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The Friday Night 6 Pack Session


TonyW

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Hi guys.

The XPA beers are very interesting to me right now on a commercial level. It is an emerging category that is yet to be truly categorized. Craft breweries are brewing them in different ways to different levels atm. The category appears to be headed toward a very light (pilsner-like) EBC with any amount of hopping to follow that using a yet to be designated yeast profile, but appears to be clean American styled.

I've bought & tried quite a few offerings now & apart from a limited run Mismatch XPA, the best I've sampled is the Little Creatures XPA (YEAH Little Creatures!!) 

This little beer has a heap of oomph put into it! Apart from my regular Coopers Pale Ale as my go to beer this Little Creatures offering is now something I seek out.

Unfortunately many of the older craft breweries in this country are now looked past with their offerings as the craft scene is very much about new offerings regularly. Little Creatures has unfortunately fallen foul of this stigma. Apart from their "small batch" offerings that were quite outstanding, this is the best beer the brewery has produced (IMHO) since their Pale Ale (LCPA). They are still very much progressive. If you see it on the shelf at your LHBS, do yourself a favour & try a stubbie. You won't be disappointed.

Cheers,

Lusty. 

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Big Shed XPA FTW... Best I've tried by far. I seriously considered buying a case despite the $80+ price tag. Despite being completely different it somehow reminded me of a Coopers pale, maybe just in terms of being nicely balanced and immensely satisfying.

In Macau atm, so no beer around to speak of, but plenty of nice Portugese wine. Looking forward to getting stuck into some Benriach sherry cask scotch back in Singapore though! It's great when you're staying at the groom's place, and they bring all the wedding leftovers back then disappear on a honeymoon! 😋

Cheers, 

John 

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I read an article recently about craft brewers in the US being under constant pressure from punters to brew different beers all the time rather than having a core range of decent offerings to stay afloat. It's like it's all about trying something new regardless of how good or bad it is so they can go and review it on ratebeer or whatever instead of the simple enjoyment of drinking a well brewed and tasty beer that you want to keep going back to time and time again. 

I like trying different beers, but not all the damn time. I get more satisfaction from drinking a beer I've enjoyed hundreds of times before than trying some ice cream peanut butter coffee liqueur infused pumpkin stout shitshow just because it's different and "trendy". 

/rant

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Sorry about that 😜

I just think some of the craft beer community have lost sight of what enjoyment of beer is all about, to the detriment of the product in some cases. Breweries should be able to survive on a core range of beers that have a reputation of quality, not be effectively forced into brewing something different every other week by a bunch of pretentious wankers who are more interested in getting their stats up on rating sites. It's just not sustainable long term. 

I realise it's a personal view but I'm sure I'm not the only one who has it. For me beer is just a great tasting drink, to be enjoyed with mates or watching sport or whatever, or refreshment after doing physical work. I love a beer after work. It doesn't have to be something different every time for me to enjoy it. 

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Most breweries in Aus have a core range and then they produce limited release beers either on an ad hoc or regular basis.

I like that. You need a core go-to range but you also need to make a few different things. It is human nature to want to try different things and that applies to both the brewer and the consumer.

Kelsey, perhaps you could sneak a different beer into your brewing schedule occasionally 😜

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13 minutes ago, Hairy said:

Kelsey, perhaps you could sneak a different beer into your brewing schedule occasionally 😜

Hehehe. Leave the guy alone, he knows what he likes and brews accordingly. I've got a friend who brews like Kelsey. I've given up trying to convince him to take my saison slurry, try this sour technique, brew this recipe, etc. He is happy enough getting a few bottles of my experiments and sticking to his APA and XPA and pacific ale rotation

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1 minute ago, joolbag said:

Hehehe. Leave the guy alone, he knows what he likes and brews accordingly. I've got a friend who brews like Kelsey. I've given up trying to convince him to take my saison slurry, try this sour technique, brew this recipe, etc. He is happy enough getting a few bottles of my experiments and sticking to his APA and XPA and pacific ale rotation

It’s all good; Kelsey and I go way back. I mention his lack of variety and he always mentions my poor quality beers. 

