Band - Last Leaves

Gig: Last Leaves
Support: Charles Baby
Venue: Earthly Pleasures Cafe Belgrave, tix $7
Date: Thursday 3rd May, 2012

Once upon a time there was The Lucksmiths. For more than 15 years they soothed the souls of Melbourne and beyond with characterful soft indie tunes. And then they were gone. But they were not lost.

Some may call it rebirth, others may see a continuation(-minus-Tali). Regardless, today we have Last Leaves...a new Melbourne band featuring ex-Lucksmiths Mark Monnone (bass), Marty Donald (guitar, vocals) and Louis Richter (guitar) with the barista/artist-sometimes-known-as Great Earthquake, Noah Symons (drums).

Yes, Last Leaves look and sound very much like The Lucksmiths...what else would you expect. Nevertheless, in the absence of frontman Tali While, Least Leaves is a very different beautiful beast, bringing back some of the Lucksmith lyrical soul and sound with new musical life.

Unfortunately we discovered The Lucksmiths too late in their existence. During their final year before disbanding we quickly feel in love with the band's lyrics driven, cosy and mellow yet cheery songs. Fortunately, we were able to catch several of their gigs in that time, including the farewell tour shows in both Brisbane and Melbourne. It was a sad passing as we left their final show at The Corner Hotel. When we heard that new music will flow again from Lucksmiths-esque hearts and minds, it was a welcome tune.

One of the first gigs by Last Leaves was held at Earthly Pleasures Cafe in Belgrave earlier this month. By day this historic and heritage listed stone manor is a relaxed cafe serving excellent food for breakfast and lunch. At night on weekends Earthly Pleasures provides a dinner service. On occasional nights it becomes a live music cafe and bar. For me, the best feature of Earthly Pleasures is that they serve good local craft beer. Their bottled beer list includes good brews from Cavalier Brewing, Hix, Holgate Brewhouse, Mornington Peninsula Brewery, Red Hill Brewery and more...perfect accompaniments for the food, surrounds and music. (Oh...and it does also help that Earthly Pleasures is less than one kilometre away from where we now live.)

This gig coincided with our monthly "date night". It was a typical cold evening in the hills but we were soon warmed by the Earthly Pleasures fire-place and the enjoyment of the Mornington Peninsula Brewery Brown Ale, as stalwart acoustic-folk-rocker of the region Charles Baby provided the support set.

Charles is a capable performer and solo voice, but he lacks something of an X Factor to really take him beyond being more than a good support. Charles Baby is a quality artist...just not captivating. Although, he did create a special little moment when his set provided a mash-up of Radiohead and Yazoo. I love such moments from a solo acoustic pub gig.

The small crowd swelled to an almost full house as Last Leaves took the "stage" (or designated corner). It was the kind of local crowd were everyone probably knows everyone, except for the couple of newbie locals...maybe.

The start was uptempo full sound by Last Leaves. The musical legacy of The Lucksmiths was clearly apparent, but the Last Leaves sound was making an early statement in the rock direction, as opposed to the often-labelled "twee pop" of their former incarnation. Yep, Last Leaves are a pumped up Lucksmiths...and that is awesome. More importantly, and maybe in contradiction to my words, Last Leaves is a new sound. Their style resumes or simply evolves many of the Lucksmiths quirks in rhythm, pace, breakdowns, vocals and lyrical depth as they regal stories of everyday life around Melbourne...in particular, around the local Dandenong hills. As a whole picture, however, Last Leaves breathes their own unique character and soul. And that is how it should be. A new band with a new life to offer, yet providing a connection to something we all loved before.

One guy in the audience even declared the Last Leaves sound as "fat and sassy", which was welcomed with laughter by many. Drums provide the obviously new dynamic to the still-very-Lucksmiths guitar and bass sound, alongside the expanded squeals and little airy "U2" moments from Louis Richter's electric guitar.

There was a moment of bliss behind the realisation that we were enjoying slow beer, drinking the brilliant Holgate Hopinator, at a gig close to home, which featured 3/4 of The Lucksmiths. Good times of years past had joined us at our new home in the hills...with the added bonus of fine craft beer.

Hell, after a couple of Hopinators I had written in my notebook: "The Lucksmiths vs The Drones kinda equals Last Leaves!". Sounds like my type of paradise.

