Blog — Page 114 of 278

Thus Let Us Drink Beer – The Southern Highlands Brewing Co

Formed a decade ago, it is a shame that I became only very recently aware of the existence of The Southern Highland Brewing Co.

With the name being a telling one, i.e. the brewery being located in the Australian Southern Highlands, the brews the duo, which originally met at a Rugby game, have been accolade decorated from the get-go.

With a playfully named core range that tickles all nuances a beer lover could wish for, i.e. starting with lager and rising the bitterness via Pale Ales, my favourite of Southern Highlands’ emissions is their fantastic Tighthead IPA.

Now, what is commonly labelled as “American IPA” has evolved quite a bit since the style first emanated in the early 1980s.

 Based on a melange of Warrior and Chinook hops, this delightfully herbal, piney and citrusy new world IPA might not be overly complex or fruity like many of its contemporary peers in the ever expanding craft beer market, yet did a borderline perfect job as being the complementary constituent to complement a Boilermaker with Laphroaig’s Lore with its balancing malt backbone. Clean and bready tasting, moderately bitter light in both body and mouthfeel and if properly chilled, an immensely enjoyable crisp and well-crafted IPA. It appears that the mash temperature and grain bill has been manipulated in a manner to let the IPA finish in a superbly dry manner.

If you are an aficionado of tropical flavours, Southern Highlands Brewing’s latest seasonal, the Rain Ale or Shine Dark Tropical will be right up your alley. Clocking in at 6% ABV, what materializes on the palate is an extra pale ale variant with dominating fruity and citrussy highlights, that are pervaded by subtle nuances of dark malt.

With their brews getting the recognition they deserve at European beer awards; lovers of expertly crafted ales worldwide should take note and keep their eyes peeled as Southern Highlands is currently looking at exporting its emissions into overseas markets.

High Adventure in the Great Outdoors - Bellroy

When it comes to what is commonly being labelled as “Everyday Carry Essentials”, there is no shortage of self-proclaimed premium brands that look the part, however, when put to the test, most of them do not lend themselves to go the distance.

Bellroy has established itself firmly as a premium brand when it comes to both style and quality of crafted wallets, bags, and travel accessories. Travelling quite a bit, it was only a matter of time until I felt the urge to road-test their products for myself.

With its origins in Australian as a start-up that incarnated a decade ago, it has evolved to become a global brand and expanded its portfolio to include pretty much everything you would need to either carry or protect your gear in style.

Once you hold one of Bellroy’s products in your hands, it proves hard to not be impressed by the craftmanship, design and attention to detail as a far as the manufacturing and the materials are concerned. It definitely is a brand that does not merely look but also feels nice – something I cannot really claim for a lot of other brands.

A staple of Bellroy’s portfolio is their slim note sleeve wallet, the collection of which evolved to include a range of designer editions. As the name suggests, it is a slim variant of a wallet, however, one that is cleverly designed with details galore (e.g. quick access card slots and pull-tab section)  that helps to fit your essentials in without making you look like the hunchback of Notre Dame when carrying it in your back pocket.

The fact that quality materials are used, bodes well in the light of longevity and what I like about Bellroy’s products is that with the patina that time, tear and wear leaves on them, it adds another idiosyncratic dimension and personalised touch.

The accompanying toiletry follows the same patterns in terms of looking small but holding all of my toiletries. I love both the spill-resistant lining and the magnetic sleeves to help keep things compartmentalised. Another lasting slim, well-designed accessory to hold and organize it all.

Having a Travel Folio might sound grandiose to the occasional traveller, but once customs and check ins become a regular occurrence in your life, especially if you have to carry multiple passports, boarding passes, cash, cards, hotel keys, notes, et cetera, one learns to appreciate having a good, versatile one that keeps it all together.  Bellroy’s RFID one comes with a neat le little notebook and pen it came, tucked in as well.

The fact that Bellroy’s gear is made from sustainably produced fabric and environmentally certified leather and back by extensive warranties, makes it a worthwhile investment and it makes me curious if their back related products hold up equally.

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image from company website

The Formative Years – Born Against and Vermiform Records

Sometimes it is funny how music and the ideas it portrays strike a chord upon first listen. Musically and looking at individual sonic ingredients, it might be the song writing, energy and catchiness that will sink its hooks into you immediately and resonate the first time you listen to a song.

However, these things tend to become stale with time because there are, in a way, somewhat superficial elements to every song.

