Yesterday saw a change in our quest to sample as many imported beers as we can and we tried Bintang, a Pilsner from Indonesia.  To be quite honest, I did not think Indonesia brewed much in the way of beer, but I was pleasantly surprised with this beer.  It has a nice rich hop and barley flavour with a sweetish after-taste.  Yup, it's one that I'd recommend.

Another 'yesterday' post:  We had some Becks and it went down a treat.... as always.  I [we] hadn't had it in a while - a couple of years at least - more likely 3 or 4 - so it was almost an experimentation of something we'd not had before.

Today we have a delivery of 2 cases of Carlsberg Pilsner arriving.  I've had the Carlsberg Lager before and quite liked it, but the Pilsner will be another tester for us.

Anyhow, folks, I off back to bed.  I woke up really thirsty at 4.00 am and needed to get a drink [not beer but a nice cup of tea] and thought I'd check WC out while I'm drinking it.

Most Pilsner beer has a heartier taste. You will enjoy it.

Back in the day 40 50 years ago the only beer on tap in Victoria, Australia was Carlton Draught a product of Carlton and United Breweries. Every Friday night after work we would walk over the road to the hotel and indulge in beer and snacks. We would then drive home a little bit tipsy.There was no breath tests back then. In the years that followed Carlton and United added Victoria Bitter and Fosters Lager to their beer on tap. One of my favorite bottled beers back then was Crown Lager.

I can still remember the hotel owner weighing the kegs of beer as they were offloaded from the delivery truck.

They were the good old days!

No doubt I will, given my liking for Pilsners.  I have a few on my to-do list but many are unavailable due to the damned Corona Virus affecting deliveries from Europe, where most pilsners originated.  Oh well, in the meantime there's hundreds of international beers still available here in Oz

Aussie007

reply 44

Back in the day 40 50 years ago the only beer on tap in Victoria, Australia was Carlton Draught a product of Carlton and United Breweries. Every Friday night after work we would walk over the road to the hotel and indulge in beer and snacks. We would then drive home a little bit tipsy.There was no breath tests back then. In the years that followed Carlton and United added Victoria Bitter and Fosters Lager to their beer on tap. One of my favorite bottled beers back then was Crown Lager.

I can still remember the hotel owner weighing the kegs of beer as they were offloaded from the delivery truck.

They were the good old days!

                 

I recall Queensland back in the early 70's mostly had just two main beers on tap ....XXXX and Carlton Draught.  In some pubs you could get Carlton's Pilsner on tap, and in some Central Queensland pubs you could get Eumundi Lager on tap ... and further North you could get Cairns Draught on tap.

In the late 70's early 80's the former head chemist at the XXXX opened the Powers brewery at Yatala Qld and began brewing Powers Bitter; Powers Gold, a mid-strength beer; and Powers Ice.  I used to drink the Powers Bitter back in the day, but I havent seen it in years, not since CUB bought Powers out.  Nowadays I only see Powers Gold, and frankly, if I wanted diluted beer I'd add my own water.

There was a time not so long ago that I'd add a splash of lemonade to my beers, but not any more... these days it's straight up and down the hatch.  Oh yeah, I quite like Crown Lager as well, though I've not seen it on tap anywhere.  As for VB and Fosters, I wouldn't put 'em in my mouth.  Apart from a couple of fruity beers, Fosters is the worst beer I ever tried.  Don't think it liked me, either.... used to upset my gut and I'd be running to the dunny next day.

You do know they called it XXXX because the Deep North couldn't spell 'Beer' ....

Jafo

reply 46

You do know they called it XXXX because the Deep North couldn't spell 'Beer' ....

And how did I know in advance that you'd say that!!!!!  

And that's why Victorians called it VB .... cos they couldn't spell Vile Beer.  

Innis and Gunn Kindred Spirits whiskey barrel aged stout beer.....again.

Bought some the other day, and am going to one of our favourite pubs here in the Rat on Saturday for dinner...so will take a Stubby for Anthony [the publican] as he also likes the stuff.  He brews his own beer and pots it on at the pub fromtime to time....makes the best Porter I've ever had.  Maybe with the lockdown he's had time to do some more....

I used to brew my own but found the process became a bit too much due to arthritis.  It wasn't so much the actual fermenting side of it that became a bit much, rather it was washing and sterilising dozens of bottles, adding sugar to each bottle to carbonate it, then filling and capping each bottle.   Not only was it was a time consuming past-time, it would exacerbate the pain of the arthritis.

