Auckland-area SOBA meeting report - the Shakespeare Tavern

[Martin Bridges]

Apologies for taking so long to get this report together.

A crowd of thirsty SOBA-ites from the Auckland region (including Greig up from Hamilton) gathered at the Shakespeare Tavern in Auckland last Saturday for the third of our regular monthly meetings. This was the best turnout yet: 15 people including a couple of guests.

The theme of the meeting was to taste our way through the range of the Shakespeare's brewed-on-site beers. For this purpose 15 tasting trays of 8 beers each were ordered, which caused a little stress behind the bar. By the end of the mass pouring they were using all kinds of strangely-shaped glasses, and the sheets which identified which beer was which had run out, so there was some guesswork involved.

Some concerted sniffing, sipping and slurping then took place. Notes were scribbled and discussions were had before I rose (rather unsteadily) to my feet to sum up.

There was a fair degree of variation (probably based on personal preference) in the comments and scores but I think it's fair to say that there was an air of a missed opportunity around the beers. The stronger, darker beers generally outscored the lighter beers, with the exception of the Bohemian Pilsner which was fairly warmly received. The beers at the lighter end of the colour and strength spectrum struggled to excite the nose and the palate, and the Regan's Raspberry Weiss was considered actively unpleasant by several people present. Interestingly this beer seemed to suffer from being tasted after some of the slightly sweeter beers.

All the beers were served (in my opinion) too cold and too gassy, but this was where the long delay in getting all the trays served actually helped - by the time we got around to tasting the darker, stronger beers they had warmed up a bit and lost some of their prickly CO2.

I didn't keep detailed scores but the general consensus seemed to favour the Bohemian Pilsner and Pistols Old Soldier as the standout beers There were, however, no real "Oh my God that's fantastic!" beers.

As discussed elsewhere the front-of-house experience at the Shakespeare left a lot to be desired, but it was an interesting exercise.

Following the tasting we discussed a couple of candidate T-shirt designs kindly put together by Barry. The votes cast were firmly in favour of the "pursuit of hoppiness" suggestion.

We then discussed where to go for the next meeting (to be held on Saturday 12th July). The outcome is partly dependant on whether or not the prizewinning beer from last year's NHC will be available at Hallertau at that time. If it is, then it makes sense to have the meeting at Hallertau (and we will investigate transport options). If not, the backup venue will be the Cock & Bull at Ellerslie. We will confirm by the end of this month.

Many thanks for all who turned out, and especially to Greig for coming up from Hamilton. Other Hamiltonians are very welcome at future events, and we plan to arrange a meeting down there at some point during the year.

Other attendees should feel welcome to fill in any bits I've missed, or disagree with my reading of the outcomes!

Cheers,

Martin

[Doublehoppy]

Martin,

It was great to see such a healthy turn-out and once again thanks for organising. I also felt that the Shakespeare represents a lost opportunity. Great to see a brewpub brewing 9 (I think beers), but most were too cold and too gassy as you said.

Picking up on your point about "front-of-house experience". I've just today noticed that the Auckland Council food grading rating of the Shakespeare is a D!

Not sure what this means for their beer keeping etc, but it's hardly a good look. Fortunately everyone was too busy drinking to eat.