April: An ox, a goat and a beast

Been a while between drinks on the blog, but have been busy making my way through a bevy of different beers from around the world and seldom keeping my opinions to myself. So here's to the beers I drank in April that made me sit up and take notice....

Way back on the Easter long weekend, when the water was barely warm enough to take a dip, I dropped in at Red Hill Brewery on the beautiful Mornington Peninsula. Their Hop Harvest Ale was on handpump and couldn't resist having a pint. Anyone who's spent anytime in Ol' Blighty will be familiar with the old ale vs. lager arguement. There's plenty of good lagers in the UK, yet none of them have anything on a good ale, served at room temperature (which in many parts of the UK is around 8 degrees anyway).  The Hop Harvest Ale is one such style bitter, using hops grown about 5 meters from the bar's front door. Can't get much more local than that!

Later in the Easter Long Weekend, I headed up to Merrijig ("where the frig is Merrijig" as the pub's bartenders t-shirts retorically and satirically asked). Picked up a Jamieson's Brewery sampler from Mansfield IGA of which an old favourite The Beast proved a hit around the fire, staving off temperatures that may be called sub-room temperature in the UK. Suitably named, the Beast is more of an English style IPA, but not shy on the hops. The biggest delight is the rich caramel backbone the malt provides.

Some time towards the back end of the holiday, I dropped into Cambridge Cellars in Caulfield North, who specialise is Eastern European and Russian spirits. They have a small, yet cheap beer selection that mirrors this geographical bent. Okochim porter is a Polish porter in the robust porter tradition. Bit of a power house and very rich. Black as night, smooth and with a satisfying warming alcohol kick.

Picked up a Fuller's 1845 India Pale Ale and a Samuel Smith's India Pale Ale. Good side by side comparison, difficult to split. So i've included them both here. Both fine examples of an English IPA.

Speaking of pairing styles, two beers that really blew me away in April were both black IPAs. A trendy style at the moment, the best examples are dark, almost stout like, but unlike stouts have big hop aromas, and then a mix of roasted and hop flavours. Very complex. Mountain Goat / Mikkeller Pepperberry IPA is a move in the right direction for Mountain Goat's Rare Breed / Cross Breed line of specialty brews. The pepperberry was admittedly barely noticeable, but still had all the hall marks of a great black IPA. Another Mikkeller collaboration is the Dark Harvest from Bridge Road Brewers/ Mikkeller. All the big pineapple and stone fruit flavours from the Beechworth breweries' Harvest, with a dark roasted twist. Bloody awesome beer.

Some other notable beers I had in April were the massive Ox, from Red Duck. A monster Imperial Stout. Brooklyn Brewery delivered a perfect use of the lemony hop Sorachi Ace and brewed a saison with it called...Sorachi Ace. Genius. Finally two Tasmanian Moo Brew beers really floated my boat, their excellent Pilsner (finally available on the mainland) and a seasonal saison, which takes the cake for the beer name of the month, Saison de Moo. 

April was a good month for beer.

Beer Hunters 29: Beer Hunters, on rye.

On an unseasonably balmy Friday night, the Beer Hunters (Rich, BT, Browndog, Pete and Leighroy) journeyed to my North Caulfield courtyard for Beer Hunters, on Rye. Unlike many other Beer Hunters, this time we focused on a common ingredient instead of a style or a brewery. Four beers, all using a significant amount of rye in the grain bill, plus, a few homemade Ruben sandwiches to keep our strength up.

3 Ravens RYE (VIC) 5.7% alc./vol
Style: Roggenbier
Average score 12.6/20
$10.99 from Purvis Richmond

First up was a Roggenbier from Thornbury's 3 Ravens. The lads at 3 Ravens love their special release beers which have pretty much all been European inspired lagers (Alt, Bock, Schwartz and Smoked Wheat). So what's a Roggenbier? Admittedly, I'd never heard of the style prior to stumbling across this beer. Research indicates it's based on a style that was common in Bavaria until around the 15th century, then disappeared for 500 years. In 1988 it reappeared in Bavaria. In 2012, it reappeared in Caulfield North. It was well received by the Beer Hunters; incredibly creamy with a smooth mouthfeel, lovely and malty like a bock only sessionable - perfect for autumn and it set the tone for the high standard of the night. Look out for the 2013 release as it's getting pretty hard to track down now.

