Australia’s Hottest 100 Craft Beers – Number 1 Vale Ale
The Hottest 100 Australian Craft beers list has been compiled and released. Thanks to The Local Taphouse and the Crafty Pint for putting it all together and publishing it. This years winner is Vale Ale from McLaren Vale Beer company. Big congratulations to the guys. Can’t wait to taste the beers when they start coming out of the new brewery. A couple of other local breweries made the list too. You can check out the full list here thanks to Crafty Pint.
I’m not a fan of a lot of the stuff on the list. I’m not saying they are bad beers but beers from the two largest breweries in the country surely can’t count as craft. I like Alpha Pale but there is no way that is a craft beer. I think the definition really needs to be tightened up to reward the real craft producers around the country and not slap the big boys on the back regardless of their beer being any good or not. Go out and drink something from a small craft producer today!
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Sea and Vines Festival with Vale Ale
Sea and Vines with Vale Ale
The good people at The Salopian Inn and McLaren Vale Beer company are putting on a function for the Sea and Vines Festival. Sounds like it’s going to be a great event too. Fresh local seafood cooked with local produce and some Vale Ale in one of the dishes. My mouth is watering already. I’m not familiar with the DJ but if they play music that suits the vibe of the Salopian it should be fantastic. If I’m not in some far flung corner of the country with my day job, a distinct and disappointing possibility, I am going to be there.
I really like what these guys are doing. They are getting out there and marketing craft beer really well and drawing people in by serving it in ways that will appeal to the non beer geek. On top of that they are making and serving really good beer. I can’t wait to see what they have in store when they get their own brewery up and running.
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Quick Trip Report McLaren Vale
The day started at Foggo Wines, a small winery a friend had told us about. Great wine and a super friendly wine maker at the cellar door. These guys actually do open ferments in barrels which is enough to scare any brewer but the wine is great. From there we made a quick stop into Shottesbrooke. A very nice place with some good wine. We picked up a couple of bottles but didn’t have a lot of time here. Staff were very friendly but not as knowledgeable as those we spoke to at other wineries.
Then it was time for the lunch. I had been looking forward to lunch at The Salopian Inn with some McLaren Vale Ale and it didn’t disappoint. The service was great, food and wine were great and the beer was really top notch. Everyone was really friendly and helpful and one of the waiters spent some time talking to me about the beer and brewing including the new brewery they have coming. I got a message from the @mvbeer guys on Twitter to ask for someone when I was there but I didn’t want to come across as some tool with a blog so I just enjoyed the long lunch we had there. I will go into more detail about the The Salopian Inn and McLaren Vale Ale in another post soon. In brief, everything was great and you should go.
After lunch, at about 1600, we thought we would try and sneak in one more winery for the day. I had seen a sign on a winery called Ekhidna that sad they made beer so I thought I would check it out. I have to say I was a bit dubious with the incorrectly spelt name but you you never know if you don’t give it a try. All fears were allayed as soon as we walked in. The wine maker and one other staff member were there and they were the most friendly, outgoing and enthusiastic people without being over the top. You just get a real enthusiasm for what they do from them. The beer is an extract beer being brewed on a very small scale. A fairly standard English Pale Ale. Well made but nothing to write home about. They want to ramp up the brewing in future but have only just opened the cellar door and they have a restaurant coming so it’s not the priority at the moment. The wines were great and the wine maker took a lot of time to talk to us and explain different parts of their wine making process. They have a Shiraz/Riesling which, while not my cup of tea, was very interesting. The many different Shiraz we tried were fantastic. These guys may be really small but they are doing great things. You really should go out of your way to check them out when you are in the area.
That was the end of the tasting and, fortunately for me, the end of the driving. We headed out from our accommodation to find some drinks and dinner. We thought we would have a drink at a couple of places then find somewhere to eat. That plan went out of the window when the first place we walked into was The Barn. It has a great lounge area to have a few drinks before dinner with this huge open fire style methylated spirits powered heater. They have around sixty beers in the bottle and an extensive wine collection. The restaurant is down stairs in two flights including the basement where we ate. The menu looked good and the drink selection was great so we decided we didn’t need to go any further. I tried the Goodieson pilsener and pale ale there. Both well made and very drinkable beers. I will write more about these later. Dinner was fantastic. I had a fantastic piece of steak cooked perfectly. I can highly recommend the sirloin if you make a visit.
By the time we finished dinner we were quite drunk and very tired. We stumbled back to our room with intention of opening a bottle we had picked up during the day. We both fell asleep within a minute of being in the room. Sunday was uneventful as we had breakfast then hit the road. Whilst not terribly hungover we weren’t really in peak wine tasting shape either. We had a great time and can’t see how you wouldn’t if you head down for a trip. Get There!
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