Lineup for Octoberfest Finalised!

After a few hiccups, here's the final lineup for this Saturday's Octoberfest SpecTAPular:

German
1 Erdinger Hefeweizen
2 Schlösser Alt
3 Kölsch Cologne
4 Bitburger Pilsner
5 Dortmunder speciality lager style
6 Radeberger Pils
7 Erdinger Weissbier Dunkel
8 Hövels Pale Ale
9 Paulaner Oktoberfest
10 Hofbräu München Helles

Australian
11 Duke Hefeweizen
12 3 Ravens Blond (Altbier)
13 Colonial Kölsch
14 Redoak Oktoberfest Märzen
15 Dogbolter Munich Dunkel
16 Wobbly Boot Smokey Weizen
17 Hunter Bock
18 Big Reg Vienna Lager
19 Chevalier Hefe Weizen Dunkel
20 Red Hill Weizenbock

100th beer to be tapped this Wednesday at 6pm!

To thank all our supporters (those on our SMS database), we're giving away 2 free drinks of our 100th tap beer - a Victorian exclusive - Baron's new Passionberry Porter. We'll tap the keg this coming Wednesday at 6pm. We hope to see you there!

Grand Final Day - what a beauty

JJ and GG

Andrew, GG and Claudes

Kate and Claudes

Lio and me.

Yesterday saw a big turnout for our Grand Final Day celebrations. We had two large plasma screens showing the game on a picture perfect day. Thanks to JJ for organising the event and all the staff for doing such great work in often rowdy circumstances!

Here's the slideshow.

Later this week we'll be tapping our 100th different beer and then Saturday it's Octoberfest (so pray for no rain!)..

Rogue and Meantime clean up at World Beer Challenge

Meantime (UK) and Rogue Ales (USA) have pulled off an astounding result at this year’s International Brewing Challenge, by BOTH having no fewer than four beers ranked in the IBC’s World’s 50 Best Beers. Here's what beers ranked:

Meantime
London Porter
Coffee Porter
London Stout
India Pale Ale

Rogues
Russian Imperial Stout
Shakespeare Stout
Dead Guy Ale
Juniper Pale Ales

The International Beer Challenge is the largest packaged beer competition in the world. The Challenge attracts international entries and is supported by some of the world's biggest brewers.

The winning beer from each of the 12 classes together with the overall Supreme Champion and winning international entry will be presented with their award at the prestigious IBC awards ceremony in November.

Read more here.

We obviously have some Meantime in stock while Rogues is coming soon!

100th beer on tap - Baron's Passionberry Porter - will be tapped v soon!

As posted earlier, Baron's new Passionberry Porter will be our 100th different beer on tap and it's not far away and will be tapped any day! All Ale Star and Beer Bulletin subscribers will be invited by SMS to join us in celebrating. The first 2 standard glasses are on the house to thank you for your continuing support.

Octoberfest SpecTAPular rock posters appearing around town

Octoberfest SpecTAPular rock posters have started to adorn building sites around town. We tried a simpler looking poster this time around.

Prof Pilsner's report on Ale Stars session

Ale Star Prof Pilsner has posted his own report on last week's session on his Beer Blokes blog.

You can read it here.

Ale Stars 3rd Meeting

Our third monthly get together was held on Tuesday with the beer style being a prelude to the upcoming Oktoberfest celebrations.

We tasted German 'celebration beers'. In particular, Samuel Adams Boston Lager (a multi award winning Vienna Lager from the states), Weinstephan Festbier (from the oldest brewery in the world, a traditional festival beer brewed in March to be in peak condition in time for Oktoberfest), Erdinger Oktoberfest Weisbier (a festival hefeweizen), and probably the most interesting beer I've ever tasted - Schlenkerla Rauchbier Marzen (a smoked marzen from Bavarian brewery Heller Trum). This last beer had everyone talking due mainly to its incredible smoky character which was unlike anything many of us had tasted before.

Shandy was expecting this beer to polarise opinions but interestingly only one in the group disapproved - it goes to show Ale Stars are always on the search for bigger and bolder flavours as well as characteristics that really set a beer apart from the pack.

Great to see so many familiar faces again - and even better to see those familiar face bringing along some new ones. We're looking forward to seeing you all again on October 21st for the farmhouse ales session.

As always, thanks to our generous sponsor, Cloudwine, which is THE place to buy your speciality beers. Or try their online shop!

EXCLUSIVE: Rogues Tasting Event on Nov 6

If anyone's in Melbourne on Thursday Nov 6 (2 days after Melbourne Cup Day), we will be giving punters an Australian exclusive - the first opportunity to try some of Rogue's Ales before they go on sale elsewhere. These beers come from Oregon in the American Northwest region and are considered some of America's finest craft beers. They will shortly be imported for the first time which is an exciting thing for beer drinkers in this country who haven't yet been exposed to the best American beers.

