I have been an avid reader of Stonch’s Beer Blog for quite a while and spotted this gem hidden in one of his comments by the bearded wonder himself:

“I have a bit of a theory regarding a beer lover’s journey.

I think at first you seek out and relish in the most extreme examples of the brewer’s art, the strong Trappist ales first, then the rarer stuff. All you want is something strong – preferably dark. You want to explore the boundaries.

Then after a while you begin to come back to old favourites, often back to where you started. You appreciate the subtlety in a simple mild, bitter or a quality German lagerbier, the kind of beers almost everyone can understand and enjoy.

I like to think that’s where I’m at now. Indeed, I think it’s where the old European brewing cultures are at collectively.

I’m still interested in trying Imperial Russian Stouts, Barley Wines, strong Belgian Ales and super-hopped IPAs. I just don’t have the desire to drink them very often. I don’t think they’re the most important beers.”

I think that is a very shrewd comment on the beer lovers trail. Currently I am exploring beers; how they are made, what is the core differences how the subtleties come to light, what makes the good great and the bad disgusting. To find beers that are specifically made to be kept for twenty odd years is a revelation that kicks the ‘rules’ I knew into touch, which makes me wonder what else is there to know?!

I do find myself coming back to where I started, the nice pint of Flowers IPA in a Brunning and Price pub, or hunting out the Enville honey ale in deepest Wales. ‘Extreme’ beers can be fun, but nothing can distract you from a proper pint.

James Squire was arrested in 1774 after being found close to a ransacked house in England, if he had been found a few meters inside the house he would have been charged with Stealing however as he was on a public road he faced the lesser charge of Highway Robbery.

Like all good convicts of that era he was sentanced to be transported to America. So how does James Squire end up becoming the first brewer of Australia? Well, it seems James served his time by enlisting in the army and thus avoided America, but as he was in the mix with highwaymen, robbers, smugglers and generally dodgy people he ended up being caught for nicking five hens and four cocks in 1785. This time he could not avoid a firmer sentance and thus was shipped over to Australia on the First Fleet – the first group of boats to settle in the land down under.

He does seem to be a colourful chap,  with him working a farm and also running a popular pub called The Malting Shovel. Mr Squire also tried his hand at running a bakery, a butcher shop and a credit union (!) and odd for a convict he also became a town constable in Sydney.

Apparently he was nicked a few times after that for stealing medicine – horehound – which oddly enough gives a similar smell of hops to beers. From there he established the first Australian brewery and various other beer firsts.

All in all a nice tale for someone to ‘tribute’ a brewery to and give a new brewery a nice backstory for it to have foundation against. This happened in 1999 when the old Hahn brewery was taken over by ‘Lion Nathan’ and renaming it Malt Shovel Brewery in honour of Australia’s first commercial brewer.  Marketing, eh?

Luckily enough the beer is quite good. The one I tried was a 345ml Porter, nice dark in colour but when held to the light there is a deep red hue. The mouth is nice and full, taste of light roasted malt with a hint of dark chocolates and coffee floating around.

It is an excellent beer, and quite deceptive as you would imagine it to be a fair bit stronger than its 5% abv. Its like a big dark cake that you can eat and eat but never feel full from. Ideal for the cold winter FA Cup ties on BBC 2 with your roast beef and yorkshire puddings. Yum.

This New Zealand beer is certainly red in the glass, and the label on the bottle looks nice however that is as far as I can go with the praise for the brew.

It is a promising start, MONTEITH RICH CELTIC RED BEER shouts the label and the reverse proclaims ‘a raft of hidden flavours‘. I agree that is has ‘a smoky aroma and chocolate maltiness‘, but I fear for Monteiths range of beers if this is a ‘classic’.

Personally I think it is overcarbonated and quite light bodied and does not have the depth of other irish red ales I have previously tasted.

Again going back to the label it claims ‘kiln roasted malt‘ so I was expecting more maltiness, but was left wanting more. I am wondering if this would be a better beer sampled on draught rather than out of a bottle, hopefully I will get the chance.

A plus point is I now have a nice brown 330ml bottle ready to fill with Nob Pils No.2 later in the week! The bottle would probably be quite chuffed about moving up in the world as well…

This is one of my current favorite beers, brewed by an italian company called Moretti founded around 1860 in Udine, Italy. Since the founding by Luigi Moretti it has over the years been assimilated into Heineken Italia and is no longer brewed in the original village/town.

Either way it tastes good and is a beer I discovered by accident!

Back in the day when I was at university I spotted a cheap beer on the shelves of the local ASDA, it was the generic Birra Moretti which lacks tast, feel and general lacking in quality. I bought a box and pondered the picture of an old italian bloke who was supping from his overflowing glass.

A year or two later I was in the local ‘Bottlo’ scanning the shelves and spotted my old friend the cheeky chappy italian bloke! However it was not the usual green bottle rather a dark brown with red label. On further inspection it turns out this is a 7.2% ‘doppio malto’ aka double malt , or in proper terms a doppelbock. Yes, an italian doppelbock!

The beer is a great dark red colour, nice and malty with proper caramelization aroma. The head fades quickly and the mouth feel is a tad watery, and there is nothing overly complex but it is a good straight taste which is very enjoyable.

Over here it is a $11.99 for three bottles, which in proper money is £4.88 , so at £1.62 a bottle you cant really go wrong for a such a decent attempt from the italians.