My Top 10 - 2013

Howdy folks!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year…and all that.

As the year of 2013 comes to a close, it seems fitting to put together a countdown of sorts. Everybody loves a countdown and everybody loves beer (that’s right isn’t it?). So here are my favourite Top 10 Beers of 2013.

These aren’t necessarily new releases. Just the beers I really enjoyed drinking this year. A couple are newbies, some are old favourites and a couple are beers I’ve re-discovered this year for one reason or another. They may not even be my all time favourite beers…however in 2013 these guys got the nod.

Enough of that, let’s get to the beers that 2013 was all about for me…


Number 10

Rogue – Dead Guy Ale

Nationality – USA (Newport, Oregon)

Style – German Maibock       

ABV – 6.6%

An oldie but a goodie. This one makes the 2013 list as a re-discovery. Rogue beers have become widely available in Australia this year; making Dead Guy Ale easy enough to get your hands on.

The Ale is honey in colour and the biscuity malts aren’t subtle but they don’t mask the well balanced finish. Drink at Halloween if you want, or all year round. Or as we did, at the brewpub in Portland, Oregon!

I for one love the fact that I can (almost) easily get my hands on this beer in 2013!

Number 9 
Red Duck – Hoppy Amber

Nationality – Australia (Ballarat, Victoria)

Style – Amber Ale

ABV – 5.6%

Okay, I am clearly late to the party with this beer. It’s been around for a few years…but I just can’t get enough of it after discovering it in 2013. Maybe it was hidden behind all of Red Duck’s other beers. They do make a few!

It’s pretty much a hybrid of two of my favourite styles – IPA and Amber. There isn’t a lot to say…it is exactly what it is. It’s hoppy, it’s a bit malty (toffee) like any good Amber, but it’s also sessionable enough at 5.6% which isn’t too boozy; allowing you to have more than one. Or four. Don’t judge me.

Note – Red Duck plans to retire the Hobby Amber from its line up in 2014. I think I might chain myself to their brewery in protest. Boo.

Number 8

Brooklyn Brewery – Silver Anniversary Lager

Nationality – USA (Brooklyn, New York)

Style – Lager (Doppelbock)

ABV – 8.6%

Like all of Brooklyn’s ‘speciality’ beers, this comes in a 750ml bottle with a champagne type cork and was released early in 2013 to celebrate the New York brewery’s 25^th anniversary.

It might be called a ‘lager’ but it’s wonderfully complex. Re-fermented in the bottle, the beer is light copper in colour, has a fruity, hoppy aroma and almost surprisingly, is quite bitter and malty. To be honest, much like a top shelf champagne, it just tastes very special.

Number 7

Victoria’s High Country – Brewery Trail Rule 47

Nationality – Victoria (Collaboration - Bridge Road, Bright, Black Dog, Sweetwater)

Style – Abbey Tripel

ABV – 7%

This 2013 limited release beer is a Belgian inspired collaboration between the four Victorian high country breweries. It is an internationally inspired beer; Belgian in style, hops grown from the Victorian alpine region, malts from three continents and a Trappist yeast strain.

It pours rather light in colour but at 7% it is full of flavour with a high malt and hop profile. It is the added hop presence and strong malts that gives this beer its uniqueness; it’s a Belgian beer holidaying in the US. And I like it.   

Only one extremely technical and sophisticated word describes this beer….TASTY.

Number 6

Holgate Brewhouse – Beelzebub’s Jewels

Nationality – Australia (Woodend, Victoria)

Style – Oak Aged Belgian Style Quadrupel

ABV – 12.5%

The Prince of Darkness! What a beer. Strong, rich, malty. This is a special occasion beer. Aged in French oak it does have a complex ‘red wine feel’ to it but then the amazing malts take you to a whole other level.

In 2013 the 750ml bottle (sold for about $70 a pop) was re-released in smaller, 500ml bottles…kinda making it a new beer in 2013!

Skip dessert and instead grab this gold medal winning beer with some strong tasting cheese. Simply amazing.

Number 5

Stone Brewing Co. – Ruination IPA

Nationality – USA (San Diego, California)

Style – Imperial India Pale Ale

ABV – 7.7%

Incredibly hard to get (okay it basically isn’t available in Australia…legally); I am rating this beer based on a couple of recent trips to the US. A visit to Stone was an absolute highlight. I also spent a lot of 2013 thinking about Stone and this beer!

