Good Beer Week: Nathan's Good Beer Week Not-Awards, 2011

Were you to think this was a way for me to be lazy and not have to blog about each individual event, well then, you'd be-- SHUT UP.

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BEER NATHAN WOULDN'T SHUT UP ABOUT FOR TWENTY-FOUR HOURS

Morning Peninsula IPA

I've already expressed how great I think these guys and/or gals are doing for a new brewery, and I'd heard good things about the IPA, so when I saw it on tap at the Terminus, I launched myself at it and was not disappointed. T'is a fine, sessionable IPA to be sure, and I wouldn't stop yakking about it. And I see now it also got a Silver medal from the AIBA. Nice one.

BEER NATHAN WOULDN'T HAVE SHUT UP ABOUT FOR TWENTY-FOUR HOURS HAD HIS BRAIN NOT BEEN FRIED BY THIS POINT

TIE: Holgate Beelzebub's Jewels/Orkney Dark Island Reserve

On Friday evening, we went along to the Gold Medal Tasting at Purvis Beer in Richmond. Although the samples were smaller than previous tastings and some people just didn't know how to move out of the way once they'd had their latest poured, there were both interesting and fantastic beers on offer. Essentially, the idea was to have a previous Gold medal winner and then move to a worthy challenger, courtesy of the Purvis lads. As it happened, there were two tables. The left-hand had the lager and paler styles, and the right-hand had the darker styles, and it turned out to be an interesting contrast. Which is to say the left-hand table was mostly rather uninteresting, but as soon as you got to that second table...

And on that second table, two in particular really stood out for me. Beelzebub's Jewels is a barrel-aged Quadrupel/Abt that weighs in at 12%, and comes from local brewery Holgate, well-known for their ESB and Temptress Porter and who impressed the hell out of me with their Empress Imperial Porter at the previous SpecTAPular. It was, well, it was a Quad, but you were really getting some of that Pinot Noir from the barrel. The Dark Island Reserve is a 10% Barleywine, also aged in barrels, but this time whisky. (Apparently I have a "type".) The bad news about these beers would of course be the price.

BEER NATHAN DID THE BIGGEST DOUBLE-TAKE ON

Yeastie Boys Rex Attitude

My last SpecTAPular I found to have a really good range of interesting styles. Obviously this latest, a Kiwi SpecTAPular, wouldn't quite be the same as the beers weren't specifically brewed for the event. Somewhere in between the Pilseners and the Pales and the Renaissance Stonecutter Scotch ale was this, a "peat-smoked Strong Golden Ale" from the Yeastie Boys, they of the superb Pot Kettle Black (a Black IPA). This was the SpecTAPular beer. Peat-smoked, people, peat-smoked. Give it a shot. I dare you.

NATHAN'S BIGGEST MISTAKE

TIE: Straddling the inflatable palm tree at Mrs. Parma's/Not taking notes!

Sigh. If only that photo didn't exist, and if only those notes did.

NATHAN'S BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

Why no current single batch at Little Creatures?

Seriously. The best part of going to Little Creatures for me recently has been their single batches. I enjoyed their IPA a few times, and then most recently their Märzen, which was more than drinkable, so, to my dismay, when we decided to give Little Creatures a shot... no single batch. During Good Beer Week! Come on!

NATHAN'S FAVOURITE VENUE

The Local Taphouse

What can you say? Even if it wasn't a fantastic venue anyway, for Good Beer Week they hosted the Barley's Angels event, the Brewer's & Chewers dinner and, of course, the Kiwi SpecTAPular. Way to bring it, guys.

NATHAN'S FAVOURITE DISCOVERY

Deco Wine Bar

I'd wandered past Deco with Sharika recently, after an unsuccessful attempt to eat at the Moroccan Soup Bar without a reservation. Looked like a pretty cool place décor-wise, so we filed it for later. Last Tuesday, when Josie and Ali led me there on the Crafty Crawl quest, queue my reaction, "Oh, this place!" So yes, it's a nice-looking quirky bar with that good ambient-light atmosphere and a pile of complimentary blankets near the bar that tells you a little more. There are no taps to speak of, but there is a fridge with a more-than-decent selection of beer, including some Australian crafts, some good overseas crafts like Hitachino Nest, and even the BrewDog Tactical Nuclear Penguin. And we had a great talk with the owner/bartender – I'm sorry, I didn't get your name; I do that a lot – who was full of suggestions and opinions.

NATHAN'S PRIZE TO THE MOST ENTHUSIASTIC CRAFTY CRAWL VENUE

The Rainbow Hotel

EXT. RAINBOW HOTEL BEER GARDEN ENTRANCE - NIGHT

BOUNCER

(bouncer tone)

Sorry, guys. It's one-in-one-out at the moment.

JOSIE

Is it okay if we just go in and come straight out? We're doing the Crafty Crawl and just wanna--

BOUNCER

(suddenly chipper)

Oh! Yeah! Hey! No worries, just pop on in and go up to the bar. They'll sort you out. Cool.

CUT TO:

INT. VERY CROWDED RAINBOW HOTEL BAR AREA - NIGHT (LATER)

BARTENDER

Oh, yeah! Awesome! Hang on, I'll just get it.

(retrieves treasure)

How cool is this? Such a great idea.

After being to a few places and asking bartenders who had no idea what we were talking about or were even a bit annoyed – and please do not take that to mean there weren't of course plenty of venues that were perfectly happy with it – going to the crowded Rainbow and being greeted with that was a great breath of fresh air and I thank them for it.