Fed Square Microbreweries Showcase

[fcmcg]

The number of beer drinkers of the better kind seem to be increasing exponentially every time this thing is on. Along with the quality as well!

I went last night...they closed the door at 600 punters..at about 6.30...which was still plenty packed...it was a good perve too lol...one thing though...people who get their beer and then stand there...not talking to the brewers...make it hard for those who want a beer and who do want to talk to the brewer....
I did enjoy Redhill Temptation ALOT...i did bridge road Bling ( damn hoppy IPA )...and even matilda bay Big Helga ( hoppy as...although i did ask how old it was and they said 3 weeks...i don't think those hops will last lol )
I was wearing my "Beer will change the world t-shirt"...i did run into 5 guys from Westgate brewers...but no-one from here said hello !
Anyway...twas a good night regardless !
Cheers
Ferg

 

[sam]

I didn't go in, just hung out at Beer Deluxe and made the most of Temples pale ale through a Randall with whole US Cascade. Looked busy inside.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

I went - not too bad. As people said, it got crowded after a while, but not so bad you couldn't get a beer. We got there at 4:25 and had a ticket in our hand 30secs after they started selling... things were fairly civilized for the first 60mins or so then it started to get busy, but I had done the majority of what I wanted by then anyway.

Wanted to taste breweries I had either not tasted before, or only once. Then after I had done that, new beers from older hands.

Set targets for:

Bellarine Brewing - Queenscliff Ale v'good - Mussel stout pretty damn good - Lonsdale lager quite good - rest... not so good

Effen Brewing - One beer - and despite hating the marketing angle they are taking, its a good one. Nothing earth shattering but a solid euro style lager. Like a slightly lighter bodied Peroni.

Hawthorn Brewing Co - just a Pale ale. Its a good one. A really balanced beer with a remarkable even palate. There was maltiness, hoppiness and good body... but all very very balanced and even with none of the flavours or aromas sticking out or dominating. You could call it boring... but I call it drinkable and superbly constructed. Maybe a touch astringent if you want to be fussy.

Sweetwater Brewing - 4 beers, rock solid. Nothing to blow your socks off, but a set of four I would happily sit down to drink any old day. The Golden Bitter was the best of them IMO

Three Troupers - A Pale and a Pilsner, neither of which I would really bother with if there were other choices. Not bad, but not what I would call good either.

Arctic Fox - I had tried the lager before and it was a nasty nasty train wreck of a beer. Its not any more... now its just averagely unpleasant instead of truly horrible. The Pale ale is slightly less bad.

And apart from that it was new beers from more familiar brewers.

Fourstar pointed me to the Bright Brewery Lager ... Fourstar - you are a *******. That beer beats out Arctic fox as the number one worst beer i have ever had. It was truly lousy and I tipped it out.. forced to go to Three Ravens for a good beer to make the horrible aftertaste go away.

Otway estate - sorry, but I tried two more of them and still haven't had a good beer from this brewery.

Holgate Nut brown - well and truly up to their usual High standard

Redhill Baltic Porter - a Grand beer. Smooth smooth smooth

3 Ravens - got the last 4 or 5 of my tickets. Their Bourbon Barrel ale was delicious. Too much bourbon and too much oak... but damn it was nice anyway. And all their other beer is as usual superb.


I was a little disappointed really - more than half the new beers I tried were at best mediocre in quality; and at worst really called into question the brewer's ability to actually tell what is a good beer, let alone brew one. And this lack of quality was only underlined by the absolutely beautiful beers that some of the other brewers, especially some of the more established operations, were presenting.

 

[HoppingMad]

Well I was like a kid in a candy store last night. A dizzying range of goodies to be had.

Standouts for me:
- Bellarine Mussell Stout - Beautiful, apparently they add mussels in a canister into the secondary for 30 minutes and it gives the beer a slight saltiness. Interesting marketing idea, and barely detectable in the end taste, but a beautifully balanced chocolatey beer nevertheless - best of the night for me.
- Matilda Bay Big Helga - A lager that tastes more like a pale version of Fat Yak. Big resiny hop flavours in a lager - sounds strange but it works. Really liked this one.
- 2 Brothers Rusty Belgian Pale & Taxi Pilsener - Great Belgian with some kick, and a good pils with a dry almost dortmunder edge to it.
- Sweetwater - All were good, the Porter with its light smokiness was a goodie and the Golden Ale I think it was - quite nice.
- Boatrocker Queen Alpha - Great example of a pale ale brewed by a homebrewer of 15 years who has just embarked on his first commercial. Brewed on contracted gear while the brewery gets their own gear together - loved this beer, one I would recommend.
- Coldstream Ale - Have heard these guys beers can be hit and miss, but their coppery coloured ale was really nice. Big grain flavour and low hop. Quite a different beer compared to a lot of others available on the night.
- Hargreaves Hefeweizen - Good example with a nice banana hit.

