Back on the Horse

Having actively stayed away from here since my last post, I apologise for the hiatus, but with Glandular Fever keeping me from drinking over the past month, working in a brewery was hard enough to deal with, let alone look at all the beer adventures I have been through on this blog.

Still, with my liver somewhat recovered, and abstinence making my heart grow fonder for a beer, I unshackled myself from my self discipline and for Stass' birthday got back into drinking good beer...and didn't it just taste awesome. Even having that very slight haze as I woke the next morning morning was a joy to relive. Still, there are the beers that brought on that haze that I wish to focus on now.

Of course coming off the back of a month without beer, and having bought this beer over the Easter break, it seemed fitting I start drinking again with Gage Roads Abstinence. While I have previously liked their Sleeping Giant IPA a bit, this is a real step up for the brewery. Ok, it may have been a month since a beer, and it may be of a Belgian Dubbel style with chocolate, but I really liked this beer. There was a chico lolly aroma of vanilla and chocolate that enticed me greatly, then the caramel malts/ candied sugar came through great in flavour. There was definitely more complexity going on than just these, but maybe after a month my abilities in tasting have probably been reduced, and these were the overarching aspects that came through that I was caught up in when tasting it. Beer is good, welcome back to my tastebuds!

The next two beers have also been ones I have been waiting to try out together since I was sick, so was excited to try both a bottle and tap version of Rogue Double Chocolate Stout. Unfortunately, the tap version had been sitting in a growler/bottle for 6 or so weeks, so was not at its best, but was great just to finally be able to try it. I did get a chance to taste this when it was a bit fresher when divvying up the beer from growler to bottle, and went well with a chocolate and banana cake Hannah made.

However, with age, a soy/vinegar like flavour and aroma was added, but the well rounded chocolate and reduced heat of alcohol could still be noticed compared to the bottle version. This is definitely a beer I can think of me falling for all those years ago that has helped drive me this far into beer.

Having gotten out all my pent up angst out of the way with these beers, it then became a bit of a big beer fest as we celebrated having the boys together for Stass's birthday and last drinks with Stew before he heads to Germany for a muso tour.

The order is a bit hazy, but there was definitely the Mikkeller Mexas Ranger; which had a good balance of dark maltiness with the chilli and spices, Brewdog Tokyo (bit too high is alcohol at 18.2%, but still an amazing mellowness), Sierra Nervada Narwhal (tasted a bit like water after the Tokyo, but nice clean imperial stout with maybe just a bit of driness to go with their style of brewing) and the North Coast Old Rasputin (bit more sweet and rounder against the Narwhal, but again wasn't going to stack up against the Tokyo). So managed ok for my first drink after a month, but apologies to my girlfriend for my nagging/lewd texts I was sending her through the session.

Also went for a couple of beers with Stew last night for his last night in Melbourne for a few months. Hit up the Royston after I finished work for a parma. Could tell I had not been in there for a while when I saw Rogue Hazelnut Brown Ale and Beer Here Ammestout on the taplist. I went the Brown, which while the nut character was quite good, found it a bit lacking compared the the bottle version I had of it...mind you, that was a while ago, nostalgia might have built up another beer for me. The coffee milk stout was really good, and wished I had gone with that one (may need to head back for another taste...), the coffee did not come off too bitter or dry which I sensed a bit in the bottle version, and there is a roundness to the coffee and malt that I don't get from the bottle version, almost like cold filtered coffee.

Anyway, is nice to be back on the horse, but hoping to take it a bit easy still. Am sure it is just eagerness from not being able to have had a beer for a month. Maybe my girlfriend in Sydney can understand this eagerness when we have a month apart...

Cheers,

Beefy

PS: Nice to be back doing what Stass and I do best, choosing the next beer

Slowbeer Unseasonal Tap Takeover

My local bottlo had the great idea (and great availability of kegs) to ask it's punters to choose 4 from a shortlist of big dark beers, that they would like to taste as we go from Summer to Autumn. Of course being a man who loves a good stout, it being close to St Pat's Day, and celebrating 2 years since my first ever days work at Mountain Goat Brewery, I went down there yesterday to try the beers that were chosen.

