Brewers & Chewers ... & Beer Blokes

Good Beer Week is shaping up as the biggest thing since ... well, since the biggest thing you can think of and it keeps getting bigger. If you had to be a beer nut then you could do worse than to live in Melbourne during the third week of May let me tell you.

The Local Taphouse St Kilda has opened up and taken a fair old bite of Good Beer Week with a very special Ale Stars on Tuesday May 17^th and then on the Thursday 19^th they will turn the downstairs area over to a rather lavish spread of ‘champion’ proportions.

Brewers & Chewers is a marvellous concept and one of which any self respecting beer nerd would be proud. A removal truck will pull up outside and clear the decks completely (leaving the bar and its twenty taps, of course) leaving behind a cosy nest of long tables and comfy chairs. Upon these tables will be placed a sumptuous three course feast and some special beers along with some very special guests.

A veritable cavalcade of “Beer Champions” will be presented to the assembled guests, in the form of a quick introduction and chat with your very own Prof Pilsner before they are dispersed to tables around the room to share their time and talents with each group. At the ringing of a ceremonial bell, the Beer Champions will arise and move one table along to continue the festivities until all tables have been visited or the champions have no voice left.

Beer Champions already confirmed for this ambitious first-run project include New Zealand’s Soren Eriksen from 8 Wired Brewery and BrewDog’s James Watt. As I have had extensive practice working as Shandy’s translator for the past three years of Ale Stars, James and I should have no problems communicating.

Local Champions confirmed are Beer Diva Kirrily Waldhorn and brewers Brad Rogers and Brendan Varis from Stone & Wood and Feral Brewing Co respectively. As good friends all of Beer Blokes, a special bell to stop us from chatting away together all night may need to be sourced.

So, for just $75 per head (bodies admitted free of charge – Dad Gags, gotta love ‘em) guests will enjoy Chef Richard Smith’s culinary delights, brews from each of the guest brewers, some lively and entertaining banter and some Q & A from the Prof as well as the exclusive company of some of the WORLD’S most respected Beer Champions! How good’s THAT!?!

If you have read this far and still not secured your booking, get over to The Local Taphouse blog and book a spot. Before the Beer Nerds hook all the good tables. Links to the page as well as to The Crafty Pint’s Events diary for Good Beer Week are popped below.

Look forward to seeing you all there,

Cheers

Prof Pilsner

http://thelocaltaphouse.blogspot.com/2011/03/blog-post.html

http://craftypint.com/search/results/?query=gbw&x=0&y=0

@goodbeerweek on Twatter

The Diva & the Darlings of Victorian Beer

In May last year I was in Sydney especially to support Beer Diva and good beer buddy, Kirrily Waldhorn as she ventured on stage to present her first ‘live full arena cabaret multimedia and sensory spectacular’ one woman beer show.

Based on the material central to her Beer Diva beer and food matching events and covering all aspects of the Beer World in a fun and entertaining way, the show titled “Beer is Proof God wants us to be Happy” set out to explode the myths surrounding beer and bring good beer to the people.

At The Thornbury Theatre she reprised the show for the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival with the assistance of five of the state’s most prominent ‘Women of Beer’ and it lost nothing in either the translation or the expansion of its talent.

Those interested in the Order of Business of the show can click here to read my review of last year’s Opera House performance and the rest of you can stick with me and enjoy my take on the reworked performance which played a one-nighter to a large and appreciative and well lubricated audience on Friday.

The first point worth noting is the support given by the brewing community as evidenced by the many familiar faces at tables set out across the floor of the very elegant Thornbury Theatre. From brewers to beer book publishers and venue operators and staff there were plenty on hand to make sure the night was given every chance of success.

More importantly, the remainder of the crowd appeared to be average punters keen to see what good beer was all about. Many, I’m sure, were also there on the basis that the words ‘beer’ and ‘women’ featured prominently in the advertising and they were not disappointed. A couple were probably even there just on the off-chance they’d see Sam Fuss in heels. They were equally not disappointed although the ‘heels’ appeared to be Blundstones.

