Month: August 2016

Sam’s US Beer Trip

Beer Radar for TWTW Friday 22nd March 2013

By John Krüger

I’m always impressed with the determination some people have to obtain decent beers. A mate of mine, Sam Petering, is also a talented cheese maker and part time barman at the Wheatsheaf Hotel in Thebarton. Sam’s a fellow beer lover and home brewer and we’ve known each other long enough to know which beers really ring each other’s bells. I’ve just got off the phone from him after his return from USA. He’s spent three weeks travelling around the ‘States drinking beer like a fury. “My suitcase was overweight by about 10lbs at every airport,” he said. “I started buying all these awesome beers, especially in Portland and Denver. My suitcase was stuffed with bottles of amazing beers.” Sam decided to start throwing away unessentials like all toiletries to lighten his bag and then buying replacements in the next city. After about three cities he had to leave the majority of the beers at a relatives place in Chicago after he found out the Yanks won’t let him post any booze home. Anyone have some tips on how to get his stash home? Otherwise it’ll be over two years until he can get back to drink them.

To make things worse, he was just to cook a feed of lentils for dinner.

“Lentils? Bloody hell mate, are you broke after the trip?” I asked.

“Nah, I need to lose some weight. I’ve put on all this weight because all I’ve had for three weeks is Barley Wine, burgers and barbeque.”

It’s nice to hear a non-family man can still have a decent time out there in the world. Bring me back a beer t-shirt next time Sam.

BEER ALERT: Little Creatures new small batch beer is called Shepherd’s Delight and it’s a ripper. It’s a Red IPA, 6.4%abv and 50IBU’s. Loads of hop and malt complexity but so silky from golden oats. Stone fruit and citrus from the hops. A beautiful long finish. Get it while you can.

Father-In-Law Beer

Beer Radar for TWTW Friday 19th Oct 2012

By John Krüger

Matter of fact, the father-in-law never noticed.

VB is back to full-strength. Sales took a bit of a tumble apparently so the bean counters have let the brewers of VB have a bit more malt or sugar or whatever’s in VB to bring it back to its original 4.9%abv instead of the excise lowering 4.6%. It’s not a huge difference. My father-in-law insists on bringing over a couple of dozen cans of VB every time he visits. He used to tease us about drinking what he referred to as mid-strength Coopers Pale Ale (4.5%). The teasing stopped when we started drawing his attention to the lower alcohol level of his beloved VB. He never even noticed, and I doubt he’ll ever notice the change back.

In other beery news, we noticed a new Matilda Bay beer on tap at the Stag hotel in Adelaide recently. None of us can remember the name but we knocked off quite a few litres over a beefy lunch. The PR company that usually keeps us up to date with the goings on with Matilda Bay beers have been a bit quiet about it. All we can tell you is it was described as an Aussie ale on the tap flag, it’s moderately hoppy and is good for at least 5 pints and counting. We’ll have more news about it when someone in Sydney returns our calls.

Christmas Beers and RTD’s

Beer Radar for TWTW Friday 16th Dec 2011

By John Krüger

I get a good deal of beverage industry info from the people behind the registers at bottle shops. The bloke in my local drive through is a top bloke. He rides his pushbike past my house every day on the way to the pub. Looks like an ex local footy legend who’s now stacking kegs at 9am every morning. I asked him, what’s this year’s fad leading up to Christmas? We peered at each other through a jungle of life size cardboard cut-outs and novelty plastic drink cans. “Look at all the bloody cider. First we had to get more fridges for the kids drinks” he points to two doors of RTD’s “…and all the wine of course, now we’ve got to work out what’s going so we can fit all this cider in! My grandfather would be rolling in his bloody grave.” He said, shaking his head in utter disgust. I wasn’t sure how the connection to his grandfather had popped up there but I left it unquestioned anyway.

