New Dig's

I'm now completely settled in my new apartment. It's snazzy and close to town. I like it. All I need now is a 40+ inch LED TV and my life will be almost complete. Oh, I also need to sort out some Internet so I can post more frequently but it's hardly a priority like the TV is. The downside is that I don't have any room to put my all grain rig together so I will be putting up with cans of goop and fresh wort kits for a little while longer, but hey at least the weather is nice here.

I have slowly started exploring the local area and have sussed out how expensive beer is in Sydney. A Schooner (425 ml) of Little Creatures Bright Ale which is a golden style summer ale in proper real keg form is $6.50 which is pretty expensive in comparison to UK prices. This is at my new local the Kirribilli Hotel which is a bit of a "too cool for school" venue so a premium is also added, but it's still a bit rich. On Sunday I wandered over the bridge (the Sydney Harbour Bridge that is) with the missus and had a look around the rocks. I bought a nice new pair of RM Williams boots and gawked at people like the intrepid tourist that I am. Plenty of proper real keg to be had in the pubs about this part of town with old favourites such as the Lord Nelson and Lowenbrau still going strong. I managed to pop into the Australian Hotel later in the afternoon for a pint of Scharer's Lager. This unfiltered Bavarian style lager is brewed in Picton and sold on tap only in The Australian Hotel in the Rocks and the King George IV in Picton. It has varied in quality since the brewery changed hands a couple of years ago and my schooner was laced with DMS. The beer literally tasted like cooked corn. Not one to be wasteful I finished it off without complaint and headed home to finish reading the paper over a bottle of Warsteiner and Sunday afternoon television. Next time I will stick with the Little Creatures Pale Ale, but still it's only beer.