Blog — Page 63 of 277

Thus Let Us Drink Beer

Black Arts and St Andrews Beach Brewery

The emphasis of the last round of instalment of this series has been heavily on breweries that pump out IPAs and brews on the hoppier end of things. While this is certainly one of my favourite aspects in the world of beer, what I ultimately am looking for are flavours that are not restricted to one-dimensionality and breweries that set out to push the envelope beyond what appeases the mainstream palate with the tried and tested offerings of lagers and pale ales.

Enter Black Arts.

With the premise to do anything but the ordinary and their focus set on the creation of Australian wild and sour ales, they take inspiration from as far as the old world, specifically when it comes to taking a page or two off the book of traditional beer-making of Belgium, to then infuse it with their own idiosyncratic twist.

The result of Black Arts’ approach is never not complex, with specifically the blending and  fermentation process adding the “je ne sais quoi” as this time-intensive act along with the maturation in oak barrels resulting in elegant and flavourful ales that deliberately blur the line between cider, wine and beer.

Formally established in 2019, Black Arts started with blending the beers that had been ageing since 2016 launching a core line-up of three beers to complement them with smaller runs of single-barrel, dry hopped and fruitier versions.

Black Arts focus is firmly set on drinkability rather than exorbitant sour- and acidicness, however, suffice to say, for the untrained palate a first encounter with a funky sour can be an overwhelming and even off-putting experience. To ease in the uninitiated, Black Arts produces their Bière de Coupage, which acts as a bridge being a beer but already introducing funkier components by blending their mature wild ale with a young saison. The result is a slightly funky, cideresque brew with lemony nuances.

Once you have tasted blood, it is time to venture on to Black Arts’ Golden Wild Ale, an homage to the sour beers of Belgium which leads one down the rabbit hole into funkier, more sour and stewier realms of what experimentation with bacteria and yeast strains can produce. Vinous and dry and nature, this little number grows in complexity with each sip and gives an idea of the cosmos of flavours that can be achieved with fermentation.

My favourite of what I have tried so far is the Red Wild expression. It reminds me of my numerous trips to Belgium, where I enjoyed tarty and full-bodied ales that took me on a nuanced journey with flavours derived from oakyness of the barrels, accentuated by dark chocolatey, vanilla and grape flavours.

St Andrews Beach Brewery

What I have grown to love about Australia’s ever expanding craft beer scene is not merely the variety and quality that breweries produce, but that it has so expansive that brewers confidently set up their operations outside the confines of the tried and tested hotbeds in cities like Melbourne and Sydney, which became the original hotbeds with its industrial areas and warehouses.

The location and evolution of St Andrews Beach Brewery harks back to when its co-founder revisited a property six years ago that he had originally helped to develop around the turn of the millennium: In essence, St Andrews Brewery’s digs are a converted racetrack, with the stables having been converted into one of the more unique brewery outfits Australia has to offer.

Needless to say, the brewery has not only established itself on the forefront of Australian craft beer creators but prides itself on the ways they attention to details and its commitment to diligently handle each facet of their operations themselves, including a hop farm and the cultivation of English cider apples and pears – an approach that pays dividends and one that can be both tasted as well as experienced in both the design of their artwork as well as the carefully curated merchandise, which in terms of detailed features and quality of garments takes things to new heights.

Each of the beers of St Andrews Beach Brewery celebrates the property that is home to their operations, with names and characteristic chosen to pay homage to the racetrack, horses or other idiosyncratic features. 

My favourite of the St Andrews Brewery range so far – and I say “so far” as I have missed out on their Double IPA expression – is their The Farrier India Pale Ale.

The Farrier is a brew that will excite both hopheads and craft beer aficionados as well as the uninitiated as it well-balanced approach includes both huge tropical flavours on the orangery and pineappley end of the spectrum, yet with clearly distinguishable nuances on the other.

Weighing in at 6.4%, it packs a bit of a punch and with its mid-range bitterness, you get to taste the hop resin goodness with the grist of the malt rounding things out with a delicate sweetness at the back end, which along with the hop aromas entice you and bring you in.
Time to set a reminder to not miss out on St Andrews Beach’s next DIPA venture.

