MOVED TO WORDPRESS

I have moved and transferred my Blog to Wordpress in the hope that I can find it it a bit mor user friendly
The  link/address is .... beerandmorebyray.wordpress
Other than a different look not much should change
Cheers and hope any reader can make the shift.

BRAZIL FIRST POST

At the moment I am on a motor bike tour of the southern parts of brazil starting out from São Paulo.
Obviously after the days ride I try beers when ever possible. As a general rule the more readily available beers are the commercial brands like Skol and Brahma and Bohemia. These beers are fine if you are hot and bothered and just want a quick thirst quencher. There is however a artisanal beer movement here in Brazil and is very likely that the diligent searcher will find some passable and very likely more than passable beers
I didn't know but at our second night out we stayed at a great guesthouse and it turned that the owner was an enthusiastic 70litre micro brewer . I intend to have a post about this later
So for now

A PAIR OF YEASTIE BOYS AND A MOON DOG

I have had a pair of Yeastie Boys beers tonight.
From what I can gather this is a highly thought of brewery and with these beers
it is not hard to see why.
Firstly there was a the improbably named Peters Pipers Pickled Purple Peated Ale.
Peated probably explains the smoke I noted at the outset.
Then I tried Motueka Raven, there was a lot of waffle on the label which I suppose was meant to be tasting notes, make your own mid up about that but it was a very nice dark beer.

I also had the Wet Nurse Tonic a Milk Stout from Moon Dog, This was by far the best of these three as far asI am concerned . A label tied to the neck of the bottle say drink at room temperature, which I would have done anyway, a terrific beer. Also a great label    

I bought these beers, along with a few others I will mention after I have drunk them,
from the Camperdown Cellars in Liechardt.
While I was able to find these three and others I was a bit disappointed with this bottle shop as I went in with a list of Australian craft beers I had as yet not tried, a list about fifty long and they didnt have one of them.    

A BLONDE A BROWN BELGIAN AND A DARK FROM SIERRA NEVADA

I am trying to find some new beers and have got a few beers from the Leura Cellars bottle
 shop.
So far have had a Narwhal from the Sierra Nevada brewery and Heaven, a blonde
and Hell a brown from Triporteur a Belgium brewery. A new brewery for me both
beers where easy to drink, the Heaven was more of a session of the two but I think the Hell
was my preferred choice. Good labels and they just about fell of when washing the bottles,
so easy to collect. I have heard of the Narwhal but I don't recall drinking one before,
it is an Imperial Stout, big dark, a good beer, I wont try pretend and write more beer notes
in case I get it all wrong.  

 

 

GENUINE SAVING OR A BIG FAT CON

I am going to join in with my own debate. I was in the bottle shop, you know the one, Lolly Land outside one of the big two supermarkets. I was jut looking while I was waiting for some one and I noticed the Steam rail was $16.00 for a six pack or $45.00 for a carton of 24, a saving of  $19.00 if you buy the carton. I also looked at the price of the Crown Lager which was $20.50 for a six pack or $50.00 a carton of 24 or a saving of $ 32.00.

Feel free to check my sums if you want.

So obviously it is a much better to buy in bulk or does it means that there is a massive con going on  somewhere 

STEAMRAIL: RUBBISH OR REAL BEER

We thought we would see what all the fuss is about so we bought a bottle of SteamRail Golden Ale and a Steam Rail Pale Ale

There has been a bit of discussion about these beers in social media the last couple of days  about who owns it and makes and various other stuff.

I thought that there was not a lot of difference between the beers, both started off with a metallic taste and neither had any great taste to talk of. If I had to choose one I would pick the Pale Ale but then I always would choose a Pale Ale over a Golden Ale no matter what brewery the beer came from. 

I know there is a big debate over big brewery versus craft breweries and mass produced beer or beer from small breweries and a fear that one will be pushed out or swallowed up by the other.

However I am trying not to let it affect me or my choice of what beers I drink.

I do think that restaurants could do a lot better and generally the selection of beers that they have is pathetic to say the least. One owner told me that they couldn’t afford to keep a better choice of beers because they may not be able to sell it which I think is a load of bullshit because all they need to do is buy a small selection of six packs from a good bottle shop which they then sell on for a higher price just like wine. Nobody seems to stress out about keeping wine for a while. On the off chance they are left with a couple of beers they can’t use they could always either cook with it or use for staff drinks.

