Winemakers Brewing Beer

Given we have the Red Angus Pilsner on tap exclusively at the moment, I thought it interesting timing to read this article in The Age newspaper about winemakers brewing beers.

Read the article here..

Is that a foreign beer or a case of brewer's dupe?

Interesting post in The Age this morning about how breweries should be compelled to more clearly label (or in some cases just label) their bottled beers correctly with where the beers are brewed. I couldn't agree more with this argument as it's incredible the number of bars who sell imported beers like Stella which are brewed in Abottsford.

Mark Russell

December 21, 2008

AS THE festive cheer flows for Christmas and the new year, a storm is brewing over the labelling of premium foreign beers made in Australia.

The Australian Consumers Association is demanding clearer, more prominent labels on bottles of foreign beer made locally under licence, to show drinkers exactly what they are buying. Beck's, Heineken, Stella Artois, Kirin, Guinness, Kronenbourg and Carlsberg are some of the foreign brands being made here.

The Sunday Age bought a random selection from a liquor store in St Kilda last week. A 330 millilitre bottle of Heineken ($3.39) was brewed in Sydney and a 330 millilitre bottle of Carlsberg ($3.49), which had "Copenhagen, Denmark" and "by appointment to the Royal Danish Court" on the front, was brewed by Foster's Australia in Victoria. Two other bottles — Stella Artois ($3.89) and Beck's ($3.79) — had been fully imported by Melbourne wholesalers but they were also made in Australia.

ACA spokesman Christopher Zinn said it was time to address the issue of labels on imported beers. "Even if (the breweries) say it tastes the same, people who buy it might claim it tastes different, so it seems fair enough you should be able to know where it's been made so you can choose accordingly," he said.

Local breweries defend their right to make foreign-brand beers in Australia, claiming the beer tastes better because it is fresher.

Foster's, which brews Guinness, Stella Artois, Kronenbourg and Carlsberg under licence in Australia, says the locally made product is very close to how the original beers taste overseas. Lion Nathan, which makes Heineken, Beck's and Kirin locally, claims they are brewed under strict guidelines set by the label owners and its operations are overseen by the brewers from Holland, Germany and Japan.

Spokesman James Tait said bottles were clearly labelled and did not need to be changed. He said the ACA should be more concerned about importing by unauthorised dealers involving shipments of beer.

The Local Dancing Elves!!

With seemingly every family I know sending me themselves as dancing elves, I thought that I would do the same with The Local Taphouse 'management family. Here's the result which we think is hilarious!

Merry Christmas again!!

Merry Christmas (and thank you) to all our Locals!

Well what a year it's been! After finally opening in early Feb for what was supposed to be a low-key opening, we were taken aback by the rapid popularity of the bar. And it hasn't really let up since.

It's been so exciting to have so many people enjoy our bar and experience the Wonderful World of Beer. Times are a-changing with more people open to trying and learning about new beers and we're very proud of the small part we're playing in that.

Some notable things that have happened this year:

• 150 different beers have been on tap since we opened. These have been sourced from at least 45 different Australian breweries (plus more overseas). I'd hazard a guess there was about 50+ different styles represented.
• We introduced our seasonal SpecTAPular beerfests. Winter SpecTAPular featured 40 winter beers from 40 Australian breweries on tap. Our spring (Octoberfest) SpecTAPular saw 10 imported German beers up against 10 Australian brewed German styles along. The oompah band was exceptionally fun.
• Our Ale Stars monthly beer club sessions started with host (and Local customer) Shandy leading the way as we explored great examples of great beer styles. It has been awesome having beer lovers of all sorts get together like this and it's bloody good fun.
• Trumer celebrated with us another World Beer Cup win for their German style pilsner.
• We had a Holgate beer dinner and a James Squire Tales n Ales night with Chuck Hahn.
• With Tyrone as Head Chef, we make an ever-increasing foray into cooking with beer and matching food with beer.
• Coopers had their annual Coopers Club gathering at the bar with their entire range of beers on tap and a full house of Coopers fans.
• We took over a hotel in Darlinghurst, Sydney, and plan to open The Local Taphouse there in early 2009.
• Rogue Ales from the US had an exclusive launch of their beers in Australia at the TH
• The Taphouse and Mountain Goat gave 1st prize to Australia's home brewer of the year who will brew a beer with MG next year and have it served on tap exclusively at the St Kilda and Darlinghurst Taphouses.
• We were named as a finalist of Australia's Best Specialty Beer Venue after just four months trading.
• Great reviews
• And heaps more (you can read about in this blog)!

