Beechworth Pale Ale

Once again while staring at the contents of the fridges at my local bottleshop I couldn’t decide what I would be drinking that night. I asked one of the friendly staff what he recommended. James suggested I look at some of the Pale Ales which he likes and I settled for one with Ned Kelly as their logo.

A new favourite

                Examining my first one before drinking it I noticed how the stubby had a scale on the label for the malt and hop profiles of the beer. This one in particular, Beechworth Pale Ale is tweaked from season to season and from my first taste I was hooked. This beer hits your taste buds and keeps on hitting until you finish it. I enjoyed it so much that I had another and another and before I knew it there was five empty stubbies beside me. It is definitely a craft beer as it contains more hops than standard beer and is the benchmark brew of Bridgeroad Brewers in Beechworth.

                Until then I had never heard of Bridgeroad Brewers, a quick check of their website (www.bridgeroadbrewers.com.au) though shows that they have created one good looking business for themselves. Ten years ago the owner Ben Kraus started off in his Father’s back shed, brewing what has now become one of the most recognised craft breweries in Australia.

“At Bridge Road Brewers we constantly tweak our beers and develop new recipes to satisfy the curiosity of ourselves and our customers alike. We are not prepared to just pump out a couple of run of the mill ales or have our beer brewed under license by someone else. We prefer to create beer from scratch, using our own production equipment on our own site in our home town of Beechworth, its our passion, not a hobby or a chance to make a quick buck.”

                The website includes a map of Australia which shows where they have their beers on tap, mostly in Melbourne and Perth but I’m sure that in time their business will continue to expand.

                Looking at the large selection of brews I was amazed and dying to try them already, from a Christmas themed one Fat Man, Red Suit, Big Sack to Posse Winter Ale. It seems that only the Pale Ale is available in Launceston where I live but luckily you can order any of the brews online. In addition to that, the company has some great merchandise for sale, including beer glasses, t-shirts, even a trucker cap.

                What really has peaked my interest on the website is the link “Posse”. It is a sort of beer sample pack which they mail every quarter or two months for the thirstier customers. Prices are $68 per pack and $15 shipping if you live in Tasmania for a carton of Bridgeroad Breweries beers, including 12 seasonal bottles of beer, six bottles of contrasting beer and six that suit your favourite style preferences. I will admit that $83 every two (or three) months for a carton of beer seems pretty expensive but I will point out that you get delivered a CARTON of beer to your doorstep and the first delivery comes with a stubby holder. I’m going to sign up once I put this post online.

                I am so glad that I have been introduced to this beer and brewery (thanks James), their style is something to be proud of, their benchmark beer is one I will add to my frequent flyer list and I will definitely visit their website to make some orders. I hope you get to try this craft beer and see what I now see as one product that makes me proud to be a beer drinker.

Ned Kelly is an interesting choice for a logo

They have beer glasses

T-shirt and a 6-pack

Until next time,

Cheers

Stubbies or Cans?

Not only do I like to talk about what kinds of beer there are but what beer comes in as well. The two main containers are made of glass or metal, both hold the same product but many people swear that one is better than the other.

The following is a summary of what I discovered on beerbrewguru.com. Before factories existed to churn out countless stubbies (bottles for non-Australians) and cans, beer was stored in wooden barrels and gravity poured. The reason it is available now in both cans and stubbies is because it tastes different in cans while stubbies are still big sellers.

No flat tyres today

If you ask my father he would tell you that beer from cans has a bad metal taste, but if you asked someone that I used to work with (name withheld) they often asked me if I drank cans or stubbies. I would always reply with stubbies, they would then remind me why they drink from cans – so they didn’t get a flat tyre on the way to work the next day. I still laugh when I think about that. For the record I do not condone drinking and driving.

An Australian six pack

Cans and stubbies range in sizes, cans can generally be bought at 375ml or 500ml. Stubbies seem to be more alternate in size, the standard size in Australia is of course 375ml (standard size in Japan is 355ml) but more and more breweries are selling their product in slightly smaller bottles (330ml, 355ml for example), luckily you can still buy stubbies that are 750ml (called longnecks).

Look at the size of this beer!

My time in Japan changed me, the only way to buy bottles of beer was to buy longnecks individually and if I wanted a carton I had to settle for cans. This was a big change for my drinking habits as I am a stubby drinker by nature but will sometimes stray to cans if that is all that’s available. The local brew Otaru Beer was somewhat around for purchase in stubbies, they looked like the odd VB shaped bottles. But there was one can that I was glad to drink from. Asahi were selling a 2 Litre, yes 2 LITRE can of Asahi beer. This monster was so big that it has a plastic handle on the side for you to hold it and a screw cap for those who can’t finish it and can put it back in the fridge (I will never admit to doing that!), the downside is that by the time you get to the bottom that it isn’t the same when you started once it has warmed up a bit. To my surprise upon my return I learned that my all-time favourite bottle shop BWS (Beer, Wine and Spirits) was selling this monster of a can so I picked up a box of six to keep me busy. (Insert subliminal message: shop at BWS)

Otaru Beer

A true stubby, short and fat

I don't know where to begin...