Most restaurants have blackboard specials which I think they could use to advertise guest 

beers.

         

PINS AND NOODLES

I don't suppose this has much to do with beers though I did have a couple of Peroni's , I went to the Pins and Noodle as with a bit of the family a couple of days ago. This place is in Katoomba, It was a place worth giving a go as the food was very good with a pretty big menu. It is a bit hard to know exactly what this restaurant is trying to be as the choices are a mix of Japanese; Italian and contemporary anyway everything that we chose was good. The restaurant certainly popular with the oldies and was full. Our little group included three small children who didn't seem to faze the place to much.    

BIG BUGGER BEER

My daughter got a big can of Asahi for Christmas which she opened today for a BBQ this Australia day . I don't suppose there is any easy connection to make between Japanese beers and Australia day but we wont beat ourselves up about that.
It was quite a hot afternoon and as such the beer went down very well, I don't expect I would ever buy a six pack of these cans, but it is quite an easy beer to drink and you cant go past the novelty factor of the can.
It would be nice if I good re-use it and refill it with home brew but I doubt if it would be air tight once the seal is broken.

FILLER IN PUBS

A couple of other pubs to round out my weekend. The Coach and Horses R  for a couple of Tooheys Old, A Tiger at the "DOG" or Duke of Gloucester  at Randwick, Breakfast  no beer at the Clovelly Hotel, A quick sneak through the Coogee Bay Hotel to check out the facilities and a Kilkenny at the Grand Hotel, Bondi Junction and the Royal Hotel where the barman wanted to put an  cocktail umbrella in my sons Peroni. A couple of Melbourne Bitters but I forget which pub 

A random selection of photographs of pubs.

 

TRENDY BARS or THE BUCKET LIST & BUCKLERS CANTEEN

 BONDI BLONDE BEER v BLONDE BONDI BIMBOS

We went to a couple of bars in Bondi one early, before we went to dinner at the Paper panes and one afterwards.

The first, The Bucket List in the Bondi pavilion was not my sort of place, I am not a fan of being stopped at the entrance by a twelve year old in painted on tights asking me what I was there for and then telling me how to go to the bar and what to do afterwards, She may have meant well and was only doing her job, it’s just that I didn't know what her job really was.

The place was full but not excessively so but the bar service was bordering on the chaotic. I am sure the bar people know how to mix drinks, but to my mind they just can’t handle the pressure of even a relatively small crowd

I had a Kosciusko beer but there was not a great deal of choice as I suppose the place is more a mixed drink joint than a beer one. It may have been the venue but the noise level here was almost painful, sounded like a box full of bats.

After dinner we went to the Bucklers Canteen, while my daughter loved the music in this place, I found it pretty much the same as the Buckets list except that the bar staff where even less capable of handling the orders. I doubt if there was more than a hundred and twenty all up and less than twenty at the bar but most people seemed to be ordering complex mixed drinks and paying with cards which seemed to be taking half the night to do. This is where the Bondi Bimbos comes in because there where collections of them at the bar, who quite clearly no intention of buying a round but refused to move away from the bar so others could get near. Bondi Blonde Beer have more going for it the Bondi Bimbos,

I would guess that both these places would be much better with a few less people in them or a little more organisation behind and in front of the bar. Both places did food but with so little space for seating I don’t know how they make it work. Probably not all that well as I don’t recall seeing anybody eating standing up and as such they can’t be getting the best out of the restaurants.

While these places aren’t the most inspiring from a beer drinking point of view I may have to accept that I could be judging them a bit harshly, perhaps I am a bit old for them.

I think I would have been happier in either of them if I had been able spend an afternoon or evening having a few quite drinks at a table in a quiet spot with a view of the beach. 

A COUPLE OF PICTURES FROM THE BUCKET LIST 

PAPER PLANES

Paper Planes

On the Saturday I went, with my daughter and son to the Paper Planes, a Japanese restaurant in Bondi. The food in this place was very good, according to son and daughter perhaps the best Japanese food they have had in Sydney

I have to accept their opinion on this while I did think it was good Japanese is not the food of choice for me, I don’t see the fascination with sushi and sashimi, I know it won’t kill me (well! hopefully) but that is as far as it goes. The rest of the food, the tempura vegetable and the beef dish was terrific

We had a couple of different Sake’s the names of which I won’t try to write here as I doubt if there are enough letters on my keyboard to reproduce them.

