Matutu

Due to various work-related circumstances, our honeymoon ended up being just over two months after our wedding.  Mainstream New Zealand beer, Heineken and VB(!) were much in evidence in The Cook Islands,  a sorry state of affairs in such a beautiful spot.

When we previously went to the Cooks there was a local beer but that brewery closed down a couple of years ago. Since then two fine gentlemen have started up the Matutu Brewery on Rarotonga, an independent microbrewery with two main beers to their credit so far.

Matutu Mai is a lager in a German style, light and refreshing. I only drank this a couple of times as I was far more interested in Matutu Kiva.  A pale ale in the style of a British ale, it’s not bad at all. My first taste of both beers was in Kura’s Kitchen at Atiu Villas, the island of Atiu’s biggest tourist accommodation (six villas) and our base for a fantastic five days.

Distribution is…spotty. Back on Rarotonga, I went into a few places in Averua one day to get some bottles only to be told that the truck hadn’t come so they didn’t have any. When would they be likely to get some? Dunno, maybe tomorrow, maybe not. I ended up tracking a six pack down in Muri at a small general store that let me have them for a very welcome NZ$2.50 (AU$2.00) each. At The Pacific Resort the night before one had cost me NZ$7.50…

On Atiu, Roger and Andrew at Atiu Villas had a decent supply at a decent price so all was well during our stay there. I was the only person on the island actually drinking them though. More on Atiu’s own beer in an upcoming post.

I’ve found out since I left that the Matutu boys are happy to give you a tour of their brewery, and that if you turn up at their place with a suitable receptacle they’ll fill it up for you with your choice of their beer, fresh as you can get. Yet another reason for me to return to the Cooks.

There are two further things I’d note about the beers. The bottles are filled to within millimetres of the bottle top, which is good value if a little dangerous when opening. Also, I did notice differences in quality between bottles depending on how long they’d been out of the brewery, and the two I bought back to Sydney with me were slightly flat. If they can get the consistency right, though, I think Eric and James will be onto a winner. Buying local and tasting nicer than Speights have to be two good reasons for supporting Matutu.

Old Ball & Chain

Knowing Al, Knowing Lou

Funny how your wedding takes precedence over pretty much every other thing in your life for months on end.  I’m back.

Speaking of weddings, We’d found from attending other peoples’ that one of the new (?) must-dos is to have a personalised little bag of sugar almonds for each attendee on the table – these things are called bombonieres. Louise and I walk the line between enjoying tradition (even imported ones) but also rebelling against it, so we decided on a more personal (and useful) memento of our wedding. Beer. After all, what symbolises health, wealth, happiness, fertility and long life more than sophisticated homebrew?

For that is what we provided. A few weeks before the happy event we went to The Beer Factory in Seven Hills and, with the help of someone who knew what they were doing, followed a recipe to make 50 litres of a clone of Toohey’s Old (brew no. 208, if you want to have a go yourself). Perhaps it was the stinkingly hot day (40 deg C) or our usual cackhandedness, but we managed to rather overdo the yeast, scooping out handfuls of the stuff before it absorbed into the brew. Our expert didn’t see us doing this so we think we got away with it, but it meant the three-week wait for the beer to brew was more anxious on our part than it might have been. We may also have been less than precise with some of our other measures which means that we’ll never be able to make exactly the same beer again.

On a much cooler Saturday our friend Peter drove us back to The Beer Factory to help us bottle the stuff. After sterilising the bottles we were set up by a tap and, after a quick taste or two, we set to filling 90-odd half-litre bottles and whacking crown seals on them.

Louise and I had decided that “no. 208″, a great name for a bus, was a bit boring for our wedding beer. It took a surprisingly short amount of time for us to come up with “Old Ball & Chain” as a suitable substitute and Louise set about designing the label, using Old Melbourne Gaol and Abba as her main influences.

I’d recommend the Beer Factory experience to anyone who wants to brew themselves some beer but doesn’t have the time, space or ability to home-brew properly. 50-litre batches should perhaps be shared between two or three friends, as (a) it’s a fun few hours out together, (b) it lessens the workload, (c) it reduces the amount of fridge space you’ll require to store them, and (d) it means you don’t have to drink 100 bottles of the same stuff in a relatively short time. Believe me, we were craving variety after “only” working our way through the 40-odd bottles we didn’t give away. It works out relatively cheaply too, especially if you can provide your own bottles, which of course you can recycle, and don’t bother with labels.