The format for the show was similar to The Beer Diva’s previous outings but this time each beer style would be introduced by the Woman of Beer from each brewery. After an entertaining concise history of beer we elected Beer Captains and cracked on into the first of five beers, Bridge Road Brewers Chevalier Saison and heard former brewer Nardia McGrath discuss its charms. More familiar with seeing Nardia in jungle green brewery outfit, she shone in her finery. It’s fair to say that none of the girls sought to out shine the host, however. Especially Sam.

Beth Williams from Hargreaves Hill then talked us through their Hefewiezen and teased us with the possibility of returning later to share her talent for opera singing. As the show progressed we were walked through various beer myths and misconceptions and the interactive nature of the evening ensured everyone had a voice. Some, as you might guess, took this invitation a little too literally and Beer Captains were required to retain some semblance of order. Except on those tables where the Beer Captains were the worst offenders!

The sensory experience was taken to the next level when Karen Golding introduced the Red Hill Brewery Pilsner complete with table rations of fresh estate grown Tettnanger hop flowers. ‘Beer Floaters’ became all the rage as the crowd enjoyed the aroma and flavour of fresh ingredients.

Jayne Lewis from Mountain Goat shared her Rare Breed IPA after Kirrily had regaled us with tales of the original voyages to the Jewel in the Imperial Crown that first brought us this hoppy style. By now the audience was well refreshed and each brewer and her beer were welcomed warmly to the microphone. But the love for the Goat IPA was soon to be eclipsed by the Rock Star welcome reserved for Melbourne brewing identity and all-round-nice-girl, True South’s Sam Fuss.

Not enough was it that Sam had bottled some of her Cherry Bomb Porter especially for the night, but each guest was supplied with a Cherry Ripe chocky to enjoy with the beer. And, in an impromptu in-house auction, Sam managed to sever $22 from an eager punter in return for the half eaten sample that had inspired the brew in the first place. Half eaten and sat on.

As the night wound up and the punters began to make their way home Beer Blokes, along with The Crafty Pint and The Wobbly Thong (remake of The Goon Show, anybody?) managed to steal a few moments with some of the girls who had come along to see what all the beery fuss was about. It bodes well for the future of good beer in this town that so many felt comfortable enough to venture out to catch a show which most admitted they knew little about. Having said that, this made it pretty easy to exceed their expectations.

They all left happy and just a little bit more knowledgeable about that mysterious amber nectar which, for so long, seems to have been dominated by the male of the species. That the girls are now a driving force at the production end, as well as increasingly at the retail end, makes for a future that is as full of promise and as well balanced as the beers they are brewing.

Cheers,

Prof Pilsner

Women & Beer

When the promotional material for a forthcoming show promises that a group of women will reveal “the secrets that have previously been shared only at private events” then you’ve bloody well got my attention right there.

That this promised revelation will be accompanied by dinner and beer, well ...

The Victorian Women of Beer presented by The Beer Diva is a five part, five beer, six woman show dedicated to bringing the joys of good beer to those for whom this mysterious amber liquid is ... well ... a mystery.

With a mix of light-hearted technical information, whimsical historical illuminations and myth-busting facts the theatre/cabaret style production will delight and amaze – as well as showcasing a number of rather nice frocks if you’re into that sort of thing.

Five beer styles, represented by a beer from each of five of Victoria’s finest female Craft Brewers, will be presented in a show which promises a journey of discovery and a chance to put beer into the spotlight normally reserved for fine wines.

The Victorian Women of Beer are Mountain Goat Brewery’s Jayne Lewis, Sam Fuss from True South, Bridge Road Brewers’ Nardia McGrath, Karen Golding from Red Hill Brewery and Hargreaves Hills’ Beth Williams. Each will introduce their beer and possibly be able to hang around afterwards for a little bit of Q & A.