---

images from company websites

The Formative Years – Leatherface

Leatherface’s third album Mush is one of the greatest punk rock releases of the 1990s, if not of all time. 

Period.

I feel in love with the record upon first listen and I would go as far as to claim that anyone remotely into punk and hardcore would be hard pressed not to like it. The way Leatherface effortlessly and authentically channels raw pain, intensity and a knack for melodies and great song-writing remains unrivalled and the fact that they have remained underneath the radar added to the appeal but was undeserved.  

Every track stands for itself yet the album appears to be cast from one consistent mould, with the common denominator being a beautiful sense of desperation, immediacy and urgency, conveyed specifically by the dense entwining interplay of fleeting ever duelling guitar arrangements, which hit you bullseye when they culminate in an in-sync crescendo.

Frankie Stubbs’ vocal delivery reigns supreme in a league of its own – charismatic, rough not unlike Lemmy Kilmister, passionate and paired with his melancholic, inward looking and longing lyrics, heart wrenchingly moving and intensely affecting. He manages to strikingly articulate something deep down in a way that other aspiring vocalists can only dream of as he got the ever so elusive “je ne sais quoi” in spades.

Despite the greatness of all individual ingredients, the sum of the whole constitutes a much grander unique construct. Yes, there is melancholia, nostalgia, sentimentality and emotional content, but it is also immensely powerful, non-apologetic, yearning and brutal.

Suffice to say, without Leatherface, bands like Hot Water Music, Avail, Gaslight Anthem and pretty much all of Jensen’s bands, i.e. Dackelblut, Oma Hans, etc., would have sounded very different – let alone the band that Frankie Stubbs ventured on to produce, i.e. Snuff, Wat Tyler and China Drum.

Water of Life – Ailsa Bay and Whiskey Hunt Australia

For anyone remotely following this series, it should not come as a surprise that I thoroughly enjoy exploring and discovering new whisky variants, especially those of the peated and Islay persuasion. 

While there are always drops that aid in expanding one’s horizon with merits that take what the respective region is known for to new heights, experiencing smoky whiskies that I have not yet had the opportunity to try make me borderline giddy – even more so, when they take their approach to the phenol part content in parts per million formula seriously and treat it as something more than a mere novelty factor to reel in unsuspecting customers.

Enter Ailsa Bay.

Ailsa Bay is a distillery that has been on my “to try” list for the longest time. Their juice does come in an aesthetically pleasing and artfully designed vessel, which not only stands out in your local liquor store but due to its bigger sized opening and the fact a regular measured pourer will not fit it, will potentially result in a bigger serving at a tasting. 

The fact that they seem to have a scientific approach when it comes to calibrating their peat versus sweet ratio, to then further refine their expression by maturing new make spirit for six to nine months in small sized traditional Bourbon casks before letting predominantly virgin American Oak casks do their magic in a bid to achieve a precise balance of oaky sweetness and smoky notes.
As a matter of fact, Ailsa Bay has taken things to the next level and singlehandedly introduced an analysed measurement of sweetness identified, i.e. complementing the established and benchmarked PPM with an SPPM one.

Let’s get to it:

Upon pouring a dram of Ailsa Bay’s 1.2 batch, the nostrils are tickled by waves of soft ashy smoke, which encapsulates vanilla, chalk, white chocolate sweetness and orangery nuances, sitting against a solid backbone of refined bacon-esque oakyness.
What the nose promised, fully unfolds on the top of the mouth, which is where Ailsa Bay’s meticulous approach to blending comes to fruition and pays dividends: I love how meaty and peaty components are artfully married with a sweetness that is nuanced by hints of condensed milk, burned sugar and butterscotch.

The complexity of the flavour spectrum on offer is beautifully rounded out with a dry elongated finish culminating in a crescendo of flowering sweetness.

