Feral Brewing Company Smoked Porter

Smoking stuff is cool. Not the cigarette kind but the food kind. Last year my partner Erin gifted me a smoker and since then many sides of salmon and the lone trout have magically been transformed. And it is that smoked trout that was evident when Jeremy and I tasted this beer at work. I swear there was a smoked trout in this bottle. Maybe not everything was made to be smoked I'm tipping. But hey, whatever floats your boat I guess.

Hopworks Organic IPA Pounder

Its been a while, but hey, stuff to do.

This is awesome. Oursum. Oresome. The Hopworks Organic IPA Pounder from the home of craft beer, Portland Oregon is just ripping. It is what it is. It is an Indian Pale Ale. Its hoppy. Its got that great green edge about it. And its in a can; all the hipsters are a fan of the can so tick, tick, tick and tick. I just love it.

Drink with a burger - am right now
Drink now
6.6%v/v 473mL can $25 for a 4 pack at Seddon Wine Store

Craiglee Sunbury Chardonnay 1996

Stonkingly. Good. Stonkingly good. Stonkinglygood. Doesn't matter how you say it. The Craiglee Sunbury Chardonnay 1996 was today's knock off beer at Bindi. But no, beer is really good after a hot day in the vineyard. But anyway.

Who would have thunk it that in 2012 a 16 year old Australian chardonnay would be this good. And youthful. And awesome. In the glass the wine still has a youthful white wine look about it, with just a touch of colour age about it. The nose smells very 1996 with crème caramel with some orange and grapefruit pith. The palate however? 1996 no way! A massive mix of soft butterscotch, creaminess, citrus in the way of pithy and taste, and above all fine and persistent acid. With a wine, and espicially chardonnay, at this age the acid would have pretty much been swallowed up by time. Not here. Acid is all preset here.

One of the best knock off beers I've ever had.

Drink with grilled marron
Drink till 2018
97
Quality cork 13%v/v http://www.craiglee.com.au/

Moondog Black Lung II

So the story goes .... Devilishly handsome boy meets devilishly handsome image in the mirror and its love at first sight. Years later devilishly handsome boy witnesses devilishly handsome friends incinerate at local gas station in innocent petrol fight. Blah blahs aside, devilishly handsome boy becomes muse for crazy brewers in downtown Abbotsford where a devilishly awesome stout is produced. You know the story ....

The Moondog Black Lung II is liquid gold. And yes, looks can kill. Sometimes you can judge a book by its cover. Thats all I got.

Just drink it!

Mornington Peninsula Brown Ale and Sunday Night Blues

Its Sunday night and cold in downtown Brunswick. Henry is having a bath in an inch of water, with the remains on the bathroom floor. The heater down the back is on the fritz and the cold draft of wind is blowing right up my back. The only thing to cure my ales is this Mornington Peninsula Brown Ale and Eric Clapton singing the Blues.

4 Pines Stout, Manly NSW

In what seems to be a never ending growth industry of micro breweries, another label has hit the ground running (maybe a bit premature perhaps) with a band of lads from the inner northern beaches of Sydney coming up with 4 Pines Brewing Company. It also seems to be a trend nowadays to position a numeral in the brand name - 2 Brothers, 3 Ravens, 5 Numbnuts - the last one will be my label hitting the market soon. Maybe. Dunno know.

The trend is Pale Ale, Wheat beers and pretty much all and sundry. One style that is I see as semi-uncommon is stout. Stout done well is pure sex. Stout just done is pure pedestrian. The 4 Pines Stout is the former!

The primary aroma is pure espresso coffee, the like I quite possibly have never seen before - intense, powerful and all other adjectives that describe strength! The head even looks like coffee crema too. This stout doesn't have the brain swelling headiness of most, and I found this cos I nailed it toot-sweet. What I did find however was that the aromoa was gone after about two or three minutes. Saying this though, the palate of toffeed raisens and dark chocolate hung around to the sweet-bitter end.