Guests sip on each beer in turn as its style is revealed through a succession of multi-media presentations, music and light to draw the audience into a sense of fun and fantasy. They are guided at each step by the glamorous but very down-to-earth Beer Diva who brings each beer alive through its history and place in the beer world.

The Thornbury Theatre is the venue for the show with dinner and show or show only deals available. This is a beautiful venue perfectly suited to The Beer Diva’s relaxed and intimate style and should provide a stylish backdrop to what is a fun and engaging evening billed by its creator as ‘part theatre, part sensory indulgence’.

If this re-working of the Beer Diva’s show which premiered at a little venue in Sydney Harbour (the Sydney Something House?) is as good, then the Melbourne crowd will be treated to an evening to remember.

The Beer Diva presents The Victorian Women of Beer plays for one night only at The Thornbury Theatre859 High St Thornbury on Friday March 4 as part of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival.

More details here.

Cheers
Prof Pilsner

From the taxi to The Taphouse

A Date with the Diva (Part Three)

The story so far;

Mrs Lager dropped us off at The Lord Nelson where Dr Lager and I found a nice corner table next to the door (the perfect spot for People Watchers) and hooked into a couple of very nice offerings. A Pale and a Quayle (Summer Ale) alongside a nice traditional pub steak sandwich. Note for next time; if you ask for a beer you’ll get a pint. Remember this when ‘pacing’ yourself.


Walked from Lord Nelson in general direction of Sydney Harbour. Found Opera House. Found The Studio. Found Studio Bar. Found two pots of Opera House Organic Pale Ale. Tasted just like Redoak’s Pale. It is.

Found the other bar just inside. Grabbed two Sundown Lagers compliments of The Beer Diva.

Enjoyed Beer Diva show very much. Found Bus Stop. Got into Taxi. Had a lovely time with Bus man and Taxi Girl. Let out in Oxford Street. Walked quickly to Local Taphouse Darlinghurst.

So to our first visit to The Local, Sydney-style. You remember that scene early on in Beverley Hills Cop when Eddie Murphy is walking down Rodeo Drive and doubles over laughing at the passing fashions? That was Dr Lager and I as we approached the Taphouse. As the friendly doorman spotted us, I put on my ‘I am behaving’ face and said G’Day. He spied my Beer Diva showbag which made me remember that I was carrying my Beer Diva showbag. I offered him a look and said, “It’s just full of beer and beer glasses mate”.

I realised that was not the correct thing to say and began to explain that I’d just been to the Opera House drinking lots of different beers – that wasn’t good, either. As we began to make mental plans to continue the night elsewhere I stumbled over the secret password. “Let me explain. We were at the Opera House for the Beer Diva’s ...”

“In you go!” he cut me off, stepping aside and showing us the way. Thank you, Doorman and thank you, Kirrily.

The first sensation as I entered the downstairs bar was that I was ‘at home’. The unmistakeable Taphouse ‘feel’ that comes from a combination of the decor, lighting, flow and its noisy hum, but also from that very palpable but indescribable ‘something’ – the pub version of what the Japanese call ‘Umami’ – a mysterious ‘deliciousness’ that permeates the place. It’s a welcoming warmth that settles on you from the minute you arrive.

I know this sounds like I’m angling for a free drink (which I would never be so rude as to knock back were it offered) but you just know you’re in The Taphouse. Let me explain. We made our way through the crush to the upstairs bar, which was even busier, and settled against a wall with a starting pot of Matilda Bay Alpha Pale Ale. The bar was packed with punters representing a fairly widespread demographic including plenty of Sydney Swans supporters fresh from their win over Brisbane at the SCG.

Hundreds of others were scattered around the various nooks and crannies peculiar to the Sydney layout and yet others kept coming up and down the stairs beside us while others weaved through the crowd with full pints yet everybody moved to accommodate the other, staff threading effortlessly through the throng as they collected empty glasses, moved chairs and reset tables. And everyone was smiling – even the Brisbane supporters.

