Xmas Advent Calendars 2016 Dec 21 - 24

Here are the last eight beers for you to drool over…

December 21

Stillwater Artisinal Vacuum Readymade/ Stillwater

A boring looking beer and an overly strong taste at 8% and made in America, not one of my favourites. Why have an iron on a label? I don’t like it that much.

Murray’s Fred IPA

Murray’s are right when they say they don’t make boring beer, this good beer is late hopped using us pacific north west hops. Best paired with smoky and spicy food, I like the sound of that.

December 21

December 22

Feral Karma Citra

First of all there are two rabbits going at it on the label. This India black ale is a ‘sexed-up’ IPA, using citra hops with dark malts to create a pleasant and unique tasting beer.

Mikkeller Hello Ich Bin Berliner Weisse

For the last can in the beer adventure I was a bit uncomfortable with this one, it smelt bad and upon taste it was hard to drink. A strange tasting beer for a peculiar market, not mine apparently. A Belgian beer brewed with peaches, try it if you like fruity beer.

December 22

December 23

Food match with Tempura Fairy Wings

Bridge Road Magical Christmas Unicorn Vanilla Icecream Ale

I wish you could have seen the smile on my face when I found this in the carton. Highly sought after and hard to find. Bridge Road have put their heads together and come up with probably the most peculiar beer I’ve ever heard of but I’ll give them 10/10 for creativity. This vanilla ice cream beer is beer don’t forget but has a vanilla ice cream taste – you’ll probably have to try it to believe me. To the right is a picture of the side of the label, I like their description of the beer. I highly recommend this if you can find them around this time of the year.

Bridge Road Fat Man Red Suit Big Sack

I’ve hit the jackpot. I’ll admit, I wasn’t expecting this from Saint John but they have bounced back and put a Christmas beer in the carton, this was one I was hoping to find in the Bridge Road carton since its one of theirs. Unlike the amazing Vanilla Icecream Ale this one is an Australian Christmas Beer, using a combination of Australian hops to create an amazing red ale.

December 23

December 24

Bridge Road Fat Man Red Suit Big Sack

Bridge Road Magical Christmas Unicorn Vanilla Icecream Ale

This made me chuckle as the calendars have had the same attack for the finish line but just crossed over. I’ve already said what I think about these beers so I will share with you my final verdict, then you can get back to your Christmas drinking.

December 24

Both advent calendars had a very different approach and were presented in different ways. They had pros and cons for each.

Bridge Road and Friends:

A real advent calendar with doors to peel back each day

A properly designed carton

A lot of nice beers with a perfect Christmas finish

Supporting Australian brewers

Saint John:

The beers are individually wrapped meaning you can chill them and not get the surprise until you are ready to drink.

More access to the insane and bizarre, a fermented sour fruit beer, cans

A perfect Christmas finish.

The verdict.

I loved working through both of these cartons, but this year I will award the best to the Bridge Road and Friends Advent Calendar, they ticked more boxes and performed better overall. I believe that this is a fixed carton and will be identical every year, by all means, I highly recommend you get one of these next year, it is very much worth the $100 if you love beer. Having said that back to back Saint John cartons were completely different which means next year will hopefully be different again and therein lies the fun, not knowing what is coming next.

I’ve had 48 beers in the 24 days leading up to Christmas, there have been many interesting and some scary beers, I’ve recommended quite a few if you want to try something new and hopefully helped you to avoid some scary ones.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to my readers, thank you for your support this year which has been beyond fantastic.

Stay tuned next year as there will be many more exciting blog posts to see and many more crazy stories to share.

Beerfest in Launceston is on January 13 and 14, I hope to see you there.

In the meantime,

Cheers,

Dave

Xmas Advent Calendars 2016 Dec 16 - 20

Let's continue on...

December 16

Jopen Koyt Gruitbier

This Netherlands beer had me curious once unwrapped, brewed following the beer law of 1407 and made with oats I went into this with curiosity. The harsh truth is that it smelt bad, it tasted bad and it had floaties, the girlfriend tipped it down the sink because she couldn’t stand me struggling trying to drink it…

Bridge Road Bling Bling

I needed something different to get the bad taste out of my mouth and this was it. An imperial IPA (remember that imperial means a stronger version) which is the big brother of December 10 beer Bling. A Bridge Road beer this one is stronger at over 8% and was strong with a hop and malt taste unlike any other, not a quick drink but a good flavoursome beer.