The Imperial IPA is a typical, first class West Coast IPA but everything is multiplied. Smashed with as many hops and malts as possible, and high in ABV, this is a real palate wrecker yet smooth and indulgent. It demands to be consumed with a massive rib eye.

Stone you brilliant, brilliant bastard.

Number 4

Hargreaves Hill – Phoenix

Nationality – Australia (Yarra Glen, Victoria)

Style – Imperial Red Ale

ABV – 9.3%

How do you describe this wonderful beer? How about ‘biscuit and caramel malted, ruby in colour and with a floral, pine hop finish’? Or just go with ‘wonderful’.

Brewed to mark the anniversary of Hargreaves Hill’s return to brewing after the original brewery was destroyed in the Black Saturday fires of 2009, this limited release was our beer of choice as midnight struck on New Years Day 2013. Unlike New Years Eve in general (overrated), the beer certainly wasn’t. Wonderfully luscious in all its amber, malty glory, if there is a better Imperial Red Ale around I want to drink it. Now.

Number 3

Black Dog Brewery - Leader of the Pack IPA

Nationality – Australia (Taminick, Victoria)

Style – India Pale Ale

ABV – 6.2%

Black Dog is in no way a household name in the craft beer scene, but this is due to change. Quickly. Their range of beers could be described as both hoppy and sessionable (i.e. perfect) and the Leader of the Pack IPA is no different. For mine, this is one of (if not the best) new-ish Australian IPA out there. Smashed with hops (Citra, Chinook, Cascade, Galaxy, Warrior, Simcoe, Stella, Columbus, Centennial and Nelson Sauvin…I did say smashed!), this is a malty, bitter and extremely floral beer.

In 2013 the brewery installed larger-scale brewing equipment, meaning this year they arrived as a serious player on the beer scene. Spread the word people. Spread the word.

Number 2
Mornington Peninsula Brewery – Russian Imperial Stout

Nationality – Australia (Mornington, Victoria)

Style – Imperial Stout

ABV – 9.5%

This gets better every year and this year’s winter release was superb.

As black as a beer gets with a lighter tan head, it is packed with complex chocolate and espresso flavours. The bitterness is there without overpowering the brew; this really does take some beating on a cold winter’s night. It’s ridiculously smooth and decedent and it smells magnificent.

Even better on tap, this is one to keep an eye out for every winter.

Number 1

Garage Project – La Calavera Catrina / Day of the Dead

Nationality – New Zealand (Wellington)

Style – Spicy Blonde Lager / Strong Black Lager

ABV – 6.9% / 6.7%

Maybe I’m biased by the fact we were in Wellington this year during the official launch of these two beers. Maybe because two versions of a beer is better than one. But either way these new releases lived up to the hype and are real stand outs of 2013.

These lagers were released in two styles - Day of the Dead (strong dark lager) and La Calavera Catrina (spicy blonde lager), but in no ways are they ‘boring lagers’ (as if they would be from Garage Project!).

La Calavera Catrina is the lighter of the two; a spicy blonde lager with rose water and slight watermelon flavours. But the chilli aftertaste gives this an amazing depth. Refreshing, a tad spicy and then that subtle warmth of chilli. It’s extremely morish!

Day of the Dead is a strong dark lager and unlike its ‘blonde sister’, has the added presence of cocoa giving it a darker, richer, smoky finish. Slightly less sessionable but more luxurious, this beer is pretty amazing.

Drink them with soft shell pulled pork tacos and you’ll see exactly why they came in at #1!

That's it! All in all another great year for beer...see you all in 2014!

Till then.

Cheers!…Prost!...Salute!...Kampai!

Wellington. So much beer and wind…

Okay so the wife and I decided we wanted a long weekend away. Well…I was told we wanted a long weekend away. Preferably involving a passport.

Hmm. A short break overseas? From Australia. That pretty much means Asia…but with 7+ hours of flight time it isn’t really practical for a long weekend.

“What about New Zealand?” I said. “Remember, Wellington is meant to be great for craft beer. They host Beervana…!”

(For those not aware, Beervana is an annual craft beer festival and the biggest of its kind in New Zealand).

As fast as you could say ‘craft beer’ the trip was booked. Suddenly we were going to New Zealand’s windy city for four nights. Sounded like a good break and an opportunity to check out a city (and country for that matter) that we had never been to.

