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Text of the page (random words):
g hot day sitting in a beer garden somewhere but not on a cold melbourne winter s eve i knew i d have problems with these bloody notes and my beer addled memory the next up was dunken the dunkelweizen my notes extend to made with 50 wheat and my sole tasting note is cherries that is called professionalism people take that those of you who argue that australia s journalism schools are inadequate in my own defense i do think i was taking a bit more interest in what dave was saying about all things goat than in what i was drinking he explained to us a bit about the formation of goat and how it was sparked by the time he spent living in the us drinking the beers from the iconic sierra nevada brewery he also spoke about his excitement at the craft brew scene in victoria he put down any suggestion that there would be a goat cider despite a lot of goading on the subject i wasn t 100 convinced though i took my chance to put on my concerned retailer cap and asked him if the production levels for the rare breed beers would be increased because as you all know they disappear off the shelves very quickly his response was that was just the way they wanted it they aren t called rare just for the fun of it the third beer up was the richard iii 7 4 doppelbock brewed in conjunction with richard watkins from canberra s wig and pen brewpub i ve got a lot more notes for this one because i loved it yummy strong malty lager nice amber colour flavours of caramel and toffee it s all about the malt with this one the hops are just there to hang out this one was perfect for the cold winter s night the last beer up for the evening was a double ipa at 8 3 this wasn t a beer to trifle with although i fear a lot in the room did and paid the price the next day hi shandy i think it was a quote from jayne that i ve got written down here we smash the hops into it i find it hard to find a better way to describe it cascade galaxy and citra hops all play there part in this 65 ish ibu monster normally that would be more hop than i can handle but i think by that time of the night my taste buds were pretty well shot unfortunately while all of these beers were on tap at the local on the night there is no guaranteeing they still are if they can t be found there i know some of them will be available at beer deluxe and at the goat bar in the brewery on wednesday and friday nights so there you have it my first ale stars part beer nerd love in part trivia night part night on the tiles all of that adds up to a bloody good night out can t wait for the next one leave a comment posted in uncategorized got to put your money on the longshot posted on 13 07 2010 8 comments and we re back and with a predictably crap punny headline too glory days but why now well if you want to blame anybody for stirring me out of my blogging slumber then look no further than the nice folk at liquid ideas they took pity on me last week and invited me along to the launch of matilda bay s new beer longshot longshot is a coffee infused dark ale that matilda bay have created in conjunction with toby s estate the sydney based coffee company the story goes that the genesis for the idea came one night during a beer fueled conversation between matilda bay s head brewer scott vincent and the man behind toby s estate toby smith unlike most of those great late night ideas this one has actually come to fruition the co creators toby smith and scott vincent last week s launch was held in smith s brunswick cafe and featured scott taking us through a tasting of most of the matilda bay range each beer was matched to a wonderful canape prepared by blake s feast if only blogging about beer was this good all of the time enough reverie about the menu i should get back to talking about longshot some tech stuff 6 abv they ve used northern brewer hops it comes in at 40 on the ibu scale scott told us that the base beer is a robust porter but he was very secret squirrel about how the coffee was used we did find out that he and toby chose a highly aromatic ethiopian blend called yirgacheffe after conducting a series of cupping exercises toby told us that yirgacheffe was the name of the town where the coffee originates and the region s coffee is known for its floral fruitiness with chocolate tones about 200kgs were roasted and delivered to matilda bay s garage brewery where the coffee was cold extracted a major problem to overcome was stopping the oils in the coffee from affecting the ability of the beer to form a head scott told us that he pretty much nailed the recipe on the first attempt but thinking he could maybe do better gave it another crack he couldn t and that batch went down the drain and that was as much as we could get out of them toby told me later that even he didn t know how the brewery side of things was done apparently the aim was to produce a balanced beer that would contain obvious flavour profiles but not overwhelming ones have they done that i think so i find it a very easy drinking brew almost sessionable the coffee flavours are there but only slightly more obvious than you find in many stouts some criticism has been made that the coffee flavours are too muted when compared with many of the coffee infused beers on the market not having a lot of experience with the style i decided to do a little bit of research the lengths i go to for my readers a trip out to purvis cellars scored me these little beauties brasserie dieu du ciel peche mortel hitachino nest espresso stout and meantime coffee porter oh what hell this research was where is the irony button on this thing each of those beers is a ripper but especially the peche mortel by brasserie dieu du ciel they all have such a kick of espresso like flavours that you would swear that somebody had just poured a shot into your beer the meantime label says that each bottle is the equivalent of one cup of coffee in contrast scott told us that the caffeine level in the longshot was negligible but these beers are not about balance they are about trying to squeeze as much coffee kick into each bottle as possible and i love that but after the three of them i d had enough i can only wonder how full on beers like the mikkeller beer geek brunch weasel and the alesmith speedway stout are some day maybe for today i d rather another longshot but i seem to have drunk my last two as i ve written this bugger more please but if i want anymore then i will need to go to dan murphy s and in that lies my only real criticism of this beer it s exclusive to dan s apparently their decision to buy it on spec was enough for the bean counters to give scott the go ahead with production not a good development in the world of brewing in my humble opinion disclaimer as i said earlier i was lucky enough to receive some very nice food from the good folk at liquid ideas matilda bay and toby s estate i was also given some beer and coffee samples and that spiffy glass you saw before 8 comments posted in uncategorized it s been too long posted on 12 07 2010 leave a comment hi i m back well the blog is the truth is i never went away as anybody who follows me on twitter allalethebigv will attest but my blogging was put on hold because of this little person hello blogosphere i m maggie say hi to maggie everyone but now that she is old enough to do this isn t she cute you can follow her maggiegmcnamara i think it s time to get the show back on the road so a little later tonight the first