Bear Republic, Hop Rod Rye (US) 8% alc./vol 
Style: Rye IPA

Average score 12.8/20

$14.99 for 630ml from Purvis Richmond

Upping the hop ante considerably comes a US style India Pale Ale with rye. Lovely and hoppy and with enough going on to keep my interest. The hop fiends of the group lapped it up. I found the rye to give the beer a lovely peppery edge. Sometimes I feel that the US IPA is a bit over saturated in the Australian craft beer market, but this import is well worth tracking down. Haven't had many Bear Republic beers but this one was a cracker.

Beer Here, Nordic Rye Ale (Nor) 7% alc./vol 
Style: Traditional Ale
Average score 13.1/20

$15.99 for 630ml from Purvis Richmond

A modern Scandinavian Farmhouse Ale from Beer Here. What the shit is that? Many of us speculated, but none of us where all that close. It wasn't like a Saison or Bier de Garde, it was dark, with caramel malt and a more subtle rye element and a very low perceptible hopping.  For mine it was akin to an English Old Ale a little like Fullers 1845. In some ways it was a little like Red Hill Scotch Ale, but there were also elements of a Dunkelweizen like Weinstephaner's. This jumbled review probably is just confusing things more, but was a surprise packet and a complex brew.

Brasserie Dieu Du Ciel, Route de espices (Can) 5.3% alc./vol 

Style: Spiced Ale
Average score 12.6/20

$7.99 for 341ml from Purvis Richmond

The second time the Brasserie Dieu Du Ciel brewery from Quebec has made an appearance and they always do something intriguing and different. Route de espices is no exception. A beer that takes the peppery notes of rye and cranks it up by adding whole peppercorns to the brew. Like the 3 Ravens, this beer had an incredibly smooth mouthfeel. On the nose you got a definite waft of pepper but it wasn't till the numbing, tingling aftertaste when the pepper really hit you. Sounds bizarre, but it worked. Top scored for the evening.   

All in all another great Beer Hunt and one of the most closely fought we've ever had. Can't wait for Beer Hunter's 30, whatever it may be, but I heard a whisper that it may be smoke beers.

March: Green Flashes, Mad Brewers and beer for breakfast.

March started off, from a beer perspective, rather unceremoniously at a conference in Bangkok. Had more Tigers than I’d care to mention, but once back on home soil, things picked up. So here’s a run down of beers I had in March that I thought were worth a damn.

Green Flash Hop Head Red and West Coast IPA.

Unassuming looking, this duo for hop fiends everywhere were two great, no nonsense American hoppy beers. The Hop Head Red had a lovely caramel malt backbone and a nice upfront piney hop punch. Likewise the West Coast IPA, not overdone like so many US hop-bombs, nicely balanced and a great example of the style. Honourable mention goes to their Double Stout too, which is probably the hoppiest stout I’ve ever had.

Mad Brewers Hoppy Hefe

The Malt Shovel’s Mad Brewers label has been on a bit of a roll recently; their liquorice stout Noir, was a very interesting look at the style, and their Scribbly Gum lager was perhaps the smokiest a mainstream Australian brewer has ever got. The Hoppy Hefe is a style that basically takes a German Hefeweizen and ramps up the hops. I’m left a little wanting after a hefe sometimes and this is the solution: just chuck more hops in there, and bang! A mate of mine commented that they're the tastiest burps he’s ever had. Now that’s saying something. Murray’s Whale Ale is another, albeit lower alcohol, example of the style.

Moa Breakfast

Gee am I glad these Kiwi guys have relaunched their beers. Until recently a rarity on our shores, Moa have made a push into the Australian market and we’re all luckier for it. Their Imperial Stout and Five Hop ESB are standouts, but the gong goes to the controversially named Breakfast. A fruit lager, with a light spritziness and a sweet, almost artificial cherry taste. Not sure if they use real cherries, or an extract, but it somehow works. Will definitely be having one with my bacon and eggs soon. 