Summa summarum:

An expertly crafted and brilliantly balanced malt that with its affordable price tag should be specifically appealing to non-peat heads looking for an accessible entry point into smoky territory, as despite Ailsa Bay emanating from the Lowlands, it effortlessly stands shoulder to shoulder with some of the better entry level Islay whiskies, being every bit as full of character, but being a tad lighter overall. 

Whiskey Hunt Australia 

While we have covered a wide array of spirits as part of this series, the focus of the lion’s share of instalments was dedicated to Scotch. While whiskies from the ole world certainly constitute a focus area, American Whiskeys and varieties ranging from Tennessee whiskies and Bourbon via spicy Rye and Wheat to unaged Corn is a wide field that has to offer gems galore and when it comes to guidance, I am lucky to have come across an entity known as Whiskey Hunt Australia.

With its tenet to be a forum for all things derived from moonshine bottled directly after distillation, usually with water added to reduce it to drinking strength, Whiskey Hunt Australia aims at showcasing the character of a distillery’s respective spirit in its most natural form. 

With Whiskey Hunt being a telling name, it should not come as a surprise that they are never not on their mission to track down exclusive barrels from their favourite distilleries, to then bottle them and make them available as limited releases for enthusiasts. 

Given their longstanding background, their passion and expertise in the realm of whiskey and the relationships they have forged with distilleries, their access is unrivalled and results in the ability to create unique experiences by facilitating the whole process from the distillery to your door.

Needless to say, WHA’s releases are usually lapped up within hours, which results in their emissions being some of the most sought after not just on terra australis.

The care and commitment when it comes to the curation of each individual release and distinct flavour profiles is inspiring and WHA has carved out its own unique niche in the ever expanding world of spirits by elevating the contents of barrels to something far greater than the mere sum of the individual constituents would suggest.

It was through WHA that I was first exposed to the Wilderness Trail Distillery. 

Based out of Kentucky, the distillery’s focus is firmly set on provenance with all of its grains sourced locally. Based on their traditional sweet mash process, their Straight Rye Whiskey expression is based on a three-grain recipe. Upon approach aromas of banana, vanilla and meringue hint at what is going to unfold on the top of mouth, counterpointed by charred oak and toasted walnuts. With a finish reverberating with vanilla, cinnamon and black pepper, it leaves one lusting for another dram.

A personal highlight of the WHA range is their 1792 Full Proof variant with the barrel having been picked by Master Distiller Danny Kahn. Clocking in at 62.5% ABV, the nostrils are tickled by a complex melange of toffee, vanilla and cinnamon, the flavours of which are rounded out on the palate by a delicate spiciness, which is complemented by a carefully calibrated oakiness. 

Whistle Pig Farm is a distillery that I have heard Bourbon enthusiasts rave about for the longest time. It was about high time that I got my first taste via WHA’s single barrel pick of an almost eighteen year old drop, the aromas of which overwhelm the nose with 
a wonderful blend of bright and lively notes set against dark and savoury ones, interweaved with honeyed vanilla and subdued rye notes.
A “Head Honcho” indeed with lingering fruit flavours, honey, and vanilla front and centre flavour-wise and a wonderfully elongated finish culminating in a crescendo of pine and musty wood notes.

Old Forester Distillery is one that I have had great experiences with. WHA’s barrel pick starts off with its trademark oaky, sweet caramel, vanilla, and gently smoked grains up front, to the then step things up with citrussy, cider-esque and candied fruit notes, before the affair is rounded out by toasted grains, cinnamon, banana and spicy highlights. Essentially, it provides what I consider one of the quintessential Brown Forman experiences, with this expression being an example par excellence for its merits.

Barton’s 1792 Bottled in Bond is a dram is based on a  ~7.5 year old bourbon bottled at 50% ABV and flavour-wise, is a tour de force traversing peppery, sweet cinnamon and pronounced rye territory comprised of woody, nutty and dominantly sweet nuances.