With the songs too new to know, I can only recall that the set included "The nights you drove me home" and "Where I lived and what I live for". Marty Donald has been quoted as saying "It's early days, of course, and things are still taking shape, but already the new-found sense of space in the songs' narratives is reflected in their more expansive and dynamic sound"...and that sums it up nicely. It was a great gig, in a venue that was a superb fit for the music.

(Hint for gigs at Earthly Pleasures: for the best sound, head up the balcony!)

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If you liked The Lucksmiths, you will love Last Leaves. If you are looking for something new on the local indie rock front...check out Last Leaves!

Beers - Beery Cheesemas to All (Christmas 2011)

Christmas is a time commonly used to indulge in the delicious, sweet excesses of food and drink...and it's no different at the Beer Bar Band home.

Last year we had fun with A Very Beery Christmas, in which each food element of our Christmas lunch was made with beer, around the centre-piece of a barbecue beer-can chicken. This year we indulged our new found love for fine cheese matched with excellent beer.

We gathered 12 awesome craft beers (12 beers of Christmas style) as well as 6 fine cheese from around Melbourne.

Celebrating our first Christmas in our first home, which we bought a few months back, the wife and I had a quiet little fun day with just the two of us. We made the most of our spacious deck with views across the green canopy of the Dandenong hills. It was a warm and sunny morning, then the afternoon turned into a stormy affair. Heavy rain, thunder and lightning flooded and damaged parts of Melbourne, but from our vantage point it simply resulted in a pleasant light and sound show.

During the calm before the storm, we set up a big Christmas lunch spread centred around the beers and cheeses.

 The Christmas menu on our kitchen pantry door.

Merely part 1 of our Christmas table spread.

With the beers naturally ordered from light-to-dark-to-heavy, we tried countless combinations of beer plus cheese plus various morsels of delicacy.

The wonderful cheeses were:

• Quickes Traditional Oak Smoked Cheddar
• Mauri Taleggio Cow's Washed Rind
• Jindi Old Telegraph Road Fire Engine Red Washed Rind
• Rouzaire Coulommier Double-Cream Brie
• Cropwell Bishop Stilton
• Tarago River Cheese Company Strzelecki Goat Blue

Our midday palates were first wet with the 2011 Posse Summer Ale for members of the Bridge Road Brewers Posse club. It has been an excellent beer for this mild summer and it's a fine starter for any beery session. An easy drinking, nicely spiced and well balanced witbier that matched very well with the soft cheeses.

Then we went sour and popped the cork on a benchmark lambic that is guaranteed to find favour with many forms of good cheese - the Guezue 100% Lambic Bio from Cantillon. This sessionable wild ale has just the right amout of sour tartness following the big aroma of a classic lambic.

Next we poured two red ales...always appropriate on any Christmas Day. First we had the Rogue Ales Santa's Private Reserve, a big malty American Amber Ale with a solid bitter hop hit. This beer had been sitting in my not-quite-a-cellar beer cellar for a year following a trip home from Queensland...so it may have suffered from a lack of freshness. Thankfully, it still stood up and worked well on a stormy yet warm Australian Christmas day.

Pouring the Rogue Santa's Private Reserve.

The second red ale was one of my top 3 beer highlights from this Christmas feast...the new Red Rackham by the adventurous Yeastie Boys. This accidental beer started out as a batch of the Yeastie's Hud-a-wa' Strong but they pitched the wrong yeast, a Belgian ale one. The result is a very tasty Belgian Red Ale with a full mouthfeel and excellent balance between malt, spice and bitterness. This complex brew ultimately tastes like a silky red ale, but has much more going on in it. Beautiful beer.

The hops came out in full force with the very Mikkeller in taste, Mikkeller Happy Lovin' Christmas Double IPA. Another quality and very easy drinking big beer from Mikkeller.

And then an extra special moment of Christmas Ale drinking was lined up next.

We had three vintages of the Red Hill Brewery Christmas Ale for a vertical tasting, plus a 3 year old Holgate Brewhouse Christmas Ale (which is sadly no longer brewed by Holgate).

The Red Hill Christmas Ales featured:

• 2011: bottle - this year's release from a 6 pack that we bought whilst at the brewery a few weeks back
• 2010: draught - last year's vintage in a growler, filled from the keg at Blackhearts & Sparrows in North Fitzroy
• 2008: bottle - a special little Christmas gift from Red Hill Brewery owners, Dave & Karen Golding.

