The beer industry is in a funny sort of spot lately. The average consumption of beer is decreasing, but yet the growth in craft beer has never been more active than it is now. There has been more craft breweries pop up over the course of the last few years than there are pimples on a teenage school boy. One of my mates recently said it was kind of like the music scene during the late 70’s and earl...
Over the Christmas holidays we caught up with family at a restaurant called Kobe inside the Townsville Casino. This place looks the goods, an interesting entry, flashy table ware and napery. But despite all the promises and the way the place looked, it ended up being a pretty pedestrian meal. I know that I have much better steak meals elsewhere; this probably wouldn’t even hit my top ten list. It’...
I was at Champagne Breakfast function recently and was looked down on for ordering a beer. I’ve never claimed to be fashionable , and often consider myself to be somewhat outside of normal social traditions. But I can’t work out for the life of me why it is that beer at breakfast is seen as unacceptable when Champers, some spirits (Gin for example), or cocktails (Bloody Marys) are? When I started...
It’s remarkable how the stars can align sometimes. With a remarkable, almost what could be referred to as biblical timing, it turns out that two of my favourite brewers are celebrating their 150th anniversaries this year. Both Coopers Brewery in Adelaide and Chimay – brewed by Trappist Monks in Belgium – both started way back in 1862. Both were also started by men of religion too. Thomas Coo...
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work (Genesis 2:2)…And He had a cold refreshing Cooper’s, said “it’s a thing of beauty, like an angel dancing on ya tongue”, then created the television, watched a little footy and asked Mrs God for another while she was up. (Barefoot Drinker 1.1) It should come as no surprise to those that...
“Just because you are the tallest pigmy in the tribe it doesn’t make you a giant”. The way I interpret that saying is that no matter how good you think you are, there will always be someone out there better than you, so be a bit humble. Those words sprang to mind when I tried this week’s Drop, “Coopers 62 Pilsner”. This is an epic fail from a brewery that often performs better, what were they thin...
The first Bledisloe was on the weekend, which means that it was also time for our annual “Down the All-Blacks” night. The idea being that we get together and bring a different 6 pack of black or dark beer, trying to work out which one we prefer. There’s no science to it, just what tastes the best while the ribs and inch thick steaks and Steve-o’s fresh caught Spanish Mackeral are coming stra...