What Type of Beer? Ur… bock?

Urbock Namibia Breweries Bock 7.0% abv Dry July: T-minus 7 beers I assume that’s how they came up with the name of this beer. This beer was on special down at my local; Blanc, and I thought I would give it a try. It was actually past its best by date but I was hopeful. On...

Coffee in My Beer?

Mocha Porter Rogue Ales Porter 5.3% abv Dry July: T-minus 8 beers With the chilly weather and incessant rain we are experiencing at the moment, it was time for a darker and more roasty beer. That’s where Rogue’s Mocha Porter came to the party. Rogue’s Porter was a very dark brown in the glass,...

More Fresh Hops

Benelux Ale – Fresh Hop Renaissance Brewing Company Belgian Blonde Ale 7.0% abv Dry July: T-minus 9 beers The second beer on my countdown to Dry July is another fresh-hopped beer, this one from Renaissance Brewing in Blenheim. Benelux Ale is a Belgian inspired blonde ale that has a large addition of freshly harvested...

Last Days of Beer

Last of the Summer Ale Townshend & Liberty Extra Special Bitter 5.1% abv Dry July: T-minus 10 beers Ten days until Dry July; ten beers ahead. The first of these has a metaphorically fitting name for the occasion; it’s one of Townshend and Liberty’s fresh-hopped collaboration beers, Last of the Summer Ale. The dark...

Countdown to Dry July

A month away from beer?! I better get some drinking in then. So I have decided to take up the challenge and stay off the booze for the month of July. 30 days without a beer… woah. Wait, what? July has 31 days? Who made the stupid decision to do this on a long...

Return to the Tun

Last weekend we finally blew the dust off the brew kit and sparked up our 32 jet Mongolian gas burners to put down an American pale ale. And when I say “blew the dust off”, I mean dismantled the kit, marvelling at the build-up of mould, giving it a thorough brush clean and a...

Hoppopota-monster

In our endless task to brew better beer, we decided to go BIG with our ninth batch of home brew. Our original attempts at an IIPA fell woefully short of the style and it was time to remedy that. This beer, Hoppopotamus, was to be one of our entries for the National Home Brew...

Beer Cocktail Recipe – Baltimore Zoo

Baltimore Zoo is a beer cocktail recipe that I discovered in a cocktail book that I had been sitting on for a few years. Beer writer Neil Miller asked the twitter verse if they had any good beer cocktails and I thought I could offer this up. It certainly made for some great Christmas...

Drink Better Beer

In a calculated move to assist the craft beer movement amongst my mates, I hosted a beer tasting last weekend. Growing up with these boys and girls, they’ve always been a pretty hardy lot when it comes to alcohol retention and big beer consumers (though I refuse to divulge what beer in particular is...

Humble beer-ginnings

After some deliberation all of us boys have come together on a name and a direction. Here I tell the story of five mates trying to get their sh*t together to make better beer. All our film work; shooting, editing and post is done by Carl Budden. If you’re looking for some quality production...