Take Home a Keg of Rogue
I was at the Wheaty have a quiet Mikkeller or three on the public holiday Monday afternoon. The Mikkeller was tasting great off tap. The pick of them is the Beer Geek Breakfast for my taste. It’s so rich and has fantastic deep flavours. Rick chocolate flavours from the malt mix with smoke and coffee added to the beer. The bitterness is just right to make it drinkable without getting in the way of the other flavours.
The other beers on tap when I was there was the single hop Simcoe, Amarillo and the Stateside IPA. The Simcoe is still the pick here for my taste but the Amarillo is no slouch either and the Stateside is awesome fresh off a tap. I even got to have a look at the unusual Mikkeller kegs while I was there. They are a wine cask like bladder inside a PET bottle. This is then mounted in a cardboard box. A lot easier, cheaper and probably greener than shipping around large stainless kegs too. This also makes them a lot lighter and easier to manage for the staff.
Whilst sitting there enjoying my beers I was chatting to Jade behind the bar and she was telling me about the beers that are coming and various bits and pieces. Then she mentions they have 5l take home kegs of Rogue Yellow Snow IPA. She even brings one out so I can have a look at it. Well that was all she needed to do. I love Yellow Snow and the packing was awesome. As soon as I saw it I was sold. I have now planned a beer dinner around it.
These things aren’t cheap so you may not want to race down for one but they are cool and worth every cent in my opinion. I’m going to have to be lame and keep it around after it’s empty too, it just looks really cool.
I will likely add some more info about the Mikkeller beers soon. Don’t miss out though, the Tomahawk is already gone and I think the Simcoe is probably not far behind. Get there!
Tasting Australia
While not strictly a beer event there are some beer related functions as part of Tasting Australia. It is a week long event at venues around Adelaide. It is an event sponsored by the South Australian Government to promote food and wine.
The main beer related event I can find on the list for this year is a degustation beer dinner. The event is called the three brewers. The idea is to match beers from Malt Shovel, Knappstein and SA Brewing with meals. I can’t imagine what SA brewing beer they are going to use. I can only hope it is the Southwark Stout. I can’t think of anything else you would want to drink from there. There are a couple of decent James Squire beers and the Knapstein lager is decent but they aren’t exactly exciting beers. These three brewers are actually just one brewer too. All these brands are owned and operated by Lion Nathan.
The brewer from Malt Shovel, Tony Jones, is a great guy and very knowledgeable. I’m not going to go along but if you go try and get a chat with Tony Jones. It’s worth taking the time to talk to him.
Other than that they don’t appear to have a lot of beer events this year. So if you go along to any events ask where the beer is and maybe they will start adding more beer events in future. Next time you drop into your favorite micro brewery let them know you would like to see them there.
Brew Boys Open for ANZAC Day
If you want to celebrate ANZAC day in style head on down to Brew Boys from mid day on Sunday. Normally closed on a Sunday they will be open this week for ANZAC day. The plan is to have the AFL match on and enjoy the day including having a toast to the diggers. Should be a good day with the Harvest Ale back on tap too.
Details on the calendar.
A Night at the Taphouse Sydney
Another post from the road. Headed into the Local Taphouse in Darlinghurst after work to have a couple of beers. It ended up being more than a couple as I found some great beers on tap. I was even lucky enough to find a Mikkeller on tap. I thought I was going to miss out on that as they were launching at the Wheaty back in Adelaide while I was there.
The evening started with a local that I haven’t had before. The Murrays Grand Cru was a fantastic example of a Belgian Tripel. Though not completely authentic to stye it has a lot of great Belgian qualities. It has wonderful malt qualities and the bitterness level is just right. Be careful wit this one as it is scarily easy to drink for such a large beer. After that I moved on to a Mikkeller Stateside IPA. I have had this beer from bottle before but it’s much better and has a great fresh hop flavour and aroma. The bitterness is assertive but well balanced and not over the top. Try this beer if you get the chance. Onto another local next in the form of Five Islands Rust Amber. Without being amazing it was a very drinkable and I really enjoyed my pint. Great toffee like malt flavours with a good bitterness and some nice hop flavours. Next up was the Murrays Dark Knight Porter. This was a good beer with some nice chocolate flavours. However, I found this beer to sweet for my taste. Perhaps if it had been matched wit the right food it would have worked better for me but it was just too sweet for me. From there out I stuck with the Mikkeller Stateside IPA, I don’t remember how many though.
After all that beer I also managed to sneak in their 3 beef burger which is marinated in Schlkerla. It’s a great burger and helps to soak up some of the booze.
This is a really good pub with some great staff that know something about beer and seem to care. Gets thumbs up for food, beer, service and ambience from me.
Beer Review – Hitachino Espresso Stout
I picked up a bottle of the Hitachino Espresso Stout the other night to try. I had never heard of it before and just decided to give it a go. I was well rewarded for giving it a try.
The beer is very dark and almost black. Pours with a large long lasting tan head. At first taste you are hit by strong dark roasted coffee flavours. These come from the dark malts but the beer also has some coffee added to the boil. Also exhibits dark chocolate and dark dried fruit flavours. It’s basically a Russian Imperial stout with coffee added. It’s a great combination. There isn’t really any hop character but it does have a good strong bitterness. It’s perfectly balanced and very drinkable. One of the best beers I have had in recent times and right up there with the best stouts.
Track it down and give it a try.
Harts Pub Sydney
I’m in Sydney in Support of my day job so I’m taking the opportunity to hit some of the local beer establishments. I got into town dropped my bag at the hotel and headed out. My trip for the evening took me to Harts Pub in the Rocks. This is a reasonably new venue. I think it has been open for only a few weeks.
It was very quiet on the evening I was there but I ran into a fellow home brewer and had a good discussion about our trips through the USA drinking beer and a little about making it. I started out with their tasting paddle so I could get through a few beers. My paddle included the Potters Kolsch, Rocks Brewing Sail and Mermaid Bitter, Rocks Brewing 1809 Pale Ale and Rocks Brewing Cribb’s Porter.
The Pale was the pick for me but that is not really surprising given my preference for hoppy beers. It’s far from being over the top but it does have a nice hit of American style hops. Well balanced and very drinkable. The Kolsch was good example of the style. Without being sensational it was a nice easy drinking beer with a hint of the Kolsch flavour to it. Not as sweet as I was expecting but I think that is a good thing. The bitter was pretty close to a tradition English style and a good beer. Could have used a bit more fruity fermentation character for my tastes. The porter was a well made and well balanced English style porter. It was good without anything about it really standing out.
From the ported I move onto a half of Paddy’s Pilsner. This was drinkable but not very exciting. It had a nice bitterness but lacked the strong malt backbone and enough of the floral hops that I would expect of the style. Not a bad beer but not exciting. From there I grabbed a pint of the Pale and a burger. Both were great and worked really wel together. The burger came out a little sweet tasting for my liking but it was nothing a little salt didn’t fix. The size of the meal was huge. I made an effort at finishing it but couldn’t get there.
If you are in Sydney Harts is definitely worth a visit.