Tap King

Do yourself a favour and feel like royalty.

I referred to Tap King in my first Blog about Boag’s Premium. I bought one shortly after and have bought a couple of different beers to try it out.

A re-enactment of the testing phase

I am glad to say that this is a bit of fun that you can have when enjoying a cold beer or two. I don’t know about you but I’ve been pouring beers for a long time now so the novelty has long since worn off, but with the Tap King I can do it at home, simply go to the fridge and refill my glass.

The kit

The kit is easy to find at bottle-shops around Australia and popular beers are around as refills.

The un-boxing

So far Tap King can tap these beers:

XXXX Gold

James Squire Golden Ale

James Squire One Fifty Lashes

Hahn Superdry

Tooheys New
Tooheys Extra Dry

James Boag’s Premium

To date I have only had Boag’s Premium and the James Squire Golden Ale, both tasted as they would in stubbies.

Each bottle is 3.2 litres and is easy assemble. Make sure you chill the bottle for seven to nine hours prior to consuming.

I found that with each new bottle the first beer or two pours with a lot of head but the quality improves with each pour until you realise you have already emptied it.

This is the future of beer drinking

Cost wise you have to buy the dispenser as well as bottles which are $28 each or two for $52, it doesn’t work out cheaper per drink compared to buying the beers in cans or stubbies where applicable so if you get a Tap King you have to be aware that it won’t be for value.

My verdict is that this is another great way to enjoy drinking beer, if you are passionate about it as much as I am I encourage you to get a Tap King if you haven’t already and try it for yourself.

This was a fun experiment for the blog

Instructional Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQdh6rDcGCg

The Advertising:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OK9419Oicp0

Cheers

Dave

Join the Beer Royalty

Beer Challenge: Victoria Bitter

Nothing better than crushing an empty can

Since writing these blogs I have attracted a lot of attention from fellow beer lovers who recommend me to drink and write about their favourites. One person offered to shout me a night of drinking under the condition it was a beer that they knew I didn’t like very much.

By taking them up on their offer I have created a new way to cover my blog.

Let me present to you Beer Challenge #1: VB

VB comes in many shapes and sizes

I would like to thank my mate Troy for making this possible.

VB is an Australian icon

Firstly, I have had VB (Victoria Bitter) many times before, it is widely available and popular, one of Australia’s most popular beers.

A funny/ interesting thing about the beer is the initials, VB which people have used to make many comedic references to the beer. The most popular ones I've heard are: Vomit Bombs, Very Bad, Vaginal Backwash, and even Very Best.

It just isn’t one that places highly on my drinking list. Not for any real reason though, other than I don’t know many that drink it (in Tasmania).

THE CHALLENGE

What we faced at the beginning of the night

What happened: A block of 30 cans were provided for the purpose of the challenge, to have a controlled environment the beers were chilled and no other alcohol was consumed prior to the challenge.

“You have to drink VB cold and fast!” - a seasoned VB drinker.

With this comment in mind I cracked my first can with the aim to get it down as fast as possible.

Once the first was gone I got straight onto the second, they got better the more I drank, the challenge went well into the night.

We left a few afterwards...

How many did we drink?

I didn’t check the final count but between us we drank at least half of the block, not a bad effort but there is always room for improvement.

Lessons learned:

The next morning I checked my hands and feet to see if any extra appendages grew overnight, apart from the usual Tasmanian anomalies everything seemed fine. It turns out that VB is a good session drinking beer, my only concern was the throbbing headache for the whole day afterwards.

VB puts you to sleep...

If you have a favourite beer you want to prove to me makes the cut send me an invite!

Cheers,

Dave 

They like to brag, haha

Otaru Beer

Always fun times here at Otaru Beer

Prost – the German drinking word for cheers!

This is a handy phrase to know if you visit one of my favourite drinking establishments, Otaru Beer.

If you visit Japan I highly recommended you visit Hokkaido, the Tasmania of Japan and when there visit a small city called Otaru. 

When you arrive at the train station walk down to the canal and go 

right where you will find an old warehouse/ factory type building which has been converted into a German microbrewery.

Otaru Beer is one of the buildings on the right

I was fortunate enough to live in the Japanese city for two years and spent a lot of my down time at Otaru Beer, enjoying quality German beer.

They are brewing the beer right before your eyes

In addition to the three main lines of beer, Pilsner, Dunkel and Weiss, there is a seasonal beer which can range from a smokey bacon type to a rich dark beer for winter.

The three main beers in stubbies

The friendly Japanese staff are dressed as Germans and the building looks like you have stepped into a portal to beerfest in Germany.

The Beermaster himself!

The German beer master Johannes Braun brought beer vats from his small town in Germany and started up his business in the city that thrives on tourism.

They also have an awesome gift shop!

While you are there drinking they have a restaurant open all day every day serving popular German dishes from ham on the bone, German Pizza, sausage platters and steak and roast dishes.

Did I mention the massive pretzels?

Even though you can drink the beers in a range of glasses from a standard mug of about 10 ounces you can also have 1 litre steins and for the veteran beer drinker the 2 litre boot!!!

My favourite day of the month was the second Wednesday of the month, this is Beerclub at Otaru Beer from 6:30pm to 11:00pm where you pay 1,800 yen (about $20) and drink any item on the drink menu in your choice of glass size for the four and a half hours.

During Oktoberfest (which is actually in September I’ve learned) a German band come and perform each night for a week, drink and socialise with the guests.

I’ve been at this place and every seat downstairs and upstairs is being used, it is the place to be in Otaru.

The place to be

Thanks for reading another beer post,

Prost!

Dave

Morrison Brewery

My local craft beer

The Morrison craft beer brewery has been brewing beer right under my nose without me realising it.