December 16

December 17

Nail Red Ale

This was a redeeming night as this was one of two beers that went down really quick and tasted well. American inspired, made in Perth, WA, this was a very nice floral and citrus tasting beer with hints of caramel.

Sierra Navada Hop Hunter IPA

This American IPA is made with pure hop oil which adds to an amazing IPA experience, I recommend this one.

December 17

December 18

Sierra Navada Narwahl Imperial Stout

Back to back days for Sierra Navada, a dark beer with a mighty punch being an imperial. Narwahls are an almost extinct sea creature with a long horn on its face. This high-altitude beer was a challenge given its dark nature but was pleasant.

Bridge Road Little Bling

The little brother to Bling Bling and Bling, with the same idea in mind this is a mid-strength beer that was pleasant and enough to help me through the strong-tasting stout I had first.

December 18

December 19

Hargreaves Hill Extra Special Bitter

A much better bitter than any VB you will ever try, this one with a boring label has fruity aromas of passionfruit and grapefruit which is made by ‘dry-hopping’, giving the beer pungency and depth. Different to what I’ve been drinking so far but a good different.

Moo Brew Single Hop

It’s been a while since we tasted a good Tassie beer, Moo Brew usually brew in stubbies but this single hop is one of their unique beers. A 500ml can, giving you a bit extra it is made with enigma hops to give it a floral feel. Very nice.

December 19

December 20

Bridge Road Chevalier Saison

Bridge Road must have put their entire range into this carton, the Chevalier Saison is unique compared to their other more colourful labelled beers, this one feels more fancy and being a saison it has a particular taste about it, not a bad taste but very distinctive to saison beers.

Kaiju! Metamorphosis IPA

Time for a kaiju, Japanese for monster, this Victorian made craft beer is from a creative brewery. Made with a citrus and floral feel in mind you can really taste the hops in this while you admire the interesting label. I haven’t had many Kaiju! Beers before but want to try more.

December 20

Have you got your presents wrapped and under the tree yet?

Only eight more beers over four days, what will we have left in the lead up to Christmas?

Cheers,

Dave

Xmas Advent Calendars 2016 Dec 11 - 15

Hello beer lovers, we are reaching the halfway mark of this adventure.

Want to know what else is in the cartons? Then continue reading.

December 11

Van Dieman Oatmeal Stout

As you already know, dark beers aren’t high on my list, this one in particular boasts an espresso feel to it, I don’t like coffee and I struggled with this one.

Brewcult Reset Robot Pale Ale

A mid strength beer at best, this was a nice palate changer after the dark beer. Brewcult have a funny cartoony kind of character on their logos, their beer is usually of a new age variety and they are doing a good job with their products.

December 11

December 12

Bridge Road Chestnut Porter

At first I was very curious about this one, I don’t have much experience with nut flavoured beer. But if I had to rate this as a hit or a miss I would call it a miss, it was a strange beer and I struggled to get through it.

Naparbier The Crimson Bird Saison with Raspberries

After the chestnut porter I was hoping for something different to change the taste in my mouth, then I unwrap this, from Spain, this is a very peculiar beer indeed, of course it has a very fruity smell, the taste is somewhat sour and fruity. It didn’t go down fast as I wanted to keep sampling the taste, it was unlike anything I’ve ever had before. Might have to try another one before I pass a final verdict.

December 12

December 13

Murray’s Angry Man Pale Ale

I’ve had this before and I really like it, it’s a cheeky Australian beer with a person boxing with a kangaroo on the label. Using malts and hops from several countries this is a beer I would go back and drink over and over again.

Last Rites Horn of Diligence Pale Ale

Hopefully you remember another product from Last Rites a few posts ago, a Tasmanian brewery, they are known for their unique beers. This caught me by surprise as it was nothing like I expected, this is a very different tasting pale ale, it went down like most other beers.

December 13

December 14

Bridge Road Beechworth Pale Ale

I was expecting it and was glad to peel open another door to find this one. The Beechworth Pale Ale was my introduction to this amazing craft beer company in Victoria. It has been a while since I had one so it was great to get a taste for it again. It is made from four hop varieties from three continents.

