Meantime IPA coming on tap!

Meantime IPA will be available ON TAP for the first time ever in Australia this coming September in both Sydney and Melbourne Taphouses.

Bring it oooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn! :-)

Paul Mercurio's Beer & Chilli Feast - confirmed for September

We'll post more details very soon but start saving now for a great Beer & Chilli Feast hosted by beer fan, food fan (oh, and TV man too), Paul Mercurio, in both Darlo and St Kilda. Dates are in early September.

We've been keen to do something together for quite some time and we're thrilled it's finally happening!

There will limited numbers for sale so you'll have to get in quick!

More soon.

Better late than never - a few pics from Star Spangled SpecTAPular in St K

They're not the best photos but it's nice to have some record or an awesome day nevertheless at the Star Spangled SpecTAPular in St Kilda..

Check here for the slideshow..

Nominated in 2009 Australian Bar Awards

I know the whole voting/judging process is a bit of a mystery but, nevertheless, it's a thrill to have both Taphouses nominated as finalists in the 2009 Australian Bar Awards. Darlo was nominated as New Hotel of the Year while both venues are finalists in the Best Specialty Beer Venue category.

Regardless of whether we win or not, it's an excuse for a fun night out in Sydney and a nice recognition of a lot of hard work by a lot of people! Congrats to everyone involved...

See all the nominations here.

Coopers Local Laughs...Coming to Sydney!

Sydney’s only Sunday night of comedy is coming to the Local Taphouse in Darlo, spinning off from Melbourne’s longest-running independent comedy room.

Come down and see some of Australia’s best new comics mix it with the local pros and touring international stars. Opening show is August 2nd with Dave Williams to MC and a kickass gala style lineup.

Here's the line up for the first night:

Julia Clark
Dave Williams
Rodney Todd
Nick Sun
Geraldine Hickey
Brad Oakes
Bruce Griffiths.

Bruce Griffiths

Date:	Sunday, August 2, 2009
Time:	7:00pm - 9:30pm

$10 entry includes 2 half price Coopers!

$10 menu downstairs.

For more info and to keep up to date, check out the Facebook site here.

Darlo Ale Stars August 4th - Lineup

Darlo Ale Stars in August look at stouts...And check this out for a mouthwatering arrangement of stoutish delights:

1. Coopers Best Extra Stout

2. Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout

3. Rogue Shakespeare Stout

4. Samuel Smith's Imperial Stout

Kickoff is 7pm sharpish, $25 per person for food and pizza. See you there...

St Kilda Ale Stars, July - Belgian Blondes with the Prof

Well the much anticipated debut of our stand in Ale Star Czar was a cracker of a night with great beer, interesting trivia, and a fantastic special guest in Dave Bonighton, brewer and founding goat from Moutain Goat Brewery.

Shandy's shoes are big ones to fill and Professor Pilsner did not let us down. In his first attempt to pay homage to Shandy, the prof pulled up his sleeve to reveal his version of a meaningful tattoo. Whilst's Shandy's is an historic reference to his heritage, so was the Prof's, albeit a little less ancient. It was a not to scale illustration of the Glen Waverly train line, complete with 'premium' and regular stations alike.

And then it was onto the beers. Murrays Sassy Blond, Red Hill Belgian Blond , Duvel and Mountain Goat Rapunzel. The wrap on these is as always, best left to the Prof - you can read his wrap here.

The trivia was allegedly simplified by the Prof providing all the answers along with the questions. Thats how he sold it to us anyway. There were three rounds comprising, true or false, multiple choice, odd one out. Its fair to say that no team really dominated, but the 'High Table' did enough to get the job done. Probably the most controversial answer of the night was the odd one out that was the odd one out because it wasn't as oddly out as the other three answers. Confused? Yep, so was everyone.

A great night was had by all. A huge thanks to Professor Pilsner for ably standing in for Shandy and ensuring the night was a great success. Also, thanks to Dave from Goat who gave us a great insight into the making of Rapunzel and all other things Goat.

Cheers,

Justin

Budvar on Tap ... it's finally arrived!

One of the worlds best Pilseners, Budejovicky Budvar has finally made it to The Local Taphouse. Our mouths have been watering at the prospect since we were told a few months ago it would be coming to Australia in kegs.

And now its here and on tap for the first time in Australia...and having just tried it I can tell you it is something special. So get down here and have one with us!

More SpecTAPular Videos....

More episodes of "Mark & Steve Have One for the Road" by the Catsart boys...

VIDEO: Mark & Steve - An Ale in 2 Cities...

So I'm sitting here with Steve (of Steve and Mark Catsart fame) and he's just taught me how to embed a youtube vid.... it's of their recent experience of the two SpecTAPulars and the footage thereof. If you see Steve, ask him how he felt at around 4am in the morning. Let me know what he says.

