I'm going to skip ahead a little to talk about the undisputed highlight of Good Beer Week for me and probably everyone else who attended, the Brewers & Chewers dinner at The Local Taphouse in St. Kilda. I will, however, attempt to be brief.
What a fantastic fucking idea. Seriously. A dinner with brewers from interstate and overseas. You get great food, beer included – which I understand was donated by the brewers, which is really just amazing of them – and the "Beer Champions" are rotated, giving each table equal time to chat them up.
This was really a first for me. I don't know the who's-who of the Melbourne and Australia beer scene. I'm learning that the brewers are generally the ones in their brewery's t-shirt, but I'm a little lost about who Professor Pilsener and the Beer Diva are, and I don't know who Sam the Brewer is or why she's so awesome. So I guess for me it was an eye-opener as well as just a great event.
It was quite the circumstance, really. After being introduced with their own theme music, the Beer Champions – Søren Eriksen (8 Wired, New Zealand), Steve Grossman (Sierra Nevada, U.S.A.), Brad Rogers (Stone & Wood, N.S.W.), Brendan Varis (Feral, W.A.), Kirrily Waldhorn (Beer Diva), Richard Watkins (Wig & Pen, A.C.T.) and James Watt (BrewDog, Scotland) – were escorted to their first table, and upon the ringing of the twenty-minute bell, were escorted along with their drink and food, cover plate and all, to the next one. I definitely have to compliment the Taphouse here for their great treatment of both the Champions and the guests. It was treated as quite an occasion, which I found to be a welcome piece of humourous irony considering the rather casual and boisterous nature of the evening.
Our first visitor was BrewDog's James Watt, all the way from Scotland. Initially shy in mannerism, he quickly relaxed into the situation and started firing off questions of his own, keen as can be.
Steve Grossman from Sierra Nevada was quick to have us attend the tale of Sierra Nevada having been illegally imported into Australia up until very recently, which was both a fascinating and effective conversation starter. He was a truly nice guy and only happy to accept my feigned ignorance of the fantastic taste of the Sierra Nevada Tornado IPA with a laugh.
My personal favourite was Richard Watkins from the Wig & Pen. The first words from his mouth as he sat down were, "I'm sorry, I'm not very good at these things." And yes, the man has an awkwardly shy streak a mile wide, but you get him going and he's incredibly engaging. Having only been to the Wig & Pen the week before, I was acutely aware of the current batches, which we talked about, and my dismay at the Big Ass Barleywine having run out upon my arrival seemed to spark a bit of pride. We talked briefly about the future of the Wig & Pen, styles he wanted to try, and even the excise. That twenty minutes was over far too quickly.
Kirrily Waldhorn was a great conversationalist. As one might expect, the topic floated along to Women in Beer. Personally, I'd had a bit of an issue with Professor Pilsener's earlier line of questioning, essentially, "What's it like being a woman in a man's beer world?" I bear no grudge or ill sentiment towards the man, to be absolutely clear, but I do think it's counter-productive to focus purely on that and reduce women in the beer world to that Issue rather than successes in their own right with their own expertise. Try asking the men about the role of women in the beer world, I say. Anyway, back on track. She was kind enough to talk personally about how she feels about such things, and humoured me by listening intently to my theory about beer culture being akin to geekdom, those of whom that geek generally and naturally being the kind of human being easy to acceptance.
I definitely feel like I've talked too much – especially since this post will have no photos – so to round things out, I will just say that Brad Rogers from Stone & Wood and Søren Eriksen from 8 Wired were both really fun guys. After the dinner, the girls pounced on Sam Füss from True South, who I will definitely admit was pretty darn awesome, but I'll let them speak to that. Oh, and I will need to sample this Black Saison of yours, Doctors Orders Brewing.
To the Taphouse, thank you. The food was the unsung hero of the evening. You're really onto something here. Please to have another.
