Chrissy Wrap Up

Welcome to 2013 beer lovers/appreciators, drinkers, and the potential random people that have accidently stumbled across this page.

Just to keep the start of this year in a random way to keep those accidental viewers to the blog thinking they may have stumbled onto something interesting is to maybe connect me once more to a man I have brought up a couple of times in my discourses about beer (maybe I shouldn't have mentioned beer yet).

I guess bringing up a figure like Michel de Montaigne, a 16th Century French philosopher, is quite strange to bring up on a beer blog, but I guess that says a lot about my approach to beer. In this instance, after reading this article in The Age over the chrissy break, I realised I am probably trying to write this blog a bit in his way.
I don't get technical, I like to keep it a bit conversational and with that retain little structure. I guess it has become a bit of a mind dump, something I got use to doing through a thing called a reflective journal, back in the days I was trying do a uni course in Construction Management. Well, when I say I was trying, I actual did alright at it, and while the context of the course may not be in my day to day, I think in some way, Montainge's approach to writing continues on from where I was heading in my take from the Problem-based Learning (PBL). I mean, the aim of this blog is foggy even to me, but that I started it just to keep record on beers I drink. Still, looking back over the years, there are definite moments it has become much more than this. Seeing one of the most popular postings on this blog is on the environmental impact of beer, I guess some of you also see beer as more than just a source of alcohol that can have a great diversity in flavour, etc. I guess the openness I take towards beer to sense this diversity shows there is also a personal journey happening, one where reflections instead of answers are being sought. Anyway, even this writing doesn't really have a point, except maybe to say that because of this reflection, I don't see myself ever being able to be a good writer, as I will always keep this personal edge, making it less easily digestible to the general public. Still, I would like to take this opportunity to thank those that may have kept up their viewing of this blog, even if it makes no sense and doesn't help you in choosing a beer at the pub or bottlo.

I suppose the above means I have had a good break, with enough time to 'defrag' my brain to try and make sense of where I am heading in the year ahead. I hope you have had the same and have many things to look forward to in the new year.

Ok, will try to focus here now.

As the end of the year approach, as expected the Goat chrissy party went well, increased by the fact it was on the same day as my birthday. Say no more...

On the 21st December, I was lucky enough to be having a few beers at the Goat bar with a man that has both more knowledge and enthusiasm for beer than myself. Once the bar started getting too full, knowing that there was the Nogne O Sunturnbrew at the Royston across the road, we quickly made tracks over there while it was quiet there. It was almost fate that we happen to be drinking this beer on the day, seeing the latest batch was being brewed that very day, somewhere in Scandinavia. While brewed as a winter warmer, this smoked barleywine is quite divine on tap, with a better meld of sweet and smoke than I have found previously in the bottle. The dark malt/fruit character extends over the length of the palate better on tap, the balance out the smoke and gives some residual sugar to offset the alcohol heat. It did this so well, we actually had about 3 glasses of it, and were quite tipsy because of it. Still, even for a summers day, it tasted just too good. The smoke has just a touch of driness, which is better than going for the sweet smoked ham approach that I seem to get from many smoked beers. There is certainly enough sweetness from the barleywine base that it doesn't need anymore from the smoke, and helps keep some contrast in the profile.

Relying on my memory once more (not good seeing that was a reason I started this blog), the next major beer drinking event was Chrissy Day itself. After my brother infiltrated in with some wines (not such a bad thing when one of them was a Goldkapp J.J. Prum Riesling) over pudding I was able to crack a 4 year old bottle of Mikkeller Santa's Little Helper.

Having had a taste of this beer before, I was happy to see with age, the chocolate notes still hold very well, and probably broaden out over the palate a bit better. The alcohol heat has definitely mellowed in that time making it much easier to drink. There was still some dark fruit and cinnamon/spice notes in the beer, but comparing it to the chrissy cake, they were quite diminished. I would therefore say maybe 3 years is long enough to hold onto this beer before opening to keep some flavours, but still knock out enough of the alcohol heat.

Keeping my drinking to a minimum between chrissy and new year (though some nostalgic Tooheys Old's did go down while watching the Boxing Day Test with my grandpa), I did hit Murray's brewery once again, for my yearly tasting wheel (Whale Wheat Ale, Pilsner, Dark Knight Porter, Angry Man American Pale Ale, Belgian Grand Cru, 2Icon Double IPA), and this year even got to finally do a tour of the brewery, and be jealous of their bottling system. Maybe I am just use to Goat, but the size of the fermenters really brought back to me that how small batches can keep a brewery versatile, with their largest fermenter being the same size as the smallest one at Goat. Also saw they were trialling growing hops at the brewery, but with limited success.

Seeing my mum has finally accepted her boy is into beer, and that she had me for Kris Kringle this year, she got me some Murray's beers so I could keep drinking their beers for New Years. Was great being able to try a bottle of the Wild Thing Imperial Stout, that was actually tasting pretty good with a year or two at the back of the cupboard. The Heart of Darkness and Abyss Imperial Stouts were also enjoyable, but seeing they were fresher, they came of a bit hotter in alcohol. She also got me a couple of Anniversary Ale's that at 15% I knew needed some time to settle, but seeing had 2 could afford to have one now. I am not sure what Belgian yeast they are using in this and the Heart of Darkness, but it does not seem to be in balance with the beers they are using it for, with the yeast flavours not really coming through, and the alcohol heat again dominating. The Belgian Smoked Barleywine is no Sunturnbrew, but as I said, happy to give it time before I pass judgement on it completely. Though, I was having it after having had a few beers for dinner (which I will mention next), so hate to imagine how the people I was sharing it with were able to handle it.

