Hello. I write to bitch about Steam ale. Four out of six stubbies of this stuff are absolutely woeful. They’re that bad I swear they were made in Abbotsford.
One in six is okay. Drinkable.
The other one in every six is fucking glorious.
Where’s the quality control? Or the pride in what you put your label on..?
I write this not just as a punter, but as someone that’s been a retailer and advocate of your beer since 2003.
Your beer was one of those that originally said to me, hey, there’s more to beer than what’s made in Abbotsford! It taught me a lesson, infact, I cut my boutique beer selling teeth on it. Something I’ve done really well.
What’s more I drank it! I spent 40+ hours a week selling your stuff, then drinking it when I’m off the clock in my own time for over six years. It’d be impossible to count howmany of your beers I’d have consumed, or directly sold, but in short, it’d be a royal shitload. I even have the sticker on my car, I drink, I goat. If your shit continues, it’ll be removed.
Your beer was spot on. A local we could be genuinely proud of, that is, up until recently. The more venues you seem have, the worse the quality of your beer.
Dropping the pale ale was a cardinal sin. To replace it with something that’s fundamentally flawed, like Steam ale just makes things worse.
Get your shit together, please. I miss the riotous good times I had with your beer. I miss having customers come in with a smile thanking me for converting them from the dark side to a decent, credible brew, I miss slamming down Hightail pints at the Corner, thinking “How fucking good is this? a beer brewed here in my hometown that I’m not ashamed of..”
You’re teetering on the edge of just another mass produced shitty inverted commas boutique beer close inverted commas just like Matilda Bay, and I’m contemplating removing the sticker and your beer from my drink, and more importantly recommend list.
The text below is what I typed into a contact form on the Mountain Goat Brewery website. I’ll keep you updated with the response, if indeed I get any.
Hello. I write to bitch about Steam ale. Four out of six stubbies of this stuff are absolutely woeful. They’re that bad I swear they were made in Abbotsford.
One in six is okay. Drinkable.
The other one in every six is fucking glorious.
Where’s the quality control? Or the pride in what you put your label on..?
I write this not just as a punter, but as someone that’s been a retailer and advocate of your beer since 2003.
Your beer was one of those that originally said to me, hey, there’s more to beer than what’s made in Abbotsford! It taught me a lesson, infact, I cut my boutique beer selling teeth on it. Something I’ve done really well.
What’s more I drank it! I spent 40+ hours a week selling your stuff, then drinking it when I’m off the clock in my own time for over six years. It’d be impossible to count howmany of your beers I’d have consumed, or directly sold, but in short, it’d be a royal shitload. I even have the sticker on my car, I drink, I goat. If your shit continues, it’ll be removed.
Your beer was spot on. A local we could be genuinely proud of, that is, up until recently. The more venues you seem have, the worse the quality of your beer.
Dropping the pale ale was a cardinal sin. To replace it with something that’s fundamentally flawed, like Steam ale just makes things worse.
Get your shit together, please. I miss the riotous good times I had with your beer. I miss having customers come in with a smile thanking me for converting them from the dark side to a decent, credible brew, I miss slamming down Hightail pints at the Corner, thinking “How fucking good is this? a beer brewed here in my hometown that I’m not ashamed of..”
You’re teetering on the edge of just another mass produced shitty inverted commas boutique beer close inverted commas just like Matilda Bay, and I’m contemplating removing the sticker and your beer from my drink, and more importantly recommend list.
Dec 16 2009
Filed In: food
Johnston street, Fitzory is home to a number of Spanish themed establishments. It’s like a tribute to Lygon street, by the Spanish, I suppose. Given the neighborhood is home to my favourite cocktail bar, Black Pearl, I’ve taken it upon myself to explore the local eateries. I’ve tried a couple, but La Sangria is the first I’ve decided to blog about. I walked in on a cold and rainy afternoon in Melbourne last week. I chose it because it was empty, where it’s neighbours were quite full. Not out of sympathy, but because I felt like deliberately going to something bad would have made for an entertaing write-up. It turns out this place is everything but bad. I guess people are/were put off by the staircase that leads up onto the bar. The very same bar I ate off. Click the image for more explicit details.