Dainton Extra Session Ale

Dainton is another favourite craft beer brewer of mine and anything to do with an extra session usually gets my attention. From their can it explains that this is their bastard love-child, kicking and screaming into the world with a whole lot of heart. The first Dainton canned beer I’ve ever had, it gets my approval.

December 14

December 15

Moon Dog Old Mate Pale Ale

Moon Dog have redeemed themselves after an overly dark beer earlier on. This unique pale ale with a peach/ citrus hop taste is the exact opposite and is a very nice beer to drink.

Venom Golden Ale

I’ve had this in random packs before, it is an average tasting Victorian craft beer using New Zealand hops.

December 15

Christmas is almost here, keep on drinking.

Cheers,

Dave

Xmas Advent Calendars 2016 Dec 6 – 10

Welcome back to Dave’s Beers of the World where we only talk about beer, maybe cider sometimes.

We’re back into the second part of this years Advent Calendar challenge.

In case you haven’t read the other two I’ve purchased two very different craft beer advent calendars, I will tell you as much as I can about them and fill you in on the goodies they contain. Will one of them stand out better than the other? We will have to get to December 24 to find out.

Warning, spoilers ahead.

December 6

December 6

Bridge Road Golden Ale

Bridge Road have their name all over the carton so it should come as no surprise that most of the beers are from their brewery. This is based on the original first recipe that Bridge Road used back in 2005 when they were brewing out of a ‘shed’. Made with locally grown hops it has a very nice character.

Modus Operandi IPA

For can #2 in the adventure this one was a big 500ml container of liquid joy. Modus are a well-known Australian craft beer brewer, based in NSW. The Sonic Prayer IPA is made with ‘mind-altering’ amounts of new world hops and has a very nice fruity feel, with hints of passionfruit, citrus and peach.

December 7

December 7

Big Shed Kol Schisel German Pale Ale

This beer really threw me, I wasn’t expecting anything like this, the German themed beer has bread and malt flavours that make it taste like a very classy Victorian tap beer. Only at 4.2% it isn’t as strong but was a pleasure to sample.

Brewdog Five AM Red Ale

A UK alternative craft beer, this one is made with five different malts and had a peculiar taste, not a bad one, just different, it gave me a bit of a jolt.

December 8

December 8

Bridge Road Enigma New World Pilsner

The Australian grown hop Enigma is where this beer gets its name, this is a new style beer with a traditional European pilsner feel has a nice flavour and bite to it, I hope to get more of these one day.

Pirate Life Pale Ale

A South Australian brew, this was a nice beer wrapped in a plain can, Pirate Life have produced many great beers over the time.

December 9

December 9

Feral Hop Hog

I’ve had this one a few times, a Western Australia beer packed with American hops. It is a good quality beer with a slight fruity taste.

Iron House London Honey Porter

I’m a big fan of Iron House brewery (Tasmania) as you well know, I had no idea they made this until I unwrapped it from the Saint John carton. Honey beers are odd in my opinion, I’ve tried quite a few and they are an acquired taste. A porter is a dark style beer originally from London from well-hopped beers made from brown malt. A honey addition to this makes it probably the most intriguing beer so far, I didn’t not like drinking it but I’m not sure if I would buy it in bulk in the future.

December 10

December 10

Bridge Road Bling India Pale Ale

Another fun brew by the flagship brewer for the advent calendar. This one is known for the large amount of hops added, rating nine out of ten on their hop scale. Very much an IPA, this is a very good one.

Trappistes Rochefort

This one caught me by surprise once I unwrapped it. A Belgian beer with a 10% alcohol rating has added a new depth to this adventure. Being a strong beer it was potent and a bit difficult to drink, needless to say, once I was finished after having this beer second I definitely felt buzzed. For that strength I would imagine that this once will cost a bit but it was a fun ride.

I have really enjoyed every beer between the two cartons so far, a lot of variety and different styles. Christmas is getting closer, have you decided what beer you will be drinking when the big man in the red suit comes?

Cheers,

Dave

Xmas Advent Calendars 2016 December 1 – 5

Warning: Spoilers ahead.

If you want to know what I’ve been drinking then continue reading.

Update:

Saint John Craft Beer managed to put together one more carton so I can go ahead and compare the contents of two very different craft beer advent calendars.