Having one night in Newy before I came back to Melbourne, I caught up with a uni mate and we hit The Albion Hotel, so I could finally see that craft beer had made it to the town I felt like such an outsider in, for wanting more in my beer than it offered me as a uni student. Walking in was like walking into the Royston/Terminus Hotel, with 2 handpumps, 8 beers on tap, and not a sign of any macro brewer in any of them. I even had a little beer nerd moment seeing Rouge's Oatmeal Stout on one of the handpumps, and am sure I annoyed the bartender by asking many questions about it. In short, it had been carbonated with nitrogen, with a mix of 3% more nitrogen in the cask, and have to say, it tasted better than the specimen I had of this beer when I was actually in Portland those many years ago now. Texturally great, if a little paradoxical to get the watery taste from the oatmeal, but with a fuller texture. Seeing I am relying on memory again, I remember having a cool bacon maple ale with dinner (a great version of bangers of mash that again had me thinking of the Termi), before getting a taster of 4, which with the Oatmeal stout, consisted of smoked chilli (Adobo?) beer (thankfully the chilli was quite subdued), the Wicked Elf Porter (went great with the chocolate creme brulee I had for desert. I won't talk about that anymore, except to say I loved it...that is all, I promise), and a white stout which didn't do much for me, except spin my head a little tasting stout but seeing a pale beer.

Anyway, that about brings you up to speed in terms of beer. Hope you were all surprised and enjoyed what you had on offer for the chrissy/new year period.

It only took 5 days into the new year to get our first home brew on, which is our first all grain brew of a Bright Ale Clone from Little Creatures, which will becoming with us this weekend for the bucks weekend on the coast, along with the Coffee Nut Brown Ale and a case of Mountain Goat beers. About 45 litres of beer, hope it lasts! Still, the beer nerd in me came out at the homebrew shop when after over 2 years of searching, I found 4 bottles of Faro Boon sitting on their shelf. Finally, I can have a taste off between Boon and Lindermanns, so keep an eye out for that Faro face off soon. I was even able to go back to my extract brewing roots brewing a Gluten Free beer for my cousin in the homebrew kit I got them for their housewarming. Pete gave me taste of his previous GF beer (which has completely flabbergasted me. I could hardly pick out any ingredients he said were in it! Still his, Sierra Nervada Pale Clone has come off much better, and took a Goat IPA and Moylan's Hopsickle to continue his journey into hops. Seems I will be able to push him a bit further in that regard...

Anyway, think I'm starting to bore myself a bit with all this, so can't imagine how it must be for anyone else. My apologies and wishes of good luck in the new year,

Beef

Uncle Beef's Baby Beer (not made with real babies, or to be drunk by babies)

Firstly,

Congratulations to my brother and sister in law on the birth of their first baby, born on Tuesday (11th December, also my dad's birthday). Welcome to the world baby Thomas!

Seeing another package of potential has been given it's chance at life, and with it allowing me to become an uncle for the first time (about time I had something to celebrate after recounting the many things Stass has had over the years in my last post), I thought it appropriate to take a bottle of a beer Miro brought back from Germany for me into Goat to share with him and the crew. What makes it appropriate is the label has a picture of a baby sitting in a beer stein...Berliner Kindl Weisse.

Having kept it at the back of my fridge since Miro gave it to me, at least I had done all I could to make sure it was in the best nick for tasting, and even though I only had this beer on tap at Slowbeer a couple of weeks back, I have to say it tasted better from the bottle. Maybe it was the hot day that was made to feel even hotter after a day's work in the brewery, but for all that is going on in this beer, it is quite refreshing.

At only 3%, this could simply be a throw down beer, which would probably be the case for a beer with this little alcohol made in Australia. Still, even looking at the label, it seems this style has little respect even in Germany, as it is shown mostly blended with syrups, which for me would only ruin the refreshing character this beer has and put out of whack the balance of flavours already evident in the original version.

You can even smell the carbonation as the citrus zest pops in your nose, with enough sourness for the uninitiated to realise they are not drinking the standard beer this looks like in the glass. As soon at it hits your tongue, the spritzy wheat beer feel envelopes and a minerally lemon/lime character takes over the front palate, before the sourness/tartness feels like it hits quite strong on the midpalate (probably helped again by the carbonation) but then completely dissipates at the back leaving your tongue clean and fresh, ready for another sip. I actually had to stop myself drinking this too quickly, to make sure I let it warm up a bit. But really, apart from some additional wheat character coming to the front palate, this beer feels like it has more flavour when it is chilled and the carbonation is at its highest. I therefore rank it a bit similarly to the Faro, with a spritzy feel, fruity character, but offset with the tart/sourness, and like the low alcohol Faro, a beer that is loosing its footing in the world of beer as other styles dominate over it. Still, as always, am happy to have just had the chance to try this beer, and hope the sour wheat style continues just to keep the diversity beer has.