It’s the sign of a well managed and skilfully operated pub that the staff and punters are all so obviously enjoying themselves. A Murray’s Punch & Judy had us smiling profusely as one of the barmen told us to help ourselves to a comfy chair in the dining area as he removed the DINING ONLY sign. Nice touch, that. And very comfy chairs we discovered as we lowered ourselves down slowly, becoming aware as we were of the fact that we are getting old and had walked quite a bit further than we have for some years.

We decide on a palate cleanser of Budvar to complete the night and as I sipped, I tried to nail just exactly what it is that makes these places feel so different to so many other pubs. It’s not just the beers, although that’s a ‘gimme’ and it’s not just the decorative touches or the night view of the surrounding suburbs from the windows – it’s something else again.

And it’s also a combination of all the elements which is then sewn together by the ‘feel’ that the staff disseminate as they to-and-fro and pour beers and clean as they go and stop to adjust a table or move a chair in. It’s all the ‘g’days’ and ‘how ya goin’s’ as they pause to pick up an empty glass and the way they make you feel as though they actually enjoy the fact that so many people have chosen to drink in their place.

Even if some of them have taken the long way ‘round via The Lord Nelson, the Opera House, raucous taxi rides and giggling treks down unfamiliar paths with a paper bag full of beer, glasses and discount vouchers.

It just seems that The Local really gets what it is to create a place where people who like good craft beer can get their ‘fix’ but still make it accessible to the average punter who might just be inclined to stay long enough to become one of those others. Hopefully it inspires others to take pubs out of the pokie-mire that many seem to be stuck in, or the brightly lit, stainless steel drink dispenser barns that are always giving beer a bad name.

Cheers
Prof. Pilsner

From the Opera House to the Taphouse

A date with The Diva (Part Two)




One of the best things about flying interstate is not having a car. This means you don’t have to even think about how much, or what, you can drink. It doesn’t matter where you want to go or how long you want to stay.

Provided, of course, you happen to have a mate in the city at the other end of your journey to get you around and, more importantly, get you back. Even if that bloke has only been in said town for about a month and hasn’t even really been into the heart of the city much at all. You can’t have everything.


And so it was that we found ourselves on the Sydney Opera House forecourt well rested and very well refreshed after the show. We had already eaten well, having spent the first hour or so of our evening in stately repose at The Lord Nelson (one of approximately seventeen pubs in and around Sydney claiming to be the city’s oldest, it would seem) but this didn’t stop Dr Lager from seeking out something cheap and greasy at Circular Quay. Matt Moran’s Aria restaurant seemed a bit busy so we set off for an all-night kebab stand instead. Besides, we were less interested in three chef hats and more interested in three more pots.

Finding nothing we headed to the bus stop where we proceeded to look like a couple of illiterate foreigners as we attempted to decipher the fifty different timetables. We wanted to finish the night with some good beer. We didn’t want to accidently end up Punchbowl or Parramatta. And while we’re at it, if Sydney has a suburb called ‘Punchbowl’ does it also have six adjoining suburbs all called ‘Cup on a Hook’?

And what’s the best thing for a couple of ‘well refreshed’ blokes lost in a public transport maze? Why, another couple of ‘well refreshed’ people who DO know their way around, of course. He was quick to assist us – which was even more noteworthy as he was simultaneously trying to assist his female companion to stand upright. She was yelling loudly for a taxi and he was insistent on taking the bus.

It’s a funny thing, but sometimes you just connect with strangers and, coupled with a reasonable quantity of ‘good cheer’ in the system, you find yourself striking up conversations that you just wouldn’t have in the cold, hard light of day with people you would normally not even notice. The theatre continued, with the girl further putting her case for jumping into this taxi, while the bloke cleverly countered with well constructed and thoughtful counter-arguments like; “No, that’s a street sweeper, not a taxi.”