Cans and stubbies both have good and bad aspects when it comes to drinking. A can can be crushed and disposed of easily. Whereas a stubby if broken makes a hell of a mess (especially if it was still full of beer) and when the recycling truck empties your bin however often it comes they hear the clanging of unbroken bottles and just sigh from the assumption that I’m a raging alcoholic (the jury is still out on that one though). The biggest issue with cans and stubbies though is that they run out, probably because there is a hole in the top, then you have to go on a hunt for another one. 

Price wise there isn’t normally a difference, the packing is of course different and a carton of cans is not as big as a carton of stubbies. But Australian bottle shops though now sell blocks, a block is a 30 can box of beer, which gives you an extra six beers for a few extra bucks.

Beer is good for health

Australians love to collect these

Australians like to drink their beer of choice in cooler type devices called stubby holders. I will point out the obvious that they are called stubby holders which means that embedded in Australian drinking culture is the name stubby over can. For those who don’t know much about Australian terminology a stubby by definition is short and thick – which only really suits VB or Otaru Beer. But in Australia, calling a stubby a bottle is similar in the fire service to calling a Breathing Apparatus cylinder a bottle – its incorrect and you have to shout a beer to everyone who heard you say that.

Stubby strip - for long missions

Glassing is not cool

During my research I learned that pathologists in 2009 (this is from Wikipedia) determined that a beer stubby is strong enough to crack a human skull. This is a bad thing in that someone intoxicated with a potential glass weapon could cause harm to another, in contrast if you threw an empty can at somebody you would simply piss them off. I am assuming that you would only ever throw an empty container and not waste good beer.

Glass containers come in different colours depending on the beer and the brewery, I have heard on many occasions on how the colour of the glass can affect the beer, for example, people believe that a clear glass stubby when in prolonged contact with light (fridge or sun light) will lose its quality. It turns out (from berghoffbeer.com) that the Ultra Violet rays from the sun break down the alpha acids in hops which when then react with the sulphur present in the beer to form a chemical that is almost identical to the chemical that skunks use to spray predators. It has also been discovered that green bottles only offer very little protection from light – which is why I’ve seen many Pure Blonde stubbies returned by customers because they stink from being left in the lit up fridge for too long. 

This looks like it was a good night

Tinting the stubbies is the same idea as tinted sunglasses, to keep the UV rays out of your eyes and your beer. The colours of the glass many years ago represented the quality of the beer, clear meant cheap while brown meant it was a higher class of beer. These days though the colour of the bottle no longer represents class or quality, it will mainly be chosen due to marketing or to make the stubby stand out in the fridge. The author of the website points out the best way to store beer is in a cold and DARK location.

Its a habit to crush a can when finished

Regardless of the colour of the can the beer is hidden inside. They are stackable and you can satisfyingly crush the can when you have finished – feeling like a super beer hero who can warp metal with his/ her bare fingers. There is one thing you can do with cans that you can’t do with stubbies – shotgun. I’ve seen this on TV and at many parties where people stab the bottom area of a can and crack the top, the gravity feeding in from the top forces the beer out of the bottom hole faster than normal. It is fun to watch but messy if not done correctly.

I might go and try some cans and stubbies to figure out which is the best of the two.

I love beer!

Cheers

Beers of Mexico

This weeks topic: Mexican Beer

So far I’ve covered beer in Australia (Tasmania to be precise) and Japan. While at work recently I searched the fridges for something that isn’t from Australia for my next review. The only one I could find sadly was Corona and Sol. Both are Mexican beers and both are in competition to be the world’s best Cerveza (Mexican for beer I think?). So I had the idea to compare the two and deliver my judgement.

            

There is something very different about these two beers as opposed to pretty much everything else you can order from a fridge at a bar. (Good) Bartenders will ask if you want a slice of lemon or lime with the beer. Why do they only ask with these beers and not with a Boag’s Draught or a VB? I mean if someone ordered a Cascade Draught why don’t they get a slap around the head to go with it? (Only Joking to any Cascade fans out there!). Mexico is famous for another kind of popular alcohol – tequila which drinking is synonymous with a bit of salt and lemon or lime. I have heard that there are two ways of doing a shot of tequila though (apart from straight shot after straight shot) where you lick some salt of the back of your hand, do the shot then suck on the fruit. A more intriguing version of the tequila slammer called the tequila suicide where you snort the salt, do the shot and squirt the fruit into your eye – resulting in a morning after with a salty nose, a hangover (for some) and sore eyes from the citrus squirting.

