Double Barrelled Locals at The Wheaty, Wheatsheaf Hotel
The first Wednesday of the month is coming up once again. This means it’s time for double barrelled locals at The Wheaty again. This month it’s Brewboys and Steam Exchange. This month we have some old favourites and some new beers coming on tap. On top of the beer the brewers are also there to have a chat to and talk about their beer. They quite often start shouting beers too. Gareth from Steam Exchange will be there along with Simon and Stephen from Brewboys. Make sure to say hi to them as they are all good guys.
To the beer…..
From Steam Exchange we have the Oak Aged Pale Ale. This beer spends eight to ten weeks in French oak before being making it to the keg for serving. We have seen this one on at The Wheaty before and it went over pretty well then. It’s been a while since I have had it so I am looking forward to having a couple on Wednesday night. The oak adds a great character to an already good beer. It’s a malty beer without being too big so it’s still really drinkable. This is complimented by a good but not overpowering bitterness and great flavour from Golding’s hops.
We get to try two beers from Brewboys this month. We will start the month with the old favourite Maiden Ale. This is their malty amber ale that has just enough bitterness and a good hop hit to make it really drinkable. Most of us have had a chance to try this one before but fresh from the tap it is a fantastic beer and oen you should get down for a pint or two of. Later in the month we get to try the King Brown on tap. This is a beer that was made in a very small batch in the past and sold only in the old Pick Axe Longneck bottles. The new batch is based on that beer but the ABV has been turned down from 6.5% to 4.2% so you can have a couple and still be standing. It still promises to be really malty and super tasty as it is loaded with My Hood hops.
Lots of good stuff happening down at The Wheaty so you should really get down there for a beer or two. From 1800 on Wednesday March 2. Get There!
Steam Exchange Saturday
It’s been a while since I have been down to Steam Exchange for a beer. This weekend I am going to be staying at Pt Elliot with some friends so figured it was time for a visit to Steam Exchange which is just down the road in Goolwa. Their beer have been appearing on the taps at the Wheaty which is good but it’s only every second month and is only a limited selection. I’m really looking forward to trying the stout again. I haven’t had it for ages and remember really liking it.
I’m planning on being there around mid afternoon on Saturday. Will probably be driving so only stopping in for a couple. If you happen to be in the area drop in and say hi. I will be the guy running around with the camera.
Red Relief at The Wheaty, Wheatsheaf Hotel
This Friday 25/02/2011 you can show your support for the victims of the Queensland floods and have a beer at the same time. The beer is called Red Relief and has been brewed by the guys at Stone & Wood in Byron Bay. All reports are that it is tasting great too. So going to the pub and drinking beer becomes a charitable pursuit. Not even the grumpiest other half could argue with the logic of going to the pub for charity surely.
Proceeds from the sale of this beer are being donated to the Queensland Flood Relief Appeal. This is a great thing to do from a small brewery that isn’t even from Queensland. Do the right thing and have one of their other beers while you are there too. Head to the pub and enjoy the beer while helping out a worthy cause. Get There!
Little Creatures Single Batch East Kent Goldings at The Wheaty, Wheatsheaf Hotel
It’s time for another single batch beer from Little Creatures at the Wheaty on Wednesday the 16th from 1800. This sounds like a good one too. It’s brewed to showcase the East Kent Goldings hop which is one of my personal favourite and from what I have read it sounds just like the English Pale Ale that I brew at home. I don’t know if it is a single hop beer or if they have used something else for bittering. Sounds like a simple malt bill and they say liberal dry hopping which is always a good thing. I don’t think this is going to be a big beer to knock your socks off but if they have done it right it could be a real cracker. East Kent Goldings give some great spicy and earthy flavours mixed with just a touch of citrus on the finish. Weighing in at 30IBU it should be pretty sessionable too.
