Y&J Naked Ale

A craft beer with a naked twist

I love going to Melbourne, I try to visit at least once a year. One of the reasons I go is to visit the Young and Jackson and have a pint of their Naked Ale.

The Young and Jackson is a restored boutique style pub with over 30 beer taps and three levels including a rooftop bar on the corner of Swanston and Flinders Street.

Across the road from Flinders St Station

This time around though I learn that they don’t make it anymore… according to the bartender anyway.

Instead I settled for a new beer made exclusively for the hotel, Chloe’s Pale.

Y&J's have a great selection of craft beer available

I wanted to write a blog post about the Naked Ale, I’ll do it anyway though to let you know what you are missing out on.

Pale yellow in colour, it was an “unfiltered heferweisen beer with strong banana flavour on the nose, fruity flavours, rich in clove, nutmeg and cinnamon characteristics”.

Named after Chloe, a model from Paris who had a naked portrait done of her and has complimented the Young and Jackson hotel since 1909.

A nice view while you have a beer or two

Until recently it was a core beer which they have been making for some time through different breweries, old stubbies can be seen on display in the hotel.

It is a unique hotel with an interesting back story, next time you visit Melbourne I suggest you visit and see what they have on tap, you can also get a picture with the portrait!

Cheers,

Dave

Tap Beer

Time to talk about tap beer

An amazing thing about beer is the various ways we can get it, cans, stubbies or on tap. Beer on tap though is a completely different way to drink beer, there are many things that have to go right for you to get a good looking beer from a tap. I’ve been drinking tap beer for almost ten years and have been pouring for others for more than seven, I’ve seen a lot of good pours and too many shocking ones.

To have a proper tap beer set up you need taps, a drip tray, a chiller, gas, glasses and most importantly a keg of beer. By the time it takes to set that up you could have easily gone to the fridge several times and had some stubbies.

look at all the taps!

Beer taps come in all shapes and sizes

It has its benefits though, standard Australian kegs are 50L so it will take a while to finish, bars can have several different beers running at the same time, and they are always chilled and ready to drink no matter what time of day it is (in a perfect world).

Popeye in Tokyo, Japan has 70+ beers on tap daily

But with these benefits there are many things that can go wrong, the tap might not be used correctly, the chiller might shit itself or not be at the right temperature, the glass could be warm or dirty, the keg might not be tapped properly, something seeming so simple isn’t always.

In my opinion the best way to pour a beer is by following the DO’s and DON’Ts

DO use a cold glass/ container – room temperature is acceptable.

DO tilt the glass at first when you start to pour and straighten up as the beer reaches the top.

DO turn the tap off before the beer overflows.

DO drink it, unless of course you are bartending then drinking on the job is bad!

DON’T use a dirty glass, the beer won’t get a proper head and there are germs etc.

DON’T bash the glass into the tap, it might break.

DON’T let the tap immerse itself in the beer.

It's important to tilt the glass as you pour

Naughty, don't do it!

The frothy foam at the top, known as the head, is a widely debated topic around the world. The Japanese bartenders love to give a big head on beers they serve, on the other hand, in Australia, if you serve someone with more than a finger of head you might get ripped out from behind the bar or even have the drink thrown back at you. In my opinion I’d be happy to get any head…

This head might be okay in Germany and Japan but not Aus

What do you think about my tap beer suggestions?

Have you had any interesting tap beer experiences, share it with us?

Until next time.

Cheers,

Dave

True or False?

VB is made from the run off from wasted tap beer?

I wish it was true but I’m pretty sure they make it almost the same as every other beer. I have seen a cartoon meme though with a urinal wall that feeds into VB kegs on the other side. I couldn’t find it again…

VB being made, JK

VB

Another Australian Beer Icon

Victoria Bitter, also known simply as VB is an iconic Australian beer regardless of what you have heard. I will admit that during my introduction into the beer drinking culture I was encouraged to think that you only drank VB if it was the only beer available.

“A hard earned thirst needs a big old beer. And the best cold beer is Victoria Bitter.” http://www.victoriabitter.com.au/the-brew

VB and its synonymous green label on its stubbies and cans can be found anywhere in Australia and in many places overseas, virtually every bar that I can think of also has it on tap.

A very unique stubby shape

A real Australian product, it is made with Australian pale malt, special yeast and Pride of Ringwood Hops (VIC, TAS), made to have lots of flavour as a lager, not a bitter as the name suggests.

People that do like it tell me you have to drink it very cold and in large quantities to get the best experience out of it.

Something that I find entertaining about it (and I feel that I have spoken about this before in a previous blog) is the acronyms people use with the letters VB, popular ones are Vomit Bombs, Very Bad, Vitamin B, Victorian Bullshit and even Vaginal backwash.

Bear Grylls is joking of course!

There is a funny dictionary definition on this link http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=VB

In the 2000’s the brains behind VB had an ingenious plan to save money, lower the alcohol content by changing the recipe so they pay less tax (Boag’s decided that this was also a good idea). The result was something fixed that wasn’t really broken in the first place, the after effects down here in Tasmania was utter disgust as people who have been drinking the same thing for many many years were suddenly forced to settle for something different and weaker, many went to different brews in protest.

Since 2012, VB has returned to its original strength of 4.9% reinstating hope with what supporters remained. In my opinion it never recovered, from discussions with serious VB drinkers, many now drink something else (mostly XXXX Gold), the image was tarnished when money took over the importance of the product.

Regardless, it is an Australian icon whether we like it or not and I recommend you try a Vomit Bomb at least once in your life.

Cheers,

Dave