I don't know what you were doing at 12:12pm on the 12/12/2012, but I know I was kegging brew #2012 at Goat. No, I did not fill only 12 kegs, but at least 96 is a derivative of 12.

I suppose I should also mention that today is my birthday, and while I have to share it with my sister, at least I was born 5 minutes before her so I am not the youngest in the family...I guess that is taken by Thomas now he is two days old. As for today, it happens to be Goat's chrissy party, so don't have to work, and get to celebrate the day with my fellow Goaters. We even made sure the pub we will be celebrating at has a keg of our Skipping Girl Summer Ale, which is tasting pretty good this year. The Nelson Sauvin hop is a bit stronger than I remember it tasting last year, but the very late addition of Motueka hop really rounds it out nicely. At 4.6%, will be good at having a session of this arvo.

It is still funny to think that 2 years ago I had just made the decision to pursue a beer career, and so took the family into Goat to celebrate our 30th and dad's 60th, and looking over to the brewery wondered what it would be like working in there. Now a year after being a permanent member of the Goat family, I do know what it is like, and appreciate the opportunity I have had to find out.

Feels like a Phoenix 'Party Time' kind of day...

Cheers,

Beef

Stass Becomes an Old Salty Dad

It is interesting at times like this to think about how long this blog has gone for. This month brought up 3 years, and in that time Stass has become engaged, bought a house, got married and now had a kid. Maybe it says more about how little my own life has developed...but then this blog is not (suppose to be) about that...

Visiting the new family a few days after the birth, the hospital just happened to be close to Josie Bones, so after the obligatory holding of the baby, Stass and I made our way down for a few beers. Suprisingly, the pick of the celebratory session was a Williams Brothers Kelpie Seaweed Ale. Described as a dark ale with seaweed used in the mash, while it was cold, the smell and taste of the salt was quite high, but this did die off a bit as it warmed it. With this warmth, the dark malt character came through more to show off some decent chocolate notes. Still, while it was cold, the two aspects combined to bring a great salted chocolate flavour that pricked up both our ears. Apart from that there seemed to be a touch of smokiness, which I am not sure comes from any peat, or even maybe something from the grains being grown using a seaweed fertiliser (a lot of seaweed must wash up on the shores of Scotland). So even though it ended up a little one dimensional, to see this sort of flavour in a beer was itself an amazing thing to experience, and well worth trying for anyone that is also into salted caramel.

A week later, Stass and I met up at Josie Bones again, for another salty beer, and a beer that also reminded me of another taste experience. The 'Goseator' from Bayerisher Banhof is a bock (strong) version of a traditional Gose from Liepzig in Germany. With the water from the river Gose having a natural salty quality to it, the beers from this region took on this character. Another aspect of interest Stass and I found out about the style while we tasted this beer is that seeing it is not part of Bavaria, it was able to get around the German Beer Purity Law (Reinhietsgebot) to add things like coriander to the brew. While Stass was visiting this area of Germany earlier this year, I challenged his to find this style, which unfortunately, he found hard to do, which made it special for us to find this beer in Australia (Well done Josie Bones!!). Not only was it interesting to find this beer in Oz, but seeing it is twice the alcohol of a normal Gose and had been aged in Tequila barrels, it is incredible to even had the chance to taste it.

Like the Kelpie, while it was fresh off the tap, the cold really brought out the salt in the beer and spiked in the alcohol, but after about 10 mins the tequila and sourness came out in a more even balance, to the point where I thought I was having something similar to a Lick Sip and Suck (salt, tequila, lemon). In terms of taste profile though, it was more of a Sip Lick and Suck, with the tequila hitting first, then the salt, then sourness. Stass was also picking up in aspects like mint, while for me, as it warmed up more, the wheat, honey and oak took over from the Sip Lick and Suck, with only a touch of sourness remaining throughout the tasting. So, while there is a lot going on in this beer, at no point did it ever feel overwhelming, and there was always a sense of some sort of balance, apart from maybe the alcohol, which is understandable for this 'bock' version. I know Josie Bones has only got a 30ltr keg of this, but for anyone interested in salt beers, this is a must if they still have any left. I assume for the price and flavour, most people will be going for the 110ml tasting, and is good to see Josie Bones offering this size. I certainly didn't feel the need of having anymore than this to get the experience of the beer.

I guess having only ever tried a salt beer once before (tasted a Feral Jose the Gose about 18 months ago), it was great to finally find a few more of this style as the Australian craft beer scene continues to grow. Big thanks to Josie Bones, and big congrats to Stass and Jess, and they get use to parenthood...still, won't stop Stass and I doing a brew this weekend (got his priorities right there!).

Cheers,

Beef

Twoks Irish Red Ale

Ha! Who would have thought, 2 years ago, when I did a review of a band, but wrote it as if I was reviewing them as a beer, that one day that band would ask us to brew a beer for them, and so give us an opportunity to make this imaginary brew a reality.

