BotF was dismayed to see our sacred space out the back of the Manly Ferry being utilised by Tony Abbott for the purposes of a campaign shot. What further dismayed BotF was the relevation that after disembarking from the ferry, Mr Abbott went into the Manly Wharf Hotel and ordered “A mixture of lemonade and beer”. A man like this cannot be Prime Minister. Shandies have their place – like in the hand of a 85 year old granny on a stinking hot day – but not a winter’s night after a day of campaigning. His minders probably shooed regulars from the Back of the Ferry for the gratuitous footage as well.
Tony Abbott has been extremely restrained on this campaign – far from the Mad Monk that has been unleashed on the Australian public in the past. I cannot believe that the Mad version of Tony Abbott is not lurking there and will emerge in the early hours of Sunday morning – win, lose or possibly, draw.
In anticipation of that I tried a drop that is quite possibly named for the Mad Monk – Mad Abbot. A limited edition beer from The Little Brewing Company of Port Macquarie – Mad Abbot is “Influenced by the classic monastic beers of Belgium”. Well hats of fellas – this brew is an absolute little ripper. One to savour, and drink very slowly. Rather than be suspicious of cloudy beers – I think it always augurs well when you can’t see through your glass. Like a Chimay or a Trappiste Rochefort, this is solid stuff – but is still eminently quaffable. At 9.5%, you don’t need too many of these – but 2 or 3 wouldn’t go astray. I tried Mad Abbot Tripel – there’s two other family members – Dubbel and Abbey Ale, but according to the website – they’ve sold out. Hopefully there’ll be another batch soon.
As for my election tip – who knows? The possibility of a hung parliament is very strong – the question is how well hung will the parliament be? There a couple of ex National Party MPs that’ll be there. Will they be joined by some Greens. That would make the horse-trading very interesting. Labor by 2 seats.
back of the ferry 
Thought this was a beer/pub blog not somewhere to peddle left wing diatribes
Yes. You’ll note that normal service has been resumed. However, we have wound other current events into the blog – take the world cup discussion as an example.
Unfortunately there is no such thing as left wing in Australia any more, so it was really anti far right wing diatribe.
You and all of your flog mates suck