Belated Cinco De Mayo

A Spanish holiday, Cinco De Mayo has been celebrated since 1862. Spanish military forces won an unexpected victory against the French at the battle of Puebla. I don’t know Spanish so I didn’t know that Cinco De Mayo simply means May the fifth.

On this day, every year Mexicans celebrate and they celebrate hard. The US and Canada have also adopted the event as a way of promoting Mexican culture and cuisine.

I was in no condition to do any celebrating on the May the fifth this year so I want to share what I might have had if I could.

The best way to celebrate

Happy belated Cinco De Mayo,

Cheers,

Dave

Add caption

Time away from beer

Not by my choosing but I had a life changing event happen, not at all caused by alcohol but it kept me off it for some time.

A longer than usual stint in hospital was a sudden stop to my fast-paced life that I didn’t see coming, unfortunately they don’t have a bar to help pass the time.

Now that I’m out and have wi-fi access again I can get back to writing about the thing that helps lubricate me through life.

I had been thinking for days about what the first beer should be once I start drinking again. It has taken me over a week to be able to drink a whole can of lemonade in one sitting.

After all of that though I opened the fridge and found some Samurye Lager I picked up from Saint John’s after the Hop Harvest Festival.

The feeling of the beer on my lips brought a smile to my face and a tear to my eye.

It had been way too long between drinks.

I’ve got a long list of things to tick before I’m back to 100%, this was one I’m glad I could do early.

It’s good to be back.

Cheers,

Dave

Out of Date Beer

What was that? Beer has an expiry date?

I don’t really believe it myself since no beer I ever have gets to last that long… haha

Is it safe to drink out of date beer?

Unfortunately, beer does have a shelf life and if neglected changes for the worst over time. The question I’m going to try and answer is “is it okay to drink out of date beer?”

Let’s have a look at the research.

This is what Google provided for an answer from a contributor in 2014: “The beer will not be bad in the sense of unsafe to drink, since no harmful pathogens grow once the beer is fully fermented. So you can certainly drink the beer. However, the beer may not taste good! ... Generally, the higher the alcohol content of the beer the less you need to be concerned with the use by date”

Another source from https://www.reference.com/food/can-drink-expired-beer-123d39921fa9b1f2# had this to say:

“One can drink expired beer without fear of health problems. However, beer is not as flavorful beyond the expiration date. Most beer is not meant to age, so there is no benefit to drinking it beyond its expiration or "best before" date.”

Beer doesn’t have to be out of date to be bad, other things may have gone wrong before it even reaches that point, the colour of the glass used for stubbies if exposed to light for long periods of time can destroy the contents, clear glass is one of the main culprits that keep getting returned after being left in a lit fridge for too long.

Would you tackle this one?

So what I’m trying to get at here is that you can drink beer past its expiry, there is no guarantee it will be anywhere near as good as when it was fresh, it won’t kill you but it probably won’t be pleasant.

I acquire beer from time to time and it can be over the expiry line, sometimes I have had out of date beer and other times it has gone right down the sink, from my experience you should be able to tell first of all by the smell, if you can stomach that then try and deal with the taste for the whole drink.

If we were in a zombie apocalypse and I came upon some expired beer you bet I would drink it, but since I have a bottle shop nearby and money in my wallet I will always choose fresh beer first.

Some brave people on the internet will show you how hard it can be to drink beer that is not so fresh anymore.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7-lf_OFvxw

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

A picture says a 1000 words...

Cheers,

Dave

Bad boy John

Coopers Clear

The V8 Supercars have visited Tasmania once again and with them comes a whole heap of advertising for their sponsors, the flagship beer of these monsters is Coopers, in particular Coopers Mid and Coopers Clear.

Coopers Clear is the more intriguing of the two so I will focus my attention there.

A low carb, dry beer, this is unique in that it keeps the classic Coopers feel but is more refined for those who are careful about what they drink.

It’s claimed to be an easy to drink lager that has a fragrant aroma with a distinctive Coopers fruit feel. It looks light in colour but don’t let that fool you, at 4.2% it is on the level with most mainstream Australian beers.

The can is thin and tall, a bit less in content at 355ml

Coopers Brewery, based in South Australia and is the longest running Australian family owned brewery, six generations of Coopers have been running it for over 150 years.

This beer comes out for me around the same time each year, bringing back the memories of car racing.

What Coopers Clear reminds me of every year

Cheers,

Dave

Moo Brew Pale Ale

A tasty Tasmanian craft beer in a funny shaped bottle.

Originating from Moorilla Estate in the states south since 2005, Moo Brew now has five core beers, the one of focus for this post will be the Pale Ale after sampling a couple recently.

From their website, they explain that ‘traditional pale ale styles are fused together to give a pungent floral and citrus aroma with a complex malt palate and pleasant late bitterness’.

Styled from American brewing it uses Centennial and Cascade hops directly from the US (although they are now using Tasmanian grown Cascade hops).

Their core range

The beer is paired best with grilled red meat, a good steak and a couple of these would make for a great night.

If you love craft beer and want to taste one of Tasmania’s finest then make sure you try this range,

Cheers,

Dave

All of this typing is making me hungry

Stella Artois

Add caption

A beer that is 600 years in the making, Stella is a classy and sophisticated brew.

Stella Artois is the pride of Belgian brewing, a reminder that Europe has all kinds of amazing beers you should be getting into from time to time.

This pilsner is 4.8% and bottled in Australia among other countries.

A nice looking bunch there

According to the BWS website: “Originating from Belgium, Stella Artois is made using unique quality ingredients that result in a crisp, clean, medium-bodied flavour brew. Its distinct bitterness is balanced perfectly against a pleasantly sweet finish that is satisfying and refreshing.”

Cheers,

Dave

Last Rites Raspberry Ginger Beer

Here at Dave’s Beers of the World I enjoy looking outside of the box for the next awesome drink.

Tasmanian craft brewery Last Rites has now mass produced an interesting new drink they have been showcasing at Festivale and the Esk Beerfest.

A tantalising combination of Tasmanian raspberries, lemon and lime, this pink looking ginger beer is a great transition drink if you are looking for a break from your regular brews. At 8% it has a bit of a kick but doesn’t have much ginger taste, the combination of different flavours give it a unique flavour.

I found some down in Hobart recently, it will be available in Launceston soon, if you live out of Tasmania I understand it will be available for sale on Boozebud.

Last Rites are based in Hobart and are known for their new-world hop-driven American style ales, last year I wrote about another of their new releases Tasmania IPA Love Country.

Cheers,

Dave