I’m sure my absence over the last couple of weeks has been noticed by some of you, I’ve been in recovery mode after a HUGE Good Beer Week! Here’s a quick catchup of my Untappd badges from Melbourne’s finest exhibition of craft beer.
First cab off the ranks was Beer Connoisseur (Level 10). There was a bit of confusion in Untappd circles a couple of weeks ago when this was dished out. I can only assume that it was made retroactive, so for every 4 (yes four) beers from different countries you had had you got a badge when you checked a beer in, mine was Hops Dropper Pilsner. Apparently I’ve checked in beers from at least 40 countries on Untappd… There you go.
Doctor’s Orders GABS offering ticked off Pucker Up (Level 7). Electrolyte Forte was a supped up version of the Doc’s brilliant Electrolyte Gose. It ended up clocking in at 7.5%, absolutely huge for a Gose, and I thought that the ABV was a little much for the body of the beer. My expectations were extremely high and so I was a tad disappointed in the beer, but it was still a very nice sour.
New Zealand’s Garage Project was the brewery that provided beers for not 1 but 2 Drinking Like A Kiwi badges. Level 7 was their GABS beer, Umami Monster, my notes say smokey and shroomey so I’m going to assume that’s what it tasted like. While Level 8 was Pernicious Weed; I got this as part of my Tru Bru Bear Club and on tap this is the best New Zealand Imperial IPA I’ve had, much better than the bottle.
Another beer from our friends across the ditch earned Crisp As Day (Level 7). Moa Triple Hopped Pilsner was the beer; a 7.5% Imperial Pilsner hopped with Motueka, Nelson Sauvin and Pacifica hops. I thought at GABS that it was quite a well made, balanced Imperial Pilsner with the alcohol well hidden, which for me is the main thing in the style. Would I drink it again? Probably not, it’s not my favourite style, but not bad.
Pucker Up (Level 8) was the last new badge I got at GABS. Magic Rock’s Circus of Sour the Barrel Aged version was the lucky beer to achieve the latest honour. I’m quite familiar with the normal Circus of Sour and couldn’t really detect any noticeable difference. It’s still a really nice, flavoursome Berliner Weiss and I would highly recommend either beer if you come across them.
So there we go, hopefully now that I’m fully recovered from the drinking marathon that was Good Beer Week I will be able to pump out a few reviews this week. You’d think from this review that GABS and Good Beer Week were a sour and New Zealand beer affair, not that I didn’t sample quite a few of them but I would suggest there were far FAR more Australian beers consumed. What a wonderful week of beer, can’t wait for next year!
Remember it’s always Beer O’Clock somewhere in the world!
