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 - Victoria Pale Lager (more hyperbole but this time in the negative)

Warning: Don’t read on if you’re not interested in or do not appreciate some macro beer bashing.

Victoria Pale Lager...what the hell is the point of that?

I see no purpose for this beer other than marketing and therefore big-business money-making (which is never good for your average person trying to get the best out of life). Can anyone please prove otherwise?

As a beverage, you are better off drinking water becausea this pale lager is as bland as water and water is better for you.

As far as I can tell, Victoria Pale Lager is just the failed VB Raw repackaged. Raw was the previous “low-carb” attempt by Fosters to endear their Victoria Bitter (VB) brand to the ill-informed Pure Blonde/Hahn Super Dry/Boag's Classic Blonde drinking generation.

Packaging is what the new VB Pale Lager is ALL about. The media, marketing and "hype" around the release of this new beer seems to have only been focused on the fancy label-embossed bottle, manufactured by O-I.

Does this indicate that Carlton United Brewers (CUB) slash Fosters Group believes the shape and novelty embossing technology of this bottle alone is enough to sell it and convert regular VB drinkers? Has humanity lost all ability to pass judgement using any sense other than sight? (Also, arn't they just stealing their own market away from themselves by converting VB drinkers?!?).

According to business analysts, Australian beer sales are in heavy decline, expect in the craft beer sector...which is mostly likely due to the rapid increase in microbreweries and craft beer output over the last few years. There is more craft beer on the market then ever before, hence there are more sales of such products.
Nonetheless, CUB have attempted to counteract the decline in mass produced lagers by...creating another mass produced lager to compete with the declining rest.

Here's a snippet from an article that appeared in the Fairfax newspapers this week ('Wine soars as beer goes flat' by Rachel Browne 11/12/11):

"Carlton and United Brewery's head of insights, Tim Ovadia, said there were some strong growth areas. Sales of craft beers produced by microbreweries have grown 30 per cent year on year, while cider sales have increased 20 per cent year on year."

Firstly, I struggle to believe that "head of insights" (or even General Manager Consumer Insights at Fosters Group according to LinkedIn) is a real job. Secondly, they clearly have zero consumer insight if they are producing another in-decline low-carb lager when it is the craft beer sector that is on the rise. Why, Fosters, did you not channel the resources and effort that has been wasted on Vic Pale Lager into Matilda Bay?

Yes, Matilda Bay Brewing Company has also just been pumped up with the opening of their new brewery and bar in Port Melbourne, which will lead to Matilda Bay branded brewpubs opening across the country. However, their underrated and underresourced Bohemian Pilsner, Big Helga Munich Lager and Redback Wheat beers all make the need for Vic Pale Lager completely obsolete. They may not be the best craft beers around, but they are beers with flavour and character. More importantly, they are readily accessible to almost everyone through the nationwide distribution of Carlton United Brewers.

Maybe Fosters could throw at me some impressive (yet awfully cherry-picked) sales figures to show the infant success of Victoria Pale Lager. However, nothing can deny that such a poor taste and enjoyment experience from this beer can signify anything other than a soulless money-making product.

I give Vic Pale Lager another 6 months before it is discontinued for some typical corporate reasoning such as "we've decided to refocus on our core range that our customers are passionate about and blah blah blah..."

More so, I suspect this is inevitable due to the recent SABMiller takeover of Fosters. Vic Pale Lager will become a "victim" of the company's reshaping as an international faceless brand with flagship output of VB, Carlton Draught and Crown Lager. Fail.

Ok, these days I don't comment or pass judgement on a beer I have not tried.

Yes, my curiosity over the existence of this beer lead me to buy one on a recent weekend. We were staying at a beach-side holiday home and it was a sunny Saturday. Dinner was fish and chips on a deck with beer.

Surely any lager can be redeemed when consumed with fish'n'chips by the beach on a Summer's evening? But no, the Victoria Pale Lager was hardly worth finishing. Thankfully, we had a supply of the delicious Red Hill Brewery Bohemian Pilsner to wash away the bad beer. Now that vibrant Boh Pils is an excellent lager accompaniment for fish'n'chips!

