Brewsvegas 2015 - Day 0 - Four Hearts and Brewsvegas Launch Party

 Four Hearts - Pumpyard Bar: First Impressions

It's been open less than 2 weeks but the positive responses coming from patrons have made it an anxious wait for me to get to Ipswich and cut my teeth on some of the tasty brews and food at Brisbane's newest brewery.


The Pumpyard's decor does not disappoint with exposed brick decor, shiny beer kettles with led lights around them and some neat looking furniture made from steel pipes

There is 10 taps with around half being beer brewed in house with a couple of session beers that sit under 3% alcohol, their signature Pale Ale and a current seasonal Red IPA that has a big malty kick and solid bitterness.


The menu is full of tasty treats to compliment the beer all created by beer chef Ali Orchard who has had previous involvement in pairing beer and food at Tomahawk and Tippler's.

I decided to have some finger food so I went with BBQ Wings and Onion Rings, the wings were super tasty with a nice crunchy texture and the sauce had a sticky burnt toffee flavour with a slight chilli kick.

The sauce however, went literally everywhere and I needed 3 napkins to get through it and as a grown man there is only so much brown goo I want coating my face.

If you live out near Ipswich then Pumpyard should be your new local and if you are in the city I recommend taking the drive out, it's well worth it!

Brewsvegas - Launch Party @ Wandering Cooks

It's been 12 months since last years event and it's felt like forever, but last night it arrived with a bang with food trucks and $5 beers taking centre stage inside the Wandering Cooks at 1 Fish Lane.

It was a dreary, wet and drizzly day but that didn't stop anyone from participating in the launch with hundreds of people packing themselves both inside and out of the warehouse like building.

It was a great experience and a good way to kick off Brewsvegas but the shear number of people in attendance made it difficult to move around especially as the night went on.

There was 17 taps of tasty beverages all priced at $5 which made the exchange of money for liquid goodness a simple one and also helped to bring the crowd in.

There was something for everyone with the Brewsvegas beer from Green Beacon being what I went for first but there was a vast array of beer from breweries all around Queensland.

It begins!

Food trucks were setup outside with Char Baby, Vira Lata, Juan More Taco and Pizzantica serving tasty food, I went with a pulled pork roll and apple slaw from Char and it was good!
The lovely folks from Beerkary were setup inside dolling out tasty Beercaroons, dense and rich malt cookies and hop infused marshmallows.

It was a sufficiently epic way to kick off Brewsvegas and I suspect there is a few sore heads around Brisbane today but with the week of events set to kick off this morning this probably won't stop many people from getting out there today and checking participating!

Enjoy your week of beer filled goodness Brisbane, I know I will!

Nest launch @ Jen Hotel on Roma Street

If I said one of the newest and trendiest looking asian restaurants was opening in Brisbane city you would be forgiven for assuming it was on Eagle St which for a couple years now has been home to a large portion of new and hip venues in the CBD.

But trends and times change so it's nice to see a potential shift in locale for new modern venues with one of the  newest in Nest, roosting just above Roma Street on the second floor of Hotel Jen just next to the Transit Centre.

Nest is an interesting mix of restaurant, cafe, nightclub, cocktail bar and casual eatery along with a modern themed interior and some friendly staff it creates an enjoyable atmosphere and venue for almost any occasion.

For the launch party the main dining area was setup to allow for standing,eating, drinking and mingling but normally it is a sit down dining experience.

The bar has a pretty good range of drinks to choose from with some really tasty cocktails along with wine, cider and spirits but for me what was impressive was that they had a fairly decent range of craft beer.

I'll be honest being the beer geek that I am, I  go into a venue like this expecting to not find a beer that I can enjoy but I was really happy to see some great Australian craft beer and breweries being represented with Stone & Wood, Six String and 4 Pines featuring on the taps.

I started out with a Pacific Ale which went down a treat and just as I was nearing the end of my glass a tasty looking jam jar filled with kraken rum and lime and rimmed with sugar caught my eye so I tried that too and it went down way too easy!

Cocktails do take centre stage here with a nice menu with several choices with catchy names for you to try out.

