alius locus, alius mihi

Flemish Floozies & Belgian booze

nobody@vox.com(NDC) — Fri, 30 May 2008 23:01:38 +1000

I'm not a great one for frequenting the ale houses of the Brisbane CBD after work, simply due to the distance I live from the city and the time it takes to get home in the evenings. I figure that leaving home at 7:15 in the morning and arriving home at 7:00 in the evening is a long enough day without stretching it out by boozing on with colleagues after knock-off time. Besides, what's the point when one or at most two standard drinks will make one ineligible to drive anyway?

That opinion aside, I strayed from the norm this evening and attended a 'farewell drinks' session for one of our younger personnel, moving on to bigger and better things. We - four of us, plus a husband of one and assorted hangers on - made our presence felt at this venue at the river end of the Brisbane CBD.

It used to be a restaurant, and from what I saw inside tonight, still is to a certain limited degree, but has mainly been transformed into a boozer of the most average form. Certainly, there's a small eatery area between the 'garden' bar and the inside bar, but essentially, this place is a pub by any stretch of the imagination. Especially on a Friday evening in a town like Brisbane. Loud, crowded, filled with 'pretty' people and frankly, not my scene.

That aside, the beers are fascinating. Knowing I had to drive home, I couldn't really stay for a session, so choices were limited. I did try a Leffe Brune, which tasted of a light hops and left a sarsparilla tang on the back of the palate, and a Hoegaarden, which is a wheat beer and something I must say I'm quite fond of. The Leffe was dark, almost cola-like in colour with a wonderful head which persisted for a long time. I found the 500ml glass to be much too much of a good thing by the end, preferring to at least halve the amount and double the experience. The Hoegaarden was entirely different. Being a wheat beer, the mouth feel isn't anywhere near as heavy as barley, but still maintains the bitterness of a real beer flavour. The beer itself is cloudy, which means that yeast is still in suspension, albeit dead. To me, this indicates that I'm drinking a genuine ale and not something which has been filtered to within an 'n'th of it's existence in order to produce a clear glassful. This beer - or probably lager depending on it's fermentation method - was quite something to savour. Light, alive in the mouth and with a lightly citrus aftertaste while remaining true to the bitter beer flavour of a european ale.

From a Brisbanite's perspective, if you're Gen Y and still inhabit the pub/club scene, then you may find this venue to your liking. For me, I found it totally lacking atmosphere, far too crowded, far too noisy and far too small for what it professed to offer. In short, simply an imposter boozer trying hard to wear fancy clothes and winding up starkers. The beer is horrendously priced, served with faux flair and serviced in a somewhat frantic manner. Perhaps because it was Friday night, I've gained a bad impression, but I'm yet to find a venue in the CBD which is much different. My recommendation? Take a leisurely drive to the Darling Downs village of Allora, for luncheon at the Commercial Hotel, Allora. No Belgian Beers, but a damn good feed, at an excellent price and the beer's cold, cheaper and frankly, better.

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Mad Brewers Raspberry Wheat Beer

nobody@vox.com(NDC) — Wed, 07 May 2008 19:20:34 +1000

Mad Brewers Raspberry Wheat Beer

http://www.maltshovel.com.au/

As I may have mentioned in this tome, I'm a home brewer who just loves to tinker with standard worts and additives. I've used honey, plum jam and raspberry jam, as well as flat lemonade, epsom salts and finishing hops. Not all in the one brew, naturally. This evening, my other half splurged on my behalf and bought a bottle of Malt Shovel Breweries Raspberry Wheat Beer. It's an absolute winner for those beer drinkers who appreciate something different and special. Like a good wine, a glass of this ale has a heady bouquet redolent of crushed, fresh raspberries, a colour which is almost reddish, not quite brown and a fantastic, sustained head. It's flavour defys accurate description, but suffice to say, it's fruity, spicy and very, very refreshing after a stressful day grinding one's nose. I highly recommend this drop to anyone with a wont to taste and appreciate a really good brew.