What makes you keep listening to a song is when, below the surface and the catchy rhythm, there are a wealth of other idiosyncratic details, side plots, or mysterious feelings or ideas that you cannot quite put your finger on. Within the musically often confined realm of punk and hardcore, interesting lyrics and an angle that you can relate to, a story, or just a sound that has an interesting new character play a major role.

As a teenage delinquent, emotional and social contexts from the surroundings that I listened to songs served as amplifiers of immense proportions as a song became an encapsulation of significant moments, or a time of my life, and lived on through that.

In 1991 I spent my allowance on mail ordering new music on a regular basis.  Provocative names and titles that caught my attention served as a major motivation to make the effort to pay a visit to the bank, exchange Deutschmarks into US currency, write a letter, enclose cash and hope that weeks later slabs of vinyl would materialize in my mailbox.

When the name Born Against popped up, it caught my attention straight away and after consulting my dictionary to find out what the title of their 7” “Eulogy” meant, I had to get it.

I am not sure what I was expecting but after the first spin of Born Against’s first 7”, taking in the artwork and overall aesthetic, things were no longer the same.

I found a band that challenged the status quo of the scene (in this case supposedly an affront to how Equal Vision Records conducted themselves), had an aggressive political message, a DIY approach, a kick-ass aesthetic yet was sonically abrasive and powerful and informed by everything I loved about traditional hardcore punk.

I made a concerted effort to not only track  down their demo, every compilation track as well as revisit the releases by their predecessor Life’s Blood, but also started collecting not only earch of theirs but also the releases on the singers, i.e. Sam McPheeters’ Vermiform label, his Dear Jesus fanzines and later on both his other musical and written emissions, all of which had challenged me in the most wondrous ways.

Witnessing Born Against in a live environment during their European tour with Nations on Fire in 1992 solidified my interest as their demeanour, inner band tensions and refreshingly alien status and non-conformant attitude in a cliché-ridden scene all contributed to their appeal.

A unicorn of a band that remains unrivalled both in terms of sound and vision to this day.

Wik & Co

I own quite a few perfumes for different occasions. There are perfumes that I like for their top notes and others where the base notes win me over, as it is for example the case with some of the fragrant emissions from Tom Ford. Ultimately, the package counts and contributes to how I perceive and value individual fragrances.

The common denominators tend to be that I like fragrances that are not pumped full of synthetic aroma chemicals; the way notes dance together and are not just jagged and in-your-face obvious; a sense of longevity in terms of the perfume being with you all day without being penetrant; linearity versus how the wearing phases project and how it forms a symbiosis with you to work with one’s own idiosyncratic chemistry, compliments your natural smell and does not plateau after the dry down on dull territory after the first sensation has worn off.

While I cannot deny that the marketing, design, packaging and overall presentation aspects do play a role as well, it ultimately does not play a big enough role that I would be put off from a good perfume with an ugly bottle or choose a pretty bottle over a good perfume. Same goes for ingredients beyond safety and appropriateness for the application, i.e. the mere fact that the fragrance was composed mostly or entirely of natural essential oils acquired in some arcane manner from some rare and exotic source, does not necessarily give me a  basis for believing that the result is superior – au contraire, it could even smell worse. I have no basis for believing that rare or expensive necessarily means better nor that inexpensive means bad. After all, would a rose from an artful composition of inexpensive synthetics still smell as sweet? Well, it might, no shame in being fooled here.

Wik and Co. is an Australian boutique perfumery that I only recently came across despite their operation having had already started as a passion project in 2013.

What I appealed to me from a distance was their credo around which their endeavours are centred, i.e. around respecting the craft in all aspects when it comes to the sourcing of ingredients and the processes around the creations of their fragrances, specifically through investing time, giving their ingredients ample time to mature and macerate in a bid to let them unfold their complexities and depths.

Wik & Co’s ventures are based on a triumvirate of perfumers, i.e. Amandine Clerc-Marie , Fabrice Pellegrin and Philippine Courtiere, a trio the individual constituents of which have proved themselves in the world of scents on international terrain over and over again.

What they have created was not schemed out but is quintessentially the outcome of their respective passion projects they have channelled their alchemy in, which defines the DNA of Wik & Co, i.e. honouring traditions, yet bold and pushing the boundaries outside the confines of mainstream flavours of the day.