The menu is Asian fusion style but also caters for a range of eating styles from breakfast food to shared plates and even a sit down dining menu which would be great for a romantic dinner looking out onto the lantern lit fig tree.

We enjoyed prawn and chicken laksa, skewers of tasty calamari and deep fried fish as well as a fried rice, mini burgers and even chocolate pudding with everything tasting great!

Overall Nest fits in well to the CBD and provides a clean, new and modern looking venue which would be great for after work drinks, before work breakfast or if you are staying at Jen it could be your go to dining spot!

First Impressions: Brisbane Brewing Co. @ West End

Brisbane's newest beer and food venue also has one of the oldest brewing setups, having moved around a few times in it's life it now rests in what is hopefully it's final home down an inconspicuous lane way in West End.

As you walk down boundary street you will no doubt turn your head as a large, intricate metal fence catches your eye. Doubling as the brewery sign, the words Brisbane Brewing Co have been masterfully metal worked and with the longer than normal entrance create intrigue as you make your way in.

I watched as many people stopped and had to double take before continuing past making sure they weren't missing something special. For those that kept going, they are actually missing something pretty special and quite unique as far as brew pubs go!

Heading into the main bar area I made my way past the kitchen, with chefs were preparing food and the cold cuts, and brisket sitting in the window creating a conundrum of "do I order food or beer first?"

I persevered, I had to, the thirst had been building for a few days and after hearing about the opening of this new venue and how well it had been received I just had to check it out!

Starting out with a Brisbane Pale Ale (BPA, catchy huh?) I sniffed, greeted by a hint of galaxy hops, then I drank and enjoyed a smooth but not overly bitter finish making for a very quaff-able pale ale.

As I enjoyed my beer I thought to myself, this beer has been around for awhile now at Brewhouse Brisbane, why haven't had I had it? The truth is I find Wollongabba to be a lackluster area to visit for craft beer but West End whilst not perfect is far more interesting with several decent venues within walking distance of each other.

There is about 10 taps with a range of house beers from a honey infused wheat beer to an IPA, with a cider and a couple of guest taps filling out the spots.

The bottle range contains over 60  different beers with a lot of old favourites and recent releases being featured like beer from the excellent Aussie micro brewery, La Sirene and even Garage Project's recently released Hop Trial #2. They also have some interesting sounding cocktails and wine if beer isn't your thing!                                

The food menu is just huge! two a3 pages of foodaliciousness, (patent pending..) with starters like corn bread as well as share plates of meats and cheese, hoagies and sliders. 

The standout part of the menu (for me) is the ability to to choose a meat option and then simply add sides to it like chips or feta and watermelon salad and create a main or your own share platter and everything is decently priced ranging from under $10 for corn bread to $36 for some of the platters. 

On my visit I shared the brew platter which was pretty impressive, with warm brisket and pulled pork taking centre stage along with potato and bacon salad, house made pickles, cheddar cheese, beer infused seeded mustard and tomato relish as well as corn and rye breads. All of which matched quite well with a pint of the house brewed Walker IPA.

Beers come in pots, pints and jugs and are competitively price with most pints being $10 or under which is good value and if you aren't sure what to drink there is also tasting paddles available if you want to try a few different beers.

I finished the evening with a pint of a guest beer from Cavalier, their  Russian Imperial stout which isn't really a summery beer but went down a treat as it had rained all day so it felt like stout weather anyway!

It's really great to see this type of brew bar setup in West End and hopefully it has a long future because so far it is fitting in brilliantly with the other local bars and should be help ensure the area is buzzing BrewsVegas in March.

To Export or Not to Export? That is the question.

Scenario:
You are a small micro brewery achieving local success and you are for the most part supplying a sufficient amount of beer to your locals which is the most important thing to begin with.

Your steady growth has seen the demand for your beer grow in other states and even countries to the point that you feel you need to satiate some of this demand.

You export a small amount of your beer and thirsty drinkers gobble it all up leaving an empty hole in shelves possibly for months at a time.

The above scenario is a very real one and one that I'm sure many breweries are faced especially as the growth of the industry continues in spades.

So as a small business operator, faced with this situation you have a few choices..

