Ask the Australian

[ardour]

Why is your beer so resoundingly awful compared to ours?

You can find decent imported UK/US West Coast craft ales over here, yet nothing from Australia.

I feel for you.

 

[TheLoadedDog]

Why is your beer so resoundingly awful compared to ours?

You can find decent imported  UK/US West Coast craft ales over here, yet nothing from Australia.

I feel for you.

I am a home brewer and I know my beers.  US/Canadian and Australian beers are honeysuckle in equal measure.  The mainstream stuff, that is.  You can get some good microbrews.  I am a sucker for a good Yorkshire Bitter.

North American beers use a lot of rice malt, which makes a bland brew. Bud, I'm looking at you. Australian mainstream lagers are overly sweet - deiberately so, to get a sugar kick happenning, so you want more.

 

[TheLoadedDog]

And sorry, but Steinlager is gnat's water.

---

I'd also like to formally apologise for Foster's. It's just a little joke we play on foreigners. I can't even remember the last time I saw it for sale here. It is disgusting.

 

[user 139760]

Why is your beer so resoundingly awful compared to ours?

You can find decent imported  UK/US West Coast craft ales over here, yet nothing from Australia.

I feel for you.

I am a home brewer and I know my beers.  US/Canadian and Australian beers are honeysuckle in equal measure.  The mainstream stuff, that is.  You can get some good microbrews.  I am a sucker for a good Yorkshire Bitter.

North American beers use a lot of rice malt, which makes a bland brew.  Bud, I'm looking at you.  Australian mainstream lagers are overly sweet - deiberately so, to get a sugar kick happenning, so you want more.

honeysuckle. I'm thirsty.

 

[Seahorse]

Hold on..so your user name is because you get drunk on your home made beer? I thought it was because you were filthy rich

 

[TheLoadedDog]

Hold on..so your user name is because you get drunk on your home made beer? I thought it was because you were filthy rich

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Loaded_Dog

 

[TheLoadedDog]

Why is your beer so resoundingly awful compared to ours?

You can find decent imported  UK/US West Coast craft ales over here, yet nothing from Australia.

I feel for you.

I am a home brewer and I know my beers.  US/Canadian and Australian beers are honeysuckle in equal measure.  The mainstream stuff, that is.  You can get some good microbrews.  I am a sucker for a good Yorkshire Bitter.

North American beers use a lot of rice malt, which makes a bland brew.  Bud, I'm looking at you.  Australian mainstream lagers are overly sweet - deiberately so, to get a sugar kick happenning, so you want more.

honeysuckle. I'm thirsty.

Get into home brew.  A crap commercial lager in a pub costs me AUD$ 4-5 for a schooner (425ml).  I can make one for about fifty cents, and it's  pure malt
ambrosia.  I haven't brewed for years because I'm in a tiny studio apartment, but I miss it.   Just keep everything spotlessly clean and use quality ingredients (NO HOUSEHOLD SUGAR).

The first advice I give anybody starting out brewing is to go and buy some beer.  Otherwise, you will be tempted to break into the home brew before it has matured.  Never do this.

Funny but true story:

Up until the early 70s, home brew was illegal unless it was low alcohol (where's the fun in that?  Aussie beers run at about 5% alc/vol, not 3%).  So a company put out a "low alcohol" beer kit.  The instructions indicated the correct amount of sugar or malt to use.  Then in huge letters DO NOT ADD MORE SUGAR AS THIS WILL LIFT THE ALCOHOL CONTENT AND BREACH THE LAW!  

The government knew when it was beaten, and just legalised the stuff.

Make your summertime thirst quenching "lawn mower beer" lagers in winter (lager yeast likes the cold), and your warming rich wintertime ales in summer. You'll always have six month old beer, which is perfect.

 

[ardour]

I talking more about craft ales. We don't get any good Australian brands in NZ (assuming there are good examples).

 

[TheLoadedDog]

I made a still once. Pressure cooker with copper pipe running through a bucket of cold water. Very Copperhead Road. I made a thing called "Screech", which is apple cider spirit. I don't know how strong it was, but it was over 45% because it would burn if you put a match to it. Only one problem - it was disgusting. Only did it once. Distillation is an art form. An art form I do not have.


There is also a Polish drink called "rectified spirit". It is 97% alc/vol. Don't worry, you won't get drunk on it. It's revolting. You'll take one sip.

---

I talking more about craft ales. We don't get any good Australian brands in NZ (assuming there are good examples).

Coopers from South Australia is as good as mainstream Aussie beers get.  Also have a look for the James Squire range from Sydney.  You might like those.

If you like dark ales and stouts, see if you can get Sheaf Stout in NZ. It's better than Guinness, IMHO.

 

[TheLoadedDog]

Been thinking about this. I can't remember the last time I saw Kiwi beers for sale here. Japanese, American, Euro, etc. Sure. But NZ? Nope. I think it might be that stupid parochial trans-Tasman bollocks. I mean, we have to be two of the greatest craft beer countries on the planet.

Used to be the same in interstate beers in Australia. I ordered a NSW beer in Melbourne and nearly got beaten up.

 

[TheRealCallie]

Will you be attending this?

https://www.theguardian.com/austral...tralian-town-to-crown-best-mullet-of-them-all

 

[TheLoadedDog]

Will you be attending this?  

https://www.theguardian.com/austral...tralian-town-to-crown-best-mullet-of-them-all

Har!

This is excellent.  It made the front page lead story here on the capital city broadsheets (admittedly very briefly).  Now, normally, you'd call that a "slow news day", but it wasn't.  There's been a lot going on here and overseas, but it's all been horrible, so I think the editors took this one and ran with it (and also the Canadian PM making a bit of a goose of himself in India - but at least he only did that for a week: Australian Prime Ministers have always done it perpetually in their own country).

 

[user 139760]

Will you be attending this?  

https://www.theguardian.com/austral...tralian-town-to-crown-best-mullet-of-them-all

Har!

This is excellent.  It made the front page lead story here on the capital city broadsheets (admittedly very briefly).  Now, normally, you'd call that a "slow news day", but it wasn't.  There's been a lot going on here and overseas, but it's all been horrible, so I think the editors took this one and ran with it (and also the Canadian PM making a bit of a goose of himself in India - but at least he only did that for a week: Australian Prime Ministers have always done it perpetually in their own country).

LOL I missed that. What moronicity did Trou d'eau do this time?

 

[TheLoadedDog]

Not being Canadian, it's not really my place to say. Put it this way, I just typed "Trudeau" into Google, and the autosuggest's number one search suggestion was "Trudeau India".

 

[Nicolelt]

Dingos....do people have them as pets?

 

[TheRealCallie]

Dingos....do people have them as pets?

 

[TheLoadedDog]

You can have a pet dingo, but it is uncommon. Here's why:
http://www.dingofoundation.org/owning.php

 

[ardour]

Been thinking about this.  I can't remember the last time I saw Kiwi beers for sale here.  Japanese, American, Euro, etc.  Sure.  But NZ?   Nope.  I think it might be that stupid parochial trans-Tasman bollocks. 

Yea that might well be it. Coopers but that's as 'craft' as it gets. We get a couple of decent beers from overseas, such Ballast Point (criminally expensive here though).

 

[Pathfinder]

 

[user 139760]

LOL Something like that indeed.