Had the Stockade Family Around for Beers

What better day is there than Easter Saturday to get stuck into a bunch of beers from a brewery you've never had a beer from before? Well the stars have aligned because Stockade Brew Co were kind enough to send me a four pack of their core range of beers to try (thanks Melissa).

I've not heard much about Stockade Brewing Co until quite recently. I've seen them pop up on Instagram a fair bit lately which they are quite active, but they don't have a presence in bottle shops in Brisbane yet. I'm always keen to try new beers and that's what I'm doing.

Peachy Keen Peach Gose

First cab of the rank is the Peachy Keen Peach Gose. Gose is one of those styles that I haven't had much exposure to but one that seems perfectly suited to warm weather. Today is once again a typical early-Autumn day in Brisbane (meaning stupidly humid and warm) so this is going down perfectly. Lots of peach flavour on the nose and palate, with a strong sour notes that cut right through the peach. Not very hoppy, leaves a peach juice aftertaste which is wholly enjoyable. Great start.

The Sesh Golden Session Ale

Most session type beers I've had in the past are hoppy, but The Sesh is different. Massive amount of malt complexity going on, with a sweet caramel flavour all the way through. Not overly bitter at first but as the sweet malt flavour disappears I'm left with a refreshing bitterness. I'm truly surprised how much I enjoy this beer, it's delicious.

Duel Hoppy Lager

The Duel Hoppy Larger is brewed with Vienna malt and Ella hops. Both kind of fighting each other to be the dominant flavour. I guess that's where the name "Duel" comes from. It's really interesting as I can taste the two flavours inter-playing with each other. Lagers aren't my favourite style but with the extra hoppiness it's going down very nicely.

Chop Shop Pale Ale

Last but not least is the Chop Shop Pale Ale. A hoppy American style pale ale brewed with Fuggles and Cascade Hops. Big hop flavours punctuated with pine, citrus and tropical fruits. A bit of sweetness that then transitions to a slight bitterness. Very moreish.

Packaging is great, each bottle has eye catching artwork as well as information about the beers (hops, malts, IBU's, food pairings etc). It's a small thing but is appreciated.

I've had a great little session with these Stockade Brew Co beers. I hope to see them in bottle shops up here in Brisbane sometime soon. I've also seen they do an Oak-Aged series of beers, how good does that sound!

Thanks for reading, and as always, drink well.
-BeerFoodBrisbane

Favourite New (to me) Beer - February 2016

February has come and gone. Another great month with plenty of truly exceptional beers to enjoy. There were however, three new beers that I was lucky enough to enjoy that stood out for me (all Aussies this month too).

Favourite new beer for the month though, was the Keller Door IIPA from 4 Pines Brewing Company.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BB4cF5HwtEx/

That's some wicked artwork on the bottle, but the contents of said bottle deserved it. Big bitter and hop flavours with a balanced malt backbone and tons of citrus and tropical fruits. I'm a fan of the Keller Door series of beers from 4 Pines but this is by far my favourite of the range. Hopefully we get to see this again next year. Please???

Another thing I wanted to mention too, there is so much popularity around 4 Pines and their Keller Door beers. Their core range is great, but all these limited release beers they do really gets the social media beers nerds excited. I love it!

A couple of special mentions (which were both enjoyed at The Mill last week).

Mornington Peninsula Brewery - The Beast. I might have gone into the Beast with the preconceived notion that I was going to enjoy it as the regular RIS from MP is great, so it's no surprise to see it in this blog post. The Beast has everything the regular RIS has but turned up to 11.

Boatrocker Brewing Company - Braeside Crown Cola. Probably the biggest surprise beer this month. I was expecting something sickly sweet and not that enjoyable but that wasn't the case at all. Smooth, bit of booze, hints of coconut, lovely warming feeling. So good I went back for a couple more.

March is going to be awesome for the Brisbane craft beer scene as it's Brewsvegas time! Lots of great events coming up. If you see my ugly face out and about come say hello.

Thanks for reading, and as always, drink well.

-BeerFoodBrisbane

Had the Bling Family Around for Beers

I've got a bit of an affinity for Bridge Road Brewers in country Victoria. I don't really know why, I've never been to the brewery before, but I've had a heap of their beers and there isn't one I've not enjoyed.

This week however, I was lucky enough to get fresh bottles of each of the members of the Bling family, so why not drink them back to back?

Little Bling IPA (3.4%) bottled on 01/12/2015
Bling IPA (5.8%) bottled on 14/01/2016
Bling Bling IIPA (8.5%) bottled on 05/01/2016

Today I'm going in order from low to high.

Little Bling, Little Bling, let me in! The Big Bad Wolf would have said this if IPA's were around in fantasy tales. Little Bling is the baby brother of the Bling and Bling Bling. Coming in at only 3.4% you'd expect this beer to be boring and bland, but it's not. Big hop flavours all the way through, with a bitterness that lingers on the palate for quite a while. There's also a mild malty sweetness that sits right back there but makes it so very enjoyable. For such a sessionable beer it's got so much damn flavour.