WHA’s Barrell Craft Spirits Single Barrel pick is another cracker and one of the more delicious rye cask strength drams I have had so far. It has a well-calibrated yin/yang going on ping ponging between a dominant melange of oak, peppery spices, leather and tobacco and honeyed vanilla and delicate floral notes, all of which are clearly distinguishable. Too damn bad that not unlike WHA’s other belters, this one has long sold out.

Summa summarum, Whiskey Hunt Australia is an entity that should be on the radar of anyone remotely interested in American Whiskeys. No matter if you are situated on terra australis or not - if you ever get a chance to snap up a bottle of the WHA barrel picks, you better move fast because if you blink, they are gone.

The Formative Years – Jan Hammer

Long before underground culture sucked me in, there was an American neo-noir crime-drama TV show being broadcast long past my bedtime on Saturday evenings, the weekly forty-eight minutes of which fascinated me immensely. 

While the scripts and stories were shite or non-existent at best – I doubt there has ever been a concept beyond the brainstorming memo “MTV cops” - the fact that the show was stylized beyond belief, drawing on 1980s new wave culture, and integrating contemporary music captured me and had me transfixed in front of the screen on a weekly basis. 

Clearly, the focus was firmly set on evoking emotions and delivering eye feasts galore rather than engaging plot lines, with the producers going as far as excluding certain colour schemes and going at great lengths to bend scripts to instead find suitable props and settings.

Apart from the incorporation of countless hits from the 1980s, the synthesized soundtrack fascinated me, which was created by Jan Hammer who was tasked to exclusively score the show with his instrumental pieces.

Needless to say, I had to get the original soundtrack on tape, so I could listen to it on my Walkman while trying to channel my inner Sonny Crockett in the best way possible, given that I was a prepuscendent lacking both the means and knowledge on how to acquire the necessary wardrobe nor having the ability to sport a designer stubble. 

At least I owned quite a bit of official merchandise in shades of pink, peach, fuchsia and other pastel colours along with posters of Sonny Crockett’s vehicles, i.e. Ferrari Daytona and Testarossa, and the sailboat he lived on.

Jan Hammer was the one-man band that contributed the integral wall-to-wall sonic component to the show with his swaggering Fairlight CMI synth arrangements that drove the narrative and covered at least thirty minutes of each episode. In other words, the man created pretty much an album per episode, which could have not come at a better time as Miami Vice was the first TV show that was presented in stereo in a cinematic way that was very movie-like.

It was the first time that I perceived TV music to be more than a utility and a facet that took on a life of its own.

Thus Let Us Drink Beer

Blackman’s, Bucketty’s and Bells Beach Brewing

Now, that’s quite an alliteration that we got ourselves here today with three veritable heavyweights in the domain of Australian craft brewing:

Blackman’s Brewing is based out of Torquay, surrounds that are known for its surfing culture and not necessarily on the map when it comes to craft beer breweries – something that founders Renn Blackman and his wife Jess set out to rectify. 

With Renn having honed his craft by not only studying the theoretical side of brewing but substantiating it with stints at a range or local breweries, Blackman Brewing as we know today incarnated eight years ago.
With the nomenclature being informed by the family name, the brewed emissions continued the tradition with names of the beers being derived from the Blackman family’s extended constituents, some of which I have been acquainted with recently – at least in liquid form.

Take for example Reginald the IPA, which being a West Coast India Pale Ale could not be better suited for Blackman’s Brewery and its surf culture inspired context. With an ABV of 6.2% we got an extremely sessionable IPA on our hands, which upon approach tickles the nostrils with its citrussy and stone fruity aromas, which rest on a well-calibrated foundation of maltiness and a bitterness that accentuates the piney highlights. Delicious.

Now, let’s dial things up a notch with Arthur, the Smoked Porter. I am usually not a big fan of dark beers, however, I do harbour a weak spot for Teutonic Rauchbiers, which is where Arthur excels with layers of smoke resting on a backbone of dark chocolate, nuttiness and orangey confectionary. 

Given the smoke, it would make sense to amplify the merits of e.g. a peaty Islay whisky, but I instead paired it with a dram of Springbank and it complemented it perfectly.’

