HAHN premium in Qantas Club?

[sambo]

Hi,

I was moments away from joining Qantas club, when I read a disturbing post on these pages. Is there any truth to the rumour that the sole Premium Beer found in QC's around Aust. is Hahn Premium?

This has shaken me to the core, and makes me wonder what other nasty surprises await me on my first QC visit... :wink:

Can someone either confirm or deny this hurtful possibility?

Seriously disturbed, Sam :shock:

 

[swissbignose]

The other alleged "premium" beer is Crown Lager...

 

[Rick93]

Depends on where you are....
I just got back from Christchurch NZ, and the QC had Steinlarger as their premiun. There was also Heineken.

regards,

 

[sambo]

Thanks guys... you´ve restored some hope for me.

Sam

 

[thadocta]

Depends on the lounge - Sydney International J lounge has only VB and Tooheys New, with NO premium beers on offer.

ONLY consolation is that the beers are on tap.

Dave

 

[QF WP]

I just knew that this topic would invoke a response from thatdocta, who was one ofthe first to teach me the joys of drinking QP's out of HP at our meetings there.

 

[straitman]

Hi,

I was moments away from joining Qantas club, when I read a disturbing post on these pages. Is there any truth to the rumour that the sole Premium Beer found in QC's around Aust. is Hahn Premium?

This has shaken me to the core, and makes me wonder what other nasty surprises await me on my first QC visit... :wink:

Can someone either confirm or deny this hurtful possibility?

Seriously disturbed, Sam :shock:

For those of US who don't like HP there is a reasonably good choice of real beers. - bound to catch a fish here :!:

:twisted: :mrgreen:

 

[sambo]

It is simply beyond me why anyone would choose Hahn Premium or Tooheys New. Two of the worst beers ever to be produced in Australia. Except, of course, Geelong Bitter and Powers Ice.

Come on Qantas Club, drop the Tooheys and the Hahn, this is Australia. If you want to get serious, why not stock Lowenbrau, Becks, Boags, Cascade? They´re only marginally more expensive than Hahn Premium but 10 000 times better. :wink:

 

[Rick93]

I'm sure I remember seeing Cascade Premium in the Sydney Domestic QC some time ago... I think they do rotate the 'premiums' around a bit.

But on the issue of HP being 'no good'....

I for one rather like it. Plus, it was recently voted (by whom I'm not sure), as being Australia's "best beer" !!!

So, it comes down to 'horses for courses'....

regards,

 

[sully]

Ho hum, the subject of Aussie macro swill again rears its bland white head.

"I like hahn, no give me a cascade, get out a boags is best, nah crownies are the go". Blah, blah, blah.

Come on guys, I bet if you were served these in a glass you would have trouble discerning their unsubtle differences. All of these beers are made with the management accountants in mind. All have a high proportion of cane sugar to boost the alcohol but add nothing to the flavour. They use one standard hop, the bitter but essentially aromaless Pride of Ringwood..

What about vb, fosters, tooheys or the cascade stable?????? Phhhhtttttttt as well.

Note that I have referred to all of these above beers in lower case because they don't deserve a capital. Geez, they don't even deserve a mention.

Ever heard of Little Creatures from WA? The ranges of Goat beers and Grand Ridge from Victoria? How about the James Squire family? Even though brewed by a subsidiary of Lion Nathan the good Doctor Hahn has been given a fair bit of creative licence (check out the new Strong Ale at 6.8%). If Scharer's Lager and Burragorang Bock came in small bottles that would be a welcome addition to any lounge too.

Comments about the other lager generics are all a bit rich too. On the whole, most of the mass produced beers are lagers with fairly lacklustre light malt profiles and poor hopping ratios. We need some gutsy ales and meaty stouts (also an ale of course) to bolster the range of beers. Hmmm, even a couple of Belgian Trappists like Chimay (Rouge, Blanche and Bleue) or Rochefort would be a welcome addition in these winter months.

We should also look forward to some good Germans in the Steinbier, Rauchbier and Schwarzbier styles. Now we're talking real beer.

At least no-one asked for the 'premium' American budweiser, coors or miller swill. Mind you, their micro brewing industry is extensive and delicious.

 

[sambo]

Sully, I must agree, both Little Creatures(WA) and Mountain Goat(VIC) do produce some top notch brews. The problem is their cost though(both circa $60/case). My initial argument was that if QC was going to provide HP(circa $40/case), why not serve something halfway decent for the same money?

And I do agree that it would be nice to see some more challenging beers in the collection, some weiB and some bock perhaps, but you and I both know we´re dreaming. As for the other Deutsche Bier you mention, I´m keen on it all, with the exception of those with a back palate reeking of 111-trichloroethane. Reinheitsgebot, my foot.

