In the garden (ale)
Live from my garden, I loosely review two new beers with a loose garden connection, which arrived on my doorstep over the past month…
Live from my garden, I loosely review two new beers with a loose garden connection, which arrived on my doorstep over the past month…
What beer lover would turn down the offer to write about beer in return for the most common remuneration of such effort (beer)? Isn’t that the only reason why beer writers exist? A new trophy was recently announced by the annual Australian International Beer Awards (AIBA), which might help validate a beer writer’s existence – the AIBA …
Continuing on with the home brewing adventures, our fourth brew was a chocolate porter using BrewSmith. With thanks to the owners of this new Aussie homebrew business, a sample BrewSmith kit arrived on our doorstep back in May, providing the opportunity to trial another method of home brewing – the partial mash. The box included …
Winter 2013 is almost over down under, thankfully, because it has been a strange few months in Beer Bar Band’s brain. Job and personal circumstances put me in an uncertain frame of mind. Happily, life is looking up again. I jokingly suggested that turning 33 would be a big deal, alluding to the pop culture-esque …
It’s rare that Jenn and I miss a Something For Kate gig around Melbourne. We are long-time fans of the band, finding much of our own selves reflected in their songs. Actually, the first music thing we did together when our relationship began was to catch an in-store acoustic gig at JB HiFi by lead …
Rollicking rock and ballsy beer, what a great way to end Good Beer Week! 2013 will go down in my book as the year Good Beer Week grew up and got its rock on. No longer did GBW hold a fake ID, trying to infiltrate Melbourne Food & Wine Festival forays of tastings and food …
As a live music and small bar lover, sad news hit my hometown recently with the unexpected closure of Ruby’s Lounge. Ruby’s was the primary live music venue in Belgrave, as well as for the surrounding outer suburbs of Melbourne’s east and the Dandenong Ranges. It was once a true sticky-carpet rock-out institution that shared …
(…previously on Beer Bar Band: Part 2) The second destination for our bikes and beer holiday would officially begin our coverage of Victoria’s High Country Brewery Trail. From breakfast in Mansfield, and after collecting a bag of dark chocolate covered coffee beans from the Mansfield Sweet Experience shop (my “driver stays awake” pills), we drove …
I very rarely drink James Squire beers these days. But I’m not their target market. Rewind to 2006-8 and I was drinking the James Squire Amber Ale by the slab. Back then, I was firmly in their target market – a new/crossover craft beer drinker. During that time, Malt Shovel Brewery’s James Squire range of beers … Continue reading
In 2013, Australian brown ales are still few and far between (hence the need for Brown Ale Day to help raise this beer style’s profile), but there are some excellent examples this sadly underrated style, such as the Mornington Peninsula Brewery Brown, Cavalier Brown Ale and the Prickly Moses Big Ass Brown Ale. This year … Continue reading
Brown Ale Day returns this Sunday, 20 October 2013! My wife, Jenn, started Brown Ale Day last year, on the 3rd Sunday of October, to celebrate and help rejuvenate appreciation of brown beer. In a time when beer days seemed to be happening all over the place – IPA Day, Stout Day, International Beer Day, … Continue reading
There is a peculiar little community spread sporadically across the globe, of people who enjoy the combination of beer and running. No, I’m not talking about people who drink beer then go running (although, yes, there are several of them), or people who drink beer while running. I’m referring to the fun phenomena of beer … Continue reading
The Session is a monthly event for the beer blogging community, started by Stan Hieronymus at Appellation Beer. On the first Friday of each month, beer bloggers write about a predetermined topic. Each month a different blog is chosen to host The Session, choose the topic, and post a roundup of all the responses received. … Continue reading
Alcohol has a rapid effect on me at the moment. Two beers and I’m tipsy, three beers and I’m drunk, four beers and I’m passed out by 8:30pm on a Saturday night. Back in May, during the beer soaked days of Good Beer Week, and then throughout the high-alcohol imperial stout indulgences of winter, my … Continue reading
Carlton Draught has recently been given a makeover with a new design for its beer cans. Why? Possibly to rejuvenate a sector of the market that’s currently in a slump. Ultimately, it seems to be a classic case of beer marketing wank for the sake of sales. Gone is the red radiance of the former … Continue reading
Late last in year the home of Beer Bar Band, we decided to give home brewing a go. As earnest beer lovers and thirsty beer geeks, we sought to improve our understanding of beer through hands-on learning. Is there a better way to appreciate something than by creating it from scratch? Hence, through experiencing the … Continue reading
Wow, hosting The Session has been fun! Thank you to everyone who contributed, I thoroughly enjoyed every post offered this round. In keeping with the theme of this round, I should limit my Roundup post to 250 words, right…? HA! Impossible…because I’m sure everyone who contributed wants to score a mention. Hence, I’ll proceed with … Continue reading
The Session is a monthly event for the beer blogging community, started by Stan Hieronymus of the Appellation Beer blog. This is how it works: on the first Friday of each month, beer bloggers write about a predetermined topic. A different blog hosts each round of The Session. The host blog selects a topic, and … Continue reading