Beerbeuring BASF 2018
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So let me tell you a story about a zoo, a brewery with a single beer brewed on-site, a busted helmet, and a busted bike chain. If this doesn’t count for a beerneuring point, so be it – it was totally worth it anyway.
On our last full day in Australia, we went to the Melbourne Zoo. It’s not like the DC Zoo – in addition to the animals, there are all sorts of little pathways that lead nowhere, but LOOK like they might lead to animals. I think we took them all. It was a long, warm day. We saw two lizards gettin’ it on. The male climbs on the female’s back and bites the loose skin at the back of her neck (Like a mom cat picking up her babies, but less mixed-company appropriate). We saw koalas and kangaroos and lemurs and some elephants up really close. It was a good day.
On the way home, we stopped for a drink at The Crafty Squire and saw this:
IMG_20180226_164412315_HDR by Jon, on FlickrI feel that this sign captures the spirit of this ride and this day.
The Crafty Squire is a brewpub for James Squire and it turns out while they have a full taplist of their own beers, they only brew ONE on-site. It is the Statesman, an American wheat pale ale, pictured here with a souvenir from the zoo (as well as our tab card, but we’ve closed out, so it won’t help you).
IMG_20180226_170841691 by Jon, on FlickrThe beer was fine. It was neither terribly wheaty nor terribly pale, but after a long hot day of walking around, it hit the spot. Bear in mind we have not biked anywhere yet. We had to return all the rental bikes already.
Luckily, Melbourne has bikeshare, both docked and dockless. After sending the wife and kids home on the tram, I went to the nearest bikeshare station. Unfortunately, most or maybe all of Australia has a mandatory helmet law, which is probably the #2 reason Melbourne isn’t Amsterdam, after the fact that drivers refuse to yield under any circumstances. Often the bikeshare stations have free helmets to borrow, but this one didn’t.
As luck would have it, Melbourne is like DC in that people leave their dockless bikes near bikeshare docks. One of the dockless bikes had a helmet! It was broken. But I used it anyway because TAKE THAT silly Australian laws.
IMG_20180226_183008155_BURST000_COVER_TOP by Jon, on FlickrThis photo actually doesn’t do justice to how broken the helmet actually was.
So things are going well – I’m nearly home, just stopped at a light in traffic, waiting for green. The light turns, I start to go, and CRUNCH and then I nearly fall over because the pedals are suddenly spinning with nearly no resistance. Turns out I snapped the chain.
IMG_20180226_182305295_HDR by Jon, on FlickrAgain I was in luck, and I was mere feet (Ok, they were meters) from another bikeshare station, and I switched bikes and managed to get home.
In any event, I don’t believe this ride obeys the letter of the law for a beerneuring point. I think it obeys the spirit, but I throw myself at the mercy of the great and powerful sjclaeys to tell me whether this one counts.
So Right Proper has the Haxan, one of their flagship beers. It’s a coffee porter. It’s pretty good. At the moment they also have a couple of different variations, and i had the Death and Haxes, which is a Haxan with coconut and cacao. It was quite pleasant. I also had a Raised by Wolves, which I’ve had a million times but it’s still good.
IMG_20180303_153222763_HDR by Jon, on FlickrI had a Winter Special, which was a little spiced but not overwhelming. And also an IPA #7, which is fine. And then the wife and I split an Oat Pale. I love The Public Option. It’s one of my favorite places in the city. It was busy today – almost too busy. But happy to see them successful.
IMG_20180303_170839861_HDR by Jon, on FlickrTook a long lunch with the wife and hit a couple of Ruby Tuesdays Breweries. First on the list, where we had lunch, was District Chophouse. When we walked in it looked way too fancy, but we sat at the bar. We were going to do two flights because I don’t like to share but the bartender suggested we start with one, which turned out to be a good idea.
I was pleasantly surprised by their light lager, which was crisp and flavorful and much better than I expected. Their bourbon stout was not good. The rest of the flight was solid – what you’d expect from technically proficient but unimaginative brewers, or brewers constrained by a clientele without a sophisticated beer palate (if you want to be charitable).
IMG_20180309_131609052 by Jon, on FlickrNothing brewed on site. We had the IPA, which had notes of pepper on top of pepper. Also pepper. This is not a [expletive deleted] merlot, there is NO NEED for that much pepper.
IMG_20180309_141657595 by Jon, on Flickr
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