Warm, Flat Ale

[Chief Bungle]

I'm a bit new to this discussion forum so excuse me if I'm barking up the wrong tree....

I'm a Beer lover from Wales UK who is emigrating to Sydney next month but I'm concerned that I'm going to be forced to consume vast quantities of lager instead of my favcourite tipple of ale - notably Brains SA.

I've heard rumours that ale is sold in Oz but do any of you know if Brains SA is one of them ?

Also I could you tell me if there are any commercially available Aussie Ales on the market down under that are similar to the British ones for me to keep my eye out for ?

Cheers

Dave

 

[Malnourished]

There's plenty of ale to be had here if you know where to look, but I'm 99.999% sure you won't find any Brains (ah, so many potential jokes here .)

Cask-conditioned ales are rare, but they are out there. I think the only place in Sydney serving such beers is the Nag's Head in Glebe, and that's only once a month. You may find yourself travelling to Canberra (the Wig & Pen) for your cask ale fix.

Bottled English ales are plentiful in places that specialise in beer and brands like Fullers are pretty widely available.

As for Aussie ales to recommend, I'd definitely start with Coopers. Little Creatures Pale Ale is great, but you might prefer something a bit more British like Grand Ridge Gippsland Gold or Holgate's Old Pale Ale (though this is pretty iffy in the bottle.) James Squire ales are pretty widely available but I suspect you might object to their fairly severe pasteurisation. When you get here, you should go straight to The Australian in the Rocks to get an idea of the Aussie micro scene (for better or worse.) And there are a few decent micros in Sydney - Redoak (in the city) and Paddy's (out in the suburbs) come to mind.

Hope this helps.

 

[Linz]

There is the pub in Balmain that does have the hand pumped Braidwood ESB on.

Also there a fair few here that have just purchased beer engines from the UK, so some good male bonding may be in order on arrival

 

[berapnopod]

I'm a Beer lover from Wales UK who is emigrating to Sydney next month but I'm concerned that I'm going to be forced to consume vast quantities of lager instead of my favcourite tipple of ale - notably Brains SA.

Dave, you won't see much in the line of what you're used to in Wales. Others have pointed you to your best leads, which are unfortunately rare.

You mentioned you're a beer lover, but you didn't say you were a home brewer.
Either way, if you want something like Brains SA to be available in some sort of regular fashion, the solution is simple: brew it yourself!

When you get here, I am sure you'll find plenty of people willing to help you out with getting started in brewing, if thats what you need, or if you're already brewing we can help you source local materials etc.

Berp.

 

[T.D.]

I was under the impression that James Squire beers were not pasteurised, but may be wrong as I heard it on a brewery tour quite a few years back. all the same, their IPA is quite a good english ale. I wouldn't say it was the perfect IPA but its a good strong English ale. Their amber ale is also good, but not bitter enough to be considered in the English bitter category, not to mention its lack of English hops. But again, a good flavoursome ale that should satisfy your needs. You can get more authentic English style ales if you look (and pay!!) hard enough, but the James Squire stuff is everywhere and is a good place to start.

I also tried the Mountain Goat Hightail Ale recently and it is quite a good English style beer.

 

[Ross]

Chief bungle,

Welcome to the forum boyo :beer: ...

Even harder than finding a good pint (though they are around, as mentioned above) & what you will really miss, is a good "British style" pub. i've been in a few that look the part, but there is still something missing... So inevitably you'll find yourself drinking far more at home & at social gatherings amongst your new friends.

So take a tip - It's inevitable that you'll start brewing yourself & eventually that will lead to All-grain brewing, as you crave the tastes left behind in Wales - so join a local craftbrewing club when you arrive & take the plunge asap.
The added bonus (certainly in my case), is that craft brewing has opened my horizons to beers from all around the world - to think that I thought American ales consisted purely of Becks & Bud...

& welcome to Aus... it's a wonderful country...

cheers Ross

 

[Stuster]

Brains SA. I grew up on that stuff. Brings back good, if hazy, memories.

Totally agree with Ross. Pubs here are not really the same. Beer is not the same either. There are some good Aussie beers (and pubs), though you'd never guess it from the majority of pubs.

Unless money is no object and you can buy all imported beer, the only way to drink the sort of beer you are after is to make it yourself. As Ross says, you then find the whole world of great beer.

Just to help you adjust you could bring a keg of SA with you and ,just to be friendly like, I can help you with that. :chug:

Cheers
Stuart

 

[KoNG]

Chief,
the 'elephant and wheelbarrow' on oxford street has a few english ales, but nothing great. last time i visited they had Old speckled Hen, Boddingtons and Bass to name a few, all of those on nitrogen though.
As mentioned previously many of the better "offy's" have a decent bottled range if you search.
Also i was in RedOak yesterday on Clarence street and they are in the process of setting up a hand pump for use with a bitter, so it doesnt go through the usual cold australian beer lines (which i had complained to them about previously) this will please you in your attempt for warm and flat .

 

[neonmeate]

.
Also i was in RedOak yesterday on Clarence street and they are in the process of setting up a hand pump for use with a bitter, so it doesnt go through the usual cold australian beer lines (which i had complained to them about previously)

[post="121506"][/post]​

ah that is good news. hope they don't keep filtering and coldconditioning their ales before they run em through that. (and i hope they use some bloody hops)

 

[KoNG]

agreed...!
although the 'dark mild' is getting closer (from memory).