I looked through about twenty bottles of Champagne and local bubbles until I could find something in my price range that wasn’t flavoured with fruits, then moved on to another major bottle shop around the corner. The mature woman behind the counter that I always say hello to just shook her head at all the new beers that I regularly comb the fridges for. “I dunno why we get all of those. We don’t need three quarters of all of those beers. Just VB and what’s it called? …..West End Draught! That’s all we sell. We sell pallets of those and only one or two bottles of those other beers. They’re a waste of time and space.” I wasn’t going to get into tastes and percentages with her but it’s an insight into what’s really popular. Depressing maybe, but no big surprises.

So Cider is the next big thing? Everyone’s crazy about Perry? Maybe that’s already passé for the hipsters. We had a gorgeous 20 year old woman, the girlfriend of my brother-in-law, come over with him for lunch. She wasn’t real keen when offered Champagne, white wine, red wine, beer, spirits… but as the last option, I offered her a ginger beer. She paused. I said it’s alcoholic. She nodded and asked to see it. I pulled out a bottle of Crabbie’s and she was squealed with delight. I’d tried a bottle a few days before and it was sickly sweet with an ingredients list longer than a donkeys doodle. Crabbie’s is invading the bottle shops like you wouldn’t believe. It’s already in at least one major chain near me. The Poms are said to be selling 2.5mil cases a year, 80,000 bottles consumed a day. With the European summer well and truly over, the summer drinks and associated marketing are washing up on our shores. Expect quite a few ginger-beer cocktails to resurface in the media. If you’re the socialble type you’ll probably find a diverse range of beverages to appear in your fridge this Christmas. When I was 18 years old, we had a carton of West End, a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black and a bottle of Moselle every year for Christmas. I suggest installing a six-pack or two of local craft beer in your fridge and securing the shelf space first.

Cheers!

Keep an eye out for the bumper booze holiday guide edition of Beer Radar in WBM coming soon.

 

2012 Beer Awards

Beer Radar for TWTW Friday 16rd March 2012

By John Krüger

Call for entries for second beer brewers’ competition

There’s been a lot of work behind the scenes organising this year’s Royal Adelaide Beer Show, I’m on the committee and there’s no beer involved in any of the meetings, much to my disappointment. Things are revving up for the 2012 judging and I encourage anyone involved in commercial brewing to start getting their plan together for which beers they’ll enter. Here’s the latest update from the Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society before it’s even hit the presses: 

Low-carb, hybrid and exotic-style beers will be among the new sub-classes judged at the second Royal Adelaide Beer Show in July.

Boutique and mainstream brewers from around the nation are urged to enter the contest, which is part of the 2012 Royal Adelaide Show. The competition had great success last year, being the first staged by the RA&HS since the 1800s, with 80 entries from South Australia, New South Wales and Tasmania.

Chief judge and planning committee member Simon Fahey, also a technical manager in beer systems at Adelaide’s Coopers Brewery, says they hope to attract more than 100 entries from around Australia this year, including more from interstate.

“This year, there is also a vast expansion of the beer classes, including a sub-class for low-carb dry beer to cater for that expanding market, one for Belgian and French-style ales, and a hybrid class for beers using herbs and spices, smoked beer, aged beer and more.”

Categories encompass lagers, ales, stouts, reduced alcohol beers and wheat beer, with exhibits judged from both a technical and consumer appreciation perspective. Gold, silver and bronze medals will be awarded, with gold medal-winning beers considered for trophies.

Judges will include industry experts from both large and boutique brewers, and all trophy winners from last year’s contest have been invited to judge also. Female and interstate judges have been invited to take part for the first time, as well.

Last year, Adelaide Hills boutique brewer Lobethal Bierhaus dominated the show, winning four of the 10 trophies including Champion Exhibitor.

Entries for the 2012 Royal Adelaide Beer Show will open soon, with judging scheduled for July 3-5. Winners will be announced on July 6. For entry details, visit www.theshow.com.au or contact RA&HS representative Brad Ward on ph (08) 8210 5253.

 

 

Wine & Beers

Beer Radar for TWTW Friday 9th Nov 2012

By John Krüger

After attending a few different wine awards over the last few weeks, I can definitely confirm that wine people love a cold beer. The Royal Adelaide had Coopers Pale and Celebration Ale coming out amongst the wines during their awards night, and I also noticed a stash of Sparkling ale in a fridge during judging earlier in the week.

