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Thus Let Us Drink Beer

Blackman’s, Bucketty’s and Bells Beach Brewing

Now, that’s quite an alliteration that we got ourselves here today with three veritable heavyweights in the domain of Australian craft brewing:

Blackman’s Brewing is based out of Torquay, surrounds that are known for its surfing culture and not necessarily on the map when it comes to craft beer breweries – something that founders Renn Blackman and his wife Jess set out to rectify. 

With Renn having honed his craft by not only studying the theoretical side of brewing but substantiating it with stints at a range or local breweries, Blackman Brewing as we know today incarnated eight years ago.
With the nomenclature being informed by the family name, the brewed emissions continued the tradition with names of the beers being derived from the Blackman family’s extended constituents, some of which I have been acquainted with recently – at least in liquid form.

Take for example Reginald the IPA, which being a West Coast India Pale Ale could not be better suited for Blackman’s Brewery and its surf culture inspired context. With an ABV of 6.2% we got an extremely sessionable IPA on our hands, which upon approach tickles the nostrils with its citrussy and stone fruity aromas, which rest on a well-calibrated foundation of maltiness and a bitterness that accentuates the piney highlights. Delicious.

Now, let’s dial things up a notch with Arthur, the Smoked Porter. I am usually not a big fan of dark beers, however, I do harbour a weak spot for Teutonic Rauchbiers, which is where Arthur excels with layers of smoke resting on a backbone of dark chocolate, nuttiness and orangey confectionary. 

Given the smoke, it would make sense to amplify the merits of e.g. a peaty Islay whisky, but I instead paired it with a dram of Springbank and it complemented it perfectly.’

Continuing the examination of Blackman’s in a vertical manner, the next level is reached with – wait for it - a Gin Barrel Aged Choc Berry Dark Ale. Subdued in the alcohol department with a moderate 6%, this dark brew has been matured in barrels that previously held Pinot Noir followed by Navy Strength Gin, with the result being a tour de force in the dark and sour realms of beers interweaved with cherry, coconut and dark chocolatey nuances. 

My favourite of Blackman’s range however is its Red IPA, which proved to be a veritable heavyweight, clocking in at 7.5% ABV. I love the triumvirate of hops comprised of Citra, Galaxy and Idaho 7, resulting in a passionfruity assault of cantaloupe and mango sitting against a backdrop of malty caramel.

Let’s move locations and head to wine country, i.e. the Hunter Valley to the picturesque Bucketty, where a brewery with the same name originally started its operations before its plan were shut down by the local council and they decided to relocate to the beaches North of Sydney, where they infused their brewery and taproom with the flavours and aesthetics derived from the location it emanated from to create a third place for people to connect.

Bucketty’s Lager is an integral component of their core line-up with head brewer Tony D’Astolfo channelling his alchemy in the creation of a German style pilsner, however, it would not be Bucketty’s if there was no idiosyncratic twist added. In this case, American hops play a dominant role, which adds a refreshingly citrussy facet to the earthy and medium malty flavours. 

Not bad, not bad at all.

While I have not had opportunity to try Bucketty’s other brews, their West Coast IPA plays in a league of its own. 

See, if you look at Bucketty’s at large, it is hard not to see the meticulous attention to detail – from the setup of their operations via the website to their exquisite range of merchandise.

With Bucketty’s head brewer having grown up on the West Coast of the US, mastering their WCIPA is obviously something close to his heart and it shows as in terms of dank and piney aromas, things are taken to the next level. 

Yes, there are hints of citrus, tangerine and tropical fruits lingering in the background, however, the focus is firmly set on huge hop aromas with an understated malt character, culminating in a dry finish to again let the wonderful melange of Amarillo, Mosaic, Simco and Strata hops take centre stage.

I can only hope that one of Tony’s next projects will see him tackling a hopped out double IPA…

Let’s revisit Torquay again…

As elaborated on early on in this instalment, Torquay and its context are heavily inspired by surf culture and given the quality of breweries mushrooming in the area, it proves to be a quite a hotbed and fertile ground for luminaries in the realm of artisanal beer crafting to set up their operations.

With a background in car engineering, which saw the founders not only work but also experience the local brews in Bavaria and the US, Bells Beach Brewing emitted its first brew six years ago in form of a Saison, which instantaneously was graced with a craft beer award. 

Not bad given that it took another two years until Bells Beach transitioned from gypsy brewing enterprise to setting up their own proper brewery, which eventually came to fruition in 2018.

Bells Beach’s core expression, i.e. Bird Rock, is a medium bodied brown ale and one that is situated on the deliciously sweet and syrupy end of the spectrum. 

