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May

Sydney Craft Beer and Cider Fair: thanks Yelp!

Categories: drink, Fun, Sydney and Yelp
Tags: beer, craft beer, The Oak Barrel, Yelp

Woo hoo! Free beer!

Sydney centre for “wine, spirits & education” Oak Barrel is holding its inaugural Sydney Craft Beer & Cider Fair later this month. Looks good. They’ve got craft beer from Australia and around the world.

Yelp, the online review and event community that’s recently launched in Australia and that I contribute to, is one of the Fair’s sponsors. They recently hold a competition for Yelp users here to win a double pass to the Fair. The competition was to “tell us what you’d call your own personal craft beer or cider brand”.

I used my internet name in conjunction with my love of dark beers, sci-fi films, and bad puns to come up with Timinator Dark Lager: I’ll Be Bock.

And, lucky me, I won. To be fair only eight people entered; you can see the other entries here. But I’ll take it!

I’ll blog again after the event on May 26th. Assuming I can still type, that is.

Jan

My Rick Stein review on Great British Chefs

By Timinator Leave a Comment

Categories: Australia, blogging, drink and food
Tags: Great British Chefs

Great British Chefs is an online community that – unsurprisingly – focuses on, and promotes, great British chefs.

Proving that great British cooking sometimes happens outside the British Isles, they’ve posted my review of a recent meal I had at Rick Stein at Bannisters here in Australia.

Oct

Wineries we visited in Margaret River

By Timinator 1 Comment

Categories: Australia, drink, family, food and wine
Tags: beer, bread, Margaret River

My youngest brother and his wife recently visited us here in Australia, from Canada. It was really great having them here. They made the most of it; you can read more on his blog if you like.

They’re wine folks, like us, so one of the highlights was something that was as new to us as it was to them: a flight across to Perth and three days in the Margaret River wine region of Western Australia. The countryside is beautiful out there, the coast is breathtaking, the food is great, and the wine is top-notch.

I wanted to make a record of the wineries and wines I liked for future reference. Lucky you (if you have my taste in wine): you can have this list for free. Also, Cabernet Sauvignon is the highlight wine of the Margaret River, and that’s reflected in a lot of my favourites.

In no particular order:

Swooping Magpie. Another super-friendly, very boutique producer, with a cellar door in his garage. Prices were very reasonable. Best of the bunch was his 2010 Verdelho and his 2008 Shiraz, really the only bottle of that variety I liked much on this trip.
Deep Woods Estate. Small, rustic, with a friendly gent. I forgot to take notes here, but it was typical: cab sauv was the winner. Less typical: the gent was friendly enough to let us take home a barely-touched bottle! Yay! Buy their wine, all of it!
The Growers. A cellar door collective of small producers. A fun spot, an entertaining gent behind the bar. None of the wines were fantastic, but some were decent, and all were incredible value for money with most bottles working out to be $10 or less! I’d drink the 2010 Niche Semillon Sauv Blanc and the 2009 Niche Shiraz again.
Swings & Roundabouts. Busy, fun place, with great lawns and woodfired pizzas. Their 2010 Cab Merlot was ok. Their 1.5 litre bottles of white and red are BBQ-aimed value for money at $22 each.
Woodlands. Wow. We went here by mistake, but it was one of the best. Tiny, unassuming, no frills, but what winemaking. Highlights: 2008 Margaret Reserve Cab Merlot, 2010 Pinot Noir Reserve de la Cave, 2009 Cab Sauv Alma May, and 2006 Robert Cab Sauv. They only do one white (a sign of craftspeople: only do what you’re good at). They also do 200 bottles of straight Cab Franc each year; I might have to get in on that.
Knee Deep. Gorgeous, small, friendly, fun. We wanted to do lunch, but they were booked for a wedding. 2009 Kim’s Chardonnay wasn’t bad, 2009 Sue’s Cabernet was good, 2008 Kelsea’s Reserve Cab Sauv was superdelicious.
Clairault. A bit fancy, but not huge, and the guy behind the bar was really great: funny, friendly, and very informative. Everyone liked their 2010 Semillon Sauv Blanc (53%/47%). I thought their 2007 Estate Cab Sauv (with just 8% Merlot) was fantastic.
Laurance. What a poncy, gold-statue, art gallery, tasting-charging bunch of tosh. And their wines are awful, except for the 2009 Icon Cabernet, which is fantastic.
Redgate. Small, but nothing special, nor overly friendly. Still, their 2011 Chenin Blanc and 2010 Rosé were more than drinkable. And their non-vintage Rhapsody In Red was a decent not-with-food and drunk-chilled at just $19.
Watershed. A large place, with restaurant and function rooms, but friendlier than most its size. I fancied their 2009 Senses Viognier, their 2010 Senses Zinfandel, and their 2008 Awakening Cabernet.
Howard Park. Too big, busy, and impersonal. There was some big event going on. Plus, there are two roads in and out, and we got lost by not going out the one we came in. Liked their 2008 Chardonnay, and their single vineyard 2009 Leston Cab Sauv.
Hay Shed. A very friendly – and knowledgable – guy at the cellar door. The 2010 Hay Shed Hill Shiraz Tempranillo, at $20, was an easy-drinking BBQ wine. Their 2009 Block 2 Cab Sauv was very good, and their 2008 Kerrigan+Berry Cab Sauv was top notch.
Wise Wine. Nice spot, with great views. There was a wedding reception going on. Highlights were their 2011 Sea Urchin Verdelho, their 2008 Lot 80 Petit Verdot, their 2009 Eagle Bay Cab Sauv, and their tawny port.
Stella Bella. We were looking forward to this one a great deal, as we’ve been drinking their wines since our first visit to Australia. They did not disappoint: it was one of the best cellar door experiences we had, with laughs, discussion, and tasting of things we shouldn’t have had (wink wink). I loved a lot of the wines here, but wound up buying and shipping home two bottles each of their 2007 Suckfizzle Cab Sauv, 2011 Skuttlebutt Savvy Cab Sauv, and 2007 Suckfizzle Sauv Blanc Semillon.