I love this Australian intrepretation of a Belgian Christmas ale. The current release was especially good when we drank it fresh at the Red Hill brewery on the first weekend of December. In this vertical, the 2008 vintage was by far the stand-out. The carbonation was still excellent and the rich, deep fruity flavour surrounded by spices had developed beautifully into a well-rounded semi-dark Belgian.

The vertical tasting definitely showcased the way this beer develops with age. The same beer was really quite different across the three vintages. My recommendation: sit on this beer for 3 years for maximum effect!

The three Red Hill Christmas Ales were enjoyed slowly with blue cheese and a game of Trivial Pursuit.

As the storms rolled over the hills past us, we lazed on our deck, watching the rain and lightning. We excitedly cracked the bottle of Holgate Christmas Ale, it was the most anticipated beer of the day. It had been gifted to us by the Holgate brewery crew when we stayed at their Keatings Hotel for our first wedding anniversary back in August.

In contrast to the 2008 Red Hill Christmas Ale, the carbonation was very minimal in the Holgate Christmas Ale but that did not detract from the spectacular flavour of a dark fruity Christmas cake. One could quite easily mistake it for a fortified wine! The warming alcohol was fairly evident, making it an excellent sipper, enjoyed with more blue cheese and dark chocolate, plus splashes of storm. Brilliant. I didn't want to finish it because it was so good...and then it would be completely all gone, with no return.

My #1 beer of Christmas 2011...the 2008 Holgate Brewhouse Christmas Ale!

Whilst this beer has been replaced in the Holgate brewing schedule by my favourite Holgate beer, Beelzebub's Jewels (Paul Holgate has noted that their Christmas Ale was essentially a trial brew as they worked up to producing this barrel aged belgian quadrupel), I truly wish this Christmas Ale was still around every December because it is a damn fine beer to follow Christmas dessert.

Later in the day, when we somehow found some space in our super full stomachs for "dinner", we brought out the Quickes Smoked Cheddar, some smoked almonds, smoked turkey and opened the God Jul from Nøgne Ø. The uber smokey God Jul islay edition is one of my all-time favourite beers and until recently I had never tried this regular God Jul. That changed two weeks back when Josie Bones tweeted that they had the beer on tap (I have never come across this beer in draught form in Australia before!). By some awesome freak chance the wife and I were planning on being in the area that night for dinner, so we first stopped into Josie Bones for a glass each of the divine God Jul in draught form. The regular version of this strong dark Winter ale still displays a hint of the peaty smoke and provided a great start to our late light dinner on Christmas Day.

I love barely wines and I love smokey beers, so a barrel aged barely wine brewed with Islay peated malts was always going to be a winner in my mouth. It came in the form of the 11.5% BrewDog Three Floyds collaboration brew Bitch Please...

And yes, I enjoyed this beer immensely (...some things were a little hazy by this time of the day though). A very well crafted smokey barely wine with the right level of carbonation and mouthfeel that I expect from such a beer. I do indeed recall that it was a perfect match for the smoked cheddar

The final beer was the semi-palate cleansing sour of the delightful and slightly twisted Moon Dog Brewing Perverse Sexual Amalgam...need I say anymore, other than...more smoked cheddar!!

And so ends another excellent Christmas of beer (plus cheese!).

Every beer we drank across Christmas was simply excellent. The stand-outs for me, those WOW beers, were the Yeastie Boys Red Rackham, the 2008 Holgate Christmas Ale and the 2008 Red Hill Christmas Ale. How special...since 2008 was when I effectively started this craft beer journey of mine!

Maybe if I was a little sober to properly recall the 11th beer of the day, I'd probably be trying to find a way to make 3 out of 4 to include the BrewDog Three Floyds Bitch Please.

Nevertheless, each beer worked well in their own way, including as a Christmas brew and an accompaniment to fine cheese, smoked (cold) meats and various nibbles. All the beers offered a unique experience of craft beer and I am keen to drink more of them all again whenever I can.

We now excitedly look towards the new year as this journey continues through the incredible science and art of taste and texture...

...2011 was massive, but 2012 is already shaping up to be even beery bigger!