These are the beers we've decided on for the event:

1. Dead Guy Ale
2. Shakespeare Stout
3. Hazelnut Brown Nectar
4. Mocha Porter
5. Imperial I2PA
6. Brutal Bitter Ale
7. Juniper Pale Ale
8. Double Dead Guy Ale
9. American Amber Ale
10. Old Crustacean Barley Wine

To read more about these beers, check out the Rogue website or Beeradvocate for some reviews.

Disappointingly, Rogues aren't willing to give any promotional stock (boo!) but the distributor is going to give us a discount and the right to showcase these beers before anyone else in the country (yay!). $25 (TBC) will give you a sample of TEN beers! So we know how much beer to get, you will need to prebook and I will post a link to this shortly.

I don't know about you but I'm counting the days!

Sydney Taphouse Update

While in Sydney last week, I spent two days at The Local Taphouse Darlinghurst site. We're waiting for development applications to council to be approved but expect that work will begin within a fortnight to fitout the venue for what we hope will be a pre-Xmas opening.

Here's a glimpse of the site from the outside before work begins..


The Sydney venue will be slightly bigger than St Kilda and include (subject to DA approval) a fantastic outdoor space on the roof.

I've already arranged many of the initial regular tap beers and will keenly support NSW breweries as much as possible (as we've done here in St Kilda).

More reports later.

Ale Stars 3rd Meeting - Report

There was another Ale Stars session last Tuesday - this time looking at German celebration lagers. There was another great turnout and it was great to see quite a few hanging around afterwards.

JJ will post a report shortly.

Next session is on Tuesday October 21st. It will feature Farmhouse Ales and special guest will be Ben Kraus, Head Brewer from Bridge Road Brewery and brewer of Chevalier Saison (and Bier de Garde). $25 for 4 x beer samples and food. Samples to include Ben's Saison, Du Pont Saison, Trois Monts Biere de Garde and another example. You must prebook (and prepay) at the top of this blog.

Hope to see you there!

2 weeks to go until Octobefest SpecTAPular Beerfest!

This time in two weeks, our second seasonal Beerfest, the Octobefest SpecTAPular, will be underway. All the beers are lined up, the tasting booklet is almost completed and the rock posters will be up around the city from today I believe. Last night, Guy and I trekked out to the Cuckoo restaurant in the Dandenongs to check out the Black Forest Band, an oompah band we have booked for the day. They're mighty cheesy but will be great fun on the day!

The details for the day are that it we will have 20 German style beers on tap (about half from Germany and the rest from around Australia). Things kick off at noon and finish at 1am. Entry is free and we hope to see y'all there!

Australian Bar Awards

Last Wednesday night the Australian Bar Awards were held at the Sydney Hilton. We had been surprisingly listed as a finalist in the 'Best Australian Specialty Beer Venue' category after just four months trading so Guy, Justin and I decided to go along for the occasion. Unbelievably, they don't give finalists even one comp ticket so we had to stump up $275 each plus airfares, accommodation, taxis etc (and one Melbourne bar had two tables of 10!)..

Anyway, we had a fun (and late) night. The show itself was kinda like the Logies although the male to female quota was disappointingly one sided (and the wrong way). Redoak deservedly won the award we were competing for. For four years they have had sustained success and a dedication to excellence. Congrats to David, Janet and their team.

The awards appeared spirit and cocktail focussed with multiple awards in that area (best cocktail list etc) so it will be interesting how better beer venues will change things a little over time. Maybe one day there will be an award for "best range and conditioning of cellared beers"!

Like most award ceremonies, it was allowed to run way too long and consequently people became a little bored and restless. We actually nicked off early as my two colleagues had never been to Redoak. We has been on Redoak's table and they arranged for their bar to stay open later and the staff there were very hospitable. We sampled a few and my fave on the night was the magnificent Baltic Porter.

Hours later, and after a few (extortionately priced) drinks at the magnificent it-has-to-be-seen-to-be-believed The Ivy, it was lights at 3.30am.

100th keg confirmed - and it'll be free!*

This morning I got official confirmation that our 100th beer we've had on tap will be a Victorian exclusive. Baron's new Passionberry Porter is the latest in their native range. We'll tap it in a week or two and Ale Star and Beer Bulletin subscribers (who are already signed on) can have their first 2 glasses on the house to thank you for your continuing support.

Transport's Two Tones Pale Ale Launched This Thursday

Transport Hotel and The Melbourne Brewers are launching Two Tones Pale Ale this Thursday. They've kindly offered us two kegs (which we've graciously accepted and will tap as soon as possible). Here's the blurb:

The Melbourne brewers run Beerfest, one of Australia’s richest annual craft brewing competitions. Transport Hotel sponsor the ‘champion brewer’ prize which sees the winner have one of their craft beer recipes brewed on a commercial system and placed on-tap at Transport Hotel.

Beerfest 2008’s champion brewer prize saw a tie between: Tony Vandenberg and Tony Wheeler.

