First Impressions: Zero Fox @ Teneriffe

Another craft beer bar opening, probably not that exciting right? I mean we are pretty spoiled for choice now days with venues opening up all the time but Zero Fox stands out from the crowd for me.

Located in the Wool Stores along the river in Teneriffe this small bar/restaurant is doing something different with it's food which is a big deal for me because I feel like we are nearing a saturation point when it comes to gourmet pub food and burger bars so it's refreshing to learn that Zero Fox offers Japanese food to go with your craft bevvies!

Fox's menu covers a broad range of food, most of which have a slight twist to them with bar standards like chicken wings or fries being jazzed up with kimchi and chilli sauce and Sushi offerings having weird sounding toppings like cheese sauce!

The kimchi fries are topped with cream and kimchi and whilst the combination may sound weird, it's basically a new take on potato with sweet chilli and sour cream and it is a welcomed re-invention as it's extremely tasty! (and yes, not Japanese)

Most Australian's have had Sushi before as it's one of the most consumed foreign foods in this Country and something we've probably adopted as our own to some extent.

Fox adds a twist to sushi by offering a range that stretches from butter chicken, to deep fried crispy chicken and cream cheese to softshell crap spider rolls.

Lighter and more familiar options are offered as hoso rolls and nigiri as well some main sized bowls of chicken katsu, katsudon and udon.

Beer has not been forgotten either with a solid rotating tap list consisting of some great Australian beers, from stouts to IPA's you are sure to find something enjoyable on tap here that will match what ever you choose from the extensive food menu!

There is also a small range of spirits, wines and bottled beer and cider available if nothing on tap garners your intrigue. 

Overall this is a great little venue with some friendly staff, excellent tasty and well priced food in a very comfortable location so if you are into Japanese food and good Australian beer get down and try it! Kanpai!

BREWSVEGAS 2016 Event Highlights & Afterthoughts

You may have thought the well had dried up but I'm back to provide some thoughts and experiences from my Brewsvegas 2016 week.

This year was longer than the previous years sprawling itself over a Friday to Sunday period which made for a lot more events and a lot more on each weekend.

This extended period whilst welcomed was also harder on the hip pocket for me so I was more selective with my choices but this wasn't a bad thing it just meant that I spent extra time working out which events I felt were value for money and had good unique beers.

This philosophy led me to a venue that I admittedly hadn't spent nearly enough time in and that venue is The Mill on Constance St, located in Fortitude Valley which it turns out had 2 really great value events and participated in a third.

Around the World in 18 Beers @ The Mill
One of these events and a close second for my favourite of the paid events I attended, was Around the World in 18 beers which saw punters having awkward passport photos taken and then being sent on a journey to 9 different countries and breweries paired along with a few themed snacks to keep you rolling.

Tickets were $50 but it was well worth it with almost zero queue times for beers due to multiple beer stations setup around The Mill all pouring 3/4 pots of beer which made for an ample amount of each beer to enjoy so big thanks to Gill, Jared and the rest of the Mill crew, nailed it!

Brews and Bacon - Bar Hop @ Various Venues

My favourite paid event was Brews and Bacon's Bar Hop hosted by my mate (I think?) and long-term Brisbane beer community member Jason. This was easily the best value event during Brewsvegas with $30 giving each punter a pot of a specific beer style at 5 different venues as well as free and running commentary on the style by Jason and information about the venue from manager's, owners and bar staff.

It was a solid turn out of about 30 people all meeting at the excellent Bloodhound Bar a little ways up Brunswick St to enjoy a first beer before moving to Woolly Mammoth. After that it was to Kerbside for a relaxed chill out on the couches before a short stroll to The Mill and finally a drunkish walk to Newstead which was the furthest venue away but was worth itto finish with a Brewery tour with Head Brewer Mark who seemed excitedly happy to show our group around!

Overall a fantastic afternoon and absolutely one of my favourite events with a great bunch of friendly people all eager to talk about beer, make jokes and have some fun and I can't wait for something like it to come around again.

Jason commanding attention at the Mammoth!

Relaxing with a count up of tokens at Kerbside!

This years Brewsvegas also had a great and long list of free events with tap take overs and food matchings and even Ice-Cream featuring! 

The two free entry events that I enjoyed the most were Bloodhound Bar's Hopfields 2 and The Scratch's Brewtal Brewing re-launch and tap takeover.

Hopfield's @ Bloodhound

Bloodhound's Hopfield's event had plenty of expected hoppy goodness to keep most people interested but what really hooked me was my first visit of the new upstairs area, it is huge and really nice up there and soundly cements Bloodhound as one of the biggest craft beer venues in Brisbane

.

I honestly enjoyed the lineup of the previous Hopfield's held late last year as it had more West Coast style IPA's but the atmosphere during Brewsvegas made this event just amazing with heaps of familiar faces joining in and having a few beers and plenty of conversation!

