The Nags Head

The Nags Head in Glebe is one of only a handful of venues in Australia that offer cask conditioned beer and even then it's only for one night a month. For the month of November that day happened to be last Friday.
They had two beers on offer, or which I only bothered with one. they had a Pilsner (Pictured) and a Ginger Beer. Hardly what I was hoping for! Come on, you need to at least have a bitter on, and a porter is what was secretly hoping was on offer. The beers are brewed by Matt Donelan who owns and brews for the St Peter's Brewery in well St. Peter's.

The Pilsner itself was a nice beer but a little bit too fruity for a Pilsner. It was also fairly cloudy which is also way out of style. To be honest, if this was submitted in a comp it would probably be judged as an Australian Sparkling Ale. It shared a fair bit of similarity with Coopers Sparkling Ale. Anyhow it was good to catch up with the lads and have a handpulled beer again. It's been a whole 4 months since I last had one. I might brew an ale similar to this as a session beer over Xmas. It suits the Australian climate a lot better than the 4% brown session bitters which everyone in the UK blog world seem to be taking for granted right now. I'm thinking 100% Joe White Pilsner malt hopped to 20 IBU's with one of the new Australian varieties (possibly Galaxy?) and fermented out with S05. Should be nice. I will chronicle such an event.

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.

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.

The Doncaster

The Hotel which has it all! Well according to the website of colourful Kensington pub - "The Doncaster". Situated on Anzac parade, a short stroll from my office, it regularly gets a workout on a Friday afternoon when I choose to start my weekend. While I admit it doesn't have the intimacy or lively characters that you get other places I used to frequent on Friday evenings - i.e. The Gunmakers, its pretty good by Australian standards.
The beers available are the usual Australian megaswill fare with the only two decent selections available being Coopers Pale Ale (4.5% abv, Australian Sparkling Ale) and Stella Artois (4.9% abv, brewed in Australia). I should note that the Stella brewed down under is far removed from the piss served up in the UK. Its actually a nice beer here, bursting with B-Saaz flavour. Australia 1- UK -0.
I usually opt for the Coopers. I like the slight haze, soft mouthfeel with subtle spritz and a slight citrus edge from Victoria hops. I find that most Australian lagers are too carbonated and leave me feeling bloated after years of drinking flat real ale.
In other news, I am currently penning a soundtrack to the BeerTickers movie. I am writing the lyrics, and Sausage is going to be taking care of composition and performance. I plan to release the video clips shortly after Sausage releases the audio to the world. Keep a look out and take total care.
www.doncasterhotel.net.au

REDOAK

I finally managed to get out and drink some beer on Friday night. In the craziness that has been the last few weeks I have had little time to drink beer let alone write about it. The destination was Redoak Boutique Beer Cafe on Clarence Street. I arrived a little ahead of my mates and had a swift half of the Organic Pale Ale (4.5% abv) which was good but hardly spectacular. I followed this by a half of their Belgian Pale Ale that was even better although didn't taste anything like any beer I had encountered in Belgium! I suppose it was trying to be a take on something like Kwak, but it kind of misses the mark. Friday also saw the arrival of a new member to the Redoak lineup, an IPA which one the 'World's Best IPA' at the World Beer Awards, UK (31 July 09). The beer was good, weighing in at 6.5% abv but was overly sweet and not really to style. As I have never heard about these particular awards before, I'm not sure if its genuine or just marketing spin. Anyhow the price of this beer is ridiculous and a pint set me back $13.50, which is about twice the price an equivalent beer would cost in London. Anyhow after the IPA I moved on to a couple of other venues and had some Little Creatures and Coopers Pale Ale and got pretty smashed before returning to Redoak for a (OK, I had two) nightcaps of their Robust Porter (6.5%). Overall I like Redoak as the beer is exceptional, however their prices are ridiculous. Given their location is at the fringe of the financial district - paying a premium is to be expected, but $13.50 a pint is taking the piss. But while the punters are willing to pay, I can't blame them for overcharging - the place was rammed.

About Redoak;
"Australia’s most awarded boutique beer café opened its doors in Sydney in mid 2004 and serves a range of boutique premium beers accompanied by a menu of exquisite cuisine. Redoak Brewery has had outstanding successes at the 2004 -2008 Australian International Beer Awards and has been Australia's most awarded brewery for the third consecutive year in 2007 and won 'Champion International Small Brewery' at AIBA 2008.

