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Thus Let Us Drink Beer – Little Bang and Wayward Brewing

Ah, finally – been thoroughly enjoying Little Bang’s exquisite beers over the years and it was high time that an instalment of our series was to be dedicated to how their channel their alchemy.

Incepted in 2014, the founders transitioned from their pedigree in video game development to trying their hand at brewing, which saw them initially experiment repurposed wine making gear. The past seven years have seen the evolution from Little Bang being a small backyard operation to one of the finest breweries on terra australis. 

My first exposure to Little Bang Brewery was via their Naked Objector, which is an example par excellence for not only Little Bang’s approach when it comes to the nomenclature of their beers, but a fantastic take on a delicately bitter and dank West Coast IPA, with nuanced citrussy and tropical highlights.

An interesting one is their Ira expression, which is essentially a hybrid between an IPA and a Red Ale, marrying the best of both worlds and adding chocolatey, toffee flavours to what I love about IPAs, i.e. danky hoppiness.

However, my favourite of Little Bang’s expressions that I have had the fortune to try must be the Road Tripper, a huge double West Coast IPA, the character of which embodies everything I love about resinous IPAs.

Upon approach, what materializes on the nostrils is an overload of hoppiness, which on the palate is accentuated by orangey, fruity, yeasty notes that are firmly rooted in a biscuity maltiness. With a finish that culminates in a crescendo of dry bitterness, it makes it one of my new favourite go-to brews when it comes to choosing a boilermaker component for a peaty Islay whisky.

Given that as much thought must have gone into the artwork and overall aesthetic that adorns the can and the overall effort made to make it an appealing product, the Road Tripper captures the DNA of why Little Bang is one of my favourite Australian breweries.

Let’s pivot to one of our favourite Sydney breweries…

Wayward Brewing has done it again, which at this stage should be come as surprise as with their limited releases, they have been consistently raising the bar and pushing boundaries no matter how exotic it sounds on paper upon approach.

An example par excellence is Sourade: a Blueberry Gose with a telling name as it has been inspired by, what for it – sports drinks.

In essence, Sourade with its light, blueberry, slightly salty and sour flavour profile paired with the fact that it is packed with electrolytes, it proves to be  the ideal brew to bounce back from a night of debauchery/

Based on one of the lightest malt bases around, i.e. the Heidelberg variant, mixed with Australian wheat. After fermentation and stripping away its colour by employing the services of a centrifuge and carbon filtration system, natural blue food colouring that is both PH and temperature stable was added to achieve a shade of electric blue that would make the Smurfs jealous.

Another limited new Wayward release was created to accommodate the colder months of the year, i.e. a coffee and coconut stour going under the moniker of Island Life.

Island Life sees Wayward Brewing team up with St. Dreux Coffee Roasters, who provided the brewery with single origin, dark roasted Sumatran beans.

The result is a well-calibrated melange of dark chocolatey toffee and burnt caramel  flavours sitting against a backdrop of nuanced coconut highlights and while the integration of coffee into beer can be a hit and miss at times, the way Wayward used espresso flavours is superb as it perfectly complements and enhances the stout.

Clocking in at 7% ABV, this stout variant is on the lighter, sweeter and smoother end of the spectrum.

Now, the next one intrigued me with the announcement that “it's barely a wine, but it is a barley wine.”

What you get with this extremely limited release is quite hand full based on the production method that is not dissimilar to reducing a stock while cooking with a three-hour long boil – a malt-forward  (think Golden Promise and English Chocolate malt variants) English-style barley wine that has been aged for a month in American Oak, which aids in rounding out its edge.

Packing close to 12% ABV, Wayward’s newest baby turns the dial not only in terms of alcohol content, but especially when it comes to flavours, with candied apples, dark chocolate nuances and caramel taking over, resting on an oaky fundament.

