Statement of the Bleeding Obvious I

Prohibition's a bitch!

Happy Memories of Amato's Beer Tasting - Part III

Where was I?  Oh, yes...

Next along the heavenly path was the Little Creatures stand, however as much as I like these fine Australian brews, i am familiar enough with them to skip them and seek more mysterious ales and lagers.  No, not you, Fosters, stay overseas as far away as possible from our shores - there is a reason we export you.

Standing out like a beacon in a sea of pale ales was the White Rabbit White Ale.  An Australian craft ale that was not a pale ale?  Well, pickle me in alcohol and call me Irish (oh, please!), but my eyes were not deceiving me.  Here was something a bit more adventurous than the ubiquitous pale ale, an attempt at something beyond the ordinary.  It sounded suspiciously like a Witbier, which means both white beer and wheat beer, and can mean either.  They're a confused lot, the Belgians.  Probably something to do with producing over 600 beers in country a third the size of Tasmania.  Upon asking the keen custodians behind the stand, they assured me it was indeed based on the Belgian style in the manner of Hoegaarden, but in addition to the usual coriander and orange peel, juniper berries were thrown in for good measure.  Hell, i didn't even know juniper berries were real, let alone thinking of adding them to beer.  Ballsy.

I was pleased to find that they had avoided the temptation to reduce the volume of ingredients to being of no consequence.  They'd never get a job working for Carlton Cold, putting flavour in beer, no way, man.  I'm not sure what the value is of the juniper berries apart from differentiating it from Hoegaarden, but at least they were trying.  The result was a refreshing ale with a lingering, subtle aftertaste, worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as its inspiration.  This deserved a few more tastes, and some hearty discussion with the boys behind the stand regarding the merits of beer and other great profundities.  I think you blokes should crack another one.  Right on cue.  Cheers!

I may well have stayed there forever, but one of the world's great beers was calling me, so i tried a token Rogers beer due to its marginally lower alcohol content and the fact i'd never tried it before.  As a nod to traditional English ales, it was more distinct by its familiar Little Creatures hop profile, which is not a bad thing, but it is not Franziskaner.

Speaking of which, it was a callin' me from across the room, but standing in the way was a nasty looking beer from the old dart called Hobgoblin.  What harm could possibly come from such a beer?  At 5.2%, it seemed harmless enough, but packed a punch (thank god i proof read before publishing.  It originally said "packed a lunch"), less subtle than Fullers London Pride or Old Speckled Hen, but just as obviously drunkenly named.  It wasn't holding back, but what really promised to do me in was the Innis & Gunn  from Scotland, not so surprisingly aged in whiskey barrels.  Don't get me wrong, i like my whiskey, and my beer, even on the same night, or even alternating, but whiskey beer?  Really?  It sounds like some godawful idea dreamt up by some uni students after twenty schooners.  It's the beer equivalent of a deep-fried Mars bar.

Moving right along, i spy an old friend.  A very old friend.  1397 to be precise.  Mmmm...Franziskaner Weissbeer!  But wait! I've run out of time.  Part IV soon!

Burp!

Happy Memories of Amato's Beer Tasting - Part II

Finally I resumed my mission to rekindle my love of Lord Nelson Brewery beers, although to be honest I approached with some trepidation. You see, my memories were so fond, yet so blurred that I was possibly mistaken, or under the influence. Well obviously I was under the influence (1/2 dozen pints tend to have that effect), and my expectations ma

y well have been too high.

The trepidation was undeserved, as the Three Sheets Pale Ale exceeded my already high expectations. Fragrant, full-bodied and with an excellent head, the lingering aftertaste was a pleasant reminder of what had just passed my lips, and what needed to pass again and again. It was that good. In fact, it was so good I'm seriously considering piping it directly from the pub to my house. Tenders are currently being sought, so feel free to submit your bid! I bought a couple so I can do a proper beer review, and just because it was so damned nice.

Next was the locally made Arvo Australian Lagers, which came cleverly in a six-pack with three stubbies from two separate batches. Clever marketing, to be sure, but it was following in Lord Nelson's giant footsteps.

It was clean and crisp, but subtle in a watery kind of way. Certainly worth a try, and would make a good session beer, but lagers compliment their lightness with aromatic hops and/or fragrant yeasts, both of which were in short supply. Not bad, but in a crowded market it lacked differentiation. Still, it is worth a second try and may get a gong down the track with a full review, and of course it suffered from following Lord Nelson...

Happy Memories of Amato's Beer Tasting - Part I

I thought it important to share my happy memories of Saturday, lest i forget the taste of each of the 50-odd beers on display that fine afternoon, so following is a brief overview of the beers as tasted by The Beer Whisperer.  Even 50 small beers will write off your average beer taster, but throw in a few strong ones (and repeated tastings just to be sure) and your average beer taster will lose not only one's ability to walk, but also to talk of oneself in the first person.  Still, it's a long way since those heady days of the Kalgoorlie-Boulder pub crawl, where 50 beers were all full size, and even then we had extras and it took some dastardly alcoholic slurpies to deny me entry to the last pub.  Curse those evil slurpies!

