24-31. What happened?

It’s been ten months. And I’ve been busy. Busy working. Busy travelling. Busy presenting.

Studio A at 2MBS, last week.

And busy drinking too. But somehow the list of beers I’d drunk overwhelmed me and inertia took over as far as writing any of them up properly. But I kept that list going, and made some notes along the way. Rather than attempt full-on reviews of all of them, here’s part one of a whistle-stop tour through that list, with the occasional comment/picture to shed light where it exists.  Eyes down for a full house…

24. Old Admiral

The Lord Nelson Hotel maintains that it’s the oldest pub in Sydney. It probably is, but it’s only been brewing it’s own beer since 1985. Does some good stuff too. Did I go in there in 2010? Not sure, but I bought a six-pack of their Old Admiral, one of the two beers they make available in this way, Three Sheets being the other. A thick, strong (6.1%) porter, Old Admiral is a nice way to finish an evening. They serve it too cold in the pub though.

25. Hatlifter Stout

I reviewed this in my stout taste test in 1999. My views haven’t changed.

A Friday at The Marly

The Marlborough Hotel, Newtown

26. James Squire Porter

27.  James Squire Mad Brewers Orchard Ale

I drank these both at The Marlborough Hotel (aka The Marly) in Newtown with Louise and her two tallest friends. You don’t often get the porter on draught outside of the James Squire Brewhouses, so this was a nice treat for me. Like a creamier, more vanilla-y Old.

The previous Mad Brewers release I’d tried was really awful, so I was pleasantly surprised by the Orchard Ale. I’m a sucker for a saison (which is the base for this beer), and the apple taste worked well. I’d like them to make this one again. I had it on draught (I think the Marly was one of only a handful of pubs to have it that way) but it was released in longnecks too.

A Friday at The Local Taphouse

Nude (1930) by Edwin Holgate (1892-1977)

28. Holgate Road Trip IPA

29. Feral Barrel aged Saison

The Local Taphouse opened in Darlinghurst in early 2008 and I’ve not been there nearly as often as I should have been. It’s on the wrong side of town for me, which is part of the problem, and if I went here frequently I’d have no money or liver left, but I think the main reason I haven’t been more often is that I don’t feel 100% comfortable in here. I like beer, but not at the level that these guys do. I feel a bit intimidated. Still, it’s doing really well and I’m glad it’s there. Maybe it’s me that needs to do the work.

Anyway, I was there with Lorkers, who’d just started his new job at UNSW so that dates it to early March 2010. I had a Trumer Pils to quench my thirst, German and so not to be counted. I’m sure it was fine. I have no notes on the Holgate Road Trip IPA or the Feral Barrel Aged Saison but I seem to recall being vaguely disappointed with the saison. They’re both breweries I’d like to visit at some point – I’ve enjoyed most of the Holgates I’ve tried, and Feral look like they do some interesting stuff.

A Monday at Beer Deluxe

Shirley Temple. Probably not drinking beer.

30. Temple Saison through a Randall
31. Temple Saison in a bottle

Looks like I was going through a saison phase. Beer Deluxe is in Federation Square in Melbourne, where I was on business. I was also just starting a bout of the genuine ‘flu, so my head was swimming even without the beer. Beer Deluxe doesn’t look particularly exciting from the outside, but it has a good selection of aussie micros on tap and a fridge full of bottled wonders so I always try to pop in here when I’m south of the border. They also have one of those randall things, a chamber between the barrel and the tap, usually filled with a beer-related ingredient, which the beer shoots through under pressure on its way to the tap and subsequently your glass. It was full of hops when I turned up, which they were putting the Temple Saison through. I had a schooner of the draught though the randall, and then a bottle of it au naturel, to see if I could tell the difference. I could a bit, but I was feeling rather unwell.

So unwell that when the barman had come over and showed me a 750ml $30 bottle of a rare saison and left it on my table, in my befuddled state I thought he’d given it to me to keep. As I staggered out of the door he came hurtling along to explain that it wasn’t a gift. I got in a cab, went to the airport and spent the next three days in bed.

