3 Ravens The Ravenator Bock

Tasted Thursday 8 July 2010. 5.8% Alc/Vol

Australia

Sweet malt aromas, sublt yeasty/vegemite characters  and roasted nuts. Thin head that disappeared quickly. Light to medium body with plenty of flavour. Sweet malt, leading to a dry finish with orange/caramel toasty notes. Very smooth and rich with decent length and balance with a suggestion of hops.  A very good beer and easy drinking – too easy.

3 Ravens Ale Noir Oak Aged Smoke Beer

Tasted Thursday 8 July 2010. 750ml bottle, 5.4% Alc/Vol

Australia

This is the Dark Smoke beer aged in French oak barrels that was used to mature Pinot Noir from the Geelong region. An initial dense off white head quickly dissipated. The nose was gorgeous dirty, burnt rubber, earthy and peaty and a touch of toffee. Smooth mouthfeel, slightly sweet malt character, earthy and peaty and charry. Light bodied and very smooth with some seasoned woodiness and seaweed notes. Tangy and salty on the finish and very dry. An excellent smoke beer.

Harrington’s Big John Special Reserve – Scotch Ale

Tasted Tuesday 29 June 2010. 500ml bottle, 6.5% Alc/Vol.

New Zealand

This has been infused with authentic Kentucky Bourbon. Which brand or how, I’m not sure. Maybe the brewer in the middle of a bender accidentally tipped a bottle in the mix trying to brew under the influence. The result? Quite nice actually. Perhaps not as strong or complex as some Scotch Ales but this will suffice on a cold winters evening, and at 6.5% alcohol a couple more can happily be consumed. It is big rich and malty. Sweetness up front with liqueur-like spirit undertones plus burnt toffee, banana, clove and a hint of smokiness. It is very well balanced with medium carbonation, a smooth dryish finish and low to mild hop content. Very yum indeed.

Find at Purvis Cellars

Beer Ambassadors – Craft Beer Tour of the USA. 30 Breweries, 300 beers.

Follow these intrepid gentlemen (although that could be just a vicious rumour) on their journey of discovery. The following text is copied directly from a email from the Beer Ambassadors (unedited).

30 Breweries in 30 Days

On Sunday the 6^th of June, three dedicated “men of beer” (and one IT Technician from London) set out to explore the new world beer frontier, the home of the beer avant garde, the United States of America.

These men are the Beer Ambassadors. Beer Academics traveling on behalf of beer, in the pursuit of beer, for the sake of beer. The journey will be documented on www.BeerAmbaasadors.com.

During the month of June, Barney Matthews & Miro Bellini of Beer DeLuxe, Tom Delmont of Mountain Goat Brewery and Jason Duffett (IT expert) will attempt to visit 30 breweries and taste upwards of 300 beers in 30 days.

Australia’s beer culture is experiencing somewhat of a renaissance.

• New beers/breweries are bubbling forth
• Home brewing is at a height unseen since the depression
• The overall beer market is shrinking, while the craft beer segment is growing

Similar factors were apparent in the USA during the 90’s. The real beer revolution struck hard in the States and today they enjoy well over 1500 craft breweries.

The Beer Ambassadors have organized tours of some of the most highly regarded breweries. Some eccentric, some historic, some giant, some tiny, all of them driven by epicurean values.

www.BeerAmbassadors.com will be a regularly updated source where you can enjoy:

• Photos of the breweries and products
• Interviews with the brewers
• An insight into the beer & food culture developing in the US
• Menus from specialty beer bars
• Gentlemanly discourse/anecdotes

For more information contact us in info@beerambassadors.com

Find us on:

Twitter: beerambassadors

Facebook: beerambassadors

Blog: http://www.beerambassadors.blogspot.com/

Yeastie Boys Pot Kettle Black (PKB)

Tasted Tuesday 1 June 2010. 330ml bottle, 6.0% Alc/Vol

New Zealand

Lots has been written and talked about regarding Yeastie Boys beers, and this one in particular. It is our pleasure to be able to source some fantastic New Zealand craft beers including this one.