Mornington Peninsula Imperial IPA

Had this one after an unofficial brown ale / porter tasting at a mates house recently. The MPIIPA trumped them all. I don’t think Mornington make a bad beer and their IIPA is perhaps their best. Stoked that they’ve started bottling it. Interestingly, they’ve just released a new seasonal, perhaps Australia’s first White IPA. A Belgian Witbier with the American hop treatment. Can’t wait to get down there to try that one!

Fullers ESB

The beer that gave birth to the ESB (Extra Special Bitter) and a beer made for a Melbourne autumn. An extremely well made beer and an English bitter that actually translates pretty well in the bottle. Lots of earthy hop notes from the English varieties. Gently spicy and a beer that makes sit back and wonder how they do it. Later in the month I had their London Porter, but the ESB is the standout in the range.

Renaissance Tribute Barleywine

Talked about this beer in an earlier post, the poor little bugger only made it to late March before being scoffed. Now, at 11%, scoffed is probably the wrong word as this beer took me over 45mins to drink, but what a pleasure. Rich, plum pudding, whiskey notes, sweet, but not too so. A massive beer from one of my favourite breweries. Dang these Kiwis can brew.

Beer Hunters rewind: Beer Hunters #1 Summer Ales

Way back in late 2009 a work mate John and myself discovered a fledgling mutual appreciation for beer. 

Not just the kind that is served by the plastic pot full at the footy, or the kind you drank at your 21st. Call it micro, boutique or craft, we knew there was an entire world of great, real beer out there and we were keen to explore it. It was perhaps fortuitous that our interest came at a time where craft beer was exploding in Australia and around the world. The inroads made by the little guys into the Multinational Brewing Conglomerates may appear small on paper, but we were riding a groundswell of interest and started noticing breweries, bars and bottleshops bubbling up all over Melbourne dedicated to better beer. It was and is an exciting time to be into craft beer.

No photos survive from this inaugural hunt, but I can give you an insight into the beers we had and a few insights into what we thought.

It was December, and I hosted the first official meeting of "Beer Hunters". Well aware that by definition, a club needs a minimum of two members, it was with a fair degree of interpretation that I awaited John's arrival.

The night got under way and there was a reading of a Beer Hunters manifesto, that I won’t bore you by recounting verbatim, but a few key points to note are:

• We pick a different style (or occasionally brewery) each month.
• We try to cover a broad range of styles and breweries, and where possible, include at least one Australian beer.
• Whoever hosts the hunt chooses the style, puts on the booze, food is often provided and tasting notes are a must.
• The tasting notes score each beer out of 20: 3 for Appearance, 5 for Aroma, 3 for Mouthfeel,  6 for Flavour, 3 for Bang For Your Buck (or value of the beer).
• The main reason for Beer Hunters is for mates to get together and have a laugh over some hopefully great beer and learn a little more about the world of beer by being exposed to beers we might otherwise pass over on the shelf.

The "style" I'd chosen was Summer Ale. It was more than a year later that I realised there wasn't really a "summer ale" style. If you were to define Summer ales, the Kolsh, English Golden Ale, Australian Pale Ale and even some American Pales could all qualify in some way for sessionable summer ale.

 

However in December 2009, Summer Ales seemed like a perfectly logical starting point:

Little Creatures Bright Ale was up first and was pretty well received.

Renaissance Paradox Blonde from NZ was more indicative of the type of breweries that we'd hunt for the next two years. A lovely sessionable beer. That's about all I remember (or recorded).

Monteith's Summer Ale was more like a Radler, with spices and an almost alcopop sweetness.

Knappstein Reserve Lager was although clearly not an "ale", a winner. Crisp, hoppy and had enough to keep us interested

So that was basically it. Very humble beginnings. Over two years later and we have a regular 7 members and wouldn't want to grow the group any bigger. I'll cover all the hunts and winners eventually (is that raptuous applause I here?).