Scratching an itch on the last Friday of Brewsvegas!

Brewtal Tap Takeover/Relaunch @ The Scratch
Brewtal's tap take over at The Scratch was equally as enjoyable but for fairly different reasons as for me and my buddies it was a great start to our afternoon where we brought in our own (oversized) platter of meat, cheese, bread and dip and feasted whilst partaking in some of the freshest and best brews from Brewtal.

Again the atmosphere was great with a pretty large crowd attending for a Friday lunch packing out the Scratch whilst a live mural for Brewtal was painted inside by the talent Georgie!

I got to have a really good chat to Tim about his beers and can say that he has to be one of the most passionate and excited gypsy brewers we have in Brisbane and was serving up some super fresh West Coast Thrash IPA that just hit the spot, great afternoon!

After Thoughts

Not much to say really this year, although I do regret not going to the launch party but it did mean I was bright eyed and bushy tailed for the Mill event on the Saturday morning but next year I think I'll hit the launch regardless.

Overall it was a great Brewsvegas again this year with some really interesting events going on and a decent balance between paid and free but there was a few events that whilst sounded good (on paper) were for me overpriced for what the description was but it's likely not an easy thing to balance out at times although I was impressed again by a few of Brisbane venues in what they were able to put on.

Looking forward to Brewsvegas 2017 and beyond!

First Impressions: Catchment Brewing Co. @ West End

West End is quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with when you talk about where to get the best brews and eats in Brisbane and the addition of Catchment Brewing Co. simply strengthens this even more.
Catchment is the second brewery in the last 12 months to take up residence in West End and it's great to have so many craft beer venues with good food all condensed in this one little area.

Located at the Vulture street end of Boundary, Catchment is fairly easy to get with a 10 min walk from South Brisbane Station and the Cultural Centre bus way with plenty of buses going right into Boundary street as well.

Catchment's art deco style exterior has been left intact and fits quite well into this architecturally older section of Brisbane.

Inside is a clean layout of polished concrete, dark wood and black steel and out the back sits beautifully shiny brewing equipment in the middle of a large decked area with plenty of seating and some excellent murals on three of the walls giving a really fun vibe in quite a new looking space.

Currently there are two house brewed beers on tap with Colonial Ale being a fairly refreshing golden ale style beer and Pale Select which hopefully requires no explanation..

For me the Colonial went down a treat on a rather hot Brisbane day but I wasn't enjoying the Pale really at all, tasted a bit sweet and wasn't finding much character in it.

Catchment also has a great selection of wines, a few ciders and plenty of bottled beers if you want to try something that's not on tap.

The food has a really nice range from seafood like oysters and mussels to share platters of meats and cheeses as well as pizzas and burgers containing slow cooked meats.

On the day I chose the Beef Brisket Burnt End burger with slaw on a brioche bun, the slaw gave a really nicemustard kick and some sweetness from the sauce but the burnt ends weren't as crunchy and roasted as I'd have expected and were a little chewy but overall it was pretty delicious!

Catchment is a welcomed addition to what is slowly becoming one of the best strips for a craft pub crawl in Brisbane and as it is still in it's infancy I'm sure the beer and food will continue to evolve.

Brewed Nude 2016 - Calendar - on sale @ Brisbane Bars

As the saying goes, another Year, another Nude Calendar.. well ok that's not a saying however 2015 is drawing to a close and 2016 is just a hop, skip and a bees dick away.

The calendar launched this past Saturday (19th Dec) and cost a measly $20 clams from these 7 venues..

The Scratch Bar

Oxford Tap House

Tipplers Tap

Bloodhound Bar

Fitz + Potts

Saccharomyces Beer Cafe

The Wooly Mammoth

There was also Karma kegs (pay what you want) of beers donated by a few local breweries to help launch the event with the proceeds also going to the charity.

There is probably still some beer floating around from the event but there is definitely still a few calendars so why not give the gift of nakedness to your loved ones, scare your children or grand parents or just plain support our local community with proceeds from the calendar going to Micah Projects.

Micah supports our local community assisting with homelessness, mental illness, domestic violence, disability and discrimination which are some pretty important issues that should be supported!

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Holiday and you can expect more posts from me in 2016! 

First Impressions: Ze Pickle Brisbane @ Fortitude Valley

Ze Pickle have been making waves on the Gold Coast for awhile now but I just never really had an opportunity to get down there but thankfully they have expanded to Brisbane so now it's way too easy!

Bringing similar stylings to the GC store with custom made metal work, light boxes and plenty dark wood with a deck extended all the way to the road this is a fairly impressive looking venue.

We were there early on a Sunday for lunch, from 12 but didn't order until after 1 and the entire time we had prompt and friendly service for drinks and when we did order food the place was almost full but we got our burgers in about 15 minutes which is pretty good!