Still, this has just been what has happened on Monday, when at a 'listening party' for the Twoks latest album, Stass and I manned a keg of Twok Irish Red Ale to try and give the listeners more chance to experience depth and enjoyment than just through the ears. Ok, we backed off the alcohol, and because I probably went way too overboard with the description (What?! That is not like me at all, right?), we tried to develop a core that we felt we might be able to achieve for only our third all-grain brew. Still, I have to say, I think we pulled it off quite well. Using Carared malts to bring colour and the caramel character, galaxy hops in aroma and taste to add the citrus, and the Northdown hop for earthy bitterness came together quite well for anyone (like myself) that wants to engage with a beer on that level. However, for those that just wanted a beverage to enjoy while taking in the first listen of a new album, it is easy drinking and balanced enough just to sit in the background of their mind as well.

Mind you, I think I enjoyed a little too much of it, along with explaining it to anyone that came up and said it was a nice beer in their opinion. We managed to get through about 8-10 litres in a couple of hours which isn't too bad.

So I would call it a second success from our short all grain brewing history.

So here is to Bassteef Brewing!

Cheers,

Beef

Sydney Beer Weekend 2

18 months ago I made a trip up to Sydney to see a mate and check out the beer scene up there (here is the link to that post). This time I saw my brother and his wife, a different friend, and also an improving beer scene.

While it was sad to see Coogee After Dark is no longer trading, it was nice to see some other small bars picking up where they left off, even if they still may not be appreciated by the locals as much as they should. Case in point is Yulli's, a fairly small bar in Surry Hills, that was my first beer target for the trip. Walking in to be greeted by Carl with a casual vibe and a big bushy beard made me feel at ease this wasn't going to be a wanky Sydney bar, then this sense was upgraded to excitment to see Thirsty Crow on all 4 of their taps, and the Vanilla Milk Stout was one of them. Carl said as soon as he saw my reaction to the taps, he knew I wasn't from Sydney, as the beer snobs they tend to get only seem to comment "It that all you have?". Anyway, with that disappointing fact made, it was time to enjoy my first beers, and my first chance to taste some of the other beers Thirsty Crow come out with.

The 26-Fifty Summer Ale was quite refreshing to start with after doing a bit of a walk through the Surry Hills market for lunch. Felt a bit lighter on the palate compared to say a Goat Steam, but close to the Skipping Girl Summer Ale. The clean citrusy hop flavour was also quite enjoyable and had me thinking it is in between the Goat Steam and Stone and Wood Pacific, and very little bitterness to finish on. Very easy drinking as to be expected for the style, but that punch of citrus hop really keeps it flavourful as well.

Next was the American Pale, which was only slightly bolder in malt and hop character than the previous, which was a bit suprising for the style. The bitterness was not as much as I was expecting to get, but the balance seemed quite good, so a good starter for anyone looking to get introduced to this style before going into IPA's. I am not sure whether I was just quenching my thirst or just wanting to get to the Vanilla Milk Stout quicker, but it was not long til I was giving Carl the nod to bring the next beer to the table.

After my first taste of this beer nearly a year ago, there of course was a high anticipation coming into it. On this occasion I was first drawn to the slightly roasted/dusty character coming from the malt I did not think I had tasted in it previously, but then remembered to let it warm up, and then all of what I had enjoyed with it previously came back. I suppose the other thing I remembered was that I have just come off the back of brewing my own Milk Stout with vanilla in it, and probably boosted the sweetness for my own taste (and it seems, most other people that have tried it and enjoyed it), so was maybe expected that to be more in this as well. Speaking of other people, getting a glass of this for Hannah to try was funny as with a face that looked like she had just swallowed a lemon she said she had liked it, but I am still not sure.

From here it was a big step up to the Road 2 Ruin Imperial Stout, which I really noted the dark fruit character from the midpalate which helped mask a bit of the 10.2% alcohol going on in it. Still, like many of the beers on show, there is still a cleanness coming from the flavour so it doesn't become too overbearing on the palate, and a smooth but light texture to let it slide down the gullet nicely.

Moving onto the Taphouse, which was showing a fair bit more patronage through the Sydney Craft Beer Week going on up there, we met up with my brother to keep the beer journey going. Of course getting a paddle for myself, finally was able to show Hannah a Bridge Road India Saison, while Mick started on a Budvar.
I started with the Coffee and Fig from Epic, which I have to say was fairly dominated by coffee, and like our own homebrew Coffee Nut, was not able to get much else from it. Their Portamarillo was much more my style with the light bodied brown malt with a nice soft smokiness the held well across the palate but did not leave you with a dry mouth in aftertaste, and definitely not the smoked ham character the Bamberg, or my own Hickory Stickory Bock, came out with.
This was closely followed with the Prickly Moses Tailpipe Imperial Brown that for me came off as a Nut Brown, but with a bit more sweet malt aroma, that had me holding onto this one til the end as my last sip from the paddle.
The 4 Pines Mexican Adobo Rudy was neither here nor there for me, as apart from the slight chilli heat, was not getting much else that was interesting me. Unfortunately I have to say I was also a bit disappointed in the Marin White Knuckle Double IPA. But that could be explained by the lack from freshness seeing it had travelled from the US. Sticking around for one more, I had to make up for the DIPA and go a Murray's Icon2IPA which fit the bill of a DIPA much better, especially seeing it is a more local beer.

After that Mick took over proceedings with dinner at his place, and with a pregnant wife, took the opportunity to crack open a few wines while he had people to drink with. Still, they did indulge my beeriness by bringing back a bottle of an Italian Stout (fermenting in a wine bottle just so he could keep some wine aspect to it) from their recent trip to Europe.

