Barefoot Drinker
Penfold’s “Max” range
Some of the oldest wines that I have enjoyed the most, out of our collection at least, have been the Bin ranges from Penfolds. The wines have shown that they have an exceptional ability to carry bottle age and the wine develops exceptionally in the bottle, the problem now though is that the most of the reds in the Bin range start at a RRP of $40, a far cry from the sub $20 and $30’s of just over a...
Mountain Goat Brewery
Back when leather jackets with Doc Martens, black denim with red tartan were cool, two Melbourne blokes, Cam Hines and Dave Bonighton, put their heads together and started to knock out some pretty awesome beers. They were being created out of Dave’s backyard with his homebrew equipment. In 1997, after two years of hard graft, Mountain Goat Beer finally hit the shelves, with their first beer called...
West Cape Howe 2015 releases
I’m pretty lucky with the group that sit around the tasting table with me, the range of life experiences, skills and trades are so different, it gives us all different points of view on life let alone what we are tasting on the day. We have different things we look for in a wine/beer/spirit and have different price points that we won’t go past. I find myself running things past them when I want m...
Barrier Reef Brewing Co.
Who would have thought that saving a tree frog from a hot cup of tea would lead to a life as a brewer? Well it was a bit more round-about than that for Cameron McPherson, co-owner and brewer at the new Cairns brewery, Barrier Reef Brewing Co. Cameron left for the UK at the age of 26, with a freshly minted Veterinary Degree in his back pocket, planning on making a living working in marine mammal me...
Hallelujah and Pass the Ammunition, World Whisky Day
Alleluia and pass the ammunition! It’s that time of the year when all the world’s whisky lovers unite and stand up for World Whisky Day, and it doesn’t matter whether your choice of ammunition is Scotch whisky, Japanese Whisky, Irish whiskey or American whiskey. Today, when you sit back and enjoy that last evening sip, you can tell all and sundry that you are joining in a worldwide event! So which...
In Dreams
Jimmy Durante once warbled about seeing people in them, the Sammy Hagar led Van Halen belted out about what they were made of. Elvis Presley, Fleetwood Mac, The Moody Blues, Coldplay even Taylor Swift have sang about them. Dreams, we all have them, some of us sit back and think about them, fantasise about following them. Others get up, work bloody hard and make those dreams happen. Winemaker Nina ...
Summer Time is Gin Time!
It’s been as hot as heck lately. I walked to my car last week to find that the outside thermometer said it was 37 degrees. And that was parked in an underground shopping centre carpark! And as I sit here now, I’m taking the edge off with an old friend called Gin, namely in the form of a Gin and Tonic. I’m a sucker for a good G&T, and it’s easily up there in my top five favourite drinks during ...
Death at a Brewery
Over the last few years a few beers have come and gone, died a natural if not a slow painful death. Amongst the myriad of beers to have slowly gone the way of the Dodo, have been a couple of big names, Blue Sky Brewery, VB Raw and Crown Gold (not to be confused with Crown Golden Ale) are three that spring to mind. I never personally knew whether to be overcome by grief or extreme happiness as some...