So how did it taste? Well, my first thoughts were that it was like a cross between Toohey’s Old and Newcastle Brown Ale, and on further consumption I’d stick with that. Alas, the yeast issue mentioned above did leave a slight apple-like aftertaste which is, I read, the hallmark of unfermented yeast in a beer. Oops. But it didn’t really detract too much from the good swiggin’ dark beer.

Post script: on a trip to Kiama recently I had a couple of schooners of Kent Old, a beer not often found on draught these days, and was shocked to find that, lack of apple taste aside, it was pretty much identical to Old Ball & Chain. Looked the same too. So if you want to taste what our never-to-be-repeated wedding beer was like, seek out some Kent Old. Bizarrely, the place I’m told you’re most likely to be able to do this is…Newcastle (NSW).

Aussie Hot 100

The Local Taphouse, Melbourne’s best pub (and soon to open a branch in Sydney), has compiled a list of the 100 favourite Australian beers as voted for by “hundreds of people… from around Australia”. I’d suggest that this was not a sample worked out to adequately represent every beer-drinking person in Australia, otherwise the list would have been very different. Still, it gives me a few names to conjure with, and something to argue with in due course.

The full list is here, but, to aid the lazy, here’s the top twenty without the need to click:

1 Little Creatures Pale Ale

2 Murray’s Icon 2IPA

3 Mountain Goat Hightail Ale

4 Knappstein Reserve Lager

5 Little Creatures Bright Ale

6 James Squire Golden Ale

7 Coopers Sparkling Ale

8 Coopers Pale Ale

9 Holgate Mt Macedon Pale Ale

10 James Squire Amber Ale

11 Jamieson ‘The Beast’ IPA

12 Murray’s Nirvana Pale Ale

13 Holgate ESB

14 Hargreaves Hill ESB

15 Murray’s Grand Cru

16 Nail Stout

17 Matilda Bay Alpha Pale Ale

18 Holgate Hopinator Double IPA, Red Hill Imperial Stout

20 Moo Brew Pale Ale

Looks like I picked a winner to drink on my first night out here, then! I’ve drunk 9 of those top twenty and, the Little Creatures Bright Ale apart, wouldn’t argue that they were decent beers.  I’d argue that James Squire Amber is superior to the Golden though. But anyway…

I think I run to 23 of the hot 100. Plenty of work for me to do then. Nice to see my session favourite, Toohey’s Old, sneak in at 99.  Oh look, no Cascade beers at all!

Warka Warka

Fozzie probably doesn't realise that this gesture is offensive to non-Americans

In the comments on my Kent Brewery post, Megan (of Burwood) asked me to keep my eye out for Warka Strong, a Polish beer she was fond of but having trouble finding in Sydney. Well, I took my first trip to 1st Choice Liquor on Willoughby Road, Naremburn yesterday (on the 273 bus route), and amongst the fine selection of local and imported bottles… there it was.

I bought a bottle ($4.something) to see what Megan might like about it and I was pleasantly surprised. Most Polish beers I’ve tried before have been dull lagers or dull strong lagers. This is strong  (7%, about 2.6 standard drinks in a 500ml bottle) but not dull at all, with a vaguely Belgian witbier taste. Heavy on the banana aroma too which means that it’s safe from Louise. I’d drink it again.

It looks like 1st Choice have a new branch at 158 Liverpool Road in Ashfield, which my sources tell me is quite near Burwood.  With any luck they’ll have Warka there too! I love a happy ending.

(Collapse of) Stout Party

A night at home alone, so time to try some of the bottles in the cupboard. Two stouts and a porter, from weakest to strongest. Yes, I know, a Sydney summer night is not the time to be drinking strong dark beers, but my internal season-adjuster-thingy hasn’t flipped over yet. Two summers in a row (if you can call what I experienced in London between June and August “summer”) have confused me no end.

The first contender tonight is Hatlifter Stout, from the Grand Ridge Brewing Company of Gippsland, Victoria. Grand Ridge definitely err towards the boutique end of things, with an interesting range which includes a very nice Scotch Ale (not on their website now) which I tried a while ago, a Belgian Blonde, and a premixed Black and Tan for those too lazy (or tight) to mix their own.

Hatlifter Stout

The Hatlifter poured a dark ruby colour, with a yellowy head which dissipated quite quickly. There was a caramel smell with a definite whiff of alcohol, which as this is only 4.9% (1.3 standard drinks/bottle) was surprising. The first taste was vanilla, followed by maltiness, a bit of licorice and a definite coffee flavour in the aftertaste. A smooth taste and one that did not grow tiring as the glass emptied. Worth drinking at cellar temperature, I’d say. I’d definitely drink this again.