Seeing I was there for one night only, and had drunk a fair bit of alcohol on that night, wasn't til lunchtime before I was ready to re-engage with beer. After experiencing a small bar, and and old favourite, it was time to hit a Sydney pub and see if this was being affected by the influence of better beer coming into Sydney. I am happy to say, the response is in the affirmative. Ok, the Empire Hotel may have just been refurbished, so is a good time to make some changes to the drinks available, but on tap and in the bottle, there was enough there to keep me interested and find beers I thought might engage the taste of Hannah and her friends. Seeing Coopers have some dominance, not just with the Green, but also one of the Thomas Cooper's Selection beers on tap was a surprise, but then also seeing Two Birds Sunset, Balmain Pale, Murray's Whale was also a good sign of the changing scene for beer in Sydney. Ok, the Balmain didn't do a whole of a lot for me, but is still much better that the standard brews I was only expecting to see (I didn't trust Hannah when she said there were 'fancy beers' at this pub), and then happy again to see a different selection of beers in the bottle, including the Two Birds Golden and Hopworks Horns Up IPA (the former having some butterscotch character that I don't think is intended, and the latter being a bit over carbonated).

Anyway, thanks to Mick and Nic for hanging out for dinner and brekkie, and Hannah for willingly hanging out for all of my beer journey, and giving me some beer shampoo. I now have somewhat more anticipation as to a continued improvement on the beer scene in Sydney after this trip...still, nothing on Melbourne!

Cheers,


Beef

The Wheaty Goat Party: When Two Beer Worlds Collide

Firstly, Happy 15th Birthday Mountain Goat Brewery! After the first party at the GB a couple of weeks back, the tour for Cam and Dave finishes this Friday at Goat HQ. Still, when the opportunity came up last week to go to my favourite pub in Australia for the South Australian leg of the tour, I definitely took it.

It has been a great privilege to become one of the regular Goat herd over the last 15th of it's existence, and was nice to surprise the boys with my presence at the Wheaty when they arrived to start the party. Still, finding myself at the Wheaty while in Adelaide is not very surprising, as I seem to make my way  to the pub any day I am in that part of OZ. Still, it was nice to also surprise Jade to see me in there for this event. I suppose it was also a surprise for my sister to get a call from me the night before saying I was coming over for it, and good she was free to catch up over a few beers on the night, drive me around, and let me stay at her place (Thanks Cat!!!!)

So in my Wheaty shirt and Goat jacket, an hour after I arrived in Adelaide I stepped into the pub, and as always, found myself intrigued with the beers on tap. Getting a Doctors Orders Prescription Belgian Black IPA and trying my sis out on a smoke porter, we sat down and caught up over them before the Goat beers were unveiled and the Goat boys arrived to get the party started. I found the Prescription to be quite balanced even with all that was going on in it, and was happy to see my sis enjoyed her first taste of a smoke beer.

With the 7 Goat taps pouring, I was straight in for the Triple Hightail, and the Abbey Collabey Imperial Stout on the handpump (I personally had spent a day degassing the keg so it could be poured this way, so only seems appropriate I was there to 'ensure it's quality'). Just like I had a few months before at the Royston, the handpump Abbey was amazing, with the texture and temperature really opening up and melding the dark malt and slight candied sugar flavours on the front palate of the beer, while the mild sting of alcohol is reduced, creating a full but mellow profile overall that was a joy to sip on (compared to the Abbey Collabey that was also available through a normal tap). Letting the Triple Hightail warm up while tasting the Abbey, I also gave it regular bumps/swirls to knock out the cold and carbonation to try and replicate the handpump process on it. Of course, it is hard to remove such a sweet amber candied sugar flavour from it, but warming it seemed to turn the sweetness more into body than flavour, thickening the texture instead of stinging the tastebuds too heavily. I don't want to get caught up in styles, but it almost changes from an imperial amber to a barleywine (maybe I am thinking mulled barleywine?). The Fancy Pants (basically a Hightail with extra wheat and different hop profile) goes down really well, not just for me, but for the rest of the patrons, and was the first keg to blow (luckily the Wheaty have two kegs of this). The Black IPA also seemed popular and is a good beer to transfer from Winter to Summer with, but definitely not a slammer at 7.4%. The standard IPA was there for the less adventurous (and for the few that maybe wanted to drive home at the end of the night...I guess it was a school night after all), and finally the Hightail through the glasshopper (peach, apricot, cardamon and coconut). I didn't try the Hightail on the night, but after an extra day of steeping, the apricot and coconut was coming through strong for me when I tried it the next day.

Now, trying to get through these and the other set of taps is always a hard task, especially seeing half the Goat beers are 7.4% or above, and the Prescription was 7.6% in itself. The one criticism I have for the Wheaty is their lack of a kitchen, and unfortunately this remains. Cat and I ended up going across the road for a pizza (including an hour long wait...though this was helped with a Moo Brew Dark Ale). By the time we got back to the Wheaty, everyone was in high spirits and couldn't help by feel I had been left behind, so after taking a photo of the Wheaty Goats, took the opportunity to finish up for the night.

