What are you drinking now?

bullfrog · Post by **bullfrog** » Wednesday Oct 26, 2011 8:26 pm

Yeah, I think we'd need a bit more than 4 hours notice, mate. Haha.

jello · Post by **jello** » Thursday Oct 27, 2011 4:18 am

Definitely. Especially when I live up on the Central Coast. More than happy to have a brew with everyone, I just need warning

drsmurto · Post by **drsmurto** » Thursday Oct 27, 2011 7:37 pm

My rye golden ale with homegrown victoria hops.

Colour is more red than golden but i prefer my beers on the darker side. Going down way to easily. Steady on man, you have to work tomorrow (evil DrSmurto - "but you have 2 weeks of sick leave you haven't used").

Reminds me of a comment my mate said when asked how he has his coffee - black and bitter like my wife (his wife is sri lankan and agreed with his comment)

Post by **Oliver** » Tuesday Nov 01, 2011 1:08 pm

Don't hold this against me, but I am at my local, the Royal Mail in West Melbourne, to watch the Cup and saw Tooheys Red in the fridge and for some reason thought "I might try that". So I did. Pete behind the bar asked "Are you serious?" I was. So the verdict? Well, it's not a repulsive beer but it's a pretty sweet and nothing beer. Certainly not as offensive as I thought it might be. Would I choose to have it again? No.

big dave · Post by **big dave** » Tuesday Nov 01, 2011 2:34 pm

No problems Oliver

When we were travelling about in Europe and the UK a couple of years back, we would stop around three every afternoon for a beer. The saying, with a new beer almost every time, became "Yep, once again I am not disappointed by beer." Some of them were pretty unadventurous brews, but after a few warm and dusty miles on shanks' pony, it was always a treat.

I had a couple of Gage Roads' Sleeping Giant IPA. Very nice to my way of tasting.

Post by **Oliver** » Tuesday Nov 01, 2011 4:22 pm

White Rabbit Dark Ale. Not a great beer I am afraid to say. Dark in colour but sweet and fairly tasteless truth be told. No flavour, no aroma, no bitterness and minimal flavour. Controversial I know. Is this the tooheys red of dark beer? The dark beer for people who don't like beer? A blah beer.

chadjaja · Post by **chadjaja** » Tuesday Nov 01, 2011 4:50 pm

Oliver wrote:White Rabbit Dark Ale. Not a great beer I am afraid to say. Dark in colour but sweet and fairly tasteless truth be told. No flavour, no aroma, no bitterness and minimal flavour. Controversial I know. Is this the tooheys red of dark beer? The dark beer for people who don't like beer? A blah beer.

Older bottle. Doesn't sound like the Rabbit I'm used to.

bullfrog · Post by **bullfrog** » Tuesday Nov 01, 2011 6:29 pm

I'm with chadjaja on this one and reckon you've got a dodgy bottle, Oliver. I've had a few poor bottles of WRDA and some shocking examples of their white ale (had huge clumps of sludge in them) but shopping at my local Dans can be a bit of a lottery, at times. Try giving it another go from a different supplier and check the best before prior to purchasing.

drsmurto · Post by **drsmurto** » Tuesday Nov 01, 2011 8:56 pm

White rabbit dark on tap is gorgeous. I always find it thin and tooheys old like from the bottle

Post by **Oliver** » Wednesday Nov 02, 2011 9:14 am

The best-before date on the bottle was well into next year (I can't recall exactly when).

But I will give this another go in the bottle to see if it's different.

I have to concur with DrSmurto about it being thin. I'll try and find it on tap.

Oliver

warra48 · Post by **warra48** » Wednesday Nov 02, 2011 9:57 am

I had a bottle of White Rabbit Dark Ale recently over dinner with mrs warra and daughter dear.

Quite enjoyed it, a straightforward dark ale, although it didn't seem to have as much body as Tooheys Old. Not an overly complex ale, but there'snothing wrong with an ale like that from time to time.