Bling. After very much enjoying Little Bling I've now cracked open the Bling. A 5.8% IPA which is similar to Little Bling except with everything amped up. More hoppy and more bitter but still quite balanced with a mild malty sweetness in there. Said bitterness also sits on the palate for much longer. While Little Bling can be enjoyed quite quickly it's bigger brother requires a bit more of a sipping drinking plan.

Both beers so far have poured a beautiful amber colour, with a head that is retained for quite a while.

Bling Bling. Pungent and fresh the Bling Bling IPA doesn't hold anything back. Huge hop bitterness all the way through, with a bit more sweetness than it's lower ABV brothers. Tell you what though, it's hides its 8.5% ABV really well. So damn tasty. Every sip brings the palate to life. You can't go wrong with this beer, you really can't.

Great fun drinking all the Blings back to back. If you get a chance to pick them all up at once I highly recommend it.

Thanks for reading, and as always, drink well.
-BeerFoodBrisbane

Mid Week Beer Geek Brewery Battle at The Mill

For the second time in two months The Mill on Constance Street held their Mid Week Beer Geek Battle. While I wasn't able to get to the first event (which pitted Jared 'The Beard' Palu representing Pirate Life against Gillian 'The Calamity' Letham representing Modus Operandi) I was luck enough to get to second event. The combatants this time around were two of  Brisbane craft beer scene brothers, Adam 'The Big Twin" Pollard representing Boatrocker against Matthew 'The Old Twin" Pollard representing Mornington Peninsula.

How does the challenge work? Each time you order a beer you're given a bottle cap, that bottle cap goes into one of the two jars marked with each breweries name. To make things easier it's possible to buy double tasters at a time with a little discount for getting two. Makes it really easy to buy two beers and work ones way through the tap list.

On Wednesday this week we had the following beers on tap.

Mornington Peninsula Brewery
Little Irish Red - Red Ale 3.5%
Pale Ale - American 4.7%
White IPA - IPA 6.3%
'The Beast' ( 2015) - Double Imperial Stout 11.3%

Boatrocker Brewing Company
Miss Pinky - Berliner Weisse 3.3%
Big Love Suburban Pale - Golden Ale 4.4%
Hop Bomb IPA - IPA 6.5%
Braeside Crown Cola - Scotch Ale 8.5%

Boatrocker is a brewery from Victoria that we don't really see all that often up here, and with the addition of The Beast from Mornington there was no way I was going to miss this.

Not being into sour beers I skipped the first from Boatrocker (and the first from MP) and started with the Pale Ale and the Big Love.

Here's a picture of my ugly face between them.

For what it's worth, this picture was taken as another attempt to win Brews and Bacon's current competition.

Both beers were tasty, but MP Pale is something I've had many times before and pushes no boundaries (not that that's a bad thing, it's excellent). The Big Love was different and interesting and not something I've had before, so my first vote went to Boatrocker.

Second round was the two IPA's. No pictures were taken as I'd had the White IPA from Mornington the night before at Newstead. The Hop Bomb from Boatrocker was the quintessential West Coast IPA. big bitterness and piney citrus flavours. Round two went to Boatrocker.

Round three, which is what I was most excited being a fan of the bigger percentage beers, didn't disappoint at all. By all accounts, The Beast from Mornington wasn't brewed on purpose but an accident. Too much of something, or too long doing something else in the brewing process created a beer much higher in percentage than was expected. So glad it was sent up to Brisbane as it was phenomenal

11.3% of RIS goodness.

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Braeside Crown Cola was also pretty amazing. Sweet like cola, with a smooth vanilla backbone. Hid it's alcohol really well.

Mmmmm

Being a sucker though, my token for that round went to Mornington.

After the three rounds of beers I finished the evening with two more glasses of the Braeside Crown Cola, getting a token for each and putting them into the Boatrocker Jar.

Final tally was four to Boatrocker, one to Mornington Penisula. And another massive token to The Mill and having a good time (that's not code for me leaving a poop un-flushed either).

I highly recommend (if you're not already) that you follow The Mill on Facebook. No doubt the March Mid Week Beer Geek Battle will be just as good and just as fun.

And sorry to Matt Pollard who's now drinking XXXX Gold in craft beer venues around Brisbane as punishment. Poor fella....

Thanks for reading, and as always, drink well.
-BeerFoodBrisbane

Taps Fortitude Valley

There's something to be said about pouring your own beer, it's real, it's honest, it's awesome. There's three ways you can do it: get a job in a bar, pretend you're Mal Meninga or head to Taps in Fortitude Valley.

Beer in the foreground, awesome (and huge) artwork in the background.

