Burleigh Brewing Co comes to St. Kilda Ale Stars

One of Queenland's great craft breweries, Burleigh Brewing Co is our guest this November Ale Stars. Join Brewmaster Brennan Fielding as we sample four of his delicious beers.

Date: Tue, Nov 19th
Time: 7pm
Cost: $40 includes beer & food
Tickets: Click here

The line up includes:

Hassle Hop Pale Ale
Figjam IPA
Hef - award winning beer at World Beer Cup 2012 "German Wheat Beer" category
My Wifes Bitter - English Bitter.

Looking forward to it - see you there!

 

Mountain Goat returns to Ale Stars in St. Kilda, Darlo

So, it's been a while since the Mountain Goat crew have been at Ale Stars Beer Appreciation Session.

We've missed them and they've missed us.

This month, Will and Dave are back and in the house to officially launch "The Naz" Mocha Porter. We'll sample three of their other brews + "The Naz", there will be good food, fun and all things Goat.

Details:

St. Kilda
Date: Tuesday, 20th August, 7pm
BOOK HERE

Darlinghurst
Date: Wednesday, 21 August, 7pm
BOOK HERE

See you there!

Get your Smoke on with Schlenkerla in St. Kilda

Join our Ale Stars Tuesday, June 18th as we sample smoked beers from Schlenkerla - Germany's leading brewery of the famous 'rauchbier'.  We chat to Brewmaster Matthias direct from the brewery in Germany via Skype.

The line up for the night consists of:

Schlenkerla Marzen
Schlenkerla Weizen
Schlenkerla Helles Lager &
St. Peter's Suffolk Smoke Scotch Ale

As smoked beers pair nicely with all food, there will be some interesting European inspired food on hand to compliment the beers.

Click here to purchase tickets and we'll see you in a week's time!

Prost!

St Kilda Bonza vs Darlo Black & Tannin - - Fight!

Last Wednesday, the Darlinghurst Ale Stars descended upon the Local Taphouse for the highly anticipated launch of the Ale Stars brews.
This was the first time that anyone in Sydney got a chance to taste the beer that the Sydney Ale Stars went up to Hunter Beer Co to brew (Black & Tannin), as well as the St Kilda offering (brewed at Mornington Peninsula Brewery), the BONZA IPA.

To start off the night, we invited Hunter Beer Head Brewer Keith Grice up to talk about one of his favourite beers; his own Hunter Bock. A beautiful bock, with rich caramel and toffee notes, this one was the perfect start to a very boozy evening. Keith talked us through the recipe, and how he's changed it recently, tweaking it to deliver the flavours that you'd expect from a bock.

We then moved onto a delicious Black Imperial Pilsner brewed by our very own 'Ale Stars Czar' Doc from Doctor's Orders Brewing. A beautifully balanced, yet very extreme beer, this found a really nice middle ground between getting dark flavours without being too thick or roasty, and being very hoppy without being aggressive.

We then sampled the competition, the BONZA IPA that the St Kilda Ale Stars brewed at Mornington. Named BONZA for its mix of Belgian yeast and Aussie, New Zealand and American hops, this one was very fruity and spicy, coming from both the Belgian yeast and the pacific hops.

Finally, we got to the moment we were all waiting for. The tension in the room was palpable as the final beer was brought out. The Black & Tannin, a huge, rich Baltic Porter aged in Hunter Valley Shiraz Barrels. Needless to say, the crowd loved this beer, enjoying its layers and complexities. The Ale Stars had wanted to make a big, bold, ambitious beer, and in that, they succeeded.

The interstate fight continues... say tuned.

Ale Stars launch their first ever brew! St Kilda wrap up...

Last Tuesday saw the highly anticipated launch of the Ale Stars' Brews from both Darlo and St. Kilda Taphouses.  Black & Tannin & BONZA (from Darlo and St. Kilda respectively) went head to head in a battle of the brews.

