We bottled up our second pilsner, this time we added an extra 500g of light malt to hopefully bump up the ABV by a very small amount - we are aiming for 4.5% ideally.

With that bottled our thoughts turned to our next brew. We have made one nutty ‘ale’ previously, however it came out more of a dark lager rather than anything overly creamy and full bodied. It does taste nice, however it is not the stouty / porter that we set out for.

With this in mind we thought we would target the top end of the scale, a nice rich heavy alcoholic stout.

Recipe:

1.8kg Brewcraft Irish Stout
1kg Morgans Chocolate Malt (liquid  in tin)
1kg Morgans Dark Crystal Malt (liquid in tin)
1kg ’stout combo’ which has a mix of light and dark malt with dried corn syrup.
0.5kg light dried malt.
0.5kg golden syrup.

25g hop bag of fuggles was steeped for 30mins and then chucked in the fermenter with some pre-started Safale S-04 yeast and 20 litres of Brisbane’s finest water, which is not that good in all honesty!

The original gravity was read off at 1.090 and various mathmatics points us towards a heavy ale at 7.5-8.8% , and if you believe one online calculator it will come out as 10.2% !

Total cost for this was $52.90 , and with expected 18 litres to play with after racking and gravity tests we expect to fill roughly 50 bottles (330 ml) , giving a cost per bottle of $1.06 excluding carbonation drops and other odd charges on top.

“I have a bit of a theory regarding a beer lover’s journey.

I think at first you seek out and relish in the most extreme examples of the brewer’s art, the strong Trappist ales first, then the rarer stuff. All you want is something strong - preferably dark. You want to explore the boundaries.

Then after a while you begin to come back to old favourites, often back to where you started. You appreciate the subtlety in a simple mild, bitter or a quality German lagerbier, the kind of beers almost everyone can understand and enjoy.

I like to think that’s where I’m at now. Indeed, I think it’s where the old European brewing cultures are at collectively.

I’m still interested in trying Imperial Russian Stouts, Barley Wines, strong Belgian Ales and super-hopped IPAs. I just don’t have the desire to drink them very often. I don’t think they’re the most important beers.”

I think that is a very shrewd comment on the beer lovers trail. Currently I am exploring beers; how they are made, what is the core differences how the subtleties come to light, what makes the good great and the bad disgusting. To find beers that are specifically made to be kept for twenty odd years is a revelation that kicks the ‘rules’ I knew into touch, which makes me wonder what else is there to know?!

I do find myself coming back to where I started, the nice pint of Flowers IPA in a Brunning and Price pub, or hunting out the Enville honey ale in deepest Wales. ‘Extreme’ beers can be fun, but nothing can distract you from a proper pint.

Like all good convicts of that era he was sentanced to be transported to America. So how does James Squire end up becoming the first brewer of Australia? Well, it seems James served his time by enlisting in the army and thus avoided America, but as he was in the mix with highwaymen, robbers, smugglers and generally dodgy people he ended up being caught for nicking five hens and four cocks in 1785. This time he could not avoid a firmer sentance and thus was shipped over to Australia on the First Fleet - the first group of boats to settle in the land down under.

He does seem to be a colourful chap,  with him working a farm and also running a popular pub called The Malting Shovel. Mr Squire also tried his hand at running a bakery, a butcher shop and a credit union (!) and odd for a convict he also became a town constable in Sydney.

Apparently he was nicked a few times after that for stealing medicine - horehound - which oddly enough gives a similar smell of hops to beers. From there he established the first Australian brewery and various other beer firsts.

All in all a nice tale for someone to ‘tribute’ a brewery to and give a new brewery a nice backstory for it to have foundation against. This happened in 1999 when the old Hahn brewery was taken over by ‘Lion Nathan’ and renaming it Malt Shovel Brewery in honour of Australia’s first commercial brewer.  Marketing, eh?

Luckily enough the beer is quite good. The one I tried was a 345ml Porter, nice dark in colour but when held to the light there is a deep red hue. The mouth is nice and full, taste of light roasted malt with a hint of dark chocolates and coffee floating around.

It is an excellent beer, and quite deceptive as you would imagine it to be a fair bit stronger than its 5% abv. Its like a big dark cake that you can eat and eat but never feel full from. Ideal for the cold winter FA Cup ties on BBC 2 with your roast beef and yorkshire puddings. Yum.

