Blog Archive

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

The Balcony Brotherhood: Social Drinking, Craft Beer and You!


For your average person, working a full time job or studying and sharing a life with a partner or having children  can seriously reduce your time to hang out at bars, go out for dinner or simply catch up with friends.

It is the moments though, when you put the logistics aside and really make time (or it simply falls into place) that create the best memories. (the beer really helps too!)



On a recent RDO (Roger Day Off) I was able to find some time to spend an afternoon with two appropriately beery lads in the Canadian-almostbutnotquite-Australian, Brews and Bacon and the handsome specimen that is Chasing Ale.

It's the bringing together of beer and friendship that can really create a fun, laid back atmosphere and this case I was a sort of casual observer of a Blind Tasting being performed by Bacon and Chasing for which you should be able to read more about soon on their respective blogs.

Chatting, listening to a few tunes and sinking a few quality IPA's whilst watching the boys chew through a few less than stellar stouts and mull over their tasting notes was an entertaining afternoon for yours truly.

As the day wore on we moved onto a couple of big bottles I had been saving to share in Stone's RuinTen and Thunderstruck which were both pretty delicious beers and probably acted as a good palate cleanser after a bunch of stouts.


The enjoyment of the afternoon really made my think "why don't I/we do this more often" and them realisation that I don't genuinely sit down with good mates and drink beer enough. Certainly not compared to how many brews I Insta-Blog whilst sitting in the apartment with the girlfriend.

So as a human on planet earth with the ability and freedom to choose what I do, I intend to make more of a conscious effort to engage those who I call 'mates'.

So if you are suffering from a similar experience to me, find a balcony, preferably one you or your mates own.. and then grab a few of those mates and some crispy, dank or dark brews and chill out an embrace the friendship that like-minded beer buddies bring!









Monday, September 21, 2015

First Impressions: Dandelion & Driftwood @ Hendra

Dandelion & Driftwood Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato
It's not that often that I venture out to a coffee shop and it's not that I don't love coffee because I really do it's just that I tend to be eating breakfast at home which almost always contains a coffee so when I do get out it's usually for lunch or dinner.

Sometimes though it's nice to find a good coffee shop and one that's close by to where you live is always a good thing, that's where Dandelion & Driftwood comes in.

Located on Brisbane's often forgotten North-side, down an inconspicuous (but very pretty) suburban street this small, quaint coffee shop sits.

It was a weekday when we visited and fairly late morning so there wasn't a lot of people but I imagine on a weekend morning this venue gets full fairly fast.

There is a couple of tables out the front, a few out the back in a courtyard area and a few two seater tables and one big bench inside.

It was a warm day so we chose to sit inside with the air-con and ordered a coffee to start.

Dandelion is a full on legit coffee shop with it's own blends and roastery and if like me you don't really know the in's and outs of coffee this can seem overwhelming but a short chat with the friendly staff will sort out a blend appropriate to your palate.

If nothing else a visit to Dandelion has made me hungry for a full education on all thing's coffee especially as a lot of the bitterness, grassy and earthy tones feed into beer's malt characters.

Now it's not just about Coffee there is also a nice range of Teas and a fairly extensive food menu for such a small venue!

I'd been craving a good waffle lately so we decided to order both a savoury and a sweet to share.

We chose the First Crack which was a cheese and chive waffle served with bacon, rocket, blend smoked honey and cream cheese and I can tell you that it was hands down the best waffle I have ever had and I can't wait to go back for it again.


Our sweet choice was the 'Extract the Sweetness' which was a delicious fluffy waffle with sliced banana and house-made caramel fudge sauce with vanilla ice-cream. I'm not a huge fan of banana but the combination with the caramel and the ice-cream made this pretty amazing.

I'm glad it was a quiet day when we visited as it was great to chat to Peter about the business, blend smoked honey and even a little bit about the relationship that coffee and beer has.

Can't wait to pick another quiet mid-week day or late weekend morning to visit again and can't believe that I hadn't been to Dandelion before now!