Adnams Ghost Ship Pale Ale

An English beer with a spooky feel, I picked up a four-pack at Dan Murphy’s to try it for myself.

Inspired by a pub in one of England’s most haunted villages, the Bell Inn at Walberswick, Southwold is a place known for many shipwrecks along the coastline.

The first thing to note about the beer is when you open the can you get hit with a foam explosion, my first guess was that they must capture a ghost in each can and they are trying to escape… you lose a good few mouthfuls once you open it. After cleaning up the mess I was able to drink it, a craft beer feel from the moment you taste it and it was enjoyable right until the end.

The Bell Inn, the birthplace of Ghost Ship Pale Ale

It turns out all four cans frothed up and made a mess as I opened them… they have been waiting in my fridge for a while so it wasn’t from being shaken up, that is the only downside to this fantastically spooky ale.

Citra hop, an American hop known for its lemon and lime scent has been used along with other American hops. There is also a variety of malts included which give it its amazing character, the website claims it has a ‘pithy bitterness’ which means it's full of vigor and substance.

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If you get to try one let me know if you have the same frothy issue, I would like to know if it was just bad luck or maybe they are so ghostly that there is in fact a spirit trapped inside?

Cheers,

Dave 

Great Northern Super Crisp Lager

Queensland is known around Australia for its hot summers, amazing beaches and fishing. This image has been captured and created into a beer for all of Australia to enjoy. Great Northern is the beer with the marlin on it, a dream catch for any fisherman.

Great Northern Original was brewed for Queenslanders, the Super Crisp Lager was developed in 2015 for the rest of Australia. The key difference with the national version is that it’s a mid-strength. Queensland is already famous for a popular selling mid strength beer, XXXX Gold, is the state big enough for two popular selling mid-strengths?

nice artwork

I have noticed in the past two years how quick Great Northern Super Crisp Lager has entered bars and bottle shops. Many beer drinkers swear on it because of its unique fruity aroma and crisp texture, of course. Like pretty much every beer, it has had mixed reviews but this is good competition for XXXX Gold, a nice beer and one I think you should try if you are looking for something new and exciting.  

Click on the link to see one of their popular ads.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amWs8rsgDjE

Cheers,

Dave

Matso's Lychee Beer

Before Christmas last year I sampled a mango beer, it wasn’t that good, but I did recommend Matso’s if you are ever wanting to have a mango beer.

I’ve recently discovered that Matso’s also have another fruit flavoured beer, lychee.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with lychee I’ll share what I’ve learned from a google search: It is a tropical fruit native to provinces in China, now cultivated around the world, you don’t eat the hard outside but instead the white fleshy pulp inside.

It has a unique sweet flavour and in my opinion has been infused with Matso’s beer very well.

While drinking it I would get caught up in the amazing sweet taste and had to keep reminding myself that this was a beer, it was a pleasurable experience and I suggest you try it for yourself.

Another great beer!

Matso’s is a brewery in Broome which has Asian history – hence the Asian influences in their beers.

Cheers,

Dave

Esk Beerfest 2017

Beerfest was a few days ago, but between buck’s parties and learning to do bonsai I’ve been struggling to get in front of a computer and put my thoughts together.

This year was different in a slightly different location, instead of the front of the brewery it spanned around the side and the back.

Breweries from all over Tasmania and many from the mainland came along, there was even a couple of sellers trying to sell Cascade Lager…

There was a lot more amazing food this time around but the merchandise was lacking. Many places were selling hats and t-shirts but I don’t usually get those.

What I liked:

Boag’s provided what I thought was the best beer of the event – Oscar’s Run, a pale ale made for Beerfest. I’ve wanted Boag’s to bring out something new for a while and this made up for it.

My favourite beer

There was a strangely awesome drink in Last Rites raspberry, lemon and lime ginger beer, soon to be available for sale, I highly recommend this one.

Hopefully for sale everywhere soon

There was a lot of debate about the best cider of the event but I made a decision with Red Brick Road’s apple pie, Corey has done a fantastic job to keep the variety coming.

Apple pie cider

The food was amazing, I got to sample new arrivals, mush pit mushrooms, the flying calamari brother’s calamari cone, an old favourite Burger Junkie and another old favourite returned after a holiday last year, tornado potatoes – even though it was from a different supplier. My favourite thing to eat though was the Canadian maple bacon burger, it was mouth-watering.

The best thing to eat

My favourite stall was without question Boag’s, the only one to sell stubby holders for their product.

I didn’t get as long as normal to get the full experience but it was still a lot of fun.

Cheers,

Dave

Kick Snare's sampler pack

An awesome idea

They're back!

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