It is a promising start, MONTEITH RICH CELTIC RED BEER shouts the label and the reverse proclaims ‘a raft of hidden flavours‘. I agree that is has ‘a smoky aroma and chocolate maltiness‘, but I fear for Monteiths range of beers if this is a ‘classic’.

Personally I think it is overcarbonated and quite light bodied and does not have the depth of other irish red ales I have previously tasted.

Again going back to the label it claims ‘kiln roasted malt‘ so I was expecting more maltiness, but was left wanting more. I am wondering if this would be a better beer sampled on draught rather than out of a bottle, hopefully I will get the chance.

A plus point is I now have a nice brown 330ml bottle ready to fill with Nob Pils No.2 later in the week! The bottle would probably be quite chuffed about moving up in the world as well…

Either way it tastes good and is a beer I discovered by accident!

Back in the day when I was at university I spotted a cheap beer on the shelves of the local ASDA, it was the generic Birra Moretti which lacks tast, feel and general lacking in quality. I bought a box and pondered the picture of an old italian bloke who was supping from his overflowing glass.

A year or two later I was in the local ‘Bottlo’ scanning the shelves and spotted my old friend the cheeky chappy italian bloke! However it was not the usual green bottle rather a dark brown with red label. On further inspection it turns out this is a 7.2% ‘doppio malto’ aka double malt , or in proper terms a doppelbock. Yes, an italian doppelbock! 

The beer is a great dark red colour, nice and malty with proper caramelization aroma. The head fades quickly and the mouth feel is a tad watery, and there is nothing overly complex but it is a good straight taste which is very enjoyable.

Over here it is a $11.99 for three bottles, which in proper money is £4.88 , so at £1.62 a bottle you cant really go wrong for a such a decent attempt from the italians.

After a short trek through a dubious area of Brisbane we ended up at a ‘bottlo’ and purchased a six pack of Asahi bottles. It is the usual Asahi Japanese fare, a crisp drinkable beer but quite watery and so lacking character there is little to write about. It is Ashai, it is a generic beer.

Incidently the label states it is a ‘beer for all seasons’ , which when told to Nick he misheard as a beer for four seasons. Much hilarity ensued when it was pointed out four seasons and all seasons are the same thing.

After the delights of great turkish food and generic ‘Japanese’ beer - I am sure it is brewed on license out here - we ventured over to the always great Belgium Beer Cafe. By day it is an excellent bar cafe serving great food and the usual suspects of belgium beers, and by night the bar area swings fully into life.

To kick off with we had a glass of the cherry Kriek, while Nick got stuck into some Leffe Brune. The Leffe was the usual malty glass, but for some reason I always prefer the Leffes on tap rather than out of the bottle.

My Belle-Vue Kriek was very good, usually I dont opt for the fruit beers but I thought it would be good for a change and it did not disappoint. Krieks are made by steeping cherries (or other fruit such as raspberries) in belgium beers thus giving a fruity taste. I must admit this was a better beer than I had remembered, as the Belle-Vue Kriek is quite a common one, and previously I had found it to be too sweet. This time it hit the spot!

We moved to the bar area where the next order was a ‘glass’ of Hoegaarden for me, despite not being overly chuffed with the whole Inbev shifting of production from Hoegaarden to Jupille thing. I have missed the taste and to get it on tap over here is quite rare, so I placed my morals on hold and had a half pint glass of the canal water. This was the first time I had observed someone use a knife to slice the overflowing head square with the top of the glass! Personally I think the heads of Belgium beers is a fun element each having different heights and styles rather like peacock plumage but more beery.

Nick had not tried it before, so went ahead and ordered a pint. If you have not had a glass of Hoegaarden before the branded containers are thick chunky glass that exagerate the weight of the pint. Nick’s pint was the size of his head! Fun times.

As a sign off I finished up with the normal Leffe blonde glass, a nice enough end to a good night.

Tonight we were due to have a taste of the Pilsner and the head off to the football (that is round balls not the AFL nonsense down here) however due to a change of plan I was left to crack one open on my own. The beer has been bottled for only twelve days so it is a little early, yet I am not disappointed.

It is a nice rich copper colour with a faint hop aroma, tastes wonderfully clean and refreshing. We went with 50g of saaz hops and it seems the fermentation and racking must have taken some of the strength out as there is a hint of saaz but inside a rounded pils taste. As you might have guessed I am a very happy brewer!

We deliberatly under carbonated this with the aim of trying to get the head spot on, the one I opened was a smaller bottle and was lightly fizzy yet the head did not retain well. The glass I was using has been through a normal dishwasher so that could have been the cause.

