Good Beer Wheaty Day 4 – Yeastie
A short post this morning as I’m at the airport about to fly to Melbourne at 0630. Last night with the Yeastie boys and everyone else was a blast. The whole of Good Beer Wheaty was fantastic and I can’t wait to do it all again next year. Huge thanks to all the staff at the best pub in the country, Adelaide’s own, Wheatsheaf Hotel. See you all in Melbourne for Good Beer Week.
Good Beer Wheaty Day 3 – Prescriptions Delivered
Now day three of Adelaide’s own beer festival, Good Beer Wheaty, at the Wheatsheaf Hotel is done and it was a great session. Huge thanks to Darren ‘Doc’ Robinson of Doctor’s Orders Brewing for making a special, one off, beer just for Good Beer Wheaty and for coming over for the day to talk to us about it.
The beer, Synesthesia, is a smoked, bourbon, vanilla porter. Sounds like a mouthful and it is. Amazing complex flavours but all present and detectable in the beer. A good and very appreciative crowd was in attendance to try the beer three ways. It was served as a normal draft, from the hand pump and through the glass hopper filled with figs and coffee. All were excellent and I don’t think I can pick a favourite. If you missed it last night you can probably get down today to get some but there is only the three kegs so it won’t be around for long. As an added benefit we also got Doc’s latest seasonal which had previouls only poured at GABS. It is called plasma and is a white IPA. The play of the wheat characters with the hops worked really well. I’m looking forward to drinking some more of this as I’m not sure I did it justice after Synethesia three ways. Once again a huge thanks to Doc and the Wheaty for a great night.
At the end of the night for those smart enough to follow @TheWheaty there was allegedly a very special tasting of some amazing treats from Brooklyn Brewery. With a huge thanks to the guys at the Wheaty and to Craig from Palais Imports we got to try Black Ops the very limited Imperial Stout from Brooklyn. Those of us that hung around got to taste something not many people will and it was fantastic. There were also some prize draws for shirts and the like. I personally got away with a copy of the Oxford Companion to Beer signed by Garret Oliver so I’m stoked. So if you like great beer you really should just be at the pub for the whole of Good Beer Wheaty.
After all that excitement what can we do today to compete? Today the Yeastie Boys are in town to regale us with stories of contract brewing and, probably, loud pants. Stu and Sam are up in Lobethal doing a collaboration brew with Alistair today then back at the pub tonight to tell us stuff. There will be plenty of their beer a new release and probably tons of other cool stuff. If you have been reading my posts and I haven’t convinced you yet then you are crazy. Get yourself a ticket and get to the pub tonight. You will regret it if you don’t. Get There!
Good Beer Wheaty Day 2 – Whisky and Sour Beer
We are now half way through Good Beer Wheaty at The Wheatsheaf Hotel. On the upside we have two more great events to go. First up was the ages of whisky, an event I was involved with. The first half of the tasting was based around the stages of production. I made a wash and we got to taste it before fermentation as a wort, after fermentation as wash and then as a new make spirit. I thought it was a really interesting process and tasting. You start with something really malty and sweet. From fermentation it became very mineraly and had lots of banana like fermentation character. Once it was fermented it had the strong alcohol aroma but there was still some malt there. After the distillation process some of the malt flavour made it through. I was expecting just straight hot alcohol and was surprised that there was malt still there. It wasn’t pleasant by any stretch but it was interesting.
After a break it was time for some cherry beers from Alistair at Lobethal Bierhaus. Alistair has taken his heffe and stout and aged them in barrels on sour cherries. I didn’t think I was going to like as fruit beers aren’t generally my thing. However, these were really good. I didn’t a get a strong cherry flavour but there was some interesting sourness and other flavours. I need to go back for more today to really get it straight in my head as there is a lot going on. If you weren’t there last night try to get down today and get some. I don’t know how much there is and you don’t want to miss out. Also on tap last night was the very limited Watermelon Warhead from Feral. This is a Berlinerweisse at 2.6% with watermelon added to it. It’s an amazing combination of sour and sweet fruit. That is a “light” beer I could get behind. Another one that isn’t going to be around for long so you should get in to try it.
Today it’s time for Doctors Orders goes Locum. Doc is coming into to town with a special one off prescription. We still don’t know what style the beer is but it will be poured three ways. It will go through the hopper, off a regular tap and from the hand pump. I con’t wait to see what Doc has in store for us. If his commercial releases are anything to go by this should be a great beer. This is a one off so get to at The Wheaty tonight or you aren’t ever going to get to try this beer. I’m sure you don’t want to miss it. Get There!
Good Beer Wheaty Day 1
Day 1 is over and day2 is about to begin. Day1 was fantastic with a big group in for th hop nerd session. It did get nerdy too. As predicted terms like alpha acids and humulone and many other were used. Stephen got right into the details about hops and explained it well. The only problem with the presentation was that it didn’t go long enough. There could have been another two hours of presentation and still not covered everything. I think everyone there was enjoying it enough for it to go on even further too. Big thanks to Stephen for an excellent presentation and some great beers too.
