Brewsvegas 2015 - Day 1 - Beerkary @ Hoo Ha, Wicked Witch & Groove in the Brew @ BBco. and Big, Bold, Bizzare - Bacchus @ The Burrow

Beerkary - Flavours of the Mountain @ Hoo Ha Bar 

Grey skies and a 10am start time seemed like the perfect excuse to drink beer and eat pastries so it made sense for me to start the first day of Brewsvegas by visiting Hoo Ha Bar.

If you've haven't been to Hoo Ha I really encourage you to check it out, it is a very nice venue with exposed brick, wood and nifty looking furniture and it also has a cracking food menu and a great beer range, both bottled and on tap.

Beerkary have an obvious nack for marrying beer with baked goods and for this event the theme was flavours from Mt Tamborine with native ingredients like finger limes and quandong's being used.

There was four beers matched to the menu with Beard & Brau - Tambo on Rye, Croft - Finger Lime IPA, Noisy Minor - Yasterbov (Imperial stout) and Black Hops - Beacon Street (Farmhouse Red).

The standout beer for me was Croft's Finger Lime IPA, just bursting with flavour from the finger limes but not so much that it was over powering, just a really refreshing beer with just enough bitterness to balance out the lime.

The food from Beerkary is always delicious and this was no exception with everything looking stunning, I imagine it was an awfully late night for the team on Saturday getting everything prepped.

I went with the Bratwurst on a grain roll and a Bee Sting for my breakfast and both were delicious, the bratwurst was juicy and the roll soft with a crunch from the seeds.

The Bee Sting had a really nice flavour, with a creamy filling and soft pastry which all matched perfectly with the Tambo on Rye from Beard & Brau with it's strong rye flavour and malt profile balancing any sweetness from the bee stings filling.


As always with Beerkary the event was packed from the get go with a solid line forming at the bar for food and bevies and almost no seats not long after the event started!

Some of the beers are probably still on tap at Hoo Ha so if are you wanting to try them, get down there!

Wicked Witch of West End - Beer Launch @ Brisbane Brewing Co.

Brisbane Brewing Co. is one of the newest and one of the nicest looking brew pubs in Brisbane and earlier this year they ran a home brew competition with Brewers Choice to make a dark beer with the theme being Wicked Witch of West End.

There was quite a few entries and they were all judged with the winner Dan Angus getting the opportunity to brew his beer on a commercial scale at BBco, his entry was a Black Rye IPA.

The batch made for the event has come out great with a fruity aroma and a dry, earthy bitter finish that keeps you coming back for more and I know I drank way too much of it!

From chatting to punters at the launch it seems it was well received and talking to Dan it was suggested that it won't last much longer so if you are waiting to try it now is probably the best time!

Big, Bold, Bizzare... Bacchus! @ The Burrow

If you haven't heard of Bacchus by now they are a cleverly setup micro brewery out at Capalaba with a very unique small batch way of brewing which allows for experimentation and the production of lots of different small volume brews.

This is the second year in a row that The Burrow has hosted this event and this year Bacchus brought along four unique beers which were..

Mango & Lychee - Imperial Pilsner
The most tame of the bunch, I didn't find this that interesting but it was light, fruity and refreshing.

Hedge your Bretts - Brett Pale Ale
For me this was the best beer of the event, funky yeast sourness coming through in a pale ale, something I'd pay for bottles of for sure.

Imperial Red IPA
This was good but really it is what I've come to expect from Bacchus by now, a big ballsy no non-sense Red IPA that was sitting at 12% alcohol so not for the faint-hearted.

Not the Craw!!! The Craw - Chilli Mud Crab beer
Yep. Crab and chilli in a beer, this was by far the most strange of the four and not something I overly enjoyed. It was good for a bout half a glass with notes of chilli, lots of coconut and a unwavering finish of crab but this isn't for me but glad I tried it.

Groove in the Brew @ Brisbane Brewing Co.

Back to BBco for a musical beer adventure like no other! Groove in the Brew was an hour long 4 part musical act in which pieces were performed inside the brewery by the head brewer, his brother and some of the staff.

The music was certainly original and interesting although I think by not walking to the glass and watching I missed a lot of the spectacle.

Beers for each music act were..

Slippery Froth - Belgian blonde

It was a fairly solid blonde, tasty, funky and refreshing.

Liquorice Stick

Yep, liquorice beer. Look, I don't like any kind of aniseed flavour at the best of times but whilst this smelt like a bag of liquorice all-sorts it tasted way more mellow with a slight aniseed flavour and some sweetness, was enjoyable enough but I wouldn't want more than a small glass.

Confusion

Smelt like smoke, tasted like cheap white wine. Described as having a whole heap of smoked sultanas in it, there was no confusion over how this tasted. I drank mine but most of our table were not so daring. 

Needs More Cowbell

A light red, fruity lambic and by far and away the best beer of the four. A solid take on the style and ultimately a refreshing way to cleanse out the previous 2 beers..

This was by far one of the funnest events and even with the wet weather the place was packed and brimming with on lookers.

Photo by @Potts_Cass

In hindsight I probably did one event too many yesterday but I don't have a hangover of any note and I feel pretty satisfied in participating and checking out many of these great events on offer and looking forward to what ever I do next!