A.) Don't Export.
Don't export your product, grow your business slowly and overtime expand to accommodate the export market by up-scaling/up-sizing your business but potentially risk losing that international demand and buzz around your product that you have currently.

B.) Export small amounts.
Keep fulfilling the demands of your locals but export small amounts of your product to satiate that market. This will mean that most likely only the dedicated fans and hardcore beer geeks will pickup your beer because others may find it difficult to track down.

There is a third choice but some brewers may be resistant to this concept as it could feel like you are giving a child away..

C.) Contract Brewing.
What this means is that you find a brewery with the capacity and setup for what you need and you hand over your recipes and provide guidance for them to brew the volume you require. You do this regularly enough so that the amount produced is enough to give the export market a better crack at your beer.
There is however now some business that are making this type of brewing their job which can ease the risk and the trust involved because you are entering into a legally binding contract in some cases but in QLD there isn't anything of this type currently.

I don't home brew and haven't ever been involved in a brew before but my opinion on this is just that, an opinion. That said I'm a fence sitter on this subject, by that I mean I sit somewhere between A and B and possibly lean a little into C and can understand why as a business owner or even a head brewer you would need to way up your options before doing any of these things.

I can see the benefits of exporting a small amount to get your name out there and in turn create demand but I imagine it could be a bit of a slippery slope with bottleshops not understanding why you can't maintain a shelf spot and more so consumers not understanding why they can't get the beer they love.

Your average beer nerd realises that if you love craft beer you need to be willing to accept that certain beers will be hard to get but as the industry expands and new, potentially uneducated consumers jump on board they find may it difficult at first although with that same growth this should ease anyway as breweries expand.

As for contract brewing it makes sense in many ways and with contract breweries taking the difficulty out of it by focusing on this as their own business then it will continue to remain an option and form it's own niche part of the industry.

This post is my opinion only and not based on any insider knowledge or anything like that so feel free to add to the conversation if you'd like..

Who Let the Dogs Out - BrewDog Tasting @ Malt Traders

BrewDog, founded by the humorous but serious beer geeks James Watt and Martin Dickie (and a dog!) are arguably the worlds most famous craft brewery right now with their own TV show airing in the USA.

They have produced some cracking beers however, with many that are true to style as well as beers that transcend, test and break styles. They have also won many awards with their brews both in Scotland, the UK and Internationally.

They have also let the public, staff and shareholders choose what beers to brew and have even offered capital to grow and improve the industry by assisting new breweries to get started in the UK.

Given Australia's love of craft beer, travel and self pioneered business it should be no surprise then that a former Brisbane-ite would make their way into the BrewDog fold. Sienna was our host for the tasting session and the manager of the BrewDog pub in London and a cicerone for craft beer.

Phoenix, the importer for BrewDog (in Aus) and many other quality craft breweries along with Malt Traders, manager Greg and Sienna hosted a small tasting session for about 18 people.

As the event began we heard some BrewDog history, how they got started, what they've given back to the community and how far they've expanded since their humble beginnings in 2007.

It was also pointed out that there is potential (if we are loud enough) for Australia to get a BrewDog pub in the future so take to social media and let them know that Brisbane is the place!

We were taken through a few of the iconic brew's beginning with the flagship Punk IPA, followed by Libertine Black Ale, 5AM Saint (Red Ale), Electric India (Hoppy Saison), Hardcore IPA (Imperial IPA) and finishing up with Cocoa Psycho which is a big rich, chocolate and coffee tasting Imperial Stout.

Each brew was explained in detail so that we knew what we were looking for in tasting them along with information about it it's origins. For example Electric India was chosen and brewed by the Shareholders of BrewDog.

In between beers we were chatting to each other and others were entering the beers into UntappD which really let me know I was with some budding members the craft beer community!

Photo by Sienna

I'd had all the beers before with the exception of Cocoa Psycho which was great to try but the standout is Electric India which has a big hoppy nose with a Belgian style funk to it that is expected from a saison which results in a smooth but full flavoured and ultimately refreshing beer.