All in all, a great entry to the market and a stout you'll see in the cooler months down at Albert St I would suggest.

Drink with shephards pie
5.1%v/v www.4pinesbeer.com.au

Beer and Bon Jovies

It’s simple really; confit onion jam with Bon Jovies (anchovies) and a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale on a hot Sunday afternoon. Spot on Chicken Spot!

The Brunswick Man Bag!

Beer. Love. Sexy as! You had me at hello.

The ultimate ‘man bag’. The Thunder Road Brewery ‘Brunswick Bitter’ Growler complete with its own carry strap and beer wetsuit. As Annie quite eloquently put it, ‘sweet dreams are made of these...’

Get it at Thunder Road Brewery in Brunswick. Drink NOW! 1.89L $25 first pour including membership and beer wetsuit.

Thunder Road Brewery, 130 Barkly Street Brunswick http://www.thunderroadbrewing.com

Hào Phong, 136 Hopkins St Footscray

Its 7.30ish on Monday night. So of course I’m in the study typing out a post. Not only is ‘Glee’ on, but it’s on Oprah; Glee and Oprah – TV gold, yeah-nah!

So as I said, I’m in the study and writing a post. Something about wine; like before – yeah-nah. Instead of wine I think, how about food. In just 94 days, me and the family will be heading north to sweaty Vietnam for a 22 day trek from south-to-north. To get everyone ‘tummy-ready’ we have decided to go nuts on Vietnamese food. So first stop Footscray!



With a recommendation we head to Hào Phong on Hopkins Street -136 to be precise. On our way there we see another Vietnamese restaurant that has a few people inside (no Vietnamese – what was I thinking) so we chanced our arm. Big mistake. Looking down the menu read of the best from the 70’s & 80’s – beef and black bean, sweet and sour pork, Mongolian beef. Just to be safe we thought we’d order some rice paper rolls. The reply, ‘sorry, they have not defrosted yet’. You can imagine the awkward silence. With our apologies we bidded our farewell and legged it to Hào Phong. It was only 5.45pm.


We arrive for the second time and manage to get a table for 4. Ten minutes later there is a line at the door – good timing. The menu’s come and it looks awesome – AWESOMELY AWESOME!!!! And if you’re wondering, there are no photos of food, just us eating it!

We order in 10minutes and it as follows:

• 1. Prawn and chicken rice paper rolls $7.00 for 4
• 10. Satay chicken on skewers, or chicken on a stick for my 2 year old son Henry - $4.50 for 2
• 99. BBQ pork with vegetables with plum sauce - $13.80
• 141. Scallops with ginger and shallots - $19.80
• 1. Prawn and chicken rice paper rolls $7.00 for 4 …. again
• Special - Shallow fried soft shelled crab - $18.80 for 4. That’s right, 4!!!!

Not a rice dish in sight I tell ya! All this and a bottle of Tsing Tao beer. The bill arrives and we are $88 lighter – plus tip.



There’s only 94 days to go but I can bet you we will be back a few times before we head off. And I would book. As I said, by 6pm there was a line. What a place!!

Hào Phong is my 1st ‘Hooters chicks with Birks’ rating


Where – 136 Hopkins Street Footscray 9689-8373

By the way, thanks Ronnie for the recommendation. Bisou Bisou!

A very unfake beer - Yebisu The Hop

Being true to this beer I think the only way to do this beer justice is to post it in its native tongue. So here we go...

このビールにビール正義を行うには唯一の方法は、母国語で投稿するだと思います。だからここに行く.

