Portland Hotel

My wife's office in Melbourne is located just up the street from the Portland Hotel. "So what" I hear you say..... Well the Portland Hotel also happens to be Melbourne's only brewpub. The brewpub falls under the James Squire brand and alongside selling the full range of James Squire beers also produces a small number of house beers. The picture to left is a meal I had at the pub. As part of their Oktoberfest celebrations they had a Marzen style beer aptly called 'Oktoberbrau' and a meal offer which consisted of sauerkraut and pork sausages on a bed of mash potato. It was pretty tasty but not entirely authentic - fennel seeds in the kraut?? WFT?

The standout beer for me was the 'Highwayman' which is described as trice hopped. It was nice, a deep red colour and served via proper real keg. Actually it wasn't a million miles away from the White Rabbit I touched upon a couple of weeks ago.

Enough from Melbourne now, I had a few other beers but don't want to harp on about the details. This weekend sees me house hunting. I'm sure I'll get a few beers in along the way.
http://www.portlandhotel.com.au/

McLaren Vale Ale

It was a warm day on Saturday and walking along the SouthBank of the Yarra is thirsty work. The Missus and I made a pitstop into a 'cafe' style establishment and I ordered a beer blindly (ie I just asked for a beer, I didn't even look at the menu). What I received was a fairly sophisticated looking bottle which proclaimed itself to be McClaren Vale Ale. For the international reader McClaren Vale is a famous wine producing region - which seem to have divulged into beer. The beer itself is a bastardisation of the Australian Sparkling Ale style with a strong bready malt focus rather than a hop focus. Actually very little hop character comes through. Anyhow here is the blurb;

VALE ALE IS A SOPHISTICATED AND COMPLEX AUSTRALIAN ALE WITH GREAT STRUCTURE AND BALANCE. IT OPENS WITH BRIGHT AROMAS OF HOPS COMBINED WITH CITRUS NOTES. THE PALATE PRESENTS A BOUQUET OF PRONOUNCED FRUIT FLAVOURS WITH NUTTY MALT AND BITTER HOPS FOLLOWING ON THE MID PALATE. THE FINISH IS QUITE DRY FOR A PALE ALE, PERFECT TO QUENCH A SUMMER’S THIRST. IT IS BREWED FROM THE FINEST MALT AND HOPS AND FERMENTED WITH TRADITIONAL ALE YEAST. IT IS NOT FILTERED OR CARBONATED BUT ALLOWED TO FINISH OFF ITS FERMENTATION IN THE BOTTLE WHICH ACHIEVES A SUBTLE CARBONATION THAT COMPLEMENTS THE ALE STYLE. IT FINISHES LIGHT ON THE PALATE AND LEAVES A REFRESHING FINISH AND LIGHT EFFERVESCENCE.
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BITTERING HOP: BREWERS GOLD (NEW ZEALAND) AROMA HOPS: SAAZ (NEW ZEALAND), CASCADE (UNITED STATES) MALTS: PALE ALE MALT, WHEAT MALT, CRYSTAL MALT (ALL AUSTRALIAN) ALCOHOL BY VOLUME: 4.5%

www.valeale.com.au

Barry

Whilst in Melbourne I ran into one of my favourite tickers Barry. I won't go into too many details of the conversation but I will share a picture of what happens when you tick too often. Take total blessed care!

Harry's Pies

My trip to Melbourne on Friday started at the domestic terminal at Sydney airport. Having not had a chance to grab a bite at work during my lunch hour, I made my way towards Harry's Cafe de Wheels for a pie (pictured left). This particular delicacy (The Tiger pie) is a Sydney insitution. It consists of an Australian style meat pie with a generous portion of mash potatoes, mushy peas and gravy. Harry's Cafe de Wheels has been serving pies down by the Wooloomaloo wharf since 1938 and have started to branch out with new stores in a number of retail locations. My mate Jay's (who is a lightweight and spewed everywhere after a few beers around Clerkenwell) wife happens to be the NSW franchise manager and oversees the management of the domestic terminal store. She also happens to be my little mate Riley's mum, but that's another story!

