Good News

Just a quick post today with some news. I would like to announce that I only have one month left as a resident of the United Kingdom before I jet back to Australia. It's been a while coming but after three and a half years of shit weather and shit food with only travel and beer to compensate, something had to give.

How does this effect the blog? Not a great deal really! The content will shift a little towards my brewing exploits and buying a house, getting a dog, setting up my bar and maybe having kids - but overall still keep a similar format. Obviously the watering holes will change as will the types of beers I talk about but this should prove interesting for UK based readers. Anyhow I have a lot of tasks to squeeze into a very short time frame before I start my new job. First task is that bottle of 1999 Fullers Vintage.........

Chk Chk BOOM!

Australian followers will all be familiar with the Internet phenomenon that is Clare Werbeloff. I'll fill in for everyone else.........

Basically there was a disagreement between two gentlemen in King's Cross, Sydney last week which escalated to a public shooting. Witness Clare Werbeloff was interviewed by a news crew on location and has become an Internet celebrity due to her racist remarks (well the racism is debatable as the term 'Wog' is not widely considered racist in Australia any more), animated description and bogan (Aussie for chav) manner. You can watch the news report in the embedded video below.


The video has inspired many parodies including a dance remix and T-shirt's which are available by order online. My favourite though are the following series of cartoon images describing the events. Enjoy!

ARL or NRL?

In light of current events in the Australian media, I have a question, do the following statistics describe the AFL or NRL?

36 Have been accused of spousal abuse
7 Have been arrested for fraud
19 Have been accused of writing bad cheques
117 Have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses
3 Have done time for assault
71, Repeat 71 Cannot get a credit card due to bad credit
14 Have been arrested on drug-related charges
8 Have been arrested for shoplifting
21 Currently Are defendants in lawsuits and
84 Have been arrested for drunk driving in the last year


Can you guess which organization this is? AFL? NRL? Give up yet? . . ....


Neither, it's the 535 members of the

AUSTRALIAN PARLIAMENT

The same group of publicly elected dignitaries that crank out hundreds of new laws each year, designed to keep the rest of us in line.

Still have faith in the Australian Government and it's financial decisions? The fact that the ALP does not know how to spell "Labour" is enough proof for me. (BTW - they spell it Labor).

Australian Beer Etiquette

Most countries with beer cultures have unwritten rules about how to act and behave in the pub. To many who travel to Australia from the USA or Europe (UK excluded), the culture and behavior of drinkers may be, somewhat in lack of a better word, "foreign". Australian readers will be familiar with these rules, but for everyone else they are as follows;

1. Always keep your beer in your hand, touching your plate or as close to the edge of the table as possible. Don't leave it in the middle of the table as this can become confusing when many people are drinking at the table.
2. Free beer should always be consumed at a pace greater than that of a beer which had been bought by you or someone in your shouting party.
3. Never accept a beer if you do not intend to shout on that evening. Shouting "next time" is not acceptable no matter how much interest is involved. This leaves the rest of your drinking party agitated and they will say bad things about you after you leave, or if they've had a few this may lead to violence.
4. Even worse than the previous rule is accepting beers from the drinking party and then just buying one for yourself when it is your turn. If you make it home without at least one broken bone you should consider yourself lucky!
5. If you are falling behind in the rounds, complaining that you ate too much is not a legitimate excuse. You should have foreseen the night of drinking ahead and not filled your beer stomach with food. The beer stomach must be kept separate from the food stomach at all times.
6. If the beer is served in a stubbie, pouring it into a glass to drink is simply not acceptable.
7. It is a well understood obligation that slower drinkers in a shout must attempt to keep pace with the faster members of a shout, so as to avoid bad feelings and cries of "Hurry up," "Beer Queer," etc.
8. Changing drinks on people during a shout is considered poor form. I.e., shouting everyone VBs then asking for a Crownie or other "boutique" beer on the return leg.
9. Guinness is to be served in an appropriate receptacle, i.e. a pint glass. Anything else is simply unacceptable.
10. When drinking, it is bad manners to talk up your drinking ability when you are not going to perform. This includes the oft observed phrase, "I may not be able to drink much beer, but I'd kill you on Vodka / Bourbon / Scotch," etc.
11. NEVER, EVER drink so slow as to allow a beer to warm up.
12. Beer from a tap must be drunk in the largest available beer glass of the establishment at all times, e.g. middie to be superseded by a schooner, pint to be superseded by a stein.
13. Toohey's or any brand of American beer should never be attempted to passed off as actual beer, unless obvious insult to the recipient/recipients is intended.
14. One's perceived beer drinking ability should not be in any way overshadowed by the frequency with which one visits the lavatory for urinary purposes. The idea is beer consumption, not beer retention.
15. Stubbies must always be bought over cans unless there is storage or transport issues.
    Knocking over someone else's beer will only be tolerated if there is a full replacement on the table in an acceptable amount of time.
16. Ambient temperature has no bearing whatsoever on the desire to consume beer. The day being "too cold" is never an excuse to get out of beer drinking.
17. No matter how much money is earned by each of the party members the same shouting rules apply, unless one of the more "well-off" members insists on re-shouting. However, this in no way implies a future obligation to repeat the form.