At least by doing this it meant I was feeling good for a bike ride around Adelaide to see the redevelopment of Adelaide Oval, visit Melbourne Street Cellars (one of the best beer selections in Adelaide I reckon) and East End Cellars, enjoy a Top Deck Iced Chocolate and Baileys Embrace from Cocolat, picked up more chocolates from Haighs (including the new Creme Brulee Truffle [reckon it would be better with milk choc than dark])...and then it was back to the Wheaty!!! Along with trying the Hightail, was happy to see the Triple Hightail and the Handpump Abbey Collabey was still available to keep enjoying. Knowing it was Friday, I knew the taps would be changing over soon, so tomorrow would be a good day to come back! Still, after my journeying through the day, meant I could try a local Woolshed Pale Ale (having a rep of using solar power, rain harvesting and being generally eco friendly does not make a beer any better. Somehow it even had a chemical sort of taste to it, reminding me of a Carlton Draught...bleh!) and an Oregon-based Bridgeport Kingpin (pretty cool red ale that has that classic west coast hop profile but with good balance with the caramel malt character) while making a potato bake.

The next day started with a Dark Force Wheat Imperial Stout before heading back to the Wheaty. What a joy to finally find the Steam Exchange Truffles available, along with a Brewfist Fear Milk Chocolate Stout, and both on tap. The Fear was ok, but found it a bit cocoa powdery than chocolate, while the Truffles had an amazingly earthy sweetness that was well balanced in itself. This latter beer has been worth trying to find for the past few years in coming to the Wheaty, and fortunate to have finally been able to have it for the first time. I happily went back to it after sharing a Bamberg Mazen Rauchbier with Cat, which was a good step up in her newly found appreciation of smoke beers, and once more having a Triple Hightail and handpump Abbey Collabey. With that it was time to head to the airport.

The next day I headed out to Stass's to put on an Irish Red Ale that funnily enough will be used to help launch an album some friends have just finished. Seeing I was once challenged to write a review of them as I would a beer, am happy to see we have almost got what I described them as in the beer we made. I also have the Sydney Beer Week festival to go to this weekend to look forward to, the Microbrewery Showcase is happening again this week at Fed Square, and along with the final Goat party on Friday, going to open one of the few bottles of Creme Brulee I managed to wrangle from our first all grain brew to share with the Goaters...I may have to spread it pretty thin.

Cheers to the Wheaty Goats and my sis!!!!

Beef

Muso Retreat - The Stage is Set for the Creme Brulee Clone

I am very fortunate to have mates that are pretty good at making music, and hanging out with them while they show their 'art' has helped me find my own in the world of beer. Over the weekend I was able to give back a little when the boys invited me to come on a little retreat as they jammed and recorded some new songs they are working on.

Recently, Stass and I did our first ever all grain brew with our new bit if kit (which continually astounds us in its simplicity and ability) and went big by having to do a double mash to try and clone the Southern Tier Creme Brulee. Having tried to take time to mature the beer and carbonate it slowly, we took 16 litres of if with us, and set up one of the fridges as designated for the Creme and a Coffee Nut Ale that Stass also made for the weekend.

The boys set up the living room with the tools of their trade as the beer cooled, and once they were settled, we pulled off our first glasses of the Creme Brulee clone. Watching it settle reminded me of seeing a Guinness or Kilkenny being poured. The aroma showed the vanilla extract we added to the keg had melded well with the caramel malt. In smell or taste, I found it very hard to register the 8.2% alcohol we had managed to get from this first batch, and it didn't even thin out the lovely creamy(custardy?) texture of the beer. The bitterness I had tasted in it when we kegged it has settled out a little, but not enough for my own personal taste, but happy to say it did not take away from the beer much overall, and helped not too leave too much residual sweetness at the back. For our first all grain brew, I have to say it was an amazing success, and the rest of the boys agreed. I'm not ashamed to say a little tear formed in my eye on my first taste. It was a great moment, and glad to share it with Stass and the rest of the musos mates.

The first morning a few of us decided to instead of having a coffee with breakfast, we had a coffee beer. I have to say, not being a coffee drinker, the coffee flavour was way too strong and overpowered anything the nut brown base was trying to bring to the beer. However, by how strong some of the boys had their normal coffee, was not surprised when some of them said that it should have twice the amount of coffee in it. Still, even though the Coffee Nut was made especially for the retreat, it was pretty easy to see the Creme won as the more popular brew. This popularity was also helped by bringing along some cupcakes and hedgehog slice to try it with (the richness of the hedgehog probably comparing well with the beer).

Personally, I'd like to say how honoured I was to be able to hang out with those guys over the weekend,  and help supply them with some beers they could enjoy when they weren't busy creating music with each other. It was great to get out of the city and hang out by the beach in a lovely house (thanks to Stass's family for the awesome digs), reading a book, playing cards, walking on the beach and 'trying to cruze' as much as humanly possible.

So, with very little Creme Brulee clone left after the weekend, I hope there is still some when my shipment of the real Creme Brulee comes from the States to see how close we actually got to it. I guess it also means we will need to brew another batch and see if we can get it any better...

Thanks for the feedback on the beers boys, and good luck with the new tunes.