I was especially happy as 3 of the 4 beers were ones I voted for!

Collecting 4 tasters and setting them down in front of this Beerologist (This man is a Beerologist, so we can't show you his face), he was left to sip and ponder these beers and I now have his notes to pass onto you.

The Peche Mortel from Dieu du Ciel is a coffee stout, but on first whiff, I was getting more of a rich mocha porter about it, and this stayed as it warmed. I therefore quite like this beer with its complexity and depth of flavour, which melded well with the alcohol level in it to keep the profile quite even overall. I have to say, having had this beer from the bottle previously, there was not the richness of mocha I was getting in this beer. Still, it may be the sweet dark malts balanced out the coffee roastedness, or maybe the coffee was cold filtered.

Probably the one I was most looking forward to tasting was the Mikkeller Cocio Bajer, a chocolate stout that where lactose has also been used. It had a dusty dark brown colour, with very little head but specks of floating sediment sitting on top of the beer. Already I was getting flashbacks to a milk chocolate stout I had tried in my own homebrewing, and had come out looking similarly. The similarities continued, when the taste of chalky/alkaline really dominated across the palate, and the texture was quite watery. Unfortunately the one I was wanting to taste most was the most disappointing. Along with this was a coffee aroma and taste that was more than the Dieu du Ciel had, and the only time I had any chocolate in this beer was when it had been left to sit for quite a while.

Another beer I was highly anticipating was the Trios Mousquetaires Baltic Porter, a beer I have been collecting in bottles for the past few years (and happy to say I have 3 vintages of to do a vertical tasting of soon). Now this one did live to the hype I had for it. A dark beer fermented as a lager was both clean, but still had some great dark malt characters that ran evenly across the palate. This was helped with a light, but creamy texture. I guess in a way it has decreased complexity for a dark beer, but the simplicity of it with even profile, clear flavours and good texture are what I really like about this beer, maybe being such a simple man myself. To be honest, I think it is a bit of an extension of my days when the first beer I ever enjoyed was a Toohey's Old, and generally been interested in baltic porters since I found them.

Lastly, and probably the biggest overall, was the Mikkeller George. A classic Imperial Stout with big dark malt characters, a bit of caramel on midpalate and the alcohol starts to rise, and rise, a bit of heat with that alcohol, but still a nice cleansing finish (well for an imperial stout anyway). As it warmed up the alcohol heat died down a bit, and from the keg, texture held up quite well to help. I probably would have preferred to have tried this beer in one of it's barrel aged forms to help mellow it out a bit.

Overall, an interesting line up of dark beers at the end of Summer, and was great to have the opportunity to put my vote in for what I drink. Hopefully I have another chance to head back in for some of these beers again this week...if they last that long...

Cheers,

Beef

PS: Thanks to Hannah for the new beer t-shirts!!!!!
PPS: Very happy to see there was a bottle of Rogue Double Chocolate Stout still at Slowbeer, so took that off their hands as well!!!!!!!!!

A Dream Becomes Reality...

So, 2 years ago, I wrote this post here, talking about a beer I had 2 years previously while in the United States. Somehow though, I got it a bit wrong, and what I thought was the Rogue Chocolate Stout, was actually a Rogue Double Chocolate Stout (I always wondered why it never tasted the same after the first try). Still, if anything, it has just allowed me to continue my search for this 'holy grail' of beer for an additional 2 years.

4 years ago, I took this photo of myself with some spoils from Rogue Brewery in Portland (at the time), thinking this was the beer I had tried with that warm chocolate truffle cake.

Today, I post this photo of me with that beer I had actually been looking for.

I'm not going to go on about what I have been through to get to this point (some of it is probably already documented on the blog), so just going to get on with righting a wrong, and learning the difference between the 'standard' Chocolate Stout and the Double.

So, while doing a brew with Stass on the weekend (actually, it was the Monday of a long weekend...not a bad way to spend it), I took 3 Rogue beers with me to try throughout the afternoon.

