What's wetting the whistle P.4

Agreed. I pickup a bottle every few months and im always loving it. And im a guy who drinks imperial stouts 90% of the time.

 

So i just had the much hyped Old Money. Bit of a letdown. Very thin mouthfeel. The bourbon dominates like no BBA stout ive had before. Smells like bourbon, tastes like bourbon, is sweet like bourbon. I mean it's not bad, but it's a tad unbalanced.

 

Merry X-Mas to all.

 

To be fair, no-one hyped this release of Old Money.

You can tell no-one was excited by KBS because it's a shelf-sitter at the moment. I think I meant to say BCBS in my previous post.

 

I tried the Moon Dog Curtly Ambrosia and found all the parts didn't add up to the beer I hoped it to be.

Closer to home, North End Brewing in Wellington are making some interesting beers, have enjoyed the couple i've tried lately.

 

really enjoyed Jedi juice, went to HOp Nation brewery, not a great place
enjoyed Old money,
didn't think much of Hawkers BBA stout
went to Robe Town brewery, nice beer called " Hey Hay,
saison of 1.8abv really good
went to The Wheaty, always good

 

So ive been enjoying sour beers lately, and i had a bottle of Cantillon bio Kriek. Honestly couldn't understand the hype. Didn't rate it all.

 

That is the most depressing thing I have seen, heard or read in the last 20 years of my life. I just cannot come to terms with no more Billy B's. I have even had nightmares about this issue. I have retired from all apple driven beverages until further notice

 

Bottle was about 7 months old. Maybe its just my palate. I do love rodenbach, and i love a good gose, i think the cantillon was a bt too much for my palate.

 

Some beers ive had lately :

Lervig - christmas shake - really good vanilla ipa. Heaps of vanilla.

Omnipollo - blueberry slab cake - this beer was freakin amazing. So much going on. Blueberry, chocolate, vanilla, biscuit, with a sour finish. So fun.

Two metre tall - farmhouse ambigua - really really good sour. Specially crafted for billy kwong restaurant in sydney. Really flowery, herby, and citrusy.

Brouwerij - chocolate quad- kind of a werid combination of chocolte in a belgian quad. Didnt mind it, very different.

Hop nation - the punch - mango gose - lovin hopnation beers. Sooo much fresh mango.

Founders green zebra - this was so sour it was almost artificial. Like a sour warhead. Not very good.

Omnipollo - noa pecan mudcake (bourbon barrel aged) - feel like i enjoyed the original version better. The bourbon made an already sweet beer, really really sweet.

 

Quite a lot of hazy hoppy beers, lightish sour beers and lightish, hazy, hoppy sourish beers. Many with fruit. Most have been OK.

It's got to the point where if a beer's fairly hazy but doesn't drink like watered down Clag I feel they're trying to cheat the system. Also I'm deliberately buying German helles lagerbier as a beery safe space. This is probably an issue I have to work through.

I liked Stockade Old Money. I'm not with it enough to have tried the first version. It wasn't as good as Fat Santa though.

A few decent lagers beginning to show up - Bad Shepherd Reserve Rd Draught is a good old world no tricks Czecho-ish one, Blackman's show considerable promise with their Zinger Slinger and Schwartzbier and 2 Birds Pils is as good as most of the Kiwi pils it apes. If it were easier to find in bottles I would have drunk a _lot_ more of it.

 

can anyone recommend the Pirate Life Strawberry BA IIPA? or is a swing and a miss

 

Only heard bad things so far. Haven't tried it myself.

 

I tried it the PL strawberry at Old bridge cellars, was OK,
but glad I didn't have to drink a whole pint
had the Peach IPA from ROckyridge and dainton,
which I thought was pretty watery
a lot of these beers taste just like soft drinks, I don't see the thrill in it

 

DTC got a huge haul of very expensive beers form US and
only one I could afford was DFH vanilla oak world wide stout. $35 a stubby
Pretty nice,but to me not as good as tenFidy

 

Yeah I thought the Peach Invasion was very ordinary. Wasn't a NEIPA which it claimed to be.

 

CBS lived up to the hype, drinkable and awesome maple but not the epiphany I expected...I want to buy it by the four pack but you can't...Sort of beer I want to sit drinking at my local pub and a bit pointless if it's so limited.

