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

[Sam]

I hit San Francisco for a 2 day stopover. Found a nice bar called PI which stocked all sorts of local California brews. Best of the bunch were from Russian River Brewing Company: Pliny the Elder (bottle), Blind Pig IPA (draft). PI bar had good pizza by the slice too! http://pibarsf.com/drink-menu

I just did a quick google for one of those beers, and Luke's page came up about San Francisco (wish I'd seen that before I left!) - http://luke.co.nz/three-cities-x-three-bars-awesome-craft-beer

Also, damn it's good to be back in NZ for some real coffee. 

[Sam]

I got back yesterday, and cracked the first bottle of a Bock style lager I brewed a couple of months ago. Three weeks in the bottle, and really good. Still needs a bit more carbonation though, so I guess it's been cold in Welly... Good malt/hop balance, nice clean flavour, with a bit of residual honey sweetness (not sure if this will last). This is the first time I've brewed a lager, or used any kind of temperature control - and i'm happy with the result.

[Stu McKinlay]

I just got back from USA too Sam... yeah, Pi Bar is a great spot. I stayed around the corner from it, on S Van Ness, and it's the perfect spot if you have a 6 hour layover on the way back from the east coast. Quick train to 24th Mission and a 5 minute walk to the bar for 4 pints and a couple of big slices of very good pizza. Polenta chips for good measure!

 

Six great other bars in San Francisco / Bay Area that I recommend:

The Trappist (Oakland)

Beer Revolution (Oakland)

Toronado (Haight)

Magnolia (Haight)

21st Amendment (City)

Thirsty Beer (City)

 

Rogue bar at North Beach was a bit of a dive. Beer was ok but food was pretty average and I felt like they're being left behind a bit. Unfortunately I missed La Trappe and City Beer, both of which are supposed to be awesome.

 

If you only had one day for beer, I'd recommend a train out to Oakland (12th Street) and a visit to The Trappist and Beer Revolution. Two of the best bars I've been to anywhere and so different from each other. Beer selection at The Trappist is very different to most of the other West Coast centric bars I went to (lots of european and east coast beers on tap, including Rodenbach, Pretty Things, Stillwater, De Ranke, Mikkeller etc) and Beer Revolution is the kind of dive most beer geeks dream of (Heretic, Russian River, Thornbridge, North Coast, Bear Republic, Dogfish, Alesmith... and bottle selection to make you cream your jeans).

 

 

[Paul Fraser]

A week in the bottle and I just had to crack open one of my Scottish 80/- bottles. Really happy with it so far. Just needs to carb up a touch. On the nose i get a raisin or glass of port like aroma. Very interesting flavours going on and smooth and well balanced. Always good when a beer turns out like you hoped.

[Dougal]

Last night I had a bottle of Ben Middlemiss's [Hodgson?] English-styled IPA. Totally sensational.

Solid, characterful, sticky malt, with pungent yet beautifully integrated hop presence. Dense, creamy head that persisted to the bottom of the glass. At 8%, enough warming alcohol to take the edge off a cool Christchurch night. Soul food for sure.

Bought at the Darkroom- one of the many little CHCH venues that are popping up in the post-quake era. Kieran had it right about exciting things to come in this blog on Christchurch breweries. I'd go further and say that the quake has broken the duopoly of the large breweries over bars. The Darkroom (and others) have been going from strength to strength. For a VERY small bar, they have an ever changing stock of NZ craft and 4 handpumps (not to mention a quality spirit selection).

It may be like the Wild West down here at the moment, but some interesting things happen when convention is thrown out the window...    

[Stu McKinlay]

Spotted this beer at Thorndon New World. Good to see it around the traps... I had a taste at www.the-festival.us and was well impressed.

[jt]

Picked up a Pale Ale at Pak n Save, 58 Regent, a brewery in Carterton.
Not seen these guys before, is this Peak Brewery under another name ?

[Mike Neilson]

Nope its a Plumber turned commercial brewer out of Carterton he's been home brewing for donkeys years

[jt]

Good on him. I see there's a Porter and Bitter too.
It's a Friday night first pint for me, a bit impatient, got a bit shaken up, bit of a cloudy pour.
Nice beer, good balance, not in your face, I'd be happy to brew that for myself

[Adam Barnes]

Picked up these from Thorndon New World:

 

Mash Up (Going to compare with my Mash Up clone)

Gunnamatta

PKB (Going to compare with my PKB clone)

Yakima Raven - looks like it's brewed the same as PKB but US Hops - looking forward to trying alongside PKB

My Mash Up clone

Red Rackham

Epic Hop Zombie - havent tried this yet but after all the talk about it I decided I need to!

Moa Original - going cheap at $12.99 for 6...

 

Good weekend ahead (or a good evening!).

 

 

[JoKing]

Gidday Adam. You probably noticed while drinking, but I thought I'd give you the courtecy... PKB and Yakima Raven are entirely different beers. If you'd like to compare to a NZ hopped version, grab "Motueka Raven" and try side by side. The Ravens share in identical malt grist... It's amazing how different the two beers are!

 

Cheers!

[Barry]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Ravens are also a touch bigger than PKB? And more bitter/hoppier generally?