At the end of the night myself and some other attendees were able to have a chat Sienna and we talked about how Australian craft beer is booming and I suggested some beers from Australia to try whilst here or to take back to London, a great way to end a good night!

So I'm going to write this one a little backwards and finish with the venue, Malt Traders as not only did they host the event but they are a cracking little bottle shop with a rather unique setup (at least for Brisbane).

Malt has a tonne of wine, spirits, craft beer, cider and even snacks and take away meals but what makes it stand out is that you can drink what you want and do so at decent prices.

A large table can be found in the centre of the shop making it the perfect setting for a sneaky after work drink, a pre-drink or even just a quiet little session with a couple of friends.

There is also a Growler fill station with local and international beers usually adorning the 3 taps which have nifty Star Wars tap toppers.

If you drink craft beer, work in the city and haven't checked out Malt it might be time to visit this great little venue.

event pre-drink with Brisbane brewed White Lies - Chocolate Stout

2014: The Beer That Was & Hoppy New Beer 2015!

I posted the above image on instagram to give a break down of some of the stats from my 2014 beer spreadsheet so I'll re-post it here with some extra beer related information for 2014, including some of my favourite beers from the year.

Clearly I drank far too much this year but it has highlighted to me that you can drink a beer a day (or more) and only drink from Australian breweries if you want and you won't get bored or run out of choice, it is an amazing time in the craftiverse!

Favourite Australia Beer of the Year? 

Six String Brewing Co - Dark Red IPA

This malt driven hoppy beast was a surprise to me after having it on tap so much so that when the cans were announced I searched high and low. Eventually I wrote a rant post about how hard it can be to find specific beers sometimes. But not being able to easily find it just made it all the sweeter when I did get my hands on a six pack of this beautiful Australian craft beer.

If you are wanting to try this beer and live in Brisbane I would suggest trying Archive Beer Boutique in West End or Brewski on Caxton street (bar and take away) as they seem to have it more often than not.

Favourite International beer of the Year? 

Deschutes - Fresh Squeezed IPA

This is a no non-sense IPA with big a big fresh hoppy flavour but it still has a decent amount of malt, enough to give it a smooth, hoppy caramel finish.
Since being announced as a year round brew (in the States) so we have started to see it here in Australia a lot more and you can find it right now at a few bottle shops around Brisbane.

I last saw it at The Wine Emporium in Gasworks at Tenerife, just before Christmas so there might be some floating around!

There has been a lot of great seasonal and new permanent release beers this year, certainly plenty to keep the beer nerd or IPA fiend filled with hoppy joy!

Just to mention a few of the high lights from Aussie beer releases this year..

Boris from Feral Brewing: a Russian imperial stout sitting around 9% abv. and a super tasty stout at that and now a year round release for this great Aussie brewery.

Two to the Valley IPA from Newstead Brewing: a tasty little IPA that is a great entry level beer for this style and in less than 12 months of being open in Brisbane the brewery is now selling this and many other staple brews in bottles from the cellar door and bottle shops around Brissy.

Wayfarer USA from Green Beacon Brewing, changing the formula slightly since it's inception this tasty Wheat Beer adds American hops and has become quite popular especially now that the Beacon brews are available in cans from their cellar door and bottle shops around Brisbane.

Bacchus Brewing in Capalaba opened its cellar door early this year and they have a myriad of brews with 15 on tap at any one time and constant changes and additions of new brews almost daily in some cases, making this a place to check out if you are on the Redlands side of town.

Early in January I will be adding "Beerientation" section aimed at the craft beer novice to help explain the basics of styles, taste and aroma and get you on your way as you begin your journey across the craftiverse! As well as also providing some insight on where to find certain beers and also recommend some for the novice and even a couple for the experienced craft drinker. So if any of the above seems too adventurous, never fear there will be a great list of local, national and international brews to start your adventure with all on this one blog!

Cheers and Hoppy New Year.
-Roger

First Impressions: Good Bar @ Mooloolaba (Sunshine Coast)

I grew up on the Sunshine Coast but since working and living in Brisbane for most of my adult life I have not returned very often, it seems there is now a few more reasons to visit the Coast!

