Special Beer Shipment for Nth Queensland

Recently PIUTW highlighted the devastation caused to Queensland by flooding. Of concern was that beer supplies to far north Queensland would be cut off which would ultimately lead to riots. Anyway the worst has happened and beer supplies are critically short. To meet demand, XXXX has sent a special container shipment of 50000 cases or some 500000 liters of beer north to plug the shortfall. With rail and overland infrastructure cut off due to flooding, transport via sea is the only option which remains.

Other restaurants including McDonald's have had to restrict their menu's as produce is simply not available due to the impact of the floods. McDonald's have reportedly flown in a plane full of lettuce so their reduced offerings will still meet nutritional standards. This air shipment of a low value item of lettuce is also reported to have cost over $50000.

You can read a serious account of these shortages here.

Redoak

I have blogged previously about the Redoak boutique brewery. Sure it's overpriced but the beer here is pretty good. I have never had a dodgy beer here and it really is something special compared to even the best that proper real keg has to offer (generally all beers here are proper real - although occasionally they have a pump on, maybe one of only two or three hand pumps in Sydney).

Anyhow I was in there chatting to the bar dude on Friday night sipping their excellent Bitter (3.5% abv) when he informed me of their recent success at the World Beer Awards that were held in London last July. After being told by numerous anonymous assholes in the comments section of this blog and various others that "Australian's don't know about ale" etc I find it quite humorous that Redoak Bitter took out the award for Bitter category ahead of every brown 4% beer that the UK can produce. Hear that, Australians beat the Brits at their own game.

Over the weekend I also caught Oz and Hugh - Raise the Bar. Episode three was very interesting, especially the beer festival in Manchester. Now anybody who denies the CAMRA stereotype needs to watch this episode. Beards, bellies and weirdo's holding plastics bags are pictured. Hugh Dennis even makes a comment that he feels out of place without a beard and a plastic bag. There is no point in denying the facts here and anyone who tries to argue to the contrary obviously falls into the stereotype. And to top it all off there is a steam train at the end, the crowning jewel in the ticker train watching stereotype. Props to Oz and Hugh for going on the lash with a bunch of female students from Leeds, but what was the go with the place adding essences to beer? Overall that segment along with comments from several drinkers along the way throughout the series confirmed to me that the average UK enthusiast doesn't know shit about beer.

CAMRA Beer Festivals - A Pictorial Expose

Floods Lead to Beer Shortage

Unless you have been living with your head in the sand, or in an insular self absorbed country, you would be well aware that the state of QLD is a natural disaster area with large parts of the capital Brisbane underwater due to flooding. Some 90000 homes have been lost and over 100 people dead or feared missing. I'd like to bring your attention to this article which not only points out the obvious, but also highlights a rather serious issue - Beer shortage.

This is pretty serious. The XXXX brewery in Milton was flooded yesterday and production was forced to stop. The banana benders in far north Queensland drink more beer per capita than anywhere else on the planet, and now they are going to be faced with the worst situation of all - Pubs with no beer. I'm predicting riots and civil unrest as QLD moved forward into the cleanup period.

So you are probably sitting there in the UK or the US thinking, so what a few less gigalitres of XXXX in the world is probably a good thing. Well not really, consider how it would be if your backyard turned into a swamp? So what can YOU do? Head over to the relief fund at Aussiehomebrewer.com and make a donation and help support those affected, buy them a beer.

Sierra Nevada legitimately coming to Australia

Hello esteemed readers and wall pissers, welcome to 2011. Exciting news for those down under. Sierra Nevada, the iconic brewery which is often stated to have started the craft beer revolution will now be legitimately imported by Phoenix Beers via refrigerated container.

Previously "grey imports" of the signature Pale Ale (SNPA for those with the lingo) have been smuggled in through Europe with a product landing in Australia that was well past its best and generally in pretty shit condition. This dodgy conduct with grey imports has caused a bit of a stir with the US based brewers over the past 12 months. I have not commented on the issue here at PIUTW as I couldn't be bothered. Anyhow Phoenix Beer has stepped up and will have SN beers available through it's online International Beer Shop.

With it’s elevated status in contemporary beer culture, there is great demand in Australia for Sierra Nevada products hence the 'healthy' grey market which has cropped up. Legit imported Sierra Nevada will be the freshest available and will note Phoenix as the importer on the label. Grey or dodgy imports will have other importers on the label and other suspicious acts such as the best before dates removed.

While this may not be of interest to a number of US and UK based readers it's important for us down under as our geographical isolation often leaves us with only our local craft beer scene when it comes to quality. To be honest our local craft beers are good but are way overpriced due to our heft excise laws.

BTW SNPA will be retailing for $25 a six pack, so do the maths and work out how much mark up is on the beer. I recall paying $8 for a six pack when in New York in 2009.

For a more comprehensive and serious account of this exciting news, pop over and visit the good folk at Australian Brews News who I blatently stole this story from.