We warmed up our palates with the delicious black imperial pilsner, Iron Lung, from  Doctor's Orders Brewing and then moved on Darlo's Ale Star effort, Black & Tannin.

Black & Tannin was brewed by Doc from Doctor's Orders Brewing, the Darlo Ale Stars team and head brewer Keith Grice of the Hunter Brewing Co. The result was a delicious Baltic Porter aged in an old Shiraz barrel - rich with notes of chocolate, tobacco, ash, pepper & spice.

Next up was the St. Kilda Ale Stars' effort, BONZA, a Belgian IPA.

BONZA, which stands for Belgian, Oz, New Zealand and America, was brewed at Mornington Peninsula Brewery with help of MPB brewer AG. We decided late to add a soft "J" at the end for the Japanese Sorachi Ace hops that were also added to the brew (i.e. BONZAJ).  Members of the St. Kilda Ale Star committee behind the recipe for the Belgian IPA were also on deck to speak about the brew and what how their idea of a Belgian IPA unfolded.

The brew had excellent phenolic aromas and character as expected from a good Belgian and the significant hop additions yielded tropical stone fruit flavours ensuring it was true to the IPA component of its name.

Our final brew for the night was a fresh keg of MPB's Imperial IPA, a perfect way to round out a great night.

Thanks to AG for creating this fantastic commemorative poster for us - there were rumours the Ale Stars will brew another beer with AG and the MPB crew next year. Fingers crossed!

Ale Stars Brew Launch in St. Kilda & Darlo in March

The wait is nearly over!

Tues. March 19th in St. Kilda and Wed. March 20th in Darlinghurst, Ale Stars will be launching the very first ever Ale Stars' brew.  St. Kilda has redefined the IPA - making it Belgian in genre and Darlo is all over the underrated style of Baltic Porter. We can't wait to sample the beers and speak to the brewers themselves.  Check out the post here about the St. Kilda brew day.

AG from Mornington and Doc from Doctor's Orders will be at St. Kilda and Darlo Taphouses respectively and we'll be sampling two of their great beers as well.

Details:

Ale Stars Brew Launch - St. Kilda
Tuesday, March 19th, 7pm
$40 includes beer & food
Book here

Ale Stars Brew Launch - Darlinghurst
Wednesday, March 20th, 7pm
$40 includes beer & food
Book here

This is a very special Ale Stars not to be missed!

St Kilda Ale Stars Brew their own beer!

After months of planning and a carefully constructed recipe it was time to make the magic happen...

Last Saturday an enthusiastic group of Ale Stars headed down to Mornington Peninsula Brewery for the first ever Ale Stars brew day.

Arriving early due to the new peninsula link, we ducked around the corner for a coffee and returned to kick off proceedings at 10am. Within seconds, head brewer, former Darlo Ale Star Tzar, and general friend of the Taphouse, Andrew 'AG' Gow, had us drinking his new single hop Mosaic IPA straight from the tank which was set the tone for a day that would be more tasting than brewing for most of us! The Mosaic IPA was delicious and fortunately we have a couple of kegs of it Taphouse bound very shortly.

Leading the brew charge for the Ale Stars was Derek a who moonlights at MPB as a part time brewer. Fosters may have misleadingly suggested that Crown Lager's 5th ingredient is time due to its long, careful brewing process (whatever), but we can say with confidence that Derek's sweat is the 5th ingredient in this little Belgian IPA.

We took turns in picking up a shovel or staring pensively at the brew, we ate pizzas, but mainly we sampled the delights of the brewery. AG took us through a tasting of his beers and told us the MPB story so far and the grand plans for expansion that is due to happen anytime now. After that we sampled some more. Then we took some samples for the bus ride home.

Thanks to all Ale Stars who took part in the day - we look forward to tasting the beer at our March Ale Star session.

Also, a massive thanks to AG and Matt for having us all down at the brewery. A big thanks to everyone else at the brewery for their hospitality on the day as well - we were all extremely well looked after. And thanks to Lauren (Cam's mum) for driving us down there and putting up with the noisy ride home.