In Jan 2010 we decided to take a very early left turn, and hunt Ciders, but more about that later

Beer Hunters 28: Brewery Spotlight on 2 Brothers

Last Friday, the Beer Hunters assembled for the 28th month in a row, this time west to Yarraville. Leigh had dutibly taken on the task on hosting this month's Beer Hunt. Over the two and a bit years we've been running Beer Hunters we've covered the gammit of beer styles, light/dark, heavy/light, pissed/sober. In March '12 instead of hunting a particularly style which we commonly do, Leigh cast a spotlight on Melbourne's own 2 Brothers brewery. The nature of a Brewery Spotlight as apposed to a normal Beer Hunt always throws up some challenges when comparing beer vs. beer.

2 Brothers will be well known to many a Melbourne craft beer lover. Based in industrial Moorabbin, they've quietly been doing their for many years and have picked up many gongs at the Australian International Beer Awards. However I was suprised to realise this is the first time any of their beers have appeared at Beer Hunters.

Their "Guv'nor" barleywine was my favourite Aussie beer from last year, so was looking forward to seeing if a more subdued line-up could live up to the promise of some of the more boundary pushing beers in their roster.

As we filtered in from delayed trains and long cab rides the six of us sat down at Leigh's dinning room table and got started. First up - Taxi Pilsner.

Taxi Pilsner (AUS) 4.7% alc.vol

Hunted down for $3.80 for 355ml direct from the brewery

The first "cab of the rank" was the Taxi. It's a beer many of us had before and the feeling was pretty common around the table. Although there was some nice bready flavours and a subtle hop bitterness that you'd expect from a pilsner, it was on the bland side, if a little too sweet. A comment was made that if it was this or VB on tap then you'd happily drink the Taxi all night, but that's hardly saying much. A decent enough German style Pilsner but there are plenty better out there.

Kung Foo Rice Lager (AUS) 4.7% alc./vol

Hunted down for $3.80 for 355ml direct from the brewery

It was with a fair degree of interpretation when I popped the cap of this one. We were lucky enough to get the bottles direct from the brewery just hours after they were bottled. Adjuncts such as rice and corn are a dirty word in the world of craft brewing and thought it was incredibly gutsy of a brewer to produce a beer that could vary easily be left open to ridicule in certain circles. Having said all that, we try to keep pretences to a minimum at Beer Hunters and take every beer on face value. The result, the Kung Foo was a ripper! Lemongrass and lemony hop aromas. No idea what hop they used, but maybe Sorachi Ace? It was very clean and almost creamy in mouthfeel. It blows other Asian rice lagers like Tiger and Chang et al out of the water. On a recent trip to Bangkok I would have loved a couple of these on the roof top bar. Forget the fact that's it's good of an Asian style rice lager, it's good for a beer. Look out for this seasonal and give it a try. The Kung Foo took the gong for the hunters favourite on the night.

The Growler American Brown Ale (AUS) 4.7% alc./vol

Hunted down for $3.80 for 355ml direct from the brewery

The third beer in a row to be 4.7%, The Growler US Brown Ale is a beer most of us had had many times before, but some for not a while. There was some initial confusion regarding the term growler, which is a term for a take home recepitcle for draft beer (which 2 Brothers sell) and confusingly also the name of 2 Brothers Brown Ale. But more about the beer itself. I think it's a more subtle US Brown compared to many I've had, yets it's more complex compared to its tamer UK cousins, but still a decent little beer. A perfect intro into darker, and/or craft beer and perfectly suited to Melbourne's early onset Autumn.

Super Rusty Belgian Amber Ale (AUS) 8.0% alc./vol

Hunted down for $5.50 for 355ml direct from the brewery

A souped up version of Rusty (a Belgian Pale Ale) greeted us, again another great 2 Brothers seasonal. I was immediately struck by the caramelised banana like flavours, similar to what you'd find in a strong dark German wheat beer such as a Weizenbock and not usually common in Belgian beers. Very moreish, and drinkable for it's alc./vol. A close second overall and another great beer for Autumn.

