How do I plan for GABS with the Ace Of Spades

First impressions first “That’s a bloody good stout”.

I’ll get back to that later. This weekend Good Beer Week starts, and with the start of that we have the Great Australian Beer Spectapular. A shit load of great Aussie (and NZ beers) all served in an environment full of beer geeks at the old exhibition building in Melbourne. Big day, too many beers, and most of those beers will be big beers I’m thinking. There is something like 60 beers on offer, more than can be tasted in the 4 hour session. Many of these beers will be from brewers that I have a man crush on.

This presents a problem for me – how will be able to cope with this. I want to drink it all! but alas I can’t.

What do I do? I need a plan, but I don’t like plans, well not outside work.

James from Beer Bar Band has advised “pick the ones you really want to try…go for them…then anything else is a bonus” and “focus on the beers that are really limited and won’t be realised afterwards”.

Great advice but I still have no idea where to start??? Here is the list (and yes its at the bottom of the page. Its big and has a number of IPA’ish and Belgo inspired beers. A number of black ones too. If you have any idea where to start leave me a comment, any direction to pick winners out of this lot will be greatly appreciated.

Now to what I’m drinking now, an easier choice as it was in my fridge. Its “Ace of Spades” Stout from Brewboys, a SA based mob, two guys making good beer in Radelaide (I think). Their website is a little light on for info on them but I think I went to beer school with one of the brewers at Brewboys, Simon – if this is your beer two thumbs up.

As the first line said, this is a bloody good stout. Its black as black can be, has a really nice smooth mouth feel and a nice depth of ash to it, that really roasty character. It goes right to the edge of an aniseed flavour but doesnt quite go there. I like it. There is a bittersweet character to this beer and its great.

I also love the packaging. How can you go wrong with a playing card? and who ever invented the playing card is well dead so there’s no need to pay any royalties to anyone. The name also pays homage to the Motorhead song by the same name “Ace of Spades“. Actually that’s a lie, I have no idea what the brewers were thinking when they made this beer, but they made a good one. But I do hope they had Motorhead crancking when they brewed this beer.

Simon if this is your beer, well done fella, nice to see a fellow beer school student from all those years ago knocking out some great beer. Actually thats 3 of my fellow beer student beers I’ve tasted, Simon making 3 after Glen and Hendo.

Might need to make my own beer soon.

Anyway ideas for how I should tackle GABS please people.

Cheers D

NEW ZEALAND # Name ABV Brewery/Region 1. ‘Stonecutter Oak’ Barrel aged Scotch Ale 7% Renaissance, NZ 2. ‘Kashmir’ Imperial Chilli Pilsner 7% Emersons, NZ 3. ‘Heavy Petal’ Taranaki Rose IPA 5.5% mike’s, NZ 4. ‘Red Hot Chocolate’ Chilli Stout 5% Invercargill, NZ 5. “Gunnamatta’ Tea-Leafed IPA 6% Yeastie Boys, NZ 6. ‘Double Day of the Dead’ Strong Black Lager 8% Garage Project, NZ 7. ‘Smoking Swine’ Smoked Manuka Ale 5% Mussel Inn, NZ 8. ‘ANZUS’ IPA 2.7% Croucher, NZ 9. ‘C4’ Double Brown Ale with coffee 8.4% 8 Wired, NZ 10. ‘Zythos’ IPA 6% Epic, NZ 11. ‘S!mcoe’ Imperial IPA 8% Liberty, NZ 12. ‘Manly Impulse’ IPA 6.5% Golden Bear, NZ 13. ‘Double Trouble’ Double IPA 5.5% Tuatara, NZ 14. ‘Cocoa Weizen’ Chocolate Wheat Beer 5.5% Moa, NZ 15. ‘A Bit of Kiwi Wit’ New Zealand Witbier 5% Harringtons, NZ 16. ‘Janszoon’ UK Session Ale 4.2% Townshend, NZ * ABVs are approx at this stage. There will also be cider, wine and soft drink available for sale.  Water is free of charge.