We have said goodbye to a number of key staff, in particular Asst Manager, Kate O'Neill, and Duty Manager, Andrew Tynan, who have opened their own bar in Smith Street, Colingwood, called Grumpy's Green. It's an ecologically friendly bar so check it out!

Finally, we haven't always got things at the standards we aspire to but we all continue to work hard to do things even better and we can assure you that 2009 will see us surpass this year.

Thanks to all our great staff, especially Ben , James and Tyrone.

From Guy, Justin and myself, we thank all our 'Locals' for your support and wish you all the best for the year ahead. We look forward to sharing more beer adventures with you all in 2009 in Melbourne AND Sydney!

Nice article in SMH on Wicked Elf beers

This appeared in the Good Living section of the Sydney Morning Herald this week. We have their witbier and pilsner on tap at the moment!

Click the picture to enlarge if necessary.

Photos from Ale Stars session

Thanks to Neil (or, more accurately, his partner) for these photos of the night. See slideshow here.

Ale Stars Session wrap up by Prof Pilsner

Last night was probably the best of the five Ale Stars Sessions we've hosted. There was a great vibe, a good crowd (and some new faces, thanks to the plug in The Age), tasty wheat beers and a passionate special guest in Neil from Matilda Bay Brewery. As has become standard practice, Ale Star Prof Pilsner has done a marvellous report of the night so here it is. Photos to follow asap.

You can read his most excellent blog here.

Ale Stars was a ‘Bell Ringer’

I’ve always believed that beer people are the best people. You can get a whole bunch of them together, give them all a few beers, start a conversation, let it run unchecked and just sit back and enjoy the show.

Such was the case at last nights’ fifth instalment of Ale Stars at The Local Taphouse. Rather than a ‘show and tell’ by a guest brewer, Ale Stars tends to lean more towards a ‘Q&A’ style forum with input welcome and answers rarely technical. But, when the boss shifts the focus from the ‘informative’ to the ‘interactive’ and the room is filled with passionate beer lovers and a couple of brewers, there really is very little room left for quiet contemplation of your beer.

Wheat beers were on show this time around and Shandy had his hands full just trying to get a hold of the promised beers as well as contending with a spot of ill health. One of the beers failed to materialise, but the man’s health seemed to improve with each sample! As always, Shandy’s knowledge, coupled with his ability to share it in an easily understandable language, made for a well paced journey through the five different wheat beers.

Neil from Matilda Bay Brewing was on hand to present the first beer of the night, the award winning and ground breaking Kristalweizen, Redback. Laid back and not taking himself too seriously, the man mirrored the beer. A nice easy going wheat beer, Redback was the beer which made Australians aware of both wheat beers and craft brewing, although I think we still called them ‘boutique brewers’ back then. A brief history of the style was followed by a brief history of both Redback and craft brewing over the last 20 odd years.

A Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier and Vitus followed quickly and along with the increase in ABV made some of us question the wisdom in arriving early for a couple of sneaky upstairs beers. The conversation travelled quickly and, courtesy of some knowledgeable input from accomplished brewer AG in the comfy seats, question soon turned to lively debate as styles and marketing and independence was discussed in a fun and lively manner. When the debate is about beer, it seems that no opinion is shot down and all comments get a fair hearing.

Now, I mentioned earlier that these gigs rarely get technical, except to clarify the odd brewing process or to describe a profile element of a certain beer, and even then the tech talk is fairly tame. But you will also remember that I commented that Steve, one of the Taphouse owners was looking for more group discussion. Well, he got it and then some – to the point where he has now decided that for the next Ale Stars meet, a ‘tech bell’ will be employed to ‘call Shenanigans’ on anyone who gets too tech-tossy with either the questions or the answers! Fellow Taphouse partner Guy might want to argue the toss as he was responsible for most of the science lesson last night!