Starting with their Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Ale, realising not just in name, but also packaging, the potential for a novelty beer to be within this pink bottle. Ok, the colour does seem to have similarities to the German smoke beers (Rauchbier) I have seen, and even the glossy maple look can also be seen in presentation. Upon the first whiff, the maple is quite strong, and this aroma seems to only become stronger as the beer warms up, along with some slight notes of what I can only presume may be the cherrywood smoked malt. I am not sure if this sort of sweet smell is meant to arouse the doughnut factor in this beer, but for Stass and I, we were drawn more to pancakes than doughnuts with this, which may work better with the maple and bacon (Canadian Bacon pancakes!). The maple aroma does not come across as strong in flavour, but is definitely present upfront, and it sweetness is left as a residual lingering any minutes after swallowing. From the initial maple taste, this melds into the cherrywood smoke malts, then the beechwood smoked malts bring out more of the bacon aspect on the midpalate. I found it a bit difficult to the detect the difference between the beechwood and the hickory smoke, as I tend to get a bit more sweet bacon from hickory smoke, and was generally only sensing a drier bacon flavour, as if it had been salted. This also meant the apple sauce bacon supposedly also in the beer seemed to have negligible impact on the beer from my perspective. As the beer hit the back of the tongue the cherrywood smoked malts seemed to return, along with the maple, and so in aftertaste, the beer came closest to actually tasting a like doughnut maple bacon, but as I said, maybe more Canadian Bacon pancakes.
Overall, while the profile was interesting, there was not a good balance of flavours, so this beer remains a bit of a novelty.

Ok, with our tastebuds peaked, it was time to finally go where I had not gone before, and crack open a bottle of the Rogue Chocolate Stout with a bottle of the Rogue Double Chocolate Stout. Phew, was I really ready to have this long lived dream come true?

Cracking the standard Chocolate Stout, the smell of chocolate was quite strong, and even with at least a year of age under it's belt, I could not find any oxidation in aroma or taste. The chocolate malt character was quite good, and think cocoa has been used to build on this to emphasis the chocolate aroma and reduce the roasted character that I would expect from chocolate malt by itself. I believe the use of Dutch cocoa gives it a better 'real' chocolate aroma and flavour to beer, and therefore sense it's presence in this beer. There is definitely a lightness to the chocolate, or maybe I am just expecting more texture to go with the chocolate flavour. You may not hear this from me often, but I actually don't mind the use of hops they have used to pair back the chocolate from the end of midpalate and then clean it up completely in aftertaste. Just means you are willing to go back for more sooner...still, residual chocolate flavour would not be unwanted, but would simply make the beer one-dimensional...but then it is a chocolate stout...I'll stop arguing with myself.

So, for the big moment. As soon as I poured the Rogue Double Chocolate Stout into the glass, the thickness of the beer was already noticeable, and the brown head that is not so evident on the standard Chocolate Stout, and reminded me of the head that was on the beer I had at Pix those many years ago...yes, this was definitely the same beer. Aroma is quite light on in terms of chocolate, but honey sweetness is evident with the dark malts, and alcohol is very evident on the nose also. To be honest, it does not smell as chocolately at the standard Chocolate Stout, which had me very worried after all this time of waiting for this moment. Still, being a very texture based drinker, as soon as I put this beer in my mouth, the sensation I had that previous tasting came back, and not too ashamed to say some tears welled in my eyes a bit (only the second beer to do this to me). While this beer does not have the same chocolate taste as the standard, there is a richness to the beer that brings me the sensation of chocolate, which I think I actually enjoy more, and why it paired so well with the chocolate truffle cake I had with it previously. The cake brought flavour and the beer sensation. I realise now that is why that combo blew my mind back then. Still, I think the hero of the beer is really in the honey. Firstly, it thickens up the beer to give the lush texture a beer like this needs. Secondly, the brings the sweetness this beer needs to counteract the roasted bitterness that can come from using too much chocolate malts/cocoa. Lastly, it may have also been used to help get this beer to it's 9% alcohol, which I have to say, is quite hot in the beer. I know now I need to give this beer a bit of time to mellow out the alcohol heat and maybe allow more of the chocolate flavour to dominate the palate a bit more.