AUSTRALIA # Name ABV Brewery/Region 17. ‘Amasia’ Rumweizen 7% The Mash Collective, NSW 18. ‘Children of Darkness’ Barrel-aged Black IPA 6.6% Hop Dog, NSW 19. ‘Saison Rouge’ 6.5% Illawarra Brewing Co. NSW 20. ‘Plasma’ White IPA 7% Doctors Orders, NSW 21. Beetroot Belgian Ale 8.5% 4 Pines, NSW 22. ‘Last Consignment’ American Brown Ale 5% Lord Nelson, NSW 23. ‘RED PLZ’ Red Lager 4.6% Pinchgut, NSW 24. ‘Spruced Up Ale’ Christmas Ale 5% St Peters, NSW 25. Wicked Elf Robust Porter 6% Little Brewing Co, NSW 26. ‘Bobs Farmhouse Ale’ Oak Aged Farmhouse Ale 9% Murrays, NSW 27. ‘Uncle Dunkel; Dunkelweizen 5% Burleigh, QLD 28. ‘This Beer’s Not Real Craft’ Sour Blonde 5% Wig & Pen, ACT 29. Special Bitter 4.5% Cowaramup, WA 30. Dunkelweizen 5.2% Last Drop, WA 31. Koffee Stout 4.3% Mash, WA 32. ‘Sledgehammer’ IPA 5.5% Nail, WA 33. ‘The Little Rabbit’ Belgian Pale Ale 6.9% Collaboration between Little Creatures, WA, and White Rabbit, VIC 34. ‘Black Market’ American Black IPA 5.8% Bootleg, WA 35. ‘Watermelon Warhead’ Berliner Weiss 2.9% Feral, WA 36. Sweet Potato Porter 5.8% The Monk, WA 37. ‘Bloody Oak’ English-style Barleywine 9.7% 2 Brothers, VIC 38. ‘Top Paddock’ Spiced Red Saison 6.5% Mountain Goat, VIC 39. ‘God Save the Lager’ Imperial Pilsner 7.5% Bridge Road, VIC 40. Sarsaparilla Stout 4% Grand Ridge, VIC 41. ‘Karaka Bier’ Fruit Belgian Witbier 5% Kooinda, VIC 42. ‘Hix’ Farmhouse Ale 5.2% Hickinbotham, VIC 43. ‘Richmond Pilsner’ 5.1% Thunder Road, VIC 44. ‘La Grisette’ Grisette Ale 4% Hargreaves Hill, VIC 45. Double Stout 6.8% Matilda Bay, VIC 46. ‘Aotearoa S.M.A.S.H’ California Common 4.7% Boatrocker, VIC 47. Smoked Weizen 5.2% Temple, VIC 48. ‘Coconut Telegraph’ Coconut Porter 6% True South, VIC 49. ‘Resistance’ India Red Ale 7.2% Bright, VIC 50. Sticke Alt 5.4% Red Hill, VIC 51. ‘Otway ChainSAW’ Stella Australian Wheat Beer 4.8% Prickly Moses, VIC 52. ‘Bumble Beer’ Honey Amber Ale 5.6% Red Duck, VIC 53. ‘Brown Dog’ Australian Brown Ale TBA Barry Cranston – Australian Homebrewer 2011 – brewed at Bridge Road, VIC 54. ‘Gruit Expectations’ Belgian Gruit-style Blond style 6% Holgate, VIC 55. ‘Grouch’ Imperial American Amber Ale 8% Mornington Peninsula, VIC 56. ‘Mr Mistoffelees’ Fruit Wild Ale 6.7% Moondog, VIC 57. Double Dubbel IPA 6.6% Lobethal/Steam Exchange, SA 58. ‘VALE/EXP’ Foreign Extra Stout 5.5% McLaren Vale, SA 59. ‘Black Elephant’ Black Trappist-style Ale 7.8% Seven Sheds, TAS 60. ‘Cowboy’ Belgo 4.5% Moo Brew, TAS