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2015: the year in beer

2015: the year in beer

As you know, I’m a sucker for beer and I’m a sucker for Australian beer. This year has been huge for me, having just moved to Melbourne (arguably the craft beer capital of Australia right now) from Hobart. This has opened up a plethora of opportunities for my tastebuds, and a huge dent in my wallet. I’ve found new places, new faces, new companies and tastes I’ve never thought were possible. I thought I’d round it up by doing a summary of all the best things beer has given to me this year.

As mentioned previously, it’s been a huge year in beer, especially here in Australia. We’ve seen old breweries smash out brews we wouldn’t have dreamed them doing in the past, and new breweries blowing everyone else out of the water. The community is only getting stronger, and the beers are only getting more widespread. Herein is listed my picks for the year’s best achievers in Victorian breweries:

5. Exit Brewing

Exit Brewing are slowly but surely making their statement heard throughout the country. Their very understated branding is incredibly modest for what the beers have to offer. This is despite the well-received collaboration with Kaiju that clearly HAD to have one of the more ridiculous labels of the year: Schopsh! The beer itself was a hoppy scotch ale brewed with immaculate ingredients to pack one of the weirdest flavour combinations I tried in the year (think super bitter dank hops mixed with a funky, groggy, smoked malt-caramel backbone). Other than that Exit kicked goals with their tongue in cheek GABS beer, the #009 Double Session XXXPA which was simply a perfectly executed DIPA. Other crackers were the Milk Stout, the Gluten-Reduced Pale Ale, the American Red IPA, and last but not least the #010 West Coast IPA. Exit set out on a gargantuan task of matching the behemoth of West Coast IPAs: Pliny The Elder. Having had the privilege of sampling a Pliny earlier in the year, I’ve gotta say they came just about as close as you can possibly get. The beer was perfectly executed, so damn fresh and piney and light and delicious. Usually I won’t buy a beer that’s >$8 more than once, but I think I managed to get through at least five of these bad boys because they were so damn good. Expect big things from this brewery in the year to come, having just moved in with Kaiju in Dandenong South and about to send out their #012: a mid-strength pale, seeing them in 330mL bottles for the first time.

4. Moon Dog

Ah Moon Dog, like an old friend that just never stops giving good times. Moon Dog are just so solidly awesome and entertaining with everything they do and I cannot get enough of them (I’d rank them higher but that would be biased). This year saw the release of a number of killer beers from Moon Dog that keep pushing boundaries. One being the Coughlin’s Diet 3-beers-in-one cocktail, the angelic Splice of Heaven Lime IPA, the caramel-nutty Holdin’ Hay Time (yes, it’s like the icecream), Black Lung V, Ogden Nash’s Pash Rash Redskin Stout, Bad Boy Bubbly, Spotted Dick Custard Barleywine, and god…so many many more. The icecream series was killer, pulling of flavour combinations that should NEVER work but work oh so well. The Pash Rash included thousands of individually peeled redskin lollies into the brew to create a delicious raspberry stout. The Bad Boy Bubbly used only water, yeast, malt and hops to create a barleywine that mimics the flavour and appearance of the finest champagne. The Spotted Dick Custard Barleywine combined a brutally alcoholic brew with a super indulgent dessert like experience. The Jumping the Shark pre-preview showed that beers above 15% ABV can be surprisingly sessionable (can’t wait for the barrel-aged, freeze-distilled version to finally hit shelves very soon). Finally, these guys are just so damn lovable and great. From their quirky labels to the amazing bar and bar staff, everything about Moon Dog just keeps giving (get around the bar for the best single kegs you’ll find in the land).

