Direktor wrote:Tried Sapporo last weekend - overated IMO. Nothing wrong with it, but it's your usual bland, boring Jap beer... very clean, and probably very refreshing if ice cold on a summer day, but nothing flash. The fact that it's made in Canada is interesting... isn't Japan closer to Australia?
had some Sapporo tonight at Ume. It's a fuckin awesome Beer, the $9.50 price tag wasn't as tasty
Shit. Was that the can or the bottle? $4 for a bottle at my local. $7.90 for the can. Sapporo ftw.
You'll find Kirin is cheaper these days because it's made locally.
Wish it was still imported, and in the brown bottles.
And with Sapporo, whilst I'm certainly not singing it's praises, it's not that steep in price when you factor in the can size. At Dan's, it's around $8 a can, and I think the can is around the 630ml mark.... or maybe slightly more.
Dropped in to Oktoberfest @ The Local on Saturday and tried a Erdinger Dunkelweisen on tap before heading out to dinner, that place rules! Nice beer too.
This beerfest @ Fed Square sounds the business... must check it out this time round.
Tried another mixed 6 from Vic Markets on Sat'dee...
Shofferhoffer Grapefruit: interesting. It's 50% Shoffer Heffe and 50% grapefruit juice - nice and refreshing, but only 2.5% on the alc. vol.
Redoak Belgian Chocolate Stout: very nice stout, has the velvet chocolate mouthfeel to it, backed up by a nice smooth but robust stout flavour.
Redoak Honey Ale: quite nice.
Bellarine Bitter: pretty ordinary TBH. Doesn't quite smell right, and the flavours aren't unified/mixed too well. Not a fan. Won't be coming back for this one.
Red Hill Bohemian Pilsener: nice drop. Cloudy Pils is a bit different, but this was quite nice.
Yesterday I knocked back a Bridge Rd Blonde (Beechworth). She's a wheat beer, and I can't recall the correct title of the beer, but very copper in colour for a wheat. Not bad though, although I'd prefer a stack of other wheat beers over this number.
We're going to head down on Thu. But prob can't get there till 6-6.30pm... has there been massive queues in previous years? Will I be able to get my fill of 20 beers and a bite to eat in a 1.5hrs? And last question, do you just buy the 'tickets' there?
No, but it seems quite similar to a beer guide that was given to me by my future brother in law, I've read it like 4 times... love it. Especially the reviews on beers.
We're going to head down on Thu. But prob can't get there till 6-6.30pm... has there been massive queues in previous years? Will I be able to get my fill of 20 beers and a bite to eat in a 1.5hrs? And last question, do you just buy the 'tickets' there?
We went at about 6:30 last time and there's quite a few people there but no queues. There's quite a few stalls to spread the crowd around but there'll always be the more popular beers that have more people at their stalls
1.5 hours sounds about right. Alot of people couldn't get through the full 20 tickets (pussies) and were giving them out as they left
I just hope they were overwhelmed by the crowds - as it was too packed.
Suggestions:
A) Run it 5pm-9pm (4pm start is silly when most peeps work till 5pm)
B) Run it in Fed Square with a cover over it (bigger area needed)
C) Open it up to Australian Microbreweries (some of the Vic's were ordinary)
D) Raise the price to $30 and throw in some more samples (for the added breweries)
E) And for fucks sake: keep the jugs of water and plates of salted turkish bread pieces stocked. Pointless trying a lager after you've just had a porter and can't clean your palate or glass.
Best breweries and beers IMO:
Red Duck (Amber Ale and Porter were great!)
Mountain Goat (Organic Indian Pale Ale)
Bright (Dunkel Heffeweizen)
Temple (Special Golden Ale)
Fuck em off award:
Bellarine Brewery (stinky! - only tried the Bitter and the Lager)
Buckley's (got as much chance impressing me)
Dogbolter (can't recall who makes it).
Realy shame Hargreaves Hill didn't make it... don't know why.
Direktor wrote:Went to the Microbrewery Showcase last night.
Temple (Special Golden Ale)
Good fun!
Didn't make it this time but I remember last time Temple was a standout. Very small operation, maybe even 1 guy? Even uses someone elses brewery
Great Belgian style stuff. Can't remember where I had it on tap a while ago but need to find more places that have it
Did they have Mildura? That was good stuff too from memory