Esk Beerfest 2016 The Hangover/ Debrief

This was the feeling for day two of Beerfest

The local beer drinking event of the year came to an unfortunate end Saturday night.

I was one of the first in the gates on Friday afternoon and left at close, similar to Saturday I didn’t miss much and gave it a good effort.

Four Beer Sampler from Double Head Brewing

Even though I took notes along the way I had to piece together what I got up to so I could be as accurate as possible.

Esk Beerfest by the numbers:

How many drinks were advertised:          250+

Actual number of ‘drinks’:                     155? (give or take a couple, this figure includes spirits, wines, mead, non craft beer etc)

How many drinks I had on Friday:          13

How many drinks I had on Saturday:       22+

How much I spent:                                 $350~

I can’t believe it myself when I crunched the numbers and will probably be on water only for the next week or so…

Moo Brew, classy as always

Red Duck had a lot to choose from

The Beer: This event is the Holy Grail of beer drinking and I tried to make the most of it. There were around 23 different Breweries, most with a variety of their best brews on offer. Red Duck from Ballarat had a large selection, including Hodor – an 11% Imperial Porter, did you get the Game of Thrones reference? Morrison Brewery had six of their amazing beers on tap and Devils Brewery were back in fine form.

BEST BEER AWARD: Wow, this was a tough one. I started the event with my favourite from last year and have now found a new one – Sunny With a Chance of Awesome by Last Rites Brewing Company. Not only did I try this in its natural form I had a hopinatored version as well. Until yesterday I had never heard about a hopinator, I was very curious! This website explains it better than I can:

“They’re glass cylinders of various shapes and forms through which beer can be diverted on its merry way from keg to tap to glass. They’re designed to hold whatever a brewer or barman thinks would add to / alter / screw up their beer to change the taste for the drinker. And, as one of the enthusiastic, knowledgeable staff points out, they’re a great way to educate the punter about what does what in beer.” http://craftypint.com/news/109/Hopinators-Hit-Hobart

Sunny With a Chance of Awesome is a summer pale ale using citrus hops. The hopinator version is unlike anything I’ve ever tried before, which is why it wins this year’s award.

The Cider: I actually drank quite a bit of cider over the two days, trying different brands and flavours. Apple Cider is of course the original kind of cider but I prefer to try different fruits, Coal Valley Cider had the most variety with Lemon, Pear and Cherry to name a few. Red Brick Road were also there, with their Mean Green hop infused cider still on tap, I had a couple of those.

BEST CIDER AWARD: 4 Brothers Cider Co were amazing, their products were also fantastic. A mainland group that had four ciders available, their best was the Passionfruit which wins the award.

The Food: As I mentioned earlier I believe that there was less food on offer and my favourites from last year weren’t there either. I still had some amazing food from the Pie-O-Matic, including the Pyengana Steak and Cheese and the Mexican Pie. Dapper Dogs Mobile Kitchen had some amazing Bratwurst looking hot dogs, I had the Booze Hound – the sauce was made with Morrison’s very own Smoked Chilli IPA. The Burger Junkie Van had hamburgers and fries. The Boag’s Container Bar even had pizzas they were making, having a mushroom pizza at the end of the night was an amazing way to finish the event.   

Awesome hot dogs!

BEST FOOD AWARD: The Best Food Award goes to Burger Junkie for their Beef, Beer Mustard and Crispy Pancetta Burger, this was one of the best items I got to eat at Beerfest, a burger is usually a good companion with beer.

Boag's made pizza, delicious

There is beer in the sauce!!!

Boag's stall

The Stalls: This year I was very impressed with the stalls, more so because of the souvenirs that were for sale. I love spending money on alcohol branded things – especially stubby holders. T-Bone Brewing Co had hats and Growlers, The Boag’s Bar had stubby holders and hats, there was even a Beerfest T-Shirt up for grabs.  

BEST STALL: The clear winners are the Iron House Brewery, not only did they have the biggest selection of items to buy (plus a lot of amazing beer to choose from) but the staff were super friendly and happy to chat with people. I already had a t-shirt from Festivale but this time around I added a stubby holder, coasters and Growler to the collection.  

My first time drinking mead, it was interesting

The taps for Wanderer Mead were awesome!

That finishes the Esk Beerfest for 2016. Thank you to the people who joined me and shared their drinking experiences, I’m going to start saving for next year.

Good times with great people =)

Cheers

Dave

Trying out my new shirt

Esk Beerfest 2016 Day One

The time has come to drink beer

The time is upon us, the Esk Beerfest has opened in Launceston, dust off your stubby holders and lather yourself in sunscreen, it’s time to drink some beer!

