Thirsty Critters goes to WA Part 2: Swan Valley Breweries
November 30, 2009
I hope you enjoyed Part 1 of our series on our recent trip to WA. After checking out some pubs on the first day, it was time to go a bit further afield on day two – so we booked ourselves on to a Beer Nuts brewery tour. This held obvious excitement for me as I’d never been on another brewery tour before! I was very keen to see how other tour operators conducted their day trip to local breweries.
Our trusty Beer Nuts chariot!
As it turns out, our guide Martin was the first brewery tour operator in the Swan Valley, and had been in business for about three years. He was a most excellent guide, very amiable, full of great info about the region and of course the local beer. Martin picked us up from our hotel at 10.30 and, after picking his brain about the ins and outs of running a tour – and picking up some great tips for Thirsty Critters – we had already arrived at the first brewery by 11am! How lucky Perthites are to have the Swan Valley on their doorstep – it takes Thirsty Critters around an hour to reach out first stop at MT Brewery!
First stop of the day - Feral Brewing Co
The first Brewery on the stop was the legendary Feral Brewing. The brewhouse was in full swing, with their famous Feral White on the boil. Being a Friday, the crowds (like the rest of the breweries we visited) were minimal, which gave us a chance to have a chat with the management crew behind Feral and enjoy our amazing tasting tray in peace and quiet on their huge outdoor deck.
Enjoying the tasting tray on the deck at Feral Brewing Co
Of all the breweries, Feral had the biggest selection of beer styles by far. The tasting tray came with a Feral White, Hop Hog (pale ale), Feral Cow (English Bitter), Rust (dubbel) and and Farmhouse Ale (saison). All were amazing – and the tasting glass size was the perfect quantity. We had a long day of beer drinking ahead of us!
The beer menu at Feral
Second stop on the tour was Ironbark Brewing, which was a winery as well as a brewery. The menu (below) was apparently ever-changing, and a quick look out the back told me why – it was a very DIY operation, with the vats and lines made from reclaimed metal!
The menu at Ironbark
Their pilsener was particularly outstanding, and my favourite of their selection – because of it’s timid bitterness. Much more friendly to my palate than many other pilseners out there. We also had lunch at Ironbark, which were hugely oversized portions!
A very tasty pilsener at Ironbark
In a further sign of Ironbark’s DIY ethos, their office is an old wine vat!
The Ironbark admin office!
Third stop on the tour was Elmar’s, another huge operation that also included a restaurant, huge outdoor area (big enough to hold concerts), and a smallgoods counter! All very German, which was reflected in their beer menu. They also brewed in glass vats, something I’d never seen before.
Glass vats at Elmar's
The menu kept it simple with three classic German varieties – pilsener, weizen and altbier.
The beer selection at Elmar's
All their varieties were as tasty as the look in the photo below!
The tasting selection from Elmar's
Brewery number four was Duckstein, another brewery with a heavy German influence, right down to the huge beer garden out the back. Their tasting trays were very unique – carved wood with each beer style branded into the tray.
Tasting tray at Duckstein
It was a wonderful day for a tour and great weather to sit in the Duckstein beer garden!
Tasting tray in the beer garden at Duckstein
Last brewery of the day was Mash Brewing, a much newer brewery.
Mash Brewing Co
The masses of stainless steel and polished wood reminded me very much of MT Brewing at Mt Tamborine.
The vats and bar at Mash Brewing
The day finished with one final tasting tray at Mash – including our first cider of the day. My heart was with their delicious Black lager though – about the only thing I could taste at this point in the day! As you might imagine, the taste buds were getting a little weary after so much great beer.
Tasting tray at Mash Brewing
All in all, a great experience, very informative and educational, and also a real eye-opener – those WA beer lovers have got it all right in their own backyard! It gave me confidence that we might see more breweries popping up in South East Queensland in the future. If you’re ever over that way, a brewery tour in the Swan Valley is a must, and Beer Nuts comes highly recomended.
Would you give up your fingerprints for the sake of a late-night beer?
November 24, 2009
Coming to a nightclub near you
Image: NightKey
Our esteemed Queensland Premier hasn’t been increasingly nicknamed Nanna Bligh by press and citizens alike for no reason these last few months. For lovers of late-night drinking, the first nail in the coffin came with the introduction of the 3am lockout. Despite most rational observers predicting this would be a slippery-slide to ever more draconion measures, barely a peep was raised by the Queensland public, and fair enough too – judging by some of the online chatter around the issue, a fair proportion of Queenslanders would be only to happy to see bars and nightclubs shut at 10pm, or closed down altogether.