First cab off the rank was the James Squire stand, which i presumed was vacant thanks to Chuck Hahn selling out once again at the expense of taste and quality, although i was assured he still held quality control as head brewer.  That was good enough for me, so unto the breach I go!  It is a pleasure to say that they have not gone the way of Hahn Premium, which eventually tasted suspiciously like Tooheys Red.  Maybe they got a batch wrong.  Or a brewery.  Whatever.  Anyway, the clean taste remained, along with the delicate aromas from the quality hops and yeasts, although the body of the beer seemed to have miraculously disappeared, a suspicious sign of sugar substitution for malt.  Ye old cost-cutting doth sour thou reputation, methinks!  Shame, Chuck, shame.  Still, they weren’t Hahn Premium, so there’s a tin lining there somewhere.

Next off the rank were a couple of famous pommie ales, strangely enough on the same stand as Samuel Adams from Boston.  If I was cruel (and I am when it comes to American beer.  Thanks, Bud), I could say they all tasted like the Atlantic between them, although to be fair they were a class above, which is a compliment for American beer, at least.  The Fullers London Pride was worthy of its fame, smelling distinctly of toffee, but fortunately not tasting like it.  Clear and clean with a smooth maltiness that was worth more than a mere tasting, it explemplified the best of British ales, and would have made for far better memories for the old man than the putrid Newcastle Brown Ale that followed him around England like a bad smell in the 70’s.  Drinking that stuff would do that to you, y’ know!

Still, the Old Speckled Hen arguably bettered that, with a more subtle yet complex flavour that demands another try.  Or three.  Anyway, I spy Lord Nelson commanding me to battle ye old ale, so I must continue my quest and pursue my destiny forthwith!

Making a beeline for the Lord Nelsons, an Italian gentleman materialised in front of me to distract me from my mission with some oxymoronic Italian beers.  Fortunately they turned out not to be at all moronic, although twenty of so of the strong ones could certainly turn me that way.  The Oro di Milano came in three strengths in the Belgian tradition of single, double and triple, as Pure Malt, Double Malt and the 8.5% "Reserva", Italian for "triple drunkenness".  In what can only be assigned to temporary insanity, i found myself preferring the standard strength Pure Malt, which had the distinctive Italian flavour of Peroni and Menabrea, but with more subtlety which would put it ahead of its famous peers.  What next, a German viniculturalist?  An Uzbek tequila master distiller, perchance? Nope, a genuine, you beaut, dinki di, true blue Aussie beer brewer of great fame and notoriety...

On to the Lord Nelsons and destiny!! In Part II.......

Amato's Beer Tasting Beer Preview!

Just getting a little practice for the taste testing tomorrow at Amato's Liquor at Leichhaardt In Sydney , and the beer isn't quite quenching the thirst created by the photos of beers to be tasted tomorrow.  As can be seen below, there is a wide range of beers for tasting tomorrow (there are others as well), of which quite a few demand attention.

The one that lit up my face the most was the Lord Nelson Three Sheets Australian Pale Ale, due in part to me drinking about twenty of them on my buck's night.  Oh, who am i kidding?  Ten years after that hazy night, i have no idea what i was drinking, only that it was a Lord Nelson beer, and that it was damned nice.

This will certainly top the list of beers to try, although the Endeavour 2011 Reserve Amber Ale sounds enticing, if only for the fact that it is not yet-another-pale-ale, of which all are desperately trying to "be different", by being precisely the same.  Would-be professional craft brewers take note - come up with beer style before getting maggoted in brainstorming session.  After all, it's not called a "brain-stupifying" session now, is it?  Maybe it is.  Besides, it works for me.

The Franziskaner Weissbeer is a traditional German wheat beer from 1397(!) which I have had before, but unfortunately do not much remember.  Alas, due to the intervening years beers, my memory is somewhat hazy, so i have little choice but to try it again, dammit.

The Old Speckled Hen and Fullers London Pride are famous beers which I have never tried, so I must of course do the honour and taste them.  Repeatedly.

Estrella Galicia is a spanish beer (I had to look it up), so that will be an interesting take.  The italian beer, Menabrea, is surprisingly good, and distinctly italian but still very much european, so it will be interesting to see what the spanish do with their cerveza.  See?  Ich spreche espanol (or is that yo hablo deutsch?  Damn, too many beers.  Again).

The White Rabbit White Ale sounds interesting too.  I'll just have to follow that one down the rabbit hole.  Ooh, the big one at the back must be tasted too, if only to have an excuse to drink yet another big beer.  Not quite a Darwin Stubby, but i like...big...beers.

Who am i kidding?  I intend to taste all of them!  Happy drinking tasting!

Burp!

If only...

Saison Ale Ingredients - Youtube Debut!

Check out The Beer Whisperer's debut video on Youtube!  This is the first video, of which i may add other videos taken on making the beer.

http://youtu.be/HJCD3h_hjAA



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