Category Archives: craft beer goodness

waiter, there’s some coffee in my beer

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Mikkeller’s Beer Geek Breakfast.

I’d never had it, despite having had its newer sibling Beer Geek Brunch and a couple of its variants. How odd. So when I went to pick up a bottle of Beer Hop Breakfast (stay with me…) and saw that Beer Geek Breakfast was available, I grabbed a bottle.

Beer Geek Breakfast is supposed to be special because of the addition of ‘gourmet’ coffee. It’s too bad they don’t actually specify what coffee – don’t they know some people are sensitive about this sort of thing?! I mean, come on, we’re avid (or rabid?) coffee snobs here in Melbourne.

This imperial stout is rich, but smooth. Whatever the coffee may be, it is very prominent and complements the beer well. I was quite surprised that it’s actually got a fairly savoury finish – the coffee taste lingers on after you’ve swallowed. For some reason, I was expecting it to be sweeter. As you can see above, it’s very dark and completely opaque. The head is lighter than that of the Brunch. Unlike the Brunch, I think I would actually drink this with breakfast. The Beer Geek Brunch I would leave for the end of an evening.

As can be imagined, the newish Beer Hop Breakfast is very bitter. It’s a curious bitterness given that the stout and coffee compete in the flavour too. I find this a less savoury beer than the Beer Geek Breakfast and a little less coffeeish. I don’t think it’s limited to hopheads for enjoyment and full appreciation, but admittedly it is a challenging beer. Thinner mouthfeel than its vanilla sibling. My head is still twisted due to the fact that one doesn’t really expect coffee, hop bitterness and oatmeal stout to work. Am beginning to think that Mikkeller’s head brewer has signed some awesome pact with the devil…or perhaps with Bacchus. Truly – can the fellow do no wrong?

ambassadors for the (largely) amber ale

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Three men. Twenty (or so) breweries. One apparently large but generous Mexican.

Tom of Mountain Goat fame and Barney and Miro from Beer Deluxe planned a trip to the States, the sole purpose being to sample the best of what the US could throw at these men, from the very lively craft beer scene.

Last Ale Stars we were treated to a slideshow to see where the lads got about to.

By some fluke of nature, I’d got there early on the night and had the good luck to chat to Tom just before the crowd was let into the front bar. He’d said to me that before beer (was there ever a time before?! hehe), he didn’t really have much interest in visiting the States. I nodded in agreement.

Here’s Tom posing as a confident informant with big cans…oh alright then. Those are actually massive brew tanks in the background.

ale stars - beer ambassadors

Inspired by their journey, the beer was chosen to focus on breweries the trio had got to visit.

ale stars - beer ambassadors

(Miro telling the story of the very large Mexican fellow who could have killed him, but provided him with consummate hospitality…overnight)

The nibblies on the night were not going to enough for me, so based upon Mel’s recommendation, I shared the gnocchi on the bar menu with Tris. It did not survive long. RIP gnocchi, we never knew you.

ale stars - beer ambassadors

Tristan took gorgeous photos of the beers sampled on the night but I thought I might just include the photo of all the pretty bottles from which the beer came and include my notes.

Ale Stars Sep 2010 beer lineup

Lagunitas ‘A Little Sumpin’ Sumpin” Ale – the group seemed pretty passionately divided on this one: either it was love, or hate. I personally loved it – didn’t taste like it had 7.3% ABV. A little too chuggable! It uses a mixture of German, European and US hops and softened with wheat to add a ‘bready’ character. The Lagunitas brewery is apparently the size as that of Little Creatures. It also has an infamous car park. I’d say this is a nice entry to hoppy beer.

Avery India Pale Ale – an American IPA. I don’t seem to have many notes on this except ‘very, very bitter’. This is very much in keeping with the West Coast IPA aesthetic as they favour hop flavour over malt. Didn’t quite have as much depth as the first beer sampled though it is possible I just wasn’t used to the bitterness. Been a long time since I had a beer I felt was too bitter for me!