How much did I drink last night?

            

Corona from where you would rather be

Corona (Extra) is a beer of Mexican origin (born in 1925) which has an alcohol volume of 4.6%. Ironically breweries worldwide brew 4.6 billion litres per year. It holds the title of one of the five best beers in the world. A carton of 325ml stubbies will set you back about $50 on a good week at the local bottle shop. I have always known that you can buy Corona in cans but could never find them except for a little convenience store in Tokyo, Japan. I’m going to ignore the fact that I drank a can of Corona before because I love Corona, but I didn’t like what I tasted in the can. What makes Corona different is in the brewing process. I have learned through research that Corona is made with barley, malt, rice and/ or corn, hops, yeast and antioxidants mostly. Because of what is in Corona it is considered an almost gluten-free beer, it contains less gluten than other brands of beer. Previous packaging of Corona is appealing to beer drinkers of many countries. The six packs feature eight different languages for beer (including Japanese), I’m sure if you could read beer in at least one of those languages then you would be glad that Mexico brewers want you to drink their product. A problem for the clear bottles is that prolonged exposure to sunlight and transporting worldwide will destroy it (best drunk at the source – Mexico). Going back to my point of lemon or lime in the beer I will admit that I think Corona tastes better with one, people online argue that this is to give flavour to flavourless beer but I disagree. I believe it adds novelty to a beer which is branded as a tropical, summer themed beer. Price: Around $50-$60 a carton.

            

After research and asking my knowledgeable sources (Thanks Lisa) I have learned that the origin of using lemon or lime comes from two reasons, first, in Mexico, bottle caps are prone to rust and by using a wedge of lemon or lime to clean the rim it ensures you can still drink the beer. The second reason is because of insects, flies and other bugs that could fly into the beer, Mexican beer drinkers will plug the top of their beer with a piece of fruit and take it out when they go to have a drink. Australians (as far as I know) took this one step further and poked the fruit into the beer.

            

Now is time for Sol to defend itself. Sol was first made in 1899 and currently sells more in Mexico than Corona does. I tried to do some research about Sol on my phone but the official website doesn’t seem to want to give me access. After many attempts to find websites that would talk about Sol most gave very poor reviews for Sol that is exported from Mexico. In the interest of getting this article out to the public I will leave Sol with very little to say for itself and will hopefully provide more information when I can find it. Price: Around $40-$45 a carton.

I take this job very seriously

I decided to perform an experiment. Going to my nearest bottle shop I went shopping and bought the Mexican beer they had available. With one of each I decided to perform a test, drink each one without fruit and give my judgement of them. Dos Equis is a lesser known brand of beer from Mexico which was also available so I added that to the experiment.

Here are my findings.

Dos Equis:

Dos Equis

Because I don’t ever remember drinking this before I decided it would start the experiment. The green bottle was appealing to me as I love the colour green. But from the first taste I realised that it wasn’t a very good tasting beer. It was flat tasting with a nasty finish, I forced myself to finish it and don’t plan to buy it again. I doubt that lemon or lime would even improve it at all.

Sol know how to sell beer

Sol:

I was asked by my local bottle shop to up sell this product because it is one of their sponsored drinks. To be honest, I tried Sol next with a washed out mouth and it tasted very similar to Dos Equis, a bland beer with a bad after taste. I was disappointed after I tried this beer. I don’t doubt that it is a big seller (especially in Mexico) but I don’t rate it as a beer I would choose to buy from a bar or bottle shop in Australia. My idea of beer is one I have developed over many years and there are beers that I love, hate and beers that I love to hate. I’m not sure which one to class this under though. I would have to try this from the source and discover why it is the best selling beer in Mexico.

Mexican hap

Corona:

Possibly the first time I had ever had one without fruit (excluding the can in Japan) I was hoping for some redemption in the experiment. I will admit that the beer tasted like beer without the fruit and was a little difficult to drink, however, it was much better than drinking the other two. My findings are that Corona should still be consumed with fruit.

Findings:

Mexican beer is a law unto itself, the three main beers are there for all to see and do have varying success across the world. From my point of view though, Dos Equis and Sol are cheaper and poorer quality beers. If I wanted to drink Mexican I would always choose Corona, with a slice of lemon or lime on a hot day.

When I started writing this I thought that Mexican beer was going to be straightforward to write about. However, I now feel that I have barely scratched the surface. To be a true critic I need to go to Mexico to find out about the place where these unique brews come from. Mexican beer isn’t high on my favourite beer list but it is still something I recommend you to try.

Drink Corona

I feel like a Corona right now.

Cheers