 

[delboy]

ello dibach
welcome to the forum from an ex pat taffy like your self boyo.

you are 100% correct about aussie made beer they are mainly in the lager catagory but as all the members here have said if you are not brewing it would be good to join a club and brew your own to emulate what you are looking for .yes there is the international beer club in perth W.A which have an excellent range of english and welsh ales but this can work out quite pricy if your a big drinker of milk from the motherland boyo, if you can make some calls to the brewery that make your ale up they might tell or give you some pointers but even then i doubt that very much or you could see if you can get on a tour to see the place and keep a sharp eye out for information .

i make a few english ales my self and pull themup on an engine in my own littel pub in the back yard .i buit the pub not to be a show off but to keep in touch with my background .

if you are emirgrating to australia it would be a good idea to buy a few beer engines with you and some "king keg " pressure barrels bottom tap modles with you .so when you start brewing our own here you have got the heavy bits here and dont need to get them sent over later. and even if you dont want too brew you can always sell them off on this forum.

anyway cymru am beth dibach keep in touch.

DELBOY :beer:

 

[Chief Bungle]

Cheers for all the info.

I've read about the monthly goings on at the Nag's head and I may well pop down there when I arrive to see what they have on offer to start with.

In the longer term though, the general concensus on here seems to be that brewing a 'bungle-esque' version of Brains SA is the way forward.

Basically instead of exploring every nook & cranny searching Sydney for my holy grail I could very well be brewing one of my very own back home.

Thanks for the tips lads - Once we get settled I'm sure I'm going to have a good laugh having a very enjoyable pastime.

Speak Soon

Chief Bungle

ello dibach
welcome to the forum from an ex pat taffy like your self boyo.

you are 100% correct about aussie made beer they are mainly in the lager catagory but as all the members here have said if you are not brewing it would be good to join a club and brew your own to emulate what you are looking for .yes there is the international beer club in perth W.A which have an excellent range of english and welsh ales but this can work out quite pricy if your a big drinker of milk from the motherland boyo, if you can make some calls to the brewery that make your ale up they might tell or give you some pointers but even then i doubt that very much or you could see if you can get on a tour to see the place and keep a sharp eye out for information .

i make a few english ales my self and pull themup on an engine in my own littel pub in the back yard .i buit the pub not to be a show off but to keep in touch with my background .

if you are emirgrating to australia it would be a good idea to buy a few beer engines with you and some "king keg " pressure barrels bottom tap modles with you .so when you start brewing our own here you have got the heavy bits here and dont need to get them sent over later. and even if you dont want too brew you can always sell them off on this forum.

anyway cymru am beth dibach keep in touch.

DELBOY :beer:

[post="121516"][/post]​

 

[Sean]

Cheers for all the info.

I've read about the monthly goings on at the Nag's head and I may well pop down there when I arrive to see what they have on offer to start with.

In the longer term though, the general concensus on here seems to be that brewing a 'bungle-esque' version of Brains SA is the way forward.

Basically instead of exploring every nook & cranny searching Sydney for my holy grail I could very well be brewing one of my very own back home.

Thanks for the tips lads - Once we get settled I'm sure I'm going to have a good laugh having a very enjoyable pastime.

Speak Soon

Chief Bungle

S.A. shouldn't be too hard to duplicate reasonably with the right yeast (Wyeast Thames Valley makes a passable version of RD, but SA needs something a bit more fruity - recultured Coopers perhaps). Like Ross said, the thing you are likely to miss in the long run are decent pubs. The pubs down here (even the best ones) aren't remotely like a proper English or Welsh one.

 

[Linz]

Chief,
the 'elephant and wheelbarrow' on oxford street has a few english ales, but nothing great. last time i visited they had Old speckled Hen, Boddingtons and Bass to name a few, all of those on nitrogen though.
As mentioned previously many of the better "offy's" have a decent bottled range if you search.
Also i was in RedOak yesterday on Clarence street and they are in the process of setting up a hand pump for use with a bitter, so it doesnt go through the usual cold australian beer lines (which i had complained to them about previously) this will please you in your attempt for warm and flat .

[post="121506"][/post]​

Bad news for all,

Ross 'tried' the hand pumped ale at the redoak tonight on the crawl......


.....Handed it straight back and got a refund......

 

[Doc]

Chief,
the 'elephant and wheelbarrow' on oxford street has a few english ales, but nothing great. last time i visited they had Old speckled Hen, Boddingtons and Bass to name a few, all of those on nitrogen though.
As mentioned previously many of the better "offy's" have a decent bottled range if you search.
Also i was in RedOak yesterday on Clarence street and they are in the process of setting up a hand pump for use with a bitter, so it doesnt go through the usual cold australian beer lines (which i had complained to them about previously) this will please you in your attempt for warm and flat .

[post="121506"][/post]​

Bad news for all,

Ross 'tried' the hand pumped ale at the redoak tonight on the crawl......


.....Handed it straight back and got a refund......

[post="122026"][/post]​

Should they have bought an aspirator in our bulk buy ?

Doc

 

[Jens-Kristian]

There's a brewpub in the Rocks called "The Lord Nelson" which isn't half bad.

It can't compete with an English pub for atmosphere, but I rather enjoyed it. It's one of the genuinely old pubs in Sydney (if I remember correctly it was founded in the 1840s).

They also brew their own, and I had a couple of pints of it. Very good stuff.

Cheers,

Jens-Kristian

 

[Jens-Kristian]

I found their homepage, too.

The Lord Nelson Hotel

When I said before that it doesn't live up to an English pub, I think I may have been overstating that a little. It is actually a very atmospheric place with nice stone walls and a good feel to it. Not as dark as many pubs in England, but somehow still has it.

If you go to their home page they also have a description of their beers, which I managed to sample a few of and really loved.

Cheers,

Jens-Kristian