I had thought that I might try a few of Sake’s like I had done with the rums the night before, however while I was happy with the two we had which were quite different from each other I don’t think I appreciate it as much.

I also had a Japanese beer at the start, a draft Orion Lager or Ah-re- on as the waitress pronounced it, a beer typical of its type I think, ok, nothing extra special

This place is well worth a visit.

Unfortunately my pictures didn't work again. 

RUM FOR A CHANGE

RUM DIARIES

I went to the Rum Diaries last Friday, didn't have a beer but had a good time with a few of the rums

I never quite worked out the classifications the rums were given as they were grouped together under the headings of English; French; and Spanish rums with the rums from Angostura under the English section, so saying, the list could have been more helpful, the tasting notes on the list were a bit wine notes like too.

This is the second time for me at this place and this time around I couldn't find one that beat my favourite so far which is a Captain Morgan Special Spiced rum which I thought had intense vanilla both in aroma and taste

The food in this place is very good, a bit on the tapas side which I feel makes small serving a bit expensive and you might come away looking for a bit more.

The young lady who worked at our table was very helpful and answered as well as she could all my annoying questions but I may have learned more if the manager or owner had been there but apparently he was away in the UK, sourcing more rum perhaps.

Angostura Tyr dark rum; Barrancourt 5 star 8yr; Matusalen Gran Reservsa, 15 yr; Chripmans Reserva; Pyrats Rum Pistol (a taste) Demerra 175; Goslings Black; Goslings Gold Seal; Angostura 1919.  I have more than likely spelt mosy if not all of those rums incorrectly.

A COUPLE OF RUM COCKTAILS

GREEN BEER HAS A BLONDE SISTER

I tried the blonde sister of the green beer I had the other day a beer from the same brassier. I wouldn't say it was an outstanding beer but it was drinkable.

While I am unable to identify the particular taste of this beer I would have thought it would go quite well with maybe Thai food as it had a similar perfumed taste. 

PUMPKIN BEERS, WHEAT BEERS AND GREEN BEERS

I had Moon Dog Pumpkin Ale yesterday, I wasn't sure what I was going to make of it, I have had Pumpkin beers before and wasn't all that keen. This was one was very good,I preferred the Freaks and Geeks but this one came close and so I hope to try the rest of Moon Dog beers soon.

Otway Estate, Prickly Moses Chainsaw, a quite nice wheat beer maybe not the best I ever had but it was defiantely drinkable. I don't know why it is called chainsaw but then who knows where a lot of names come from

My daughter picked up a bottle of Brasserie Du Mont Blanc,La Verte au Genepi.
I wonder how much the average Australian beer drinker gets from that label.
This beer is green. The Genepi apparently one of the ingredients in Absinthe known I believe as the green fairy. This beer comes from France somewhere in the alps.
I thought it was very much like a soft drink, maybe an energy drink rather than a beer.
I didn't find terrible, it was actually quite easy to drink, maybe because today was so hot. If it was to your taste I expect you could knock back a fair bit of the stuff though you would have to keep in mind it is 5.9% . I couldn't read the label but I think this was a wheat beer though it was more like a cola apart from the green colour.
I have always been a little bit fascinated by the beers from the North of France at least I think from the north. Farmhouse beers, Bier De Bardes, Saison Beers and if I practised I might even become a fan of sour beers. The trouble is just about every one I come across is nothing like the lone I had before so it is hard to get a sense that I am getting to grips with the style.

 MOON DOG PUMPKIN

 PRICKLY MOSES CHAINSAW

 PRICKLY MOSES CHAINSAW

  GREEN BEER

BEFORE THEY INVENTED HOPS

I had couple of Gruut beers which I picked up at the Leura bottleshop. A Belgium style blonde and a bruin. This apparently is the way beer was made before the widespread use of hops became common. The hops are replaced with herbs and other various bits of vegetation  While I don't know what the exact ingredients are I seem to think things like myrtle, heather , probably stuff like dandelion and burdock and whatever else came to hand.
I had visited this brewery a few years ago in Ghent which I think I have written about somewhere in this blog but if I have I haven't found it yet.
I liked the blonde the best, it had quite a bit of body and I am not sure I would have known it didnt have hops if I hadn't known in advance.

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BLONDE AND BRUIN GRUUT