A Hoegaarden Grand Cru was due to draw the curtain on the night but Neil and his generous masters had a sneaky beer of their own with which too further dent the spirits of those who drew the short straw and had to drive. Yeah, thanks guys. A Sebastian Reserve Dunkel capped off the night with something a little different and special. And for those wondering, yes, Sebastian is named after a pet duck. Of course. And in case I wasn’t pissed off enough at having to go steady on the amber, Steve finishes the night officially by shouting every Ale Star with a Christmas Thank You beer!! Yeah, Thank You!!!

But I don’t want to give the impression that I was at all disappointed. Ale Stars is a sensational concept for beer people. Never taking itself too seriously, open to all and informative as well as entertaining, this exBEERience, if you will, is a great opportunity for the average punter (and there are plenty of ‘average’ punters on hand – hello to Dr Lager) to talk beer, drink beer and bend the ear of other beer lovers and brewers alike. I suspect it is also a great chance for the brewers to see the satisfaction that the fruits of their labours give to the end consumer. Speaking to Neil afterwards I can attest to the fact that he was surprised by the passion and the interest in the room and pleased that he was able to contribute to what most agree was the most enjoyable Ale Stars so far.

To Shandy, thanks again for a magnificently casual professionalism in hosting the night, to Steve, Guy and Justin likewise for a great concept perfectly delivered and to Bec and the staff a big thanks for the friendly service of the beers and the food. And, as always, a huge shout-out to the Ale Stars themselves for the support we all give the concept and the growth that this night seems to enjoy from each previous meeting. An hour or so after the event a handful of insightful conversations around the bar were winding down and I could write ten posts with just the chat I had with AG, Shandy, Steve and Neil!

As the pumpkin hour approached and we realised, yet again, that we were left holding up the bar with AG and Shandy, we reluctantly trudged off into the cool Melbourne night filled with the warm glow of wheat beer, good company and a gutful of giggles to look forward to the next instalment.

The next, by the way is scheduled for January 22. BYO tech bell.

Cheers,
Prof. Pilsner

Australia’s first no-carb beer

Burleigh Brewing Co from Queensland (makers of Duke Hefe etc) last week made brewing history with the launch of BIGHEAD - Australia’s first no-carb beer.

Read the full article here.

Coopers Club night

Last Thursday, saw the Coopers Club annual get together at The Local Taphouse. There was comedy, live music, Glenn Cooper, a big crowd and the entire Coopers range on tap.

I was in Sydney unfortunately but am hoping to get some photos of the night to post.

Thanks to all who joined in the fun.

Nice plug in The Age for wheat beers and the next Ale Stars session

It was a pleasant surprise to open The Age this morning and find an article by wine writer, Jane Faulkner, on the wonder of wheat beers and a plug for the Ale Stars session on wheat beers next Tuesday night. Don't forget you must pre-book via the top right corner of this blog.

Read the article here.

Funny Beer Commercial

I thought it would be fun to post some great TV ads about beer.  Here's the first and let me know if you come across any yourself!

Ale Star Road Trip planned for early 09

We're planning a Melbourne Ale Stars road trip early next year.  It was one of the things we thought of when we conceived the Ale Stars idea and now we're going to do it (thanks to John for reminding us)!  We'll organise a bus for the day, the cost of which will be split between attending Ale Stars and the head off down either the Mornington Peninsula or the Yarra Valley for the day.   If it's a sunny day like today, it will be even better.

Watch the blog for more..  

Glenn Cooper replaces Dr Tim Cooper for Coopers Club night

Unfortunately, Dr Tim Cooper is unable to attend the Coopers Club night on Dec 11th but Glenn Cooper can. It should be a good night as we will have the entire Coopers range on tap (including Vintage) and there will also be live music and comedy. Entry is free and Coopers Club members get discounted drinks..

See ya then.

Ho Ho Ho! Red Hill's Christmas Ale tapped!

