Feral Offcuts @ Brewski

Some pre-event brews!

Having recently shown interest in the launch of Feral's Watermelon Warhead sour beer I had heard that a keg was making the journey from the Swan Valley to Brisbane. I however did not expect an entire event dedicated to Feral and it's special release beers to make it to Brisbane but it did and has delivered a very enjoyable Thursday evening.

Feral Offcut's was hosted by the guys and gals at the excellent Brewski along with BeerMatt's Matt Kirkegaard.

Featuring four unique beers in Barrique Okarma (Black IPA), Barrel Aged Hop Hog (IPA), Hopfen Fahrt (German IPA) and Watermelon Warhead (Sour).

Tasting paddles in hand we made our way to the bar and received our generously sized samples. After making our way back Matt Kirkegaard walked us through the beers providing his unique insight along with some great background on Feral and these unique beers.

Collecting tasting paddles!

I attended for the Warhead but I fell in love with the Hopfen Fahrt IPA which uses all new world hop varieties grown in Germany. The Hopfen can only be described as a flavour bomb as you are instantly hit with a big fruity/hoppy punch with smooth bitter finish. I can only hope that Feral bottle this at some point so I can get my hands on more of it!
 

The Barrel Aged Hop Hog had some great woody flavour which changed what many consider to be Australia's best IPA style beer quite dramatically. Barrique Okarma which I have had bottled, is as you'd imagine even better off-tap. So much so that I enjoyed a large glass of it later in the night with it's unique smokey, fruity flavour.

The Watermelon Warhead is absolutely one of the best sour beers I have tried and really does hark back to childhood days of sour lollies and the inevitable screwed up face that came with eating them. Our table was divided on wether the Warhead was something they enjoyed but we did agree that it is something unique and worth trying.

Brewski's chef created a pulled pork pizza for the event which was dubbed "Will Feral" with a great thin base, tasty sauce and a good amount of pork and cheese. I unfortunately was so distracted by the conversation (and beer) that I failed to take a good photo of the pizza but I can assure you it looked as delicious as it tasted.

There was a good atmosphere with 24 people sitting together on Brewski's recently updated balcony area conversing and enjoying the food and beer. There seemed to be a good mix of beer nerds as well as some people that weren't that familiar with feral or its brews.

A big thank you to Brewski for organizing the event, Matt Kirkegaard for hosting and Daniel from Calibre Craft for supplying the beer! Looking forward to future events as both at Brewski and around Brisbane as our Craft scene continues to grow!

Losing my blogging virginity.. also Statler & Waldorf + Brewski! :D

Statler & Waldorf

1^st of March and first day of autumn for 2014, coincidently this was the perfect time for my first visit to Brisbane’s Caxton St and two of the newest craft beer bars in Statler & Waldorf and Brewski.

After dragging myself up the obnoxious set of stairs at the Barracks I made my way down Caxton St searching for Statler, alternating between Google Maps and the pavement I realised I was on the wrong side of the road. Looking around I saw some brightly coloured umbrellas and subsequent large white lettering spelling out Statler & Waldorf.

Crossing the road, I was greeted by a young man sporting a rather epic looking moustache who asked me if I’d like a drink. Being slightly sweaty from the walk up to the Barracks I quickly ordered a pint of Hassel Hop from the most excellent Burleigh Brewing Co.

When you first enter Statler you see a poster of the evolution of hipster beard appropriately adorned on the wall and there's lots of hardwood bench tops and flooring. In the main dining area hangs an image of the namesake Muppets (Statler & Waldorf) right next to a large sheet of butchers paper containing the daily specials.

Being a very quiet Saturday morning I was advised that I could sit anywhere so I sat by the window looking out on busy Caxton St and the umbrellas that adorn the outside seating, whilst waiting for the rest of my party to arrive. The bartender then kindly delivered me a bottle of cold water and a glass probably in hopes that I might stop sweating all over the hardwood counter I was sitting at.

Once the rest of my group arrived we looked around while the bartender prepared some cocktails. We ordered a “Jartini”, a sort of espresso martini in a cute little jam jar as well as a cocktail made inside a coconut with the Statler & Waldorf logo burnt into it.

Statler coins itself as a gastronomy pub and the menu doesn’t disappoint with an array of incredible sounding burgers, sandwiches, roasts and other rather gluttonous meals and that’s without even talking about the specials that were available!

After ordering food we made our way out to the beer garden and as we passed the kitchen the chef and staff said hello to us. Arriving in the beer garden (which we had to ourselves!) we sat down on one of the large wooden bench seats with a view of the outdoor bar area which has a large screen and projector.

Three Little Pigs Sandwhich!

I ordered the Three Little Pigs sandwich which was well presented on a stained wooden board adorned with the S & W logo and a small basket of fries. The sandwich itself was pork belly, bacon and cantimpalo (chorizo) on a bed of apple & fennel slaw lying comfortably between 2 crispy pieces of baguette style bread. All the flavours worked perfectly together with the chewy toasted bread working as a vehicle to carry all that amazing pork into my belly! I had a pint of Murray’s of Punch & Judy Amber Ale (3.9%) which was quite interesting and full flavoured for a middy.

Calamari Fries

Cheese Souffle

We all very much enjoyed our meals and the service was quite personable and the staff were all extremely friendly. Will definitely be visiting again soon!

Brewski

After lunch we moved across the road for a few more beers at Brewski, a bar that does wood fired pizzas, nibbles and of course a most epic range of craft beers, both off tap and bottled.

No matter which door you take into Brewski your eyes will be drawn straight to the large lighting feature spelling out IPA that hangs above the bar letting you know you have arrived in some rather serious craft beer territory.

They have 8 taps which seems to consist of 4 frequently rotated beers and then 4 more taps with Little Creatures staples as well as Pipsqueak Cider.

At the time of my visit they had Four Hearts – Halfa IPA, Brewtal Brewing’s Jack the RIIPA, Epic – Armageddon IPA and Ekim Brewing’s After Battle Pale Ale.

I started with the most excellent Armageddon IPA (6.66%). I spent a few minutes and had a good chat with the bar tender who was extremely friendly and knowledgeable about the beers they had on tap. My group and I sat out the back on the balcony looking out onto the monolithic Suncorp stadium and a hint of the iconic XXXX Brewery sign.

After having a pint of After Battle Pale and another chat with the bartender our group moved inside to an extremely comfortable faded red leather lounge. We then ordered a nutella, white chocolate and marshmallow pizza on a gluten free base which was rather awesome with a gooey squishy marshmallow sitting on top of the pizza!

I moved on to some refreshing and fruity beers from the fantastic bottled range that Brewski has, starting with a can of Mountain Goat’s Summer Ale (which actually complimented the dessert pizza very well!) and finishing off my afternoon with Feral’s White. 

Overall my experiences at Brewski were nothing but positive with some very friendly staff who seem to enjoy what they are doing and are doing it extremely well. Brewski has some of the more unique tap choices available in Brisbane and the frequent rotation makes for an enjoyable experience and a good excuse to keep coming back.

Nutella, Marshmallow & White Choc Pizza (some slices already nommed on)