Avery ‘Salvation’ – a collaboration brew with Russian River after realising that both breweries had a beer that had the same name. Rather than have one brewery pull their beer, both blended their ‘Salvations’ and thus we have the result here. Beer is love, folks! This is quite an alcoholic drop at 9% ABV and it’s obvious in the taste, and a little warming. Quite fragrant too.

Left Hand Milk Stout – a bit of a softie as far as stouts are concerned, due to the addition of lactose powder, and not milk. These milk stouts are very, very smooth and silky on the palate. Very aromatic but as far as stouts go, a little thin for my liking. I need to stop drinking those extreme beers perhaps!

It was fantastic to live vicariously (and perhaps with healthier livers!) through our Beer Ambassadors, and wonderful of them to regale us with their tales of beery derring-do. You can read their chronicles on their blog. Naturally, you can read Prof Pilsner’s account (he always gets them up lightning-fast!) and also our beloved Local Taphouse’s too.

Feel free to sift through Tristan’s photos below.

Shandy has one final word for you – make your choice: Jesus or hell?

ale stars - beer ambassadors

a drink to help you get…

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…your dick inside her?

Hey, don’t blame me for that joke, I first innocently fell for it when @bobearth told me to look for it at a wine bar…dirty so-and-so!

What a glorious weekend – relaxed, been sleeping well (about as rare as sighting Halley’s Comet, honestly!) and bloody good weather. It is indeed a natural antidepressant.

After yet another breakfast jaunt, a drop-in visit was made to an evil alcohol supplying conglomerate. I was actually keen on getting some of the Monteith crushed pear cider that some friends said was available.

Success. It turned out that there were a couple of other perries in stock so we grabbed them with a view to drinking on the front lawn like good suburban bogans. You kind of bust your cover when you start reading and look like you’re learning shit.

Monteith crushed pear cider

The New Zealand Monteith’s pear cider is your choice if you don’t like your cider too sweet. The pear flavour is but a homeopathic drop in the actual cider. I could barely taste it. However, I liked it – no alcoholic harshness, no yucky sulphite presence (it contains sulphites but it’s not evident in the beverage). I know, sulphites are there for preservation, sigh. There’s a hint of colour. To be honest, I wanted it to be more alcoholic.

Kopparberg pear cider

Kopparberg’s pear cider was nowhere near as refined an example. The smell of fake pear hard candy emanates from your pint glass as soon as you fill it and it’s the colour of urine. It’s also really fucking sweet. The alcohol pops up every now and then, so it’s a bit ‘rough’. Under no circumstances will I drink this again voluntarily. On the upside, I guess it’s less disgusting than alcopops. There’s a little bit of sourness to keep the sweetness in check.

Rekorderlig premium pear cider

The Rekorderlig premium pear cider was a good deal less disgusting than the Kopparberg. Both are Swedish and Tristan made an educated guess that perhaps it is in keeping with Swedish taste to have them sweet? Rekorderlig initially smells of liquid bubblegum, and is largely the same colour as the Monteith. Taste-wise, I personally found it less insipidly sweet than the Kopparberg but Tris thought it was too sweet. I found it more refined.

If I were buying for a friend and they had a preference for sweet, I’d probably buy the Reorderlig for sharing. However, the winner out of the three consumed on the same day was definitely the Monteith.

Dickens perry

If you’re feeling really adventurous, then do try the Australian Dickens perry. Be warned though: this is sour, dry and tart. I struggled with the first gulp but after this last trio, I really want to have it again. It’s cloudy and there is a good deal of sediment in the bottom. Is this the discerning person’s perry? Definitely in style. Good choice to label it ‘perry’ and not ‘pear cider’…

2 Brothers Gypsy pear cider

Despite noticing it hit the Australian market in the colder months, Melburnian brewery 2 Brothers’ Gypsy pear cider has been very popular. A tad sweeter than Monteith’s but perhaps a little more carbonated? It’s widely available around Melbourne in bottles and on tap. I was even told by a pub worker that from a consumer perspective it’s 2 Brothers’ most popular product – though note, that’s not a cited fact.

Guys, this is just readily available perry. Imagine what kind of summer we’ll have if you love apple cider… So girls, and girlier men, throw out your alcopops and embrace what looks to be a spring and summer of more cider love.