New Zealand Beer Speights

In spirit of this being ANZAC Day week I decided to focus on beer in New Zealand.

I have had a lot of trouble finding NZ beers over here, I find the occasional craft beer in my hunting, but I am curious as to what is popular over there.

Fortunately, a family member went over on holiday and I asked him to investigate.

What he came up with is Speights Gold Medal Lager.

This cheeky beer was entered into the Melbourne Exhibition in 1880 and won two gold medals, hence its name.

The flagship beer of Speights isn’t sweet so that the malt and the hops can come forward a lot more.

At 4% it isn’t as strong as I’m used to but from what I’ve heard it is a very good beer.

Beer was introduced to New Zealand by those drunken Europeans who travelled around quite a bit back in the day. Captain Cook was the first to brew beer there.

The first commercial brewery was opened in 1835 so they haven’t been brewing beer for as long as many other nations, but they seem to be on a good thing.

I once heard from someone who visited there that they like to drink warm beer? I need to confirm this.

I will endeavour to find more New Zealand brews to share with you.

Cheers,

Dave

Hobbits live here

Easter 2019

Easter is almost here, these days instead of chocolate I’m usually watering at the mouth for the best tasting Easter beer… I still don’t mind some chocolate on the side though.

Easter beer isn’t really a thing yet, not like Christmas beer, so I look for beers that fall into a certain category.

Coming into our Winter in Australia the beer will likely be a dark one and to give it a bit more going for it the stout could have chocolate, vanilla or milk tones to it.

Favourites I have drummed on about before are Young’s Double Chocolate Stout and T-Bone Choc-Milk Stout.

There are quite a few stouts available that fall into these criteria, I will need to start trying the lot.

In the meantime, I suggest the best way for you my fellow beer drinkers to enjoy Easter is to get a standard chocolate rabbit, break the head off, fill it with the dark beer of your choice and bottoms up.

At least that’s what I’ll be doing over the weekend.

Happy Easter everyone.

Cheers,

Dave

Boag's St George Returns

 Gallantry is back!

Rising from the ashes of Boag’s Wild Rivers comes the phoenix – Boag’s St George, resurrected from the Boag’s purgatory pit where all good beers seem to go to die.

Poor sales from Wild Rivers has seen it out of production, very sad since it was only created late last year.

After a lot of encouragement from fans, Boag’s caved and brought back this cult favourite for a ‘limited release’ as stated on new packaging.

see: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Community/Bring-Back-Boags-St-George-484426921693118/

Boag’s St George had a good run up until 2011 back in the Golden era of beers when Boag’s was making an amazing range.

St George was unique, a premium lager it had a stigma of a classy man’s beer, a smaller stubby but at 4.8% ABV still made it an easy to drink beer but with a premium price.

Meant for Tasmanian only release it has only been given to select bottle shops in the state, coming in waves as I believe only a certain amount was made.

When I held one for the first time, I kissed it, I never thought I would drink this amazing beer again…

But is it the same?

It looks the same, it tastes the same but on closer inspection the alcohol content has dropped down to 4.2%, which is why it is a lot cheaper than it used to be.

I have stocked up for now,   

My fondest memory of this beer was during Christmas of 2011 I had one carton left, I drank the whole carton that day and still had room for scotch afterwards.

Enjoy it while it lasts, sadly all good things must come to an end… again.

Cheers,

Dave

Hahn Ultra Crisp

Not everyone can enjoy beer, unfortunately people have intolerances and issues with things that go into beer.

I was once asked if there was a gluten free beer, and I felt bad knowing that I couldn’t give a definitive answer.

I’m glad to announce that a brewery has stepped up and made a gluten free beer.

Hahn Ultra crisp has arrived in a flashy green bottle and has given hope to many.

Brewers yeast, wheat and barley are the main reasons most beers don’t make the cut, an essential part of the process.

Hahn overcomes this by using rice to create a low carb reasonably strong product.

On tasting it had the hallmarks of a Hahn Super Dry, it was nice to drink, I give it my thumbs up.

I only hope other breweries take note and do something like this, find ways to make beer enjoyable for everyone.

Cheers,

Dave

Beer and Bubs

Becoming a father is a scary experience, men often aren’t sure how to support their partner while they endure nine months of changes and new experiences.

What men do know about – well a lot of us anyway – is beer.

An awesome lady in Australia has created a programme called Beer and Bubs to give fathers to be some confidence and tips on how to survive the journey ahead.

The idea is that people sign up for the course where they can also buy a book and be around other fathers to be in a bar.

A bar is an ideal setting where men are more comfortable and will hopefully start asking the many questions racking their brains.

The sessions are run by a seasoned veteran, in Tasmania’s case an ex-midwife with many years’ experience, he greets the terrified men and assures them that all will be good.

During the session you of course drink beer, have a meal, go through a slide show of handy hints and tips and are introduced to someone who recently did the course and has since become a father where he shares what he went through and answers your questions.

At the end you take the book with you and read up before D-Day.

If you are going to become a father, I highly recommend going to one of these – they are held all around Australia.

https://beerandbubs.com.au/

Cheers,

Dave

Iron House Can Varieties.

Tasmania continues to produce fantastic ales as its craft beer scene explodes.

A long-time favourite, Iron House has a couple more treats I’d like to share with you.

These came to me by luck as I had never seen or heard of them before.

Until I saw these, I only thought they had bottled beer.

I present to you:

Steam Lager:

This “Munich Malted Crisp Bitter” was a throwback to amazing German Beer I’ve had before, made with Tasmanian & Cascade Hops along with German Munich Malts to give it a floral aroma but crisp bitterness. At 4.7% it is a well-rounded beer, only 330mls but it’s enough.

East Coast Pale:

On a completely different level is this “Citrus Clean Finish” nutty flavoured Pale. Cascade and Amarillo Hops make up the body which looks like a rich bronze coloured brew. A bit stronger at 5.2% it had more bite to it.

My favourite of the two was the Steam Lager, but both are very nice beers.

On each can is this message which reveals Iron Houses love for their brews.

“Always brewed carefully by our expert beerologists in a profoundly rock and roll manner, smack dab on the East Coast of Tasmania.” 

I highly recommend you visit this area one day - not just the brewery by Iron House is a great part of Tasmania to visit, below are some pictures of where the beer is brewed.

Cheers,

Dave

Launnie Longneck Lager

Sadly, by the time you read this a god-like beer will probably no longer exist.

Tassie Craft Beer Company Moo Brew released a classic beer in limited supply, at first, I didn’t think I was going to be lucky enough to sample it.

A few funny posters were distributed to advertise, they worked because on release day local suppliers sold out that morning. I went in to a few places to get it and I was already too late.

Saint Johns offered a lifeline in a forgotten case they decided to put up for prizes on their addictive Meat Tray Tuesday night.

After a decent session my team had amassed quite a few tickets.

Finally, some luck, second and fourth.

My prized winnings came home with me to be opened for a special occasion.

In the meantime, I visited Festivale to quench my thirst, Moo Brew had a stall there and in another stroke of luck they had Launnie Longneck Lager on tap.

This beer is a masterpiece, my hand trembled as I brought the full cup to my lips, it was cold, bitter and felt like I was tasting a piece of history.

Launnie locals love long necks and now we can say we have had a beer named after us.

The beer was made to tie in with Mona Foma, a Tasmanian music and arts convention, hopefully they make some more next year.

Cheers,

Dave