Brewsvegas 2015 - Day 4 - Pint of Origin @ Newstead

Day 4 of Events and I had planned to go to Tippler's for their Ribs and New England Brewing special but it turns out that was so popular the place was packed and the ribs sold out so I stayed at Newstead which was my first stop anyway and just enjoyed a quiet meal and several brews!

Newstead were running an all day event with a tape take over of collaboration beers brewed between Newstead and 7 quality breweries with 6 from Australia and 1 from New Zealand with each region being represented by a brewery..

Moo Brew (TAS) - Huonwise was a hefeweizen which should be no surprise because Moo's normal Hef is pretty popular around Oz but this had some smoked wheat in it which gave a slight twist but still the familiar banana and clove flavours were the star and made for a solid Hef.

image by Newstead Brewing Co.

Ekim (NSW) - Crash & Brunette a Red IPL went down a treat and as with most of Ekim's beers it had a set of biggy hoppy balls but with just enough malt to balance it out.

Good George (NZ) - Semi Hard, a brewery that I personally hadn't heard much of but they made a tasty session IPA that sat at 4% abv and had a light fruitiness to it that was perfect for a hot and humid day.


Killer Sprocket (VIC) - Eureka Stoutade was a golden stout with coffee and cacao nibs which created a really interesting beer and obviously looking at it you expect it to be a pale or golden ale.

Big Shed (SA) - BruChoc was an attempt to bring peach, apricot and chocolate into a beer and it largely succeeded although it was not my favourite beer of the day but as I hadn't had anything from Big Shed before I will be trying some of their other beers.

Colonial (WA) - Indian Pacific Middle was a heavily malted, low abv (3.5%) english style ale with a good bunch of hops thrown in but really it was all about making a really malty beer (I got a shit load of toffee from it) that was low in alcohol and full flavoured.

Burleigh Brewing (QLD) - 8 in a Row was an amber\red ale, I honestly bombarded my palate with all 7 beers and don't remember this one too well so I won't describe it.

If you were there last night you had every chance of running into one of the brewers with most of them being in attendance, overall it was pretty fun and a fairly easy night for me after a busy week so far and an even busier couple of days to come!

I'd expect the beers to still be on tap today so if you can get down there, get to it and try some great beer from one of Brisbane's brewers and some of Australia and the NZ's top breweries.

Brewsvegas 2015 - Day 3 - Barrel of Laughs @ Newstead Brewing Co. and Fromage with Fortitude @ Tippler's Tap

Yeah, so, I may have skipped Day 2 which was planned to be the Saison launch at Super WhatNot but after Sunday's longer than expected 4 events, I decided sleep and rest for the busy week to come.

Day 3 (or Day 4 as some may say, Launch was day 0 I swear!) was overall pretty fun and entertaining with..

Newstead Brewing - Barrel of Laughs & Black & Tan

Arguably, barrel aged beers can take some getting used to, so can barrel aged ciders but that was the entire point of this event with 3 barrel aged beers and 2 barrel aged ciders on offer.

Newstead was offering a tasting paddle of four beers and a meal of pork belly for $30 but I had other events on so I went with the paddle of 4 for $15 and it was well worth it to try these beers.

I tried the Sour Saison, a Baltic Porter, a Barley wine and a barrel aged Cider (although I don't recall which one, chardonnay I think) and sat down and started tasting.

The cider was super dry and not that fruity but was a decent start to a beery evening after wandering about in the Brisbane humidity.

The Saison had an odd taste that I didn't overly enjoy but the Barley wine was decent with a big boozy hit and a rum and raisin like finish.


I completed my paddle with the Barrel aged Porter which was not dissimilar to the already good Newstead Porter 21 feet 7 inches but with a slight boozy bump from the ageing, only minor though.

From there I moved onto the Tails and Heads collaboration between Newstead and Brisbane's James Squire pub the Charming Squire.

A Black and Tan is where one beer is dark and one is light but the two are mixed together in theory to create a layer with light on the bottom and dark on top although I clearly failed at pouring mine..

Newstead brewed Tails which is the Hefeweizen and Squire brewed the Heads which is a Dark Ale, both beers work as intended but the Hef for me wasn't as strong as I'd expected.

The Dark Ale from James Squire was a solid, malty and very moreish beer that I thoroughly enjoyed, I think this style is their strong suit.

Pouring the two together however just seemed to result in me making a mess of the table as I clumsily blended the two together with varying results.

Heads & Tails are on tap for the rest of Brewsvegas so give them a go at either Newstead or Charming Squire.