When in Australia, if you follow these simple rules and you will be OK.
Moving from Australian beer to UK beer. I have to commend Jeff on the delicious pint of Tetley's Dark Mild (3.2% abv) I had during my lunch hour today. A rare beer to see in London and a beer that is actually improved by the use of a sparkler. I also had some draught Sierra Nevada Pale Ale last night at Bodean's BBQ. For those who have not heard of this restaurant chain, they serve mediocre Kansas City, MO style BBQ and SNPA on draught. Pity it cost me £5.95 per pint though!

Australia Day

It's Australia day today and instead of surfing or drinking beer at a BBQ, I am at work.

Although most Australians will be drinking a cold lager today to celebrate the birthday of Modern* Australia, the settlers of the first fleet made toasts with London porter when they first set foot on Australian shores. From the Fuller's website;

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"When the First Fleet had arrived in Sydney Cove, on the east coast of Australia, in 1788 to set up a pioneering penal colony, the new arrivals drank toasts to the success of the settlement in glasses of porter brought 11,000 miles from England."

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Shortly after arriving in Australia, brewing in the colony started in earnest with former first fleet convict James Squire becoming Australia's first successful commercial brewer. He was the first to brew 'true' beer bittered with hops. His name lives on in a popular microbrewed beer line.

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I think it is important to not forget Australia's colonial roots as it was the early years of Australia's history which forged a great nation. I am a proud Australian and also of distant Aboriginal descent. I think it is sad to think that the 2009 Australian of the year, Professor Mick Dodson AM thinks that having Australia day on the 26th of January is disrespectful to Aboriginals. How Un-Australian........ Australia is a tolerant and multicultural nation and hopefully not one that will yield to the will of a spoken minority. Kevin Rudd's direct 'No' response is the most sensible thing he has said since coming to power.

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On a brighter note, Rolf Harris is still an Australian to be proud of, while Germaine Greer is still one to be ashamed of!
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*Modern Australia refers to post 1788 Australia. It's a PC term even though Australia did not exist as an independent country until 1st January 1901.

Tooheys Extra Dry

Tooheys Extra Dry (5% abv) is the pioneering beer for the dry beer style in Australia. The beer is a relic from the 'Ice' and 'Cold filtered' beer days of the mid 90's and has the same headache enducing qualities of this beer style, whilst hopping on the low carb bandwagon. Again its a highly carbed, flavourless, American Style dry beer. I am probably a bit harsh calling it flavourless as it does have more flavour than a Mexican Cerveza, but not much.