Saint John carton rundown:

Compared to last year’s carton more thought and detail has been put in. Included in the carton is a nice, inspiring note from Saint John.

Instead of brown paper bags around each beer this year they are special Saint John printed paper wrapped.

It is going to be a fun lead up to Xmas.

Let’s get started

December 1

Young Henry’s Newtowner

Our first beer is from Newtown, NSW, a place known as a hub for artists and musicians. To celebrate the 150^th anniversary of Newtown, Young Henry’s made this beer using a trio of Tassie Hops. Because of it’s popularity it has continued to be brewed and was a very nice beer to start off this adventure.

Epic Awakening Pils

First from Saint John is from over the water in New Zealand. Awakening is best described by its name, it truly is an awakening to drink it and has me excited about what is to come.

December 2

Bridge Road Celtic Red Ale

I was wondering how long it would be before the flagship brewer of the carton appeared. The Celtic Red Ale was first brewed as a ‘one off’ for the annual Beechworth Celtic Festival but due to popularity it became a permanent edition to Bridge Road’s lineup. A very different beer to what I normally drink but it was pretty good.

Little Rivers Stronach Hoppy Lager

Thank you Saint John for bringing a Tasmanian beer early into the carton. This was a great beer to drink, very hoppy as the name suggests and at 5.8% it ticked all the boxes for me. Made with only the four key ingredients, water, hops, malt and yeast this beer is styled after a cross between and American IPA and an American style lager.

December 3

Moon Dog Mack Daddy Dark Ale

The first Victorian beer to appear in this beer quest. As the name suggests it is a dark tasting beer, it was good to drink but dark ales aren’t my favourite, it won’t be my #1 this Christmas but still worth drinking.

Dugges The Tropic Sunrise Sour Fruit Ale

WTH??? This Swedish craft beer was definitely an experience. Made with fermented mango, pineapple and raspberry this was easy enough to drink but affected my mouth in a way a beer never has before. I had a couple of beers before drinking this so I didn’t get the full favour hit, but wow, if you want something unreal to try then look for one of these.

December 4

Bridge Road Robust Porter

Bridge Road continue to excite me, this time with their Robust Porter made with roasted barley and chocolate which made me crave chocolate afterwards. It is a dark beer but very different to the Moon Dog, this was really good.

Liberty Knife Party IPA

Before I drink it I was already wondering about the strange name and label. Brewed in Auckland, New Zealand, this beer was a one off brewed for the West Coast IPA challenge in 2013, it won and is still being made to this day. It’s flavour comes from the large amount of USA hops thrown in to create something unique and exciting.

December 5

Van Dieman White Hills White Ale

Another Tasmanian beer, Van Dieman is an amazing brewery. This beer however, made to be a Belgian Witbier with orange peel and coriander was a bit difficult to drink.

Vale Mid Coast

The first can in the Xmas Beer adventure, this was a very pleasant summer inspired ale. The blue dots on the can actually have a funny texture as you hold it. This beer is from South Australia and like many summer ales is a little weak, at 3.5%.

December has only just got started and there are many more beers to drink.

Cheers,

Dave

Xmas advent calendar 2016

I wonder what this is?

December is just around the corner and a new favourite pastime of mine is about to happen again.

Craft Beer Advent Calendars have become more popular since last year with more varieties available.

Once again Saint John Craft Beer had a new carton available and from the pictures on their site it looked a lot more creative and festive.

In my city, Launceston, we recently got a Dan Murphy’s an alcohol megastore, which is a big thing for this small island state. Dan Murphy’s were exclusively selling an Australian Brewer’s Craft Beer Calendar.

Chewie inspects the goods.

After much debate of which one to get I decided to get one of each and compare them.

That was a lot easier said than done.

Dan Murphy’s ran out of stock so I had to order online and had to hope it arrived in time.

Saint John Craft beer advertised they still had some available so I went in to find they were all gone. I left my name and number after being told more were being made.

November 30 comes and I’m getting a little worked up because I haven’t got either carton.

Finally, a carton sized box arrived at my door… Dan Murphy’s came through.

Craft beers from eight Australian brewers

Saint John made some more and sold them over the bar instead of honouring their pre-order list.