So here goes...

July Brewery Showcase - Mountain Goat Brewery

It is with great pleasure we announce that July's brewery showcase (in both Darlo and St Kilda) is Mountain Goat Brewery. For those of you who don't know their story, here it is...

Two goats, no money but plenty of beer...

Mountain Goat started out in Dave’s backyard in the early 90’s. Dave was cranking out homebrews almost every weekend when a postcard turned up from Cam (backpacking through Canada).

Cam was travelling OS after quitting his music industry job in Melbourne. “When I turned up in Vancouver a friend took me out to some local bars serving a host of local microbrews on tap. I just suddenly got the picture and realised what Dave was striving for back home. My perception of beer got turned upside down right then and there. So I sent Dave a postcard that said something like Dave, we gotta talk, we need to start a microbrewery in Melbourne.”

After two years of frantic product development in Dave.s backyard and a lot of red tape the first serious Mountain Goat beer was born. The Hightail Ale hit the shelves (well around three shelves) in October 97.

Having no money they kicked off by contract brewing their initial batches in borrowed facilities when not in use. A good way to start but they really needed their own brewery.

So while Dave was living in a disused town hall in country Victoria overseeing the brews Cam wrote a business plan and started knocking on doors in Melbourne. “Plenty of people liked the idea of owning part of a brewery but when it came down to it we were two, young, overly ambitious guys without much business experience. We approached every banking institution imaginable and most of them wouldn’t even open our business plan. Our personal position statements included three surfboards, a couple of mountain bikes and Dave’s EH Holden.. Not a lot of security for the banks evidently.”

Anyway, Dave and Cam learned to be persistent. Really persistent. They finally secured the required funds from friends, family and a business banker who wanted them out of his face.

Today the boys operate their very own microbrewery in Richmond (inner Melbourne). They craft the Hightail Ale, Pale Ale plus two seasonal beers – the Surefoot Stout through winter and the organic IPA in summer.

“The plant is very labor intensive, but we can squeeze great beer out of it,” says Dave. “And after hand filling, capping and labelling just on 2 million bottles you can well imagine we.re pretty happy about putting in a small, automated bottling line.”

Mountain Goat has collected a swag of awards over the last 10 years for their traditional, all natural ales and now has about 80 bars in Melbourne (and one Taphouse in Sydney!!) pouring their beers on tap plus bottled beer distributed nationally.

Here at the Local Taphouse we'll be pouring the Goat Steam Ale, Rapunzel Belgian Blonde Ale (Victoria's premier's award, AIBA 2009), Goat Hightail Ale, and Goat Surefoot Stout.

Also at the Darlo Taphouse this Thursday, July 16th, is Sydney's first Goat Army get together for all those dedicated Goats in the harbour city. The Goat range will be on tap and Cam and Dave - founding Goats - will be there to have a chat. So come down and meet likeminded Goats. Kick off is 6pm. See you there.

BEER DIVA - BEER & FOOD TASTING @ DARLINGHURST - WED 22ND JULY!!

We have a great line-up of beers, including a couple brand new Mountain Goat beers, for our beer and food tasting dinner next Wednesday night.

8 beers will be served along with 5 delicious courses of food, all for only $60.00 per head!!

Last month sold out so book early to ensure you get a spot, there are still some places left.

Here are the beers:

Fransiskaner Hefeweizen
Hofbrau Munich Helles
Two Brother The Chief Amber Lager
Mountain Goat Steam Ale
Moo Brew Dark Ale
Alt Spice - Spice Beer
Mountain Goat Rapunzel Belgian Strong Ale
Murrays Dark Knight Porter

We'll be matching these with some delicious dishes and learning about how to make some matches made in heaven!

Book on the right hand side of this blog post.

St Kilda Ale Stars - Belgian Blonde Ales, Lineup Confirmed. - Tues July 21st

Well here it is ... the lineup of Belgian Blondes for next week's Ale Stars in St Kilda, and what a pretty bunch they are...

1. Murrays Brewing Co Sassy Blonde (NSW)

2. Red Hill Belgian Blonde (VIC)

3. Duvel (Belgium)

4. Mountain Goat Rapunzel (VIC)

This is a very special Ale Star event, hosted by none other than creator of Beer Blokes Blog - Professor Pilsener! Regulars will be pleased to hear he can not participate in the trivia whilst he is host.

We hope to see you there. Its the usual deal. $25 for pizza and delicious beers. 7pm sharpish start.

Not so Cleansing

I've just got off the phone to a distraught Ashley from Two Meters Tall in Tassie. After recently tasting the beer and finding what everyone else at the SpecTAPular found - that it tasted awful - he stripped the brewery down and found a seal had gone at the bottom of the Lauter Tun!