確かに非常に unfake ビール。そうねえ黒心可鍛鋳鉄とスズメの良い人は良いです。単に幸せ Peroni と朝日に実質をもたらす、BHS 今この小さな宝石出土しています。プレミアム恵比寿、ホップどこかから日本で。麦芽と豊かな、非常に多くの私の最初のビールのクラッシュ、キウイ ラガー 1987年 年頃このずんぐりしたことができます上部に座って、ずんぐりした小さな野郎がすべてです思い出させて体について-は の絶対に何もこのビール-短長、と多くの深さ-非常にバイエルンと言うでしょいます。陽気な良いもの ためる
5.1%v/v 4. 50 ドルから黒心可鍛鋳鉄とスズメ

#unfake beer

It’s been a recent trend in the past few years for brewers in our neck of the woods to take out brewing licenses for such bevies like Stella Artois, Peroni, Asahi and Heineken. This is done to effectively cut the cost in shipping and also keep government subsidies for buying local hops and wheat; just to keep the stock holders happy supposedly. It has also been a trend of late that independent retailers and licensee’s to bring out the real stuff at a sometime inflated premium. And for this we thank them.

For example, Psarakos Markets in downtown Thornbury have real Stella for just $42.99 a case, whereas BWS – standing for bulls#&t wine sellers I can only assume – are currently selling said product brewed in Sydney Australia as opposed to Sydney in Belgium for a crazy $52.99; on sale as well.

So big brewers take note. As long as you intend to continually put stock holders interests in front of flavour, the good people at Blackheart & Sparrows, Psarakos Market and Anthony Danna from Bocacchio Cellars– who I am led to believe brings in his own Peroni – will sell us the ridgy didge stuff at a price more often than not cheaper than the stuff brewed here.

So, to keep up the appearances of a blog and not a soapbox, here is a non-fake tube of what was a lip-smacking Dutch brewed Heineken. After drinking 7 of them on Saturday night this post will not have any tasting notes other to say it was mucho fantastico and frightfully wet. Chips-ahoy to you all.

Season of Stout - Monteiths Black Beer, NZ

So, we find ourselves yet again in the middle of a long cold winter. And in this winter I have had two constents; Masterchef on Network 10 and Monteiths Black Beer; my daughter calls it the Masterchef beer - bless!

Now this is my first 'Season of Stout' post this winter, and I don't quite think it is a stout, but it's black. So the reason for it taking this long is simply I have not been drinking anything else; quite easy the pick of winter.

It reads on the back label that the good boys from the West Coast (NZ, not the Perth boys) use five premium malts. I'm not all over brewing, but that sounds like a lot to me. What would I know it turns out a friend recently told me; what would I know indeed. What i do n]know however, is that this beer is jam packed with gorgeous chocolate and coffee aroma's with more of this in the palte along with burnt toffee and licorice make this beer a fair dinkum cracker! Too easy!

Drink now
Drink with roast beef leftovers or freshly shucked oysters - now thats a Susan if there ever was one!
About $18 a six-pack 5.2%v/v

...easy as 1-2-3!!!

Guess what I’m drinking right now?

‘A-sa-hi... easy as 1-2-3.....’

Merry Christmas - a very long lunch in Brunswick

Well, another Christmas Day is done with! I was sheepishly greeted by my daughter Imogen this morning with, ‘...only 364 sleeps till Christmas dad’. I certainly hope that this countdown does not have legs; she already has one for when she starts prep and her birthday is in March so three countdowns before New Year would not bode well here in Brunswickistan.

Yes, yesterday here in Brunswickistan was a massive effort; presents, more presents, mud crabs, prawns, smoked salmon, Champagne and then Grandma and Papa arrived with Aunty Meaghan with even more presents for a sugar hyped 4 year old and more wrapping paper for Henry’s first Christmas Day

As usual, when there is a get together at my place, I do the cooking, so yesterday, bar the Christmas pudding and one massive ham was all up to me. The menu sort of read like this:

BBQ Tiger prawns with a fennel and Chinese salad like coleslaw (inspired by Andrew McConnell)
Grilled zucchini and asparagus with truss tomatoes and chevre goats cheese
Singapore chilli mud crab
6 kg Bertocchi ham!
Tasmanian Smoked Salmon
Home made ginger bread men - Henry's favourite as you can see below with Grandma
Christmas pudding with brandy jelly

The eating started at about 2.30pm and wound down by about 7pm I’d say (the obligatory picking ensued of course). Now for me, you cannot not have a Christmas Pud on Christmas day; it is by far my favourite plate. Yet yesterday my fancies were certainly with the smoked salmon and mud crab (that’s if you could get some from Mum’s plate!) The chilli was just right without offending more sensitive tummies.