Cheers,

Beefy

PS: Speaking of beer and musos, I should plug a good mate of mine that put himself through hell so I could enjoy my beer journey of Europe. I recently sent a video of myself for Jaimi to possibly use in his latest music clip 'Turn Me Around', and funnily enough he actually used some of it. So check it out and look for the Yeti looking bloke sitting on a toilet with a message written on a piece of toilet paper...yep, I'm all class.
PPS: Speaking of getting some coverage, I have just this minute seen a message from Stass that he took some of the Coffee Nut Ale to the cafe he got the coffee he used in the brew, and heard they liked it. It may not have been the winning beer on the weekend, but these guys dig it. So here is a pic of Stass with one of the guys from St Ali with a bottle of the Coffee Nut. Nice work buddy.

2 Years On...

Long term readers of this blog (probably only me) will know that in 2010, just before I turned 30, I took a trip to Europe to explore Belgium and Germany (with quick jaunts into Czech Rep. and Netherlands) and the beer culture these countries are well known for.

Apart from my appreciation of Jaimi for his suffering throughout my beer journey, a chance meeting with a local from Brugge for an hour at a beer festival became a point of inspiration for me to keep this blog going (even if only for myself) and help me see a potential future for myself in the beer industry.

Therefore, on the second anniversary of our chance meeting, I again pull out the beer they recommended I try, to give it another go, and maybe see if my ability to taste it is getting any better.

Like I would a Faro, I made sure the Liefmans Cuvee Brut was chilled (finding about 6-8 degrees Celsius to be good to start on) to allow the beer to warm and change over the tongue. With a 'Cheers' to Willy, the cherry and dark fruit sweet aroma filled my nostrils and enticed my palate to enjoy the same up front. Letting the beer warm on my tongue, a similar but reduced spritziness than a Faro filled the midpalate and the fruit sweetness turned towards a slight sourness on the side of the tongue and rising at the back, but finishing quite cleanly to leave just some sour dryness at the back to make you want to go back for more...well, maybe that is just me.
To be honest, that I am even able to pick up on this profile just shows how clean and vibrant this beer is, so can truly appreciate the work Willy's son put into this beer.

Of course, nostalgia is going to play a large part in me enjoying this beer, so instead of subjecting whoever reads this, just going to allow myself to go with that nostalgia and sip away on this beer with my memories.

Hope you all have beer(s), or really, anything in life that allows you to do something similar.

Cheers,

Beef

Imperial Stout Tasting 2012

So, a bunch of guys get together to drink beer. No, the beer is not there to support the pursuit of yelling at the TV over a footy match, or even the burning of meat on a bbq. This time, the beer is the focal point, and is drunk out of very small glasses. But I guess quantity is not so important when the beers you are tasting are up to 18%. Instead of yelling, the comparing of notes on the beers we are tasting, and discussions on such topics as the difference between nerds and geeks. Instead of non-descript 'meat' thrown on a barbie, some smoked meat and aged cheddar, with chips, potato bake, and cupcakes the closest to gut fillers to help us through. Help we would have needed more if we had gone through all the beers available.

But with most people driving, we only made it half way, which means I already have enough beers to do another imperial stout tasting...

Anyway, onto the beers for this years tasting. Trying to make sure there were beers different to what we had last year, am happy to say there was the chance to taste 2 we had last year thanks to Miro bringing these with him, and was surprised at the difference we found from them.

Still, from the beginning, this was a good opportunity to have a vertical tasting of the Moo Brew Barrel Aged Vintage Imperial Stout that my brother and I have been collecting over the past few years. Not having any of the 2008 that was the first (and nostalgically, the best) we ever tried, bottle number 1025 of the '09, '10 and new '11 vintages were drunk against each other.
As I remembered, the '09 was quite overcarbonated, not letting the texture and flavours of the beers to really get good surface contact on the tongue and giving a bit of a limestone/mineral flavour that I get from overcarbonated beers. Still, Stass picked up on some butterscotch which may be a sign of diacetyl. I could get a little caramel, but was mainly getting a sort of vinegar or balsamic sort of flavour, maybe showing this vintage had reached it's age limit.
The '10 was a much better example of this style with some dark fruit aromas and taste, showing a bit of the pinot noir barrels it had been aged in, but a bit of syrup in malt taste and texture to really let the flavour of the beer coat your tongue at a lower carbonation. There is also quite a bit of driness at the back. Unusually, was getting a little bit of a coconut aroma along with the fairly normal spirit smell that can come from these type of beers.
Even though it is the youngest of the beers, the '11 is the most mellow, and the thing I pick up on first. Being texture based in my personal taste, I really enjoy the creaminess that comes across the midpalate, before the driness of the '10 returns at the back, and really ramps up the heat of the alcohol in aftertaste. With some age, I could see this bitter driness mellowing out to improve the profile overall and work better with the front half of the beer. I look forward to trying this beer again over the next few years to see if my thoughts run true. Still,  think there was agreement from everyone that the '11 was the best of the vintages.

Having done the vertical tasting, it was time to go back to the beginning, presumably the closest to the original Russian Imperial Stout, with Courage's example. With differing appraisals on this beer before tasting it myself I was a little apprehensive. Still, happy to say it has a pleasant profile, with some caramel overtones in aroma, being quite smooth on the tongue, but also prominent in alcohol heat and back with some roastedness. A pretty good example, and impressive if this is close to the original recipe for the first of the style.