Post by **Oliver** » Saturday Nov 05, 2011 8:02 pm

Epic portamarillo at court house in north melbourne. A nice, smokey porter but I don't get a whole lot of tamarillo nose or flavour. For those of you who have seen brew masters on foxtel or dvd you will be well acquainted with this collaboration between Epic and Dogfish Head in Delaware, US. It's a month or so past its BB date (bottled about October 20 last year we have worked out). Ernie behind the bar says the tamarillo was much more pronounced when it came in quite a few months back.

The lady didn't like the portamarillo so ordered a Red Hill tempation on tap. she is very happy with it. I reckon it's a cracker, too.

Guru · Post by **Guru** » Saturday Nov 05, 2011 8:10 pm

Oliver wrote:Epic portamarillo at court house in north melbourne. A nice, smokey porter but I don't get a whole lot of tamarillo nose or flavour. For those of you who have seen brew masters on foxtel or dvd you will be well acquainted with this collaboration between Epic and Dogfish Head in Delaware, US. It's a month or so past its BB date (bottled about October 20 last year we have worked out). Ernie behind the bar says the tamarillo was much more pronounced when it came in quite a few months back.

The lady didn't like the portamarillo so ordered a Red Hill tempation on tap. she is very happy with it. I reckon it's a cracker, too.

Have only just watched this series (Brew Masters) the other day and remember this quite well. They entered this (Epic Portamarillo) in the NZ beer show and I think then the judges also commented that there wasn't a lot of tamarillo nose or flavour. The tv show talked it up a lot but it didn't quite deliver, I still would like to try it though.

Guru · Post by **Guru** » Tuesday Nov 08, 2011 4:14 pm

Fat Yak on tap at O'Malleys Irish Tavern in Mildura. Chicken Parmie and a pot of FY for $16, keeps me happy.

This pub has just been renamed and redecorated, not an Irish theme anymore. I can't think of the new name but it doesn't look much different inside.

bullfrog · Post by **bullfrog** » Wednesday Nov 09, 2011 11:14 am

Guru wrote:Fat Yak on tap at O'Malleys Irish Tavern in Mildura...
This pub has just been renamed and redecorated, not an Irish theme anymore..

Well an Australian beer that uses hops from New Zealand brewed by a Chinese company is about as far divorced from Ireland as they could get.

Guru · Post by **Guru** » Wednesday Nov 09, 2011 1:32 pm

Definitely some contradictions isn't there, although this seems to be the state of play these days, the general public doesn't know any difference.

Kaiser Soze · Post by **Kaiser Soze** » Thursday Nov 10, 2011 5:14 pm

drsmurto wrote:White rabbit dark on tap is gorgeous. I always find it thin and tooheys old like from the bottle

Interesting. I remember trying the dark ale when it first came out and it was fabulous. Beautifully balanced beer with some great aroma. But it seems like they've slowly dumbed down the flavours, or maybe it's just my imagination. To the point where I bought a 6-pack the other day and didn't really enjoy it like I expected I would. Thin and watery was exactly what I thought...

Guru · Post by **Guru** » Saturday Nov 19, 2011 6:58 pm

Some HB Coopers Pale Ale, one of my earlier brews and could do with some improvement but on a hot night it goes goes down ok. Also just racked a Coopers Sparkling Ale tonight. Will bottle this later this week.

Heading out on a houseboat tomorrow (on the Murray River) for a BBQ lunch with some colleagues. Getting picked up so don't had to drive and will be taking some of my Irritable IPA. Looking forward to that.

big dave · Post by **big dave** » Sunday Nov 27, 2011 12:06 pm

James Squires '150 lashes' Pale Ale.

Underwhelmed.

bullfrog · Post by **bullfrog** » Sunday Nov 27, 2011 3:21 pm

Had my work Christmas party on Friday night at one of the function venues at Luna Park. Had an orange wrist-band that granted me free Erdinger Weiss, LCBA, Asahi, Bulmers and a variety of other options that I ignored. Half of what I was consuming normally runs at about $13 a pop at the venue so my back pocket was more than grateful for the orange wrist-band.

homebrewandbeer.com