23. Resch’s Draught

League player in condoning drinking shock

I was on my way somewhere else.

That’s how you usually end up at The Paragon Hotel, one of two pubs at Circular Quay and the only one you’d really want to go into. The downstairs bar is pretty utilitarian but fine for a swifty when you’re waiting for a ferry, or as a starting point for a crawl through the Rocks. Upstairs is a bit posher but only just. Food’s standard but comes in enormous portions.

For some reason I’d forgotten that The Paragon does Coopers’ (but only on a tap around the corner) so I thought I’d go for a Resch’s Draught, which I’d been surprised to see Louise pick last time we were in here. “I want something thirst-quenching”, she’d said, and she certainly made the right choice. A 4.4% lager, crisp, bitter and with an overpowering taste of barley, it cleanses the palate beautifully and gets you ready for the next beer, whether it be another Resch’s or something more trendy.

Which is, let’s face it, pretty much anything on the taps.  Resch’s is the Toohey’s Old of lagers, in that it’s generally thought that no-one under the age of eighty drinks it by choice. It may be because the last time anyone spent any money advertising it appears to have been 1947, or it may be that it’s the last remaining beer from the old Resch’s Brewery, which officially took that name in 1906. The history of the brewery goes back to 1874, when the owners of West End Brewery in Adelaide set up premises in Waverley, Sydney. For the first two years it was called the Adelaide Brewery but they rather sensibly changed it’s name to the Waverley Brewery in 1876. Edmund Resch joined as manager in 1895, having run breweries with his brothers in rural NSW in the preceding years, giving the brewery (and the beer) his name eleven years later, moving it to Redfern in the bargain. Three years after his death in 1926 Resch’s was taken over by Tooth & Co. Of course, Tooth’s were taken over in their turn by Carlton United (Fosters) in 1983.  Why exactly (and where) Carlton keep brewing Resch’s is anyone’s guess – and you can get it in bottles too, both stubbies and longnecks – but I’m glad they do, not just from the heritage aspect but also because it’s a decent enough drop, one I’ll drink again.

2010 Resch's tap. See what I mean?

Thanks to ‘The Breweries of Australia: A History‘ by Keith M Deutscher (Lothian, 1999) for the above history lesson.

 

22. White Rabbit Dark Ale

Phooey

Over at a certain Australian homebrewers’ forum people got very excited towards the end of last year about White Rabbit Dark Ale, a newish product from Little Creatures’ Victorian arm. I’m here to tell you that it’s nothing to get excited about. The brewery website may well go on about it not being “born to follow” and being fermented in open casks so that the yeast can “party” but really, it is not appreciably better than Toohey’s Old. And at $20 a six, compared to $14 or less for Old, I shall not be drinking it again, unless I find it on draught and there’s nothing better on. Most underwhelming.

21. Toohey’s New

A bucket of beer. Now that's classy.

Oh dear.

Post Spanish food and Sangria, a final beer was required and we went to the usually reliable, comfortably scuzzy, and just two doors down Sir John Young. While it doesn’t have a wide range of beers, the indoor drinking space is hemmed in by pokies and odd types flit in and out disturbingly frequently, I’ve always been able to get a Barons’ Pale Ale or something equally acceptable here. Not this time though, and in desperation (Carlton Draught? Pure Blonde?? VB???) and, it must be said, out of duty to record the highs and lows of aussie beer for this here blog, I uttered the dread words…

“A schooner of New, please.”

It was the end of the night. It was wet and tasted of cardboard. Wet cardboard. I had no desire for a second.

The more curious among you might be wondering why there’s a picture of a champagne bucket full of low quality megaswill at the top of this post, especially as there’s no New visible. Well, it’s a picture I took, much to the amusement of my colleagues, at the National Training Awards in November last year. There we were, in Canberra’s twelfth-finest conference facilities (they’d forgotten to book early was the rumour), the cream of vocational training all around us, Greedy Smith from Mental as Anything about to sing the national anthem, accapella, the wine and food carefully chosen, and what had they done for the beer drinkers? Bunged a few cans of low-quality Carlton products in champagne buckets and left us to it. There weren’t even any glasses.