Continuing the examination of Blackman’s in a vertical manner, the next level is reached with – wait for it - a Gin Barrel Aged Choc Berry Dark Ale. Subdued in the alcohol department with a moderate 6%, this dark brew has been matured in barrels that previously held Pinot Noir followed by Navy Strength Gin, with the result being a tour de force in the dark and sour realms of beers interweaved with cherry, coconut and dark chocolatey nuances. 

My favourite of Blackman’s range however is its Red IPA, which proved to be a veritable heavyweight, clocking in at 7.5% ABV. I love the triumvirate of hops comprised of Citra, Galaxy and Idaho 7, resulting in a passionfruity assault of cantaloupe and mango sitting against a backdrop of malty caramel.

Let’s move locations and head to wine country, i.e. the Hunter Valley to the picturesque Bucketty, where a brewery with the same name originally started its operations before its plan were shut down by the local council and they decided to relocate to the beaches North of Sydney, where they infused their brewery and taproom with the flavours and aesthetics derived from the location it emanated from to create a third place for people to connect.

Bucketty’s Lager is an integral component of their core line-up with head brewer Tony D’Astolfo channelling his alchemy in the creation of a German style pilsner, however, it would not be Bucketty’s if there was no idiosyncratic twist added. In this case, American hops play a dominant role, which adds a refreshingly citrussy facet to the earthy and medium malty flavours. 

Not bad, not bad at all.

While I have not had opportunity to try Bucketty’s other brews, their West Coast IPA plays in a league of its own. 

See, if you look at Bucketty’s at large, it is hard not to see the meticulous attention to detail – from the setup of their operations via the website to their exquisite range of merchandise.

With Bucketty’s head brewer having grown up on the West Coast of the US, mastering their WCIPA is obviously something close to his heart and it shows as in terms of dank and piney aromas, things are taken to the next level. 

Yes, there are hints of citrus, tangerine and tropical fruits lingering in the background, however, the focus is firmly set on huge hop aromas with an understated malt character, culminating in a dry finish to again let the wonderful melange of Amarillo, Mosaic, Simco and Strata hops take centre stage.

I can only hope that one of Tony’s next projects will see him tackling a hopped out double IPA…

Let’s revisit Torquay again…

As elaborated on early on in this instalment, Torquay and its context are heavily inspired by surf culture and given the quality of breweries mushrooming in the area, it proves to be a quite a hotbed and fertile ground for luminaries in the realm of artisanal beer crafting to set up their operations.

With a background in car engineering, which saw the founders not only work but also experience the local brews in Bavaria and the US, Bells Beach Brewing emitted its first brew six years ago in form of a Saison, which instantaneously was graced with a craft beer award. 

Not bad given that it took another two years until Bells Beach transitioned from gypsy brewing enterprise to setting up their own proper brewery, which eventually came to fruition in 2018.

Bells Beach’s core expression, i.e. Bird Rock, is a medium bodied brown ale and one that is situated on the deliciously sweet and syrupy end of the spectrum. 

I would go as far as claiming that it would make a borderline perfect dessert beer as the melange of distinct caramel flavours are interweaved with espresso highlights and further substantiated by nutty and dark chocolatey flavours. A malty, slightly oaky bitterness sits against a backdrop of citrus tinged flavours and a subdued fruitiness.

Not a bad start at all.

However, the expression that won me over is Bells Beach’s Edge Wet Hop IPA as with a grain bill comprised of light crystal, Munich and Caramalt and a winning quartet in the hop department, i.e. Cascade, Chinook, Magnum and Centennial, it showcases expertly everything I love about a great IPA:  

Waves of citrus and pine, set against a well-calibrated bitter bite, which culminates in a dangerously moreish caramel finish. 

With a moderate ABV of 6.2% a wonderfully sessionable brew that delivers on all fronts and one that has me savouring every sip and sniff with its beautiful bounty in the aroma.

Looks like once travel restrictions are lifted, a visit to Bells Beach’s Torquay will be in order…