After wolfing down the pie I hit up the terminals taphouse for a schooner of James Squire Amber Ale. I am pretty sure this is being brewed with a lager yeast now, and the beer is definitely not better for it. It was in proper real keg format though, so freshness and condition was guaranteed. I also managed to catchup on the latest edition of Chemistry in Australia whilst waiting for my plane and drinking my pseudo ale.

Overall Sydney domestic is leaps and bounds ahead of the soulless JDW infested ghettos that mark the UK airport scene. Sydney domestic offered a relaxed, fine dining, vinegar free start to my weekend break - just what I needed.

I'm back

I arrived safely home from Melbourne last night without having to drink a single 'pot'. I did manage to have some great beer and cider though. Plenty of proper real keg from some great breweries. I'll post about my adventures throughout the week, but for now take total blessed care.

Melbourne Bound

I'm off to Melbourne this afternoon for a city break. Having not been to Melbourne before I am looking forward to observing first hand the voluntary drinking of beers in small volume glasses (a 'pot' is only a half - the standard measure in Vic). If I were a complete beer geek or ticker I would be spending the weekend scooping out some of Australia's best microbrewed beers (of which all seem to come from Victoria), however I'm normal and as such, will be keeping beer geekery to an absolute minimum and doing regular touristy things. If I was a proper beer geek, I wouldn't be going to Melbourne this weekend anyway as the Australian Beer Festival is on in the Rocks.

A brief catchup of what I have been up to over the last couple of weeks when I haven't been entertaining tickers, trolls and religious freaks who seem so compelled to read my fictionous ramblings and comment with unsurpassed addiction and regularity.
Recently I supported my country Australia in the soccer match against The Netherlands. As soccer is a relatively boring game to watch (which wasn't helped by the 0-0 scoreline), I got on the piss and consumed my fair share of Victoria Bitter. I was partially sauced before the game as I had been drinking at The Captain Cook. Here I enjoyed a mix of Cooper's Pale Ale and Bluetounge Premium Lager. After the game we nicked over to trendy Surry Hills where we ended up at the Trilogy hotel. Here I got to sample some White Rabbit, a dark hop driven bitter from the Little Creatures offshoot in Healesville , Victoria. This beer is seriously good and worth having a session on if you can find it.

I also went to a wedding in Bowral last weekend where alongside catching up with mates I hadn't seen in five years, I also put away 7 or 8 litres of Hahn Premium Lager and got well and truly pissed. It was a good wedding.

BTW - please be entertained by the ticker commentary which is bound to happen. The more they comment, the more it supports the stereotype that they are sad fucks.

Reidsdale Stinga

I picked up a bottle of Sully's Reidsdale Stinga from the Old Cheese Factory whilst recently visiting my parents farm. The beverage is an old recipe that has been revived and could be best described as a gruit ale that is spiced with stinging nettles.

I haven't much more to say about the beer, but wanted to mention Stinga in passing as its one scoop that the ticker freaks who read my blog will not be getting.

BTW - My hop garden is starting to come alive. The established Columbus planting is now being diversified with Pride of Ringwood, Chinook and Victoria

Reidsdale Gold

Reidsdale Gold (9.6% abv) is a sparkling cider made in the Southern Tablelands at the Old Cheese Factory. Made from apples sourced from local orchards and trees found on the roadside in the Braidwood region it reeks of provenance and terroir. The cider itself is complicated, semi-sweet and slightly sharp but is well balanced. Being brewed from both cider and non-cider variety apples it tastes similar to Westons Old Rosie but with the mouth feel and slight carbonation prickle of an Irish style cider such as Magners or Bulmers. Over all its a decent drink and more of a sipper than a hot summer afternoon quaffer.
The sample we had at the cellar door tasted a lot sharper than the bottle I am writing about here. This could be either oxidation of the sample we had at the cellar door which may have been opened a few days before hand, or it could be inconsistencies in production from batch to batch. We are talking about cottage industry style production here after all.
Sully's Cider have a number of other varieties becoming available such as Monga Mist, which is a cloudy cider made from apples scrumped from the Monga State Forest region of NSW and an apple and blackberry wine. I'll investigate these further and post in due course.