I cant wait to get Co-Brewer Nick to try one of these as I know he will be over the moon. So cheers to Nick, the bloke on the homebrew forum who mentioned the foundations of the recipe (”try it, its filth”), the Czechs for having a place called Pilsen , to ‘good’ King Wenceslas as well who in 1290 persuaded the pope to allow brewing again and then granted 260 Pilsen families the right to brew!

All of whom in a roundabout way have led me to having a nice half this afternoon

This is the Gippsland brewery’s extra strong ale, and by that its not your poncey 7% but a whacking great 11%. On pouring its a dark burnt wood colour, with light carbonation almost as if the bubbles are fighting through the liquid to escape. The potency of this could be seen by one line of bubbles zipping around as though they had drunk some of the ale and had forgotten which way gravity works!

The first sip is a powerful one. Malt and caramel with a punch in the mouth and a treacle syrup aroma.

In the mouth it is smooth and interestingly sweet. Oddly enough this beer makes me think of roasting a chunk of meat as it would make an excellent accompaniment to some beer or lamb.

At £2.40 a 330ml bottle it sounds a ‘doable’ price, however out here where bottles are usually $3 it is over double the usual figure paid. I bought four bottles, the aim being to add the other three to the collection and try them in the coming years as at 11% it ought to do well.

Winter Ale

Ingredients:
1 can of nut brown ale
1kg morgans caramalt
15g fuggles hops pellets
1 packet of goldings hops
1 packet safle yeast (ended up using kit ale yeast)

Bottled: 25th July
Notes: When we kicked this off the yeast died due to being in contact with hot water, so we repitched some fresh a couple of days later. We have called this one a ‘Darger’ as it is not overly full bodied and a tad over carbonated so it is more of a dark lager! Personally I blame the yeast! It has a nice nutty / caramel taste to it but we intend on leaving it a couple of months at least before trying another.

Cerveza

Ingredients:
1 can black rock mexican cerveza
500g light dried malt
500g dextrose
12g saaz hops
250g carapils grain
1pack of finings
1 packet saflager yeast (ended up using kit yeast)

Bottled: Sat 28th , ended up FG 1.012
Notes: On bottling we thought this was quite cloudy and had an odd taste. We have since started racking from this brew onwards, likewise this was filled with water from a shower head (!) so I am not entirely convinced this will be drinkable when we crack it open.

First Pilsner

Ingredients:
1.7kg Black Rock Pilsner Export
1.5k Morgans unhopped pale malt extract (liquid)
50g saaz hops pellets.
saflager w34/70 yeast

Bottled: kicked off 28th July… OG 1.034ish FG: 1.10ish ended up bottling after a few days of racking on the 12th August.
Notes: This has promise as it is the first one we racked and tasted great even before bottling. We have lightly carbonated it and are tempted to enter into a show

Munich Lager
Ingredients:
Brewcraft Premier Imperial Munich Lager 1.5kg
Brewcraft Brewblend No.15
Hops (need to check notes)

Bottled: June 24th was the momentous day we started brewing. Bottled on the 30th June.
Notes: This was our first beer brewed, and now one and a half months later it has matured into something quite tasty.

The aim with NOB beer was to kick off a batch every few weeks to ensure we have a constant supply of tasty beer, while learning the skills needed to become uber brewers. Currently we are still using kits and even then making the odd mistake, but over time we hope to conquer the dark arts of ale.

1968 was the fortieth anniversary of the death of author Thomas Hardy and to commemorate this event Eldridge Pope brewers concocted a brew that reflected Hardy’s description of an ale. The ale itself was designed to be a big one from the outset; matured for nine months in oak sherry casks at a ABV of 12%, along with it being designed to be kept for a long time and improve with age.

The 1968 run was a one off until 1974 when the idea was revived and then was brewed every year until 1999 , at which point it ceased until takeover by the Americans…!

After being enthralled by tales of this mystical liquid I traced a few blokes looking to sell the odd bottle, with prices ranging from £10 to £100 depending on age. I was told to try Ebay for some more, which is where I was lucky enough to spot almost-a-case (23 bottles) of 1993 Ale being sold as a job lot which I promptly snaffled up for £73 inc P&P.

The case, and a bottle. £3.20 each I-thank-thee!

I am currently out in Brisbane Australia and this ale is being looked after at the North Wales hideaway so in late September I hope to have the first tasting as at 14 years old it ought to be close to being in its prime!