LOOK OUT mass-produced bland lagers...the people-driven train of good beer at the dining table and in our hands gathering steam and powering towards you to take beer drinkers in a new direction in 2012!

Find these. Drink them. Experience them. Cheers!

Wishing a merry Christmas and a safe, happy, deliciously experiential New Year to all!  CHEERS!

Beer - Happy International IPA Day!

Hoppy International IPA Day, Australia! I am blogging this whilst at the Holgate Brewhouse in Woodend, drinking a pint of the hugely flavoursome, HOPPY but malty, Hopinator Double IPA. Mmmm delicious (...how beer should be)!

For a helpful introduction to International IPA Day, check out the info and links provided by fellow local beer blogger - Ale of a Time: http://aleofatime.com/2011/07/31/ipa-week-2011-bridge-road-brewers-bling-ipa/

And even more from Passion for the Pint: http://passionforthepint.com/ipaday/

...or visit out the #IPADay (yeah...it's a social media thing) event page at: http://ipaday.eventbrite.com/

For my part in this celebration of the hops, India Pale Ale style, here are some brief reviews and tasting notes for various IPAs that I have enjoyed in the last few weeks...

Mountain Goat Rare Breed IPA (5.7% ABV, 650ml bottle) - Ahh the local...beware of my favouritism! The wife and I are actually house hunting at the moment...which will (most likely) see us soon move far away from the beery riches of Richmond, which includes the magnificent Mountain Goat Brewery warehouse. It is a painful thought...after years of being spoilt by local craft beer accessibility, but we're now making the most of whatever time we have left with the 'Goat as our local.

The Rare Breed IPA pours a lightly cloudy, red-brown colour with a big frothy head. The aroma is fairly flat with some sweet sugar aroma from the crystal malt and hints of pine. The Cascade and Galaxy hop aroma opens up a little when the beer warms and is more evident in the mouth. This beer has has quite a thick, big body. The bitterness is big and the finish is short. It is very easy drinking.

This beer can divide the beer nerds on whether it is an average or excellent IPA. It has also been relabelled for the American market as an "Australian Pale Ale", because it doesn't fit the American IPA guidelines. For me, it is very enjoyable drinking.

James Squire Brewhouse Two Centurions American Style IPA (6.8% ABV, 640ml bottle) - This was a very limited release beer brewed last year on the Malt Shovel Brewery owned brewhouse, located in the James Squire Brewhouse (Portland Hotel, Melbourne) by Dave Edney, who is now the head brewer at Mountain Goat. It was only available on tap at the Portland Hotel but is now being given away in bottles by the pub via twitter and facebook freebies (because the pub can't sell it due commercial issues with Lion Nathan). Jenn and I both won bottles via twitter giveaways, which we picked up on a recent Sunday, over a good chat with bar manager, Dave Langlands.

(For more info about Two Centurions...check out the article I posted about it on Australian Brews News last year.)

Two Centurions pours a cloudy rusty amber. It has a good creamy off-white head that leaves plenty of lovely lacing. Both the aroma and taste are dominated by earthy and tropical fruit characters, like grapefruit and orange. The flavour is quite sharp and includes ripe tropical fruits. Full bodied with medium carbonation and a medium length finish, the sweetness comes out more as it warms. The hoppiness of the beer from last year, when it was fresh, has now been lost, but it is still an easy drinking yet provides a distinct flavour.

Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA (7.2% ABV, 330ml bottle) - WA based distributor, Phoenix Beers, recently acquired the account to import and distribute Sierra Nevada beers throughout Australia. Until a few months ago, any Sierra Nevada beers found in Australia were "grey market" products, brought to the country by third parties against the will of the brewery. Now, Phoenix legitimately provides Australia-wide access to these highly regarded American craft beers, which includes distribution through the everywhere Dan Murphys, that to their refrigerated import channels.

Torpedo pours a clear copper brown with a big white head that leaves good lacing. It certainly looks impressive. The aroma is of herbal and spicy hops, honey and some mint. It is a big IPA built around a malt backbone that is light in the mouth and on the palate but richly flavoursome. The aroma and taste is full of classic American hops characters found in their popular craft beers. As Torpedo warms there is a bit of alcohol on the nose. It is full bodied and the balance is excellent. Quality, consistency and balance is very important to the Sierra Nevada company, and this beer is a very good example of finely made beer.