The Victoria Pale Lager was flavourless and lacked any body or finish. It was simply...bland, boring and even something unbalanced. It was not crisp or refreshing. I cannot think of any reason for drinking it.

Vic Pale Lager now joins my list of worst "new" beers I have tasted since starting my beer journey, sitting alongside XXXX Summer Bright, Great Northern Lager, Dry Dock Premium Lager, Wahoo and Pacifico.

If these are your type of beer and your beer choice is generally limited to big chain outlets, then please at least consider drinking something Australian owned or from the craft beer industry, like Stone & Wood Lager, Coopers Clear or maybe even the Grand Ridge Brewery Draught.

As for me, I'll be heading back to our local Duncan’s for more Red Hill Bohemian Pilsner and some Epic Lager. Mmmm good soulful lagers!

Bar - The Wheatsheaf Hotel, Thebarton S.A.

Tucked away in the suburb of Thebarton, a short & free tram ride from Adelaide's city centre, is The Wheatsheaf Hotel. Affectionately know as "The Wheaty", it is one of the best pubs in Australia...in my book!

During a short visit to Adelaide back in June, Jenn & I spent one long (but far too short) Monday evening at The Wheaty and it was instant love. We wanted to pack the place up and take it back with us to Melbourne in our carry-on luggage! Great beer, awesome people, excellent vibes...this pub has it all.

Melbourne may be the bubbling craft-beer-culture capital of Oz by shear weight of beery venues, events and retail outlets, but this city has nothing like the The Wheaty. The much smaller Royston Hotel in Richmond could come close but is missing the live music, engaging staff and bohemian diversity fully embraced by The Wheatsheaf Hotel.

The Wheaty flies to the top of my favourite pub list for excelling in pretty much all the criteria on which I rate such a venue...

Firstly, the building is a classic Australian two-story pubic-house hotel structure that dates back to something like the 1860s. The current facade has clearly been around for decades, seemingly relatively untouched, and it gushes character. I love a pub that looks like a pub yet clearly has personality and isn't covered in macro beer advertising.

Secondly, the irreverent respect for good beer at The Wheaty warms my soul. The owners may be serious hop heads, but they are adventurous and open to all beer palates. It's true the The Wheaty is a recognised craft beer destination in a city that is still predominately void of beer choice other than mass produced products. Fortunately, the locals seem to be well on-board with The Wheaty's good beer offerings.

Their taps are dedicated to flavoursome South Australian and wider Australian craft beers, alongside highly regarded international brews, including a special place for anything from the Oregon based Rogue Ales. Their irreverence shines through with their use of a beer engine handpump. English real ale purists may be appalled with the types of beers they pour through this tap (like huge Imperial IPAs and Russian Imperial Stouts) but The Wheaty staff have also worked with Aussie microbreweries such as Moo Brew and Lobethal Bierhaus to provide cask conditioned ales specific for the handpump. Beside it sits the Glasshopper, a Randall Handle hop infuser that gets packed with anything the bar staff want to through at it, regardless of the type of beer.

During their "Font of Darkness Festival" in August they poured Moo Brew's Stout through The Glasshopper filled with Indonesian Kopi Luwak Weasel Coffee and called it "Poo Moo". winning!

On the night we were there, our drinks included:

• Mike's India Pale Ale on handpump
• Mountain Goat Hightail through the Glasshopper filled with Galaxy hops
• Tuatara APA (first time I had tasted this beer, loved it so I had 2)
• Synapse by Doctors Orders Brewing
• Yeastie Boys Pot Kettle Black (first time I had tried this brew on tap and was oh OH SO GOOD!)
• Chocolate Oatmeal Stout by Lobethal Bierhaus (mmm dessert)

Too often I see the Wheaty's twitter updates of their current tap line-ups and start looking online for cheap flights to Adelaide as they jealousy rises. They are they only venue in Australia to have tapped a keg of Mikkeller's Beer Geek Brunch...and I wasn't there! Sad, but massive respective to The Wheaty for tapping the beers they do.