It was allowing unfermented beer into the transfer lines and allowed some bacteria to develop. This bacteria produces Lactic Acid which produced the 'sour lemon' flavour that we all detected. Unfortunately, the flavour only develops in the beer several days after being put into the keg.

I think anyone who's been in the craft beer industry for a while will have had a bad experience of this nature at some stage.

Ashley feels terrible about it and has found the problem and rectified the situation. He has invited anyone who wants to know more to call him to discuss on 0400 777 142. I guess such is life when you're dealing with living things!

Champion Homebrewer's 'Alt Spice' Tapped!!

Ross Mitchell brewing his champion 'Alt Spice' at Mountain Goat

In October last year the first Australian National Homebrewers Conference (ANHC) was held at Ormond Hall in Melbourne. Those of you that attended will remember that it was a hugely successful conference that culminated in an awards dinner on the final night.

Steve and I were lucky enough to attend the dinner (along with Shandy and Ronin). The Local Taphouse organised for the winner of the Champion Homebrewer of the year to brew his award winning drop at the Mountain Goat brewery in Richmond.

The winner was Ross Mitchell and his winning brew was a Spiced Ale.

Steve, Ross Mitchell and I at last year's ANHC Award Dinner

Well after much planning, lots of brewing (and I'm sure plenty of sampling along the way) the beer is finally here! It's just been tapped at both venues, and it's delicious!! It'll be on tap until it runs out so hurry in to try some.

The 'Alt Spice' is spiced with 4 different spices including Vanilla, Nutmeg, Ginger and a healthy amount of Star Anise which is probably the most pronounced of the spices. This beer is great because it's so different to everything else out there. It's not overwhelmingly spiced but instead is well balanced with the use Maris Otter and a little Chocolate malt to give it a full-bodied mouthfeel as well as a great roundness and finish. It's subtelly hopped with Perle hops, just enough to give a nice hint of bitterness. I think it's a very cleverly put together beer and I feel like I could sit on on it for a while which I am rather surprised about.

I think it's so awesome to see the circle complete: From Home Brewer to Craft Brewer to Craft Beer Venue and finally to Craft Beer Lover! Then I guess the Craft Beer Lover can start home brewing and it's complete!

Anyway, this Craft Beer Lover is really happy to have the Alt Spice on tap and would like to say thanks to Ross Mitchell for his efforts as well as to Mountain Goat for making it all possible. Well done guys!!

Star Spangled SpecTAPular....it's a wrap!

Jeff at his Uncle Sam best

Uncle Sam wants YOU to know that we had one of the best days ever at the 2009 Star Spangled SpecTAPular!

While the Silver Fox has eloquently related what went down on 4th July at both Darlo and St Kilda, I gues I just have a few minor points to add...

First and foremost, I think I'd just like to give all our beertenders and kitchen staff a huge THANK YOU for the fantastic effort they put in! Not only did they make both venues look, well, spectapular, but they went all out and made themselves all look pretty darn good too. They poured the beers, cooked and served the food and allowed so many of us to have a ball! Well done TEAM!!!

Benno - what a good boy scout!

Julian looking oh so American

Alex, our naughty sailor and newest recruit - should we keep her?

Aside from that, I think it's also fair to say that the craft brewing industry in Australia is in pretty amazing shape. I agree whole heartedly that the brews available on the day would hold their own against practically any beer list in the world and I think all you brewers should be bloody proud!

A pub full of happy beer loves

I got such a buzz walking around (dressed in my silly Evil Kanievel suit) listening to a pub full of people discussing the relative merits of porters versus stouts, IPAs versus APAs and whether or not real hazelnuts were used to make the popular Rogue Hazelnut Nectar. (In fact I just got a buzz walking around in the costume but that's not the point of this!). It's so great to hear people embracing and delighting in better beer!

And a special mention also has to go to Rogue Ales. WOW! Some pretty damn awesome beers. We practically ran out of every one of them across both venues as everyone clamboured over themselves to try these first-time-on-tap-in-Australia delights. Thanks Dave for all the great beers and the awesome merchandise too.

Me, Evil K feeling the effects of a very long day!

All in all an brilliant day had by all! I'm looking forward to the Octoberfest SpecTAPular already...

If you want to chack out some pics, you can do so here. Keep an eye out for more as they get collected and added.

Star Spangled SpecTAPular...

Wowee...

So I'm just putting the final touches on my recovery from what was a massive day on Saturday.

It was biggest simultaneous SpecTAPular yet and a huge day was had by all, with a special mention to one dedicated spectapularite who managed to attend both the St Kilda and the Darlo event! It was a truly dedicated move and I can't help but think it may have been inspired by the great American, Chuck Norris... Chuck, I would imagine, could proabably attend 2 SpecTAPulars in 2 different hemispheres in 2 hours should he put his mind to it.