An unusual style, this beer claims to be a cross between a Porter and IPA. So what do you call it? A hoppy Porter or a dark IPA? Well either would work.

It certainly pours dark, nearly jet black, but holding it up to light is a deep dark brown. It has a smallish head that hangs about, is fairly dense and off-white in colour, with roasted/burnt nutty malt and big hoppy aromas. The palate is medium bodied with medium carbonation. Sweet malt is interlaced with hoppy bitterness from front to back of palate with bitter chocolate, caramel and charcoal. There is a creamy, glycerol-like mouthfeel and yet quite dry on the finish. I expected a beer of two parts, but this seems to work very well in providing a fairly seamless array of flavours. Challenging though and hard to see as a session beer, but some will disagree. This has a high enjoyment factor and it is worth tracking down. You can find it here at Purvis Cellars.

Awards

• Silver Medal (Porters) – 2010 Australian International Beer Awards
• Best in Class (Porters and Stouts) and Gold Medal – 2009 BrewNZ Beer Awards
• People’s Choice – Beervana 2009

Belgian Beer Tasting May 19

Another fantastic and exclusive beer was held on Wednesday May 19 after hours. Thanks to all those members who attended and sorry to those who missed out. We couldn’t have possible squeezed any more in. We were fortunate enough to acquire the services of Peter Van Osta, Marketing guru of small boutique Belgian breweries in the Asia region and we thank him for his time.

Peter went through a selection of Belgian beers for us which will be in-store soon but are extremely limited. Also we had Rick from ATP distributors assisting and showing off a few of his other lines including the lovely Tenute Collesi beers from Italy.

A great night was had by all and some bloody good beers were tried. Some pics of the evening below:

Just some of the line-up

The line-up from another angle......

Getting to the nitty gritty of the tasting. Some great beers were had.

Another good crowd for a 'small' tasting., and this is just half of them!

Intense Note Taking

Peter van Osta indicates the size of Gnomes in Belgium.

Rick of ATP and Purvis store manager Adam.

A few ringins from Italy, Tenute Collesi. Very good beers!

Beer Tasting in Wine Glasses - Classy...

More extensive note taking

Adam decides enough is enough, time for a drink.

Craig Purvis and Peter van Osta deciding on their knock-off beers.

Estrella Damm Inedit

Tasted Thursday 20 May 2010. 750ml bottle, 4.8% Alc/Vol

Spain

elBulli is one the world’s most famous and exclusive restaurants. Three star Michelin rated plus it has been rated as the world’s best restaurant a record 5 times by Restaurant magazine. Open only six months of the year it takes bookings on one day of the year. For approximately 8000 seats available each season they get around two million requests and it will cost 250 Euro per head.

Inedit means “Never Been Done Before”.
The beer has been crafted in cooperation with Estrella Damm and highly acclaimed elBulli chefs Ferran Adria and Juli Soler and sommeliers Ferran Centelles and David Seijas to specifically match foods that contain:

• Citrus and Oils: salads, vinegar based sauces
• Bitter Notes. i.e. asparagus, artichokes, rucula
• Oily textures. i.e. salmon, tuna, fatty cheese

Brewed with wheat malt, barley malt, hops, coriander, orange peel, yeast and water.
Golden and clear in colour with a dense fluffy white head. Moderately intense aromas of sweet citrus, hay and grass, herbal notes and spice. Its lovely soft and creamy mouthfeel is light and refreshing with balanced carbonation. Some fruitiness is backed by yeast, spice and herbal character, finishing with reasonable length. This is a very likable beer and very easy to drink.
Recommended.