One of those reasons is Good Bar, located in the busy but beautiful sea side town of Mooloolaba just a street back from the beach this new addition to the Coast is pumping out some great American inspired grub matched with some great local beers.

just water but cool coasters!

Good Bar's menu and theme is focused around holyness and the "good" food with the coasters and menu items following the theme, like the Brisket burger which is called The Transcendence.         There is a growing selection of local and international craft beers with a focus on cans. This is good to see as there is still a lot of stigma attached to canned beer in Australia which stems from smashing down 12 cans of what ever flavourless lager you had on hand. The truth is cans are actually better as they let no light in (which can affect your brew) and travel better than their glass brethren.

At the time I hadn't actually sampled any Brisbane's Green Beacon cans yet so was a no brainer to start with the tasty Windjammer IPA and moving on later to Moose Drool a well flavoured brown ale from Big Sky located in Montana in the USA.    There wasn't any taps at the time but hopefully this comes later because it'd be great to see some Sunshine Coast Brewery on tap in a local bar or even more beer from Brisbane.                                   

I ordered The Good Burger, a beef burger with two patties, cheese, ranch, pickles and ketchup. The rest of my party ordered The Transcendence (Briskett), The Carolina Crusade (pulled Pork) and The Good Reuben (Pastrami sandwhich).

Double Beef, Double Cheese

All the burgers come on soft and fluffy brioche bun's which work fairly well and each burger was generously portioned with meat with prices ranging from $13-16 and each coming with fries.

I feel the only thing that was missing off the menu (that is usually a staple) is the ability to add bacon, but other than adding it to the beef burger you don't really need it so it's not too disappointing to live without the deliciousness of bacon for a meal.

My burger was juicy and tasty although it seemed more like mustard than ranch which isn't a bad thing as it just reminded me of a really good double cheese burger, with tasty mustard and pickles which is one of my favourite things to eat.

All the other burgers went down well from what the rest of my group said, the only negative is that the Reuben seems to have some seriously thick bread, possibly too thick for the amount of meat.

Pastrami + Sauerkraut on Rye

Beef Brisket, BBQ sauce and Slaw

Pulled Pork, Jack Daniel's Sauce & Slaw

What we had is really just the beginning of the menu which contains heaps of awesome sounding meals, snacks, sweets and shakes. From peppers stuffed with chorizo and goats cheese to a Peanut Butter Jelly shake to Pumpkin Pie but all of this just gives me an excuse to revisit next time I'm up the coast.

It's great to see so many new options for food and beer popping up on the coast as they have done in Brisbane, I may have to go up more often!

First Impressions: Buffalo Bar @ Brisbane CBD

Through my early 20's the Belgian beer cafe was my staple for imported beer goodness and it opened up a world of beer that was never before in Brisbane, sadly though the Belgian closed it's doors in October this year.

Brisbane has seemingly made a shift from small craft beer venues towards much larger sized venues that have a tonne of craft beer and in most cases some really great food.

The American style food geniuses responsible for the excellent Mighty Mighty have been able to transform what was the Belgian into a mecca for American craft beer and food with the new Buffalo Bar.

The venue it self is relatively the same as it was with some nice little touches like an excellent Buffalo mural adorning the beer garden, but the atmosphere especially whilst busy hasn't changed it is a large restaurant with a pub like beer garden which works just fine for a venue of this size.

The beer list is impressive with 14 beers on top ranging from Coors Lager to Brooklyn's Saision "Half" to the 8.5% Dirty Bastard from Founders.

If you don't however find something you like on tap the bottle list is extensive with some of Australia's best craft sitting along side some of America's best as well as a long list of wine and spirits and beer-ientated cocktails called "Boilermakers" which are beer and spirits combined.









The food menu is massive and in some ways maybe it is too large because I think you could eat something different here every day for quite awhile with food ranging from 18 different flavour's of wings to 10 inch rolls called Hoagies (they looked impressive!) to more knife and fork meals like beef short ribs and New England clam bake.

We worked our way through 4 of the 18 wing choices trying Salted Cola Toffee, Bacon, Cheddar & Chive, Seasoned Jerk and the standout for me the Chipotle & Garlic Salt which had that familiar garlic flavour with just a hint of chipotle.

