Weekend Australian

[arsenewenger]

If anyones is interested in the Weekend Aus the weekend there is a liftout done buy James Halladay rating the top 100 wines in Australia.

Also there is a sub section in which Phil Sexton rates the top 20 Boutique Beers in Australian , well worht a read . He did it out of a sample size of 250 beers over three days which I am sure is no mean feet.


I have no affiliation with any of this just thought people mgiht be interested

Cheers
AW :beer:

 

[Aaron]

It would be interesting if they had a clue. They rated Pure Blonde and VB Original Ale among the top20. There are some good beers in there but I don't think they have really taken it seriously. Just read what they wrote about Cooper's Lager to know they don't have a clue about beer.

Thanks for the heads up though.

 

[PistolPatch]

Thanks AW. I'll be very interested in having a look at that as I used to work with Phil Sexton when he started Matilda Bay. Everything that guy does turns to gold - Dome, Devil's Lair etc.

Can't wait to see what he's written Aaron For a start, I think it is a physical impossibility to taste such a number of beers anywhere near accurately in such a short time frame.

I had a few beers with vjval1974 this arvo. We had the same 4 beers several times but at different times and orders. Every time the same beer tasted different.

60 beers in one day? :wacko:

 

[Randall the Enamel Animal]

I'd have liked to have had the opportunity to send my own beers in as I'm sure many other brewers would have. The article implies that all breweries were contacted and asked for samples, but that simply was not the case. Poor form.

 

[normell]

I'd have liked to have had the opportunity to send my own beers in as I'm sure many other brewers would have. The article implies that all breweries were contacted and asked for samples, but that simply was not the case. Poor form.

Don't get me wrong Randall, but maybe they didn't include micro-brewery's for a reason.

 

[Randall the Enamel Animal]

I'd have liked to have had the opportunity to send my own beers in as I'm sure many other brewers would have. The article implies that all breweries were contacted and asked for samples, but that simply was not the case. Poor form.

Don't get me wrong Randall, but maybe they didn't include micro-brewery's for a reason.

They did included Micros, at least some. Hargreave's Hill, Bootleg and Mountain Goat, three great breweries, submitted beers that were good enough to make Phil Sexton's Top 20 Boutique (hate that term) Beers in Australia (includes imports that are available here). My point was this: If they didn't contact the current champion small brewery, how many other small breweries missed out on the opportunity to show their beers? Not a big deal. It was a fluff piece for wine drinkers.

 

[ant]

They did included Micros, at least some. Hargreave's Hill, Bootleg and Mountain Goat, three great breweries... how many other small breweries missed out on the opportunity to show their beers?

Sounds to me like some staffer invited only the micro's with an longer, more established, recognisable image that they had heard/previously read about. It does indeed suck pole that no-one thought to do the pretty basic research required that meant all micro's that were interested could have been invited- it certainly wouldn't have been a massive jump from 250 beers to do so.

But on the upside - if you had submitted beers you were proud of, and a "judge" (lets not go into the whole accreditation thing... :blink: ) rates a beverage (note absence of word "beer") like Pure Blonde ahead of them - what credit has it done you? You're in a situation where the first time many Weekend Australian readers hear of Colonial, your beers are rated below swill (I repeat, SWILL). I reckon it could have been a blessing in disguise. Now, if they were going to publish an article on the curent champion small brewery...

 

[normell]

Might also have something to do with brews being available AUSTRALIA wide, not just in state/region of origin <_<
Ant, obviously the judges dont regard it as "SWILL"

 

[Whistlingjack]

Ant, obviously the judges dont regard it as "SWILL"

How many judges were involved?

 

[Randall the Enamel Animal]

Ant, obviously the judges dont regard it as "SWILL"

How many judges were involved?

The articles claims a collection of winemakers and brewers.

 

[Murray]

Ant, obviously the judges dont regard it as "SWILL"

How many judges were involved?

The articles claims a collection of winemakers and brewers.

Sounds very reputable. <_<

 

[goatherder]

sounds like they got together for a pissup and someone wrote a list on a napkin.

