Gabs

[doon]

What a great day! I heard someone in Dunny say lines sat arvo were crazy. Today no lines not busy at all. While some beers I would never drink again some of them were awesome had a great time with the missus even got down to Baden Powell after to have some Bacchus beers

 

[jayahhdee]

Yeah, Saturday lines were crazy, next year will definitely attend on Fri or Sun.

Beer of the day for me was the Bright IRA, awesome beer great flavour and nice bitterness, enjoyed plenty of others as well, the Feral Watermelon Warhead was intense, took sourness to another level.

Thoroughly enjoyable day all up.

 

[Adam Howard]

Yeastie Boys Gunnamatta IPA with earl grey. Spectacular, grew up with earl grey tea, blown away by how well it worked in an IPA.

Moon Dog.....amazing.....FUNK.

Wig and Pen Sour Blonde was a perfect summer quencher.

Bright IRA, Epic Zythos, MG 'Top Paddock', Rennaissance 'Stonecutter Oak', Emerson's Pilsner, Double Dubbel IPA = Superb.

Holgate Gruit Expectations was outstanding too.

Liberty S!mcoe had a mountain of diacetyl which was disappointing, love beers with Simcoe.

 

[super_simian]

Well, I volunteered Saturday for the day-session; and the lines were horrendous! My main gripe was that we didn't get a meal break for 7 hours (because it was so busy I presume) and then when we finished almost all the food vans were shut :angry: Seriously, working for nothing without any food isn't a great way to make people happy. But it did mean my food tokens could go on beer at the Sunday session; which was fantastic! Steered clear of the chili beers ( had a cheeky nip of a few during my shift, and was not impressed!) The Renaissance "Stonecutter" was just incredible, what a brilliant sipper. And the Janszoon Summer Ale was what session beer should be, IMHO. So many great beers, so little time! Doctor's Orders White IPA, Liberty Simcoe, Red Hill Sticke Alt...I could go on.

 

[Wolfy]

Well, I volunteered Saturday for the day-session; and the lines were horrendous! My main gripe was that we didn't get a meal break for 7 hours (because it was so busy I presume) and then when we finished almost all the food vans were shut :angry: Seriously, working for nothing without any food isn't a great way to make people happy. But it did mean my food tokens could go on beer at the Sunday session; which was fantastic! Steered clear of the chili beers ( had a cheeky nip of a few during my shift, and was not impressed!)

We were warned in advance that breaks might not be possible, but if you needed one desperately others would have covered your shift.
There were 3-4 chili beers, I found #7 far-and-away to pepper/hot for my taste, but know others liked it, however I found #11 was a wonderfully balanced chili stout, the chili did not hit you in the face but was just a hint/aftertaste which made it quite drinkable.

 

[Edak]

I really liked the sweet potato porter.

I also enjoyed the #7 chill beer, the green pepper style would go well with pizza. Chilli hit from 11 was enough to make me salivate but I wouldn't drink a whole pot of it.

#24 was really to my taste.

The sledgehammer PA left me with bitterness bitterness bruises.

 

[DarkFaerytale]

i was at the saturday afternoon session, i really enjoyed it, we arrived right on opening and found no lines for our first paddle, by the time we got to our second after something to eat though we were waiting for about 35 minutes. still the time went quickly and we both had a great day.

if you sore a bald guy with a long goatee and a scooby doo t-shirt on, that woulda been me.

stonecutter was my favourite but there were deffinatly some really out there and awesome beers. no more of that aniseed stout for me though thanks...

-Phill

 

[super_simian]

If by "desperately need" you mean the usual human requirement for food, then I perhaps should have spoken up! I just think it shows some poor organisation. Furthermore, there could have been some communication with the food vans; when it was apparent we weren't going to have a break, they could have asked them to stay open longer to give the volunteers (without whom there would be no event) a chance to get a bite after their shift.

On a personal note, it didn't help that I had a narrow margin to get to my actual paying job that night, and I can't have been the only one with such miserable hospo work hours (meaning waiting for the vans to re-open/going elsewhere wasn't a viable option).

Anyway, despite the sting of the food fail, I did actually have a pretty good time, it was great to meet some other beer nerds and help run such a sweet event. TBH, boning the free food tokens and instead having a volunteer sausage sizzle or similar might be a better bet next year.

 

[bconnery]

One thing I was very impressed with was their reaction to organisational issues.

So many festivals I've seen just let the issues run without bothering to react to them.

Queues at the paddle tables? Right, next session we'll hand them out at the front door and on the tables...
Paddle only tasters meaning people have tokens left? Ok, from now on you can buy individual tasters...
I understand that they also changed the bar serving system slightly from Friday as well.
And there were a few other little examples I saw.

The lines one was always going to be hard to fix on the day though...

Personally even in a long queue on Saturday night I never felt like it was that long. I just made sure I took my two paddles and the glass
I certainly can't say I hadn't had enough beer by the end of the session!

Oh, and the beers. The beers were just awesome!
Gannamatta IPA, Bright IRA, Moon Dog Mr Mephistoffeles and Feral Watermelon Warhead were my standouts but there were loads of others I could have mentioned.
I think there was about 2 I rated as completely awful, a couple more that were fairly meh, but I'd say well and truly less than 8-10 all told that didn't range from quite good to absolutely outstanding.

 

[redbeard]

For Sydney peeps who couldnt make it to Melb, a number of leftover kegs will make an appearance at the LocalTapHouse on Sat 2nd June. i have no idea which ones.

 

[Where's Jim?]

Yeastie Boys to release Gunnamatta Earl Grey IPA.

 

[DarkFaerytale]

[quote name='Where's Jim?' post='921420' date='Jun 7 2012, 11:20 AM']Yeastie Boys to release Gunnamatta Earl Grey IPA.

[/quote]

Gunnamatta technical information:
Malt: Golden Promise Pale Malt, Carapils, Caramunich, Wheat
Hops: Pacifica, Motueka, Southern Cross, Pacific Jade
Tea: Earl Grey Blue Flower from t leaft T
Yeast: Chico (US ale)
Alcohol: 6.5%abv
Bitterness: 52ibu

nice, thanks Where's Jim?

 

[Wolfy]

[quote name='Where's Jim?' post='921420' date='Jun 7 2012, 11:20 AM']Yeastie Boys to release Gunnamatta Earl Grey IPA.[/quote]
My first impression - trying the beer without reading the tasting notes - was that I was drinking used-dishwashing-water ... but I'm not a big tea-drinker, so that could be a factor.

 

[Adam Howard]

[quote name='bconnery' post='913510' date='May 18 2012, 12:04 PM']Oh, and the beers. The beers were just awesome!
Gannamatta IPA, Bright IRA, Moon Dog Mr Mephistoffeles and Feral Watermelon Warhead were my standouts but there were loads of others I could have mentioned.[/quote]

They were my top 4 with the Holgate Gruit Expectations and the Wig and Pen sour up there as well.

[quote name='Where's Jim?' post='921420' date='Jun 7 2012, 11:20 AM']Yeastie Boys to release Gunnamatta Earl Grey IPA.

[/quote]


:beerbang: :chug:

Heck yes. Bergamot in an IPA....cannot believe how well they made that work. I've been drinking earl grey tea from a very young age and to now have an IPA with that character = awesome. Would love to have a crack at a clone given the above info. Have to disagree about dishwater Wolfy!

 

[Wolfy]

Have to disagree about dishwater Wolfy!

After reading the tasting notes and changing the perception of what I was expecting, the beer was quite acceptable and I didn't mind it.
But it was still not my cup-of-tea.