UPDATE: Having just spoken to AG almost a week after the brew, he reckons this is "going to be a really good little beer". After a few days with the hops dominating it has mellowed a touch and the Belgian yeast character is starting to come through.

Ale Stars brew their own beer at MPB this Saturday, Feb 9th

This Saturday, the St. Kilda Local Taphouse Ale Stars are brewing their first beer - a Belgian IPA - at Mornington Peninsula Brewery and we're organising a great road trip to take part!

This great day is open to everyone who loves beer! Join us for a relaxed Brew Day down the Peninsula - brewing, lunch, samples of beers and all that MPB can offer us.

Ticket price includes return transport from the Taphouse, lunch and beer samples. The bus will leave 8:30am and return at approximately 6:30pm.

For all those interested, the beer will be featured at our March edition of Ale Stars.

For more information email here or book your tickets here.

Darlinghurst & St Kilda Ale Stars let the Staff pick!!

Hello there, well, it's almost time to say good bye to 2012, and what a year it has been!! 

 So, for the last Ale Stars meeting of this year we thought it only seem right that we let the boys and girls who pour the beers for you pick the beers for this session!!

This is going to be one of the more difficult tasks we have been faced with considering we have tasted some spectacular brews from all over the world to right here in our back yard. 

Included in this remarkable line up of brews is our very own '13 Hours on a Bus' Black Saison which was brewed in Beechworth in collaboration with Bridge Road Brewing! Four superstars from our St Kilda Taphouse & four heroes from our Darlinghurst Taphouse joined forces to create this brew which will be released at these events!

Considering that between both venues the Ale Stars have sampled over 50 beers this year the final choices will be nothing short of outstanding! On top of some beautiful beers we will have some fantastic food from the Chef's who will tailor dishes exclusively for this event.

To break up these tastings we'll give you the chance to show us your knowledge on beer when we challenge you with our crafty Trivia!! Both sessions are $40 and start at 7pm.

St Kilda's session is on Tuesday 18th December and to book in click here .

Darlinghurst's session is the following day, Wednesday 19th December and to book in for that click here.

Come and join in the fun, who knows, Santa might of even dropped off some presents too!!

Ale Stars in St. Kilda and Sydney get on the Dark Horse!

Both Sydney and St. Kilda Ale Stars have a very special session coming up this November.

Dark Horse Brewery from Marshall, Michigan will be tapped (and in bottles) and enjoyed for the first time in Australia.

We'll be sampling the following beers with make up some of their "part time" series & their special "Holiday stout" series:

Double Crooked Tree IPA

Sapient Trip Ale

Scotty Karate Scotch Ale

Plead the 5th Imperial Stout

St. Kilda session details

Date: Tuesday November 20th
Time: 7pm doors open
Cost: $40
Included:  4 x beer samples & food

Book your tickets here or pay at the bar or on the night.

Sydney session details

Date: Wednesday November 21st
Time: 7pm
Cost: $40
Included: 4 x beer samples & eats

Book your tickets here.  This is an event not to miss!

St. Kilda Ale Stars goes hop crazy with Mikkeller's Single Hop Series

In an Ale Stars first - eight (8) selections from the Mikkeller Single Hop IPA Series were paired off and the taste bud challenge was on. Labelled simply Beer 1 and Beer 2, Ale Stars had to determine the hop variety based on clues from the tasting sheet and their own palates.  By the end of the 4th pairing, palates were struggling with the delicious hop overload!

The usual great trivia questions were on hand & a sensational Mikkeller-Danish inspired sandwich with roast beef, pickled cabbage and remoulade was a delicious meal to be washed down with the beers.

October's Ale Stars will feature Mornington Peninsula Brewery's Imperial series with special guest head brewer, Andrew Gow.

Date: Tuesday, October 16th, 7pm
Cost: $40
Book: Here

September's St. Kilda Ale Stars goes Hop Crazy!

