Anhc - What Did You Learn?

[buttersd70]

This was put up on a slide, all on its own, by Phil Sexton. I was waiting for him to make some very sage point, but he just reiterated the words without further explanation.

I was perplexed to say the least.

Berp.

Reading this got me curious. I had a bit of a search, and came up with this old article in The Age.....

Phil Sexton, who founded Matilda Bay in 1983 and now runs the Giant Steps winery in the Yarra Valley, has been both brewer and winemaker at different stages of his career.

"To me, the art of winemaking is about taking the raw material - grapes, which hopefully you've grown yourself - and being true to the fruit," he says. "It's about telling the same story with different twists and turns. You weave together the story of the fruit, but don't cover up or hide the variations.

"Brewing, however, is about varying the raw materials, and trying to bring them together to create the same product every time. You tell the same story over and over, with the technical challenges inherent in that process."

Sexton is happy to say wine has more subtleties of taste than beer.

"People are kidding themselves if they compare high-end beer to high-end wine in terms of complexity," he says. "Wine is more multi-layered in character, texture, flavour and structure."

But Sexton loves the unique characteristics of beer, too: "With spicy food there's nothing better than a Guinness."

This is only the Phil Sexton part. the whole article is here

 

[bconnery]

I also found this statement perplexing. I wondered whether he was talking from a perception point of view, the wider public having this idea, but it appears not...
I find it inherently sad that a man responsible for so much good in the area of craft brewing in Australia holds this view.
It's like he is saying that brewing has to be driven by market forces and appeal to the lowest common denominator but wine has free reign.

If I wasn't preaching to the converted I'd start on my rant about why he is wrong, at least in my very strongly held opinion, but I came close enough to going down that path several times at the conference after many a few tasters...

I realise that brewers have to survive but after so many of us had felt that the man from Fosters had talked entirely in terms of product rather than beer, even when asked about a specific beer, it was disappointing from my point of view to hear someone who in theory should have been more "one of us" essentially do the same thing.

It was good to hear some of the things he said, and I enjoyed looking out for the Fosters guy in the front row while he held forth on his bitterness at the treatment of Mathilda Bay by them and the general behaviour of the big breweries, but overall I was left with very mixed impressions by his talk.

 

[Fatgodzilla]

It was good to hear some of the things he said, and I enjoyed looking out for the Fosters guy in the front row while he held forth on his bitterness at the treatment of Mathilda Bay by them and the general behaviour of the big breweries, but overall I was left with very mixed impressions by his talk.

Re Phil Sexton. Having read a few reviews and articles by the man that made him look an inspired choice as a presenter at the conference, I went in looking forward to a good speech. However his dull, lifeless and mono tone presentation style and the heat of the room all but put me to sleep, so I left the room, went next door, had a couple of beers and a good chat with the Better Bottle people. Returned for the last three or so minutes and proved to myself that the ten minutes and two beers next door was an inspired choice. Nothing I have read here has lead me to a different conclusion.

It's as I said to the committee, he was a dud presenter who failed to recognise the audience he was addressing and that the subject matter he presented to his audience was unsuitable for the time and occasion. I for one was disappointed and feel disappointed for the ANHC committee - a well credentialled speaker turned in a lead balloon effort. From what I have read, he was distracted by circumstances, but from what I heard, I doubt that made a difference.

 

[troydo]

in regards to the fosters octoberfest.. it still has that damn yeast character all thier beers had... and clubnight WOO

Ashers oktoberfest was Fricken awesome!!

 

[Fatgodzilla]

in regards to the fosters octoberfest.. it still has that damn yeast character all thier beers had... and clubnight WOO

Ashers oktoberfest was Fricken awesome!!

Agree with first point. The Foster brew was clearly a well made brew - just lacked BLING. It was to Octoberfest as VB is to Australian lager - well made, no harsh flavours or aroma, just ... dull. Thanks to Fosters for making it - really appreciate the effort and co operation and sponsorship, but my thoughts are they didn't want to make anything too good cos them we would all say - "Look what Fosters can do if they really try " It almost seemed as if they were scared to brew something outside their comfort zone. Good on them for a great contribution to ANHC and my Claude Nine will sit in storage to age and be drunk at next year's ANHC. Just a tad underwhelmed with their Octoberfest.

Can't remember too much about the individual beers on Club Night, but I tasted some rippers. I can remember saying that one octoberfest I tasted was brilliant - if that was Asher's, then great stuff. Actually I didn't taste a bad beer all weekend - just some were better than others. That's beer for you.

 

[kevo]

As I wasn't going I didn't really keep up with speakers etc.

But recall that Graeme Sanders was to speak early on.

Did he end up speaking? What about if he did?

Did anyone listen?

 

[Aaron]

Did he end up speaking?

No.

 

[kevo]

Do you know why?

I was quite keen to hear what he had to say as such an outspoken person - I was interested to see how he would present in person and how he would be recieved.

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

Do you know why?

I was quite keen to hear what he had to say as such an outspoken person - I was interested to see how he would present in person and how he would be received.

As quoted much earlier, he had family factors to deal with.Hope he is on board next year to get a Aussie perspective from the Guru.Love him or not he is an influence/ego here.

 

[Ray_Mills]

I learnt to only make one change or you'll never know what change it was that made your next beer super great or super crap. Consistency is the key here... be pedantic about consistency.

This is true, and its a big thing i learned, I enjoyed the talk by jamil as it was not a technical talk, just a lot of commonsence really
Cheers
Ray

 

[brendanos]

in regards to the fosters octoberfest.. it still has that damn yeast character all thier beers had...

Yeah it's rather hard to appreciate "fine malt" and "noble hop" character when there's a rather outspoken Australian yeast character talking over the top of them.

 

[Back Yard Brewer]

Oooohhh!!

One other thing I learnt from Chris White (I think)...

If you ferment at high temperatures, levels of acetaldehyde (green apples) go up considerably.
Much more pronounced than esters or fusels.


Berp.

Yes how true. I will be keeping a closer eye on my fernetation during the warm weather in particular. One of my SABSOSA entries had that exact problem according to my judging sheet. Something that I had noticed myself but could not explain the taste or how it happened until the conference information.

BYB

 

[BrenosBrews]

This was put up on a slide, all on its own, by Phil Sexton. I was waiting for him to make some very sage point, but he just reiterated the words without further explanation.

I was perplexed to say the least.

Berp.

I think he said it just to try and be a smart arse/stir some **** in a joking around way. He should stick to business development...did he actually look up from his notes ONCE?