Tag Archives: Ale Stars

what the funny foreigner brought for Show and Tell

I never had to do Show and Tell at school in England so when I first arrived in Australia, the concept absolutely terrified me. My dad didn’t have any cool stuff because he was a male nurse (explaining that to your racist and sexist classmates was a nightmare) and I didn’t have a photo of my Guyanese grandfather accidentally surfing a canal alligator (true story), which could have potentially saved me. All I had was a guidebook from the Greenwich Maritime Museum and most of the kids in my class didn’t like that history shit. Apparently, I was the only one who thought Lord Nelson’s single handle combined dining utensils contraption was cool.

Shandy luckily had no such problems last Tuesday at the Scottish ale themed Ale Stars. Back complete with jetlag, he had a damn fine Show and Tell in store for us. It all began with an adorable little keg of indiscrimate size. Let’s just say that there discrepancies between amount of liquid quoted and amount of liquid allowed. One could possibly argue that 2 + 2 = 5? Yeah, I’m being facetious, sorry.

The secret stash in question was Fyne Ales Highlander and it was indeed special. Not very carbonated as you can see for yourself in the glass – very little lacing. It felt very thin-bodied in the mouth. Slight hint of sweet fruit? I personally found it very hard to place but it was a very enjoyable drop. Cheers Shandy for the stash, it was most kind of you.

On this particular evening I drank a buttload of non-Ale-Star-specific beer and so decided to soak some of it up with some reinforcements from the bar menu – the chicken salad. Generous serving of chicken and leaves in a pastry case which you can then in turn eat. Pretty nifty idea. Incidentally, the last couple of sessions, Ale Stars has had more than just pizza on offer during the tasting – now we’re getting croquettes, bread and dips, some addictive chicken thingies. The nibbles have stepped up a notch ever since Feral Brewery came to town.

First official beer to start post-minicask smuggled treat was the Innes and Gunn original. It was mentioned that this might be similar to Young’s Christmas Pudding Ale. It smells very vanillary and sweet in the glass which is a natural flavour from the oak barrel the ale is aged in. If you like gentle notes of rum, raisin and toffee then this is the beer for you. This was very well received by the Ale Star crowd as it’s pretty yummy. I’d love to drink this again and will definitely get some in the future if I can find it.

But why the clear bottle? Surely they can’t be as daft as the makers of the much maligned (and rightfully so) Coldie? Not to panic, beer nerds – it’s too malty and doesn’t have enough hops for the beer to go stale.

The second beer was probably my least favourite out of the four – True South’s Wee Jimmy Scotch ale. We were warned to let it warm up a bit to experience its flavour at its best. It wasn’t unpleasant but the idea of smoked peat malt doesn’t get my mouth watering. It’s not bitter (it shouldn’t be due to very few hops present) but it’s savoury in a weird way. Rich-bodied and very dark. Please note, I don’t think this is a bad beer, it’s just not to my personal taste. It’s also not strictly Scottish (gasp!): True South is out in Black Rock in Melbourne. Woo hoo, another brewery fairly nearby to visit in the future.

The third beer was BrewDog’s Paradox Isle of Arran, a Russian imperial stout. Phwoar. It smells goddammed awful but tastes anything but. I found drinking this to be a more satisfying experience compared to their equally monstrous Tokyo stout. This is pretty fecking alcoholic at 10% ABV but the alcoholic taste doesn’t detract from the rest of the flavours of the beer, which is why I think I prefer this over Tokyo. The Paradox has a rich, full body and is very pleasurable to drink with notes of chocolate and typical stouty goodness with spikes of whisky. More, please.

We end the Scottish ales showcase with another wee heavy beer…from Belgium: Brasserie d’Achouffe’s McChouffe. Sounds like a sneeze, innit? This one was an odd ball, as one might suspect from a Belgian-made Scottish-style beer. Its smell reminded me of a lambic (which is not a particularly pleasant smell) – sour. It’s alcoholic-strong and yet appears watery as if the flavours of the beer are diluted. I know it sounds odd but it was confirmed by at least one other person. Also, are gnomes Scottish?

