Category Archives: craft beer goodness

breakfast, bee stings and beer at Bright

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Weirdly enough, there weren’t as many sore heads after the Bridge Road Brewery / Tanswells pub jaunt. Most of us managed to stumble on down to help ourselves to breakfast. The plan was then to get back on the bus and head to the Bright Brewery, which is conveniently located in the town of Bright.

A few of us took the opportunity to use our post-breakfast time to have our wallets violated by the local Beechworth Sweet Shop. The fudge from there was delicious and comes in all sorts of flavours but I was attracted by the more gimmicky fare on offer…

Pop Rocks

They did have a lot of other things that took me back to my British childhood. I safely opted not to buy such sweets so as not to cause financial and dental ruin.

Seeing as that wasn’t enough, we also bought out all the large fabled Beechworth Bakery bee stings (good work, Ryan!). I’m not much of a sweet tooth (anymore) but I bought a small one to see what the fuss was about. I’m really glad I got one – they’re actually not that sweet. They have a cream filling and have honey on top which is then sprinkled with almonds. If you’re in the area, you should definitely have one.

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We headed back to Bridge Road Brewery around the corner and waited for the buses to pick us up. It turned out that we had managed to ‘lose’ two of our party. Not being able to get in touch with them, we circled some popular spots in Beechworth before deciding we really had to leave for Bright – but not before everyone stocked up with ‘travellers’. I can’t believe people were actually finishing 6-packs en route to another brewery. Some of these folks have stamina.

When we arrived, the head brewer Scott Brandon was on hand to greet us and give us a tour. It’s a very different set-up to Bridge Road Brewery. Most of their equipment was purchased secondhand from a Japanese brewery that had shut down. Pretty cool!

dave from bright brewery

At this stage, I will confess that it was very hard to concentrate – having to ‘enjoy’ a tasting paddle in a somewhat rushed time period may have been responsible for this…no doubt the staff had to work their arses off for thirty hungry and thirsty punters.

When you get your paddle, start with this side. Lightest to darkest is usually a good rule of thumb! From left to right we have: Hellfire amber ale, Bright lager, and Razor witbier. I have to confess that these didn’t do much for me, even though I’ve enjoyed the Razor on several occasions.

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What can I say, I like darkies.

From left to right – Staircase porter (my favourite drop from Bright Brewery), Fainters dubbel (this one will hit you for six!) and the Brewers’ Choice (Winter Warmer stout). Ale Tsar Shandy got his growler filled with Staircase porter which was an excellent choice. Too bad the manky whatsit didn’t share on the way home…

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The only thing soaking up the beer was nachos. Most people chose pizza as there were several flavours to choose from. Having had pizza the day before, I wasn’t in the mood for it. It’s a sad day when you realise just how much of a food blogger wankster you’ve become. Anyway, nachos – delicious. Enough for two? You bet! I know the brewery’s not really set up to feed so many people so quickly, but there were a fair few road trippers who waited a very long time for food. Our friend R didn’t get his kransky at all though was refunded. Naturally, there was much joking about a man and his wait for a sausage.

nachos

But wait, that’s not all! Scott, the head brewer, decided to treat us all to a special drop. It was sweet and had hints of stronger spirits and their barrels. As requested by the brewery, you didn’t hear it from me… *wink*

One reason Bright Brewery is worth visiting is that they have these fab mini-kegs that you can buy and take with you! I really wanted to get a Staircase porter one, yum. One of the benefits of the mini-keg is that the beer is super fresh. When possible, beer from a keg is always nicer than from the bottle.

It was finally time to head off home to Melbourne but not before a stopover at Milawa for some serious cheese tasting and shopping! Some other men bought sausages. Shandy proclaimed quite loudly that the procuring of beestings and cheese would result in some pleasures of the flesh.

Our faithful drivers safely deposited us elsewhere as they headed back to St Kilda. I freaking love The Local Taphouse, in case you couldn’t tell. So much so that I’ve decided to include a ‘we love beer’ widget on the blog so you can check out not just The Local Taphouse’s blog (and you should if you enjoy attending beery events), but also to other well-loved (by me at least!) beery folk.

Beechworth Bakery on Urbanspoon Bright Brewery on Urbanspoon

a beery weekend begins

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Those wonderful but mad folks at The Local Taphouse in St Kilda decided to organise a road trip. Wonderful because they were going to hire mini-buses to transport those who were interested. Mad because that meant at least three of them had to abstain as our designated drivers (many thanks to Guy and Justin at the Local Taphouse, and Prof Pilsner because he’s all-round awesome!).

And so our Beechworth brewery road trip began. Pretty bloody awesome, really – you forked out $150 (a tad more if going as a single) for overnight accommodation in Beechworth to be entertained by the following beery itinerary: brewery, rest, pub, sleep, breakfast, brewery, home.

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Our first port of call was Ben Kraus’ Bridge Road Brewery for lunch and beer as soon as we arrived. Cue thirty hungry and thirsty Ale Stars. It was agreed upon that we would all pay $16 a head for pizza which was absolutely delicious (hey, even the vegetarian pizzas were scrumptious!). Sadly, I think more than a few of us were a little underfed.