I did see a home brewing setup that would suit me more as it's all done in the fermenter and keg, no need to bottle, which would eliminate the time spent on washing, sterilising, filling and capping dozens of bottles.  Hardly Normal was advertising these kits a while back, but no way on this Earth will I enter or purchase anything from his stores.  I did find another store that has them in stock but it's saving enough to cover the initial set up cost.  I've had a few other priorities in the meantime, but it still is a consideration further down the track.

Yes, he does it in the keg....

Jafo

reply 50

Yes, he does it in the keg....

If ever I take up home brewing again it will be done in the keg.  The other thing I'd be doing if I start up again is brew up some good ol' scrumpy..... cider to those not in the know.  I did some last time and it was so potent that 1.5 longnecks is all anybody [else] could manage.  I grew up with the stuff so could easily manage 3 to 4 longnecks ... think that's why my mates called me pisshead.  Yup, more often than not, I was the last man standing.

Yesterday and today, Sat Aug 1, Sun Aug 2, we were/are drinking Boags Draught [brewed right here in Launceston Tasmania] mixed with Monteiths black beer from NZ in a black n' tan of sorts.  It is quite nice, too.

Hi Starkers,

Here is a challenge for you!

https://www.nine.com.au/quizzical

Cheers

Macca 

I got 4 out of 5.... got the Peroni one wrong.  Oh well, 4 right isn't bad, given I've not long woken up and still on my first cuppa-tea.  I've tried them all [from the correct answers] and the Indonesian Bintang is one of my favourites.

Right now it's an all Aussie affair with Boags Draught, Cascade Draught and Melbourne Bitter on the menu.  We have had issues with Dan Murphys deliveries being way overdue so we have switched to BWS for home deliveries and the international beers are off the todo list for now.  Yeah, I ordered a carton of 500ml Asahi a couple of weeks ago, and it was in stock, but it took 10 days to get here... and we're only a 5 minute drive from the store. I sent an email to query as to why it took so long when BWS [approximately the same distance away] can deliver within the hour to our place

BWS does stock a few international beers but our local store didn't have what we wanted so we went with the above named Aussie beers instead. 

Just in case anybody gets to thinking I became a teetotaller over the weekend: nope, not a chance, not while there's still so many beers on the market to try.  On Friday we had a couple of Saporro's and some Peroni Red Lager. 

On Saturday we indulged in a few black 'n tan type mixtures: a 50x50 blend of Tooheys Old and Melbourne Bitter; a 50x50 mix of Coopers Stout with Boags Draught.

Yesterday [Sunday] we had a half dozen cans each of Coors Lager and some Cascade Draught to finish off with.

Back in 1985 I was in Japan for work. We drank quite a bit of Sapporo. I actually bought back a can (empty of course) for a souvenir. I still have it. It is a 650ml Sapporo draft beer.

We had to settle for the 355ml stubbies [short necks to those not in Oz] as the 650ml cans were out of stock.  However, 35 bucks for a 24 x 355ml carton isn't bad.  I do like the idea of 650ml cans, though, and I will look to order some when they're restocked.

As for souvenirs, we have kept a few bottles and cans for the man cave.  Like why not?  It's where we go to have a few beers of an afternoon, and we've filled some of the bottles with cold tea to give them an unopened look. Some of the ones we have kept have the flip-top lids like the Grolsch.

Have had a few days off from testing international beers to try out a few more Aussie beers.  Boags, Northern Tassie's go to beer has a new variety out named St George, and I must say that it is quite nice.  It is a draught beer that's smooth to drink and has a mellow after-taste that's very satisfying.   We also tried Cascade Pale Ale and Cascade Stout, both very nice full-flavoured beers.

Over the weekend we tried Singha, a lager from Tailand.  It has similarities to Indonesia's Bintang in that it has a sweet after-taste.  Yup, quite nice.

Had a couple of non-beer days but made up for it yesterday with a few Boags Draught from Tassie; some Tooheys Old from NSW, a very nice dark ale, and some Oetinger Pilsner from Germany.

I am surprised, however, to see that there aren't too many blokes commenting here.  I mean, isn't beer the most popular beverage in the world... in its many flavours and varieties from every corner of the globe?   And it seems from the lack of female replies here that women don't drink beer.  Like what????

I'm wondering if this is the reason there are fewer beer drinkers these days: