Jul 08 2007
NOB HomeBrew aka Craft Beer
As promised here is a brew update!
Three weeks ago we laid down the first of the NOB (Nick n Rob) brew, a Munich style lager. The basic recipe was based on the BrewCraft ’starter’ kit so Munich Lager wort a hops bag (for the life of me I cannot remember which at the moment!) 1Kg of bew enhancer, ale yeast, a pile of Brisbanes finest water (quite possibly the most expensive ingredient) then when bottling some carbonation drops. It ought to be drinkable, or should that be openable, in a couple of weeks time.
Since that inital brew I have been looking on quite a few different brewing forums and found much more information on homebrew. It seems that homebrew has quite a bad reputation due to dodgy 1970-80’s kits that had normal household sugar and rubbish worts. It seems this stigma may be hard to shift so the trend is now towards the term ‘Craft Beer’ , so now NOB is a Craft Beer. I am guessing after a few bottles the insults of it being a Crap Beer will magically turn into complements due to this change 
Top Quality Beer.
I was looking in the bottlo today for a deeper ale however as it was a normal BWS (think threshers etc in the UK) its range was quite lacking. The only none standard beers on offer were a pilsner and pale ale, both brewed by a wester Australia company called Little Creatures. I opted for two bottles of the pale ale @ 5.2% 330ml each costing about $3.40 or £1.40 each in Proper Money . It is pictured to the right but in a Melbourne Bitter glass as Simon insisted on having a ‘proper’ beer glass rather than an unbranded one!
The beer itself is a decent pale ale that pours well with a nice white head. It is quite light in the mouth, hoppy overtones, yet has a lingering bitter yet not unpleasant aftertaste.
It is a decent drinkable beer which is individual enough to warrant more.
Lord Nelson Brewery - Three Sheets
I was sitting in a pub in the Rocks in Sydney when Amy suprised me with this bottle. We have visited the pub before, during which I ordered my first ‘proper’ auzzy drink. Over here they do not do pints as per the Proper British Pub but have things called midis and schooners (A midi is half a schooner) and as a result I had resorted to ordering ‘a big beer, please!’
The beer itself was quite cloudy and I drank from the bottle so I cannot comment on the head etc. It was a fine drinkable paler ale which their website states is 4.9%, it was quite refreshing to have a decent ale that day
I will try and arrange a quick tour next time I am down as there is a proper micro brewery around the back of the pub.
Incidently there are two boutique beers I do wish to try, both with very Australian names; Piss Beer and Feral Beer. Just for the record, the former is NOT Fosters.