Again, these beers are really hard to blog about because they are boring. When I eventually move home, hopefully the low carb trend will be over! Website: http://www.tooheysextradry.com.au/

Hahn Superdry

Another tasteless beer! Hahn Superdry (4.6% abv) is one of the new school of American Style low carb lagers which are flooding the Australian Beer market. Rather than rant on, I will leave a little profile on the beer.

Beer Style: Lager

ABV: 6.6%

Carbonation: High

Bitterness: 0

Taste: 0

Hangover factor: High

You get the picture?

The website is a marketing gem: http://www.hahnsuperdry.com.au/

And so is this TV commercial!

Bitburger Pils

A quick one! Bitburger Pils (4.8% abv) generally has a bad wrap in Australia amongst most of the beer crowd but I think this reputation is undeserved. The beer is a gem, but I can see how it may not suit Australian tastes. For those who have not had the pleasure, the beer is dry and crisp, almost to the extreme, however it also backed up by solid malt and a decent serving of hops on the nose. Overall, its an exteremly refreshing and well balanced beer. However, this aside a mate of mine said.

"Its a bit Rough"

I just dont get it??

Anyhow this beer is widely available around the world so there is really no excuse not to check it out for yourself. I will hopefully get to sample some fresh in Germany itself at the end of the month, and then again at the German Beer Fest in London on May 15th. Bring on the good times! Website:http://www.bitburger.com/

James Squire Golden Ale

This bottle of James Squire Golden Ale (4.5 % abv) I managed to scam out of my mate Greg for the purpose of this blog! Formerly a seasonal brew it seems to have been added to the full time brewring roster and most likely shifted production from the Malt Shovel Brewery to the massive Lion-Nathan industrial site at Lidcombe. The beer is attempting to be an American Pale Ale and has the right aroma with Amarillo hops on the nose but misses heavily in the bittering department to make the beer slightly unbalanced. Don't get me wrong, the beer goes down a treat on a hot late summers afternoon in the outback but its no Little Creatures Pale Ale or Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Again as the beer is relatively new there is not a whole lot to report. I enjoyed it, but I don't think it lives up to James Squire's real gems such as the Porter, Pilsner and IPA. Website.

Baron's Pale Ale

A relative newcomer to the Australian Beer scene, Baron's Pale Ale (4.6% abv) takes the well established American Pale Ale route and extends the concept by using highly aromatic hops sourced from New Zealand. I had heard rumours about Baron's beers and their growing popularity in the United States and was keen to check out what all the hype was all about. The beer is uniquely bitter, Its unobtrusive, but I think the IBU rating would still be well over 30 IBU's. The aroma is of passionfruit and lychee, but instead of deriving these flavours from Cascade and Amarillo, Baron's have chosen newer hop varieties such as Nelson Sauvin and Pacific Gem to do the job. Due to the beer only being relesed relatively recently, I have been unable to find out too much info. However as always there is a website! Overall, a good balanced beer which I shall crave until I can find it either here in the UK, or when I move back to Australia.

Crown Lager

Crown Lager (abv 4.9%) is often described as Australia's original premium beer. However, the only thing premium about the product is the packaging and its price tag! The beer is basically Fosters lager repackaged into a fancy bottle. For a long time it was the beer of choice for corrupt policemen and everyday business men as they made their way to the Chinese restaurant for lunch. It was the Australian Chinese restaurants equivalent to Cobra and Kingfisher in the UK curry house. Crown Lager (known colloquially as a "crownie") was originally brewed in 1919 as "Fosters Crown Lager" and was initially only available to visiting dignitaries that visited Australia. During the first royal visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Australia in 1954 Fosters marked the occasion releasing Crown Lager to the general Australian public . Crown lager is highly recognisable by its uniquely shaped bottle and by its 1954-trademarked logo that has only changed four times in the history of the beer and despite that its utter crap, remains one of Australia's most popular premium lagers. You can find more infor at the Fosters website here: http://fosters.com.au/enjoy/beer/crown_lager.htm

James Squire Original Amber Ale

James Squire Original Amber Ale (5% abv) is an Australian produced Nut Brown Ale from Lion Nathan's Malt Shovel brewery. This is the beer that may have pioneered the Australian Boutique beer industry and is certainly the first commercially successful bitter that has hit the scene since I became of age. Michael Jackson, aka "The Beer Hunter" has written this article about the beer, the brewery and the hertitage.