3. Brewcult

The year Hendo hit it big time. Brewcult released one of the most hyped beers of the year, Milk and Two Sugars, which hit GABS after a colossal effort by Brewcult and Axil Coffee Roasters. They pulled something like 3000 espresso shots and several thousand litres of cold drip coffee to create this Imperial Coffee Milk Stout. It took out GABS people’s choice for good reason: it was incredible. But the best thing about Brewcult is it’s probably not even close to their best beer. After a big rebrand, Brewcult’s core range included the best session IPA in Australia (Hop Zone), a bloody good regular IPA (Thanks Captain Obvious), a mid-strength pale with more flavour than half the beers on the market (Reset Robot), and a gorgeous example of a lager (Spoiler Alert). Not only that, but their psychedelic range continues to knock it out of the park, with highlights including Can’t Fight the Funk (Farmhouse IPA) and Supa Fly Rye (Rye IPA). More recently has seen them release the Beer Geek Rage Quit, a hoppy lager designed to convert lager haters, which contain ridiculous multi-coloured pseudo drag-queen labels including 12 limited edition gold labels and one platinum labels, entitling the buyer to copious free shit (Hendo is Aussie craft beer’s Willy Wonka, essentially). Can only see Brewcult getting bigger in years ahead.

2. Boatrocker

The year barrel beers took the reigns and didn’t look back. Boatrocker showed that you can be successful with styles that aren’t easily accessible, with their barrel aged stout “Ramjet” continually winning people’s choice awards all over the country (and rightly so). Boatrocker launched their bar fairly recently and have undertaken the country’s biggest barrel-aged beer program, releasing a range of crazy concoctions from a Chardonnay Saison to huge Belgian styles to a beer that is essentially a bourbon and coke (looks, sounds, tastes, and feels like one, ridiculous). The highlight for me was definitely the Banshee, but it don’t come cheap. While I don’t go big on their easy-drinking beers (Alpha Queen and Hop Bomb), Boatrocker have proven to be pioneers amongst the craft beer scene in Australia and I can only see them continuing to set trends nation wide while everyone struggles to keep up.

1. Mountain Goat

Controversial, ooh. Nah but honestly this year has been huge for one of Australia’s biggest and longest serving craft breweries. I honestly don’t care at all what your perception or personal view of what craft beer is or should be, Mountain Goat bloody well deserve this. Constantly slogging out an amazing core range that’d put others in the dirt: Steam, Fancy Pants, Summer, Surefoot and Hightail; while continuing to put out some of the best limited releases the year has seen. This year may not have matched the Delmont, but the Naz was a gnarly example of a scotch ale, the Seedy Goat may have punched above Milk and Two Sugars with the help of Seven Seeds Roastery, and the unseen Gin Pilsner was a glorious missed opportunity (managed to sneak one off my mate). But, inevitably, the day belongs to the Barrel Breeds. With the help of Tassie’s own pioneers in the Whisky industry: Lark Distillery; Mountain Goat produced two absolutely immaculate brews in their Barleywine and Imperial stout. Huge, boozy, sticky and rolling with vanilla and whisky from the barrels, these brews held their own against the world of Boatrockers. I can only imagine what their newly released Christmas special, a Belgian Quad aged in yet more Lark barrels, will taste like (I’m not made of cash, unfortunately). All this and I haven’t even touched on some of the amazing single kegs available at the brewery (i.e. the tongue-in-cheek Japanese Cowboy). The looming cloud of the Asahi “sell-out” puts their future in question, but I say fuck it, and good on them. This is about beer. I get that a huge part of the industry is about supporting local business, but for me it’s also about good beer becoming the mainstream. I hope that Mountain Goat continue to produce quality beer and continue their relentless plight into the mainstream of Aussie beer culture.

