Beers that are no longer with us

Nothing good lasts forever...

This week I want to write about beers that are sadly no longer on bottle shop shelves, are no longer in advertisements and our taste buds are left with a bitter sweet feeling that we won’t taste them ever again.

I have no doubt that there are a lot of beers that have come and gone, but I have only been on the legal side of 18 for a few years and so far there are only three beers I dream about but will never get to drink again.

Boag’s Strongarm Bitter (1997 – 2006? unconfirmed):

A cool label

First of all I never got to even try this beer. It was phased out about the time I came of legal age and to this day wonder what it was like. The history behind the beer is interesting as it was made to represent the breweries arm wrestling team. A pale lager at 5.4% I bet it would have packed a punch. It was originally brewed in the early 1900’s to celebrate the achievements of the breweries arm wrestling team. The labelling was in my opinion encouraging. It was quoted to be a beer that blended gutsy malt flavours, rich hop characters, and a refreshing bitter finish. In 2004, Strongarm Bitter won four awards at the MADC Awards. In 2006, Strongarm Bitter was among many of the Boag’s range of beers to win a gold medal at the Monde Selection in Brussels – the world’s most prestigious beer awards. I couldn’t find any reference to what year that production stopped for this popular product. I visited the Boag’s Brewery Centre for Beer Lovers and asked them about it, even though the staff were very happy to help there was not one employee there that could answer my question.

Boag’s St. George (2004 - 2011):

Good times

The only Boag’s beer of my time to ever be bottled in clear glass, this was a unique design of a beer, made with citrus hops and brewed for gallant gentlemen at 4.8%. It was an easy drinking beer with a unique crisp flavour. Brewed exclusively with Tasmanian pale malts, the straw colour of the subtle lager has an exceptionally smooth finish. The beer was crisp, clean and dry. This in addition to Boag’s Premium were considered the two upper class beers, I remember it was about $7-8 a stubby out on the town but I was happy to pay that much for it. The advertising campaign reflected the nature of the beer, gallant men in suits, opening doors and helping ladies to their seats. I remember drinking an entire carton of this beer one Christmas Day and still had room for scotch afterwards. I kept the last stubby that I ever drank of it, but I think someone threw it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UitNTgc6vxk

Those were the days

Gallantry is back!

James Boag’s Pure (2009 – 2013?):

I'm lost without you...

This beer took a part of me with it when they stopped brewing it. An amazing but simple beer that I was proud to buy by the carton and sadly is only in our memories now. Boag’s has been trying to compete with VB on the Australian market, so when VB released VB Raw – a new design of beer with only four main ingredients – hops, barley, water and yeast, it was only natural that Boag’s would release their own version (Boag’s used only Tasmanian ingredients to make Pure). What they created was another amazing, great tasting beer that came in simple dark green bottles. The stubbies didn’t have labels at all, all that was needed to be said was printed onto the glass itself. This has been the only Boag’s beer that I know of that required a bottle opener. VB Raw disappeared from shelves and mind very early while Pure continued to be brewed. It broke my heart to return from Japan to discover that Pure was no longer available.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoGT-DlQEFo

It was beautiful

Only four simple ingredients were used

Two of these three beers were of my most highly regarded drinks (I never drank Strongarm Bitter so I can’t speak on behalf of it). I do hope one day that these beers can possibly be re-introduced back into the market, or even if Boag’s could brew them exclusively for me? For now though I must settle with other beer (not that I’m complaining about any other beer).

P.S If anyone from Boag’s Brewery ever reads this, PLEASE let me try these beers one last time.

If there are any beers no longer available that you miss, please let me know and I can share in your pain.

I guess I can’t keep dwelling in the past, there is a world full of beer out there for me to consume, until next time.

Cheers!

Dave “The Beer King” Claridge

St. Patrick's Day

St Patricks Day, best celebrated with Guinness

March 17 every year is the day where everyone can be Irish. For Dave’s Beers of The World I am going to cover St. Patrick’s Day and tell you what St. Patricks Day means to me.

Drink Guinness ;-)

First of all, this is virtually the only time of the year when you would catch me drinking Guinness. The dark, rich stout is not to be underestimated. One year I came home late after work and tipped four 500ml Guinness cans into a two litre beer glass. I proceeded to drink the contents at a faster than normal rate and about an hour later I was woken by a knocking on the door – I could feel hot water hitting my head and soaking my body. I was in the shower at 3am in the morning, with my clothes on. Needless to say I don’t remember getting into the shower and turning the water on but I am a bit more careful now when I handle the Irish liquor.