He was some character. James Squire, of Kingston, near London, was a highwayman, convicted of robbery with menace in 1785. Althoughhe had stolen nothing more than chickens, he was sentenced to be transported tothe British penal colony in Botany Bay, Australia. The convict ships also brought hops, and Squire seems to have been the first person to grow them successfully in the new colony and to brew beer there commercially. He eventually owned extensive hop gardens and a brewery and pub called the Malt Shovel, at Kissing Point, near Sydney. The romantic-sounding location seems to have been appropriate; in the course of his life, Squire had at least four wives or long-term mistresses and begat a dozen children.
Today's revived Malt Shovel brewery in Sydney is in a former furniture factory dating from 1900. This brewery was established in 1988 by an American, Chuck Hahn, who once worked for Coors. He left the United States when he was headhunted for a senior post with one of the major Australian brewers. Hahn had worked in Colorado in the early days of the microbrewery movement, and has since done much to encourage the production of more flavourful beers in Australia, which is better known for light-tasting, sweetish, lagers. He operates his brewery under the ownership of the Australasian group Lion Nathan. The main entrance to Hahn's brewery is through the brewhouse, with brass handrails and traditional copper kettles. They were acquired second-hand, but are in beautiful condition. They were in the midst of being polished by the crew when I first visited the brewery in 1992. At the time, the brewery's flagship beer was the hoppy Hahn Premium. This is now made at the larger Toohey's brewery, also in Sydney and owned by the same group. I returned in 1999, to be a judge at the Australian International Beer Awards. The beer chosen Best Australian Lager and Grand Champion turned out to be Hahn Premium. On that visit, I also revisited Chuck's brewery, which was in the process of being relaunched under the name Malt Shovel (having been known before as the Hahn Brewery). A guest bar, open to the office, had been installed, and the whole place reminded me somewhat of Anchor Steam, in San Francisco. I tasted from the tank a maltier, spicier lager called James Squire Original Pilsener. I would later be sent a fresh, orangey-tasting, Belgian-style Summer Wheat Beer, brewed
as a special. But the toast of the day was the newly launched James Squire Original Amber Ale, which was being served cask-conditioned in the brewery bar. This distinctive brew is made from three malts (pale, crystal and Carapils) and three additions of hops (using Tasmanian Pride of Ringwood and Willamette) and a top-fermenting yeast that has been used in Australia for 125 years. James Squire himself has been gone for 180 years, but his story is kept alive by the beer. A series of back-labels charts his progress . . . from thief to brewer, constable, banker and eventually magistrate. His headstone said that he "lived respected and died lamented." PS: In the 2000 awards, the brewery received medals for the Pilsener, the Amber Ale and the new James Squire Porter, which I have yet to taste.
TASTING NOTE: The designation Amber Ale is to be taken seriously. This brew has a full, amber-red colour. It also has a full flavour, though it is restrained and soft in body. It has an attractive, cinnamon-like hop character in both the initial aroma and the balancing dryness of finish, but in the middle the emphasis is more toward a malty creaminess and a melony, marmaladey, fruitiness. Very refreshing.
FOOD PAIRINGS: A fruity, full-flavoured ales goes best with red meat. Chuck Hahn, a keen promoter of beer-and-food pairings, suggests kangaroo. Having myself eaten this meat many times in Australia, I agree. If your neighborhood food market does not run to kangaroos, try lamb.

You can find out some more at the Lion Nathan website here. I also suspect that they are now brewing this with a lager yeast? Does anyone care to comment?