 

[normell]

sounds like they got together for a pissup and someone wrote a list on a napkin.

Why is it that we homebrewer's hate the idea of people judging beer. :blink:
Do we all think back to the critism that we got when we made those crap beers, years ago.
Some the produce that some micro's put onto the market, don't deserve to be rated, let alone be drunk.

Normell

 

[tangent]

As someone who works in the media, I can tell you that you can't spend 6 months getting every little producer organised enough to send fresh samples all at the same time.
The article probably took 30 minutes to write and the poor ******* writing it probably had another 20 articles to slog through that day.
It's more likely that the beers listed were easily available through the normal channels.
Sure, not everyones beers were present at the "tasting" but not everyone enters HB comps, and I've read plenty of people boasting their beers are the best in the state etc. h34r:
In conclusion, If you want to be the best in the World or the best in Australia, you have to get 100% of the population to participate, otherwise you're only the best out of a percentage.

These articles are generally a piece of fluff that'll hopefully convince a punter out there that there's more to life than VB's and Crownies.

No offense to the comp junkies out there but I could never understand the need to prove bestness in anything. If you're not happy with your own beer, what's it matter what everyone else thinks?

 

[Aaron]

As someone who works in the media

See that is where you have missed the point. This is News Corp so it's not real media anyway. At least not by any meaningful definition. I do agree with you about deadlines etc though. This is not something that just the media industry has to deal with either.

No offense to the comp junkies out there but I could never understand the need to prove bestness in anything. If you're not happy with your own beer, what's it matter what everyone else thinks?

You are missing the point here. Well from my point of view anyway. I think the most important thing about amateur competitions is helping with defects in your beer or more importantly how you may be able to rectify your problems. Professional competitions on the other hand are all about marketing.

 

[normell]

You are missing the point here. Well from my point of view anyway. I think the most important thing about amateur competitions is helping with defects in your beer or more importantly how you may be able to rectify your problems. Professional competitions on the other hand are all about marketing.

Sorry Aaron, it's you who missed the point.
The article was Phil Sexton's Top 20 Boutique Beers in Australia, no mention about home brew, or micro breweries.
There we beers from CUB & Cascade on the list, so we all go into a tantrum about megaswill.
All that CRAP that they produce, sure is making them MEGA dollars, & just because we don't like them, obviously a lot of people do.

 

[Whistlingjack]

What is the definition of a microbrewery? How does this differ from a boutique brewery?

In the USA, I think microbrewery refers to a yearly production of less than 300,000 litres per year.

The restaurant I went to last week had Little Creatures (approximate output exceeding 3 million litres) listed as a boutique brewery.

 

[philmac]

Seems to me that the definition of a 'Boutique Beer' is one that is stocked by Dan Murphy's. This is all about
the advertising. A 40 page supplement that has 8 full page ads paid for by the big Dan leads to only one
conclusion....

I would guess that every single beer of the twenty is available at every single DM's in the country.

Cheers,
Phil

 

[Stuster]

I think tangent is spot on that we don't need to get to het up about it. Most media items are light on detail and research, understandably so due to the time pressures on journalists.

Personally, I agree with Aaron on comps, both for homebrewers and for professional breweries. Also, it's fairly easy to convince yourself that your beers are mighty fine, but it's good to get some impersonal, more objective assessment of how close your beers are to nirvana. :lol:

Edit: good spot, philmac. Now it all makes sense.

 

[Aaron]

You are missing the point here. Well from my point of view anyway. I think the most important thing about amateur competitions is helping with defects in your beer or more importantly how you may be able to rectify your problems. Professional competitions on the other hand are all about marketing.

Sorry Aaron, it's you who missed the point.
The article was Phil Sexton's Top 20 Boutique Beers in Australia, no mention about home brew, or micro breweries.
There we beers from CUB & Cascade on the list, so we all go into a tantrum about megaswill.
All that CRAP that they produce, sure is making them MEGA dollars, & just because we don't like them, obviously a lot of people do.

I was referring to his comments about competitions. Hence the quote.