September's Ale Stars in St. Kilda features 8 beers in Mikkeller's Single Hop Series for your hop-tasting pleasure!  Compare & contrast the different styles, whilst enjoying some tasty food from the kitchen.

This month we've changed the date to Wednesday, September 19th (Tuesdays will resume in October) at 7pm for a 7:30pm start.

So hop to it (!) and book a ticket here for $40 - or come along and pay at the door.

If you've been coming to a few Ale Stars sessions and you've been thinking - "Yes, I really dig these sessions!" then why not become an annual member?

Benefits include:

a birthday voucher worth $75

a season's pass to the 2013 GABS festival

an Ale Stars shirt, locker & key

a 400ml Ale Stars mug - pay for 310ml, get 90ml free everytime you drink at The Local

and

 admission to 12 x consecutive beer appreciation sessions where you can learn all you can about beer.

Click here to sign up or email Ashley with any queries.

Ale Stars goes Japanese!!

忠実な地元の愛好家こんにちは

Want to try some craft beer from where the Sun rises?? Well, do we have a treat for you. For our August edition of Ale Stars beer appreciation session we are going Japanese, I think we're going Japanese, We really think so...That's right, we have 4 delicious Japanese craft beers for you to wrap your taste buds around.

The line up looks like this:
 - Baird Teikoku IPA (bottle)
 - Hitachino Nest XH (bottle)
 - Baird Carpenter’s Mikan Ale (Fruit Beer - bottle)
 - Baird Angry Boy Brown Ale (Keg)

I know what you're thinking.....you don't want to miss this.

Please follow the links for the event in both St Kilda & Sydney below.

Sydney, Wednesday 15th August book here
St Kilda, Tuesday 21st August book here

As per usual you will need to book in advance so we can be as well prepared as possible.

There will be delicious treats from our Chef's, a topical trivia and a few more surprises too.

Doors open at 7pm.

 ここを参照してください。

The St Kilda Ale Stars turn 4 years old!

Ale stars members were on hand for a very special July edition of Ale Stars - our 4th Birthday!

Shandy, entertaining as always as our faithful host, lead us through sampling delicious beer from Thornbridge Brewery in the UK. We began the night's sampling with the Kipling South Pacific Pale Ale and moved quickly onto the crowd favourite, the Jaipur IPA.

In between grazing on munchies and answering beer trivia, we crossed live via Skype to brewer Caolan Vaughan, an Aussie ex-pat living and working in the UK, who talked us through the next two beers - Saint Petersburg  Imperial Russian Stout and Bracia, a rich, dark ale, specially flown in for our birthday night!

The cake was brought out and cut and the party continued on into the night .Here's to another year older (and much wiser!)  Special thanks to Neil Barker at Hop & Spirit for organising all the brews and the contact with Caolan.

Stay tuned for more information regarding our August Ale Stars and new membership packages coming soon.

For more pics on the night, click here

Ale Stars' 4th Birthday in St. Kilda - Tues July 17th

Come celebrate Ale Stars' 4th Birthday Bash next Tuesday, July 17th at The Local Taphouse, St. Kilda.

A very special Ale Stars, featuring beers from the award winning Thornbridge Brewery (UK) , along with a live video cross to Thornbridge Brewer, Caolan Vaughan.

7pm start and only $40 - you may even get some cake too. Sweeet.

Book here and see you there!

St Kilda Ale Stars with the Tongmaster

Tuesday night saw a very special edition of Ale Stars, with Tongmaster BBQ champion Pete 'Professor Pilsner' Mitcham as our special guest.

Fresh from his trip states side The Prof was a hit as he took us through his cultural enlightenment on his first international trip at the tender age of 40ish.

We heard that the USA lived up to most stereotypes including sugary food, corn (or as the native Americans call it, maize), slingshot monkeys, and of course the ability to purchase guns and ammo at the local supermarket.