David started brewing beer at the age of 14 when he created his first ginger beer. He developed a passion for brewing beer in his teens and always dreamed of brewing a range of premium beers for the Australian market.

Over the years he developed his own unique methods of brewing specialty beers and has used these, along with some more traditional methods, to create the range available in the Redoak Boutique Beer Café.

Redoak’s unique beer styles

Redoak’s signature beer is the Framboise Froment, which is brewed in Belgian style with fresh raspberries infused resulting in intense flavours and aroma. This beer took home Gold and Best in Class medals at the 2004 awards and is proving highly popular with both men and women.

Another favourite is the Redoak Belgium Chocolate Stout, which is Australia’s first fully Belgian chocolate beer made by infusing Redoak’s Oatmeal Stout with the finest dark Belgian chocolate. David has also created another Australian first in the Redoak Belgium Choc-Cherry Stout, in which fresh cherries are used to create a luxurious sweet sensation.

Complementing the exotic premium range is the Redoak Organic Pale Ale, which was created using some traditional English brewing methods and only certified organic grown malt and hops. Redoak is the first brewery in New South Wales to create organic beers and the first in Australia to brew organic pale ale.

The Redoak Brewery currently brews over 40 premium beers, of which 20 are available at any one time at the Redoak Boutique Beer Café. Redoak was the first brewery in Australia to brew more than 10 of its own beers and has subsequently extended it's range of beers considerably.

All beers are created using only the highest quality ingredients, contain no additives, preservatives or added sugars. Redoak beers are not pasteurised and are served fresh.

Redoak matches premium beer with fine cuisine

In addition to premium quality beers, Janet and David offer a menu of exquisite gourmet cuisine, developed together with Head Chef Chris Beard as the perfect accompaniment to the Redoak beer range.

Diners at the Redoak Boutique Beer Café can choose from a selection of tempting dishes made with quality ingredients. Redoak has specially combined food and beer to create a unique experience for the customer. Janet Hollyoak said, “Each dish uses carefully selected premium Australian produce and is complimented with a unique beer style to provide the diner with a unique tasting experience.”

Redoak has created a beer appreciation course to take customers through the brewery history, process and special qualities and characteristics that define a premium beer. Customers can then enjoy the fine cuisine complimented by a Redoak beer, while being taken through the individual flavour and aroma profiles of different beer styles.

The Café also offers unique Tasting Boards – the first of their kind in Australia. The Tasting Boards each hold four canapé style dishes that are matched with four different Redoak premium beers. The boards are designed to enable diners to experience the unique cuisine and premium beers. The tastes and flavours of the dishes and beer are enhanced as the diners palate develops when they move across the board.

Janet and David have created a stylish boutique beer café which is uniquely different in many ways to any other drinking or eating establishment in Sydney or across Australia. Every aspect has been put together with the upmost detail. For example, the bar tops are made from 700 year old jarrah timber sourced from West Australia’s famous Fremantle Wool Store and decorated with Italian mosaic tiling."

Regent Hotel

I have been pretty slack lately. I still haven't sorted out Internet at the new flat and I have been busy at work. I have not really had a decent session on the turps in a while either which doesn't help. Anyhow, not far from my office is an OK pub called the Regent Hotel (stalkers can probably work out where my new job is located). They do a good counter lunch and have both James Squire Golden Ale (pictured) and Cooper's Pale Ale in proper real keg form. The guys at work like nothing better than getting amongst it during a lunch hour which suits my cultural preferences down to a tea. Last Friday I also ventured to the Kirribilli Club, an RSL aligned club not far my phat flat. They had two interesting beers on in proper real keg. James Squire Amber Ale and Baron's Pale Ale which went down a treat (about 10 schooners in total), even considering I was backing up from an impressive lunchtime session at the Regent. Currently in the fridge at home I have a six pack of Warsteiner and a 5L minikeg of Bitburger I want to smash ASAP. Tonight will be a good night as I'm off the Tharens in Kings Cross for dinner. It's an all you can drink affair so I will be giving it a good nudge to ensure I get my moneys worth. Sadly beers on offer are limited to Tooheys New and Carlton Draught - not complete shit, but not really exciting either. Tomorrow I plan to rack my two can screamer into a cube for some cold conditioning love. I'll post about that sometime next week. I'll also post about my new 50" plasma TV that I have been having wet dreams about. Till then I will leave you with the lovely Sydney Harbour which I get to enjoy on a daily basis. I live less than 300 meters from the landmarks in the pictures. It's a hard knock life!