Fromage with Fortitude

So when I booked this event all I was thinking about was the cheese, I thought you know I've had most of Fortitude's great line of beers, this is all about the cheese.

You know what though? I underestimated two things, the Golden Ale which I'd never had and the effect the cheese would have on the beer.

There was no hand holding just a simple introduction for each beer by the entertaining Dan Rawling's from Fortitude with Witches Chase cheese maker Millsy giving a solid run down on each cheese as well as some of his pairing suggestions.

After this we were free to drink the beers and cheeses as we pleased making up our own minds on matching which cheese with which beer.

We had dried apple, apricots, sultanas, quince paste and some crackers and toasties to pair with 5 cheese, 2 Cheddar, a Red Leicester, a blue and a triple cream brie.




For the beers there was a full range from Fortitude/Noisy Minor with their Lager, Golden Ale, Anzus IPA, Admiral Ackbar Red IPA and Yasterbov Ukrainian Imperial Stout.

I'll admit that now days I really don't go for lager, I don't enjoy the aroma and usually don't enjoy the taste but the lager did match perfectly with the cheddar and the triple cream brie with a slight nuttiness adding to the flavour.

I've had all the beers before with the exception of the Golden Ale which was the stand out for me, not only because I hadn't tried it before but because it is so full flavoured with a lovely hoppy aroma and a great smooth malty finish.

For the cheeses I could eat the Triple Cream Brie all day, it was just so tasty but in all honesty each one had something great going on... With my favourite pairing being the Imperial Stout and the Blue as it out that slightly funky flavour all the more, which may be partly because there is a hint of Belgian yeast in the stout.

It seemed everyone enjoyed the night, it was quite intimate and there wasn't a large amount of noise so it was really easy to hear everything and asks questions comfortably, I know I went away feeling very happy and satisfied.

If you are interested in the cheeses or the beers you can now get the Lager, Golden Ale and Anzus IPA in bottles around Brisbane at selected craft beer bottle-shops (check my links on the right) and for the cheeses you will have to visit Witches Chase Cheeses on Mount Tamborine but it's worth the drive!

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!

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!

International Hotel - Hipwood Brewery Launch

As Brewsvegas was coming to an end I realised I had been rather absent from the festivities. I made plans with a couple of mates to head to the International Hotel's Hipwood brewery launch so that I could at least have attended an event over Brewsvegas and to check out what was in store with the re-launch of the hotels internal Brewery.

I have visited International Hotel a few times for lunch and some very cheap ($5.50/pint) and half decent craft beer and do enjoy the local pub atmosphere on occasion so it made sense to head there for a few brews after work on Friday and see what the Hipwood re-brand was all about!

Hopping on the Spring Hill loop meant we were at the hotel in no time, greeted by a pretty decent looking turn out of locals and beer lovers we found a spare table and settled in.

Hefe+Pretzel = Heftzel?

I started off by ordering a pint of the Hills Hefe which flavourful and true to the Hefeweizen style pairing off well with the free pretzel we were offered to snack on, however it seems the price of beers have gone up with the launch to around $8/pint which is still cheap compared to other places but not nearly as much as it used to be!

As the launch started to ramp up we were offered more free (and delicious!) food with mini pork sliders, mini hot dogs and beer nuts which were all quite delicious.

I headed back to the bar and ordered a couple of tasting paddles(for me and a friend) to get a better idea of the rest of their beers. It was a pretty impressive looking paddle and decently priced at $12 with a taste of the 5 beers on offer.

The beers were Hills Hefe, Jimmy's Pils, Midnight Porter, Poley Oley (Pale Ale) and Red Eye (Red Ale).

My favourite was the Pale Ale and although I find the name a bit odd I didn't find the beer anything but delicious with a real big citrus punch and good hop flavour, by far the stand out here and worth having a session of.

After finishing off my paddle of beers I ordered a meal in the form of "Bacon and Eggs Pork Belly" which was an interesting combo of pork belly, mashed potato, saurkraut style red cabbage and 2 fried eggs.

It was rather tasty and had definite German food influences which match the Hipwood beers really well however I would have liked the belly to be rendered a bit more, it had some crunch but was missing that "crackling" feeling you expect.

I really like what International Hotel is trying to do with changing their "local" hotel image into a good time, good food gastro pub with in house craft beer.

I think it is ambitious but also very doable if they keep working at the beers and the food and promoting themselves. I absolutely wish them all the best in this and will no doubt visit again sometime in the near future.