From a micro to a macro for the next bottle - Cascade Stout. Cascade is the oldest surviving brewery in Australia, originally founded in Tasmania in 1824, but since (I think) the late 1980s part of The Fosters Group (CUB). Despite now being part of the evil empire (and from the sound of it, they weren’t exactly innocents in the old days anyway) they make decent enough beers, which I’d take over a New any day.

Cascade Stout

To the bottle in question then. Cascade Stout is part of their “Craft Collection”, so I’d expect it to have something a bit extra in the taste. Advertising has misled me again. The main taste I got from this was a metallic, bitter one. There was a slight creaminess to it and it had quite an attractive roasted smell, but otherwise it was pretty dull and quite a bore to finish. As you can see from the picture it was the darkest of tonight’s brews, an opaque black with an attractive tan head. Quite strong, at 5.8% (1.5 standard drinks/bottle), so useful for getting drunk but not a lot else. Rather a disappointment.

And to finish it’s back to Murray’s Brewing Co for Murray’s Best Extra Porter. A birruva monster at 8% (2.1 standard drinks/bottle), Murray accepts that’s it’s only “vaguely” in the porter style, and throws the “imperial” * word around too. I was reminded of a Belgian Dubbel, but not a great example of that variety. It didn’t smell of a great deal, had a bittersweet taste and, again, I felt bored with it by the time my glass was empty. Head stuck around though.

Murray's Porter

And another thing. For the third time with Murray’s beers, part of the bottle has come away with the crown cap – that’s twice with Pale Ales and once with the Porter. Not good.

Another reason not to drink straight from the bottle

At least all the glass stayed in the cap...

So, the clear winner of the night was Grand Ridge’s Hatlifter Stout. I shall be getting some more of those some time soon, probably from Dan Murphy’s (Willoughby Branch), my new source for vaguely interesting beers. Meanwhile, as the temperature hits 35 degrees celsius, I think I’ll leave Stout Party 2 (Cooper’s, Sheaf, Abbotsford…any other suggestions?) a few months.

*Originally used on some nice strong brews sent to the Russian royal court, ”imperial” is now the word American microbrewers affix to their stupidly-strong stouts when they want to give their expensive tramp juice pretensions.

Murray’s Nirvana Pale Ale

I’ve been drinking a lot of this recently, since the nice lady in the bottle-o next to Waverton Station recommended I try it one warm November evening. Murray’s Craft Brewing Co are a Northern NSW brewery very much in the North American mode, with a strong emphasis on hoppy IPAs and (their word) “extreme” beers, and all that matching-beer-with-food malarkey. Set up in 2006 by Murray Howe, they’re already winning awards, including one for the beer I’m drinking tonight: Murray’s Nirvana Pale Ale won Bronze in the American Style Pale Ale class at the 2008 Australian International Beer Awards.

head disappearing already

It’s a lovely golden colour in the glass, with a head that doesn’t stick around as long as I’d like.  There’s a pleasant hoppy bitterness, initially quite striking but one that subsides quite quickly. A definite orangey hint to the aftertaste but not so much as to be off-putting. Towards the end of the glass it seems a bit ho-hum, but the hit of a new one is most welcome, and at 4.5% (1.3 standard drinks) it’s sessional enough that you can do that.

Murray’s is available in more bottle shops than you might imagine in NSW. It comes in 4 packs rather than the usual sixer, which is perhaps a way of cushioning the drinker from it’s rather, ahem, boutique price – $16 for my last fourer. It’s available on tap in an increasing number of bars, which is a good thing. I had a schooner of the Nirvana in the Albion Place Hotel the other day and it was just as good as it is in the bottle. Those of you passing through Northern NSW can go to The Pub With No Beer in Taylor’s Arm, which despite it’s name is the Murray’s Brewery Tap. I’m sure the detour will be worthwhile, as long as you’re not the designated driver.

Photo Essay: Kent Brewery

These are pictures of the Kent Brewery site on Broadway, Chippendale, just down the road from Central Station, taken earlier this month.

The Kent Brewery was opened in 1835 by Sydney’s original big brewery, Tooth and Co. In 1983 Carlton & United (CUB) took over Tooth’s and brewed VB and Foster’s (amongst other things) here. In 2003, it was sold to developers and finally shut in 2005, the beers formerly brewed there now being brewed in Victoria and Queensland on cheaper real estate, I’d imagine. It will eventually be the usual mix of swanky apartments and retail/office space. Details of the closure announcement are here and more history than you might ever need to know is here. You’ll be pleased to hear that the gates (pictured in the last two pictures above) will remain, although I bet they wash off the residue on the tiles from the original “Tooth & Co Limited Kent Brewery” lettering, which you can still just about see.