Before I finish, one last beer – the Cascade First Harvest. I’m not quite sure why I was so enthusiastic about trying this because to be blunt, it was pretty bloody awful in a commercial beer kind of way. I had to look longingly while my partner in crime got stuck into a glass of Brewboys Ace of Spades stout.

Thankfully, I also got to try: Brewboys Maiden Ale, Double Dog Double Pale Ale (phwoar, hoppy!), Murrays Sassy Blonder and even managed to cadge a Mountain Goat IPA off Shandy at the end of the night. Yes, it took that much beer to wipe the trauma of the First Harvest from my palate. Well, I thought it was a good excuse anyway. As always, Prof Pilsner had his report on the night up way before me, and you can take a gander here.

not all feral creatures are bad

6 Replies

Due to the Australian International Beer Awards being on in Melbourne, the Local Taphouse managed to wrangle a super-special guest from WA for a super-special Ale Stars session. Brendan Varis, the head brewer of Feral Brewing Company based in Western Australia came to chat about his beer. As a result of his presence and focussing on the beer his brewery makes, the Local Taphouse was packed. Brendan was great to listen to – warm, engaging and clearly enthusiastic about what he does. It was interesting to learn that he speaks of Feral Brewing as a brew pub, that is they brew beer for their establishment primarily. Does that mean us outsiders get the ‘offcuts’? As if! In fact, Ale Stars got a special beer brewed – just for us.

In the month prior to this session, I got presented with my Ale Stars tankard and it was christened on this evening – with Bridge Road’s robust porter. If you look carefully, you can see my name on my tankard. Yes yes, small things… etc. I was a little impatient and should have let it warm a little to better taste the flavours. As you can see from my glass, I wasn’t exactly having trouble finishing it.

Onto the Ferals. The very first beer of the evening was the iWit 2.0 (props for the playful name) – an imperial witbier with pepper and ginger notes at 7.5% ABV. It is very sweet, uses the same yeast as Hoegaarden, more grain and a stronger wort and five times as much coriander and orange peel (these latter two are characteristic in witbier). Brendan said it’s their flagship beer – the customers love it and it pulls the awards. I’ve said it many times before – this style doesn’t have me leaping for joy, but this is very drinkable. I would absolutely order it again.

The second beer was the Dark Funk at 4.7% ABV. Bacteria is introduced (this is not a traditional technique in beermaking) to yeast to make it sour. It’s very much like a Belgian kriek but without the sweetness. The beer is housed in an oak barrel that previously housed white wine (chardonnay) and lactobacillus. The oak has a lovely aromatic of vanilla in it. This beer can take one to two years to be ready though it only spends ten months in the barrel. The barrels are sourced from the local winemakers, of which there are plenty in the region. Brendan stated that normally vintners are quite reluctant to acknowledge wild and/or wine yeasts. This was probably my least favourite of the Ferals tried this evening. My admitting that is probably going to get me booted out of the beer Stonecutters’ club for not being beer nerdy enough.

Brewed especially for us, the third offering was the Belgian IPA. It was suggested that the horde of beer-crazed Ale Stars come up with a good name. Beer Blokes’ Pete came up with the winning name – the Raging Flem. Building on his name and the fact that Mum had bronchitis at the time, I liked ‘Bronchitic Phlegm’ but yeah, that’s kind of gross on retrospection. Brendan describes this as strong, estery and phenolic. It is supposed to be cloudy at the beginning and is dry hopped. Purely American hops are used for this (I assume it’s called a Belgian IPA because it’s Belgian in style? you tell me and I’ll buy you a drink, haha). It’s supposed to get nice and clear in two weeks, as well as malty, yum. I found this hoppy yet sweet. It’s quite strong at 7.2% ABV. It was my favourite until…

…presented with the last offering for the evening – the Hop Hog, a high strength IPA and thus very hoppy. This is a very American influenced IPA. I have to say that at this point I’m having a lot of trouble deciphering my furiously scribbled notes but it looks like this is modelled on the East Coast IPA which has a strong malt presence (translation: it comes off as sweet and also bitter). This sort of beer, we were told, is best fresh, dry hopped and 5.8% ABV. I loved this because it reminded me of my beloved Fantapants, another Feral brew. I can’t really choose a fave between the Hop Hog and the Raging Flem – loved them both. I guess I could be cheeky and go for the one with the higher ABV… anyway, notes one can supposedly detect are pine needle, citrus and passionfruit. I was pretty chuffed because I could smell the passionfruit first off. Yeah, I still get really excited when I detect notes – scent-wise and taste-wise. I am lost without Shandy’s notes!