Another great hunt and certainly worth travelling to the west for. As we slip out of summer and the days grow shorter we'll no doubt start heading into darker, stronger territory. Next beer hunters we're looking at a alternate grain to the usual malted barley. Rye.

April 13th Beer Hunters 29: Beer Hunters, on rye. 

Featuring four very different uses of rye in beer:

3 Ravens Rye Roggen Bier

Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye

Beer Here Nordic Rye Ale

Brasserie Dieu du Ciel Route des epices

Beer Hunters: Mikkeller Single Hop IPAs

Myself and six other mates get together once a month for a beer club: Beer Hunters. Beer Hunters has been running every month for two years and has seen us try over 100 beers, with the vast majority of those being craft beers.

We've seen our numbers swell from a very humble two (surely the bare minimum of attendees to qualify a "club".) to 7 regular attendees (original hunter JPS, Brownie, BT, Pete, Rich, Leighroy and myself).

Usually we will pick a particular style and do a vertical tasting of four beers of that style. Over the 25+ hunts we've covered a broad range of styles from around the globe. I'll eventually post summaries of all previous Beer Hunters, the hits and the misses.

Last night, one of the Beer Hunters Rich, decided it was a perfect opportunity to change things up and hunt all 10 of the recently released Mikkeller Single Hop IPAs (thanks to Chapel Street Cellars for a discount as well!). To say the Beer Hunters were looking forward to this would be a huge understatement. A brilliant idea - brilliantly executed,  Mikkeller uses exactly the same malt bill to create a base beer and then uses a different hop variety in each beer to highlight the specific characteristics of each hop .

Here's a quick rundown of each of them. Rich wisely ranked the tasting in order of Alpha Acid levels within each hop (which is essentially a measure of bitterness).

Amarillo
First cab off the rank is the Amarillo IPA. You first notice a strong orange aroma, followed by an initial considerable orangey taste. A more piney finish. James Squire Golden Ale apparently use this hop. Imagine a JSGA on steroids. A nice start to the evening.


Centennial
Next up was the Centennial. Research indicated that it was to have a citrus character, but most of us got more specifically grapefruit. A lot drier finish than the Amarillo.


Citra
Was looking forward to this one as it's been used a bit recently in some of my favourite beers (Feral Karma Citra, currently on tap at Chapel Street Cellars for one). A lovely smooth mango on the palate and interestingly it appear boozier than the previous IPAs (even though all of them were 6.9%).


Sorachi Ace
A Japanese variety, I'd been looking forward to this one. My introduction to this beer came last year, in the form of True South's Mint Ninja, which from memory was a pale ale using Citra and mint. A big lemony punch stood out, and a flavour you'd not expect from a hop. A few of us also immediately noticed a coconut like quality and the beer for a second began tasting pina colada-like. Quite intriguing. Sorachi Ace also got the votes for the best beer on the night.


Nelson Sauvin
Another non-American variety, this time the interesting Nelson Sauvin. Named due to it's passionfruit and Sauvignon Blanc qualities, this Kiwi beauty is seriously under utilised on this side of the ditch.  Research indicated we should expect a gooseberry flavour, but as a few of us pointed out, "when the hell was the last time any of us had a gooseberry?". The Nelson Sauvin was a highlight. Another fantastic beer that uses this hop, yet looks beyond the IPA format, is 8Wired Sauvin Saison.


Simcoe
We had a bit of a break after the first five and kicked off the second half with Simcoe. Back to the American hop varieties and the trademark piney, resiny flavours. This beer was one that I really wish we have more of. One of my favourites of the night.


Tomahawk
By this stage some of the beers started tasting a little "samey" and in a Beer Hunters first, a soda water palette cleanser was handed out. Had no idea that this hop is the trading name of the Columbus hop. Copywright issues perhaps? It's a widely used American hop and makes up one third of the three "C's" hops (along with Cascade and Centennial). It may have suffered from it's position on the list, but was the least favourite beer of the night.

Bravo
Had not heard of this variety before, and a presumptuous title if ever I've heard one. Was a very well rounded ale for a single hop IPA. Not one particular flavour dominated. Floral and fruity. Having had this my mouth was coated in resiny hop oils and pretty much all beers form here on in would start tasting the same. Small bravo. Golf clap.


