The Hottest 100

What a great idea!

The Local Taphouse is conducting the Hottest 100 of craft beer for the year. Modeled from Triple J's Hottest 100 for the most popular tracks voted by the public, the natural partner for an Australia Day summer countdown of our favourite music.

Many Aussies will be enjoying a cold beer while counting down the songs of the year so what better time to celebrate the best Australian craft beers of the year?

Marriage made in heaven.

This poll has actually made me think about, and has excited me more than the Triple J's Hottest 100 so I'll be eagerly awaiting the results on the 26th of January.

Have a good Australia Day folks.

Moon Dog

The most exciting thing in Victorian craft brewing is growing.

The amazing Gingerbread Ale.

If you haven't heard of the Moon Dog Brewery then you need to do what you can to educate yourselves. Currently tough to come across, but just keep your fingers on the pulse.

If you managed to get to Biero over the Christmas period then you might have been able to experience the Christmas carols for the taste buds that is the Moon Dog Gingerbread Ale.

Writing a post about this is difficult as when I had the inaugural ale from the boys from Moon Dog it left me speechless. Every sip had just as much glory as the last.

"Glory" is a strange adjective to use for tasting beer but I'm not going to retract it.

The taste is a strong, delicious gingerbread taste and is incredibly smooth and silky. It actually tastes better than any actual gingerbread that I've ever had.

The Gingerbread Ale instantly catapulted into the top position in my list of most unique beers from the year 2010 narrowly topping the 2 Brothers James Brown Belgian Ale. As it was only tasted in the last two weeks of December the James Brown was unlucky to get pipped at the post.

This is a strong precedent to set for this young brewery to maintain, but one is eagerly awaiting the Local Taphouse's Great SpecTAPular to see the next beer these lads will attempt. Sources say that it might be a red ale with a twist, but whatever it turns out to be we know that it will be on the extreme end of the scale.

We're all looking forward to it, Moon Dog.

Spoilt for choice?

Okay, I just want to clarify one thing before this post.

I love Biero.

It probably has the best bottled beer selection in the Melbourne CBD, it has twelve taps that constantly rotate high quality craft beer and they have the unique BeerVaults that give you the chance to have bottled beer on tap, without having to buy the bottle.

Currently, and until further notice, on a Wednesday night they offer $5 pints of everything they have on tap.

Amazing. I mean, amazing.

The selection is always first rate and usually there are one or two absolute standouts that make you realise why you love beer in the first place.

One thing I have noticed is that the quality of the brews can dwarf some of the middle tier beers.

My case in point in this instance is the Beard and Brau Red Tail. Last Wednesday I had a pint of the Red Tail at Biero and I found it very pleasant as a simple red ale but it didn't really strike me as a great, interesting beer.

Only a few days later I picked up a selection of Beard and Brau's from Blackheart & Sparrows and when I got to the Red Tail I was taken aback. It took on a whole other character. A lot more depth and complexity of it's flavour and it just seemed to be more rounded altogether.

There are numerous explanations for why it mightn't have been as good at Biero, but it got me to thinking if the high quality beers there taint some of the good, middle tier beers you might have there.

It is a shame that this occurs, but I guess if it's due to comparing them to really high quality craft beers then that's a pretty good quandary.

I don't think there's anything you can really take from this except to give a second chance every now and then and not be so judgmental.

Maybe it's just me that is very judgmental?

Bah... end transmission.