A huge thanks to Prof for the slideshow and the brisket which went down an absolute treat.

Check out the pics here.

Cheers.

St Kilda Ale Stars Tomorrow night with Professor 'Tongmaster' Pilsner

Don't forget tomorrow night's Ale Stars with special guest The Prof.

Back from a whirlwind trip to the USA for the Tongmaster BBQ championships, Prof will be regaling us with tales of all things tong and sausage so to speak.

Along with some American flavoured BBQ style food, we'll be tasting these delicious beers:

Kooinda Pale Ale
Schlenkerla Helles
Heretic Evil Twin
8 Wired iStout.

It all kicks off at 7pm tomorrow night.

Click here to book.

See you there.

Sours a hit for St Kilda April Ale Stars

Our April Ale Stars session saw us sampling the delights of sour ales, for which we were lucky to have the company of Karl Van Buuren of Moon Dog Brewing.

The tasting started off with Karl's own 'Melon Gibson', a Berliner Weisse and part of the legendary 'mullet series'. 'Melon Gibson' has a dry and crisp palate with a mild lactic sourness and a big whack of watermelon, very refreshing and a great starter.

Next in line was the Lindemans Gueuze from Belgium off the tap, light bodied but complex with a slightly intense sourness. This was followed by the Boon Kriek, a 100% spontaneously fermented ale with up to 300 grams of cherries per litre. The resulting beer is a bright pink/red with a subtle tartness and lots of fizz that carries the cherry flavour nicely.

The last beer for the eveing was the HaandBryggeriet Oude Bruine Vintage 2006. It was bottled in March 2008 after being aged in oak barrels since September 2006 and was the first sour beer brewed using wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria in Norway in over 100 years! A special moment for HaandBryggeriet. This beer has a great depth of flavour, amazing nose, great mouth feel; pretty much everything you could possibly want out of an oak-aged sour brown ale, lip-puckeringly good!

A big thanks to Karl for coming and sharing his knowledge, ideas and beers with us and to Shandy for all his hard work as usual.

Check out some more pics from the night here.

See you at the next one - Good Beer Week Ale Stars special with Kjetil Jikiun of Nogne O! You don't want to miss that one!

For Details Click here
And to book Click here

Good Beer Week - Ale Stars with Kjetil Jikiun (Nogne O - Norway) - May 15th

Ale Stars, Melbourne's longest running beer appreciation club, celebrates Good Beer Week in style this year with special guest Kjetil Jikiun (Nogne O - Norway) coming along to share the story of his rise from talented homebrewer to the founder of a Norwegian craft brewery with a cult following.

On tap will be 4 of Kjetil's beers. There will be finger food and of course the trivia. So come down and join in - all are welcome.

Tuesday, May 15th, 7pm ish.

Click here to book your place now!

...its going to be fullt syk.

Ale Stars April 17th - Darlo & St Kilda Line Ups

Hello Ale Stars and anyone else interested in Sour Beers!

Next Tuesday, April 17th, our Ale Star sessions in both Darlo and St Kilda get stuck into some wild, sour stuff from around the world, with each venue having a slightly different line up.

Here's how they look:

Darlo - book here

Haand Bryggeriet Haanbakk (NORWAY)

Boon Kriek (BELGIUM)

Lindemans Gueuze (BELGIUM)

Feral Swanambic (WA) - a very limited edition from the guys leading the charge for Australian sours. so limited we couldn't get it in St Kilda.

*****

St Kilda - book here.

Haand Bryggeriet Haanbakk (NORWAY)

Boon Kriek (BELGIUM)

Lindemans Gueuze (BELGIUM)

Moondog Melon Gibson (VIC) - from the legendary 'mullet series', we've got our hands on the last few drops of this beer from the nutcases down at Moondog brewing.

We've also managed to secure a very special guest - Carl van Buuren - from Moondog to pop in and tell us about this beer and what else they have been up to!

Both venues kick off at 7pm - see you there!