Holgate Brewhouse Hopinator DIPA (7% ABV, on tap) - Take a caramel malty English Pale Ale, load it up with American Hops...then double it (over 7 hop editions during the brew)...and you have the very well balanced Double IPA that stands alone in the Australian IPA landscape. on Australian Brews News: Winning over Australia with Hopinator

Today we are drinking it on tap at the Brewhouse (Keatings Hotel, Woodend), served through their homemade randall hop infuser filled with their homegrown Hallertauer hops.

Woah...big hops in the face! The hops overpower the beer completely...but it is...lovely!

Finally...since Black IPAs have been the flavour of 2011 around Australian craft breweries...I must note that the Mountain Goat & Thornbridge collaboration brew, Thorny Goat, is still drinking superbly! We are down to our last bottle. The hops have mellowed off significantly, but it terms of complexity, balance and length...this beer is still one to savour, 4 months after it's release:

...HOP YEAH!

Beer - Birthday Brews - Revisiting Favourites

On Thursday I completed 31 years of life...and began my 32nd. That must mean it's a good time to enjoy some extra special beers!

So yes, for my 31st birthday I opened my mini beer cellar, which I began a year ago, and revisited some of my favourite beers.

Bringing in the next year of life on Wednesday night, the wife and I drank my saved bottle of Bridge Road Brewers B2 Bomber Belgian black IPA (which I blogged my love for last year).

Not surprisingly, the beer poured with a massive frothy head. It was no gusher, but the yeast must have still been working away for sometime, continuing the production of carbon dioxide. All that did, however, was slow down the process of pouring the beer. It still possessed a beautiful solid dark black appearance with a generous tan head.

With just under a year of age behind it, the B2 Bomber still tastes fantastic and drinks beautifully. Naturally, the hop character has mellowed and softened a bunch, but the rich and complex flavour was still in good form. A flavoursome combination of dark roasted malts, coffee, chocolate and dark fruits in a well balanced, warming package. I really love this beer!

Towards the bottom of the bottle, there was a small edge of a sour funk, indicating that the yeast may soon turn this beer a bit. So if you are sitting on a bottle of B2 Bomber, I recommend drinking it soon, unless you have a decent and controlled cellar set up.

In good news for lovers of this one-off anniversary ale from Bridge Road Brewers, Ben Kraus plans to brew and release a "revamped" version of B2 Bomber later this year! Awesome.

For my birthday present, the wife surprised me with a very special bounty of international craft beers that I have never tasted before...

Mikkeller Black Hole Barrel Aged (Peat), Mikkeller George! Barrel Aged (Bourbon Edition) and BrewDog Abstrakt AB:05 (bottle 3437 of 3600)!

These are extremely exciting beers for me. I have tried other versions of each - Mikkeller Black Hole Barrel Aged (Red Wine - Pinot) on one awesome night of big stouts at Biero Bar; had my first taste of Mikkeller George! in January this year and was blown away by the coffee kick; and BrewDog Abstrakt AB:04, which was enjoyed with the ABWG over dinner at Josie Bones. Each other those beers have been serious "WOW" beers for me and sit comfortably in my list of top 20 beers I have ever tasted. Hence, Jenn's above birthday present to me is something very special ...she's an awesome wife!

Birthday night, Thursday, we had a quite little birthday dinner at The Courthouse Hotel in North Melbourne. Dining from the bar menu and drinking excellent craft beers from tap, it was exactly my type of preferred dining experience. I wish I could visit The Courthouse more often...it is just so satifying to see many people drinking, discussing and enjoying a diverse range of beers.

Over dinner we enjoyed:

• the new McLaren Vale Beer Co Vale IPA - good easy drinking, but I'm not sure about the hop profile. The hop aroma was a little musty dirty, with a very flat bitterness and soft taste. I want more punch from an IPA. Although, I must say that this IPA worked wonderfully as a match for the beautifully soft Gorgonzola croquettes entree that we started the night with!
• Mountain Goat Oaky Porter - a bubble & squeak brew using left over incredients that hint at the inclusion of elements from the Thorny Goat Black IPA and Surefoot Stout. We had previously enjoyed this beer in draught growler form from Slowbeer, but enjoyed more on tap, possibly due to the better dispensing system as well as some improvement from an extra 2 weeks age behind it
• Hargreaves Hill ESB - Jenn drank this with her baked ricotta gnocchi, confit duck, spinach, olives
• Bridge Road Beer Chevalier Biere de Garde - I had with my Porterhouse steak, mash, rocket & red wine sauce. I love Biere de Garde so I always go for it when on tap, but it was a bit of a match-fail for my steak. There was much yeasty banana coming through the Biere de Gard and less of the usual lovely dark fruits. In hindsight, the Mountain Goat Oaky Porter or Hargreaves Hill Stout would have been a more appropriate match for my steak. Nonetheless, the meal was thoroughly enjoyable.