Quite a few of us were excited by the fact that the new seasonal beer, the B2 Bomber was on tap – a Belgian IPA that is dark in colour and just divine. Can they please make this permanent? If you can’t get to the brewery to have it on tap, check out The Crafty Pint to find out where you can enjoy it around Melbourne. Despite having tried it, I’m actually keen to fork out $30 for a limited edition 750mL bottle: word on the beery street is that this may be worth cellaring.

Ben Kraus, the head brewer, was behind the bar and served many of us before treating us to a tour of the brewery and give us a bit of a sneak peek into what goes on when you have your own brewery.

There’s fermenters…

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And kegs…

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And machines that bottle!

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If you’ve not experienced the aceness that is Bridge Road Brewery’s beer, here’s a list to get you started:

Bling IPA – I first had this number on tap back when my palate was still a bit wimpy with strong hop presence. However, in revisiting it at the brewery, its maltiness is way more evident. A most satisfying brew.

Robust Porter – oddly enough, as porters go, I don’t find this that ‘robust’. In fact, I find it quite muted in flavour. Still, it’s essential drinking from Bridge Road.

Chestnut Pilsner – don’t let it warm up! This is one of those beers that’s lovely cold but will leave you guessing…is that chestnut I can barely taste…is it a figment of my imagination? Wait…there it is! Naw, who am I kidding: I can’t taste the chestnut. Let’s have another sneaky pint and see if that’s more…’successful’ *giggle*

Chevalier Saison – the more I have of this, the more I love it. One of my fave posh thirst-quenchers – I mean it sounds fancy with the ‘Chevalier’ in the title, but remember, this is a humble farmhouse ale for the peasants. Mmm.

Honourable mention to the seasonals/limited edition…

B2 Bomber – quite plainly, you would be stupid not to try this while it’s around if you are even remotely interested in beer. I have one pint of this, and I want another but politely remind myself that I have to give the other beery children in the playground a chance to try this (and have to continue to educate my palate by trying other beers I’ve never had). Fellow beery blogger James does this beer more justice in words than I can at his blog.

Femme Fatale Ales’ Megachile Pluto braggot – assistant brewer Nardia (who is interviewed on The Crafty Pint) is actually responsible for this medieval drop which features lots and lots and lots of local (Beechworth) honey! A little stronger than your average beer at 10% ABV, it’s a tipple you might like to finish a night with. Honeyed, spicy warmth in a bottle.

To all those at the Bridge Road Brewery – thanks for your hospitality. If you care to read more detailed descriptions of some of the beer imbibed, you can check out this post where Ben’s brews were thoughtfully matched to specially prepared dishes.

Bridge Road Brewers on Urbanspoon

support the pub that supports you…

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…by giving you a fantastic selection of craft beer!

The Royston Hotel is located in Richmond and is a mere hop, skip and a jump from the Mountain Goat Brewery, many of whose brews we’ve discussed on the blog aplenty, and imbibed even more.

It therefore made perfect sense to hold the second meeting of the Australian Beer Writers’ Guild at the Royston where we could not only have awesome local craft brews, but some damn fine pub grub too.

It was bloody freezing the night we went and I hit the stouts early under the notion that it would warm me up a little. On tap, was the delicious Mountain Goat Surefoot Stout (though if you wanted, they did also have longnecks of it in its Rare Breed incarnation, yum!).

As soon as we moved into the dining room, we pored over the menus and even more imbibing began – this time, mainly going with what was available in bottles. It wasn’t easy to choose what to have for dinner but I went with the braised lamb shanks with mash, barley and vegetable jus. Just perfect for the chilly winter’s night! The meat fell off the bone as it should have and it was a very generous serving. Indeed, I didn’t end up finishing my mash.

braised lamb shanks

To drink, I chose a Renaissance Stonecutters scotch ale – a brewery from across the waters in New Zealand. Haven’t had a bad drop from this lot once. Mmm. Really, really sorry about my crappy mobile phone pics – my phone had just enough charge to take bare minimum of photos required.

Renaissance scotch ale

The T-dawg ordered a very satisfying looking seafood claypot. It was humungous!

seafood claypot

Both him and I agonised over a good beer match with his dish – he eventually decided on a passable Emerson’s 1812 pilsner. Nothing to write home about, I’m told. Fellow guild member Jourdan supported this assessment, having drunk it on its homeland New Zealand.

Emerson 1812 pilsner

Personally, I wish the weather had been warmer so I could try out some of the ciders they had on offer. An excellent excuse for a repeat visit. The other diners went with the burger and the big-arse steaks on the menu. While the menu has many delectable options, I was a little disappointed to see that there wasn’t much in the way of vegetarian options that looked as equally delicious as the meat and seafood ones.

Then the ABWG got down to business, not before The Crafty Pint and probably Beer Blokes‘ Prof Pilsner managed to get us all a round of Stone and Wood’s draught ale with their beer gravitas. There was a glint in every punters’ eye at tasting the oh so familiar passionfruit note that the S&W draught ale is famous for! All Ale The Big V was indeed a most excellent secretary, reigning in us young roustabouts and unfurling the guild’s official logo.

The night finished with a blissful pot of Moo Brew’s stout for just about all of us. Well, when we could finally get Crafty and Prof out the door, those old timer beer folks do love a good natter. And rightfully so, as the staff are very sympathetic to the craft beer cause, and know quite a bit about it. It’s a wonderful pub and worth the trek even if you don’t live in the area.

Royston Hotel on Urbanspoon