I asked one of the two old european, presumably Spanish men behind the jump for two of the best tapas dishes they did. The concept was unfamiliar to him, so he chose the two most expensive. Garlic Prawns @ $10, and Fillet steak @ $14. Asshole! I thought. I chose a beer I hadn’t heard of before, Mahou. It’s a superb beer. First class commercial lager – More about that when I can find out where to buy it. Anyhow, back to the food; Surprisingly for an establishment like this, I was asked how I’d like my steak cooked. I said tentatively, medium, and waited patiently.
After what was probably three or four cheesy spanish languaged generic jazzy songs in one ear, and ten minutes of SBS news in another, I was greeted by a ferociously noisy sizzling teracotta platebowlthingy containing six large prawn tails. They looked like they’d been frozen, or very seriously processed. They tasted heavenly. Good olive oil was causing the sizzle, suspended in which was plenty of garlic and nice quality fresh chilli. The prawns firm and flavourful, no sign of the tired, overprocessed characteristics experienced on the eye. A wonderful dish, which was thankfully accompanied by plenty of fresh, crusty, wholemeal bread (no charge) which I could have more of, If I so desired. The prawns so blissful, and the beer so lovely I had forgotten about my impending steak.
The steak ($14) arrived, as pictured, the chips handcut, the salad rustic, more garlic and chilli olive oil, and more bread. Low and behold, it was cooked to medium. Flavoursome and fallapart in texture it was just superb. Not one bit of fatty yucky meat, or sinewy shit. I ate the whole damn lot. The oil will be too much for some, but going to a Spanish establishment with an aversion to oil is akin to going to eat quality Japanese and expecting everything to be cooked. The salad fresh and delicious, dressed with some vinegar and oil. My only complaints; The Mahou beer ended all too quickly (and i was driving, couldn’t have another) and more people weren’t experiencing this wonderful establishment. Fed like a king for $30. Couldn’t be happier.
Here’s a clicky; La Sangria, 46 Johnston Street, Fitzroy.
Gippsland Gold
I have spent an awful lot of time shitcanning Grand Ridge Brewery. A brewery that is unquestionably the most egotistical and unrealistic in existance. They have committed more crimes against flavour than a city of Mr Baldys ever could against children.
However, I must admit – This current “Gippsland Gold” Pale Ale is delicious. Pale ale it is not. It’s quite obviously red in color and red in flavour profile, so again like most Grand Ridge beers it lies on the label. BUT….. the beer is freakin’ delicious.
It pours superbly, maintains it’s fine head, the nose is stupendously good! Enticing fruits lurk below husky malt, the carbonation is cleansing and consistent. The palate is full bodied, rich & creamy malt driven style which finishes with a delightful dry hoppy and fruity flourish. It’s a wonderful, wonderful beer. 3, 6.5, 8.5. 18/20 4.9% Alc./Vol.
The person that actually dared to suggest I try one was the inimitable Tony Evans of Mayerling Cellars. Talk beer with him until the cows come home, but please, do not buy any serious wine from that place. They have a terrible, terrible problem with the heat in that shop. I was in there today, a 39 degree day today and everything on the shop floor is roasted.
Very pale straw colour with water like hue. Quite like a Sancerre on the nose, restrained and elegant; green mushy peas, capsicum, passionfruit and talcum powder. The palate is clean, crusp, end delushus, as my kiwi mate would say. Length excellent, balance perfect. Typical Cloudy Bay at this time of year. Nice wine, but will be at it’s best post christmas. I suspect it’s bottle/shipping shocked at present, or too cold. 3, 5, 7. 13/2O This will improve.
Half of the cherry bounty
Slept in til lunchtime, went out to blue hills orchard in Wandin, in search of delicious new season cherries. We ended up with 5 and a bit kilos of the buggers, two shopping bags almost chock-o block. Now, we just need to work out what to do with them. I recommend the experience, not for cheap cherries (entry is $7 and they’re $7 per kg – supermarket is $10-$12atm) or outstanding quality, it’s just kinda relaxing and in a strange way, fun. Not to mention the opportunity to cook with something you picked. That doesn’t happen all that often for me. I would someday like to have a big vegie garden though, perhaps grow some grapes too. But for now, the grapegrowing is best left to professionals. I’ll just worry about selling the stuff.