I forgetted afta too manny beeers

Second, St. Patrick’s Day, a part of Irish culture emanates green, which is my favourite colour.

St. Patricks Day is a cultural and religious celebration that marks the death of Saint Patrick (he died on March 17), the foremost patron saint of Ireland. St. Patrick was a Christian Priest who converted thousands in his day, using the three leafed shamrock to do so.

When I think of Irish culture I think back to the cult classic movie The Boondock Saints, and its sequel, All Saints Day. I just wish they would make the third movie though. The movie is filled with Irish references with a lot of funny moments, interesting characters and lots of drinking and swearing. Did I mention about all of the action as well? If you haven’t seen these amazing movies I have attached a link to a part of the first movie below.

Getting back to the topic of drinking…

An Irish stew

If you are wanting to celebrate St. Patricks Day in your own way and you are having a Guinness then I think you are doing it properly. Something else to do would be eat an Irish stew – I had one at a local restaurant last week, chunks of lamb, carrots, potatoes and peas cooked in a mouth-watering broth and heaped over a mound of mashed potato.

If you are adventurous enough with your drinking I recommend an Irish Car Bomb: Get a pint of Guinness and drop a shot glass full of Jameson and Bailey’s into it before drinking.

Cheers!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d46hgS4CVi4 

Boag's XXX Ale (Red)

This week's beer is Boag's XXX Ale (Red)

Boag's XXX Ale, more commonly known as Boag’s Red is another fine product by the James Boag’s Brewery in my home city of Launceston. This beer in particular has been brewed since 1883 and is one of the Breweries unique beers in that it isn’t sold outside of Tasmania. Even with this limitation it continues to sell in large quantities across the state with a cult-like following.

Stubbies or cans? which do you prefer?

Available in stubbies, cans and now on tap the brightly coloured packaging and label has earned it the “Red” nickname. It has a clean and crisp taste with good hop bitterness. Its light golden glow appearance is attractive to me as a beer drinker. The price ranges depending on where you buy it, a carton should set you back around $50 while on tap prices are different per establishment.

Boag’s Red is 4.8% ABV and the label features a figure on a horse battling a dragon. James Boag’s has been using St. George on their beer labels which gives them a tough and resilient image.

Old School Red

This is a quote direct from the Boag’s website about their products: “Today, the James Boag Brewery still insists on using crisp Tasmanian water, and only the finest hops and barley, to produce a range of exceptional beers. Each bottle we make represents the purity and wonder of our island home, and our ongoing commitment to brewing excellence.” www.boags.com.au/history

Let’s see what the other critics think:

Ratebeer.com: Mixed reviews, averaging 2.5 out of 5. Ratebeer.com even refers to this Ale actually being a lager.

Beeradvocate.com: Once again mixed reviews with an average rating of 2.75 out of 5.

Untapped.com: Mainly good reviews. 2.96 out of 5.

While researching this beer I learned that the odd name for this beer attracts alternate pictures if you don’t have “safe search” enabled on Google.

I was surprised more by what I didn't find though. After over 100 years of people drinking this beer I found very little about it. I am curious about why it is named XXX Ale since it is a Lager but the internet didn't seem to have an answer for me - investigation is ongoing.

If you live in Tasmania I hope you have already been to this place, if you are from somewhere else this is a building you must visit – The Boag’s Centre for Beer Lovers. This is a merchandise shop, bar and part of the brewery tour all rolled into one.

GO HERE!!!

I love this place

Boag’s Red is one of my favourites and I hope it becomes one of yours too!

Red on tap is hard to find but worth it

If this beer doesn’t tempt you to visit Tasmania then I don’t know what will!

Cheers,

Boag’s uses Tasmania’s amazing water to make their products – see for yourself by clicking on this link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94syGYcdGcU

Samuel Adams Boston Lager

Samuel Adams BL

I’ve been going in a pattern, one week an Australian beer, the week after an international one. I decided to break this habit as I was craving a beer that I rarely drink but do think of from time to time.

            

            Believe it or not but I ventured out of the BWS bottle shops to find this one as they don’t seem to stock it at all.

            

            I like to think that I know a lot about America but in reality I probably don’t. Most of what I would claim to know would be from watching American sitcoms and cartoons for most of my life. Shows such as Two and a Half Men and the Simpsons have given me the impression that alcohol consumption is a common thing over there, but then I wonder (aside from whiskey) what it is they are drinking. I know that Homer Simpson drinks Duff – which you can buy here (in Australia) and I hope to do a write up of one day. I hear a lot of references to Budweiser which boasts is the King of Beers on its cans and stubbies, I have drunk Budweiser many times before, I will admit that it is beer but not a good quality one due to its ingredients such as rice to make it cheaper. Even in Japan you could find Budweiser in many convenience stores which shows its level of influence.