By far the easiest way is to head to Taps. It's a pretty great little spot on Brunswick Street in Fortitude Valley that's just done an update of their menu. Talking of their menu, tonight I was lucky enough to enjoy "The Clogger". A huge burger comprising of a wagyu beef pattie, bacon, cheese, mac n cheese with tarragon & chipotle mayo served on a brioche bun. Check out the picture below.

Served with seasoned chips, good!

Two things that were super memorable about the burger was the mac n cheese and the quality of the burger pattie. Mac n cheese and burgers go so well together and the burger at Taps was no exception. There's something about the gooey cheesiness that mixes so well with everything else that a burger brings to the table. But that wagyu pattie, wow. You can tell that it was made in house, from fresh mince, there was herbs and onion all through it, and it just fell apart as I ate it.

Beer and burger, the perfect combo

Amazing burger, well worth checking out if you're in the area and looking at filling your stomach.

There's a lot going on at Taps too. A new store is opening on the Gold Coast in the near future. Plus they have live music every Friday, Saturday and Sunday (with Sunday's music being more "Sunday Session" vibe), You can buy beers at the bar, or get a iButton, load it with credit and pour your own beers. Some of the tables inside have taps on them, and there's a whole wall of taps you can go up and pour yourself from. Check it out!

For the craft beer drinker, they've got a good selection. While I was there I had a Nomad Brewing Cruisin' Ale and a Young Henry's Hope Ale, and everything else on tap was craft. It was great :)

-BeerFoodBrisbane

Favourite New (to me) Beer - January 2016

January was another great month when it came to drinking awesome beers, and there was a heap of them. In my mind, four beers stood out and strangely, three of them were IPA's (if you look back you'll see the list is heavy on stouts).

The beer of the month for me was Big Shed Brewing Co's Californicator

It's not just the artwork that's awesome, the beer itself is phenomenal. A perfectly balanced west coast IPA that's huge in bitter, hoppy flavours all with a resounding fruit and citrus elements. I'd heard good things on social media in the past, but I didn't expect it to be this good. Which really is an error on my part as their Golden Stout Time kicks ass too. It's awesome to find their beers up here in QLD. I'll make it a mission to try more.

By the way, is that really the best beer label you've ever seen or what?

A couple of other great beers this month.

Grapefruit Viking IPA from Ekim Brewing Co. An awesome IPA that's made even more enjoyable by the addition of grapefruit.

Queen Anne's Revenge, an Imperial Stout brewed with Caribbean spices from Bacchus Brewing Co, then aged in rum barrels. Sounds awesome right? That's because it is. Hints of rum all the way through with the beautiful flavours of the stout.

Lastly, and probably the biggest surprise beer of the month for me was the Japanese Cowboy IPA from Mountain Goat. Showing that someone at Mountain Goat has a great sense of humor, this IPA is packed full of hops and citrus flavours, it's truly delicious.

An awesome couple of months are coming up for beer drinkers in Brisbane. What's got me excited is the release of the schedule of events for this years Brewsvegas. Last year was awesome, this year is going to be even better.

Newstead Brewing Co are still going strong with their Tuesday Tap Takeovers too. If you're ever in the area I highly recommend popping in and getting a paddle. Founders next week. Awesome!

Thanks for reading, and as always, drink well.

-BeerFoodBrisbane

Favourite New (to me) Beer - December 2015

That's the silly season done. After waking up with a rotten hangover on New Years Day I've finally gone back through my list of new beers for December 2015 and picked out my favourite new beer for the month. 

And that beer is... The Golden Stout Time from Big Shed Brewing Co

https://www.instagram.com/p/_ypbuYwtN_/

Golden Stout Time is a beer I've seen pop on social media a lot over the past six months or so. To finally see it in Brisbane and be lucky enough to grab a bottle was a real treat. Brewed with honeycomb and toffee to create the flavours of  Golden Gaytime, and boy did Big Shed make it work. One of the most interesting and enjoyable beers I've ever had. If you haven't had this before I highly recommend keeping an eye out of it.

I had a lot of new beers in December, here's a few others that I really enjoyed.

Garden of Eden from To Øl, which was like a fruit salad in a beer that worked so very well.

https://www.instagram.com/p/_bfL81wtGt/

And Yin & Yang from Evil Twin Brewing, perfect mixture of IPA and Stout.

https://www.instagram.com/p/_3IEcDQtOL/

Hellbender from Garage Project, spot on awesome Barleywine with some great artwork on the label.

https://www.instagram.com/p/_lJtd9wtDB/

Lots of cool stuff happening in January including the Hottest 100 Craft Beers countdown. Some say there are inherent problems with these sort of polls, but I'm not going to get into that. In all honesty, to me it's a bit of fun and another reason to spread the word about great Australian craft beer.

Thanks for reading, and as always, drink well.

-BeerFoodBrisbane