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

[Patrick]

James' blond ale part deux - tasting really good after ~5 weeks in the bottle. Happy with the hops, might try a different brand of pils malt next time.

[Martin Bridges]

Mum's birthday so not a lot on the beer front tonight.

However, a glass of 8Wired ReWired while I was prepping the smoked salmon & snapper. I like this beer more and more each time I drink it. My dad liked it too.

Then 2000 Brokenwood Semillon & 2008 Framingham Savvy. I'm more of a red wine guy than a white, but those are excellent drops. Finishing off with a Bowmore single malt coz I get a slight lie in tomorrow.

[Steph]

I like the Brokenwood too...

[MrC]

Just finished a Green Man Whiskey Oak Aged Bock. I really enjoyed it. Not a lot of obvious whiskey flavour but a nice strong beer. Might have to get another. There's no way that beer's only 6.5% ABV, I reckon that 6 should be a 9.

[Bambule]

Coopers Sparkling Ale. I actually (shock!) had a few bad experiences recently but this one is back in form. I'm returning to the source in two weeks to reassure myself that it was as I remember it. Like the missing object they're pointing at on the ceiling of the sistine chapel.

[jt]

Coopers

i had a Pale Ale last weekend to get enthusiastic about brewing the Coopers kit. Must admit it was better received this time round, expectations had been adjusted and it hit the spot.

The kit's looking good too, but I'll post in the right thread

[Matthew]

Couple of great beers today. Monk's Habit to whet the lunch time palate. Not as big and bold as I remember but still damn good. It's almost like someone's polished and refined it a little. No complaints though.

Just working my way through a Moa St Joseph that's been sitting in the fridge for ages. Big orange and spice, not to mention the 10% ABV which is starting to make the keyboard a touch fuzzy... Need to get my hands on an oak aged one now :D

[Llew Bardecki]

My gf and I were up in Auckland Friday for a concert and made our usual visit to Galbraiths while we were there.

We each had 3 or 4 beers, which meant we got to try almost all the taps.

The Bob Hudson's bitter and the Sirocco summer ale were both standouts. I remembered loving Bob's bitter last time I was there, and it didn't disappoint: lots of delicious flowery, earthy hop goodness. The Sirocco was another nice hoppy pale ale. Despite the fact that the tasting notes said it used all Kent hops it smelled more American then English to me. Either way it was a winner.

I also enjoyed the couple sips I had of my girlfriend's Resurrection. They were out of it last time we were at Galbraiths, so we had to give it a try. I'm generally not a huge Belgian fan, but the Belgian yeast character was more subdued in this beer than in a lot of Belgians, and I really liked it. Almost makes me consider brewing a Belgian of my own sometime soon...

As per usual, the stop at Galbraith's was one of the highlights of the trip :)

[Barry]

At the SOBA meeting at Galbraiths on Saturday I tried the Sirocco. Very nice, but I got a tiny bit of burnt character, I found it a little offputting.
I went back to the Bob Hudsens. What an utterly spectacular pint it is. They've just got that beer so dialed in, I find it hard to sway to anything else. I could ecstatically drink it 'til the cows come home.

[Martin Bridges]

Me too. I found it hard to move on from the Bob's, although I liked the Sirocco as well. They could drop everything but the Bob's and I'd still go in there every night!

[Llew Bardecki]

I was disappointed to realize that I was just missing the SOBA gathering by a day...
Sadly our flight out of Auckland left at 06:30 Saturday morning, so it was just not to be.

I really ought to get up there more than once a year or so. That bitter is almost worth the trip on its own :)

[jt]

Bitza Brown left overs as I bottle & keg.
Pretty much the Mild recipe but only a little brown so a tad more of everything else and a bag of commonsense organics flaked wheat.

It's the lightest weight brown / mild so far, 1.036 and 1.012 so weighing in a tad over 3% I guess ?
It was boringly blande last week at 1.014 but the 2 points and the little bit of brown malt seems to be shining through at last, saving it to some extent