In other news, yesterday I planted three new hop rhizomes. The varieties are Chinook, Victoria and Pride of Ringwood. The planting is a little late, but hopefully they will establish themselves quickly. I'll propagate them and run a few new rows in my hop garden when they are ready.

BTW - I have decided to expand the scope a little to discuss cider as well due to my latest apple related adventures. Also I guess tickers may be frustrated as I will be clocking up a few beverages which they will not have access to . Boo Hoo

Cider Country

My parents place in the Southern Tablelands of NSW is of significance not only because of my hop garden, but also because the region is rich in history ranging from bushrangers to gold mines. This history has left a legacy, and the area is literally covered with thousands of apple trees, mostly cider varieties in abandoned orchards and trees growing wild beside the road. The tree pictured to the left is one such tree and is estimated to be over 100 years old. It produces small tannin rich fruit which I aim to press and ferment into cider. I have also taken cuttings of this tree and a number of other trees in the area to propagate onto dwarf rootstock. I have also ordered some traditional West Country varieties to round out the flavour of any cider I brew. I don't have any aspirations to produce cider commercially and I will be happy if I can produce 360 odd bottles so I have to the option of having a bottle a day with dinner if I choose to. The whole area is undergoing a slight cider renaissance with a couple of commercial producers most notably the Sully's at "The Old Cheese Factory" who are scrumping old orchards and roadside bushes in the area for fruit. I visited The Cheese Factory over the weekend and sampled some of their cider at their cellar door, which I will post about tomorrow. For now take total care.

Smells like Bacon

I have been away down at my parents farm for the last few days tending to my hop garden. I enjoyed some of the local cider and specialty beers which I will post about later in the week. As I am pressed for time today I will leave a picture of what happens to feral animals when they decide they have taken a fancy to my hop rhizomes - yes this animal is dead, and no I didn't use it for bacon, ham, pork scratchings or any other edible product.

Has Ticking become too Easy?

Has ticking become too easy? Listen to Sausage's latest Chronicle where he interviews the bald, fat, super twat Prescotti about ticking in the olden days vs. ticking today. Have CAMRA beer festivals made it too easy? and is it really that hard to find a beer in Budapest. I tend to think not, but Prescotti struggled.... Why, because he doesn't speak the language even though 90% of them speak English, I guess they struggle to understand his ridiculous thicko Northern Accent.
Thanks Sausage for the scoop (no pun intended) on this interview.

Download the latest Chronicle here.

The Oaks

Last night I stopped into "The Oaks", a large modernised pub on Military Road, Neutral Bay with an impressive sprawling Oak tree in the beer garden. The pub is what I would call trendy but it's not overly pretentious either and it was pleasant enough to drink my Schooner of Coopers Pale Ale. The crowd was a mix of punters ranging from tradies getting a few in after a day at work, to families enjoying a get together and evening meal in the beer garden. Overall a family friendly venue that would be great for a few beers on a sunny summer afternoon.
The oak tree itself seems to have an impressive history. It was planted in August 1938 By landlord Kathleen McGill (nee Furlong). The original seedling, 30cm high came from the old Anthony Horden's department store in George Street, Sydney. It was a custom of the store in those days to give an Oak Tree to any patron spending more than Ten pounds in one purchase. Apparently it is a tradition that luck comes to those who are struck by an acorn when they fall in Autumn. I think I would rather forsake this luck than be hit on the head but that's me.

In other news - tonight I am off to Wildfire Restaurant for dinner tonight, but not after a couple of pints in the Lord Nelson. Wildfire has an impressive drinks list with beers from just about every Australian boutique brewery. The Lord Nelson is a brewpub in The Rocks which churns out awesome beers. It should be a good night.

Nargis Kebab Mania

Sausage has drawn to my attention some kind of weird symbiotic relationship between Tickers and the Nargis Kebab. Prescotti even runs a website dedicated to the strange exotic delicacy. Sausage has quietly penned a song called Nargis Kebab nights which is free to download from the link below. Enjoy.

I Love to Count

It has been brought to my attention that ticking is an affliction that you are born with. Just like the Count on Sesame Street loved to count, tickers, love to "Tick". It is television programming such as this simple animation that has resulted in such weird behaviour as ticking and trolling this very blog. Again, take total care.