There was no real thought to the wine yesterday, with some favourites and crowd-pleasers making up the numbers:

Heidsieck & Co Monopole NV Champagne from Epernay
Pommery Brut Royal NV Champagne from Reims
Swings and Roundabouts Semillon Sauvignon Blanc 2008 from Margaret River
Shaw and Smith M3 Chardonnay 2008 from Adelaide Hills
Majella Sparkling Shiraz 2001 from Coonawarra – Wine of the day!
Willow Creek Tulum Pinot Noir 2008 from Mornington Peninsula
Buckleys dark Bock ale from Healesville in the Yarra Valley

As I said, the Majella Sparkling Shiraz was the wine of the day, but it was the Buckleys dark Bock ale that was the obvious Susan for the day with an abundance of rich malt, coffee and raisin chocolate.

I am not going to bang on about the wines from yesterday cos’ I did not sit there with pen and paper jotting down notes on colour, nose and palate. Instead I sat back with my family and enjoyed the smiling faces of my two kids – that’s what Christmas day is all about. Now it’s time for leftovers for lunch and the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Sorby Adams Eden Valley Individual Vineyard ‘The GT’ Gewürztraminer 2008

I was down at Blackheart and Sparrows a while a go now looking for a Gewürztraminer for an Asian chilli dish I was preparing that night. Now it is a fair given that Gewürztraminer wine is a monty with Asian food yet here in Australia I find it increasingly difficult to find a half decent version of the Alsacean style; distinctive aromatic wines with a whack of floral notes and the obligatory lychee taste. It is because of this I generally go for a Riesling or perhaps even an acid driven Chardonnay.

In Australia however, it all just seems to be lychee, lychee and more lychee... with a hint of lychee at the end! And this was all too apparent with the Sorby Adams Eden Valley Individual Vineyard ‘The GT’ Gewürztraminer 2008; let me just say that the name packs more of a mouthful than the actual wine! The wine in the glass presents a strawy yellow with a clear watery hue. The nose gives the predictable lychee aroma with a hint of rose petals after a while. The palate I must say was a little disappointing – quite flat with no real oomph to it; no real anything actually.

The wine in the end did not hold up well with the chilli dish, so we had to make good with a couple of Tiger beers from Singapore – this was a far better option in the end. Crisp dry and very easy to drink, an almost Susan with the Nasi Goreng.

In the end, a pretty disappointing Gewürztraminer.

Drink with Nasi Goreng
Drink till 2011
80
Screwcap 13.5%v/v $23 Blackheart and Sparrows, Lygon Street Brunswick

...and

Tiger Beer
Drink now
About $45 for a case at Tsarakos Grocers in Thornbury

Season of Stout - Mountain Goat 'Surefoot' Stout

This is a man’s stout baby. Or if you are a woman, knock yourself out too. This is just a brilliant drop.

Definitely one of the leaders of the pack when it comes to independent brewers, Mountain Goat literally started in a back yard back in the grungy early 90’s to now being available all over Oz, and winning heaps of gongs along the way.

The ‘Surefoot’ stout is an ideal winter stout, be it cold or room temperature (the Goat men recommend at about 8°C). In the glass the stout is a very black black, if there can be a black like that, with a smooth caramel head. The nose gives off a crisp coffee caramel whiff with a more toffee whiff when a bit warmer. The mouth is layered with more coffee and toffee, bitter chocolate and liquorice, with the liquorice really coming out as it warms up. Super stuff this one, no doubt about it!!