Last Rites Drunken Trumpet was surprisingly awesome, picked lots of different fruits out of it. Not huge or highly carbed mouthfeel though but that didn't work to its detreiment

Backwoods Bastard didn't really disappoint, it's a bit less of an awesome biscuit character nowadays and a bit more of the base beer but it's always a solid offering.

Founders Breakfast Stout...not as awesome as I remember previously but it's getting on in years, I'm getting on in years and I've been drinking it for a while now and I seem to be less impressed by most beers these days in general. Still solid though.

 

Couple of great drinking spots I have been frequenting in Melbourne. One new, the other not so new but underrated.

Angus and Bon is a steakhouse that has just opened in Prahran that has a killer tap list. I'm talking a least two La Sirene with one being a limited release, a couple of Blackman's and some other great beers. Was pleasantly surprised to have the limited La Sirene served to me in an aromatic wine glass, nice touch. Food was sensational as well.

Hophaus on Southbank is a great place for a beer. Taps are full of classic german lagers, kolchs and weissbiers. All delicious beers, the schnitzels are great as well.

 

Therein lies the key to your Industry Gone Backwards post.

 

Few days...it's still around, I think the price is fairly prohibitive and even if I could buy more I'm not sure I would...

 

good point actually

 

wow - having a Boon Vat 91 - (one of the four pack) - sensationally good, very crisp, subtle, compact flavours but oh so drinkable...
Need to buy another four pack!

 

Founders breakfast stout was the first imperial stout that blew me away, and really got me into the style. I also had it again recently for the first time in years, and like you, i was dissppointed. Dont know if it was an old bottle, or if ive just had much better imperial stouts since then.

I thought CBS was really good too. My local bottle shop were selling 4 packs of it, but only if you bought a 4 pack of backwoods bastard with it.

 

Some recent beers

Rodenbach - 2013 vintage on tap! How rare is that! Was amazing.

Gueze Tilquin - draft version - really loved this. Really funky, but really balanced.

Lervig - christmas shake - love a good vanilla ipa, and this really hit the spot.

Buxton - trolltunga - unbelievaly sour. The most sour beer ive ever had. Malty backbone, but the sour citrus was a bit overwhelming for me.

La sirene - urban pale ale - nice pale, leaning more towards an ipa. Nothing special

Bentspoke - crankshaft ipa - this was rated #2 on the best australian beers list. I really enjoyed it. After a hot days work in the sun, this really hit the spot. Really good ipa.

 

hmmm.. Boon 109 - not as good as 91 - quite a sweet Boon as you near the end of the bottle... time for a palate cleanser(!)

 

I had 92 tonight. One of the more fruits forward guezes I have had. So much stone fruit.

 

Had a b2 Old Money the other and loved it. It wasn't as good as b1 (which I rate as one of Australia's best BA Stouts) but was still fantastic. A little thin for the abv but I thought all the flavours pulled together well and gave it good balance.

A stout I had a few weeks back which is a serious dark horse if the Fat Santa by Boatrocker. Stunning beer.

 

Sprocket is leagues ahead of Crankshaft. It actually tastes quite "new world" also. I saw the hottest 100 poll results and just thought "typical Australian craft beer scene". Of course the one actually good beer Bentspoke makes gets placed much lower, and everyone instead votes for the shit one.

 

Same date sans 12 months.

 

If — like me — you still think of LCPA as an absolute miracle beer, then their Extra Pale Ale is going to be the one you've been waiting for ever since.

 

how many blunts before this post?

 

had Rocky Ridge rock juice,
which was bloody good,
but at $13 a can,
it would bloody well want to be
also had Cheeky Monkey Imperial monk imperial red,
which is bloody good also,
and only $33 a 4 pack of 500ml cans

aslo had hawkers golden IPA,
very tasty, and hawkers west coast IPA,
also very good,
could not afford $25 for a bottle of CBS...

 

Seen a bit still about at that price.

Haven't had a blunt in more than a quarter of a century. I just go on a bit.

 

Fresh Vitus on tap is incomparable to the 9 months old stuff you find by the bottle.