Officially I was one of the first in after the 45 minute delay in opening and was quick to scout around for what drinks were on offer.

The first beer.

I started the event with my #1 beer from last year – not another f$cking pale ale by Devils Brewery.

After 13 beers and ciders I had a great first night and have now had time to collect my thoughts on what it’s like.

Many of my favourite brewers were there some with merchandise for sale and there is some amazing food to get into – gourmet pies and hamburgers.

Pyengana Steak and Cheese Pie - amazing

Stout I think....

But there were a few things that are missing:

# Saint John Craft Beer do not have a spot this year which is sad because they bring a different kind of beer to the festival.

# Henry’s (non-alcoholic) Ginger Beer was AWOL as well, I will also make a point that non-alcoholic options were few and far in between, I couldn’t even find where to buy a bottle of water.

# Tornado potatoes are nowhere to be seen… I had four or five of these last year and they didn’t show this time…

# The food in general appears to be lacking, no roast rolls or salt and pepper calamari, all amazing things to have while drinking lots of beer…

# There was a promise of whiskey this year, at this stage I’ve only located one whiskey stall, I was hoping there would be more of a variety.

This year the organisers have boasted they have 250 beers and ciders available, 50-100 more from last year even though there seems to be less vendors. I will spend day two counting how many there actually are because I’m already calling myth busted.

Overall I’m excited to take part in Beerfest and wish it lasted more than a night and a day, it comes once a year so I will make the most of day two.

Reminiscing about the past in the Boag's Bar

Once again I will be awarding the ‘best of’ in several categories (best beer overall, best stall, best food item, best cider etc), if you come upon something that stands out amongst the rest today let me know!

Kicksnare Brewing hard at work

Kicksnare 5-pack sampler!!!

Hope to see you there today!

Dave

Cheers!

Festivale 2016

Photo supplied from Google

This has been known to locals as an expensive food and culture festival in Launceston since 1988 (a good year).

It has gone from humble beginnings in the street to filling up the City Park, now it’s busy with people visiting the many beer, cider and wine stalls, they probably go to try the food as well.

Tempura Mushrooms

I haven’t been to Festivale for more than fifteen years, I now see that I should have gone every year since I was 18 because it is a miniature beer fest – or a good practice for one.

Long story short I spent around $150 to take part in the event and sample as much as everything as I could.

What did I get for my money though?

I was in fine form.

Tasmania’s best craft beer and cider companies had tents to sell their product and some even had merchandise. To help with the drinking there was a lot of good food to pig out on.

From what I can remember I did enjoy myself and was impressed by the amount of beers available.

Starting with a Smoked Chilli IPA from Morrison Brewery and finishing with a Pale Ale from Iron House Brewery I indulged in the craft masterpieces that I only get to try on occasion.

Here is a rundown of the products made by the usual suspects:

• Van Dieman Brewing: An outstanding example of what Tasmanians can do. I love their beers and at Festivale got stuck into an unusual drink – Raspberry Cheesecake, a mixture of two of their drinks, Summer Berry Grisette and White Hills White. 
• Two Meter Tall: Based in the south, I had never heard of them until I spoke to some of their employees and sampled the Cleansing Ale. They experiment in different ways to get different products. I can confirm this because their apple cider has a very distinct after-taste of CORN CHIPS!!! How do I get my hands on more of this awesome stuff?
• Iron House Brewery: Coming from Iron House Point, an area known for great surfing and beer too of course. Iron House has a great range of beers, I have tried most of them over the years but think their Pale Ale is the best. They even had T-shirts for sale.
• Morrison Brewery: This very local brewery had a great selection to try, my first drink for the day was the Smoked Chilli IPA. It was good to try but it was my first for the day and took a little while to get through.
• T-Bone Brewing Co.: Another one which I have never encountered or know about. This tent was the only one to offer a four-drink sampler of their products, watch the video on Facebook to see what I think of the beers. Bear in mind this was towards the end of the day when it was filmed.
• Seven Sheds Brewery: I don’t think I got to try one of their beers, I’m sure I’ve have one or two at Saint Johns before though. I took a picture to show you their range of beers – I’m really curious about the willie warmer.

I wonder what the Willie Warmer tastes like?

• James Boag’s: Not a craft beer company but always my favourite local company. I didn’t get around to having one of their products but they were selling stubby holders so I stocked up while I could.
• Red Brick Road Cider: Believe it or not I don’t always drink beer. I do like to have a cider from time to time. Red Brick Road (formerly known as Dicken’s Cider – insert joke here) is still local and make amazing drinks. I was glad that the cider man Corey had made more of his Mean Green – a hop infused cider. I look forward to visiting Red Brick Road again at Beerfest.
• Lost Pippin – Cider:  Another popular Tasmanian Cider company. Great cider as always, I tried the Randall – a cider infused with cherries.

