Homebrewing - New Brewing Rig Sneak Peek

Courtesy of Melo, a sneaky preview pic of our new mash tun/keggle, made with a keg courtesy of the boys at Moon Dog!

Ooooh Shiny

In action! Check out the sweet brick stand, courtesy of Melo's back fence

And it only took 3 melted drill bits and several moderate cuts to various body parts to make! Success! 

I'm not dead, I promise - The last 2 months in Beer

So it turns out I haven't written on the blog for a long time... Roughly 6 weeks. Didn't really plan to stop writing posts, just got busy with having a full time job and suddenly the time where I used to write posts having to be rationed out to seeing people and going out. The horror.

Anyway, lunch breaks at work toward the end of the week are very quiet, so I figure I can write blog posts in them. So what's happened in the last six weeks that I haven't written about?

The answer is: A fair amount. In that time, we've made our own Candi sugar, brewed 4 or 5 beers, drank a good number of unique and awesome beers and purchased even more than were drunk. We also attended a beer festival, although the whole 'being in Willoughby' thing meant I had to drive, so not too much beer was had that day.

So I figured the best thing to do now would be to simply make a post about some of the awesome beers and beer events I've experienced in the last month or two, and promise that I'll write about our latest brews and the new brewing system we're building in the (not so distant) future.

So going in chronological order, back in early August, I discovered Founders Brewing, courtesy of Melo selling me a couple of their beers at Beer Cartel. While I enjoyed the IPAs and the Pale Ale I got, the real standout was the Breakfast Stout

Warning: Don't actually drink for breakfast

Coffee and chocolate flavours in a velvety smooth stout make for an eminently drinkable beer, a great warming beer and a fantastic beer to end a night on. Or start a night on. Up to you really.

Next up, we have a crazy Thursday night in Newtown, that involved not one, not two, but three beer events. First up, stopped into the Taphouse for their Pink Floyd themed dark beer night

Next stop was the Royal Albert Hotel, for the Illawarra Brewing Tap Takeover, which I didn't manage to get a single picture of, and finally to the Union Hotel for the 4 Pines 20-Tap-Takeover!

Overall a thoroughly enjoyable night, although I think next time, Three beer events in a single night might be slightly excessive.

Next up we have another beer, or rather a pair of beers, the Rogue "Voodoo Donut" series.

Big Pink Bottles that now live atop my beer-shelf

Although the bottles look near identical, the beers couldn't be further apart. The Chocolate, Peanut Butter and Banana Ale was a delicious sweet, dark beer that matched up amazingly against a bowl of icecream with raspberry sauce. The Bacon Maple Ale... An overly sweet pale ale with smoked malt and artifical bacon flavour that was... Lets say not fantastic. But still interesting and quite bizarro.

Next up, a blast from the past, Hahn's Millennium Ale, brewed all the way back in 1999 (when I was 8 years old...).

Still in the original box!

I managed to acquire 3/4 of a case of this beauty, and had to taste a bottle to make sure she'd aged well. The answer is most definitely. Will do a full writeup of it later, it definitely deserves the attention.

Other great beers from the last two months include the Moon Dog Skunkworks IPA

Aged in Cognac Barrels, you can definitely taste it!

The Rogue Imperial Pilsener,

My Aunt wasn't as impressed with it as I was

And the Brewfist "Fear" Milk Chocolate Stout

Not sure what there is to Fear, the beer is tasty as anything

All three of which were fantastic beers that I'd recommend to anyone looking for something fun to drink.

Lunch is about to finish, so I'll wrap the post up. I'll be writing more regular posts again over the next few weeks, covering our new brewing system, the Brewdog "IPA is Dead" IPA series and more!