Planning the trip soon returned to the topic of beer and working out which of New Zealand’s breweries are actually in Wellington. Turns out some brilliant ones are there including Garage Project, Parrot Dog and Tuatara. Bonus. Even better - Garage Project and Parrot Dog are ‘downtown’ Massive bonus!

What we hadn’t realised was the number of dedicated craft beer bars that are actually in Wellington. Now we’ve been to the States and there is no way anything could rival Portland, Oregon. Or San Diego, California. No way. However Wellington appeared to be right up there. So much so the city has its own craft beer trail telling you which bars to go to for the best beer.

Purchase a pint at each venue and collect a stamp...get all 12 stamps and get yourself a t-shirt! Brilliant. How could this fail? (Remind me to tell you later exactly how this could fail…)

 Wellington's Craft Beer Trail Map

So off to Wellington we went. A ‘short’ 3 hours and 20 minutes later we landed in the Kiwi capital primed to check out our surroundings and find some of those craft beer bars (after all we did arrive at about 4pm Friday). But first it was a matter of clearing Immigration and Customs; where my wife told the friendly Immigrations Officer that we were ‘here to drink your craft beer’. Surprisingly after that, we were let in…

I won’t bore you with every beer of our Friday pub crawl, other than the next few hours were spent exploring the city and stumbling across the likes of Fork & Brewer, The Bruhaus, D4, Little Beer Quarter and The Tap Haus. That my friends, is 5 stamps on the trail map! Woohoo. We were well on our way to that t-shirt!

Alas we had our fill for one evening and called it a night. A big day was ahead of us exploring the city including the Botanical Gardens, riding the Cable Car and checking out the city’s Saturday craft market.

Long story short, we did all those things, and they were great (well the market was okay at best)…however this isn’t a travel blog. You want to know about the beer, right?

Well beer we did find…in the way of Parrot Dog and Garage Project breweries!

Parrot Dog Brewery

Whilst there is a lot to say about both, there are similarities in the sense that the sites are active, working breweries, they sell lots of merchandise, offer extensive tastings (free of charge!) and allow customers to fill up growlers for take away. Neither in fact have a licence to sell beer onsite. This meant no opportunity to sit back and watch the world pass by over a few beers at the brewery, but it didn’t matter. The quality of beer at both was outstanding.

Garage Project

Also outstanding was the fact that Garage Project was launching their new Day of the Dead beers on that very day! After trying both chilli infused brews at the brewery, staff told us to head over to Golding’s Free Dive Bar for the official launch. So head over we did! The ‘American style dive bar’ was a real highlight of the trip and a great craft beer venue. But it wasn’t on the beer trail map meaning no stamp and still no t-shirt. Boo!

But the Day of Dead through a tequila barrel sure made up for it! Smooth, rich and 11%

Golding's Free Dive Bar - Day of the Dead Launch

The next 48 hours involved a combination of sightseeing and touristy stuff (drinking a Tuatara APA after spotting the native tuatara at Zealandia Sanctuary was a highlight!), checking out some Kiwi scenery and eating and drinking. Oh yes, plenty more drinking…

Highlights of the latter included visits to more quality craft beer bars, including Malthouse and Hashigo Zake. Both were fantastic with a massive range of local and US craft beers, but it was Malthouse that struck a cord. A brief visit turned into a long afternoon session and the opportunity to talk beer with the bar staff (and a couple of American tourists). Just like being in Portland! Even found out that 50% of craft beer sold in New Zealand is sold in Wellington! We sure did come to the right place.

Oh and that would be two more stamps on the beer trail map thanks!

Unfortunately, that would also be the last two stamps on the beer map. We failed. A matter of too many venues and not enough time. And also geography. Some were scattered around the city a little too far; which became a massive effort when there is so many quality bars within short walking distance. Even some of the restaurants had ‘beer menus’ to rival the best bars in some cities.

I was crushed that I didn’t get the t-shirt…especially after finding out it had a great logo and design…sigh. But all was not lost! From out of nowhere my wife informed me that Malthouse was in fact SELLING the exact t-shirt! Why wasn’t I informed of this (8 stamps) earlier?!

 The Infamous T-Shirt Logo

Oh well, we had fun getting stamps and discovered a great little city in the process. And I got the t-shirt!

Wellington…we will be back. No doubt to attend Beervana in 2014!

Till then,

Cheers!…Prost!...Salute!...Kampai!