Great wrap up of the night, Nathan, and your post captures beautifully what Brewers & Chewers set out to be. To answer a couple of your questions;
ReplyDeleteThe night was designed to be 'casually formal' and, as you noted, the pomp and ceremony of changing Beer Champions with bells and cloches was a bit of fun. The feedback from average punters has been that some are too shy to ask questions or talk to brewers at tastings and things - hence the B & C concept was born.
I have written under the nickname/alter ego of Prof Pilsner on my blog Beer Blokes for 6 years and I also write as myself for Aus Brews News and as Editor of The Critics' Choice-Australia's Best Beers. Through hosting Beer Dinners for 10 years and a long association with The Local Taphouse, I scored the invite to host B & Cs.
Sam Fuss? Absolute legend! Brewer at True South and formerly of Little Creatures, Matilda Bay, Gunn Island Brewbar and Schwartz Brewery (Sydney) she is so generous and keen to spread the word of good beer. She's also a Taphouse regular.
Kirrily, as The Beer Diva has been hosting beer tastings and events of all sorts and is a terrific advocate of good beer. She also hosted the AIBA Presentation Dinner on Friday night.
As to your comments about the Prof Chat portion of the night, the one with Kirrily was pre-arranged and designed to show how the blokey world of beer has slowly changed over the past two years or so to become more welcoming and accessible to females. Kirrily wanted to discuss how her events are helping to change the perception that beer is exclusionary and male dominated.
We may not have carried that off as well as we planned (the crowd was a little noisy early on!) and I unreservedly apologise if the wrong impression was delivered and old cliches were reinforced.
Glad you liked the concept of B & Cs and rest assured it is already being set up for next year! My 'quest' is to spread the good word about good beer and I hope we catch up before the next Good Beer Week. If nothing else, I hope B & C showed that the beer world is now welcoming to all and worth crossing over to from mass produced mainstream lagers.
Cheers,
Pete Mitcham
(Prof Pilsner)
"Cloche" was the word I was looking for! Damn you for making my brain appear weak and feeble!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, thank you for popping in and for commenting; it's certainly not something I was expecting. Glad to meet your acquaintance.
There is certainly no need for apologies. While I felt it was fairly cliché to ask Kirrily those questions, the discussion in the absence of outright acceptance is of the greatest importance, and I of course had not been under the impression that the questions were pre-arranged. Keep this under your hat – he says on the internet – but I've been drinking (good) beer for all of a year and a bit now. You mention that the past two years in particular have seen some steady progress, but this is progress that I have neither witnessed nor have the correct context for, both because I'm such a young'un and because I would not have the perspective from the unique position both yourself and Kirrily have in the beer world here in Australia. I find myself quite ready to settle in and talk about this for ages, so I think I'll cut myself short and just reiterate again that apologies are hardly necessary. It's great to have the discussion, and I certainly wouldn't be in the least bit outraged even if it were my place to do so.
Again, thanks for commenting and for contributing to a great evening. I support your Quest, sir. See you next year if not before.
Nathan
Hi Nathan, awesome post! As a new reader to your blog this week, I'm loving your work.
ReplyDeleteI am right with you on your postivite reaction to Brewers & Chewers, it was my #1 highlight of Good Beer Week.
For the price paid, the night's value was brilliant.
The Local Taphouse is very much a hub of "locals" (or an "in crowd"), as is their business model, so it can feel a little intimidating when everyone seems to know everyone and there are so many internal references. But hopefully that was balanced out on this occasion by the sit down format and table arrangment.
Discovering the brewers behind the beer and their perspective on the world can really make drinking their beers so much more enjoyable. Sam Fuss is a great example of this, she is so infectiously fun that meeting her lead me to discover a whole new appreciation in drinking her True South brews.
Cheers!
Hey, thanks for the kind words, J. And you're so right about the value for money, which I haven't really seen spoken about yet (and honestly neglected to acknowledge). I hope it was a cost-effective event for the Taphouse; they had a fair number of staff on. Donated beer must have helped.
ReplyDeleteWhen you gonna blog about it? :P
Nathan