My Week Of Beers 01.05.23

In this new segment, Benny talks about all the beers he had to drink that week, why he drank them and were they any good.

It’s my last full week (Monday to Sunday) in Australia and so I only had a couple of beers to give my body a break before what I’m about to put it through in Amsterdam; jetlag, hotel mattresses and a highly daily step count in one of my favourite places to walk around. I’ll also be drinking beers in Amsterdam because that’s part of my job.

Anyway, enough about the beers I am going to drink, here are the ones I had last week!

Didn’t realise there was that much dust on the ring pack heehee

This might sound weird but I can’t say too much about this one! Last week Penrith brewery Rusty Penny, a local brewery for one more week, got in touch and asked me to taste their upcoming GABS beer and share my feedback. This is the first time I’ve been asked to do something like this and it was such an honour to do it for such a great local brewery!

I tried it on Wednesday and don’t want to spoil their party so I’ll just say it’s a dark beer with a sweet titular ingredient. I guessed the alcohol content to be between 6-7%. My notes were that it was nice but what more choc-chilli than what they were going for. The sweetness should be dialled up to get to what they’re going for and I’d have liked more of a lingering foamy head that is expected of this style (bit of a clue).

In Bruges Pale Ale by 7th Day Brewing

Earlier in the year, I wrote up In Bruges Belgian Pale Ale, a limited release by 7th Day Brewing out of Brookvale. 7th Day would have sent me about a dozen beers since I joined Crafty Pint and out of all of them this is for sure my favourite one. I passed this feedback onto Joel, GM of 7th Day and so they fixed me up with another four pack in the quasi-Christian spirit of the surfing Jesus on their tins.

I had it on Friday night while I watched the footy at my parents house. At 5.4% it has plenty of flavour, lovely orange rind and amber malts that make this pale ale earn it’s right to call it Belgian. I was deso so I just had the one and it’s a great choice for that, as is…

Red Beard Red Ale by Rusty Penny Brewing

Again, I was watching footy at my parents place on Saturday (a game my team was actually competing in this time). Before I went over my uncle Paulo gave me two red beers he had in the back of the fridge that he said were getting on a bit. One had spoiled but this one was tasted fine so I poured into yesterdays glass (don’t worry I washed it) at savoured it for the full 80 minute contest between Panthers and Warriors.

It tasted bolder than 4.5% so it was a good choice for having just one. Nice sweet biscuit flavours along with hints of caramel and toffee, light enough that it didn’t burn but flavourful enough to sip slowly, possibly due to the extra time in the can. That head you see in the photo hung around throughout the whole drink which is a real treat!

You know what this is.

Saturday night we saw the first group of people that we have to wave goodbye to before four and a half months in Europe. They were Katie’s friends (although I quite like them) so I offered to deso and chose to just have one with the pizza we’d ordered that night. Someone saw me taking a pic of this beer and I didn’t feel like less of a dickhead when I explained it was for my weekly beer wrap up.

I chose Stella Artois because we are planning on going to Leuven, the Belgian town Stella was first brewed. Surely, if I go there I have to try some from the source and before I go I wanted a reference for what the stuff we get here is like. It’s sweet and has that very drinkable green bottle crispness that still manages to be a bit unique. Too sweet for me though and not a good match for pizza.

Watch full review here.

For my Sunday Stout Sesh I went a bit mental and drank (sobs) a porter! And good thing I did too because it was damn delicious! The Goodfather Porter by Southern Highlands Brewing is an amazing beer that is close to porter perfection. Expected notes of bitter dark chocolate and black coffee are there without being overpowering. It’s a dark beer that is trying to taste like a dark beer and doing a fantastic job. I rated this 9/10 (spoilers if you haven’t watched the review but watch it anyway it all helps) and finished the whole beer which I don’t always do with beers I review. Sensational.

Earlier today, the owner of ACID Logistics who collaborate with beverage companies, including some awesome breweries, got in touch with me, said he liked the review and wanted to send me some of the highlights from Southern Highlands and their other breweries. I told him I’d love to but I won’t be around to receive them for the next long while!

A very happy start to my last full week with a fixed address. I think I’ll go easy on the beers this week too, unless I need to verify Aus Carlsberg vs Dutch Carlsberg.