Back into the Arts

As promised while a while ago, I have started to venture back into the brewing arts. It has been over 4 years since I last did brewing of any kind and as such my equipment is scattered across various parts of NSW and I had to make do with what I could find at my parents place. The fermenter you see here was covered in dust and mould but cleaned up pretty well with plenty of love from sodium percarbonate. I couldn't find a lid so I used the old cling film and elastic band trick which I believe is superior to an airlock anyhow.
As it had been a while I wanted to keep it simple and stuck to cans of goop. These things can be pretty ordinary if made up with adjuncts (or following the instructions) but passable if you use all malt extract. I used two cans in conjunction - A Coopers Pale Ale and a Coopers Dark Ale. This should afford me a robust porter, and should be balanced to style. After plenty of aeration I pitched only the yeast that came with the Pale Ale. This yeast sachet contains both a lager and a neutral ale strain so I should get a pretty clean tasting product. I didn't bother taking any gravity measurements as I couldn't find a hydrometer, but with 3.4kg of malt extract it should be about 1.045 which will leave me with a finished beer of about 4.3%. I'll leave it to ferment for two weeks and then rack it to a cube and cold condition it for a further two weeks. This specimen is going to be bottled in 375mL VB stubbies for consumption sometime in November. Luckily I have plenty of piss sitting in my phat flat to tide me over till then.

Friday night booziness

My Friday nights usually involve a beer with the lads after work and then quickly home to take the Missus out for dinner. Last Friday night was supposed to be no different, but it saw me getting pretty smashed at home by myself before going to dinner. A sad thing I know, but I dealt with it.
The story starts with me salivating at my desk at 4.30pm hanging to get down to the pub for some more of the Tetley's Dark Mild which I had sampled over lunch time. I had a slight problem though - the office had cleared out and I would have to drink alone. Usually not a problem as I know several regulars at a few of the pubs around the office, but since having a borderline argument with one such twat over my lunchtime pint I retreated home collecting a few bottles from Waitrose on the way. Once home, I contacted the Missus to see how long she will be whilst I poured myself a pint of St Peter's IPA.
"I am playing winglady for Tracy*" was the reply from the other end of my mobile, "she has met a really hot guy and I'm facilitating. I am having one more drink."
Fair enough I thought, Tracy is a nice enough 30 something spinster who deserves to be happy too. So I booted up my PC and happily watched episode 6 of "Oz and James" on BBC iPlayer. I had to pause my viewing twice; once to visit the dunny, the second time to get another beer. It seemed as good a time as any to crack the bottle of Cooper's Vintage Ale 2007 reserve that I picked up in Whole Foods a couple of weeks ago. This beer was good. Actually very good, and it was nice to taste a beer brewed with Australian water. It's the terroir I tell myself while absorbing Oz Clark's attempts to intellectualize beer while James May tries to pass whitty criticisms. The iplayer viewing ends and it is time for another beer. They were going down rather easy. First the 5.5% IPA followed by the 7.5% Australian strong ale - a Fuller's ESB was exactly what I needed. There was nothing interesting on the TV so I watched the second episode of "Ross Kemp: Return to Afghanistan." I check my watch, still no sign of the missus. It's pushing 8.30 now so I give her a call - she is on the tube will be home in 20 minutes. Great I scheme, rubbing my hands together like an evil villain - plenty of time to drink that bottle of Budvar dark I have stashed in the vegetable crisper.
By the time the missus arrived home I was starting to feel a little tipsy, and she was not in much better condition. I decided a curry would be the cure, so we trotted out to my favourite London restaurant: "The Raj of India" - home of the best Kingfisher this side of Favisham. By the time we left the restaurant I was pretty pissed, but boy did I have fun even if I was drinking alone for most of the evening. I'll let you know if Tracy ended up pulling when more info comes to hand - it is probably more interesting than my Friday night was, but I thought I would share anyway.

* Name changed to protect the innocent!