Victoria Bitter

Victoria Bitter (4.9% abv), VB, Virgin Busters, Vomit beer, Visitors beer, everyone has a new and even more demeaning name for it! You either love it or you hate it. The brand stems from a rivalry which is as old and sacred as Holden vs Ford and opinions of the beer generally tend to come from brand loyalty rather than the quality of the actual beer. Contrary to the name, Victoria Bitter is actually a stock standard pale lager and would be the defining example for the beer style of Australian lager. The beer has been available since the 1890's and has grown into Australia's best and biggest selling beer. It has a reputation as a beer for men who work hard and play hard. Contrary to what you may have heard VB is actually a nice beer to drink on a hot summer afternoon, and I am proud to admit that it is still one of my favourite beers. I guess that is because I was brought up on the stuff, but there is definetely more to it. I think its the nice firm bitterness, slight nuttyness and low carbonation (well lower than most Australian beers) which makes VB so good. The fact that, "it is what it is" and does not pretend to be something else like the majority of gimmick beers that are currently being released on the Australian market is refreshing in itself. The fact that the Australian beer market has grown into three segments is disturbing. There is the staple and core market which has existed since the dawn or time, this is the bulk of the market. No frills beers such as VB which sell loads and are the real bread and butter of Australian beer. Then there is the boutique market which has emerged over the last few years. At first this was a revelation, quality beers being offered at reasonable prices. A few small breweries daring to stand up and show the big boys what beer is supposed to be like! However, the big boys responded and either bought these small breweries or released their own boutique brands which offered substandard beer at inflated prices. The latest market segement to emerge is the low carb dry beer thing. I'll spare you all that rant again , but I will make the point that with a market which is so keen to exploit the drinker, its refreshing to know that beers like VB will always be available and that as long as you know what you are getting, you will never be let down!

Carlton Dry

Carlton Dry (4.5% abv) is the latest low carb offering from the Fosters group. It tends to follow the American formula of high carbonation and very little taste and is what most people would describe as a lawnmower beer (ie. a beer that is cold and wet and goes well after a morning of mowing the lawns!). This trend in Australian brewing towards low carb beer is a little concerning as several brands have jumped on the bandwagon producing bland flavourless liquid and pricing it marginally cheaper than existing products to gain following presumably before jacking the price up. It seems like its the cold filtered/ice trend all over again and that Carlton dry is the new carlton cold ( a terrible and equally poor beer). I guess as Tooheys Extra Dry's market share has risen to close to that of Tohheys New, Carlton and United breweries have jumped on the bandwagon with their own offering. I wont bore you too much with my rant, but you can check out what the marketers have to say here:http://www.fosters.com.au/enjoy/beer/carltondry.htm

And what is it with 355mL bottles? The accepted Australian standard for the size of a stubby is 375mL. 355mL is just plain ripping people off by 20mL or more than the equivalent of a whole beer over the course of a carton (24 beers). Shame. Shame. Shame....

James Squire Pilsner

Firstly, I would like to apologise for the lack of posts over the last three weeks. The reason for this has been that I have been on holiday in Australia for my brother in law’s wedding, and whilst there I managed to sample enough beers to create a hefty backlog!
The first beer I enjoyed was James Squire Pilsner (5% abv), an old favourite from the Lion Nathan owned Malt Shovel Brewery. James Squire or specifically Chuck Hahn (brewery founder and brewer) have taken the traditional Pilsner beer style and brought it up to date with some modern twists. The bitterness is the first most prevalent as it is quite firm, but more pronounced than Pilsner Urquell. I have it on good authority that they are using NZ super Alpha for bittering. The hop aroma is like a super citrusy saaz flavour and also I have it on good authority that these flavours are supplied from NZ grown Saaz B hops. Overall, a powerful beer that has been toned down enough to make it session worthy whilst retaining enough clout to hold its own with the best pilsners.