A very colourful label

            

            The beer I want to talk about though is considered to be of much better quality and in fact helped lead the American beer revolution. Samuel Adams Boston Lager at first sight is brightly coloured with the blue, white and red of the USA, the logo is of someone in pre-modern clothing, almost like The Patriot movie starring Mel Gibson. 

            Its taste hits you and wants you to drink more and more. When I visit a hard rock Café or a foreigner bar and wanted to drink something of quality I would almost always choose a Samuel Adams.

            

            While I was researching more about this beer I visited the official website and was surprised to find that the brewery only started in 1984 – which makes it only a few years older than me…

Mel Gibson, an "Australian" Patriot

          

This beer is in fact a craft beer, and as I stated above helped to lead the beer revolution, which the brewery likes to creatively compare to the American Revolution (I apologise in advance to friends from the UK). I can picture Mel Gibson's' character slaughtering a heap of British soldiers then with a Samuel Adams in hand flicking the cap off with his tomahawk and lifting his head back to pour it down his throat. Samuel Adams was an actual American Revolutionary Patriot who fought for American Independence and was one of the Founding Fathers of the USA.

            According to beer-universe.com this beer is rated highly, referring to its use of German Noble aroma hops, which are hand selected by the owner. Noble hops cost around twenty times more than normal hops. It is also listed in the (BWS) Beer Bible (2007) as one of America’s best beers.

It pours well by the looks of it

            The tasting notes from the Noble hops include a range of floral, piney and citrus, while the barley (known as two row barley) gives a full and smooth body as well as a wide spectrum of malt flavour, ranging from slightly sweet to caramel to slightly roasted.

          Even though it is highly ranked it is unfortunately hard to locate outside of the USA, most bottle shops around my area know of it but don’t stock it. I found it at a Liquor Stax in Launceston so I recommend to try them first if you know of one nearby.

Ribs at Hard Rock Cafe Tokyo

            This brings back fond memories at the Hard Rock Café where a giant plate of BBQ ribs is staring back at me, I take a swig from my cold Samuel Adams stubby before picking up the fork and steak knife, ready to devour the massive meal.

            

            Cheers!

This is a Samuel Adams parody by the comedian Dave Chappelle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ji1-BqaLaE

I want one of those glasses!

Pistonhead Kustom Lager

Until I purchased this strange looking beer I knew very little about Sweden and even less about any brews that come from there. This isn’t because I’m not interested but because I have never seen anything Sweden related on sale anywhere and nobody seems to talk about the place. For this weeks’ post I wanted to get out of Australia and sample something that doesn’t seem to be well known. While shopping for a different brew I realised that I should visit places other than BWS when I choose the beer of the week for discussion. What appealed to me though about Pistonhead Kustom Lager was a complete lack of knowledge of this product and its ‘racy’ packaging.

The brand is owned by Spendrups Bryggeri (which I have no idea how to pronounce) since its creation in 2011. But for a beer that’s still only young it has already captivated beer drinkers across the world. Many commenting that it is an easy drinking beer, and even a session drinking beer. Of course with everything there is someone who isn’t happy, negative comments about a watery taste and not much flavour make me wonder if they got the proper product http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/4087/73876/. It isn’t as hoppy as an Australian craft beer and not as familiar as a local tap beer but I enjoyed the six pack that I bought for only $15.

"Custom brewed with a double-clutch of munchener malt and pilsner malt injected with spalter select, magnum and perle hops. Pistonhead is an easy drinking craft lager, crisp and dry, it pours a bright gold and is the ultimate balance of flavour and bitterness." https://www.danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_787115/pistonhead-kustom-lager-cans

An interest in visiting and reporting on the world has now peaked my curiosity from research into Sweden which has pointed out that Sweden was the first country in the world with freedom of the press in 1766 and is currently at the top of global press freedom rankings (www.studyinsweden.se). Even though Swedish is the primary language of Sweden, English is known and practiced by a majority of the population. A quick visit to the beer companies’ website will show that they have a good grasp of English and want to appeal to foreigners apart from the fact that they spell their beer as Kustom Lager (www.brutalbrewing.se).

Thank you to Sweden for bringing us a piece of their beer culture.

Cheers