I would without doubt recommend heading to the ‘Goat Bar’ on a Friday evening or a tour of the brewery on a Wednesday night (bookings required with groups +4). Ya gotta love The Goat.

Drink now
Drink with Beef and Guinness pie - a good one can be found at 'The Spencer Hotel' on Spencer Street, West Melbourne

about $20 a six pack 5% a/v

Mountain Goar Brewery, Corner North and Clark Streets Richmond

http://goatbeer.com.au/

Season of Stout - Grand Ridge 'Hatlifter' Stout Gippsland

It still cold and rainy here in Brunswick, so it is time for another stout.

Grand Ridge ‘Hatlifter’ Stout from Mirboo North, that’s right, Mirboo North – so fun to say isn’t it, in Gippsland is one of the easiest Stouts to drink I would have to say.

Grand Ridge has been around since the late 80’s when Aussie Rules was played by men, ‘greed was good’ and so to was Bryan Adams. Re-branded after a failed brewery vacated the premises, Grand Ridge has consistently been winning awards on the global stage essentially since the first frothy came off the brewery floor.

One of the great attractions to this brewery in Mirboo North is the bar that hovers above the brewery floor. In a visit to Gippsland last year with my family we happened across the brewery (a scheduled stop actually) for some lunch and a beer or two. Well, Erin had to drive back to the holiday house cos’ at $4 a bottle for Grand Ridge at the bar, this scribe was virtually obliged to taste the entire range – except for the ‘Supershine’ which is about 13% a/v.

Although this blog is on the ‘Hatlifter’, I still think the stout was the best had on the day. Leaving Grand Ridge with us that day was a mixed case of stout, Black and Tan, Yarra Valley Gold and the Brewers Pilsener (six of each).

Anyhoo, the ‘Hatlifter’ stout. In the glass it is a brownie/black colour with a creamy coffee head. On the nose there is chocolate mousse and liquorice. In the mouth it is very smooth, very un-stout like I reckon, more ‘Newcastle Brown’ than stoutish, but stout never-the-less. But right at the end after a while in the glass, the chocolate from the nose comes and pays a visit. Super stuff this one!

Drink with BBQ Buffalo chicken wings

http://www.grand-ridge.com.au/

Season of Stout - Sinha Stout Sri Lanka

This is a fair dinkum stout!!

In the never-ending quest to find out what the best alcoholic beverage the human form can have when they are sick, I wish to formally nominate Sinha stout from Sri Lanka as the beverage to guide us through chills and sniffles.

While in sunny Perth a month ago, I was lured to Beaufort Street in search of some cold and flu tablets, so I thought while I was in the neighbourhood, I would drop in to Baron's and get a something something for my miserable self.

The something something was obviously the Sinha, and at $8 a pop and weighing in at an impressive 8% a/v, I was rationed to just 3 of the buggers.

As I said, this is a fair dinkum stout people. The colour is pitch black with a coffee ice-cream head. The nose and palate both have in common bitter chocolate, toffee and mocha liqueur. This thing is effing massive, but ohh so gorgeous.

I would like to add though, that I did not take the cold and flu tablets while drinking this beaut - I am not as stupid as I look now!

Drink with lamb vindaloo

Melbourne's real 'Little Italy' - Mediterranean Wholesalers - 482 Sydney Road Brunswick

There is no mistaking the sounds and smells of Italy. When I first visited Italy in 1998, I spent the best part of three months working in Bardolino, a wine town on the eastern shores of Lake Gardi in the Veneto. When you live or work in Italy, there is a certain respect that needs to be heeded to the locals and local customs. In Bardolino, and I am sure in many other towns of Italy, it was that whatever was put in front of you was to be eaten or drunk – no questions. That spring I put on 5 kg’s while performing manual labour.