The other big non-beer finds in the region were:

Bootleg Beer. Excellent beers, great outdoors eating areas, good vibe. Liked all their brews except for their Hefe, which was too banana-y.
Margaret River Venison. They farm their own deer, produce all their meats, and will let you try all their fabulous produce.
Yallingup Woodfired Bread. No web site. Google it and you’ll find others’ mentions. It’s hard to find, unless you ask a local. But my god, is it worth it.

Jun

Quick trip to Port Stephens

By Timinator Leave a Comment

Categories: Australia, drink and long weekend
Tags: Larkwood of Lemon Tree, Murrays Brewery, Port Stephens

Today’s a holiday in most of Australia, the Queen’s birthday. For a quick getaway we spent a night up in Port Stephens.

It was cold and rainy – you can’t plan the weather – but a nice break from the city. We stayed at a nice B&B, saw some of the country music festival that was on, and did a bit of bushwalking. We also had an enjoyable stop at the always-fun Murrays Brewery.

A few pics can be found here.

The view outside at Murrays Brewery. Click to embiggen

Feb

The upper echelons of beer

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Categories: drink
Tags: expensive beer, Mikkeller

Last weekend I was at a bar in Sydney known for its beers, imported from around Australia and the world. A gent was at the bar in front of me, ordering, and I was waiting my turn behind him.

“Hey, what’s that beer like?” the gents says to the bartender, pointing at a chalkboard sign. “Mikkeller?”

“It’s very good,” the bartender says.

“Okay, I’ll try a bottle of that,” says the gent. He also orders a glass of something else they had on tap, I didn’t catch what. The bartender cracks the bottle, pours the draught, and the gent hands over a fifty dollar note for the two beers.

The bartender gives the gent fifty cents in change.

“Wait a minute, that was fifty dollars I gave you.”

“Yeah.”

“But you only gave me fifty cents back.”

“Yes.”

“Fifty dollars for two beers?”

“The draught is $7.50, but the bottle is $42.”

“FORTY-TWO DOLLARS? FOR A BEER? I thought the sign was saying $4.20.”

It was a 330ml bottle, I’d like to add.

“Yes,” says the bartender, “It’s one of the five rarest beers in the world.”

Stunned silence from the gent. Then, mumbling, “Well…I guess I could…” Then he sort of trailed off. The bottle was open and his extremely expensive beer was sitting there, sharing its gold-plated carbonation with the atmosphere.

“Look,” says the bartender, “If you’ve made a mistake just say so, and I’ll give you your money back.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve made a mistake.“

The bartender gave the gent his $42 back, and took back the opened bottle of Mikkeller. I didn’t see what he did with it.

I wanted so much to taste it.

Dec

Logan Road in the Gabba, Brisbane

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Categories: drink and food
Tags: Brisbane, Logan Road

The last couple of times I’ve been in Brisbane – including this weekend just passed – I’ve found myself in the Gabba, at the new antique/dining district development at the end of Logan Road. It’s a great little corner of the city.

Last Friday night we:

Wandered into Attic, one of the antique places. They were throwing a cocktail party, open to all. We guzzled some tasty bevvies, ate some snacks, and browsed their old stuff.
Had a pricey cocktail (to balance the previous free ones) at cool bar Canvas.
Ate some delicious grub at the laid-back Crosstown Eating House.