I was the only beer drinker on my table so, trying to follow Viv Savage‘s dictum to “have a good time, all the time”, I set about emptying our bucket. I believe this is where the phrase “taking one for the team” originated. It’s certainly where my work nicknames of “bucket boy” and “the can man” came from.

The next awards ceremony I attended (get me, I live the high life) was earlier this year, but after the night with Beccy mentioned above. The NSW Sports Federation Awards were perhaps a more parochial affair, but they were at least notionally black-tie (people who work in education are not expected to make as much effort it seems, scruffy buggers), had a far more, um, raunchy, set of entertainers, and the food wasn’t bad either. So when I and my glamorous female work colleagues were in the pre-dinner vestibule, thirsty on a very hot Sydney summer night, what was the choice of beer?

There was no choice. Toohey’s New, sir?

On a closer inspection of the pumps I noticed that Heineken could have been a choice but there’d obviously been a decision somewhere along the line that that foreign stuff wasn’t going to be offered. Thirst quenched and brow mopped with handkerchief, I moved onto the wine.

Every two years my work runs a conference, and the latest version happened at the beginning of March this year. On the first night there’s always a dinner and staff are invited. It was a fun night, I was able to do some decent networking (not usually my strong suit) and have a good time with my colleagues, and the food was probably the best of the three occasions I’ve mentioned so far. The band was a bit loud, but there was space outside to chat later, and you could take your drinks out with you. Another hot, hot night in Sydney, so beer was the obvious choice of drink. Waiter! A beer if you please!

Toohey’s New.

In a country where beer is the accepted social drink, and more and more people are understanding that it can be a quality product on a par with wine for variety and taste, why is is that at every corporate event I’ve been to effort is put into the choice of the food and the wine but no-one even thinks twice about the choice of the beer, but just assumes that anyone who wants one (and it’s usually a higher proportion of people than at British equivalents) will be happy with any old swill? All I’m asking for is a choice of two beers. One of them can be New if it has to be, but a James Squire or a Little Creatures would show that the venue valued all its customers and, frankly, realised that they had tastebuds.

19, 20. James Squire Amber Ale and Matilda Bay Fat Yak Ale

The real "Amber Nectar"

Recognise that picture? It’s the full version of this blog’s header.

I took the picture in October 2008 at the James Squire Brewhouse, on one of my first forays into Sydney on my own. The first Amber Ale I drank in 2010, however, was in company as our friend Beccy was visiting from London and we met up with her in the Albion Place Hotel on George Street, a handily-placed pub for meeting folk in. A bit trendier than I usually like, it nevertheless scores high in two categories – (a) a short but good selection of local and international beers, and (b) it’s right next to the main cinema drag. Food’s not bad either.

Getting there early, I plumped for the old Amber to wet my whistle.  The picture up above shows you its beautiful colour. The taste is malty, pleasantly hoppy, has a touch of nutty spice and a slight metallic/fruity finish. Very drinkable. Heavier than the Golden Ale, and boozier – 5% against 4.5% abv. One that English people looking for a beer that’s similar to a Bitter back home might like.

I was then distracted by the foreign lagers on display, the best of which being 19a Budweiser Budvar, which was served in a proper 500ml glass and, as usual, was about a million times nicer than that dreadful American pretender (King of Beers my arse).

A quick one before we headed off for food was required. I plumped for Matilda Bay‘s Fat Yak Ale, a brew that’s only been on the market for a year or so and one that’s aimed fairly and squarely at the American Pale Ale lover. Cascade and Sauvin hops smack you around the head. You get the picture.  It makes me feel hungry, somehow, so our trip to Capitan Torres immediately afterwards was most welcome.