Every morning there was the unmistakable smell of coffee; the aroma was that robust that it would dead-set wake you up. Breakfast was generally a small affair (it was for me anyway) with everyone in the vineyard gearing themselves up for morning tea, or the Italian version of morning tea anyway. More coffee, cheese, ham – lots and lots of ham, salami and masses of bread. Lunch was generally grilled fish and dinner was huge.

Each evening the vineyard crew would sit down to what can only be described as a feast; pasta to start with, plates of olives, artichokes, sardines, anchovies, eggplant and a copious amount of other delicacies. Then there came more fish, braised lamb, plenty of veggies and then plenty of more other stuff – every night I tell ya! To finish off we would have a digestive; grappa, amore, strega – whatever and usually home-made.

Like I said, an extra 5 Kg’s.

10 years on and I am living in Brunswick (which we know) with my family and have sadly not been back to Italy since 1999. This brings us to Mediterranean Wholesalers on Sydney Road.

From the outside it’s just another Sydney Road facade, but as soon as you walk thru the doors the smells instantly transport you back to Italy. Everything, and I mean everything you want that is Italian and yum is here. EVERYTHING!!!

Coffee, pasta, cheese, salami, hams, lentils, anchovies, prosciutto, grappa, Barolo, Bardolino, canoli’s, bread, cake, sardines, tinned tomatoes, amore, beer, strega and even retsina. You know what, there’s even more.

Mediterranean Wholesalers is like Bunning’s – you go in there for some basil seeds and come out with three trailer loads of stuff that you don’t need, but hey, seemed like a good idea at the time.

Located at 482 Sydney Road, Mediterranean Wholesalers seems like it has been there forever. It is essentially split in too two areas – dry goods and deli area on the right and alcohol, coffee and bread on the left. The centre isle is essentially pasta heaven; any sort of pasta you can think of is here. The deli is down the back, but you already know this when you walk in from the scent of cheese and meat smallgoods. On the left there is a great assortment of wine, stuff that you will only find here, liqueurs, digestives and imported beers. And the beer is genuine, like the Stella Artois – this one is brewed in Belgium, not Sydney, and only $14 a six-pack – gold!

Also on the left is one coffee machine with one patrone behind the grips. You will not find any chai or soy or vanilla syrup. This guy makes coffee; cafe latte in the morning and espresso and macchiato in the afternoon. And if you get your daughter to ask nice, he will make a little hot chocolate for her.

Mediterranean Wholesalers is Italy in Melbourne. Lygon Street Carlton thinks it is Melbourne’s answer to Italy, but is so far off the mark when it comes to authenticity and quality. Mediterranean Wholesalers has the smell, or the stink - a really sweet stink, sound and soul of the Italy that I experienced 10 odd years ago (yeah yeah, I know it sounds corny).

By now you know I have a Birk rating for eateries. Now Mediterranean Wholesalers is not what you would call an eatery, but it has everything, so it is going to get a Birk – a gold one.

Buy your pasta there, buy your wine there and buy your cheese there. Just get there.

Season of Stout - 'Prickly Moses' Otway Stout

The very oddly named – and let’s be honest, every new beer or wine has a strange moniker – ‘Prickly Moses’ Otway Stout is pure and simply gorgeous; GORGEOUS!!!!!

Another great find from Blackheart and Sparrows down on Lygon, this stout is cram packed with flavour, and only 5% a/v, which compared to a few stouts I’ve had lately is very low.

This sexy stuff is chock-a-block full of coffee mocha and toffee flavours which go on and on. Made in the Macedon Ranges out at Barongarook, which is where my vineyard will be (that or a bistro – I’m taking bets for which one), the brewers use rain water from Cape Otway for a natural clean feel.

You will be stretched to get a better stout out there, and at $18 a six pack, this is great value. Fair dinkum! Drink with oysters natural or classic beef lasagne.