Woo! That was hard work! Better round off with a few more lists:

International beers of the year:

5. Yeastie Boys Gunnamatta Tea Leaf IPA

4. De Molen Hel & Verdoemenis

3. Brewdog Tokyo

2. Founders Big Lushious

1. Stone Enjoy By IPA 10.31.15

Aussie beers of the year:

10. Kaiju Betelgeuse Double Red Ale

9. Moon Dog Pumpkin Up The Volume Pumpkin Ale

8. Big Shed Golden Stout Time

7. Feral Boris Snapper

6. Boatrocker Banshee Barrel Aged Barleywine

5. Mornington Peninsula Russian Imperial Stout

4. Brewcult Hop Zone Session IPA

3. Mountain Goat Nightcap Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout

2. Moon Dog Spotted Dick Custard Barleywine

1. Exit #010 West Coast IPA

Best pubs (Tas/Vic):

5. The Winston

4. The Terminus Hotel

3. Carwyn Cellars

2. The Gertrude Hotel

1. Moon Dog Craft Brewery

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Friday night tasting! Went down to the Village Vineyard at Clifton Hill for a tasting of the entire Kaiju range. Naturally, I’d had them all before but that certainly didn’t stop me. Learned a few new things about one of the best beer ranges in Australia: they’re moving into a new brewery in Dandenong, the artwork is done by an American and many beers are inspired by the art not the other way around, the Killer Sprocket collab “KAKS COTMARI” is an anagram for “Kaiju and Killer Sprocket Cthulhu on the moon and rye IPA”, and that the bloke running the brewery is an absolute legend! He also knew who I was from this blog, fan boy to the max. The Double IPA was tasting fantastic tonight, definitely need to get around that beer more cos it’s probably one of theirs I’ve had the least of. So smooth and sweet but massive at the same time.

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Some great non-darks here! A big bold bitter IPA from Dainton well worth checking out. A great session IPA called the fiend. The 4 Pines Kolsch goes OK but nothing to write home about. Ballast Point Big Eye is probably the best thing you’ll ever find at BWS besides maybe Hop Hog, it’s a truly delicious American IPA. So big and so bold. But the winner here is Sierra Nevada’s Hop Hunter. Brewed with distilled hop oil, this IPA is so damn dank and hoppy and delicious you won’t know what hit you! Apparently Lagunitas tried to sue them over logo trademark infringement, silly stuff! Great beer though.

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Some pretty quality brews here. The new Hop Thief isn’t as good as last years, with a funny aftertaste, but definitely a great session beer if you’re at a pub that has it. Brewdog’s Dogma is a classic example of why these guys are so renowned. The Fitzroy Hipster is more of a novelty: not that great in flavour but couldn’t resist the concept. Ogden Nash’s Pash Rash was interesting but I didn’t get much redskin flavour, apparently it’s more inherent in kegs. They individually peeled over 5000 redskins to make this beer! The Mountain Goat Cross Breed is the pick of the lot: a gin pilsner that will never be sold! Such a shame as it’s an incredibly tasty pilsner with a beautiful nose full of citrus, juniper and everything nice about gin. The flavour is really smooth and refreshing too! But apparently the brewers weren’t happy with the carbonation, insane!

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Got some crackers here! The Beer Camp collab between Sierra Nevada and Ballast Point is a 7% hoppy lager, really big beer. Didn’t rate it at first but opened up towards the end. Hop Shark is a great pale from Red Duck, really consistent beers from these guys. Also pictured is the much revered GABS 2015 People’s choice beer Milk and Two Sugars. I’ve wrote to death about this one, if you can find it, get it!

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Great couple of beers from Forrest Brewing Company, met the head brewer in good beer week and he was a legend. A classic from Sierra Nevada and a couple more hits from Oz.

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Some big playaz on this page. Didn’t really get why Old Rasputin was so revered, maybe I wasn’t in the stout mood but I think Founder’s RIS is way better. We’ve also got the dangerously sessionable Abbey Collaby 10% DIPA here. So bitter and flavoursome that it masks the booze, watch out for this one! Also got some fantastic NZ brews: the gunnamatta is an amazing IPA brewed with Earl Grey tea leaves, so delicious.

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This is what happens when you get lazy: a whole lot of labels with no reviews! The Firestone Walker stuff on the right is some of the highest rated beer in the US, along with the Fresh Squeezed from Deschutes. Not sure how fresh these imports were but they left a bit to be desired. Great IPAs don’t get me wrong but not the best I’ve had. Would love to get them fresh off the production line.

