Beers - A Very Beery Christmas wrap

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas...as ours was indeed delightful, full of delicious Australian craft beers.

All praise and love goes to my wife (our first Christmas together as a married couple!) who had the original thought some time back to create a Christmas Day menu focused around cooking with beer. And then...she did all the real work to research, prepare and cook the beery food.

Our Very Beery Christmas Lunch started with a Welsh Rarebit on beer bread. Inspired by the Red Hill Brewery rarebit with their masterstroke of including leek in the ingredients (thanks again for the recipe, Karen!), the beer used in the rarebit sauce was the 2 Brothers "Growler" Brown Ale.

Toasted under a grill on slices of wholemeal home-made beer bread, which used a full bottle of Bridge Road Brewers Beechworth Pale Ale in the dough mixture, the result was just excellent and enjoyed with Red Hill Brewery Bohemian Pilsner.

The main course of the day was a barbeque beer can chicken. A 2/3rd full can of Anderson Valley Brewing Company Poleeko Gold Pale Ale was placed inside a seasoned chicken and cooked on a closed bbq for a little under 2 hours. (Can not express my gratitude enough to Biero Bar for supplying the AVBC can!)

It was our first attempt at a beer can chicken, which we were initially concerned about due to the small size of our bbq. However, it worked beautifully in the end, with the help of the Bar-B-Chef Beer Can Chicken Roaster that we picked up at Barbeques Galore a few weeks back. A very helpful tool! I probably cooked the chicken a little too long overall, drying it out a little, but the result was still delicious...and I look forward to doing it again with an even better result.

Complimenting the chicken roast was my wife's sensational Scotch Ale Potatoes, which used the Red Hill Brewery Scotch Ale...

Balancing the meal was a Beet, Fennel, Rocket & Nut salad with a Blond Ale Vinaigrette. Half a cup of the Red Duck "Black Heart" Belgian Blond Strong Ale was used in the vinaigrette.

Finally, dessert was the Chris Badenoch inspired Beeramisu, using the forever awesome Holgate Brewhouse "Temptress" Chocolate Porter.

We thoroughly enjoyed dessert with the spectacular Red Hill Brewery Double Barrel Aged Christmas Ale (as well as the regular Christmas Ale), which formed my final 12beersofxmas blog that you can read here...!

Throughout the day we mainly drank the Red Hill Brewery Bohemian Pilsner, which suited the weather and food perfectly. However, we also enjoyed some Stone & Wood Pacific Ale and Holgate Big Reg. A great day all round.

Cheers and see you in 2011!

12 Beers of Xmas - On the first day of Christmas....

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...a 2 Brothers "Gypsy" Pear Cider...

...ok...DON'T HURT ME! I do realise that this is NOT BEER...yes, sorry! But I really wanted an allusion to the Twelve Days of Christmas English Christmas carol and its Partridge in a Pear Tree.

Since I am not aware of any Pear or Partridge beers, I decided to start with a perry...and at least it is from a local microbrewery who are producing some generally marvelous and different craft beers.

Ultimately, I am all about supporting our local independent industry...and I just love a good bit of lameness (remember that Pear Tree?)!

2 Brothers Brewery was established by brothers, Andrew and David Ong, in 2007. Their pear cider was inspired by one they enjoyed in a London pub and was originally intended to be just a Summer seasonal. However, when Gypsy was released last December it really took off, finding much favour with a diverse audience drinkers.

Now available and popular (with both men and women) on tap at many Victorian pubs and bars, as well as in bottle through many bottleshops, Gypsy has very much contributed to the revival in cider beverages over the last 12 months, which has seen many beer outlets, especially the giant liquor retails such as Dan Murphys and 1st Choice, dedicate whole sections of their stores to cider products that were previously few and far between.

Brewed with combination of Bartlett and Packham pears, Andrew Ong has said that a secret yeast is a the key to this cider. "I am loath to tell anyone because it took a lot of time and effort to work out how to make a sweet perry properly. We stop the fermentation short to keep the fructose in, rather than adding anything to sweeten it up." (from Cider nous rules by Willie Simpson, The AGE 14/09/2010)

To drink...Gypsy is soft, sweet (but not overwhelmingly sweet for a cider) and dry. Despite the high carbonation, it is very easy to drink and with a short finish...it is ultimately refreshing.

I think this cider works much better on tap, in terms of drinkability. Some of the pear flavour seems to be lost in the bottled version. In a blind taste test it may almost be confused for a good fruity white wine.

If you are looking for a quality crisp and refreshing alternative to beer on a hot day, I recommend Gypsy...(even if only to support our local craft brewers!)

Alt Christmas Song of the Day: "Is This Christmas?" by The Wombats