Mechant Zorro was the first fragrance I tried and its dark imagery that surrounds it, it frames the top notes of a distinctive spicy-floral quality, which blend well with pepper, milk, liquorice, sugar and woody notes, that are highlighted by a green mid that rests of a muscular back of sandalwood, warm vanilla and hints of patchouli.

Hanging Gardens is the female yang to complete the duality with the aforementioned sensual and woody yin, as it is all about open, citrussy and exuberantly fruity scents resulting in a melange that is backed again by a backdrop of cashmere and spicy resinous notes.

With the telling name The Sicilian, I was intrigued if the scent could capture the essence of what emanates from the largest Island of the Mediterranean. What materializes on the nostrils is a well-calibrated dualistic blend of citrussy and fruity top notes, that are pervaded by a foundation that is seemingly antagonistic yet subverts and complements and contributes rather than contradicts with subtle amber-woody base notes.

The Cedrat Blanc variety is more on the lighter side of things as the translation of the name, i.e. “white citrus”, suggests and it pales a bit compared to the overwhelmingly sensual scent that goes by the name of Merveil-Leux: Floral and woody in nature, what ladies get here is an exercise par excellence in seduction with rose and sandalwood being clearly identifiable, serenaded by earthy-rooty violent flowery highlights.

Marvellous indeed.

The homage to Asia, i.e. So Tokyo, reminds me more of the South-Eastern part of the continent with its sensual, floral, neroli-like trail galbanum, amplified by musky and dominating green aromas that are given depth by oriental, resinous notes.

With Wik & Co’s first collection being a strong entry in the world of boutique-y fragrances, it should be interesting to see its reception in the ole world where the brand if currently looking to expand into.

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image from company website

Water of Life - Drop Club Bruichladdich unpeated

Bruichladdich’s smoke and peat heavy Port Charlotte and especially Octomore ranges are amongst my top ten favourite expressions from the isle of Islay.

However, the progressive Hebridean distillery that was established in 1881 is channelling its alchemy in range of exquisite unpeated drops, which Melbourne’s Drop Club helped to shed light on with a virtual tasting that was hosted by the Brand Ambassador of Bruichladdich, Andy Buntine.

One of the many great things that Bruichladdich stands for is the dedication to terroir and provenance, with also manifests in their sourcing of barley, all of which stems from different regions in Scotland.

Bruichladdich’s Classic Laddie, bottled at 50% ABV is what can be considered its signature and possibly its most accessible malt, which the aromas already indicate with the melange of vanilla, berry fruits and peppery spices tingling the nostrils. What I have always liked about the Classic Laddie is that despite the pleasant flavours of vanilla, malt and fruit, there is also a trademark coastal tinge with the subtlest of smoke to remind one that it originated on Islay.

Bruichladdich’s Islay Barley 2011 is a telling name as the release series exclusively features barley sourced from six farm from the island of Islay, with the idea being that nuances will differ on a yearly basis.

Again, clocking in at 50%, the bright golden 2011 expression bring citrus, seaweed and spice grains on the nose, which seamlessly transitions to a well-balanced honeyed, lemony chocolate oily texture that is accentuated by subtle smokiness on the template.

A unique whisky that is all about showcasing terroir and a sense of place.

Now, having been an avid fan of Bruichladdich distillery, there has been one expression that had eluded me so far: The much fabled about Black Art, of which the 7.1 was to be sampled as part of this tasting.

Giving that it is a telling name in terms of being a mysterious drop that was bottled in 1994 by head distiller Adam Hannett, who kept mum about the details about which casks were used – a novum for a distillery that prides itself on being overly transparent, claiming that I was giddy with excitement would be an understatement par excellence.

Bottled at a natural cask strength of 48.4%, the aroma is already fantastic: There is a delicate sweetness reminiscent of stone fruits, which appears to be derived from sherry casks mixed with nutty richness, cacao and liquorice.

What was promised on the nose, fully unveils its complexities on the palate in the most viscous manner and is complemented by oak, orange, wet tobacco leaves, cinnamon, coconut and nutmeg, carried by a sublime spiciness.

The elongated finish leaves me drooling as an idiosyncratic Islay coastal saltiness blends in with coffee and leathery notes.

A drop that embodies everything that is great about Bruichladdich yet adds dimensions that are not present in any of the other expressions and the perfect ending for a fantastic tasting organised by the Drop Club.

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image from Drop Club website (linked)