He knows I’m not serious but I think he may be. Anyway, the guys in my home brew club seem to agree with him.

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My comments are probably taking things to the extreme a bit although it wouldn't surprise me if it was happening in some cases. The brewers who spoke in the article certainly felt like it was at least headed that way from what I read. 

I think it's good for breweries to release periodic different from the core range batches, but they shouldn't have to rely on those to bring money in. It seemed like that's what was going on with a few of them over in the US. 

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38 minutes ago, joolbag said:

Hehehe. Leave the guy alone, he knows what he likes and brews accordingly. I've got a friend who brews like Kelsey. I've given up trying to convince him to take my saison slurry, try this sour technique, brew this recipe, etc. He is happy enough getting a few bottles of my experiments and sticking to his APA and XPA and pacific ale rotation

See at least I brew more than pale ale variants 😜😂

I understand it though. No point brewing a whole batch of something you don't really like. 

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15 minutes ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

See at least I brew more than pale ale variants 😜😂

I understand it though. No point brewing a whole batch of something you don't really like. 

I do the whole range. I make the pale, extra pale, not so pale, a little pale, very slightly pale and if I am adventurous I will make the albino pale.

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I have a couple of brown ales planned for the cooler months. I did a couple last year that I quite enjoyed during that period. I don't really like them in the warmer weather so it's usually just a couple of batches a year, but still different from my usual brews. I find they need less ageing than stouts and porters. 

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My local wine shop has a whole craft fridge wall. Hardly anything you'll find in regular beer shops, except old reliables like Urquell and Coopers.

I'm with Otto. I went through a phase of trying many of them, and thought very few were any good. This is what happens when brewers pander to a hugely fickle market. You rush to put out product, and different rather than good, becomes the benchmark. Not even the good beers from this period have made into my favourites. 

I honestly think 2 of my best brews were better than any of them. And that's not anything to do with me, it's the kit quality, and the hop additions I used.

 

 

Edited by Lab Rat
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Well speaking of core ranges, I'm probably going to grab a box of Weihenstephaner Weissbier Dunkel this weekend if I can find someone that has it in stock. Personally I'd rather spend $50 - $60 on that than most of the Aussie craft brewer's core range beers, just a great beer.

Wonder how their sales are going given the one-off beer chasing trend? 

Cheers, 

John

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21 minutes ago, karlos_1984 said:

For the fellow locals, just picked up a 6 pack of Mismatch Archie's Red Ale at PALS for $12. They've got them in the bargain bin as I walk out. 

I was there about a week ago & actually had them in my hands. I just felt like something I hadn't tried before so picked up something different instead. A Mandarina Bavaria Berlina weisse beer as I've never had one before. It was OK for what it is meant to be but was headless/a little flat/sour & not like what I consider beer to be.

In hindsight, I wish I'd picked up the Red Ale. 😉

Cheers,

Lusty.

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On 3/15/2019 at 6:25 AM, joolbag said:

Hehehe. Leave the guy alone, he knows what he likes and brews accordingly.

No. He needs to be picked on (every once in a while). 😋

On 3/15/2019 at 6:25 AM, joolbag said:

...I've got a friend who brews like Kelsey.

I feel sorry for you already. 😜

On 3/15/2019 at 6:25 AM, joolbag said:

...I've given up trying to convince him to take my saison slurry, try this sour technique, brew this recipe, etc.

If he hasn't seen it already, have him watch the movie "Groundhog Day". Then ridicule him continuously about his current brewing regime once you know he's seen the movie.

On 3/15/2019 at 6:25 AM, joolbag said:

...He is happy enough getting a few bottles of my experiments and sticking to his APA and XPA and pacific ale rotation

I bet he is. Because one day you'll hand him something you've worked hard to develop & he'll say something like, "That's really good, what's the recipe?".

He'd get a blank face from me at that point. 🤣 😉

Cheers,

Lusty.

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