Not so standout:
- Bellarine Queenscliff Ale - Cut apple flavour, might have got a dud bottle but tasted like acetyl to me. A shame considering their stout was so good.
- Otway Brewery's range - Persisted and tried all their beers right through to the Farmhouse and was disappointed with all - very bland and no standout flavours.
- A couple of lagers from assorted brewers that were just ok, nothing amazing.
- Hawthorn Ale - Was a nicely balanced beer but very mainstream and dull. Don't think they used POR, might have been EKG but that was the only thing you could taste in the beer to make it anything above just ok.

Steered clear of the Effen beer as was a little suspicious of the 'joke beer' name. I give novelty beers like that about 2 years in the market before the joke wears off and the advertising budget dries up. A mate had the Temple Saison and loved it, and another couple of mates had 3 Raven's beer stored in wood with bourbon and said it was amazing.

The randalised Temple Pale (Fat Boy with NZ Saaz D) at Beer Deluxe was a great way to finish the night. :icon_drool2:

Enjoyed the event after not going for two years. The fact they kept a lid on numbers was a great move as was able to have good chats with a few of the brewers. Will be back for more next year!

Hopper.

 

[Fourstar]

Bellarine Brewing - Queenscliff Ale v'good - Mussel stout pretty damn good - Lonsdale lager quite good - rest... not so good

Sweetwater Brewing - 4 beers, rock solid. Nothing to blow your socks off, but a set of four I would happily sit down to drink any old day. The Golden Bitter was the best of them IMO

Fourstar pointed me to the Bright Brewery Lager ... Fourstar - you are a *******. That beer beats out Arctic fox as the number one worst beer i have ever had. It was truly lousy and I tipped it out.. forced to go to Three Ravens for a good beer to make the horrible aftertaste go away.

Otway estate - sorry, but I tried two more of them and still haven't had a good beer from this brewery.

Holgate Nut brown - well and truly up to their usual High standard

3 Ravens - got the last 4 or 5 of my tickets. Their Bourbon Barrel ale was delicious. Too much bourbon and too much oak... but damn it was nice anyway. And all their other beer is as usual superb.

Looks like you had some fun Thirsty!

The Mussel stout was rather tasty, although no saltiness tasted (which is what i expected) was a very well rounded stout. I could suck back a few of these with no issue.

Sweetwater, apart from their strange looking label (like its been ripped out of a 70's childrens book) have some really awesome beers. Their english bitter they have is rather enjoyable. Sweet crystal and a heavy nutty maris otter style backing.

Ha! Glad you liked the Bright - 'summer' lager. Did she try adn sell it to you as 'an easy drinking, not full on lager'. (ive never known a light coloured standard abv lager to be 'full on') 'Oh, by the way, the apple aroma you get is from the combination of yeast and hops!' :huh: :lol:

I have NFI why they where serving that to the punters!

As for 3 ravens, on wednesday they only had their golden ale and a ginger beer! Wish i got to taste the wood aged beer.

Was a good night either way, too bad the snags where lousy! <_<

 

[HoppingMad]

'Oh, by the way, the apple aroma you get is from the combination of yeast and hops!' :huh: :lol:
I have NFI why they where serving that to the punters!

Yeah, was a weird drop that Queenscliff Ale - I had to check they hadn't poured me a cider by mistake! Then realised only Coldstream had a cider, not Bellarine.

Sounds like Thirsty liked that one and got a good version of it on the same night so I might have just got a weird bottle. Mine was quite cloudy in the glass, so I may have copped some of the yeast in it. Just stood out as odd in flavour in contrast to every other beer I tried on the night. Hmmm... :huh:

Hopper.

 

[Fourstar]

Yeah, was a weird drop that Queenscliff Ale - I had to check they hadn't poured me a cider by mistake! Then realised only Coldstream had a cider, not Bellarine.

Thirsty and i where actually talking about Bright Brewery - Summer lager.

looks like you got something dodgy there with the bellarine.

 

[HoppingMad]

Thirsty and i where actually talking about Bright Brewery - Summer lager.

looks like you got something dodgy there with the bellarine.

Oops, there you go. Come to think of it tried the Bright one you mention as well and wasn't blown away by it.

Hopper.