I would go as far as claiming that it would make a borderline perfect dessert beer as the melange of distinct caramel flavours are interweaved with espresso highlights and further substantiated by nutty and dark chocolatey flavours. A malty, slightly oaky bitterness sits against a backdrop of citrus tinged flavours and a subdued fruitiness.

Not a bad start at all.

However, the expression that won me over is Bells Beach’s Edge Wet Hop IPA as with a grain bill comprised of light crystal, Munich and Caramalt and a winning quartet in the hop department, i.e. Cascade, Chinook, Magnum and Centennial, it showcases expertly everything I love about a great IPA:  

Waves of citrus and pine, set against a well-calibrated bitter bite, which culminates in a dangerously moreish caramel finish. 

With a moderate ABV of 6.2% a wonderfully sessionable brew that delivers on all fronts and one that has me savouring every sip and sniff with its beautiful bounty in the aroma.

Looks like once travel restrictions are lifted, a visit to Bells Beach’s Torquay will be in order…

The Formative Years – This is Boston . . .

I vividly remember the first time I got to listen to Modern Method’s This Is Boston, Not L.A. compilation, which ignited a passion for bands with a chip on their shoulder from the “Athens of America” that lasts to this day. The compilation comprised songs of seven bands, five of them having played an integral in shaping American hardcore at large and my outlook in particular.

Jerry’s Kids open proceedings with their first ever recordings, delivering six flawless smashers, Proletariat followed infusing the flow of the compilation with their idiosyncratic Wire-esque brand of punk rock and Marxist outlook on things. 

Groinoids offer a neat interludium before the F.U.'s warming things up with a quartet of straight forward slashers, before Gang Green take things to another level with what at the time blew minds with their speedy and thrashy approach.  Decadence deliver a hit with “Slam”, a song off their 4-song demo, which is worth tracking down. The compilation culminates with The Freeze, whose eight tracks with their dark lyrics and original melodies are another highlight. 

The Freeze’s evolution from their first “I hate tourists” 7” via the This Is Boston compilation and their  contribution to the Unsafe At Any Speed 7” compilation to their fantastic “Guilty faces” 7” from 1982 is fantastic with the bands pumping out gem after gem.

While SSD never really resonated with me to the extent the aformentioned bands did, another hardcore band that had a tangible impact on me during my early teens was Siege, the sound of which pushed the envelope and created the foundation for what was to become labeled as “power violence”.  What a mayhemic onslaught their demo was with its rapid-fire delivery and guttural vocals.

Deep Wound, yes J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr’s first band, and its first self-titled 7” must be one of my all-time favourite early hardcore releases before they ventured on, took a few pages from Siege’s playbook, which saw their musical output spiral into a maelstrom of fast-core songs that helped to create the blueprint for grindcore and experimental noise acts.

Thus Let Us Drink Beer – Aether and Bojak Brewing

Aether Brewing is another craft brewery that over the last couple of years has been on my peripheral vision, yet it took five years into their existence for me to finally sample some of their finely brewed emissions.

With the name being a thinly veiled reference to Greek mythology, their mission statement being centred around the pursuit of not merely brewing perfection but on creating experiences for their customers based on the aromas and flavours of their beers along with  the design of their artwork adorning their tins offering eye candy by following an overarching theme, expectations were quite high.

With a core range offering staples like a mid-strength Pilsner and sessionable lager along with an accolade decorated Pale Ale, I was first drawn to their much fabled out Hop, Skip & Jump IPA and their black IPA, with the latter being one of the more unusual offerings within the realm of India Pale Ales. 

Being a West Coast IPA variant, Aether’s Hop, Skip & Jump overwhelms with an avalanche of citrussy aromas that are married with deliciously resinous characteristics derived from the quartet of Citra, Simcoe, Columbus and Galaxy hops, which are accentuated by stone fruity nuances.

The whole affairs is rounded out nicely by a perfectly calibrated malty bitterness, clocking in at 70 IBU. An excellent strong-bodied IPA that makes me deeply regret that I missed out on Aether channelling its alchemy in the creation of a hemp based IIPA and a much fabled about Irish red ale with bone marrow. The latter should give an indication of Aether’s intrinsic willingness to experiment to push the envelope and take things to the next level flavour-wise.

Let’s move on to the oxymoron that is the Black As Your Heart India Pale Ale. Being not exactly the biggest fan of dark beers, I was intrigued as to where the verdict was going to land on this one. 

While one might think that flavours would clash or overwrite one another, what Aether has accomplished in this case is a well-composed melange of hoppy, resinous fruitiness with the expected rustic, malty roastiness of the malty backbone shining through. 