After dinner we trammed back into the city and headed up to Biero Bar for more good beer action, which included the Prickly Moses Black Panther IPA and the Morning Peninsula Brewery Brown Ale, which was shining a beatufiul hue of red in the candle light...

Prickly Moses Black Panther

Mornington Peninsula Brown Ale

Sometime after 10pm the music was turned up too loud in the fairly empty Biero Bar, which kinda killed our chilled out mood as we lazed on the couches and enjoyed good beer. We took it as a cue to waddled down the road to Penny Blue bar. A little birdy had told me that the Holgate Brewhouse Temptress was pouring from the bar's handpump. So, even though Temptress was available at Biero Bar for $5/$10 for a pot/pint, the handpump enough incentive to make the short journey down to Elizabeth St (and only $8 for a goblet is pretty good!).

This was my first visit to Penny Blue...and I loved it! I feel sad that it has taken me so long to discover this characterful little bar, beautifully located in the heart of Melbourne. Whilst I have known about it for some time, I have just never made it there...and I've been missing out! Penny Blue only has one beer tap, but it is an old English handpump beer engine. If that does not take your fancy, the craft beer selection in the fridge behind the bar is excellent. The bar is cosy and relaxed. The staff are good, with one guy behind the bar impressing me with his explanations of three local craft beers when a customer asked if they had any good American Pale Ales to try.

There was some glassphemy when my 2nd order of Temptress was poured into a tall Trumer Pilsner glass. Totally the wrong glass for a chocolate porter! But oh well, such a minor thing...by that time of night I was just happy to still be drinking good beer in any form...

And so ended my birthday day, with the joys of handpumped Temptress. However, the birthday beering did not end there...!

Friday started with a hair-of-the-dog breakfast. Home-made bacon, egg & cheese muffins (so much better than McDonalds will ever make!) alongside a glass of the spectacular Nøgne Ø God July Islay Edition, thanks to the generous & hardworking crew of Innspire. Whilst visiting the Innspire warehouse back in January I mentioned that God July Islay was one of my favourite beer discoveries in 2010 and was used to mark my 30th birthday. In return the Innspire guys gifted me with this bottle to celebrate my next birthday with, and I did, over breakfast the morning after. Win!

This Porter-like American Strong Ale has been matured in Oak casks previously containing Islay malt whisky. Many drinkers struggle with the strong Islay character, but I love the rich woody smokey baconness. And we're all about big peat and Islay kick at the moment, especially after the crazy beautiful explosion of Yeastie Boys' Rex Attitude!

Finally, last night (Friday), Jenn and I returned to our "local" (microbrewery) the Mountain Goat Brewery...aka goatbeer. There we had pizza for dinner and drank Three Golden Goats, more Oaky Porter and 2011 Oaky Rapunzel!

Mountain Goat's Rapunzel is another beer that I have blogged undying love for in the past. This 2011 release is the best yet!

The massive and potent 2010 version of the Rapunzel Belgian Strong Blond Ale has been soften substantially, because it has been blended with a touch of Steam Ale after 15 months of ageing in Chardonnay barrels. It is now so much more drinkable and dangerously sessionable, even though two is enough to knock you out.

The appearance is still the same, cloudy golden-orange with a decent white head that leaves loads of sexy lacing. The huge Chardonnay aroma remains, along with notes of grapefruit, apple and some vinegar at the back.

Rapunzel's complex taste is also still big but now better balanced, full of citrus fruits like orange, green apple, vanilla and a slight sweetness.

The oak aging is very evident in the astringency and short dry finish. This version was also extra oaky because it had been run through the Randy filled with French Oak chips, adding some extra oaky funk to the taste. It hinted at elements of a good Lambic Gueuze. Really good stuff.

All it needed was some crusty bread and brie to match!