The ‘Two Tones’ agreed on the style of British Pale Ale and after some discussions with Paul Holgate from Holgate Brewhouse the beer was brewed at the Holgate Brewhouse facility in Woodend, Victoria. The resulting beverage is a golden coloured pale ale with delicate fruity aroma and moderate but lingering bitterness with pineapple and citrus notes

Congrats to all and can't wait to try the stuff!

Heaps of exciting beer events coming up

It's been a big day organising a bunch of events but here's some of what I can divulge!

First, I may have locked in a Victorian exclusive for our 100th different beer we've had on tap. In just a couple of weeks, we'll SMS out to our SMS database and invite our supporters to come and sample this new interstate beer for free (2 glasses each!).

ALE STARS SESSION (September)
Next Tuesday, this session focusses on German celebration lagers. Deadline for booking this Sunday (tomorrow). See here for more info.

OCTOBERFEST SPECTAPULAR (Sat 4th Oct)
A huge day of German revelry from noon with 10 German beer styles imported and 10 Australian brewed German styles. Oompa band, slap dancers, yodellers and cowbell ringers will join us as well! It's free to enter - we have limited capacity so get there early..

COOPERS CLUB EVENT
October - date and event TBC: Dr Tim Cooper (Coopers Head Brewer) in attendance.

ALE STARS SESSION (October)
Tuesday October 21st - Ale Stars session on Farmhouse Ales featuring Ben Kraus, Head Brewer from Bridge Road Brewery and brewer of Chevalier Saison (and Bier de Garde). $25 for 4 x beer samples and food. Samples to include Ben's Saison, Du Pont Saison, Trois Monts Biere de Garde and another example.

ROGUE ALES EXCLUSIVE(November)
THURSDAY November 6th - the very first chance in Australia for punters to sample newly arrived Rogue Ales (legendary American craft beers) featuring 10 x 60ml samples of 10 different Rogue Ales. Entry will be $25 - $30 (TBC) and includes gourmet pizzas. There may be special guest(s) as well - watch this space..

ALE STARS SESSION (December)
(Tues 16th TBC) - Wheat beers session with a cristal, a heffe, a dunkel and a weizenbock (or perhaps wit).

ALE STARS SESSION (Jan or Feb):
Pale lagers with obviously a classic pils, a modern NZ hop inspired pils, a Munich style helles and one other style.

SUMMER SPECTAPULAR BEERFEST:
Australia Day weekend (TBC) - Summer themed beers from all over Australia on tap @ The Local Taphouse.

BETTER BEER 101
Oh, and I forgot that we will soon introduce a monthly session for novice beer drinkers new to better beers to learn a little about the difference in beer styles the best way I know - sampling!

Any ideas for events welcome!

Bigfoot Stout Shines

I'm typing this sipping my second Mountain Goat Bigfoot Stout (tapped 20 mins ago), Surefoot's big brother @ 8.5% ABV. Cam at the brewery considers it a "rich, intense, black, dark chocolatey with a sweet, toffee/caramel/smokey/oaky finish" and I can't agree more! Careful though as the alcohol is disguised well.

Coming up: Holgate Temptress Chocolate Porter, Old Speckled Hen, Mt Goat Goldilocks

Staff Party

To celebrate the first seven months of trading, all available staff headed into the city last night to Cookie, Rooftop Bar and (ahem) the Exford Hotel (JJ's suggestion!). A great night was had by all but I for one am paying for it today..

See photos here.

Another Mountain Goat one-off batch keg due in

MG are sending us a keg of their ripping (their words!) Pale Ale called Goldilocks - apparently a zippy little Pale Ale late-hopped with Tasmanian Galaxy Hop Flowers and a touch of Amarillo. An SMS Beer Bulletin will be sent out when it's tapped.

Second call for Ale Stars

The next Ale Stars session is next Tues and focusses on German celebration lagers. Don't forget to book online via the top right corner of the blog.

All Hail the Ale!

Australian Bartender Magazine Review

We're thrilled to see a major profile on us in the September edition of Australian Bartender Magazine which came out today. You can't buy publicity like that!

Read it here.

Tangerine photos from last night - HUGE turnout

Colette's always quick off the mark to post photos of Tangerine. Last night's was the biggest turnout yet, probably helped by the attendance of Lior and a showing of his latest video. See the awesome clip here and the Tangerine photos here.
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New Matilda Bay Brewer Appointed

Matilda Bay has apparently just appointed its new Head Brewer (name TBC). After a long, worldwide search, they finally appointed someone from.... Fosters!!

Stone & Wood Update

Brad Rogers' new venture, Stone & Wood Brewing, is still awaiting the brewery equipment which has been held up by customs (wouldn't you be suspicious of 4 containers heading for Bryon Bay?!). It should be set up within a couple of weeks and then beer should be flowing in November, initially only on draught locally although I'm working on Brad so we can have a few kegs tapped in Melbourne and Sydney..

Rogues Samples from the US

I don't want to make you too jealous but I'm sitting here sampling one of 24 Rogue beers that have been sent to me. Tough life huh? We will be getting some Rogues to sell soon so watch this space.

On another front, we've just tapped Bridge Road's new Chestnut Lager..