James has just told me that Red Hill's Christmas Ale (7.5%) has just been tapped so the Beer Bulletin SMS has been dispatched already. We only have 3 kegs of this beer (which Sunday Life magazine recently rated 5 stars) so get in quick and get some of the festive cheer in ya!

Here's what Red Hill say about it:

This strong Belgian abbey styled ale is one of the brewery’s most highly awarded (Silver Medal AIBA 08, Bronze medal AIBA 06 & 07) and requested. Deep orange in colour with a lasting creamy head. Spicy hop aroma from our own Hallertauer & Tettnanger hop flowers with a complex malty finish.

A Fair Go for Craft Beer - Excise Tax is Killing Craft Beer in Australia!

From the new website, A Fair Go for Craft Beer:

Australia's small breweries are being strangled by excise tax. On top of all the usual taxes any small business pays, microbrewers have to fork out 25% of their sales income straight to the ATO in the form of excise. How is an industry expected to survive under such a crippling tax regime?

The Australian Association of Microbreweries needs your help to persuade the Federal Government to amend Excise Tax legislation and to give microbrewers a FAIR GO.

Better beer lovers have a lot to gain from what is being proposed so we're going to play or our part by having a petition on the the bars for punters to sign..

JOIN THE FIGHT HERE

Here's an RMIT news story to put you in the picture..

Murrays Anniversary Ale 3 and Brewery Showcase in Jan

Murray's have just released their Anniversary Ale (3.0). Here's what they say about it:

Each year we brew a big wheat and barley wine at 10% ABV and age it in oak for a period to further the complexity of flavour. Each year we add a ‘twist’ to the recipe. This year we’ve literally gone ‘wild’. Murray’s Anniversary Ale 3 is, to the best of our knowledge, Australia’s first commercially brewed ‘Brett Beer’ – a beer brewed using the ‘wild’ yeast strain Brettanomyces (Brett).

The first half of the batch was brewed in early June 2008 before being transferred into French oak barrels (previously used for Shiraz) for an extended period of maturation. We added the Brettanomyces strain to the barrels at transfer back in June and allowed the Brett to work its magic until late October. The beer was then carefully transferred from the barrels and blended with the second half of the batch in stainless for a few weeks further conditioning prior to bottling.

Only 1,000 have been bottled and we've some coming our way!

Also, in January we have organised a Murray's Brewery Showcase featuring their greatest beers ON TAP including the Icon I2PA (the first time in Vic). Watch the blog for definite dates.

Space Beer

Japanese beer-lovers can anticipate an out-of-this-world brew: suds made with barley descended from grains that traveled in outer space.

A JAPANESE brewery is planning to produce the world's first "space beer"
using barley once stored at the International Space Station.

Researchers said the project was part of efforts to prepare for a future in
which humans spend extended periods of time in space and might like a cold beer
after a space walk.

Japanese brewery Sapporo Holdings said it would make beer using the third
generation of barley grains that had spent five months on the International
Space Station in 2006.

"We want to finish the beer by November. It will be the first space beer,''
Sapporo executive Junichi
Ichikawa told reporters.

The company will have enough space grain to produce about 100 bottles of
beer but has no immediate plan to make it a commercial venture, Sapporo
officials said.

The company teamed up on the project with Okayama
University biologist Manabu Sugimoto, who has been part of a Russian space
project to explore ways to grow edible plants in space.
Barley can grow in
relatively tough environments, such as high and low temperatures, and is rich in
fibre and nutrients, making it ideal for space agriculture, the associate
professor said.

"In the future, we may reach a point where humans will spend an extended
period of time in space and must grow food to sustain ourselves,'' Sugimoto
said.

As of now, scientists have not detected any differences between Earth-grown
and space barley, said Sugimoto, who will present DNA analysis of his findings
before a conference in Canada in July.

"In the long run, we hope our space research will be not just about
producing food, but about enjoying food and relaxing,'' Sugimoto said.

It was the latest space experiment with food.

South Korea's first astronaut, Yi So-Yeon, brought kimchi into space last
month, while Japan has previously sent noodles into orbit.