Sure enough, a 3am lockout was never going to be enough for those looking for the next band-aid solution to the ‘slaughter on the streets’ (another great piece of bluster found in the comments section of the Courier Mail online recently) that apparently is Fortitude Valley and anywhere else in the vicinity of a bar, pub or club late at night. A couple of weeks back the Queensland Police Union called for a mandatory 2am shutdown of licenced venues – a move that would be an utter embarrasment for a state capital that is trying to improve its credentials as the ‘New World City’, but unfortunately an all-too-likely scenario.
Unsurprisingly, this slippery-slope to who knows where doesn’t end there. In a ‘proactive’ move, the Katarzyna Group, the Bickle Family enterprise that owns Family, The Empire, Cloudland, The Press Club, The Corner Bar and Birdee Num Nums, will take your index finger fingerprint, scan your ID and take your photo upon entry to aforementioned venues from February next year. Clearly they are trying to jump the gun on potential legislation that will force them to do this anyway, and perhaps use it as leverage to argue against a 2am shutdown in the future. Whatever the reason, it doesn’t sit well with Thirsty Critters, and shouldn’t sit well with anyone who has the least concern about their liberties, their privacy and the prospect of nightclub owners collecting, storing and using that kind of information. Needless to say, despite a long history of frequenting Katarzyna venues, and throwing untold amounts of money across their bars, they will not be getting my ID, photo or fingerprints. Having lived in an epicentre of alcohol and gun violence – London – and never having been required to scan my ID, let alone take my fingerprint or my photo, I am sure Brisbane licencees and the Katarzyna group can find less intrusive ways to ensure the safety of their patrons.
Ihre Papiere, Bitte!
This has little do with enjoying a quality beer, or going on a brewery tour, you might say. True enough, as beer lovers we can still enjoy a beer at home, and visit MT Brewery, Burleigh Brewing & Eagle Heights Brewery with little restriction. But for how long? In a state where we’re on the cusp of giving up our identitities, drinking from plastic and getting kicked out at 2am, what is next? Tracking of alcohol consumed on premises via fingerprint? Restrictions on what you’re allowed to carry out of a bottle shop (via fingerprint)? A curtailing of maximum alcohol content in beer, like many US states? Who knows. But sitting by idly while draconion measures like fingerprinting and ID scanning are introduced does not bode well for the future.
Thirsty Critters goes to WA Part 1: The Pubs
November 23, 2009
Thirsty Critters was lucky enough to go to Western Australia for the first time recently, and unsuprisingly had a great time – which wasn’t too difficult in a state seemingly made for beer lovers. From the huge range of locally brewed boutique beers on tap at many pubs, to the microbrewery delights of the Swan Valley, to the brewing behemoth that is Little Creatures – WA truly is a beer lover’s nirvana. Over the next week or so we’ll be bringing you a roundup of our experiences in the ‘State of Excitement’ (that’s seriously what it’s called… and I thought ‘The Smart State’ was bad.)
Part 1: The pubs
Beer garden at the Brass Monkey
Within an hour of landing at Perth I was safely ensconced in my first pub, the Brass Monkey in Perth’s CBD. I was immediately impressed as they had Alpha Pale Ale and Gage Roads Wahoo on tap. I’m familiar with both of them, so I went straight for the Brass Monkey Stout – a great choice as it turns out, very reminiscent of 3 Ravens Black, full of coffee, honey and chocolate overtones. Delicious!
Brass Monkey Stout and Feral White
I’d never been lucky enough to try Alpha Pale Ale on tap before, so followed up with that – and was reminded how well it straddles that divide between too much and too little hops, it’s a great drop.
After the Brass Monkey we strolled around to Perth’s new dedicated James Squire bar, named The Generous Squire.
It was a rather flashy affair, with a warm wooden interior. Predictably, their entire range inside was the standard James Squire lineup, apart from one – their Docklands Pale Ale. As far as pale ales go it was very light on hops, quite crisp and almost lagerish – all told, a touch dissapointing. That said, it was my first trip to a James Squire bar and worth the trip – perhaps we’ll see one up in Brisbane soon.
That evening we dined at a great Swiss chalet-themed establishment called The Cabin which, while not a pub, did have a beer I’d never heard of before on the menu – Matso’s. Brewed up north in Broome, Matso’s has two lines: Monsoonal Blonde, a spiced white beer and a Mango Beer. I opted for the Monsoonal Blonde, which proved a good choice with our food. The spice comes from cardamon added to the brew – an interesting change to be sure, with a not unwelcome strong aftertaste. It was an altogether refreshing beer, low on bitterness, and definitely worth a try if you ever see it in a Queensland bottle shop.
Matso's Monsoonal Blonde @ The Cabin, Perth
Unfortunately I didn’t get to try their mango beer, but like many other beers I didn’t get to try this time – it will make my return to WA’s pubs all the more exciting next time.
Next up: A Beer Nuts tour in the Swan Valley!
