My Week Of Beers 24.04.23
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.
Hey friends! This week was a bit of a sad one as Katie’s dear old granddad Billy passed away and Panthers lost to the Tigers. I know you can’t really compare the two but either way it was a complete bummer of a week. I don’t agree with the notion that you should have beers during sad times but when it’s your job it ends up happening anyway.
I started with a Sunday Stout Session with the not at all succinctly named Where Is The Lava Bourbon Barrel Aged Sour Imperial Stout With Cherry, Cacao Nibs, Cocoa Powder, And Madagascar Vanilla Beans by The Bruery.
Watch the full review.
Yeah it tasted like the stuff in it, if you like the sound of it at over 16% alcohol then go for it. The big mark against it for me was the real lack of carbonation. There was zero head and little fizz which would have been welcome in a beer with so many flavour notes and ingredients.
Thursday night I stayed with some friends and I shared four tall limited release beers I got from Seeker Brewing in Wollongong when I was researching an article for Crafty Pint.
I had their Double Mystic NEIIPA which is like their Mystic NEIPA got hit by a truck and passes the pain onto you. Pears, pine and a bit of wasabi peas this is a real goer you won’t wanna have for breakfast (8.2%). I also had their Dougie’s Chocolate Porter which was nice and chocolatey but I like my dark beers a bit more robust whereas this was more approachable at 5.6%.
Me and my friends agreed our favourites were the two I conveniently remembered to photograph, Sapphire Coast Wet Hop Hazy (pictured) and Land of the Long White Cloud Oat Cream IPA.
Read my Crafty Pint write up for all four beers.
Although these two had some big flavours they are both easy to get into, Sapphire being especially refreshing which I’d yet to experience in a wet hop beer. It’s also awesome that Sapphire and Cloud showed off Aus and NZ ingredients respectively, proving we live in a great time and place for beer. My friend Rowena (also pictured kinda) liked them both and she doesn’t even drink beer! What other endorsement do you need!
Pictured: Non beer drinker wondering how she got here.
On Friday Katie and I did a bit of research for a South Sydney brewery crawl for Crafty Pint, starting at One Drop Brewing Co and ending at Bracket Brewing. We shared a paddle at each and I only took notes on a few so I will only explain the highlights here (plus I want you to read that article when it goes live).
I tried the core range at One Drop but they are known for doing weird beers and served me up a BEER FUCKING SOFT SERVE infused with their Piehead Plum and Peach Crumble Sour. The beer comes in at about 9% but Harrison at the counter told me the ice cream would be about 7%. It’s ice cream that gets you drunk, it was so sweet and delicious and this was my genuine reaction:
It’s so good that everything has gone too far now.
Our next stop was Rocks Brewing where my mate Eddie brews and he recommended the Thai Vice Thai Basil Berlinner Weisse. If you like a sour with a bit of savoury then I recommend this and get in quick because it’s only on tap at Rocks.
This job, it’s all about the people.
I’ll save the rest for the Crafty Crawl but the other breweries we visited included Frenchies, 2 Halves and Bracket. We also visited The Beer Bar which has 40 taps of craft beer, most of which they only get only keg of.
As you can see, the photo is only big enough to show half of the taps.
After picking a Hope Estate sour (peach, and yes, puckeringly sour), Coastal Brewing ESB (very nice) and Cosmo Feijoa Saison (nearly shit when I saw this was on tap) I asked bartender Ben to give me his favourite and least favourite beers on tap to complete the paddle. He did, and refused to tell me which was which.
Katie favouring the Cosmo Saison.
I ended up getting Ben’s picks the wrong way around! He favoured the hazy (middle) by Sundowner Brewing because he liked that it wasn’t overly sweet and didn’t like the stout by Eden Brewing because it had a slightly smoky finish and he can’t do smoke in beer. I thought the stout was very nice and would have it again.
On Saturday night I drank a Foam Lager by Freshwater Brewing in my family room while the Panthers lost to the Tigers. I had it on tap and it is nice, hoppy and refreshing but it tasted like all beers do when your team is losing; bitter.
And today (Monday) I had a mid-strength Great Northern at the lunch I had with Katie’s family in an Irish pub after Billy’s funeral service. It didn’t taste great but I’m not sure the beer to farewell a loved one is ever about the drink itself.