The menu is all about the burgers and there is plenty of mouth watering options with some very different burgers like the 4:20am which is fried chicken in between two mac 'n' cheese waffles.

I went with the 3am which has a hand pressed wagyu patty, maple smoked bacon, fried cheese sticks, guacamole and ZP sauce. 

It came out looking impressive, especially after I cracked the cheese sticks open and they gushed all over the burger but there was a few things that weren't great. The patty didn't fill the bun which meant the first bite was bread and cheese stick and the guac for me didn't really make sense, I guess it's there because the crumb on the stick does dry it out a bit so you need some extra sauce but overall it was pretty tasty.

We also ordered a serve of wings and ZP fries for our table, both of which were spot on with the wings having a nice coating with a crunch and plenty of tang from the buffalo sauce.

The ZP fries are loaded with beer cheese sauce, maple bacon bits and ZP sauce and are really something you need to share but are delicious.

ZP also has a solid tap lineup with plenty of good spirits also but I was driving so I stuck to coke and a Reset Robot.

Overall it was a really good first visit and I wish I'd made it to the GC venue earlier to check the place out but as far as first experiences go this was pretty great, good food and good service and real easy to park close to on a Sunday.

I'll be back to try out another burger or two.

Brisbane Craft Beer icon Tippler's Tap to assimilate sister Tomahawk and invades South Bank

It's with some sadness that I write this article because Tippler's Tap has for many beer drinkers in Brisbane been an institution or a second home since it opened in 2012 and whilst it's only moving venues it will never be the same and neither will Newstead.

For me it was my second ever venue post and somewhere that I frequented many times before I began writing my blog so it will always be remembered.

An article recently posted by the good folk at BrewsNews broke the news to most of Tippler's past and present punters with 100's of comments being generated in a short period time, many of which were mourning the loss of this great bar in it's current form.

It's all about progress in Newstead these days and it seems the industrial area that existed even just a couple of years ago is slowly being replaced by massive apartment blocks as a flock of giant cranes  takes over and proceeds to modernise this area of Brisbane.

Progress? Invasion from giant Metal monsters? nah it's just Newstead these days..

Due to this, the great people at Tippler's have had to make what I imagine was a heavy hearted decision to re-locate, opting to take advantage of their existing lease in South Bank at sister venue Tomahawk which will now become Tippler's Tap.

Union, marriage, the coming together of two? It's usually a good thing right? Well time will tell in this case as a dark, dank basement style venue merges into an indoor / outdoor modern bar space in an area not known for dive bars or anything really that old.

It's the right decision given the options with Tippler's lease due to end and the current building to be demolished and Tomahawk having a lease until 2018 but for me I know it won't ever feel the same, atmosphere wise but I am looking forward to seeing what is done with the space!

But the transition won't be too heard for those that love Tippler's as the food it will largely be the same with the entire menu set to come across including the famous wing's and I'm hopeful the taco and rib nights will remain and you can expect a couple of additions from the Tomahawk menu.

I could see chicken wings with caramel sauce becoming a thing? yes? no? maybe.. either way the food will be familiar.

Tomahawk's tasting paddles, spirits range and take away drinking options will also remain. Did you know there are designated drinking areas in South Bank parkland?

Tippler's $2 taco nights, making Tuesday cheap and delicious for the past few years!

The intent is also to recycle as much of the fit out from Tippler's as possible so it will be interesting to see what Tomahawk transforms into.

So when is all this happening? Well Tippler's last day of trade (in Masters St) is this Saturday the 19th of December and it's set to be a big one with more than a hundred people signed up to the facebook event so I'd suggest if you want one last nostalgic trip down Tippler's lane you get in early.

Tomahawk Tippler's will re-open in mid January 2016 in it's revitalized digs in South Bank to begin what is hopefully a new and prosperous era for this iconic piece of Brisbane's craft beer history.

Long live TippleHawk!

Media Release: Good Beer Co. - Drink Beer, Save the Reef!

A week ago on Wednesday night James Grugeon launched his Good Beer Co. initiative in front of a solid crowd at Brisbane's Triffid music hall.

The Good Beer movements aim is to partner with Breweries around Australia and also partner with a Charity with a percentage of the profits going to this Charity.

Essentially, Good Beer that Does Good.

The first initiative sees James partnering with Bagara Brewing  and the Australian Marine Conservation Society to produce a crowd funded beer that will either be a White IPA or a Pale Ale based on votes that were made at the launch event.

To support this you can head over to the IndieGoGo crowd funding page and pledge a donation for 6 packs or cases as well as other things like shirts and if you are a business you can request larger amounts.

The aim for now is to have this beer out sometime in February 2016 which in reality isn't that far away so if you want to help out a good cause and Save the Reef head on over and pledge a few dollary-do's!