Thirdly, the various rooms/spaces throughout The Wheaty allow for, even encourage, a plethora of social abandon. Whether you just want to sit at the bar and drink beer; laze on a couch and read a book; play a few rounds of pool with mates or strangers; hold a meeting; form a club; get animated with colleagues; shoot the breeze in the beer garden; hold and event; play a gig or just stand and stare at the ceiling...The Wheaty has the space for all of it with uncluttered and characterful rooms.

The semi-covered rear courtyard provides a versatile bandroom, allowing live music and performances of all genres. Everyone in the courtyard can have an excellent view of the small corner stage from any position and the sound fills the space wonderfully. The atmosphere of the bandroom is cultured and relaxed with a splash of industrial...and seems just right for a party.

A wide range of groups and organisations gather at The Wheaty. Community and arts groups, knitting clubs, sporting groups including Roller Derby teams, beer-focus gatherings. The Wheaty is a truly welcoming pub.

Naturally, the owners and staff don't tolerate dickheads, but I suspect there are few occasions when dickheads dare to be a dickhead in The Wheaty.

The owners - Jade, Emily and Liz - are passionate publicans. On that Monday night back in June we spent a couple of hours chatting to the wonderfully upfront and accessible Jade Flavell about running The Wheaty. It was clear that the owners have found their true calling and made it happen.

Jade told us all about their history of taking over the pub, crafting it to their liking and the barriers and battles of making a great pub even better. It was sad but familiar to hear that at times they also battle the universal confusion of obtuse local and State laws, similar to the stories of friendly publicans from Melbourne.

There is no food at The Wheaty, other than delicious cheeses that are perfect for matching with the beers available. There is the intention to one day build a kitchen and serve some food. The planned kitchen is an eternal work-in-progress but will "definitely happen", according to Jade back in June. For now it's BYOFood, the staff are more than happy for you to order in. A pile of local take-out menus sit at the bar and those businesses are happy to and familiar with delivering to The Wheaty. We ordered pizza's, asked for delivery to "The Wheaty in the Blue room" and it was efficiently delivered to our hands 40mins later.

The Wheatshef Hotel's bar will satisfy any beer lover, yet what is more rewarding is that The Wheaty is a diverse venue that is far from just another craft beer bar...

...it is a great pub that also has awesome beer!



To read more love for The Wheaty, check out the following online articles:

• http://www.brewsnews.com.au/2010/09/the-wheatsheaf-hotel-adelaide/
• http://aussiebeerblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/wheatsheaf-hotel.html
• http://www.classic.com.au/wizard/wheatsheaf.htm
• http://craftypint.com/beer/bar/the-wheaty-sa/

I'm coming back... Beer Bar Band style!

Yes...*cough*...the dust sure is building up around here at Beer Bar Band. But never fear, I'm on my way back! (like you care!)

It has been a massive couple of months in this BBB blogger's world. Firstly, the wife and I bought our first home then we ran our first half marathon. We have also judged a homebrew competition and enjoyed a bunch of excellent beer events, new beer releases and, of courses, great gigs.

Recent highlights also include...

The Festival of the Frothy celebrating The Crafty Pint's 1st Birthday:

A huge beer trivia party night in The Atrium at Federation Square was held in honour of The Crafty Pint website's first full year of sharing the good word about good beer in Australia. The crowd was packed with familiar beer-loving faces and the beers flowing from the Beer DeLuxe taps (exclusive to attendees of the event on the night) were spectacular, with very special mentions going to the Feral Brewing King Brown (Barrel-Aged Imperial Brown) and the Moon Dog Brewery Perverse Sexual Amalgam (black sour beer). Most of all, the simply awesome people of Holgate Brewhouse provided 30 bottles of their decedent 12.5% Beelzebub's Jewels, one for each table, to enjoy with a cake that had been baked using the same beer!

