(Not) Local Beers

Beer Radar for TWTW – 11th of March 2011

By John Krüger

The #fakeperoni issue has come to the surface and quite frankly it’s way overdue. I was in a fancy bar on Monday night and asked the poor bastard behind the bar (part owner and controller of what they sell) if I could have a beer. He said yes and motioned towards the fridge. The first question was “is that a real Peroni?” After 5 minutes and help from some young eyesight.. no. Neither were the next 3 “imported” beers next to it. In the end I was more than satisfied with a Moo Brew pale ale from Tassie. So far as I know we’re not brewing Tassie beers under supervision on the mainland.

Recently I saw an enthusiastic tweet about a “local” beer by a misinformed PR company rep. She’s just doing her job and probably never asked to see the sexy stainless steel that gets us beer nerds excited. A major presumption that I was always taught by properly trained journo’s; to “Assume” makes an Ass out of U & me.

This tweet was enthusiastically retweeted by a freelance writer for a major beer mag who later admitted “I RT’d a harmless bit of beer promo, not a position on Palestine.” So much for the value of local product, but it goes further. This non-local beer has also been proclaimed “local” in print by two mainstream wine writers who are amazingly enthusiastic and amazingly misinformed. There’s no mash-tun or fermenters in sight. That’s because it’s all contract brewed interstate, and so far, it always has been. If local product is so worthless and cultural cringe so great that the last thing that matters is “local”, than our local F&B industry is in deep shit. Bring on local Chinese apples.

Is an award winning (label) on a local(ly imported Chilean) wine (but the label’s graphic designer is based in Aldinga), the next local big thing?

Tax Return Beers

Beer Radar for TWTW Friday 28th June 2013

By John Krüger

Forget blowing the rest of your EFY budget on copy paper. That’s no fun. The following winter warming beers we couldn’t fit into the latest Beer Radar in WBM would be loads more fun.

Little Creatures Single Batch “Mr Obadiah” is a rye porter that has a beaut spicy rye character and that burned black Chinotto flavour that is pure beer joy right to the last drop. Pour the whole 568ml bottle into a large glass and marvel at the wonder of a great smooth dark beer.

Coopers have sent out a few stubbies of pre-release 2013 Vintage Ale and holy shitballs, it’s a cracker! It’s very different from any other Vintage Ale they’ve released and possible the most drinkable so far un-aged. This year’s will take quite a lot of willpower to let some age and reveal the more balanced version within. This year, Coopers have utilised a trilogy of “C” hops; Centennial, Chinook, and Citra with a dash of Styrian Goldings. The Citra adds a bucketload of citrusy “Wow!” Nice work.

*Coopers and Little Creatures supplied the beers mentioned above

Rock/Disco Beers

Beer Radar for TWTW Friday 25th Jan 2013

By John Krüger

You’ve seen the AC/DC and Motörhead wines, but what about beers? Did you know that there’s a Kiss “Destroyer” beer? It’s brewed in Sweden and says on the label that it’s “The hottest beer in the world”; obviously not the greatest tag line for a cold beer. One bottle shop attendant said he had someone come in and buy 2 cartons. “He didn’t care what the beer’s like, he was just going to give them to a friend who likes the band.” It’s actually not a bad beer, a malty lager. It tastes a little like Detroit rock with a hint of disco. The Brazilian metal band Sepultura have also put their name to a special brew. Is it a palate damaging imperial IPA? No, it’s a soft Hefeweizen, the Barry Manilow of beers.

First Harvest 2012

Beer Radar for Friday 30th March 2012

By John Krüger

Cascade First Harvest

Only a few weeks ago the fresh hops were picked at Bushy Park Estates in Tasmania for the 2012 Cascade First Harvest ale. Three experimental hops will be used this year; Campania for bittering, Triabunna for flavour and Ellandale for aroma. The hop names all come from historical hop growing areas of Tassie. First Harvest ale is all about using green fresh hops for maximum aroma and taste. They exhibit a resiny grassy herbaceous character rather than papery oxidised notes. Head Brewer at Cascade, Mike Unsworth said “Based on this year’s hop selection and the traditional style of First Harvest, we anticipate the 2012 brew to exhibit aromas and flavours of peeled fruits and blackberries over nettles, green leaves and ground spices. The finish should deliver a resinous bitterness which should blend in with the malt base to give a well-balanced hoppy beer.” Here at Beer Radar we’re looking forward to trying the new 2012 batch for ourselves in May when it’s released. We’ll keep you posted on our thoughts.

*Cascade has supplied a few bottles of First Harvest

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!