the standard, probably because the use of actual chocolate includes cocoa butter, and the oils from that ruins the head of beer. Also, while it is cold, there is a slight alkaline smell coming from it, but it does not come out so much in flavour. The sweetness seems to be reduced as well, but is still the major taste like the chocolate version. The body of the beer is still the same and there is still the sweet back palate, but because it is reduced it does not hang around as long as the chocolate version, overall making it more of an easy drinking beer. In terms of ingredients, the only difference to the standard and the chocolate is that instead of the chocolate, the standard has caramel, which I guess, keeps that sweet taste in the beer. However, the caramel taste is not prominent in the beer as much as I would normally get from a beer with use of caramel malt.

Ok, I have waited long enough, time to describe the very first day I worked in a brewery, which happened on Friday. So Mountain Goat had the (cough, cough) privilege of having me in their brewery to help them bottle their first batch of the Surefoot Stout for the upcoming winter (hmm, stout, a good sign for me). With Dave, Shane, Jayne, and another noob Dan, we got set up and took the first half slow so us noobs could keep up. Once you get into the rhythm of the bottling and labeling machines, it was ok, but after a break at the Royston (yep, tough day), they stepped up the speed and then it was a bit more chaotic to keep up with the process. Still, just being able to focus on a small part I was able (barely) to keep up. The work was fine physically for me, but while it wasn't exertive, the repetition does get to you a little. I guess that is part of why they life to get it done quickly. Still, in the end we got there (and just in time for the bar to open) so we had one of the staffy beers (we have about 8 boxes of them at the end, and I have brought one home to enjoy) and then sat by the bar to have a few beers with the gang. I tried the cucumber sandwich (surprised and how much cucumber gets into the beer through the Randy) and then the new Black IPA. I have to say,a lot of hops, but the dark malt really contrasts the flavour to give it decent balance overall. The malt is almost of a smokey flavour it has been burnt that much, but was pretty impressed with it.

Anyway, let's just say I am looking forward to the next opportunity to do another days work there. Not only is it the closest brewery to where I live, just being able to hang out in that environment, and talk to the brewers to understand their progress individually and as a brewery, was a great experience for me personally, and hopefully it is the foot in the door that will open this area for me career wise. And so it starts...again.

Cheers,

Beef