Matilda Bay started off as a  microbrewer out of the excellent Sail and Anchor pub in Fremantle, WA before setting up in their own right in 1989. Alas, it wasn’t long before Carlton United Brewers (i.e. Fosters) bought them out, so like James Squire, Matilda Bay is, despite what they’d like you to think, merely a boutique arm of one of the big two. They also brew Dogbolter (good but alas not the skullsplitter of the same name beloved of those who drank in Firkin pubs in the 1990s), Beez Neez (honey beer – never a good idea imho), Alpha Ale (even hoppier than the Yak)  and a Bohemian Lager, some, all or none of which may turn up on this page at some point.

The original brewers at Matilda Bay set up Little Creatures in Fremantle in 2000, still independent today and, without a doubt, the subject of an upcoming post here.

18. Coopers Sparkling Ale

authentically australian ale

Australia has given much of value to the world.  The Chappell Brothers. Kylie. Gideon Haigh. Meat Pie Floaters. And Australian Sparkling Ale, the only authentically Australian-originated beer style, harking back to Thomas Cooper’s 1862 brew made for his ailing wife Ann. She liked it, and encourage him to bottle and sell it. And thus was an empire born.

Cooper’s (where does the apostrophe go? There’s none on the label but the man’s name was Cooper, not Coopers) Sparkling Ale is golden but hazy, given the yeast each bottle (and cask) contain for refermentation purposes. Malty, hoppy (but not overtly so), drinkable blah blah blah.  At 5.8% it’s on the top end of sessionable, so god bless the brewery for making its livery red as opposed to the green of their Pale Ale. That way I know that a night on the Pale Ale is go, but to stop before I go crazy on the Sparkling.

17. Wicked Elf Tripel

Mad Abbot Tripel

Beer 5 of this year was Little Brewery‘s Mad Abbot Dubbel (as reported here). I’d been saving the Tripel for a night I didn’t have to get up early the next day, as at 9.5% it gives quite a buzz and, knowing me, once I’d had one I’d want another.

I’m very happy to report that this is an excellent example of the Belgian Tripel style. A slightly hazy gold in colour, the beer had a good head which stuck around until the end of the glass. Great fruit flavours (banana, obviously, but some citrus too), a bit of spice too, and a strong but not cloying alcohol taste. It certainly benefited from being drunk at cellar temperature. And two bottles made me feel happily drunk, which is also very important.

In summary: the best high-end beer I’ve drunk this year. So far.

16. Mountain Goat Hightail Ale

upset

That’s actually a picture of me at The Mountain Goat Brewery, Richmond, back in November 2008 when I was visiting Melbourne for a wedding. As you can see, it was closed so Louise and I had to seek solace in The Royston Hotel just across the road. The Royston is authentically 70s in decor – it’s not kitsch, I just think it never changed – and a little disturbing in the middle of a Monday afternoon, but we had some very local beer there and also some Holgate Bitter on handpump, a rarity on two counts. Here’s some shots I took of The Royston to give you an idea.

another busy afternoon

you'd pay a fortune for lamps like this down at Camden Market

now you know why I usually have a beard

Mountain Goat Hightail and Steam Ales are quite easy to get in Sydney, their Surefoot Stout less so (I’ve had bottles of it at The Australian a couple of times). The other night a six-pack of their signature Hightail came home with me.

It’s ok. You can read all the florid descriptions at the link above but it didn’t really grab me. Now the Stout, I like. But I’ve not had that this year so I can’t write about it yet. One day I’ll be able to work out a work trip to Melbourne so I can stay down on a Wednesday night and see how Dave and Cam roll. East (Melbourne) side.

15. Sunshine Coast Best Bitter

other Sunshine Coast beers are available

Through a door from The Platform Bar is Grand Central Cellars, one of those bottlos you both wish was next door to your house but also, both for health and financial reasons, are glad isn’t. It has a great range of local and imported beers, including some very expensive (and no doubt EXTREME) limited edition Rogue beers which I’m in no hurry to try.

