Where to buy beer in Brisbane?

When talking to people they often ask me where I get my beer from in Brisbane. There is only one answer – Nectar. Located on Boundary St, West End, without this place I would go crazy at the lack of good beer options in this town.  Nectar has a great range of many styles from pale lagers to pale ales and IPAs to stouts, Imperial stouts (my favourite!) and anything in between. You will find matilda bay, james squire and little creatures rubbing shoulders with southern tier, mikkeller and nogne 0 (sorry this keyboard can’t do the scandanavian symbol). They will have Dieu de Ciel soon (a famed french canadian brewery – I can’t wait!). No VB, XXXX or Tooheys here! Lots of aussie micros here too – so get out and support small aussie brewers!

Carl the manager is friendly and attentive and always willing to help you if you are a bit overwhelmed by the choice. With some 800 beers it can take a while. It is a bit on the pricey side (in comparison to xxxx or vb), but then again I look at it like fast food compared to a good restaurant. You can drink cheap piss water (ie xxxx, tooheys, vb) etc or you could shell out a bit more and enjoy an infinitely superiour beer in all respects. The choice is yours.

I think they are open everyday – any way the link to their site is here.

PS. This is in no way a paid advertisement. I just want to inform people of my favourite beer shop in Brisbane. Take it or leave it. I know what I’ll be doing….

The Big Boppers (testing new rating system)

I thought I would try something new when rating beers. It occured to me that when rating particular styles the average rating would be well above the ratings for other beers and vice versa. I.E. a Imperial Stout, Baltic Porter or NWIPA will almost always rate higher for me than a pale ale or a pilsner if they were all to be compared on the same 10 point scale.  Therfore I will now rate the beers with a per style rating (in comparison to other beers of the style I have tried to compare their true worth) . Let’s see If this works out!

Let’s start with some big beers…

Thorogoods of Burra Billy B Apple Beer (12% ABV)

Australia

Overall – 7.5

Per Style (Fruit beer) – 9

Very interesting beer. Nose is Lambic like. Tart and vinegary initally folllowed by some sweetness.  One of those must try beers, but definately not everyday drinking. Also slightly one dimensional in it’s profile.

∞

St Ambroise Milliseme Vintage 2009 (9.8% ABV)

Canada

Overall – 7

Per Style (Barleywine) – 7

Nose is all toffee and fruit. Mouthfeel is a bit of a let down as not quite as intense. Still not overally sweet like I generally find barleywines to be. A good, dependable BW.

∞

Durham Temptation 2005 (10% ABV)

England

Overall – 7.5

Per Style (Imperial Stout) – 6

Oily and smooth. This has a huge port, pit fruit and burnt wood nose. A bit less intense in the mouth. Same flavours as nose. Well done, but a bit traditional for me for the style. Cheap though (for this type of beer)!

Australia’s Strongest Beer

Went down to Nectar in West End last night and picked up a few beers. As I was walking towards the city I decided to crack one open…that being Grand Ridge’s Supershine (7.5/10). At 11% this is Australia’s Strongest commercially produced beer. Australia has a draconian law in place that the higher the alcohol the more tax charged, which effectively discourages a lot of brewers. Having said that though I picked this up for $6, which isn’t too bad. This is a Barley wine. Good example too. Thick and tasty and quite resonant. Not quite up to some of the examples out of America but still pretty good. I recommend procuring a bottle If you can. I drank it on the riverside (as you can see in the pics) in a glass thankfully procured from the staff at Nectar. Very relaxing….

BTW these pics were taken on my phone so don’t complain!