All wings come with a butter milk blue cheese sauce with celerey sticks as a palate cleanser which you will want if you attempt any of the hot wings.

For dessert we ordered Peanut Butter Brownie w/ Peanut butter Ice Cream and Shoo-Fly Pie with caramel cream, both were decadent and exceptional tasting with it being difficult to pick a favourite but I think my love of Peanut butter wins out over the toffee flavour of the Pie.


In general the service was really good although some of the bar staff seemed to be unsure of the beers but its early days and it was in no way quiet. I had a really good experience when asking about dessert in the beer garden as it is not on the bar menu but the staff member I spoke to happily and willingly went and asked the chef if it was ok and it was! I appreciate this type of service especially on an opening weekend when things can get super chaotic.

The standout beer for me was Rogue's 7 Hop IPA which was loaded with piney resin and hoppy flavour and well worth visiting Buffalo to try if you are an IPA fiend like I am. There is however a lack of an easily visible explanation of what each beer is on tap, you can look at the beer list but as far as making a quick choice goes there could be a board or extra tap decal that says the style of each beer to minimize decision based confusion.

A dark beer on tap would also be of benefit like a stout, porter, dark lager or even a black IPA of some kind although there is plenty of choice so maybe I'm being picky here.

If you work nearby or are adventuring out in the city, enjoy chicken wings and beer or want to have a more sit down dining experience then I'd encourage you to check out this new venue it certainly has the expected polish and incredible food that have made Mighty Mighty so great and pairing that with a big beer garden just makes sense.

First Impressions: The Charming Squire @ South Bank

The Charming Squire opened its doors last Thursday the 28th of August and as expected when a juggernaut like Lion starts swinging bags of cash around you get a rather impressive looking pub, albeit dressed in hipster clothing.

The place is huge and will easily seat a few hundred people with bar, outdoor and casual dining seating areas it blends seamlessly into the ever beautiful South Bank.

The lay out is a mix of concrete, wood and steal with some benches, seats and stools for seating. As expected there is ample James Squire branding around the place with fancy lighting and other neat features.

The in-house brewery has produced a session-able ale called "Going Once Galaxy Ale" and is rather fruity upfront (thank you Galaxy hops!) with a familiar lager backbone, sure to be a hit as we head into the warmer weather.

All the James Squire staples are on tap from 150 Lashes to Jack of Spades Porter to Hop Thief and even the apple and pear ciders are included. The bottled range however is lackluster and all about Lion's "standard" range.

The plan seems to be to keep at least one unique beer on tap that is made in house which is a good idea and should keep people coming back for the seasonal drops.

There is two menus with a sit down dining experience for more serious fair like big chunks of meat and a more share friendly bar menu.

We tried the Beef Croquettes and Mushroom & Truffle Arancini Balls, both were fairly tasty but the Arancini stood out and we would definitely eat them again.

At some point I'll go back and try a more substantial meal off the main dining menu but the share prices are pretty steep for what you get the rest of the menu looks the same but I can't pass judgement without seeing portion sizes or trying the other meals.

Overall The Charming Squire seems like a good place to go and meet friends, have a bite to eat or a few beers but for any one more serious about their craft beer it's probably not going to fulfill any of your wet dreams.

The truth is there is much better places to go in Brisbane (and in South Bank) that have better portioned and cheaper eats and definitely better beer but I would recommend the Squire as a great gateway to the craft beer world. After all between Coopers and Jimmy Squizzle it's where a lot of beer enthusiasts started (myself included)

This continued growth in the beer and food industry in Brisbane is nothing but a good thing and I'm sure the Squire will be around for awhile improving as it goes.

Bacchus Brewing Co opening weekend! @ Capalaba

You could nearly say that 2014 has been the "Year of the Bacchus" with the continued growth of arguably one of Brisbane's most popular breweries.

After brewing a total of no less than 50 unique beers for Brewsvegas and winning Gold at the Australian International Beer Awards for it's Sex, Drugs & Rocky Road it's finally time for their Brewery Bar to open it's doors.