Summit 
The penultimate beer was the prematurely named Summit. As I read back through my notes, hoppy as f*ck stares back at me from my tasting notes. Oh dear, the palate is shot and the brain seems not far behind.


Apollo
Was supposed to be the bitterest of the lot, but the Summit out shone it. Again a hop I'd never heard of. By this stage these was more impressions of Rocky circulating (Apollo, geddit?), than insightful descriptions of the beers.

Wow, what a night! Hats off to Mikkeller for having the clarity of vision and the balls to release 10 beers simultaneously and giving humble beer enthusiasts everywhere an education of the marvellous, multi-faceted world of the hop.

Even though the testing sizes were small, we got through a fair bit of beer. I left realising why we only try 4 beers at a Hunt and not 10. Towards the end the beers did tend to taste very similar. It would have been nice also to have an Australian variety (Galaxy, Prise of Ringwood or Stella) or an "Old World" English hop like East Kent Golding or Fuggles.

But there's never going to be an opportunity to have all these beers again, back-to-back and for that reason alone, the night was a great success. I'd encourage anyone with even a vague interest in beer to really get to know the ingredients in your beer and the vast mount of different flavours that hops impart. Even if you grab two in the range to do a side-by-side comparison, it's a great way to learn a bit more about this most humble beer ingredient - the hop.

Some of the better International craft beer of 2011.

...and now for five of my favourite beers from beyond these shores that I drank in 2011.

Brooklyn East India Pale Ale (USA)
Hands down one of the best beers I had last year. Completely unassuming in appearance, this cracking beer is one of those rare examples of an American brewed IPA in more of an English style where the malt and the hops are more balanced. Utterly moorish and bloody good value when compared to a lot of imports. This is as close as you'll find to a true English IPA, outside of the motherland. Distribution in Melbourne is starting to get pretty good too with any decent craft beer shop likely to stock it.

8Wired Tall Poppy India Red Ale (NZ)
I just as easily could have chosen the Hopwired IPA, or their brilliant iStout but the Tall Poppy gets the gong from this amazing brewery due to it's incredible drinkability and for a beer not light on the alcohol (7%). One of the years highlights was an 8Wired Alestars night at The Local Taphouse St.Kilda where we got to meet Soren (via a Skype hook up on the big screen), the brewer himself. My favourite NZ brewery.

Invercargill Saison (NZ)
Being a bit of a "Saison-head", I'm always on the look out for a new one to try out. Had tried Invercargill's Boysenbeery which didn't exactly blow me away, but boy did their Saison. How the brewer managed to cram so much yeasty flavour in this little bottle is a mystery. One of the best saisons out there. Hard to find but worth the search.

Rodenbach Vintage 2007 (Bel)
When researching for a Beer Hunters beer club Sour / Wild ale night I kept being referred back to this beer. A Flanders Red Ale and a fantastic entry point into the flipside of the beer coin that is sour and wild ales. Sour like nothing I'd had before, but enough malt sweetness to keep you goimng back for more, this beer is one of the most memorable I had last year.

Hopback Brewery Summer Lightening (UK)
I never completely understood the distinction between a "summer ale" and a "golden ale" and a "blond ale". This beer made me want to get to the bottom of it. I learnt it's a style that we don't see enough of over in Oz, the English Golden Ale. The style originated broadly for devout UK lager drinkers as an entry point into the word of ales. Summer Lightning is a subtle, gentle aromatic beer that shines bright from the glass. By far the most restrained beer on the list, just a fantastic sessionable beer.

Honourable mentions: Victory Hellios Saison, Weinstephaner Vitus, BrewDog Punk IPA, Deschutes Hop in the Dark, Mikkeller Spontanale

There's probably loads more that I've forgotten about, and I reckon I'll start tracking things a better this year so watch this space.

Next up: On Friday I join my fellow Beer Hunters for a look at Mikkeller's Single Hop IPA range, all 10 of them! You beauty!  (my official Febfast reprieve)