Oct

Marrickville Festival, David Suzuki, and Bar Awards

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Categories: drink, Marrickville and Sydney
Tags: David Suzuki

Sydney continues to unveil bits of fun for me to enjoy.

On the weekend was the Marrickville Festival. The two main streets here closed to traffic and opened to stalls selling all sorts of things. Much of it wasn’t interesting, but the food was great (I had Portuguese and Indian). And there was a stage of live music through the afternoon. Unfortunately it chucked down buckets of rain all day, so we didn’t stay too long.
On Sunday night we saw one of the great Canadians speak at the Opera House: David Suzuki. The scientist, environmentalist and educator is nearly 75 and doing his farewell speaking tour. He was passionate and thoughtful and funny and energetic. It was quite touching to see and hear him; I’d nearly forgotten what a cultural icon he is back in Canada. And he’s no small shakes here in Australia, either, as the Opera House main hall was packed.
Last night we attended TimeOut Sydney’s Bar Awards. In hindsight it was probably bad to attend an event with never-ending absinthe cocktails on a Monday night. But it was awesome for hipster/poser/wanker-watching.

Sep

WLG pop-up restaurant

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Categories: drink, food and Sydney
Tags: Mojo coffee, New Zealand food, pop-up restaurant, Wellington, WLG

I never had the chance to go to the Bayswater Brasserie, the recently-closed bistro-style eatery in King Cross, though I hear it was quite good.

I went to the building last night, however, for WLG, the Brasserie’s new (if temporary) assignment as a pop-up restaurant showcasing New Zealand food, drink, chefs, and servers. For two weeks the place will have a rotating menu of Kiwi dishes, designed and cooked by Kiwi chefs. All the wine and beer and coffee comes from New Zealand. It’s essentially a gustatory tourist show for our southeastern neighbour.

It was a good deal. A sample plate of starters, a choice of three mains, a dessert, and coffee for $29 per person. All wines were $7 per glass (or something like $27 per bottle).

I got the heads-up about the event from TimeOut, and got tickets a couple of weeks ago; I think it’s all sold out now, though you can walk up and hope for no-shows. Last night was the only night we could make it. It was also opening night. I knew that meant there was a high probability of chaos. In the end we did get some of that in the form of very long waits and slightly scattered service.

But everyone was very nice during that extended service. The vibe was great, and the brasserie looked good and was packed elbow-to-elbow (dining was at long, shared tables). All the food was good (barring the average whitebait in our starter plate), especially my just-right venison. Some of the wines were quite good. The coffee, from Mojo, was excellent.

WLG seem like a lot of fun, good value, and a great idea. The pop-up nature means they’re never going to work out all the kinks, so expect things to take an hour longer than they should, sit back, and enjoy. And maybe plan that trip to NZ.

Jan

After-work fun

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Categories: drink, friends and Sydney
Tags: drinks after work

Last night I stopped in the CBD after work and met up with the missus, the She-Aussie and a couple of her friends at the Opera Bar. It’s such a fabulous location to have a drink; it’s still a little surreal to waltz in, sit down, and look up at the bridge and Opera House.

Tonight MB are stopping in again on their way north. I expect we’ll hit one of the good spots in Neutral Bay, possibly Firefly.

Oct

My last London Blogger Meetup: Mojito Madness

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Categories: blogging, drink and London
Tags: Havana Cultura, London Blogger Meetup

Last night was another nifty London Blogger Meetup; it was also my last.

It was held at Chamucos, a basement Cuban bar underneath the Green and Red Restaurant on Bethnal Green Road. The east end location seemed to stymie lots of people, since only about 35 of the 150 promised attendees showed up. Probably just as well, though, since it would have been a sweaty mob if any more folks had been there.

Judith Lewis spoke about search engine optimisation, and I was asked to speak about my blogging experiences. I am loathe to take the spotlight, but was eventually persuaded to say a few words.

The whole night was sponsored by global Cuban arts and Havana Club rum initiative Havana Cultura, which I’ve blogged about before. They kicked off a competition (a Twitter Treasure Hunt Campaign launching October 19th), mentioned their Gilles Peterson Havana Cultura CD launch (October 26th), gave away some prizes to attendees, and gave us all the free mojitos we could drink. Which, it turns out, is a lot of mojitos. They also gave us all goody bags of lime, mint, and rum to make our own at home.

London Bloggers has been really good to me. It’s balanced just right for me, informative yet social. Organiser Andy Bargery has turned it into something thriving and useful and fun, and is a genuinely nice guy, too. I hope these meetups continue to flourish; I’m going to miss them.