real blog post will be up yay it s good to be back leave a comment posted in uncategorized it s on the peninsula darling posted on 11 02 2010 3 comments we ve been down on the peninsula darling that is a common response when i ask my customers about their summer break but then again i do work in a part of melbourne where portsea is a much more likely holiday destination than bonnie doon circumstance has meant that it was not till a few weeks ago that i had my own chance to visit melbourne s playground the mornington peninsula that is not bonnie doon and what did i find well in portsea and sorrento it was pretty much what i expected gorgeous beaches huge homes conspicuous wealth and the lunching ladies of south yarra nice but not my world i wasn t concerned though because i was fairly certain that my needs were catered for on other parts of the peninsula i wasn t wrong about half way back up the peninsula is red hill as well as being home to wineries of the calibre of foxeys hangout port phillip estate and montalto and their burgundian tendencies it is also where you will find one of victoria s most well respected craft breweries red hill brewery dave and karen rhb was opened by dave and karen golding back in 2004 and they have established a great set up in the beautiful hilly countryside around red hill being the tourists that we are there was some thought we might have been a bit lost but eventually we found the rustic sign on the side of the road that beckoned us in with the promise of hops fine ales and real food what more could you want we parked the car almost in the shade of the hop trellises and wandered down the hill to the brewery and the cafe nestled into the trees beside it being a friday there were no probs getting a table and we were soon in the care of some great floor staff the kind who realise it s a casual dining situation and are themselves relaxed perhaps even a bit cheeky but are always there when you need them and are very knowledgeable about what s on the plate and in this case more importantly what s in the glass girl o sea looking beautiful on the deck at red hill brewery red hill brewery has 3 year round brews a scotch ale a golden ale a wheat bee r and then a number of seasonals some of these especially the imperial stout and the christmas ale are incredibly popular and sell out quickly dave told me that they are overwhelmed by how popular the seasonals can be summer sees the release of a belgian blonde this year as there wasn t enough brewed for a general release it was only available at the brewery and i was keen to try it fairly similar to last year although dave said he does tweak the recipes for me it was sweet malts a bit of spiciness and a creamy mouthfeel it went pretty well with my steak sanga a half drunk glass of belgian blonde begging to be finished girl o sea went the vego option on the ploughman s lunch sans a glass of beery goodness due to the imminent arrival and we finished with a decadent chocolate cheesecake if only there had been some imperial stout around to go with it dave and karen were gracious hosts and dave took some time out from a busted water pump to give us a look in the compact brewery when we visited the brewery s output was at its limit but some new equipment was on the way that would help increase it a little bit the brewhouse dave didn t seem too convinced by the argument that it was a happy predicament to be in when you are always selling out i got the impression that he really values the customers that they have worked hard to get and wants to do the best thing by them i d often wondered why dave and karen had decided to grow their own hops on top of the challenges of running a brewery the answer is that local council zoning regulations required some sort of primary industry on the property before they would give it the go ahead dave described growing hops as challenging anybody keen enough can head down to the brewery in march to take part in the hop picking festivities the hop trellises sounds like a fun day out maybe i ll get a chance to poke around for a lost bottle of imperial stout to go with that cheesecake 3 comments posted in uncategorized there is something very special about this parma and pot deal posted on 02 12 2009 3 comments what is it with melbourne and parmas as a relatively recent blow in from the northern states it took some time to get my head around the relationship up north parmas are more commonly called parmis tend to lurk towards the bottom of most menus and are usually seen as just an excuse to eat a lot of melted cheese in brisbane steaks the size of your head tend to be favoured and in sydney it s whatever is trendy that week normally something fusion but in melbourne the blackboards outside of almost every pub advertise some sort of parma special melbourne just loves a bit of crumbed fried veal or chicken or eggplant to go with their beer but too often the parma in front of you was frozen not so long before it got put on the plate and the only beers available on tap come from the lovely people at cub one bar bistro has taken it on itself to provide a venue that not only elevates the humble parma to culinary heights but also celebrates many of the fantastic microbrews that can now be found in victoria located in little bourke st mrs parma s was opened in 2006 by melissa leaney and fiona melbourne melissa and fiona both chefs with a history of working in fine dining had the vision of doing something different they realised that there was a market for a bistro that focussed on parmas made by good chefs who had a commitment to quality ingredients fresh chicken and veal italian tomatoes quality mozzarella pub food but at a restaurant standard it then seems like a natural progression to realise that if you are going to increase the standard of the parma on the plate then perhaps the standard of the beer in the pot needs to be improved as well when all ale the big v popped into mrs parma s for a couple of pots and a chat last week fiona and melissa told me that what they do is a passionate obsession for them they feel that all of their staff shares the same love and passion for what they do the beer list is all victorian and mostly microbrews with carlton draught being the only concession for those that aren t prepared to take the leap to something a bit more adventurous brews on tap at the moment include flying horse s dirty angel 2 brother s rusty pale ale and mountain goat s hightail fiona and melissa told me that the beers on offer do change every two to three months with the exception being their favourite gippsland gold gippy gold as it s known in the bar from grand ridge two taps are kept for specialty kegs a range of stubbies are also stocked and one of the popular events in the bar is drink the esky dry where a case of something new is featured on a friday arvo melissa and fiona are committed to helping out the industry that helped them when they were first setting up the bar they told me that they had a terrific response from the brewers they initially contacted and that dealing directly with the brewer is one of the best aspects of the job when pressed on their favourite brewers they nominated temple red hill and bridge rd while beers will retain their pride of place at mrs parma s do expect to see the odd cider on tap and the wine list is ever developing to reflect victoria s strong boutique wine industry i have to admit that i haven t had a chance to try one of the parmas yet but i intend to rectify tha...