Always a great day, the logistics of this one had the coolroom in St Kilda at bursting point during the week as most of the beers arrived here en route to Sydney. Changing a keg required risking life and limb. Then came Friday night and the traditional SpecTAPular-eve switcharoo when all 20 regular beers come off and the beers for the following day go on. The same goes for the bars where the branded glassware disappears out the back and the backup supllies are stuffed into every nook and cranny in the bar for the day.

On Saturday morning we got in, bleary eyed (and perhaps a trifle hungover), at 10am to star- spangle the joint with flags, streamers and the Statue of Liberty cardboard cutouts. For probably the first time ever we had everything looking SpecTAPular in time for the doors to be flung open bang on time and away we went - with a quick call to the Darlo crew to wish them a good day.

Waiting at the door was, of course, a brewer - and the first beer poured was for Dig as he embarked on a SpecTAPular journey in fine style. I say first beer poured but for the purposes of quality control, there may have been one or two very important tasters carried out by Evil Kineval pre opening, just to make sure everything was ok.

The brewers kept coming - the likes of Ben from Bridge Road, Simon from Hargreaves Hill, Dave from Goat, Dave from Malt Shovel, Sam from True South (if you haven't heard of this brewery yet you will soon), Dave and Karen from Red Hill and proabably others who I didn't bump into. On top of this there were other industry people including Tom from Goat, John from Better Beer, Mik from Trumer, and crew from Beer Deluxe and the Cherry Tree.

A steady stream of punters followed. Probably the best thing about a SpecTAPular apart for the ridiculously great range of beers, is the mix of punters. And this one was no different - from the brewers to the beer nerds, to the expat Americans, to those that just wandered in off the street for a quiet drink and got more than they bargained for.

The tunes had people tapping their toes early to the Stockton Duo playing the blues - all the way from New Orleans, and then singing along later as 'Indpendence Day' belted out some all American favourites.

And then there were the beers... 14 Aussie beers, 6 Rogue's - 20 taps of hoppy, malty, alcoholic goodness to explore. Opinions were spread, the Goat Steam Ale was the first keg to go and then slowly but surely they started going with more regularity. There were some serious conversations about whether Murrays Icon was in the same class as the Rogue Imperial IPA, whether the Holgate Nut Brown stood up againts the Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar, and many more. There were also some just as serious conversations albeit with less technical jargon ... questions about whether a particular beer was indeed shit hot, or just pretty good. The Rogue Chocolate Stout was described as ... very chocolatey. Best name would have to go to Mt Brewing's Yippy IPA I reckon.

At 1am the lights went up and the music went down, and the staff were smelly. So we cleaned the place up and had a few quiet ones ourselves, exhausted but rapt that the day had been such a success.

A huge thank you to all who were here - or in Darlo (their story to come) - it really was a fun day to be a part of and we are already looking forward to the next one.

There are photos and vids to come - my laptop has swine flu and as a result it may be another day or two until I can get some Flickr stuff happening. Feel free to post your comments on your favourite beers for the day - all comments welcome.

Cheers, Evil Kineval (aka Justin), James, Beccy and the St Kilda Smelly Crew

American Beer Festival - The Whitehorse (UK)

While you lot were having fun at the Star Spangled SpecTAPulars in Darlo and St Kilda, I was downing some cracking US beers at the Whitehorse pub in Parsons Green, London. They were having their own American Beer Festival.

Here's their fantastic lineup of beers.

A Cheese experience for the beer lover!! 8th July

The McIntosh & Bowman Cheesemongers Beer & Cheese experience has a new venue..... and where could be more appropriate than the beer haven.... "The Local" on Flinders St in Surry Hills / Darlinghurst?

This experience will be a regular feature on the second Wednesday evening of every month.

Contrary to popular belief, beer is an incredible cheese accompaniment. There are many similarities between the science of beer and the science of cheese - and whilst we touch on technicalities of both - the class won't be structured with too much information for those who just want to be introduced to some great new flavours and combinations.

Presenting alongside me each month will be a beer enthusiast from The Local Taphouse. We will be showcasing a variety of beers - different styles and flavours and matching them with a selection of farmhouse cheeses.

So whether you are a traditionalist wine buff sceptical of this match made in heaven or a beer nut who loves great cheese, we are certain we can cater for even the most discerning and experienced palate.

When: 7pm-9pm, Wed 8th July 2009 (& every 2nd Wed of the month after)
Where: The Local Taphouse, 122 Flinders Street, Darlinghurst
Cost: $90 Inclusive of GST

Book via PayPal on the right hand side of this blog...