Are you bored yet? Sorry, I have to jot this stuff down for my personal learning and beery journey. However, you can also read Prof Pilsner’s report here as well as the Local Taphouse’s. I’ll try to get Ale Stars reports up closer to just after the event from now on, promise!

nuts about brown ales

Leave a Reply

April’s Ale Stars at the Local Taphouse in St Kilda was devoted to nut brown ales. Not exactly one of the most exotic styles of beer, but for some reason it always conjures up images of colder weather. Probably because I think of conkers…the colour of them, and the weather. It’s actually a fond childhood memory.

Apparently, it’s not a particularly popular style. The Northern English style is lighter and hoppy, whereas the Southern English variation is rich and sweet. On this particular evening, we were only going to be having examples that adhered to the Northern English tradition.

As is usual pre-session, I tried some beer I’d never had. First up, the Bridge Road Bling IPA.

Nice and bitter and hoppy. I liked a lot of the Bridge Road tipples tried when I last went to the microbrewery showcase. This was no different. Was a bit surprised that it got such a poor review in the beer zine Stubby Buddy vol. 1 because those folks are more knowledgeable about beer than me, and I really liked it – it’s rich, bitter and very characteristic of the IPA style. Though my photos of beer are generally taken with my mobile phone, this captured it well – rich, creamy, aromatic head, while the liquid itself was cloudy. I don’t think I can call hoppy beers ‘manly’ anymore, because I now love hoppy beer. One less gimmick up my sleeve, damn!

Afterwards, I had a glass of the Feral Smoked Porter. This is autumn in a glass. Beautiful and dark with a medium body and a less creamy head than the Bling above. The smokiness – wonderfully fragrant and savoury. I want to drink this and slug down smoked oysters. You can see by the lacing on my glass that I perhaps imbibe a little too quickly…

The first brown ale for the evening was the Newcastle Brown Ale. I was quite surprised to see that it’s in a clear bottle – it having virtually no hops means this is okay? I found it quite watery, having a hint of bitterness and smelling of Horlicks! Not surprising, given brown ales are malty. Post-2001, this beer now has caramel colouring added to it. I didn’t particularly dig this beer, it was too…well, I think I’ve had better homebrew than this, honestly. I’ve been challenged by a lot of beers I’ve tried at Ale Stars, but up until now, this is the first one that has really failed to impress me.

The second beer on the list was the Samuel Smith nut brown ale. I’ve actually tried this before. It has seaweed as a coagulent! Is that why it smelt like socks to my nose? Thankfully, it doesn’t taste anything like socks – it’s heavier in body than the Newcastle Brown Ale and but was more bitter to taste.

The third beer is where things began to get and feel special. I think this was the special to the line-up? It’s from Colorado. I didn’t make many comments about the taste in my notes, except that I loved it, and it’s very roasty, with a little bit of bitterness. Also, who is the Surgeon General?

The last one was from the American Rogue Ale Brewery – a hazelnut brown nectar. Doesn’t that sound mouthwatering? It was indeed delicious. I found it very caramel-laden and roasty in taste. I wouldn’t be able to choose a favourite between the Avery and this one.

This Ale Star session was very much a good deal more…sober than last month’s affair. When in doubt, blame the this bock at 12% ABV. Good to see that they’re also serving us more pizza too!

Hot off the press! The Local Taphouse, both St Kilda and Darlinghurst, can now be found on ze twitterz! St Kilda is @localtaphouseSK and Darlinghurst is @localtaphouseDL. About blooming time lads, welcome! Teach them how to use hashtags and stuff, hehe.

eat, drink, stagger

a very tame lone wolf (formerly in cahoots with riff-raff) who loves to do the above

Tag Archives: Ale Stars

what the funny foreigner brought for Show and Tell

not all feral creatures are bad

nuts about brown ales