Tuesday, December 19, 2006

THE PROOF OF THE PUDDING

Well, the day has come. The fruits of our labours are to be put to the ultimate test. That’s right, tonight we drink - for tomorrow we may be dead. If not, we will brew more beer. Then drink that. If we don’t wake up dead again.

After 14 days in incubation - or bottle conditioning for them in the know - our first two brews are at minimum drinking age. There is some discussion about kit brews and just how much better they can become with aging over months rather than weeks. But if anyone can come up with a better reason for drinking extra beers every week in the name of science then I’d like to hear it.

We will endeavour to let some of the stock sit and mature until we get a feel for just how much perceptible improvement it has in it. With plenty of Christmas gatherings ahead, I know we will give the lagering process a good shake.

Which leads my mind to ramble across a warming Christmas spirit kind of sentiment.I never thought a grown man could still get that childhood buzz of anticipation but here I am like it’s the night before Christmas and I’m 6 years old. Which makes me think that it is truly a wonder that beer can do for us what Christmas and visits from favourite relatives can do for little ones.

A little miracle, 375 mls at a time.

and remember the words of Guru Bob

... " the proof of the pudding; IS the pudding."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

When Julius Caesar marched his armies around, generally making everyone in his path more than a little nervous he would calmly soothe things with a few repeatable verbal offerings. On his return to Rome to pose off to the local sheilas and stick it to his handlers, he let go this pearler - "Verni, Vedi, Veci" - which translates as " I came, I saw, I conquered".

I am writing here today to attest that big Jules - IF HE WERE A BEER LOVING FELLA - would no doubt be capable of bringing the most boring of beer tasting gigs to its knees with things like..... "Stagger me, this ale is doth afflict me pleasantly" or "can I have another of the ones JB made at home...and please have Ali serve it to me wickedly chilled and alluringly dressed".

I have tasted the JB home brew and I have prevailed. It does have a young taste, and time will only help its cause. But i fear that in JBs hands, there is little chance of the full production run lasting too long. Summers are after all a time for the best of beer drinking.
The beer was quick on the tongue with crisp flavour, a few moments of dwelling made me aware of a good malty aftertaste, but again, time will make this brash but impressive home brew into a real jem.

Well done boys on the first effort.

Now i am a confirmed non-believer in home brews, not because i've never had a good one, but because i've had far too many that frankly should have been poured on to the garden (a good suggestion in these times of water crisis) and not down the gobs of guests or humble visitors. I specifically recall the offering of old drunken Bob (a local gurrolous drinker near my home) which was offensive to smell, looked like kava and went flat in about 20 seconds ("just freshen it up its head by backwashing a bit of a mouthfull back into your glass" he said to me. I should have left right there and then). It was a hideous drop of bats piss......and then there was my Dad's homebrew. "Mikes Mistake" my brothers and i often called it. I recall the night about half of it all blew up in the middle of the night. The fact that it was stored in the rumpus room next to my bedroom almost scared me to death.

BUT THEN I TASTED JOHN'S BREW.

And i can say that yes - i am impressed, and i dare say that i will even have another, and another, and in all probablility, a few more over the coming years. No, i'm still lacking faith in the overall home brew thing, but only in those punters out there who ruin things by cutting the corners (see description of my Dad's brews above). JB has shown me today that sticking to the rules, doing teh job rigth produces a nice memory.

As for Big Jules - He loved to get on the piss. Maybe he really said, "I came, I ordered, I drank".

Nice work boys - keep up the good work.

Beer Blokes said...

DEAR PETER,
Thanks for your feedback. and thanks, particularly for the application of ancient Roman history to illustrate the point. "Nice one, Centurion, like it, like it."
With your obvious knack for the literary flair and an unquestionable ability to praise our beer, perhaps you might consider applying for a role as one of our interstate correspondents and taste testers.At the time of writing we have ... none, so there should be a spot for you.
All you would need to do is drink beer and write stuff and that.
Apply at DRINKBEER AND WRITEANDSTUFF @ BEERBLOKES.URGGH
Hope to meet you next time you are down and we'll see if we can't help you kick that Fourex habit.
Cheers,
Prof. Pilsner