Wanting to make sure I tried another local brew I opted for a bottle of Sunshine Coast Best Bitter. The knowledgeable and friendly salesman pointed out that it was the Sunshine Coast Brewery‘s other beer, their Summer Beer, which had recently won an award. But I was interested in what they’d make of doing a Bitter, having not had a decent one since I left England and stuck with my original choice.

So, it’s copper in colour, with a pronounced bitterness – ooh, about 33 IBU I reckon. From the first taste I’d say they use a mixture of Pale, Munich, Crystal and Wheat malts and I was definitely tasting a cocktail of Sauvin, Amarillo and Goldings hops.

Well, that’s what the unusually informative label on the bottle told me anyway. My real experience was that it had a sweet maltiness, was fruity, and a little biscuity. Reminiscent of some English bitters but I couldn’t tell you which ones.

I couldn’t leave such a bonza bottlo without taking home with me a couple of imports and I settled on 15a. Saison Dupont,one of my all-time favourite Belgians (in a 750ml bottle) and 15b.  Meantime High Saison, which the salesguy informed me taste of “flowers”. He wasn’t far wrong. I had bottle 385 of a limited edition of 1320, trainspotters.

13,14. Stone & Wood Ale, Burleigh Heads Hefe

One of the joys of my job is that I get to travel within Australia on a reasonably regular basis. By the time I’d been in the job six months I’d been to all the states and territories at least once and was a Gold Qantas frequent flyer pretty soon afterwards.

My first trip this year was to Brisbane. After a busy day shuttling between state government offices and, erm, someone’s kitchen in Taigum, wearing a suit in 32 degrees heat, I needed a big, cold, thirst-quenching beer. So off I went to the Grand Central Hotel, which I’d had a fun night in last year and which bucks the trend of station pubs usually being dire on every level.

I knew what beer I’d start with. The Grand Central is one of the growing number of bars to carry Stone and Wood Ale, brewed by three blokes from Byron Bay. Stone & Wood also do a couple of bottled beers, their pale lager and a stone ale, both of which I’ve tried in the past and are becoming available across the country. The draught ale is unpasteurised, and unfiltered, a real live ale which at 4.4% tastes fresh and pleasantly bitter. It’s light in colour, zingy, with  huge grapefruit and passionfruit flavours. The perfect first beer on a hot sub-tropical summer’s night. And Grand Central serve it in pints, which I’m always in favour of.

bottled variety

That one having barely touched the sides, despite trying to pace myself, I moved from the main Fihelly Bar (once the refreshment room for Queensland Rail, history buffs) into The Platform Bar, perhaps (feel free to contradict me) Brisbane’s most interesting beer bar. Their eight taps usually showcase a mixture of local micros and craft beers from around the country, but the night I went in the selection was a bit disappointing – Little Creatures I can get anywhere, for instance – and I was actively dissuaded from trying one by the English barmaid. I settled for a Burleigh Heads Hefeweizen, which turned out to be a good choice. This is a limited edition release from this Gold Coast-based brewery, and a fine example of a Hefe it is. Unfiltered and cloudy, it looks the part, and it also has that banana aroma and taste you’d expect. I could have drunk more than the schmiddy I had, but I was alone and fancied watching football (round ball variety) on Foxtel on the huge set in my hotel room, something I can’t do back home. So I prised myself up from the very comfortable sofa I’d reclined on and headed next door to the bottle shop…

A PS on Burleigh Heads Brewery: they put out a no-carb beer last year. I had a bottle and I have no memory of what it tasted like, of whether it tasted of anything at all. I suspect it didn’t.

And a PPS: According to BeerMatt, “Burleigh is a bit of an anomaly for a brewery of their size. They have set a limited distribution area for their beer with brewer Brennan Fielding wanting to ensure that his beer is delivered as fresh as possible. Brennan won’t deliver further north than Hervey Bay or further south than Coffs Harbour and ensures that so long as it is in his control the beer stays refrigerated, not warehoused.”