These do not cover every tent there but the ones I did try reinvigorated my passion for drinking good, top quality beer and is good practice for Beerfest 2016 which is less than two weeks away.

Photo supplied by Google

Getting Into Shape '16

I'm back for 2016, better than ever!

For Dave’ Beers of the World’s first post for the year I want to help you get back into shape for what should be another year filled with amazing beer.

I know that it is January 25. My start to blogging for the year has been delayed due to heavy Aikido training and battling some of the many fires threatening Tasmania.

To do these exercises you will require a carton (or more) of beer.

Doing these exercises a few times a day will improve your ability to drink a lot.

PUSH UPS:

Similar to regular push-ups but place a stubby in front of your face, use it as motivation to do as many push ups as you can.

UP position

PUSH UPS VARIATION 2:

This one is to help with your balancing, place a stubby between your shoulder blades and commence push ups until you need to stop for a beer break. To add to the exercise you can use a carton of beer to weigh you down a bit more.

DOWN: Be careful with balancing the beer

SIT UPS:

Just like regular sit ups but take a sip of your beer every time you raise up.

If you can lift a six-pack you can lift many stubbies

SIX PACK LIFT:

Substitute a dumbbell for a six pack of your favourite beer and simply lift it up and bring it down. If you can lift a six-pack you shouldn’t have any trouble lifting a stubby or can countless times.

This exercise is making me thirsty

I've got a 6-pack on standby in case I get thirsty

CARTON LIFT:

This is to improve your upper body strength, which is important if you want to drink a lot of beer.

Be careful not to drop the carton at this stage...

I think I can do this...

CARTON DEAD LIFT:

The ultimate in beer-exercises, with a straight back lift a carton over your head, be gentle to place it back down and lift it again.

I've got this!

Do these beer exercises and you will be in great shape for 2016.

After all of this working out I need a drink…

Cheers,

Dave

Craft Beer Advent Calendar Dec 21-24

Here we are at Christmas Day, it has been a long build up with a mystery beer each day of December.

While you wind down after what I hope is a long day of celebrating I want to share the final four beers with you.

Moo Brew has a weird bottle shape

December 21

Moo Brew Hefeweizen

One more Tasmanian brew came out of the brown paper bag. Moo Brew has always been good in its unique shaped bottle. I’ve never tried the Hefeweizen before, obviously German in design. It is a wheat beer which unlike the German wheat beer from earlier in the month this one is intriguingly bright and enjoyable. Its taste is hard to lock down as it is one I’m not very familiar with.

Good time of the year for sunburn

December 22

Eight Degrees Brewing Sunburnt Irish Red Ale

Australian and New Zealand hops are paired together to make this impressive craft brew (based in Ireland). As the name suggests it is a red ale. I don’t think I’ve had Irish beer before (Guinness is in a different group entirely) but if they taste like this one I will continue to drink them.

Panhead have redeemed themselves

December 23

Panhead Supercharger APA

In case you were wondering what APA stood for, I’m certain that it means American Pale Ale (a spin off from Indian Pale Ale). Panhead is a New Zealand product and I sampled one of their products already in this advent calendar. Luckily this time around this beer meets my satisfaction, I have nothing bad to say about this one.

This is actually Italian

December 24

Brewfist Spaghetti Western

The final beer of the calendar. I didn’t know what to expect for the final but I had a slight desire to get some sort of Christmas beer. Regardless of that I wasn’t disappointed. The first Brewfist beer of the advent calendar, this one I’ve had before because of the bizarreness of its name. This imperial stout with chocolate notes hails from Italy and doesn’t disappoint.

I want to try this one day

That concludes Dave’s Beers of the World for 2015.

I would like to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and a happy and safe New Year.

Thank you for your support as I have turned this casual blog into an ongoing thing with over a thousand views.

I plan to keep things interesting and exciting in the new year, so stay tuned.

Cheers

Dave

Craft Beer Advent Calendar Dec 16-20

Christmas is coming!

Christmas time is getting close now.

The tree is up, presents are wrapped and people are already starting to celebrate.

The advent calendar is almost over… I’m starting to wish that it wasn’t going to end. Maybe there could be an all year round calendar… my liver won’t like that.

What was revealed?

