July SOBA Auckland-area meeting

[Martin Bridges]

Hi folks,

Sorry this is a bit late. As we discussed at the last meeting at the
Shakespeare, the venue for the next Auckland-area SOBA gathering was
dependant on a couple of factors. I've now sorted these out as far as
I can at the moment, so it's time to make a decision.

The next Auckland-area meeting will be held on Saturday 12th July at
2pm in the Cock & Bull, Ellerslie. We will sample the range of beers
and I hope to have a talk from the brewer. Please let me know if you
plan to come along so I can let them know how many to expect.

The meeting after that (i.e. on the 9th August) will be at Hallertau.
I haven't been able to confirm that the NHC-winning Bock and/or the
West Coast IPA Challenge beers will be available, but given the
advance notice I'm hopeful we'll be able to sort something out.

I'm also working on a draft schedule for the meetings for the rest of
the year, which will include a return to Galbraiths, a trip out to
Waiheke and some sort of Homebrew sampling.

Cheers and beers,

Martin

[Tony]

Yes please!

[Stu McKinlay]

Good work Martin. Hope I can make it up there one day.
Are you guys lobbying for the AGM yet?

[Martin Bridges]

Not sure what lobbying there is to be done. I can see an argument for holding it up here (a growing bunch of members, good idea to move it around the country), but then again I can see an argument for holding it down in Wellington (greater concentration of members, and of decent bars).

I've said before I'd be happy to hold it up here, but I'm a fairly easygoing bloke, so lobbying isn't really my style!

I hope you can make it up here sometime Stu - it would be good to meet you.

Martin

[Martin Bridges]

Just a reminder - next Auckland-area meeting at the Cock & Bull in Ellerslie on Saturday 12th July @ 2pm. If you haven't already let me know that you're planning to come along, please do so I can let them know how many people to expect.

Cheers,

Martin

[Martin Bridges]

The poor weather and the school holidays meant there was a smaller turnout at yesterday's meeting, but that didn't stop the select crowd that gathered having an excellent afternoon. Shane (brewer at the Steam Brewery who provide the beer for the Cock and Bull pubs) took us through the full range of beers, including their seasonal Doppelbock, and gave a very interesting and detailed run-down on the philosophy behind each beer, as well as the ingredients and brewing process. He was happy to field all our questions, from detailed questions about mashing temperatures through to queries about how the recipes had evolved over time.

Standout beer for me (and most of those present, I think) was the Monks Habit. However we all agreed that this is much more like a strong IPA than a Trappist beer. An excellent beer, nonetheless. The seasonal Doppelbock was also excellent - more malt-driven than the Monks Habit and dangerously drinkable for a 7% beer. Pleasant surprise of the day (for me) was the Classic Draught. I wasn't expecting much from a beer that is described in the menu as "a beer for less adventurous drinkers" but it had a good balance of hops and malt. Shane confessed that he'd been playing about with the hops as he couldn't bear brewing something too bland. He's got a nice little beer there.

Many thanks to Shane and the staff at the Cock & Bull for making us very welcome. We'll definitely be back at some point in the future, not least to see how the beers evolve to cope with the hop shortage and different yeasts. The next seasonal will be a Marzen in September time, so I'll definitely be dropping into a C&B to try that one.

Look out for details of the next meeting being announced very soon.

Cheers,

Martin

[denimglen]

Ahh shit, would have come to this meeting if I knew it was in Ellerslie, I only live about a 10 minute drive from there.

I think the Classic Draught is a great beer. I tend to sink a few of those when I'm at C&B.

[Tony]

Agreed, Martin. The Doppelbock and Monks Habit, were my favs too. It was a shame there weren't more of us there, given their support.

Thanks Shane, full kudos to you mate!

Given you are close to Ellerslie, maybe we could see you at any SOBA meeting, Glen. We have other members close by, so maybe you could hook up with them?

I couldn't have thought of many better ways of spending a wet, Saturday afternoon, than tasting fine Draught!