The result is the diametric opposite of a one-dimensional experience as it starts off with a taste of what one would normally expect from an IPA to then take a left turn into stouty territory, with coffee and dark chocolatey flavours taking on a dominant role

I paired it with a dram of Ledaig 10 and it resulted in one of the more enjoyable and intense boilermaker experiences I have recently had. Despite the strong flavour components and an ABV of 6.7%, the Black IPA is a dangerously moreish little number.

Talking of darker brews – towards the end of the eighteenth century scientist John Michell proposed that gravity in the vicinity of massively compact objects can be powerful enough for not even light to escape. 

Not claiming that Aether’s Event Horizon expression was brewed in a black hole but as the name suggests, Danzig would be proud as it is the equivalent of Burzum in the world of beers. Compared to Aether’s Event Horizon, the abovementioned Black As Your Heart IPA shines fluorescently in comparison.

Porter by nature, as the blackness of the pour suggests, flavours are dominated by a malty, roasty richness, which still leaves space for subtler notes of dark chocolate and delicately sweet highlights to shine through, courtesy of vanilla beans that have been aged in spiced rum. 

With their attentional to detail as far as every facet of their brews is concerned, I can only hope that Aether Brewing will continue to expand their distinctly flavoured IPA range and am looking forward to their future creations.

Let’s travel South to Victoria, where a fiercely local brewery operates under a moniker derived from the founding couple sons names’ being merged. 

Bojak Brewing started out as a small brewpub before spreading its wings to make a splash on the crowded Melbournian craft beer scene, which given the amount of quality brews on offer around Melbourne is not an easy feat to accomplish.

With a core range comprised of a Teutonic pilseners, stouts and sours, Bojak’s Calypso Hazy IPA won me over straight away. 

As the name suggests, this lil’ number comes with a bit of a Caribbean vibe with flavours being on the juicier end of the mango and pineapple spectrum, accentuated by earthy hints of wheat and oats, culminating with a deliberately subdued bitterness. 

With an ABV of 6.4%, an extremely sessionable IPA that lends itself perfectly well to become a trusted companion on hot summer days.

Let’s venture on have a look at an expression with quite a fitting name, i.e. the Season Changer.

The season we are changing to is colder one, where one feels like cosying up in front of a fireplace, lusting for a US style brown ale with bold malt-based flavours.

Low on fruity esters and resting on a backbone of caramelly, nutty dark chocolate flavours, the melange of Chinook and Centennial hops complete the picture by counterpointing the malty backbone with their citrussy and resinous characteristics.

A medium dry finish rounds things out with a mid-high hop bitterness.

My favourite of the expressions I sampled from Bojak is the Legal Mess extra pale ale, the malt base of which is situated on the lighter end of the spectrum, with a well-calibrated subdued bitterness that leaves the spotlight for the hops to shine through.

Essentially, Legal Mess is the best of both worlds - an incredibly hoppy Pale Ale with IPA characteristics:  Medium bodied, refreshing and with just the perfect amount of supporting malt character.

Carpet Bombing Culture – Banksy and Punk in London

In the realm of counter culture, there is no shortage of publishers pumping out the good word with the best of intentions. 

However, when it comes to offering more than the barren message and an added layer of aesthetically pleasing attention to detail and a tad bit of eye candy, pickings are slim.

Enter Carpet Bombing Culture.

Essentially, Carpet Bombing Culture is a publishing house that thoroughly understood early on that the delivery of premium quality art does not have to compromise the intensity of the messaging that is meant to be conveyed – au contraire, with their premium offerings and meticulous attention to detail, they infiltrate the mainstream and capitalise on en vogue topics to leap in with maximum input without ever diluting the tenets of them pursuing the guerrilla warfare that is 21st century everyday life.

Carpet Bombing Culture has accomplished a business model which enables them to be agile, affordable and relevant without running danger of being less compelling than any of its mainstream competitors, with the added bonus of Carpet Bombing Culture having its focus firmly set on being a catalyst to ignite action and provoke thoughts.

An example par excellence for Carpet Bombing Culture’s approach is the book on a street artist that has been covered a myriad times before by both mainstream and independent media, i.e. Banksy.

CBC’s “You Are An Acceptable Level Of Threat” clocks in at two-hundred and forty pages and not only comprises the depiction of Banksy’s street work from the late 1990s to the present day via five hundred photographs, but embeds it in contextualising commentary, descriptions to help the uninitiated understand and illuminating essays. 

In a sea of books on Banksy, this definitely constitutes a highlight and the essential one to have in your library.

Let’s enter the time machine and head back to examine the genesis of punk rock in a photographic manner, shan’t we?
 