We joined in by noting that the bus was roomier, knew where it was going and was less likely to smell like the kebab shop we were unable to locate earlier. She became more adamant that a taxi was the go for speed and efficiency – although those were not the words she used. I don’t think. I pointed out that the taxi was just about the destination, whereas the bus was all about ‘the journey’. Dr Lager pointed out that the bus was a metaphor for community and society’s struggle to seek meaning on a freeway of universal connectivity in order to find an egalitarian solution to the human condition. I couldn’t argue with that as I had absolutely no idea what he meant.

I swear you’ve never seen a funnier sight than this philosophical discourse being played out just a short drunken stagger from Sydney’s premier venue for culture, performance and thought. As we continued giggling and prepared our next wittily constructed argument a taxi pulled up, at which point ‘Busman’ realising that ‘Taxi Girl’ was not about to get any cleverer with her next retort raises one hand, grabs the girl with the other and bundles her into the cab! Well, this was unexpected and Dr Lager and I were not about to let this betrayal slide without comment.

“Busman! You sell-out! You used to be about ‘the journey’, man, the jouuurrney!! Don’t give in to the corporate machine! Don’t let them take your soul! We believed in you, man. Don’t judge your life by the dollars on a meter!! We believed in you!! We’ve never wanted to get on a bus more than we do right now!! What’s to be of us? What do we do?!? Can we not believe in anything ever again?!?”

As the taxi pulled away our spirits fell, our beliefs shattered. The cab stopped at the traffic lights ten metres away and ‘Busman’ opened the taxi door. “Do you blokes want a ride?”

“Shit yeah!!” Couldn’t get us in the cab quick enough!

They were on their way to Bondi Junction and we were on our way to anywhere even close to the local Taphouse in Darlinghurst. The cabbie turned and asked which direction that was, roughly. Four arms held pointed fingers in four different directions and the game was on again! It was at this point that ‘Busman’, having settled his partner down and convincing her of the merits of a good night’s sleep, came to the realisation that she was now up for a continuation of her night out at ‘this locally tappy-house place, thank you driver’.


In yet another instance of Beer Karma, it was revealed that they had started their night in The Lord Nelson as well, although they had left before we had arrived and had also visited one or two other fine establishments serving brewed alcoholic beverages in between that time and when our two paths eventually crossed.

‘Busman’ pointed out that Darlinghurst was a short walk to the right of the next intersection and the taxi obligingly stopped the cab diagonally across the centre of three outbound lanes to let us out. As quickly as the adventure had begun, it was over (although it took the three of us, with some help from the cabbie, to stop ‘Taxi Girl’ from getting out as well) and we lobbed a twenty to ‘Busman’ – as much a ‘thank you for the show’ as it was a contribution to the fare.

We set off in what we hoped was the right direction to the Taphouse. I still have no idea where we were but for those who know Sydney it was in a part of town that seems to discriminate and exclude like nowhere else in Australia I have ever seen. I tell you, in every pub and bar we walked past; there was not a single, solitary woman to be seen? I mean, really, how can you run a place in this day and age and NOT let girls in? What kind of pubs were these? And was this little bottleshop a franchise of St Kilda's Dick Whittington drive thru, The Dick Liquor?

This travel blog photo's source is TravelPod page: Oxford street, Sydney, Australia

We set off down the next road past a funny looking hardware shop called ‘The Tool Shed’, stopping briefly to look at the various fashions displayed in shopfronts and on past ‘The Flesh Pot’ . Dr Lager asked if I could see myself in any of those outfits, to which I replied;

“If I wanted to get around in gear with holes in the arse, I wouldn’t let Mrs Pilsner throw out my old, worn out undies”. We rounded another corner (I think) and saw the glow of the lights coming from The Taphouse doorway.

But that’s another, other story.

Cheers,
Prof. Pilsner