Still, a resounding success and contenting moment was had as Stass and I slowly sipped away at this beer in the shade of his backyard with the music set up and brew going on in the shed. One of those moments that will be tagged with this beer forever now for me. Not only that, but I have a growler of this beer waiting for me at Stass' dad's place when I am up that way next week, so there may well be some chocolate beer to be tasted for Easter this year...to go with every Easter I have nowadays, and a chance to taste this beer two ways at the same time...Amazing!!!!

Cheers,

Beef

Another Sydney Beer Weekend

So, it is with a better state of mind that I come to this blog this time. It is funny though, after being depressed with the 4 years I have been searching for Rogues Double Chocolate Stout and still not being any closer, it was this week I found that Warners At The Bay in Newcastle has that exact beer on tap. Thanks to Stass's dad up there, we now have a growler of this long searched beer in his care until I am up there in a few weeks. Yes, it may not be in the best state by then, but after this long, I don't really care, and reports from Stass's family is that it tastes as good as I recall. Plus, I have heard a new distributor is bringing Rogues to Australia now, so I will have a chance to soon to maybe even get this beer in bottle form!!!!! Still after this long I have learnt not to get my hopes up, so until I taste it, and see the bottle in Slowbeer of Purvis, I will keep fighting to get it. Which reminds me, I need to go to the bottle shops near me to see if they will be/persuade them to getting it in.

Anyway, now onto this post, was happy to head back up to Sydney last weekend to hang out with Hannah and her friends at a wedding (only Boag's available unfortunately, but at least the groom looked and sounded like an Irish jockey to keep me entertained) and her and Rach's birthday drinks at the Taphouse in Darlinghurst. With Hannah's favourite beer (at the moment) being on tap (Sierra Nervada Kellerweiss), and a good selection of other beers to choose from, it was a good night of tasting and trying to find beer appropriate to the tastes of those around me. After a warming Bridge Road Robust Porter to warm me up from the chill of rain in the air (but mugginess inside), it was time to taste what beers on the list I had not had before.

Starting on something quite weird, the Doctor's Orders Cephalopod had the green of a usual Berliner Weisse, but with the addition of the ink, gives it a blue/grayish cloudiness which makes it look a bit like swamp water (ok, not an appealing look for your general beer drinker). So along with the tart finish that  is standard with the style, I could not help but feel like I was also tasting a bit of saltiness (maybe from the ink), to the point I could have been closer to drinking a Gose (another Northern German regional style of beer). Still, in the crowd, the look and taste did not generally go down well, with 'butt crack sweat' being one of the more memorable responses to the beer. I did however find it quite refreshing in its own way, and the ink also seemed to give the beer a bit more body, which with the slight salt had me thinking of the use of mussels in some stouts.

Next on the list was sort of keeping with the wheat beer start, but going back in time to it's ancestor, the Enkir, with this Birra del Borgo speciality grain ale. The haze gave it a yeasty taste towards the back, even maybe a bit husky, and looked a bit darker than normal wheat beers. I was interested to taste it had quite a bit of sweetness to it up front to go with the citrusy nose. The sweet with the husky flavours did not mix great in the balance of the beer, but made for something new to try in a beer. Was happy to see the hop character was diminished to allow this malt character to come through fully.

Getting a bit darker and into the Autumn beers we are just getting into in the southern hemisphere, the Beer Here Autumnie Fallout was a really good balanced beer. Being Scandinavian, the malt character was quite big, but evened with a cleansing hop finish to make it easy drinking...well compared to the rest of the range I was trying...making this a really good palate settler in the middle of the tasting.

Going back to Italian beers, the Opperbacco 10 e lode had sweetness to burn! Having used brown sugar in a few of my own beers, could pick up on this. The belgian aspect of the beer was a bit hard to find even at the back end of the palate, but is possible there was a bit of candied sugar to keep with the sweet theme. Of course, this became one of my favs of the night, but many others just found it too sweet.