McLaren Vale Bushing King lunch was a quirky event with some of the most amazing roast lamb ever, but once the Vale IPA keg was tapped the footy MC couldn’t get the punters back into the marquee for the auction. After a few good reds, a heady plastic cup full of tasty cold beer went down a treat.

Most recently, the Clare Valley wine awards were on last Friday in the beautiful old Clare town hall. By some stroke of genius, I was set up near the bar and overheard quite a few people asking for a cold beer during the day. They kept getting knocked back until the official part was over. After everyone had their fill of amazing Rieslings, the bar staff finally let the Knappstein Lagers and Pikes Pilsners loose and they were a perfect ending to a great day.

On a different track; check out the latest Little Creatures single batch brew called Puffing Billy. It’s a 6.5% Bock with a hint of Beech wood smoked malt. It’s amazingly smooth and complex. Quite a few “Wow’s” were uttered during our tasting. If only these single batch releases were available all year.

Krauts in Oz

Beer Radar for TWTW Friday 6th of August 2010

By John Krüger

The Germans are coming!

This time not with oompa bands, rallies and fanfare, but sneakily. The Coles owned Liquorland chain has quietly stocked it’s shelves with two new German beers. There’s not a mention in any press we’ve seen and even their website is lacking in any information, but when we heard a tipoff about the beers we staked out our local Liquorland and did some beer reconnaissance.

The first beer we spotted was Henninger Lager. It’s 4.8%abv in little 330ml green hand-grenade bottles and bloody easy to drink, maybe too easy. The Henninger brewery in Frankfurt has a history going back to 1655 so they know what they’re doing. Our local store has them at $32.99 per case or two for $62. Quality German beer at prices that make the local beers look like a rip-off.

Next we found the Radeberger Pilsner. Again at 4.8%abv but in brown 330ml boutique style bottles. This beer makes us very very happy. If only Coopers 62 had 33 IBU’s (International Bitterness Units) to wake up the mouth and inform the brain that we’ve purchased a decent pilsner with real flavour. This is in the top 10 consumed pilsners in Germany but those buggers are spoiled for beer choice. Our local Liquorland is selling them for $42.99 a case, while Coopers 62 retails elsewhere for around $49.99. Those Germans are cunning!

Metal Beers

Beer Radar for TWTW Friday 5th of April 2013

By John Krüger

Remember the Kiss rock band beer a while back. It was actually pretty good, but If disco-rock isn’t your thing, try the new Iron Maiden ale made by Robinsons. It’s appropriately called “Trooper” and you can check out lead singer Bruce Dickinson explain how he helped develop the new cask and bottled ale in this video: http://vimeo.com/61514884 I haven’t been able to source a bottle yet, but don’t run to the hills, I’ll keep an eye out for it. With Bobec (Slovenian Goldings), UK Goldings and Cascade hops, I’m sure it ROCKS!

Screen Shot 2016-08-15 at 8.55.07 AM

Beer Awards 2011

Beer Radar for TWTW Friday 3rd of June 2011

By John Krüger

A reminder for the commercial brewers out there, Closing date for entries in the first ever Royal Adelaide Show Beer Competition is Friday 10th June 2011 at 5pm. Don’t let your competitors take out the gold medal just because you couldn’t get it together in time to enter. We’re sick of people whinging about who won what, when the whingers are usually the ones that never entered any of their beers in the first place. There’s draught beer and packaged beer classes with a good range of categories to suit most producers. Dee Rowlands from the show society is handling everything and can be contacted at rowlandsd@adelaideshowground.com.au (*2016 Now contact Brad Ward BWard@adelaideshowground.com.au ) for more information. Don’t sit around waiting to see who does what, if you make a good beer, enter it.

Thanks to some amazing brewers and cider makers from New Zealand, as well as Tony from EU Cellars, Wellington Square in North Adelaide for helping out with our research for the upcoming NZ Special Edition of Beer Radar in WBM. Without giving too much away, all we can say is WOW! there’s some fantastic stuff coming out from the Kiwi’s. It’s not just the Sav Blanc scene they’re stitching up. They’re miles ahead of us with the craft-beer and cider scene. Read all about it in the June edition of WBM.