The bar and tables use reclaimed bowling lanes as well as pins for lamps. As you sit and enjoy your tipple it is very clear you are in a living brewery with barrels of ageing beer and brewery equipment being the background for the venue.

There is 15 taps (14 beer) consisting of barrel aged, cask, smooth pour and regular pour with beers ranging from mid strength English style bitters to IPA's and unique beers like Sex, Drugs & Rocky Road.


Bacchus have been known to produce some really high alcohol beers and some crazy (and awesome!) flavoured ones, currently the taps are fairly tame but with 15 there is plenty of room to rotate as people become more comfortable with the beers and seasons change.

It also seems that some of the more interesting beers will be getting bottled for takeaway and on-site consumption which is very cool.


You only need to look at my Instagram for a few seconds to know I'm obsessed with IPA's and the two currently on tap at Bacchus don't disappoint.

Pug IPA emulates the fruity deliciousness of gateway IPA's like Brewdog's - Punk IPA also offering a Black IPA named "Obama" with expected smokey, fruity and hoppy goodness.

I also tried Lamington Dark Ale which I had at Eaton's Hill Beerfest earlier in the year and it continues to be an impressively tasty beer.

Leaving my Sex, Drugs & Rocky Road taster until last was a smart move as it is super delicious and oddly session-able which is scary at 8.2% abv.

For non-beer drinkers there is Alchemy Cordials available with a do it yourself soda water and cordial setup costing only a gold coin with all money going to Alzheimer's Australia.

The pricing is very reasonable with a 5 beer Tasting Paddle costing $15 and 3 standard beer sizes ranging from $5 - 10 depending on the size.

Empty Growlers are $10 and fills range from $18-$30, they also sell 2 styles of Belgian beer glasses for $10 each.

It is a bit of a trek out to Capalaba from the North Side of Brisbane but well worth it and I suspect I will be doing regular visits for growler fills once the taps start rotating. If you are a local or can plan to make a visit you won't be disappointed with something for almost everyone.

The future of craft beer in Brisbane is an ever growing and bright one for sure!

At the time the excellent food truck The Bun Mobile was there as well so check out my post about that too!

[Edit] Bacchus now do a range of tasty and delicious Pizza's so if you needed another excuse to check it out there is one!

Tomahawk Bar @ South Bank

So it's no secret that I absolutely love Tippler's Tap so it should come as no surprise that when I heard that some of the great people behind it were opening Tomahawk Bar in Brisbane's South Bank that I had to check it out.

Although it has taken me longer than it should have to do so, it was absolutely worth the wait with incredibly tasty food to match the ever changing but always amazing tap list.

Tomahawk is by no means a copy of Tippler's, if anything it is more of a chameleon blending effortlessly into the trendy but modern setting that is South Bank. With dark hardwood and steel and benches it almost feels like it's been there for at least a year or two.

Pork Scratching's

With 13 rotating taps and a huge selection of bottled beers you'd be forgiven for not realizing that Tomahawk also has a fantastic range of Ciders and Wine for those less interested in hoppy, malty goodness.

The food is without a doubt some of the most delicious at any craft beer in Brisbane with Ribs, meatballs, Arancini, fish sticks and baked Camembert featured on the menu.

Hopcorn Chicken!

Baked Camembert

The standouts however are the pork scratching's (newly added) with red ale chilli jam and the amazing (and entirely worth going for) Hopcorn chicken with salted caramel sauce.

I can hear you asking how salted caramel can work in savoury but believe me it is one of the best tasting combinations I have ever eaten as a beer snack with the dryness and crispiness of the hopped out chicken balancing brilliantly with the sweet (but not too much!) and salty Caramel.

I'll admit that I don't normally frequent South Bank but with bars like Tomahawk beginning to popup I can see myself spending quite a bit more time there!

Pork Belly Burger

[Edit] August 23 2014

Former Chef of Tomahawk and Tipler's Ali Orchard was cooking Hopcorn Chicken and Sticky Stout Lamb Ribs at the 2014 Ekka and has released the recipes via BrewsNews check them out here.

I've also been back to Tomahawk recently and had the Pork Belly burger (photo above) which is utterly delicious and another reason to go if you haven't yet!