What are you drinking ?

[jt]

Ok, so What Are You Brewing was a hotty, as topics go.

Now I'm 15 pints into a keg I only filled on Tuesday and wondering if anyone else has a favourite at the moment ?

It's my second brown with US-Oh05 and it's better than the forst, maybe Ikept the temps down a bit during the scorcher we had in januray

[Michael]

I arrive in NZ on 26 November, and will be there for a week.

I am buying a mill very soon! If somebody wants something relatively small for me to bring back, I may be able to swing it. The NZD is currently very favourable for buying something from the US right now.

[Simon David kelly]

Currently drinking the b'stard child of a peat bog and a whisky barrel ... better known as Rex Attitude.

Now don't let that put you off, cause it's a bloody great pint. Smokey like a good Irish fire place with a gentle hint of uld Islay malt. Not an off note in sight either. I'd say that it's an aquired taste but if, like me, you enjoy a good mellow whiskey It'll be right up your alley.

Andrea should be quoted here as saying "Mmmm, that's nice. It's got that flavor like a steam engine smoke. You know?, oilly and smokey!" not a bad thing as she went back for more and it does conjure up images of the old world. A very civilised pint.

For a pint that's 7.5% (and possibly a bit more) it's remarkably drinkable too. I could see me getting into a lot of trouble down the old malthouse if a barrel was to find its way onto a tap. Extremely well done Stu.

[Stu McKinlay]

Thanks mate... Glad you enjoyed it after all that work you have done on the case swap. It was one of my best brew days in a long time and certainly my most pleasing result since
a certain little American Porter I brewed a few times a
couple of years ago...

I'm counting down the days to getting that 400kg of peat malt unloaded. And for the second handbrewed batch to be ready (I'll probably keg on Monday and then tie myself to something to keep me away from it for a few weeks!)

doesn't taste like it finished at 1.006 does it? Mike confirmed last night that his refractometer agreed. I'm a bit stumped....

[Stu McKinlay]

I opened a mystery rigger in my cellar last night... i thought it was the "Kavorka"* that I served to a Regionals tasting a while back but it was my Belgian IPA from mid year. DAMN! what a lovely beer... I'm gutted I didn't keep more (of course) and pleased that my general theory of "fresh is not best" is still holding up nicely. Think Twisted Hop IPA with Tuatara Ardennes yeast character...

Also had a Hopwired from my local Liquorland (a new arrival). My hand hovered over a Fuller's Porter for a while but some sort of hop magnetism saw me walking out with Soren's little gem...


* have since discovered that Soren TMed that name a while back!

[Stu McKinlay]

spent an afternoon in the sun with a bunch of kids playing happily and their relaxed parents drinking happily... the standout beers were three awesome strong ales in 750ml bottles:
- Monkey Wizard Steam Punk Ale (English Strong Ale)
- Bridge Road B2 Bomber (Black Belgian IPA)
- Otway Brewing Prickly Moses Reserve de Otway (dark Biere de Garde)

That's what spring should be.

[vdog]

Armageddon. Liquid happiness.

[Barbara Joppa]

Just got back from Hawaii. We stayed on Oahu for 7 days (more than enough for that island). Waikiki has a pub called Yard House (it's a chain with locations in several states) which claims to have the most beers on tap in the world. I highly doubt it but the selection was quite good.

Local brewery Kona "Lavaman Red Ale" was unbalanced and was only worth a taste. But the Kona Fire Rock Pale Ale was a nice session brew with some good bitterness. They also have a nice Pipeline Porter with Kona Coffee in the brew. This was my choice at dinners where the beer selection was minimal.

I was very disappointed that the Anderson Valley range was unavailable even though it was printed in the Yard House menu which was updated while we were there. Instead, we had the Rogue Shakespeare Stout (a very nice smooth smokey beer and my Dad's favorite on this trip) and a coconut porter (I can't remember who made it but the coconut was very pronounced.)

It's funny how you remember how many great beers are available in the USA but you tend to forget that there is a significantly greater number of crap beers there as well.

I am very glad to be home, looking forward to several pints at Hallertau this weekend

[Michael]

Barbara...having grown up a number of my formative years in Hawaii, I am sorry to hear it was not better.

I would like to try that beer with coconut though. It sounds very interesting!

Cannot blame you for being happy to be back in NZ. I found that NZ is having one hell of a renaissance with beers. There are some damn good beers in country!

[Daniel Parker]

Maui Brewing Coconut Porter?
http://www.beerstore.co.nz/enlarge.lasso?BeerID=2284&VariantID=...

[Barbara Joppa]

Yep, that's the one.
I am surprised it's in a can. Unless the technology has changed a lot in the past 30 years, I always thought that canned beer tasted too much like the can. Blech.

[Andrew]

Cans have a bad rap and I,m not a huge fan myself but I think its psychological. Can's keep out the light, oxygen and most of the things beer hate way better than any bottle ever could. If I get a can I just make sure to decant it into a glass and not drink straight from the can. I can see why they do it, sending beer half way round the world, cans are by far the best option. I went to a "can workshop" in Germany once with Ball cans and the work and technology put into making something a simple as a can is pretty crazy!!

[JoKing]

Yeah. Cans are awesome. I had a can of "Ruddles County" Ale out of a can. I was absolutely amazed with the flavour coming out of it. I knew beforehand that they were good, but allways put it off... but when I had that - I was like "WOW".

Do a side by side with Ruddles in a can V's Ruddles in those horrible clear bottles and you'll be blown away.