Bentspoke, Canberra

Lets just start this post by saying this is the best pub in Canberra. That is really all you need to know. The rest of this is just waffle and pictures.

OK, so you are still reading which is great. This place is a brewhouse, and you can see the tanks upstairs. I walked into this place and said to the bartender "I love hops, what would you recommend"? He poured a few and I ended up with the Sprocked, their most hoppest beer (American Pale Ale). It has a really light body, so I was a bit sceptical, but it was fantastic, I was very surprised such a light body could produce such big tastes! It left a fantastic fruity after taste as well; it is just a great beer. 

I followed this up with Crankshaft IPA, one of their stable beers. It was a lot more golden in colour and the head stayed bigger and for longer. While it wasn't as hoppy as the first beer, there was a slight malty taste going on as well to give it a nice balance. From a few glances at other peoples drinks, I would say, that a lot of the bar was drinking the Crankshaft, showing it works for the masses.  

I love the kegs come seat...

On another note, the wine list was all local wines to the area, that is great - supporting local produce is a great initiative for these crafty joints. The place was packed when we went, and although down the stairs doesn't have a lot of seats, upstairs does so it shows that this place is hitting the mark with the local Canberra-eans ... The next time I am in Canberra, I sure will be checking in here...

Cool light shades and tanks in the upstairs area

Upstairs bar of bentspoke

The décor of the place reflects somewhere without pretence, somewhere you feel comfortable sitting and chilling with friends. The lights and bar area, gives it an industrial warehouse feel, but with enough pictures etc to take the edge of it so you are comfortable being here for the long haul...

When a man loves a bike and making beer, he combines them into... a coaster, NO, a bar...

Lord Nelson, The Rocks

So the last time I was in the Lord Nelson, it was after watching a show at the Sydney Theatre Company and my wife asked if I had blogged about this place to which I said "No", manly because everyone knows that the Lord Nelson is such an institution and really is the home of microbrewing that I never felt the need to blog about it. But, as it is my number one place to go to in Sydney (http://craftbeerandpubguide.blogspot.com.au/p/my-top-5-places.html) , I felt I really should blog about it...

It is old school rocks, stone walls and wooden beams

I honestly think it is the French Flag, but it cant be as I can't see a link to France... one day I will bother to ask... I think it nautical linked...

Cheese anyone? Also, what you reckon the guy at the back is describing? I will leave the jokes to you... 

So, I don't often have the 3 Sheets when I come here, as (thankfully) you find it more and more often in other pubs, so I often go for a Quayle Ale - it's a summery light beer. To describe it, I would say "Really light bodied (think Hawthorns Golden Ale + a light tasting European pilsner lager) and really fruity (think Stone & Wood Pacific Ale aroma)" and you get the general idea of this beer. In the middle of winter I wasn't feeling the Quayle Ale, so I went back to the 3 Sheets. The thing is, it is a really great Pale Ale, and I need to drink it more when I come here as I love it. I might even say it one of the original "session ales" - you are so happy drinking a pint (or 2, 3 or 5) of this stuff it makes you remember why massed produced beer needs to disappear... Why people choose a beer like Carlton over a beer like the 3 Sheets is beyond me... 

Oh, that's another reason to come here - it serves pints, and not South Australian sized "pints" real pints. O for Awesome.

Quayle Ale.

3 Sheets

So, if you are anywhere near the Rocks, or trying to decide where to go for a few jars, this place should be top of your list. And, if you see 3 Sheets in your local, grab one and enjoy.

I am glad "Blood is Back"

Edinburgh Castle: Don't write off the traditional pub...

So I hade to write about Edinburgh Castle, I am Scottish. It is one of the prettiest scenes in the world staring at the bottom of the hill and seeing the Castle. No wait... I am meant to be blogging about Edinburgh Castle Hotel in Sydney CBD... Sorry, ignore the last part...

I should be blogging about this place... not the other castle

So I happily go to any pub to chat away to friends etc, but these places never make the blog... they are just a pub. But somehow I wanted to write about this place... Don't get me wrong, the Edinburgh is just an after work Sydney CBD pub, without the pretence of the Ivy etc. But here is where it sort of differentiates itself - being a big bar, it has a large range of taps. Many of them are the usual affair, but things like Squires, a few of the Little Creatures range, Coopers and Stone & Wood make it a good mix on tap. This makes this place appealing to a group of friends - the ones that want "a craft beer thank you" and the ones that say "I am a Carlton drinker thank you, none of that ale stuff for me". 

But heres the special part... Feature Beers - Stone & Wood was $6! That's nearly a third cheaper than elsewhere! (which is a really sad fact that craft beer is between $8 - $11). Get in... 

Stone & Wood for $6! Awesome!

Not just 4X, Carlton & Super Dry - Coopers, 150 and White Rabbit here..

Stone & Wood, Little Creatures & James Squires Hop Thief

I have been here a few times, and the first time I really judged this place but I was wrong. 

So here's the moral of the story, don't judge a book by its cover, places like this are showing movement in taps - the usuals and a few crafty's... 

Edinburgh Castle (http://edinburghcastlehotel.com.au) is a simple pub, serving decent priced food, and offers good value with its feature beer.  So if its a Tuesday night and a few work colleges say "lets go for a beer", heres a good option.

I didn't talk about the outdoor garden, thats because it is winter. Only smokers go to a CBD beer garden in winter... 

Brew cult - the rise of the session IPA?