Carpet Bombing Culture’sPunk London 1977 zeroes in on the epicentre of where punk rock emanated from, i.e., the venue known as the Roxy situated in the middle of a derelict slum called Covent Garden via the photography of Derek Ridgers. 

The result is a collection of over one hundred and fifty photographs, which expertly and opulently document how birth was given to one of the most significant subcultural phenomena of the twentieth century.

No matter if you have been there and done that or joined the movement when it became more palatable in the mid-1990s, this book will engage your senses as it captures the spirit, youthful energy and uniqueness of the first wave of protagonists shaping a movement for which there was no blueprint at the time. The result is a raw and beautifully intense depiction of what rebellion looked like when it was in its most original state, long before it became commodified.

Highlights include photographs that I have not seen in this form before, e.g. Adam performing before Adam & The Ants formed; a very early incarnation of The Slits fronted by Ari; Debbie Harry channelling her exuberance at the Hammersmith Odeon and a youthful Dave Vanian of The Damned.

Given the quality of the abovementioned release, if you got a modicum of appreciation for underground culture, checking out Carpet Bombing Culture’s catalogue of releases is a mandatory exercise.

The Folio Society – Everest and Mythical Beasts

No matter how much one subscribes to the notion that one should not judge a book by its cover, if you feel passionate about the arts – whatever medium they may be channelled in – the packaging and overall presentation offers an opportunity to extend, elevate and celebrate the story at its core by putting emphasis on craftmanship and meticulous attention to detail, with the result being not only a feast for the eyes but a tangible experience.

Enter The Folio Society.

Founded in the old world nigh to eight decades ago, the central tenet of The Folio society has always been firmly set on the creation and publishing of carefully crafted editions of carefully curated heavyweights of what the world of literature has to offer. 

No matter what your favourite work of fiction or non-fiction is, chances are that if there is a Folio Society edition of it, the enjoyment you get from their highly imaginative and timeless editions and choice of materials will augment your enjoyment exponentially, with the common denominator of Folio Society’s editions being the quality of the product and the focus on variety as far as the aesthetic is concerned: While there is no cookie-cutter formula as far as their approach to design elements is concerned, I can guarantee that if you ever experienced one of the illustrious cloth-bound Folio Society versions of a tome, you will recognize their other releases from a long way off during your next bookstore visit as they stand out as works of art.

Each release is unique in that it features uniquely commissioned artwork that either zeroes in on elements of the story / subject matter or characters and events depending on the respective theme, giving each book the third dimension representation it deserves and making it an ideal thoughtful gift for any bibliophile.

Given the abovementioned, stating that I was thrilled when I learned that Folio Society was going to dedicate a book on Mount Everest would be an understatement par excellence.

With its 8,848m, Mount Everest has fascinated me for the longest time and after a visit to Tibet and a trek up to the base camp, my ambition to one day scale it solidified: I finally managed to secure a permit for the ascent in May 2020 but then Covid hit and plans have been put on the backburner indefinitely.

The Folio Society’s two-volume edition Everest: From Reconnaissance to Summit is a veritable heavyweight both in the literal as well as metaphorical sense: The first part is a wonderfully illustrated selection of close to three hundred mountain photographs with the focus set on the beauty and immense proportions of the mountain, shedding light on 360 degree panoramas, pinnacles, iced plateaus and other visually appealing aspects. 

Produced in collaboration with the Royal Geographical Society, the second part is dedicated to the history and accounts of eyewitnesses, embedded in essays, official reports, private communiques and contextualising commentary by authorities in the field of mountaineering and Mount Everest expeditions. 

As far as historical depictions are concerned, it is specifically interesting how political agendas played part over the years.
Bound in printed and blocked cloth with silver tops and housed in a pictorial slipcase, a truly well-produced release that is bound to excite both the uninitiated as well as the aficionado of mountaineering.

Another recent intriguing Folio Society release is Mythical Beasts – a telling name as the focus is set on the protagonists and creatures that infuse myths and folklore with colourful incarnations and motifs. Needless to say, given the subject matter, it proves to be a perfect release for The Folio Society to go to town in terms of design to add its idiosyncratic enriching facets.

With a fact based and borderline scientific approach, the opulently illustrated tome travels through time from antiquity to the present day to shed light on the origins of half-human creatures, gods, demons, dragons and everything in between.  

Contextualised and embedded in carefully researched essays by subject matter experts, the focus is on lending a voice to a variety of sources to paint a comprehensive picture of how mythical beast have played an integral role in the shaping of some cultures and it expertly identifies their appeal, backed by imagery, artistic interpretations and depictions, culminating in a glossary detailing alphabetical references.