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An array of brews here. A standard pale from Brewdog, not their best. A beefed up wheat from Feral that certainly packs more than their standard White. A few average brews on the right hand side, bar the Mt Goat IPA. The pick here is definitely Brooklyn Brown. Beautiful example of this style, packed full of brown sugar and biscuit tones. A must try.

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Some new beers here! One from the Bastards of the British Empire (I think?) series from 4 Pines, nothing to write home about. A classic from Wychwood in Hobgoblin, and an average brew from Feral. Pick of the lot is definitely the lovely 8 Ball stout. Check it out!

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Last night we headed along to the Brewdog tap takeover at Carwyn Cellars (High St, Thornbury). What an immense lineup here! So many choices, could’ve stayed for hours! But alas, it was just one beer each for me and Liv, I’d been dying to try Tokyo for ages, and liv got the Bourbon Baby Scotch Ale. The Tokyo was absolutely immense: a 16.5% Russian Imperial, was one of the strongest beers I’ve ever had (not surprising from these guys) in flavour and alcohol. Much of the stout character had been overtaken by the alcohol content and the stickiness made it take on more of a barleywine/port character. It was fantastic, but very hard to drink more than 150mL of it. The Bourbon Baby was fantastic, a lovely scotch ale, not on the heavier side, with an amazing brown sugar/biscuity body and a super refreshing bourbon sweetness in the finish. One of the best beers I’ve had from Brewdog for sure. A pity I couldn’t make it to Carwyn for the Founder’s takeover, but this definitely made up for it!

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Spent a lovely afternoon at the Temple Brewing Company bar in East Brunswick (just off Lygon St). The bar is amazing with a lovely outdoor seating area and huge multi-storey inside, with a walkway that looks over the brewery as seen. Really cheap tasting paddles available, 5 beers for $15! We tried the Anytime IPA (a great session IPA, really easy going and packed with flavour), the Hazy Dayz Hefeweizen (packed with banana flavours, a bubbly carbonation but a little tart), the Rye Hard IPA (a Rye IPA that’s absolutely delicious, tastes like a Red IPA, awesome bitterness, big body), their seasonal release: a Belgian wheat beer infused with lemon, ginger and peppercorn (smelled incredible, tasted like a ginger lemonade, so damn refreshing but not very beery), and the New World Order American Stout (a huge yeasty chocolatey stout, fantastic). The food looked great here too but we’d already eaten! Would definitely go back here with friends as the value was great and the beers were amazing!

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You know you’ve gone full wanker when you rush to the pub on a Wednesday night to get a Lark barrel aged barleywine instead of a cheap jug. The Terminus in Fitzroy North kegged the Australian International Beer Award champion beer last week: Mountain Goat’s Barrel Breed Barley Wine. As suggested, this beer is aged in Lark whisky barrels and is a huge 13%. As soon as I heard it was kegged I had to go try it! Definitely worth it, this beer is huge and loaded with that big, sticky, boozy taste you get from barleywines but also a nice vanilla and sharpness from the whisky barrels. This beer is in very limited supply and comes at a hefty price, so was good to try it on tap where it’s more affordable. If you can get your hands on some, go for it! I wouldn’t say it’s the best barleywine I’ve ever had, but definitely worth the try.

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Evil Twin have a series of beers dedicated to hipster capitals of the world. They’ll go there and brew a beer using local ingredients to the style of that place. I guess I’m almost a Fitzroy Hipster now. Didn’t go too much on this beer though, but being a hipster of course I’d have to be negative.

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Last night I went to Matt’s place to help him bottle his home brew. It’s a delicious dunkleweizen: full bodied with delicious fruity notes, predominantly banana and a bit of spice. Full flavour but easy drinking. Delicious!

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I’ve had at least 76 of these beers, my memory is shady from my 2011 trip to Europe so I could have had more Belgian/German beers, they’re so hard to remember! It’s a good effort so far though, hoping to get over 100 before the end of the year! Reblog and let me know how many you’ve done if you’ve got the book!

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Me every day