Once the hop session was over it was a short wait to the Topaz Fix release. I don’t remember a release going going so quickly either. For the first fifteen minutes the tap was basically left open and glasses were swapped and filled. I’m not sure exactly how long it lasted but I doubt there is any of it left. That was the only keg of it too. I believe that some bottles are going to be available around the country but that is it for keg product.
Today we have the whisk(e)y tasting. There will be a bunch of tastings and the talk will be on the process of making spirit. There will be tastings of wort, wash and finally new make spirit at the end of the process. Should prove to be a excellent and interesting session. After that we get to try some new beers from Lobethal Bierhaus. Alistair has added sour cherries to his heffe and to his stout. This is not normally my kind of thing but I do like to try anything innovative brewers are doing. It will certainly be interesting and may even be very tasty too. Going along with that theme there will also be a rare sour on tap from Feral so even more reason to get there.
Another excellent day ahead. So come on down and join me and everyone else for a beer.
Good Beer Wheaty
First session of Good Beer Wheaty is done. Stephen Nelsen’s presentation was fantastic and the beer was great. Forty minute until session two which is the release of the Topaz collaboration. Get There! Seriously, it’s awesome!
Good Beer Wheaty 12 – 15 May 2012
Taking inspiration from Good Beer Week in Melbourne Adelaide’s own Wheaty is having it’s own beer Festival, Good Beer Wheaty!
There is going to be a ton of exciting events. Check out the link to the program above and read my take below. While I want to jump straight into the event I will be involved with lets start from the start and work our way through. There are also some as yet unconfirmed events I will cover quickly at the end but will focus on the events that are currently on the schedule.
To kick things off and get everyone warmed up on Saturday 12 May we have a hop nerdery session hosted by Stephen Nelsen. This will focus on new and emerging Australian hop varieties. The session will cover everything from hop basics through high hop nerdery so don’t be surprised if you hear terms like alpha acid and cohumulone. To make things more exciting there will be tastings of new and rare beers featuring these new Australian hops. If you don’t get to the session you may never get to try these beers again. Better get in and get your tickets as this one will sell out fast.
Next up on Saturday evening is the launch of the Beer Here, Northdown and Nelsen collaboration brew. This beer is a version of the Beer Here Hop Fix except it features Topaz hops. The new version is called Topaz Fix. This is one of the new Australian hops that will be featured in the hop nerd session earlier in the day. The beer will eventually make it out and around the country but the first keg will be tapped at 1700 on 12 May 2012 at The Wheaty.
If you can back up for another session on Sunday it’s going to kick off nice and easy with a whisk(e)y tasting session. This is the event I’m involved with but I can’t go into the detail so as to maintain the mystery. Whisky(e)y is just distilled beer after all so it fits into the theme of the festival. Run by local whisk(e)y gurus Dr Paul Gooding and The Odd Whisky Coy’s own Big G. There will be a bunch of tastings at this event from wort, through wash, new make spirit and some finished whisk(e)y. Should be fun and you get to learn about the whole production process.
If you have the staying power to keep going there is even more on Sunday. The afternoon session is the Cherry Experiment with Alistair from Lobethal Bierhaus. Alistair has taken some local sour cherries and added them to his heff and the oatmeal stout. Fruit in beer isn’t really my thing but I am keen to give it a try. Should be a good contrast to the malts from earlier in the day.
I guess we all have to go to work on Monday so we have to wait until evening for the next event. What an event it will be though. The good Doctor himself, Darren Robinson, of Doctor’s Orders Brewing will be at The Wheaty for Doc Goes Locum. On the night a new beer from Doctor’s Orders Brewing will be poured three ways. You get to taste the latest concoction from a regular tap, through the glass hopper and from the hand pump. The style of the beer is still under wraps and knowing Doc this could be anything. Doc doesn’t tend to brew the same things as everyone else so whatever this is it’s sure to be very creative and something you haven’t tried before. As Doc says “Come get your beer prescription”.
To wrap things up on Tuesday night there are some more international visitors at The Wheaty. Visiting to talk and share their wares are Stu and Sam of the Yeastie Boys. This promises to be a fun event with a tasting of the range of Yeastie Boys beers, some seasonal releases and possibly a couple of surprises. The guys are also going to talk about contract brewing which is something that tends to have a bad name here in Australia but is a well accepted norm in New Zealand craft brewing. I’m personally a fan of the concept and look forward to the talk. On top of all of this there is rumours of some announcements too. You won’t want to miss this event or any of them for that matter. I personally plan to be at every one of them. They make really awesome beer too so go drink some of it.
That is the quick run down of the scheduled events. On top of those, already scheduled, events there are a couple of unconfirmed possibilities that sound pretty exciting. There is a chance that The Wheaty will be part of the Good Beer Week People’s Pint launch of Double Hoptondre. The other unconfirmed event is a possible strike tasting of Brooklyn Brewery Black Ops. No details on when this will be so you better just get to every event. There are very limited quantities of both beers so just make sure you are at the pub all day for the four days so you don’t miss out.
So that is Good Beer Wheaty! You aren’t going to want to miss any of it. I’m planning on being at every event and have taken time off from my day job for the purpose. Get There!