Which is what I’ve done for a while now. Sold the stuff. I’m approaching my sixth vintage, and beginning to wonder where it’s all going – where to next. I’m getting tired of seeing the same wines year in year out, tired of delivering much the same speel year in year out. I wonder sometimes, what’s wrong with me.. Some of the people I work with have been at it almost all of their professional lives, yet they don’t seem to be terribly bothered. They don’t seem to mind that they’re selling the sixteenth consecutive vintage of a particular wine. Either they aren’t fussed, or they’re better at hiding it than I.
In an effort to counter this (for lack of a better word) fatigue I’ve been facing, I’ve been searching for wines that offer some sort of excitement, but perhaps in a different mould than the norm. Not wines for the masses, but wines for someone who feels like they need a change. I found one on a recent trip to the Mornington Peninsula, Principia’s delightful ‘07 Pinot Noir. I’m also quite the fan of their 07 chardy – I’m infact drinking one as I type. I didn’t blog about the pinot, because work decided to sell it. After an about face on their colour in pinot policy. Also, the last thing I’d want to do with a glass of wine like that infront of me is sit infront of a keyboard or with a pen and paper and write notes. I’d sooner be equipped with a knife and fork, or lazing about on a couch with a decent stereo playing something nice. It’s a Pinot beyond pontification.
Anyhow, post strawberry pick and in search of food, i got sidetracked. We were in the unfashionable southern side of the Yarra Valley, within minutes of a couple of wineries. Seville Hill was the first sign I saw. I think Seville Hill’s Cabernet was the first wine I tasted as a sample and decided I must have for sale in the shop. This was very early on in my days at Mayerling cellars. I treated it like a baby, gave it a good spot on the shelf and recommended it to everyone who looked at Cabernet. I was mighty chuffed when I sold one, moreso when someone came back for one. These were the days prior to my education under Nick. I’d love to see some of the wines I tried and loved back then, now, just to see what the hell I was on about. Anyone got some ‘02 Chalambar Shiraz? ‘98 Browns of Padthaway Brigstock?.. Stepping Stone Stonehaven Shiraz, Cabernet & Chardonnay..? I think they were early 2000s.. maybe some Cheery Giant Red? Six Foot Six Pinot Noir, Shiraz Viognier?..
I sidetracked again. Seems the day for it. At Seville Hill was the delightful winemaker John D’Aloisio. Humble and informed, yet not pompous, down to earth. A good human deserving of the praise he seems to earn around the trade. Anyhow, I went for booze, not for friends, the news is, I found what I was looking for. Seville Hill’s reds are idiosyncratic and a tad obscure, yet immensely appealing. I scribbled some quick sniff swirl spit notes;
2005 Seville Hill Merlot; translucent crimson; lifted aromatics; berries and forest floor, spice. ripe lively palate, pristinely clean and fresh, though light in body, powerful flavours linger. immaculate balance. a merlot i would drink? wow!
2004 Seville Hill Cabernet Sauvignon; translucent purple crimson; black fruits, spice, earth, cedar on the nose. medium bodied, spotlessly clean, lively and fresh; blackcurrant dominates and persists through booming finish. remarkable length. perfect balance. superb.
2005 Seville Hill Reserve Shiraz; near opaque black crimson; lifted nose; blackcurrant, raspberry, cedar, herbs, white pepper spice, touch of stalk. racy and lively palate, medium bodied, flavours reflect the nose, crisp and crunchy acidity, integrated tannins support. fans out on finish like pinot.
Nice wines. All light, all with a few years in bottle, but all with years to go. Power to weight ratio most exciting. They almost verge on refreshing.
A quick drop into Whispering Hills on the way out, the 08 Riesling and Vine dried cabernet the stars of the lineup.
Food was required, so we made our way back towards civilisation.
Pane di Casa - Principia Chardonnay - Mussels & Prawns in Blue Cheese, Chardy & Cream.
All this time in the valley had me craving a Hoddles Creek Chardonnay, unfortunately, I couldn’t find one. So I gladly settled for the girlfriend’s Principial, and cooked up some mussels and prawns, in white wine, shallot, garlic, blue cheese, and light cream; a delicious 1 pan dish, that requires only some nice, fresh, crusty bread for soaking.
A nice day. If you’re looking for big gun, overblown reds, stay away from Seville Hill. If you’re looking for something different, here’s a clicky.