Cool Gargoyle

December 16

Stone IPA

This is from the same brewery that brought us Arrogant Bastard. Not as rude and strong, this IPA from San Diego is big on flavour and alcohol with 6.9%. It has a sticker on the bottle saying “Rate Beer 97/100”. It turns out Ratebeer.com is a big thing in the craft beer world, for people to give it such a high rating should be enough to convince you that it’s good.

Funny name and label

December 17

Feral Karma Citra

This is an odd beer, first odd by the image of rabbits fornicating on the label, secondly by the description of the contents inside. “A high proportion of dark malt combined with resinous new world hops and results in a beer with chocolate overtones in the flavour and then showcases the tropical fruit character of the hop variety Citra.” What they do over in WA works though as this was a very nice drink.

An amazing beer!

December 18

Edge Brewing Project Cool Hops Australian Lager

When I drank this I didn’t realise how special it is. Rated best pale lager beer in the world 2014 by Ratebeer.com, this is an amazing Australian beer which I was proud to be able to drink. From Victoria

Pull the pin and... drink?

December 19

Rogue American Amber Ale

After two days of Australian beer I unwrapped this beauty – the last of the cans in the advent calendar. The can is styled to look like a hand grenade which I think is pretty creative. This beer has won several awards and is dedicated to American Servicemen and women.

the label is orange

December 20

Jopen Hoppenbier

For the first Dutch beer of the advent Calendar I had no idea what to expect, this was a fine beer and I shall have to try more Dutch beers in the future.

There are four days to go on the advent calendar so Christmas must be just around the corner.

See you soon for the final four.

Cheers

Dave

Craft Beer Advent Calendar Dec 11-15

How Santa gets through Xmas.

The unwrapping continues with five more mystery beers to reveal.

If you read the last update you would have seen my lowered excitement about the project with some not so great beers coming out of the brown paper bags. 

This is an experiment and strange things are likely to come out.

Are you ready for five more?

I’ve stepped up the presentation and made a Christmas diorama to display the fine brewing products.

Another New Zealand Beer.

December 11

Tuatara ITI Little Big Hop Ale

Another New Zealand beer. Before I even open it I notice a very detailed design on the glass of the neck of the stubby, it is dimpled like the skin of a reptile with a line of bumps to indicate a spine. I’ve never seen detail on glass like this on any other company’s product, I have had a beer from this brewery before and like the nice touch. In addition to that the beer was very nice, a bit weak at 3.3% but it’s made from a combination of tasteful hops which make it worth the try.

This was interesting.

December 12

Royal Jamaican Alcoholic Ginger Beer

Wow, I did not see this coming, our first, actually my first Jamaican kind of anything alcohol related. It’s a beer of sorts so it does count. This is no ordinary ginger beer you may have tried before, this one has a kick in it, to really surprise you when you first taste it. This gets points for being unique and unexpected.

Another fine New York made product.

December 13

Brooklyn Brown Ale

December 1 saw Brooklyn Lager, this is another beer from the same New York brewery. Being a brown ale it was of course darker than the lager and is more suited for colder conditions. That said it was a nice experience and one I will have to come back and drink again – apparently is suited with red meat… Is there a steak cooking that I can smell?

An amazing Australian Beer.

December 14

Pirate Life Brewing IIPA

YES! For a canned beer it’s a tall can (all the cans so far have been tall ones) and it punches you in the face with an alcohol content of 8.8%, stronger than your standard beers but not going crazy like the Imperial Miso Porter from the last post at 11% - even I think that is bordering crazy. The name of the brewery Pirate Life (Australian, based in Adelaide) is creative and unique, the name IIPA is not a typo, it’s a double IPA (Indian Pale Ale) and I think it is one of the best tasting beers I’ve had in the advent calendar so far.

Another good beer.

December 15

Hawkers Saison

Keeping to Australia for two days in a row this is an unknown for me, its labelling is simple and when I think of a Hawker I think of a Hawthorn supporter (an AFL football team which has apparently won some premierships lately? I don’t know since they aren’t the team I follow – Go Bombers!). Hawker of course has another meaning here in Australia. The beer itself was a surprise, I haven’t tried many Saison’s before nor know much about them, I’ve now learned that Saison’s are typically higher in alcohol content these days and have fruity and spicy notes, made after a recipe from Belgium. Before I google searched Saison I was sure at sampling that there was a European feel to this beer.  At 5.6% percent its swinging a bit above the average beer strength.

To be naughty or nice for the holidays?

We have got through the first 15 days. Nine to go before Christmas and a new year of beer drinking to follow (assuming that my liver doesn’t give up before then)

Cheers

Dave