Slightly annoyed but better in pocket I’m glad that I still have a Craft Beer Advent Calendar and will gladly take you through it each day in the lead up to Christmas.

I’ve taken a few pictures to show you what we’ve got at $99 which is good value for craft beer, just $4 per day.

I really like this one as it has a highly-detailed box, on top of that each beer is from an Australian (including Tasmanian) brewery, some have featured in earlier posts.

Just like a chocolate advent calendar... but with beer

On closer inspection, the beers inside aren’t wrapped up – I can’t fit a whole carton into the fridge so I’ll have to see them to get them cold before drinking which sort of spoils the surprise.

Once you pop the cardboard top you know what you have.

First beer starts tomorrow.

Cheers,

Dave

Molson Canadian

You know I like trying beer from other countries, this time I tried something from the land of hockey and bears. For my first Canadian Beer I present to you Molson Canadian.

Canada is a place I know very little about to be honest, I know a few awesome Canadians and my girlfriend even lived there for a year so I have great respect for the country, plus I love hockey.

Directly from their website they give a nice description of their fine export: “Canada is known around the world for our vast wilderness, thousands of freshwater lakes, and golden Prairie barley fields as far as the eyes can see. Our land is packed full of nature at its best. And it’s from this land that we make our signature beer, Molson Canadian. Brewed without preservatives, Molson Canadian is proudly made locally in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Moncton and St. John’s.”

Made from Canada, literally.

International beers to me have signature flavours, I can taste a standard beer and tell you if its American, Chinese, Japanese, Mexican or European. Molson Canadian has a different signature flavour again. I will have to try other Canadian beers to make a comparison.

My first Canadian Beer.

On a first try this was a nice, pleasant beer, I recommend it if you want to try something different. Down here in Tasmania though it is a bit hard to source but the great thing about a competitive beer market is that international imports seem to keep popping up for us to drink.

Cheers,

Dave

Space Frontier

I’m a big sci-fi fan so when I find out there is a sci-fi beer made by Italian Craft Brewers Brew Fist I knew I was going to do a blog on this.

I haven’t had much experience at all with Italian beers but Brew Fist have given me some good brews in the past including the Spaghetti Western Imperial Stout.

Another fine product by Brew Fist

This brewer cares about their product, not only do they produce fantastic beer but they have such creative labels to market them.

On first note the Space Frontier Grape India Pale Ale beer had a very fruity smell, no aliens came flying out of it though.

At 6% it had a nice kick to it upon tasting, the flavours were rich and it made me think of movies such as Star Wars or the famous sci-fi novel series Universal Conflict.

What the beer makes me think of

Check this out for an interesting ingredients list, the beer is made with Pilsner, Oat and Grape must malts and two hop varieties, Citra and Mosaic.

In Tasmania, I only know of it being sold at Crown Cellars in Launceston, apart from that you are on your own.

Cheers,

Dave

Aliens ahead!

Halloween 2016

It’s about time to howl at the moon and tighten those neck bolts. Halloween in Australia is getting stronger every year, still not at the point where trick or treating is a proper thing yet but it’s a fun and scary time.

I don’t know about you but I like a good scare every now and again… not the ‘Boag’s is out of beer’ kind of scare but I think you get what I mean.

Halloween is a fun time of the year

This Halloween I want to get into the mood and spice up my beer drinking.

I’m limited being in Tasmania as Halloween themed beer is mostly in the US, I’m on the hunt though if any does exist here.

What I can do though is be a bit creative with the beer we already have.

Big orange pumpkins are things you see in movies where I come from but suddenly they are appearing in supermarkets and make excellent beer coolers once gutted and filled with ice.

I want to do this one year

After much searching I stumbled upon a new beer by rising to fame Tasmanian craft beer company Last Rites Brewing Co. Their new product is called Love Country, a Tasmanian IPA. It is a unique feeling of a pina colada with fruit and roasted coconut flavours along with the rich IPA bite. I enjoyed drinking this and even though it isn’t exactly a Halloween beer I went with it.

There are many kinds of Halloween themed beers out there, they just don't make it to Tasmania, follow this link to check them out: http://www.newschoolbeer.com/2015/10/thirteen-best-horror-fantasy-sci-fi-beers-for-halloween.html

He had a few too many...

Have a great Halloween everyone.

Cheers,

Dave