The St Ambroise we found had similar malt character to our own homebrew Imperial Stout, Very sweet with a viscous/tar look as it was poured. This one is burning my tongue a bit, even though the beer is only 9.2%. There is also a bitterness at the back which may not help me with this burning sensation.

De Molen's Rasputin is one of the beers we had last year, and was surprised that upon tasting it, could think of the differences between. This year's Rasputin happens to have been aged for 3 years, and have to say it has done it well if that is the only difference. Last year was a 250ml bottle, compared with the 750ml of this year. Maybe from this I definitely pick up on some carbonation differences, with this one being much smoother in texture than I recall from last year. This allows me to pick up a lot more from the beer, include caramel aroma, and with the unusual taste of a combination of medicinal and herbal notes that create a sort of fennel licorice for me. There is a rise in warmth from the midpalate from the alcohol that is very smooth and not spikey at all. There appears to be very little carbonation, but this does not need it, as the flavours and textures work really well and complex enough without heavy carbonation hiding it. While it is written on the bottle that it can be stored for up to 25 years, I am not sure how much better it would get after the 3 years it had been aged for.

Speaking of aged beers, finally, I was able to crack my 2008 Rogue XS Imperial Stout that I have been holding onto for so long, even though the ceramic bottle makes it one of the best looking packages I have ever seen for a beer. At 11% and 88 IBU, it certainly could have used the 4 years it has been in the bottle for. I personally liked the chocolate in aroma and up front flavour, along with some caramel leading the warming alcohol, with the bitterness helping to clean up the palate afterwards. This bitterness would be a bit too strong for me if the beer was younger, but at this age, it just gave me a great typical imperial stout, which was great to contracts against the unusual flavours I was getting from the Rasputin. Having these two together, along with just being able to taste a number of imperial stouts together, just showed that something that can be quite a simple style, can still have nuances and quirks to set them apart and get something different from each example.

With many of us starting to fatigue a bit, we decided to finish on the other beer Miro brought around (he also brought the Rasputin), and one we had last year, a Peche Mortel. The coffee infusion gives it an espresso driness, but with a good malt background to help fill out the palate so it doesn't overpower. The funny thing on this one was that early on, with the flavours so full, I could hardly taste any alcohol, but this changed as it warmed up.

Getting onto the cupcakes, I saw I had some leftover Rogue, and the comparison between the two was great. I have been able to continue enjoying this combo a couple more times since the weekend.

So another great tasting with the boys. Thanks to all that turned up to help be try out all those stouts. Looking forward to the next one, where I might be able to finally taste all the imperial stouts I have. At least they keep aging...

Cheers,

Beef



PS: speaking of imperial stouts, Stass and I put our first all grain brew on the day after the tasting, and happy to hear today she is fermenting along nicely.

Stepping Out and Up

A novel thing happened to me on Friday. For the first time I visited a brewery (that wasn't Goat) and it was for work.

The Goat crew got together for the train ride out to Woodend, where we arrived at Holgate brewery just in time to see their bottling system in action, and for us to help out. Was happy to see their Temptress chocolate porter was being bottled this day. Of course there we a few low fills from it so we could sample the product while we did a brewery tour with Paul. Like Goat they are starting to run out of room in their brewery, and are using the space as efficiently as possible, including the bottling area. Was great to see their system going and hope we can take something from it to improve our own bottling process at Goat.

I guess after finishing the bottling before lunch, it became a long afternoon of 'tasting' the vast array of beers they have available at the pub that is connected to the brewery. Seeing it had been November since my last visit to Holgate, there were many to try, including a gruit that I think had a good level of citrus and spice. The few gruits I have tried tend to be too big on the spice, but this one had a good balance. There was also the ESB and Temptress to taste from the handpump (the best way to have these beers), the latter I had with the pork belly I had for lunch (the sauce itself was amazing). Like the last visit there was a very special beer for us to try, but fortunately my taste buds were a little worn by the time it came around. The Dunkelweiss is a good change up for the brewery, with the yeast/wheat character coming across quite well, and the dark malt character working nicely as the days of winter retreat.

Ok, from here it gets a little hazy, and to say the least, it was an interesting train trip back to Melbourne. Still, big thanks to Paul and Nick from Holgate, and the staff from Hart's pub.

Having stepped out of Goat to visit and learn from another brewery, I guess it is appropriate that Stass and I have also stepped up in our own brewing, to learn and hopefully produce better beer.  So now instead of taking over the stovetop at the Stass residence to do our brewing, we can now do it all from our new Braumeister, to get us starting on all grain brewing. It's only taken about 5 years and me actually working in a brewery now to do it, but hopefully it means we are doing it the right way, and it can start making me better technically and open a new world for us in the beers we can brew. Still, it doesn't mean we will be losing our experimental edge, especially with the first all grain brew we do. Attempting a clone of Southern Tier's Creme Brulee Imperial Stout means we will need to do a double mash for the first full mash we ever do. Unfortunately, we are still having trouble just trying to get a bottle of the original to taste off, or in the case of Stass, to actually taste for the first time. So yeah, a big call to start on this type of beer, but then it is us, so to be expected. At least Stass won't know when I stuff it up. Luckily we are also going to start using some brewing software as well to help us along.

So here is to understanding beer better.

Cheers,


Beef