I´m over it. It´s gonna be a long, hard fought battle to make people realise that there´s more to choose from than just VB and Carlton Draught.

¨To each his own¨.

Sam.

 

[sully]

Sam, of course cost must be a consideration. I'm only dreaming that I could sit down to a glorious Chimay Bleue with a tangy aged cheese. The whole idea of the lounges is to offer some degree of hospitality and comfort without turning into something like the Emirates lounge in Dubai (drool drool).

If we are talking cost however, the James Squire range of everyday beers is about the same price as the 'premium' beers. To have the basic four varieties available in each lounge would be a real treat at no additional cost to the lounge.

 

[Warks]

Good news for you beer experts! Adelaide QC has Godzone beer:

Coopers Pale Ale!!! (green label)

Nectar of the Gods. Lovely cloudy drop.

Hey after Adelaide water anything tastes good (with notable exception of Southwark Pale Ale (never never never never....)

 

[sully]

That is a great start! Local beer in the local QC. Coopers at least maintains a high degree of integrity in that it brews a range of ales that are unashamedly not 'pretty'. There are good estery flavours in their range (I prefer the Sparkling Ale- so well named) and there is an honesty in their approach towards brewing.

They have had a few clangers though, notably their Heritage. Tastes as good as Tooheys Empire.

 

[thadocta]

Sully, I must agree, both Little Creatures(WA) and Mountain Goat(VIC) do produce some top notch brews. The problem is their cost though(both circa $60/case). My initial argument was that if QC was going to provide HP(circa $40/case), why not serve something halfway decent for the same money?

The problem - as I see it - is that Hahn Premium and Crown Lager both come from large breweries, which have certain economies of scale in production costs. economies the micro-breweries can't match.

Given the amount of grog that Qantas purchases for QP stocks, Qantas would be able to command a sizeable discount on the purchase price for the "standard" beers, a discount the micro-breweries would be unable to match.

So whilst there would not be a marked difference between what you and I pay for various brands at our local LiquorLand, I would suggest that there would indeed by a sizeable difference in what Qantas has to pay for the various beers.

And when all is said and done, we aren't paying for it, and a free Hahn Premium is better than nothing, isn't it?

Dave

 

[Warks]

Imagine if all QC stocked was Hahn Premium Light, xx_X (any version - sorry Banana Benders!), Sterling (blecch!), Tooheys New in cans, Southwark ... and a blast from the past

Tooth LA!

What I'd like to see is Duvel (Belgian drop)

No idea what it tastes like but at $128 per carton at Dan Murphy's how good can it be????

AS they say any beer tastes good when someone else is paying for it!

Crown Lager: the beer you buy when the boss is paying.
(even though it's only Fosters in a fancy bottle!)

 

[sambo]

[quote="
Crown Lager: the beer you buy when the boss is paying.
(even though it's only Fosters in a fancy bottle!)[/quote]

I´ve heard rumours of this before. Do you have a credible source on this? I´d just like to know once and for all whether this is true as it would settle many a drunken argument.

Sambo.

 

[sully]

Sambo, the best I can do in providing a credible source is the hearsay of a well respected brewer who knows of the workings within CUB.

The word is that Fosters and Crown are brewed to the same recipe. While the quality controls in a brewery are very high there can be subtle differences in the output from each batch. Yeast is a living organism and can give a slightly different result in the brewing process. Ditto the malt. what little there is in the macro beers. The process of making a fermentable sugar from barley is essentially one which steeps the malted barley at temperatures around the 70C mark for a number of hours. This causes the starches in the grain to be converted into a sweet 'tea'. This tea is boiled with sugar and hops until it is ready to be cooled and pitched with yeast. Sometimes the extraction from the malt varies so that there can be subtle differences in the brew finally achieved.

The so-called best beer is bottled as Crown and the other is Fosters. Some say you can taste the difference. In a blind taste test it is VERY hard to discern these beers.

 

[sully]

Fellow contributors. Have a look at this link which tells you what some more discerning punters think of the beloved Crownie.

http://www.ratebeer.com/Ratings/Beer/Beer-Ratings.asp?BeerID=7209

Browse the site for some other very interesting info. I am sure some of you might even want to join me in rating the best beers in the world. My username is the same there as here.

Enjoy.

 

[jlou]

Sully I'm with you on the Coopers Sparkling. Only beer that doesn't gvie me sinus (not good for take off and landing!) and it tastes damn good (just don't drive afterwards as the alcohol content is way up there.) Until they introduce it I will stick to spirits (unless I can find the very occasional decent bottle of red) and make the other half drive home. :twisted:

Adelaide has 3 things going for it:

Cheap Coopers
Numerous wine regions
The in-laws (free accom and they drink Coopers too)

If anyone knows anything I've missed, let me know!