Ending with a bang, a Scandinavian malt bang, the Fano Bryghus Evil Twin Soft Dookie had such a creamy texture too it, the 'cloud' metaphor came out, add that vanilla, and big malt of an imperial stout, this was an amazing beer to finish on, and definitely my sort of beer for the rain in Sydney.

I guess speaking of stouts, I also have to mention on was walk around Blackwattle Bay, I came across a Belgian Imperial Stout in a Glebe bottle shop, and just had to buy it (like the Hercule Stout, I don't often find stouts from Belgium). I did not get a chance to drink it this time, but am sure I will be writing up here about it when that chance come along.

After the night at the Taphouse, I also took the opportunity to visit the Union Hotel and see there good range of tap beer available. They even had the Doctor's Orders Cephalopod, so decided to try it again. It seemed a bit clouder this time, and talking to the barman, he said they had to keep rotating the keg to stop the ink sitting on the bottom. Seeing they also had two handpumps, Hannah and I shared a Murray's Punch and Judy, and a Young Henry's Vertigo. I liked the english style of the Punch and Judy on the Handpump, while Hannah enjoyed the kristalweizen for obvious reasons. Both great beers to have on handpump, and shows Australia may be getting closer to appreciating beers that are served this way.

Ah, a much better post, and now have good things again to look forward to in beer. Not to mention I jst had a full week in Mountain Goat's brewhouse, which apart from being tired and burning myself with steam and hot pipes, did not go as badly as I thought it would. So hopefully, even more things to look forward to in the career I have been slowly persistent in pursuing.

Cheers,

Beef

Beer Buying Frustration!!!!

OK, I know I live in Australia, and I know I have beers from elsewhere in the world that I want to drink (I probably wouldn't have this blog if that wasn't the case).

There are definitely beers (eg, Rogue Double Chocolate Stout, Southern Tier Creme Brulee, Hercule Stout, Boon Faro, etc [sorry, I won't go on]) I am willing to pay to have shipped to Australia, and also others that I have never tried, but would like the opportunity to do so. With Rogue and ST, I have been in contact with the breweries, and from them been directed to a number of distributors in the U.S. While some of them say they freight beers worldwide, some will only do order big enough for bottle shops, etc. Others that 'may' do smaller orders, somehow never come through with the goods/keep delaying on me/keep asking me to change my order, or just not responding at all. As you can tell, I am getting pretty frustrated, as have been trying to get some of these beers for many years, and no distributor has been much help over that time. Normally on this blog, I would like to have a wide-thinking look at distribution of beer, bring up experiences I have had at Goat with sending our beer around Australia and the world, and look at the principles of it all.
However, at this moment, all I want to do is just buy a ticket to fly around the world again and hope that my luck will be better going to the actual breweries, even if it just means someone will actually take me seriously. I don't know if I am just an unusual case, and most other people can simply see a beer available through a website, order it, and have it delivered ('tis but a dream for me). I do not understand why this has been so difficult for me. I understand I am probably asking for seasonals/rarities, but if the beer is available, and they have the ability to send it to me, how can I not get it delivered.

Sorry, I will stop my rant, but if I can, I would like to ask anyone (if anyone actually reads this stuff) that knows of/has used a good distributor (mainly looking at the U.S., but really anyone who sources good beer, as I have yet to find any distributor outside Australia that can get beer to me) to let me know by commenting on this blog. Please, any help would be greatly appreciated.

I just want to buy beer, that others say they have, want to sell, and can get to me.

I don't like using this blog for things like this, as want to keep my documenting of beer as an open, thoughtful and positive experience, but after so many years of this, I have finally broken.

Hopefully after my weekend in Sydney, I can focus on the experience of tasting beer on this blog again,

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can give me on this.

Cheers,

Beefy

Josie Bones Saturday Sess w/ Christian Andersen

So, while I am recovering from some food poisoning and have the cricket on the in background, I have a chance to recount my weekend with beer. Thinking about beer and food may not be at the front of my mind at the moment (only holding down dry biscuits), but will try to push through to describe this journey.