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imagse from company websites

Water of Life – Kiwi Spirits’ Watui Whiskey and Laceys Hill Gin

While New Zealand has not exactly been overrepresented in this series, I have yet to come across a distillery from across the pond that does not blow my mind with new, never done before ways of creating exciting whiskey variations.

Case in point: Kiwi Spirits Distillery, a family-owned entity focusing their efforts on the creation of great tastes and handcrafting their drops from homegrown ingredients. With their family history deeply engrained in decades of distilling excellence, their specialty lies in utilizing what the Golden Bay region has to offer – an area they use for the cultivation of their own orchards and gardens to produce the ingredients that serves as the foundation for their idiosyncratic experimental approach.

An example par excellence for Kiwi Spirits’ accomplishments in the more experimental realm of spirits creation is their unique Waitui Whiskey.

Following the aged, tested and tried recipes that have been refined by monasteries and the monks inhabitating them, the honey character is imbued to the spirit after a maturation period of eight years spent in Manuka honey mead barrels, the result is an idiosyncratic tour de force in a flavourful, small batch honey New Zealand malted barley whiskey.

Needless to say, the result is a way to easy to drink, more-ish and finely balanced drop based on the water of the local Te Waikoropupu.

On the nose, a subtle smokiness punctures dominant manuka honey and butterscotch notes, which rest on a backbone of oak maltiness. What then excites the palate is a delightful manuka warming honey flavoured, woody nuttiness that inspires one to chew on the drop.

A definitely unique expression that hits the spot in so many places that it makes me very curious to try Kiwi Spirits’ other spirits, which curiously not only include gins and liqueurs but a blue agave tequilana spirit.

Once travel restrictions allow, a visit to Kiwi Spirits’ distillery will become mandatory.

Let’s revert to gin and the North-Eastern region of terra australis:

Laceys Hill Distilling Co. is based not too far from Brisbane, Queensland, an area that proves to be fertile ground when it comes to new, promising distilleries.

Artisanal and handcrafted in nature, ever since its inception in 2018, Lacey’s Hill has been dedicated to provenance and incorporating the local flavours the Laceys Creek area provides in an authentic manner, specifically the native botanicals.

Being in control of each facet of the distillation process is an integral part of Laceys Hill approach, which starts with the fermentation and production of their own base spirit and being at the micro end of the distillery spectrum, they ensure that each of the limited batches they take to markets meets their self-imposed high quality standards.

My first exposure to Laceys Hills was via their award winning Lemon Myrtle Dry gin – quite a telling name as it is made from lemon myrtle grown on their own property.

With a mouthfeel that gives creaminess a new dimension, with this expression Laceys Hill’s focus is firmly set on traditional clean gins and with the excellence they achieve, a myriad of complex and subtle flavour nuances are to be explored. A nice entry point to their portfolio.

The Moreton Sunrise gin is another expression, which is an ode to the Moreton Bay area, with local fig berries and rose petals used in it resulting in a nice, nuanceful floral bouquet of flavours.

The fact that it is visually appealing when to colour changes from blue to pink due to the infusion with butterfly pea flower once tonic is added, only contributes to the appealing of this light yet flavourful drop.

Given the quality of Laceys Hill’s gin expressions, I can only hope that we will see them venture into whiskey territory soon.

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images from company websites

The Monocle Book of Italy

Thames and Hudson

For the uninitiated: Monocle is the empire Tyler Brûlé has built from scratch, at the very core of which is the concept of the conveyance of an enlightened cosmopolitan outlook and place- and timeless luxury when it comes to the enhancement of the overall quality of life.

With a faithful following, international sensibility and globalist chic, the “briefing on global affairs, business, culture and design” has established itself as a taste making authority when it comes to making lifestyle choices for the affluent and the identification of new trends to the extent where even lifeless items are stylized to have life enhancing qualities.

With its ever-expanding nature, the Monocle empire encompasses not only the original magazine but branded clothing, a streaming radio station, retail stores and a beautiful series of carefully curated and opulently illustrated coffee table books.