Cool Weather Beers

Beer Radar for TWTW Fri 14th May 2010-05-14

By John Krüger

_JK93674x

It’s amazing how everyone’s drinking desires adjust during the change of seasons. We’ve slowed (slightly) on the Eden Valley Rieslings and are dusting off the big reds. We’re not just chowing slow cooked lamb shanks like there’s no tomorrow, we’re also changing our beer choices. The bright cold fizzy stuff that slakes our thirsts during the heat are almost undesirable compared to ales. Amber ales, India pale ales, porters, dark ales, stouts. We love imperial pints of portagaff or black & tans. They taste even better in a good pub next to an open fire, deep in conversation about nothing in particular.

Here’s what we hope to be drinking over the next few three months:

Coopers Stout with a dash of lemonade, the occasional Guinness stout &

Kilkenny Ale like you wouldn’t believe.

Big glasses of Mountain Goat’s Dunkelweizen (dark wheat beer) called Dunken.  They’ve only made 20 or so kegs of it so get in quick. It’s 5.5%abv and has that subtle German hop thing going on. Head Goat brewer Jayne Lewis reckons they like drinking it too so it should pop its head up from time to time. It’s on tap, it’s fresh, very nice drinking.

We’ve also discovered Brasserie Dieu do Ciel. They produce beers from a microbrewery in Montréal that seriously kick arse. The IPA called Corne du diable (Horn of the devil) is dark and rich with earthy hops in your face. Our little 341ml bottle cost us $12 so we won’t be drinking many unfortunately.

Summer in the Vale

Beer Radar for TWTW for 30th Sept 2011

By John Krüger

Hold onto your socks, with warm weather and summer on the horizon the beer industry has come out of hibernation and is revving up for big sales. Will Australia finally embrace thirst quenching wheat beers? Unlikely. Will we see yet another low-carb excuse for a beer? We hope not. Is cider taking over valuable refrigerated display-cabinet space and pushing a wide range of brands out? Yes! You wouldn’t believe how many ciders will be available this summer. More details will be released in an upcoming Beer Radar in WBM.

The marketing machine has already hit the big green go button and we’ve already seen a flurry of activity from the PR companies. Press releases and PR events are already ramping up. One corporate event junkie has been spotted at free booze events in the social pages more than five times in as many months. She’s also smart enough to smile and get her photo taken before hitting the complimentary beverages.

The McLaren Vale Beer Company‘s, Salopian Inn just out of McLaren Vale continues to amaze punters with their beer themed dinners. Some of us are still regretting the loss of the Duck & Pinot nights but their beer events are certainly attracting attention. They’re not just serving their own MV Beers and lay on an impressive range of local and imported beers with MV Beer head brewer Jeff Wright searching world wide for the perfect brew. He hinted at the lengths he goes to, to make sure the beer imbibers are kept happy and it’s quite an effort in logistics. How does a pub on the outskirts of McLaren Vale keep their dinners chock full when other regional hotels are struggling? They run their own subsidised bus from a pub in the Adelaide CBD out to the vales and back. No hassles with drink driving and everyone can have a few extra beers before getting back on the bus. Smart thinking.

FYI – the new Vale Dark is a wonderful American dark lager that’s still drinking well as the weather warms up. It’s roasty without being offensive and has an enjoyable hoppy character. We’re still itching to try their new IPA which was first released only in kegs and sold out at an impressive rate. 25 kegs went to Vic. 25 to NSW and 25 around Adelaide, with the remaining 15 kegs going to the Salopian Inn. Each venue pretty well downed a keg a day, including one venue slamming 2 kegs in one evening. The amazing thing is, this was a beer with almost no profile or hype, it almost flew past our radar. 85 more kegs are on the road right now. If Jeff’s first test batch that was revealed late one night at The Salopian was anything to go by, it’ll sell very well in bottle when it’s released late this year or early next year.