The last picture above was a prize-winner in the second annual A Good Beer Blog / Stonch’s Beer Blog Xmas Photo Competition. Thanks Alan and Jeff! I’d never heard of Beaus’s All Natural Brewing Company before but I’m looking forward to receiving their t-shirt and hat in due course.

James Squire “Mad Brewers” Raspberry Wheat Beer

not a good idea

James Squire is a name we’ll come back to quite often on this blog. More details in another post, but despite being part of the Lion Nathan conglomerate they brew some of the better beers that are easily acquired in Sydney.

They also do some seasonal and special brews. Looking in Amato’s cold room a few weeks ago I came across some bottles of their Mad Brewers’ Raspberry Wheat Beer. One came home with me.

I’ve drunk fruit beers before. A Cantillon, 3 Fonteinen or Boon Kriek (Cherry) is always welcome, and their Frambozen (Raspberry) beers are usually ok too, but often fruit beers are too sweet for me and made with extracts rather than using actual fruit, which makes them taste unnatural to my buds. I remember at my first Great British Beer Festival (1992) my mate Rob ordered a Banana Beer that was so horrible that three strong men could not finish the 250ml bottle. But I reasoned that this beer was (a) a relatively classic style (wheat-based rather than lambic, but not that odd), and (b) by someone with a good track record for other beers, so it should be worth a go. It couldn’t be worse than Fruli, surely.

The bottle, then. It’s a 640ml “longneck”, and comes with a sub-Ralph Steadman label proclaiming that this will “make you think differently about beer”. Hmm.

The beer is the colour of Mateus Rose, lighter than it looks in the picture above, with a reasonable light pink head that disappears quite quickly. It smells like raspberry cordial. Taking a slurp, the overwhelming taste is of boiled sweet. The advertised tartness is barely perceptible. Definite raspberry taste, but with an overlay of…mint. Yes, mint. A quick read of the label tells me that this is actually intentional, and that the beer is brewed with “extracts of raspberry and peppermint”. So no actual fruit then. And a weird fresh aftertaste, like drinking raspberry juice after you’ve cleaned your teeth. I really struggled to finish this. Too sweet, no actual beer taste under the sledgehammer raspberry cordial taste, and that mint thing was a really bad idea. Here’s one limited release (only 3,800 cases, there’s a couple of bottles in the BWS in Crow’s Nest for $9 a go if you’re desperate) that I hope won’t be coming back.

Having done my Responsible Service of Alcohol certificate last month I feel duty-bound to tell you that this beer is 5%abv, so the 640ml bottle (the only size it comes in) is 2.5 standard drinks. It gave me a slight buzzy head but that’s only because I was drinking it quick to get rid of it.

First Aussie Beer

Well, obviously not my first Aussie beer ever. I have been here before, and I’ve sunk the odd pint/stubbie of the stuff back in England over the years too. But this was my first beer as a visa’d-up resident of Sydney.

It made sense to make it a good one, so Louise took me to The Australian Hotel, deep in the heart of Sydney’s The Rocks. The Australian has a good range of draft beers, runs a beer festival (which I somehow missed despite being in town both days it was on) and attracts a good mix of tourists and locals. It’s also quite old, but don’t let’s start working out if it’s the oldest pub in Sydney or not as there are at least three others that claim that title and we’d be here all night. 

What to have? For some reason I chose Little Creatures Pale Ale from the eight taps in front of me. I’ve had the stuff before, but only in little bottles in the UK and I’d remembered being pretty unimpressed. But the only other beer on tap at the time that wasn’t a lager was Scharer’s Bock, and despite a recommendation from Louise I wasn’t in the mood for slightly sweet German-style beer. I wanted a bit of bite.

And boy, did I get it. Little Creatures Pale Ale smacks you round the chops with hops, and the grapefruit follows closely behind. It’s bitter and refreshing. You couldn’t drink it all night (especially not at $8 a pint) but it was just what the doctor ordered and worked well alongside an excellent chorizo pizza. Perhaps the one I’d had before was a bit old. 

tentative tasting

Little Creatures is a Fremantle, Western Australia, brewer and their wares are widely available in Australia and elsewhere. They’ve also started putting their Pale Ale into pint bottles, which is a sure way to win my approval. Read more on Australian beer quantities at Aussie Beer 101.