Proving beer nerds can have girlfriends (I was not sure myself) I took Hannah to Josie Bones to meet up with Beer Here's Christian Andersen and 10 others for a lunch degustation.
To start, a new take on the aussie lager was on show, with the collaboration Beer Here has done with their Australian distributor Northdown, the Cool Hops. In terms of a lager, the colour is closest to a Brooklyn Brewery Lager, dark yellow with almost a touch of brown starting to get into it. I have to say it is one of the best lagers I have ever tried with good crystal malt character and some refreshing citrus/lemon qualities from the Summer hop. Christian detailed that all the ingredients were sourced from Australia, and happy to finally see someone is challenged the norm of the 'classic' aussie lager.  This hop character especially went well with the lemon aioli that accompanied the Gateaux Pimente, showing this beer would also go well with stir fries and asian food, even if my chilli-wuss-ness was exposed through the dish.

The first course had less delicacy to it, showing off the Josie Bones way with beef ribs with a marmalade sauce, and fries with a smokey but creamy dip. Ribs cooked perfectly with the meat falling off the bone and quite succulent. By itself it paired well with the marmalade sauce, but with the beer for this course, was probably one of my favourite matches for the lunch. Bridge Road's Bling IPA is one that for me is a good example of balance between hops and malt in this style of beer, and found it also had a place in Christian's heart as tasting similar to the first homebrew he ever tasted. It almost reminds me of an English ESB with caramel malt and fruity hops, which of course compared well with the sweet meat and fruity sauce of the dish. The sweet of the malt and smoke from the dip also compared well for the Rauchbier lover in me (well, our homebrew Hickory Stickery Bock did come to mind), but the smokey fries did help cleanse the palate a bit of the beer.

Already at this point I was helping the 4 ladies around me get through their beers, which was not displeasing me at all, all the more enjoyable for the next beer in the degustation. I was not the only one either, as Christian was also interested to find this beer on the Josie Bones menu and knew it had to be part of this degustation, even so he could have a chance to taste it.
Beer Here's Nordic Rye is a farmhouse ale but with the surprising use of rye that adds quite a bit of sweetness to the beer, but is then offset well with the spice/yeast of the farmhouse style. Having let this beer age 2 years helped even more to meld these two aspects of the beer, but with the rye dominating a little more from the time. Not only does the sweetness from the beer compare well with the gaminess of the Kangaroo Carpaccio, but texturally there was a similarity between the two that I found quite surprising, and enjoyable. For as big at the beer was, the Quinoa Salad completely cleaned up the palate, and helped give a bit of filling to help soak up the beers going down.

I must say my somewhat recent delve into milk stouts did get me a bit excited when I saw the Beer Here Ammestout on the menu, as have a bottle of this that want to try with Stass sometime soon. Funnily enough, this coffee lactose stout did actually taste like iced coffee, and when asked what coffee he used, we thought it a bit of a joke when he replied with Nescafe Blend 43. Having spoken a bit about other coffee beers and the amounts/types of coffee used in them, it came as a surprise to here him reiterate that is was that coffee, added in at the whirlpool stage of the brew. Maybe having spruiked up the beer in my own mind, I was slightly disappointed in it, as it seemed a little bland for the mix of flavours this beer had the potential to be. Still, anyone wanting a beer that tastes like ice coffee, look no further...oh, and by the looks of the label on the bottle, it's good for breastfeeding mothers!
To go with the coffee milk stout was a kriek marshmellow slice, with Linderman's Kriek used in the marshmellow, jelly topping, and sauce. The cherry beer was probably most distinct in the marshmellow, with the flavour working well with the texture.

I guess the only way to move on from a cherry beer tasting marshmellow was to hit Beer Deluxe and try the Boon Framboise, which compared with the Linderman raspberry beer I have had previously it definitely tasted more like 'real' raspberry, and allowed to keep some body with less carbonation. I think this worked for Hannah, who is more of a wine person, but I am slowly finding her way in beer.

Anyway, starting to feel like I have talked to much about consumables on a day I feel like this, so going to sign off. Thanks to Christian and Josie Bones for the lunch, and Hannah for being open to the journey...which for her will undoubtably continue until she gets sick of me...maybe beer nerds should not have girlfriends...

Cheers,

Beef

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