Our table of tweeting beer lovers, writers and home brewers (team name: "Feeling Frothy...in my pants!") finished around middle of the pack in the trivia stakes, but the social fun, solid organisation/coordination by Beer DeLuxe & staff and good beer was the winner all round.

For a video wrap of the night (spot me?) via The Post Project, click HERE.

GO TEAM "Feeling Frothy...in my pants!"

Team "Facial Hair of the Dog"

Funky Bunch Trivia Host, Tom Delmont aka Road Goat

Happy Birthday Mr Pint!

Another Fed Square Victorian Microbreweries Showcase:

After attending several Fed Square Microbreweries Showcases I thought I had seen it all. However, the 2 held this year have both thrown up plenty new and interesting options to explore. Hence, I am back to being an excited attendee every time his Showcase comes around. Tasting highlights from this week included the new Golden Ale from the new Two Birds Brewing, the Bridge Road Brewers & Nøgne Ø collaboration brew, an India Saison, Moon Dog's non-barrel-aged Black Lung smokey porter (can't wait for the business!). It was also great to meet Paul Mercurio, who was there for his book "Cooking with Beer", which the wife loves and has used to cook several delicious beer infused recipes with. Delicious!

For future events, check out: www.fedsquare.com/beer

The Drones "A Thousand Mistakes" tour gig at The Corner Hotel last Friday:

Yep, just another great gig by The Drones, with the added bonus of a fantastic set list of rarities, including the semi-epic "Luck in Odd Numbers" from Havila and "Sitting on the Edge of the Bed Cryin" from Wait Long By The River.

The sound was surprisingly excellent (for the sometimes patch Corner bandroom, depending on your position) and the energy was all there. Several broken strings slightly dampened the ending of some songs yet showed off the vigor that the band was playing with. I even drank a few stubbies of Melbourne Bitter during the gig...because The Drones and MB just go well at midnight.

The gig ended with a very RocKwiz moment, as support act Adalita joined The Drones on stage for a cover of Bob Dylan's "Oh Sister". Great stuff!

And BEER:

Yes, so much good beer continues to flow around Melbourne at the moment, primarily thanks to the huge rise in growler stations over the last 6 months. I have now made good use of draught beer fills from growler stations at Slowbeer, Blackhearts & Sparrows, The Local Bottleshop, Chapel St Cellars and Holgate Brewhouse. Still keen to make use of the Bridge Road Brewers growler station at McCoppins in Fitzroy.

I have also taken on a slightly bigger role at the back-end of Australian Brews News as a pseudo Assistant Editor (or is that "Assistant to the Editor") support role and am very excited about further expanding that area in future and my beer writing in general.

Oh, by the way, for beer loving podcast listeners out there...check out the Radio Brews News podcasts for some interesting local conversations about all things beer, hosted by Matt and Pete.

Your BBB blogger in-between Matt and Pete aka Prof.

And now...

Next week we move into our new home. It will be a huge change but will also provide me with more time and space to commit to this blog...and more.

All my life I have lived in the inner Melbourne suburbs, where the beer/bar/bands scene is plentiful, vibrant and accessible. For the sake of affording a decent sized house, we are now moving out to the hills and the very outer Melbourne suburbs, where my styles of beer bar bands are less present. Thankfully, my new suburb actually has some good beer, a bar and bands...and a whole bundle of potential!

Yes, I suspect I will soon be reviewing and even "part of the furniture" at Oscar's Ale House, rocking out during countless gigs at Ruby's Lounge and buying plenty of good beer supplies from Olinda Cellars...maybe!

I will definitely miss living walking distance from my local beer bar band central of the past 4 years: Slowbeer (ok, only been open for a year, before that it was Dan Murphys), The Royston Hotel (*love*) and Mountain Goat Brewery (more Double Hightail please!)


And now starts my quiet campaign for a craft microbrewery with a cellar door or bar out in the Dandenongs...

...maybe something as exciting and fun as the good good men of Moon Dog Craft Brewery

...CHEERS!

Oh...and go follow: http://soakedinbeer.blogspot.com/