Brewboys Ace of Spades Stout

Tasted Wednesday 14 April. 330ml bottle, 5.9% Alc/Vol

Australia

The excitement grew when pouring this beer, its enticing blackness rivaled only by the depths of night. A foamy espresso coloured head sat proud and dense like the cream on a Vienna coffee. The dark roasted aromas suggested charred nuts, sweet blackberry, crushed rock minerality and a strangely attractive dirty character like the old oil smell of a car workshop floor. The palate is bittersweet, not too much in the either direction of dry or sweet, combining roasted/charcoal flavours perfectly integrated with a very creamy body, soft blackberry fruitiness, coffee bean, dark chocolate then finishing with a dryish, gentle and lingering bitterness. This stout is not a huge face slapping hit of flavour, rather it is well balanced, rich and complete, and is easy to enjoy and sturdy enough to be a true strong stout. Quite sensational.

Purchase

Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA

Tasted Wednesday 1 April 2010. 330 ml bottle. 7.2% Alc/Vol

California, USA

Ahh, now this is a beer for serious hop heads; no-holds barred assertively hopped American IPA. What makes this fantastic is that it is well balanced and easily enjoyable. You have to like the style though. It is bright traffic-light amber in colour with a thin off-white head. The aromas are powerful and aggressive giving huge fresh pine scents, fruity notes of passionfruit, orange rind, biscuit, backed by a faint herbal/peppery character.

The palate is well balanced and the beer surprisingly easy to drink. It is medium in body and big on flavour, like a fat man on a moped. There is a lovely malty middle palate with fruity tones of ripe peach, pine resin, pepper, biscuit and caramel. The malt carries the extreme bittering hops, driving front to back, incredibly well for a while before unleashing them on the back palate leaving a mouth-watering yet cleansing bitter hop finish that lasts for ages. Whole hop cones are used in this beer as well as a revolutionary Hop Torpedo system that is a unique way of dry hopping the beer to capture essential oils and resin. The result is a beer big on flavour and extreme in hop character, just way a true hop addict likes it.

Bitterness Units – 65

Malts – Two-row Pale, & Crystal

Bittering Hops – Magnum

Finishing Hops – Magnum & Crystal

Dry Hopping – Magnum, Crystal & Citra

Australian Craft Beer Festival. March 2010. Wrap-up.

Thanks to all those who attended this annual event. We got a lot of positive feedback from customers and brewers/representatives alike, so we thank you all. It was a cracking night with plenty of fantastic Australian craft beers including some special new ones that had their first official public showings. Included were the Little Creatures Small Batch IPA, the amazing Holgate Beelzebub’s Jewels Barley Wine, Red Duck’s Golden Dragon Strong Celtic Ale and The Ox Imperial Stout, Stone & Woods new Draught Ale made with Australia’s home-grown Galaxy hop, and plenty more.

Best selling beers on the night (in no particular order):

• Brewers Pure Malt Ale
• Bridge Rd Brewers Galaxy IPA
• Kooinda Pale Ale
• Effen Lager
• Lord Nelson Three Sheets
• Flying Horse Whale Ale
• Epic Armageddon – Yes, a ring-in but it was part of the tasting…..
• Hawthorn Pale Ale
• James Squire Golden Ale
• Mad Brewers Orchard Ale – Saison
• Mountain Goat Small Batch IPA
• Prickly Moses Stout
• Stone & Wood Draught Ale
• Sweetwater Weissbier
• Temple Brewery Saison
• White Rabbit Dark Ale
• Wicked Elf Mad Abbot Triple
• Red Duck Porter
• Matsos Ginger Beer
• Boatrocker Alpha Queen

Photos

And one of the big guns of the night, Holgate Beelzebub's Jewels. Not even labelled yet!

Another newie. Stone & Wood Draught Ale, yum!

Bill, (Brewers Fine Ales) and Eric, (Grand Ridge) explain the finer points of their beers...

3 Ravens, another popular choice for the night.

Hands off!

Adam doing a jig....

Best selling beer of the night!

Another happy customer!

Big turn out.

Ditto...

Duck......!

Getting a taste for the Devil! The Beelzebub Jewels.

John and the awesome Epic beers from New Zealand

Little Creatures Small Batch IPA gets its first outing.

More Beelzebub anybody....?