Happy Chinese New Year to you all. As I type this post, there will be fireworks galore going off in China and Taiwan as the Chinese New Year celebrations get underway. Tonight is Chinese New Year Eve, which kicks off …
Epic Armageddon IPA – a beer that lasts and lasts
It was a warm afternoon in Melbourne, and I was in a suburban hotel in South Melbourne with tables and chairs on the pavement. It had been a long day of gasbagging at work and I was flagging. What was …
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Moa, Duke of Marlborough, Cape Reinga and Bay of Islands
By pure chance kiwisinoz is visiting all of the capital cities that NZ has had since 1840. Russell, a small town located in the Bay of Islands was NZ’s capital in 1840. The European population comprised of deserting seamen, runaway …
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3 Monts and the great Aussie gouge
gouge [noun] – an act of extortion; swindle; [verb] – to extort from, swindle, or overcharge. Something that really irks me about the fine country I live in is the gouge mentality of its commerce. I know it’s most likely …
Wellington, Epic, Scotts Brewing Co, and The Malthouse
“Throw ‘em into the deep end with the big boys and see if he has what it takes” I now appreciate the pressure that James Pattinson, Doug Bracewell, Ed Cowan and Sonny Bill Williams have felt recently – making their …
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Double Island Point, Dolphins and Otway Stout
This BotF correspondent was lucky enough to be the recipient of a Prickly Moses Mixed Gift Pack in the recent inaugural Back of the Ferry Kris Kringle. That’ll mean a spike in Prickly Moses beer reviews, which isn’t a bad …
Mountain Goat Surefoot Stout and utter bollocks
There’s nothing quite like the thrill of seeing the appearance of another Rare Breed from the Mountain Goat team appear all of a sudden in the fridge at my local bottl-o, tucked away in a corner. This time it was …
The Hottest 100 Aussie Craft Beers – 2011
The Australian craft beer twitterverse, blogger verse and Facebook pages are all abuzz with the news that the 4th Annual Hottest 100 Aussie Craft Beers poll is now open for voting. The poll is put on by the Local Taphouses …
Josie Bones and the botf bucket list
A botf correspondent finally made it to a venue that’s long been on our bucket list. Josie Bones on Smith St in Collingwood. Even better, it was done on a bit of corporate largesse. It was no mean feat leading …
Christmas Ale by 4 Pines
Before Christmas, the beer blogger and twitterverse was full of releases and reviews of Christmas Ales. There’s over 200 varieties listed on http://www.BeerAdvocate.com with the vast majority being seasonals or one-offs for obvious reasons. Some Australian breweries have gotten in …
back of the ferry 