The Beer and Blues Festival held last Saturday at the Old
Homestead was an absolute corker !!!
A thing that I really loved about the day was the variety of boutique
beers to taste and purchase, not a VB in sight! I sat there under
the shade of a tree drinking James Squire Amber Ale, then switched
to my new favourite beer Becks; the perfect beer for a sunny day...
any day really!
The music really cooked with traditional Mississippi Blues right
through to more modern interpretations on the theme. And my favourite,
well a lot of peoples favourite, Ash Grunwald. This guy was worth
the price of admission alone, he really rocked in a blues/soul/roots
kind of way, its hard to describe his act but so very talented and
entertaining. His interaction with the crowd was so professional
whilst personal. I know that I'll be coming back next year with
a posse of beer/blues loving friends. Lets make a date and Ill see
you there!
By the way we have all of those lovely beers that were served at
the Blues Festival in the imported/ boutique beer fridge in store.
Get some whilst the weather is still bearish!
Q & A
A question that gets asked quite often is “What’s
the difference between Scotch Whisky and American Whiskey?”
In short an E, corn and a few thousand kilometers! But the long
answer goes something like this;
Firstly the spelling, the American version has an E in the spelling,
god only knows why, I guess they just wanted to be different,
Damn septics! Actually the Irish also spell it with an E, Nuff
said! Secondly the Scots use mainly malted barley that has been
in a kiln which has been fired with peat, imparting a characteristic
smokiness to the final spirit. Then it gets aged for at least 5
years in oak casks that have been used for Sherry or even Bourbon,
all the while imparting colour and flavour distinct to that particular
distilleries style. It can be a Single Malt style which means that
only malted barley is used in the spirit and made exclusively at
such distilleries as Glenmorangie, Laphroig and Glenfiddich to name
a few. Then there are the more popular blended varieties such as
Johnnie Walker, Teachers, The Famous Grouse, which are blended to
the house style and use a mix of grain and malted barley that has
been distilled from different distilleries.
Now the American Whiskey, its made with mainly corn ( at least
51%) and malted barley and up to this stage they don’t differ
that much from their kilted cousins, except that the barrels in
which it matures are brand new American oak that has been charred
on the inside to about 5mm in depth. This provides a huge flavour
hit for the maturing spirit inside and giving it the characteristic
Bourbon taste and colour. Which brings me to another interesting
fact, only whiskeys made in the state of Kentucky can be called
Bourbon! I could go on about various styles of Bourbon and Scotch
but I’ll leave that to another newsletter.
Specials
Rosemount diamond label range 2 for $20
Renmano River Breeze range $3.97
Yellowglen Yellow and Pink $9.97
Seaview sparkling range $6.97
Grants Scotch Whisky $24.97
Chatelle Napoleon $23.97
Jim Beam Bourbon $27.97
Karloff Vodka $23.97
100 Pipers Whisky $24.97
Hahn Premiun stubbies 24 stubbies $39.97
Melbourne Bitter stubbies $32.97
Carlton Midstrenght stubbies $26.97
Hahn Premiun light $24.97, free 700ml
Hahn Premiun light with every carton purchased!
Hahn ICE beer 30 can block $27.97
Plus plenty more in store specials.
This Weeks Tasting
Last Fridays Riesling Review ( yes I spelt it right this time!)
was hugely popular, with seven rieslings on taste it was tough to
find favourites.
But I think the Blackwood Park Estate and O’Leary Walker
were the stand outs in a hotly contested field.
And we continue to trot out the great tasting experiences for you,
as this Friday we have the lovely wines from Riddoch
in the Coonawarra on taste from 4.30 to 7pm at
the tasting corner. See you here.