Mad Brewers Raspberry Wheat Beer

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QotD: Worth Your Money

nobody@vox.com(NDC) — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 15:06:35 +1000

What are some things that are worth (and not worth) spending money on?
Submitted by pinejar.

Always worth a few bucks, especially if you're making your own as I do.

Very Worth While

and the complete waste of time, effort and money award goes to.......

Third-Party Dietary Management

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QotD: I'm Crafty (Not!)

nobody@vox.com(NDC) — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 15:53:30 +1000

What's the last thing you crafted, constructed or created yourself?

Beer. It's the only thing I can make - craft-wise - that I can virtually do with my eyes shut and never screw it up. IN fact, I can almost make the stuff to order these days. You want a beer that tastes like Corona, I can do it. You want my version of Newcastle Brown Ale? Yep, you've got it.

As for anything else, I couldn't 'create' my way out of a wet paper bag.

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My Friend Stella

nobody@vox.com(NDC) — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 18:56:32 +1000

My daughter - blood daughter as opposed to step-daughter - flitted in & out this weekend, as is her wont. She rolled up 8:00pm Friday night with a six-pack of Stella Artois, introducing me to "my friend Stella" and wishing me a happy birthday. Nice thought. I love foreign beers.

I didn't see the kids a lot this weekend. They both had things to see, places to go, people to do. That was fine and we've both become comfortable with the idea that 'our' kids - hers and mine - have grown up. They are all adults now. Even Ashley, my youngest. A young man 1 month away from legal adulthood, who can drive, has worked in one form or another since age 14, and is currently studying structural engineering. Loving it too. It's one thing I'm grateful for. Two of my three children are on paths to successful, professional careers which they will enjoy and be comfortable within. My eldest, actually my second by two minutes, child Matthew, baled from University because he suddently realised, much like his father did, that his path wasn't all that defined. He needed to define it and has sought to do so since leaving school and dropping out of Uni. He currently works for Hutchison Telecommunications in a responsible capacity earning some $35k/annum. Damn good money for a 20 year old in anyone's language.

My wife's daughter - my step-daughter - is already a woman in every sense of the the word. She's is a mother, a wife and lover to Daniel, my son-in-law. Daniel is Danish by birth and British by citizenship. He's a geek. An I.T. oriented, talented and authoritative geek. He's also a gamer. For those of your who, like me, don't ken that lingo.....his hobby is playing computer games. A very, very niched and cliched occupation. Suffice to say we rarely mesh on any level. Nice guy.........but a geek.

My Mate Stella

So, here I am at 1900 hours on a Sunday evening, having 'eaten' my friend Stella six times (eat your hearts out, ladies) and left her exhausted & discarded, having moved on to a local 'lady' who is more robust, writing to you all about the life and times of an ageing Aussie male who'd love to share his photo with you all but isn't quite sure you're ready for the adamantine beauty of such a chiselled physique. Que?? Am I pissed? How rude!!!!

Yes....I believe I might be approaching that point, but gee whiz.......isn't it fun?

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Vegetating

nobody@vox.com(NDC) — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 13:19:52 +1000

Battlestar Galactica

Richard Gibbs

I'm sitting here listening to this soundtrack from the television series and wondering just why I'm enjoying being unemployed so much at the moment? Money is tight, the Bank wants their arrears, we're surviving (just) on the dole yet, I'm sitting here completely relaxed listening to some favourite music and drinking beer.

Maybe it's due to the fact that sooner or later we're going to get access to my wife's superannuation and the wolves will be thrown that. They'll be busy devouring it for anything up to twelve months, probably less, but ohhhh, the sweetness of the ability to not have to worry. Then again, I guess 150mg of sertraline hydrochloride and 25 mg of alprazolam for breakfast daily aren't exactly ignored by the brain's chemistry either. Awww, what the fuck! As long as it works and the feeling goes on, what should I care??

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