Darlinghurst Gets Goated

After a few months of smaller, more intimate Ale Stars sessions up in the middle level, we returned to the main bar due to the huge pull of Mountain Goat, the granddaddies of Aussie Craft Beer. We were joined by Dave and Luke from Mountain Goat, and they regaled us with stories of the breweries history, the colourful characters inside the brewery and the excellent beers that are loved by so many Aussie drinkers. We were also lucky to have our Ale Star Tsar Doc back in the house after a 3 month leave of absence.

To start the beers off, we all had a taste of Mike’s 3rd Nut, a delicious Nut Brown ale, brewed with nuts roasted on Mountain Goat’s own special Pizza oven. Enjoyed by all, this one had a really rich nuttiness, with a slightly dry finish that kept us all wanting more. Dave talked us through the beer, telling us all about Mike, one of the brewers at Mountain Goat, and the beer that he made. 

During this round of beer, we also played the ‘Adrian Pua Memorial Round’ of trivia, paying homage to one ofour favourite members (he wrote the round for us, while off galavanting around South America).

After that, we had the Cross Breed Hopfweizenbock collaboration with Brooklyn Brewery from, you guessed it, Brooklyn NY. These guys are big players in the US beer scene, and have been exporting their consistently tasty beers to Australia for a few years now. It came as no surprise that when they ventured down here for this years Melbourne Good Beer Week that Mountain Goat were able to grab them and make a beer with them. The beer itself is a Galaxy hopped strong wheat beer (hence the name Hopfweizenbock), resulting in a delicious combination of flavours from the hops, wheat and yeast.

For our third round of beer, we had another beer named for a Mountain Goat brewer, the Naz #2 Mocha Porter. A nice balanced porter, with a heap of added chocolate and coffee, it was a great match with the nights dinner, a rich beef tagine (we thought it would be disrespectful to eat goat). This one was developed by Naz (short for Nazareth), one of the brewers down in Richmond, and is an evolution of the chocolate porter he brewed last year.

Finally, we landed on one of Mountain Goat’s seasonal stalwarts, the excellent Surefoot Stout. Brewed as a sweeter style of stout, this one balances a rich dark body with some nice sweet chocolate and coffee flavours. The Surefoot has always been a favourite here at the Local, and it went down an absolute treat for everyone at Ale Stars.

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We’d like to thank everyone who came along, including the guys from the Goat, all of our lovely members and those of you who just came along for this awesome session with Mountain Goat. We hope to see you at our next Ale Stars, featuring another Victorian favourite, Bright Brewery.