American Independance Day Beerfest!

Now I'm certainly not an American patriot, so you might feel it irrellevant that we celebrate such an occasion. Relevant or not, all I know is that it gives us an excuse to enjoy some of the best brews the US have to offer!

Somehow, those cheeky lads at The Local Taphouse (Darlinghurst & St Kilda) have gotten their hands on KEGS (thats right, kegs) of some Rogue brews.

http://thelocaltaphouse.blogspot.com/2009/06/4th-july.html

To celebrate the occasion Cloudwine have just received a number of new Rogues, to add to our already impressive line-up of Yankie Brews:

Double Dead Guy Ale 650ml $23.00

Yellow Snow IPA 650ml $15.00

Captain Sigs Deadliest Ale $15.00

Red Fox (American Amber) 355ml $7.50

White Crane (Dead Guy) 355ml $7.50

St Rogue Dry Hopped Red 355ml $7.50

Brutal Bitter 355ml $7.50

So if your feeling patriotic hop online this week & complete an order for any Rogue or Flying Dog beers for your chance to WIN A GROWLER OF ROGUE AMERICAN AMBER ALE!!! (Competition closes 6/7/09)

Mikkeller Tasting Notes

Mikkeller Black Hole

Pours with an oily black body and no head to speak of. Nose has smoke, coffee roast, dark chocolate and vanilla with residual sweetness detectable. Palate has huge depth and power but maintains great balance. Rich choc makes way for honey sweetness before coffee roast comes into play. The sweetness masks the power of the dark malt quite well and stops it from being overly bitter/sweet or astringent, but still has plenty of power & presence. Finishes with a combination of dark choc fudge, coffee, vanilla and lingering honey sweetness. Absolutely awesome beer, great complexity & impeccable balance despite big abv and general robust profile.

De Struise / Mikeller (Elliot Brew)

Pours golden amber with a nice off white head that persists for the duration of the glass & leaves chunky lacing. Nose has masses of spicy(slightly piney?) hops with some sweetness and citrus/apricot esters. Not unlike a traditional belg tripel but ramped up considerably. Palate has honey-like malt & candy sugar sweetness before the significant hop bitterness takes charge delivering a long bitter finish. Great alternative to caramel malt laden US-style IPAs. Awesome balance despite robust nature.

Mikkeller Jackie Brown

More robust than the nogne o i’d sampled prior. Pours dark brown with a nice off white head. Nose has a good mix of roasted malt, choc.coffee as well as some us hops in there. Palate is more robust than i expected having not looked at the abv. Choc/coffee malt early supported by slightly citrussy hops, sounds odd but the citrus is rather mild but hop presence definately there. Finish is long with lingering hop bitterness and roasted malt. Overall a great, robust brown ale.

Exciting New Arrivals!

Australia:

Red Duck Bengal IPA 330ml: $4.00/$21.60(6pk)

Sweetwater Pale Ale 330ml: $3.50/19.00(6pk)

Sweetwater Bitter 330ml: $3.50/19.00(6pk)

Belgium:

Rochefort 10 330ml: $9.50

St Bernardus Abt 12 330ml: $8.50

Achel Extra 750ml: $19.00

Bush Noel 250ml: $7.50

Gouden Carolus Hopsinjoor 330ml: $7.50

Liefmans Goudenband 375ml: $9.50

St Feuillen Blond 330ml: $7.00

St Feuillen Brune 330ml: $7.00

St Feuillen Tripel 330ml: $8.00

St Feuillen Noel 330ml: $8.00

Netherlands:
t'IJ Plzen 330ml: $6.50
t'IJ Natte 330ml: $6.50
t'IJ Zatte 330ml: $6.50
t'IJ Wit 330ml: $6.50
t'IJ Vlo Speciale 330ml: $6.50

t'IJ Struis 330ml: $7.00

t'IJ Columbus 330ml: $7.00

UK:

Brewdog Rip Tide 330ml: $7.00

Brewdog Zeitgeist 330ml: $6.00

Marston's Old Empire IPA 500ml: $7.00

Marston's Strong Pale Ale 500ml: $7.00

Winter Warmers fit for a Vi-King

Its getting cold out, so i figured i'd focus on some great imperials from our new Norwegian friends at Nogne O. Their whole range is nothing short of exceptional, with all beers beautifully presented. Something that can sometimes be an unfortunate rarity in craft beer. 

Nogne O/Norrebro Imperial Brown Ale

Interesting concept, that we dont see much of in Oz. Pours hazy brown with a huge tan coloured head that leaves chunky lacing. Nose has massess of roasted nuts with caramel toffee malt in support as well as a surprising degree of US piney/citrus hops. Palate translates well, some fudgy chocolate adds palate weight before the US hops and elevated abv kicks in, the later a little dominating. Great beer, but the pronounced abv on finish is a bit of a kick in the nuts. You've been warned! :)

Nogne O imperial Stout

Pours oil black with a choc-orange coloured head. Nose has masses of dark choc/coffee malt as well as some sweeter molasses notes. Palate has full blown dark, bittersweet roast. There are undertones of choc fudge and sweeter caramel/mollasses but the dark malt provails. Finish is long with lingering bittersweet malt notes, almost bringing a slight tang. There is some residual sweetness that lingers also. Carbonation is low and mouthfeel is quite full, but nothing too excessive. Would probably benefit from some time in the cellar. Regardless, a great imperial stout and can't wait to get into the Dark Horizon #2 in a year or so!

Nogne O/Yoho 2IPA

Pours murky copper/orange with a huge off white head that leaves chunky lacing. Nose is exceptionally well balanced much like the Nogne O regular IPA, except this seems much drier with more bitter grapefruit. Nose has toffee malt (not much sweet caramel for a change!) with layers of citrus fruit. Finishes with high piney hop bitterness. Carbonation is relatively lively which adds to the dry profile. Great alternative to the sometimes over caramelised US-style IPA’s. Brilliant balance and hop impact! 

PS. Believe it or not, Yoho is a Japanse craft brewer!

Mixed Shipment of Euro Goodies!

Hi folks, Well business as usual!

We are expecting delivery of a number of great European beers, mainly Dutch & Belgian but there are a few others in there to grab your attention also:

T'ij Brouwerij (Ned)
Plzn
Natte
Struise
Columbus
Zatte
Wit
Vlo Speciale

St Feuillien (Belg)
Blonde
Brune
Tripel
Noel

Brewdog (Scot)
Riptide
Zeitgeist

Some other classics:
Rochefort 10
St Bernardus 12
Achel Extra
Bush Noel
Gouden Carolus Hopsinjoor
Liefmans Goudenband

We are expecting them to be pretty popular so if you wish to pre-order any email: chrism@cloudwine.com.au

Slow Beer News - Camberwell Store Now Closed

Work - life balance go the better of us on this occasion. A combination of 3 shops, 2 web sites (3rd on the way!), a 16 month old and another baby on the way proved to be too much in the end. Factoring in a surprisingly strong market demand for wine stores, the decision to sell proved not to be a difficult one in the end.

Thanks very much to our loyal Camberwell customers over the past 5 years - your support is greatly appreciated.

Of course the Brighton and South Melbourne stores aren't going anywhere and you can still access our full beer and wine ranges through www.cloudwine.com.au and www.slowbeer.com.au. We have another beer project in the works and will provide further details in due course as things develop.

Beer geeks will be happy to know that we are expanding our shelving capacity in South Melbourne and most of the new space will be allocated to beer. We expect to be able to stock ~300 different beers at any one time.

Hope to see you all in the shops soon,

Cheers