So I ran city to surf yesterday, and the only way to celebrate exercise is through drinking beer, well that's the rugby upbringing in me / the Scottish in me (take your pick). So off we headed to the East Village Hotel back in Balmain. EVH is a great pub offering good beer, with staff that are interested in new and crafty beers and really good pub food. 

So I went for a few of Brew Cult's Hop Zone Session IPA and the Sunday roast (EVH does 3!). I am not too familiar with Brew Cult, but from their website, it sounds, and looks a great place to work! - http://brewcult.com/about/ I will definitely be on the look out for their beers in the future!

I meant to take a picture of it full, but it didn't last long enough for a photo... and then I forgot the second time around...

So Hop Zone has one hell of a fruity smell, almost like a summer ale smell, with a small head. The strong citrus taste upfront isn't what I expected [considering the strong fruity smell] and the taste dies to leave a really lingering hoppy after-taste. It's a great beer, and honestly, with a group of guys, you could smash a fair few of these very quickly, too quickly. Yes, I am going to say it, it's a danger beer! It is the sort of beer you will wake up the next day with a stinking hangover because you didn't realise how much you drank. 

So this leads to the question of the blog; is Session IPA's the 'in thing' just now? Recently, I have tried a few session IPA (the first being the Rocks Brewery ISA) and they seem to be everywhere, or IPA's are being described more and more as "Session IPAs". The definition of a session IPA seems to be related to its alcohol content - a true IPA can climb up to 7% whereas a session IPA seems to be 4% - 5% with more hops. This seems to be a more difficult brewing process (it can become far too bitter due to the hops), but makes the beer more marketable and appealing to a wider range of beer drinkers with its lower alcohol and lighter body but with still a distinct "IPA like" aroma. 

My take on it, is that sometimes you don't want a monster of an IPA, you want flavour but not the high alcohol / intense body flavours. What's your view?

Beer and Food, what do you pair?

Hello;

So I was reading an article on Cobra, the British / Indian Lager: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-28439834 and I really liked this part of the article - 



'Lager too fizzy, ale too bitter'

A lover of beer since his teenage years, Lord Bilimoria was unhappy with the quality of British lager, especially when drinking it with a curry.

He says: "The lager was too fizzy, too harsh and too bloating. It meant that I couldn't eat or drink as much as I would like.

"At the same time, I found real ale to be great in a pub, but too bitter and heavy with food. So I came up with the idea of creating a beer with the refreshment of a lager, but with the smoothness of an ale.

I recently bought a 6 pack of "Dad & Dave's #1 Pale Ale" and I wasn't that in love with it (its fine, it just didn't have any real strong flavours to it), then when I had a second, but this time with some food (watching the Super Rugby Final) I really liked it - the gentle flavours worked with the fish cakes, oysters etc we had... then when I researched "Dad & Daves" it turns out one of them is a chef and then it kinda made sense why the beer worked with food, I wonder if they made this beer with food in mind?

I am wondering what a porter, or dunkel, would be like with a meat pie, that sounds like a good combo...

So, what food beer combinations do you like?  

Bitter Phew

So the wife and I went for a meal in Surrey Hills, and afterwards we made a bee-line to Oxford street (city end) to try out Bitter Phew...

Pubs with white boards seems to be the in thing at craft pubs just now...

I use a white board at work all the time, but it seems craft pub owners are also corporate types and love a white board: every new craft pub these days seems to use the white board as a menu...

I struggled to decide whether to have a Saison or River Ale from Deschutes (http://www.deschutesbrewery.com/brew/deschutes-river-ale), and in the end, I have never heard of a river ale so went for that. After a bit of research on the web I find that it is an American beer - man the US  are into their craft beers in a big way, and I have to say Oregon's beer list is making want to go there on holiday! 

Deschutes have done a great job with this one - it is like a Golden Ale (light to medium bodied) but a bit darker in colour, and a bit more stronger in taste with a lemony aftertaste. On my second beer of this stuff I made a call that it is a good beer - it was one of these beers that really makes you intrigued by it and that made me want to have another to really work it out. 

Back to Bitter Phew, when you make the long climb up the stairs, you really want a beer and luckily the bar is right there! Just after the Jamaica flag, its so obvious why they have a Jamaica flag in the bar entrance I won't explain.

Any pub that welcomes you at the door with a keg of Wayward is clearly a good place!

Cheers!

When we went it was almost empty, which was a real shame - the place has a really cool "unfinished" "studenty look" to it that is quirky and makes it work. Its the sort of small pub that would belong in Glebe, opposed to the trendy Surrey Hills. The reason you come here, is not for the view of Oxford Street, or the comfy sofa drinking lattes (it doesn't have sofas, and I am not sure it has a coffee machine either) - it is for the beer, and the ever revolving list of beers, most of which you have never heard of before. "What does Bitter Phew have on tap today?" is honestly a question that goes through my mind on occasion (luckily they are very active on twitter so it won't take long to find out).

"Phew", is what they will say when they finish the roof!

that not finished, little effort, probably took a lot of effort to develop... I kinda like it, in an odd way...

Hmmm... does this fake fire make it "a winter pub"... Im not sold... it is though the best pub on oxford street

So, in short, if you are looking for a trendy craft beer place to head to, go to the Quarrymans in Pyrmont, or Redoak in the CBD; if you are looking for something quirky, fun and with a great white board of beers on tap, head here. And I will be at the bar beside you.

Neil