Unfortunately I’m in Western Australia so won’t be able to make it down on Wednesday night. Try and save me a pint for when I am back on Friday. Don’t feel to bad for me though. On Wednesday night I will be at The Sail and Anchor in Fremantle and enjoying some Nogne-0 and Mikkeller beers on tap for Febrewary. Get There!
Around the Breweries
Time for a bit of an update on the local breweries. There hasn’t been a lot of news recently from the local breweries. Brewboys are still doing a lot of events but there hasn’t been a lot of news from the others. The degustation dinner at Lobethal was a great night but I haven’t heard anything else form the for a while. Brewboys have the Blue Mandarin band coming up on Saturday the 19th with the release of one of their single keg beers so that should be a good night. I’m not certain if they are doing curry again but I sure hope they are.
Beard and Brau have been making a bit more noise and getting out infront of the local beer public. They have recently been involved in a few functions at the Wheaty. Their excellent stout has been featured with a number of ingredients in the hoppinator. First up they had it with rose petals which produced very interesting results. Next up there was a combination of coffee, vanilla beans and cocoa nibs. That was a great combination and added some really interesting flavour to an already excellent beer. I’m hoping to see more of their beers on tap at the Wheaty. Everything I have had from Beard and Brau was exceptional. I had the chance to talk to brewer Chris briefly at the Wheatsheaf and he seems like a really top guy.
I have also been looking around at some pubs other than the Wheaty. Unfortunately it’s still a pretty sa state of affairs out there. A couple of venues are making some attempts but nothing serious and worth writing about at the moment. If you know of other venues with a good range of great beers please let me know.
Other than that there hasn’t been a huge amount going on. Everyone seems to be plugging away through summer and selling a whole lot of beer which is a great thing. Plan is to get out and make some more visits over the next couple of weeks. Hopefully I have some more interesting stories from the road for you soon.
Dinner at Sparrow Kitchen
I had been hearing a lot of good reviews and enthusiastic support for Sparrow Kitchen, a reasonably new Adelaide eatery. I had even heard good things about the available beers. These things tweaked my interest and got me out of the pub and on the way down there with the wonderful Miss Claire for dinner on a Saturday evening. After a brief look over the menu online I was looking forward to the meal. I booked us a table in the court yard and Saturday evening was set.
The evening didn’t start well. I dropped Claire off and went to find a park. When I got back I saw Claire sitting at a table right in the front doorway. No explanation or apology for not putting us on the courtyard table we had booked. I was expecting lots of people bumping into my chair and high winds through the front door. However, it wasn’t near as bad as I was expecting and the night just got better from here.
The beer list whilst not being amazing is pretty good for a non beer focused venue in Adelaide. I kicked the night off with a Budvar whilst looking over the menu. However, when it came down to picking something to drink with dinner it was going to be wine this night. This restaurant like most doesn’t offer the range of beers to match with food or beers that would be something for people to share. That is a topic for another article though. So a nice bottle of red was selected and ordered. From there it was time to pick some food. The menu is extensive and very interesting. With so much to chose from we decided to go for the tasting menu and have a little of a lot of things.
The tasting menu is a great mix of things. I won’t list everything that is on it but you can check it out here. That said if I am going to talk about the highlights I have to end up listing most of the menu anyway. The parts that really stood out were the Duck Donut, Wagyu Burger and the Raspberry and white chocolate popsicle. The duck was rich and really deeply flavoured. The meat was incredibly moist and had a fantastic texture. The Wagyu burger is everything you expect it to be. Rich flavourful meat with just enough fat for great texture and flavour. The popsicle was a great surprise. I was expecting the white chocolate to be too sweet. I was also expecting a really sweet raspberry sauce with it. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The white chocolate was subtle and the sauce was a great tart sour raspberry sauce made from fresh berries. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth but this is the kind of dessert for me.
So what started off badly turned into a great night. The food was great, the wine was good and the beer was good for a restaurant. I highly recommend getting down there and checking it out. A bigger beer list would be great but it’s a good start.