Nice beers i have had recently - Trappist, lagers, Ales et al.

Well I stay with mainstream beer so here are some of my traditional beer drinks:
US Coors and Bud
italy Peroni
UK Kronenberg
Australia Cascade Coopers Crown

Some craft beers really are offensive to my taste buds so I avoid them wherever possible. I cerainly don’t like syrupy beers.
 
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a couple of old favourites at Carwyn Cellars (MEL):
  • Weihenstephaner e.g. Tradition Bayrisch Dunkel 500ml 12pk $37.50
  • Theakston Old Peculier 500ml 8pk $25
 
Finally got to try this guy… and IYKYK.

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Interestingly, it wasn’t quite as great as I had expected it to be. Definitely a reference quality west coast IPA, but not more so than some others (Stone, Ballast Point, et al).

Post pandemic, I’ve been very focused on AU & NZ craft brewers, and the quality and variety they are brewing in terms of hop-forward beers (in IPAs & NEIPAs in particular) has meant that it takes something incredibly good from elsewhere to beat them, right now.

That said, I’ll keep on trying them ALL, and from everywhere, just in case! ;)

Cheers (literally),
Matt.
 
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Couple of recent favourites (yes I am a huge fan of Range, and NEIPAs more generally)

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And keeping things on brand with AFF, below is a JAL branded 'Lager' made with leftover rice from the Narita International Lounges. You can buy it from the JAL PLAZA shops at major airports in Japan.

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Are there any Untappd users on here? 👀
 
Are there any Untappd users on here? 👀
Another big Range fan here, and have traveled to their brewery and tap rooms in BNE and MEL in the last couple of years to experience it at the source.

I’m also on Untappd… with 61 unique Range Brewing check-ins, as I edge closer to 2,000 uniques in total.

Same handle on there as here, if you wanted to connect.

Cheers,
Matt.
 
I have added you! The Range tap rooms in both Melbourne and Brissy are excellent!

If anyone's in Melbourne this weekend, check out the Hops from Nihon event - 7 different Aus/Jpn collabs at 7 different venues starting today


My personal picks would be the One Drop/Uchu colab (Uchu beers are quite aptly out of this world) and the Mountain Culture/WCB. I could make it down there thanks to a 5 week old baby, but will try to find somewhere selling them all online! 😁
 
Range is by far the most consistent and highest quality NEIPA / hazy IPA for an Australian brewer.
Bracket and Mountain Culture are at that level but don't have as frequent quality releases, in addition to being less available in Melbourne bottle shops 😂
 
Yep - Range are consistently good, but also consistently unique.

I was a fan of MC a few years ago, but these days I find their releases all taste very similar (i.e. rammed full of oat/lactose) and I've slowly lost interest.

Bracket are probably my #2 after Range. I quite liked their taproom in Alexandria but unfortunately they were booted out recently and they're currently looking for a new home :(

Banks, GP, One Drop and Wildflower also high on the list!
 
Tonight's drop - the floating on/dripping in/tripping in green series are 👌👌👌

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AFF Meetup at GABS, or Juicy 2025? 😁
 
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A beer festival in Brisbane hosted by Range, first held last year. It's sort of what GABS should be - good beer without the commercial influence of Dan's etc. Tickets are all-inclusive.

Below are the lineups from the past two festivals, Finback was invited twice because there was a debacle with customs on the first year and many of their kegs didn't make it through in time for the festival...

Screenshot_20240413-214651~2.png Screenshot_20240413-214551~2.png
 
A beer festival in Brisbane hosted by Range, first held last year. It's sort of what GABS should be - good beer without the commercial influence of Dan's etc. Tickets are all-inclusive.

Below are the lineups from the past two festivals, Finback was invited twice because there was a debacle with customs on the first year and many of their kegs didn't make it through in time for the festival...

View attachment 378934 View attachment 378933
Oooh, now that looks good! Depending on timing, I would definitely look at heading up for that

Cheers,
Matt.
 
The only downside to Juicy, and I know I sound old for saying this, is that there are probably too many nice, higher ABV beers to have in such a short space of time. Meaning you are likely to not remember the later parts of the festival!

Went to GABS last year (free ticket from a friend) and whilst the selection is massive, didn't like the queues and being charged for tasters. There were less than half a dozen good hazy/NE IPAs anyway. Wouldn't go again, not to mention the location change this year to Melbourne showgrounds.

Fox Friday is almost at the level of Range, Bracket for their double and triple IPAs and it's good to see they now have a Melbourne taproom to help with availability. I think one of the Deeds brewers moved to FF, which I suppose explains the change in both brewers' releases in the last year or two.

I love One Drop for their fruited/smoothie sours, which are as amongst the best in the world - Mortalis, Evil Twin NYC are my reference brewers for those styles. Summer is over so we won't see many for a while unfortunately. If you like those, I got some cans from Carwyn Cellars last year during Pint of Origin (POO 😂) who are featuring USA again at this year's POO - next month. You should be able to order cans online if unable to go in person.
 
Went to GABS last year (free ticket from a friend) and whilst the selection is massive, didn't like the queues and being charged for tasters. There were less than half a dozen good hazy/NE IPAs anyway. Wouldn't go again, not to mention the location change this year to Melbourne showgrounds.

I've done GABS Sydney and Melbourne a couple of times, and Auckland once, and found Auckland was by far the best. So many hyper local breweries that don't reach Australian shores plus the likes of GP and Behemoth, and access to such amazing NZ hop varieties. The queues weren't as bad as GABS in Australia, and the food options were way better.

I love One Drop for their fruited/smoothie sours, which are as amongst the best in the world - Mortalis, Evil Twin NYC are my reference brewers for those styles. Summer is over so we won't see many for a while unfortunately.

You might wanna pick up the One Drop/Uchu colab released over the weekend!

Uchu are without a doubt the best Japanese brewers at the moment, and smoothie sours are their specialty. Just have a look at the head on this!!

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And if you're ever in Singapore, search out Alive Brewing for their smoothie sour series called "Magic Technique"! (I think they're up to v7 or v8 now - with a different fruit each time)

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Evil Twin NYC

Interestingly, these guys have stuck a deal with Nomad Brewing to start brewing their stuff locally. Not sure what the outcome will be for their quality, but it has got them stocked at Dan's & First Choice now...

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And if you're ever in Singapore, search out Alive Brewing for their smoothie sour series called "Magic Technique"! (I think they're up to v7 or v8 now - with a different fruit each time)

View attachment 378975
I found Number 07 recently at Locality.
Really nice, not a big finish - but it's only 6.5%.

Had a chat with the taproom owner, place is not easy to find! He says Alive is a two man operation and don't have a canning facility, so exporting is not really a thing they can do.

Tried their 4th anniversary Triple IPA at Smith Street Taps, also very good.
 

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