It hit me like a hockey puck to the face when I read someone recently that this beer was brewed right here in Launceston, and not only that but Invermay, an area I drive through almost daily to get to work (insert facepalm).

I am focusing my drinking habits towards craft beer these days and have in fact sampled the Morrison Brewery beers on several occasions since the Esk Beerfest in January. It has been one I often start with at my favourite alcohol establishment Saint John Craft Beer as it is usually on the #1 tap.

I want all of the beer...

Purchasing a stubby of it today I read the label to confirm what I thought I had read, that Morrison Brewery is my closest craft beer brewer.

Doing the usual basic research I have found its Facebook page which sadly only has 539 likes since its creation in 2011.

Morrison Beer is popular at Tassie Beer Festivals 

They specialise in English and Irish style craft beer after Tasmanian Paul Morrison started with a home brew kit and sent samples down to the Hobart for the Tasmanian Beerfest which won the approval of thousands and encouraged him to grow his business into a 500 litre microbrewery.

Morrison Brewery in full swing

Click on this link to see a short YouTube clip about the brewery:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S307j8OMdHY 

This was good!

The three main beers they have available are English Bitter, Irish Red Ale and Irish Stout. I’ve had the first two on several occasions and remember trying a Saison type at Beerfest.

A Morrison Brewery employee hard at work

According to their Facebook page they have their product for sale Tasmania wide at many establishments and bottleshops (including all BWS stores in Tasmania), and the beers have placed well in Melbourne beer competitions.

I will be supporting this brewer more now even though I already liked it and hopefully Mr Morrison can continue his success.

Cheers,

Dave

Kirin Ichiban (Australian Version)

Kirin is number one for a couple of reasons, first, the beer is called ichiban – which is Japanese for number one, secondly, it is an amazingly crisp, refreshing beer.

To make it clear, I’m talking about the Kirin Ichiban which is sold in Australia (called first press beer), there is one in Japan which is labelled differently but it is not as good.

Kirin Ichiban First Press is made in Australia which is why it would be different to its Japanese counterpart.

Still a good beer when you are in Japan

The Japanese labelling colour is pretty dull

This beer has been hard to find in Tasmania, only one or two shops would sell it on occasion that I knew of, now BWS have started to stock it and I can enjoy it more often.

This is how to drink beer in Japan

The bottle design really appeals to me, the green glass (green being my favourite colour) and the dark label has the image of something strange on it. If you know Japanese you can do some research, kirin in Japanese has two meanings, giraffe, or a chimera type monster, I’m sure you can see that it isn’t a giraffe on the label.

Ichiban is something I’m sure Australian’s have heard of at one point or another, it is the name of a famous yacht which has competed in many Sydney to Hobart yacht races.

This 5% beer is important to me for another reason, it has a very similar taste to something I can never taste again. A fellow beer consumer and myself believe that Kirin Ichiban first press has similar characteristics to James Boag’s Pure.

According to Dan Murphy’s: “Kirin’s special ‘First Press’ method produces pure, smooth flavours and a pale amber shine, crowned with a rich, creamy head. Only the first mix of malt and water is extracted when ingredients are at their purest to deliver what in Japan is considered a blessing.”

Time to get back to my beer, until next time!

Cheers,

Dave

Boag's Classic Blonde RIP

The latest/ last packaging

This week I will talk about Boag’s Classic Blonde, a low-carb lager created in 2007 that changed beer drinking for many Tasmanians.

I only wish I could talk about this beer under better circumstances.

The first packing when it was released in 2007

At my bottle-shop yesterday I went into the cool room and looking down towards the back of the room next to Pure Blonde I saw an extra row of Pure Blonde, there was no Classic Blonde.

The bottle-shop staff member confirmed what I had known about for a while, Classic Blonde was no longer in production.

I had heard from my source at Boag’s that Classic Blonde was on the way out but it still came as a shock to find it was no longer for sale.

This is a sad day for beer lovers

I remember buying a six-pack back in 2007 when it had just come out, it was a unique tasting, new style of beer. Blonde beer which I have talked about in a recent post is still new in Australia, Classic Blonde was Tasmania’s alternative to Pure Blonde and it found a few fans who preferred it for the low carb aspect.

Boag's is well known for its advertisments

At a best-friends buck’s party we split a carton of Classic Blonde on a golf course, I wasn’t the one riding the golf caddy down a hill though. The beer has been good to me while it was here.

Dan Murphy’s described Classic Blonde as: “Cold climate Lager. Chilled by its proximity to Antarctica, Tasmania’s cold climate is alive in James Boag’s classic Blonde, creating a premium low carbohydrate Lager that is uniquely fresh and crisp.”

I am on the hunt for these items, will pay $$$

I acquired one of these many years ago

The Boag’s official website has already erased any traces of Classic Blonde, I only wish they could keep some sort of online museum about the beers they used to make, it feels like they are letting time kill it off out of fridges and our memories.

Two of these are no longer in production...

Without getting an official comment from Boag’s about why they have stopped production of Classic Blonde I can only assume it is due to them taking on production of mainland beers (XXXX Gold). There doesn’t seem to be any new Boag’s product to replace it which is sad since Boag’s Pure was the last new beer in 2009, it’s been six years and all they have done is relabel their current beers and remove many new creations.

I have a carton of this amazing beer left, but I will drink any more that I see out in the world and I suggest you do the same. Let’s see this beer off in style and remember its crisp taste.

Please don't forget

Please don’t forget Classic Blonde, it left a mark that will never be replaced. As for an alternative when it is completely gone the next is Pure Blonde, but I don’t rate it as highly as I do Classic Blonde.

- Dave