So, this is the haul. I was tossing up whether or not to post this picture at the end of my post or the beginning. Anyways, 5 bottles of beer cost me damn near 65 bucks. The tax on beer and spirits in Australia is fucking ridiculous, my partner likes red wine and I can buy a 750ml bottle of cheap, but not particularly nasty 13% Merlot for 4 bucks or a bottle of 5.8% Coopers Sparkling Ale for five Pacific Peso's. A case of pisswater megaswill lager hits $40, or with the tax removed, $9.
This is what I got for $65.
The dude at Platinum Liquor told me he got annoyed by people sessioning IPA's so he threw in the Grand Cru for nothing. I've never been to this bottle-o before, and was absolutely gobsmacked by being given free beer, and the fact that the dude behind the counter was an actual beer nerd!
My tasting notes say that this was Sour/Sweet with no detectable hop character, with a dark colour, and a weird funk on the nose. I don't think I cold stomach more than one of these in a session, although I think it would be good on a hot day with a bg bucket of prawns or Mussels in a tomato sauce. Lambic beers are not my thing.
Green Flash Hop Head Red Ale:
I thought this was fan fucking tastic with a big floral/resiny hit of hops up front combined with a big malty backbone. Green Flash claim it's 45 IBU, but for mine, it seems much higher, possibly as much as 65 or 70. This beer is very much like what I was trying to acheive with my first All Grain homebrews, and I was surprised to find it wasn't as clear as my own brews and had a significant amount of lees in the bottle, which I wasn't expecting.
8 Wired (New Zealand) Hopwired IPA
Big passionfruity, citrussy hop aromas, possibly from Riwaka (B Saaz) and/or Nelson Sauvin. The hop bill was the best part of this beer, with little of interest in the malt to back it up. pretty poor head retention too, and quite cloudy. Would have used the Deer Creek split with RRW for this one if I had it on vinyl. CD covers make shit backgrounds. Spirtualledler not only knows his beer but has been involved in some kickarse music!
Green Flash West Coast IPA
Claimed to be 95 IBU, but didn't taste like it, didn't even seem to be as hoppy as the Hop Head Red Ale, and definately not as hoppy as the 8 Wired IPA. What bitterness there was seemed to be very smooth though. US "C" hops (Columbus, Cascade and Centenial) do seem to be boring after NZ hops, Simcoe was claimed in the hop bill, but I couldn't taste it. I did like the maltiness, and this combined with the 8 Wired hop bill would be a winner.
Firestone Walker Double Jack IIPA
Big C Hop Aroma. Something a bit fecal about it, like SN Torpedo. I don't mean this in a bad way either. Quite clear compared to the Green Flash offerings, but still a little hazy. 9.5%abv not reflected int he maltiness of this beer. Probably pushing close to a smooth 90 IBU. Not massively impressed with this one, but still a very nice beer
Bongin Bongin Bay Spider Cider and Sign of the Southern Cross Australasian Pale Ale
Say Hi to Henry Moore (The black moor fish) and Fat Stevens.
I often wonder where I'm going with this homebrewing crap, and these are it. I make brews I'm happy with, chucking masses of NZ hops in at the end of the boil and whatnot, but this single malt, single hop pale ale is probably actually saleble, and won't offend the palate of megaswill drinkers. I'ts completely unchallenging, yet uses NZ Southern Cross hops, which are kind of piney/evergreen/smokey and really have no comprable hop substitute, so it's a fairly unique beer. The cider is made from cheapshit apple juice and yeast recultured from a bottle of English Scrumpy, and again is pretty saleable. It's actually nicer than a lot of the artificially sweetened commercial ciders.
I often think I could actually make a go of brewing for a living, even if I've ruined hobbies by doing this in the past.