The newest instalment of the country-specific series is dedicated to the celebration of all things Italian.

Scratching the surface to unearth more than the cliché, the effortlessly cool, energetic and traditional charm that forms the DNA of Italy is zeroed in on, to then elaborate on what makes Italian fashion, design, architecture, culture and food unique, desirable, stylish, functionable and timeless.

By shedding light on both cities as well as places off the beaten path, what is considered to be the undeniable appeal of  “la dolce vita” is set in scene in a way that makes one long for a visit to experience the enigma that is Italy first-hand.

A beautiful and unique portrayal of Italy channelled through the idiosyncratic lens of Monocle.

The Formative Years – Dutch Hardcore part 1

Despite small in size, the influence punk and hardcore bands from the Netherlands had on the European and even global scene in the 1980s cannot be overstated.

Take for example LÄRM, who with their messages catered simultaneously to a range of audiences from left-wing politics via straight edge and a PMA outlook to those merely in it for the sheer intensity of their own idiosyncratic brand of super-fast, noisy and disharmonic hardcore, which very much lived up to their name.

Having emerged from a range of short lived bands, the first incarnation of LÄRM manifested itself as early as 1980 and it took four years before they recorded for the first time, the result of which became the split LP with Stanx.

Set against the context of the Reagan and Thatcher eras and lyrically heavily influenced by the implications of the cold war, the arm’s race, apartheid and other tenets of the left wing movement of said time, their first recordings served not only as a musical outlet for their frustrations but also as a vehicle to propagate their ideas, which did not remain unheard during the heydays of tape trading as it placed LÄRM firmly on the forefront of European and international hardcore bands and enabled them to tour Europe.

1986 their LP “Straight on View” was released, followed by a 7“ titled „“No one can be that dumb“ and a final 7” in 1987 (“Nothing is hard in this world..”) before they split up to seamlessly reincarnate as SEEIN RED.

One of the most heralded bands within the context of punk and hardcore in the 1980s is the outfit behind the acronym B.G.K., an homage to the assassinator of the Dutch king in the sixteenth century, i.e. Balthasar Gerards Kommando.

Having risen out of the ashes of the fantastic THE NITWITZ in 1981 (check out their LP “Scorched Earth Policy”), the band perceived themselves as a musical countermovement to the popular, stereotypical Oi! Bands of the era.

Inspired by proto-punk bands like the STOOGES, MC5 and the first American hardcore bands, they were inspired to focus on writing furiously fast, intense and aggressive music paired with heartfelt lyrics infused with their DIY spirit.

Their first LP Jonestown Aloha!, which was released on their own label

Vögelspin Records remains a timeless classic and given its calibre, it should not come as a surprise that it was re-released a year later in the US by R Radical Records.

Another classic is their “White Male Dumbinance” 7” from 1984, which was followed by their “Nothing Can Go Wrogn!” LP from 1986, which saw a US release in the same year via Alternative Tentacles.

The Formative Years – Oasis

Think of them what you will, given their influences and the way they channelled them – controversies , theatrics and drama aside - one would be hard pressed to not deem Oasis a decent band.

The UK has always been a hotbed for genre coining rock bands starting with the Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Who, Black Sabbath, Joy Division, Sex Pistols, The Smiths, et cetera.

However, at a time when rock music became more fragmented as a genre and the emergence of new subgenres that started to infiltrate the mainstreams, out of the blue a band from Manchester appeared on the horizon to coin and herald a new age of lad-pop, which with them at the very centre made them one of the most successful bands to come from the old world.

Having had a chance to see them perform live early on in their career, they won me over straight away – not only was their blissful mass of sound brutally loud but infused with an attitude and swagger of each constituent that clearly indicated that this band was their destiny.

A range of great albums followed throughout the 1990s, with each being a milestone in their own right, with especially their two albums “Definitely maybe” and “(What’s the story) morning Glory” being examples par excellence for an output that is paved with anthems, showing their talent and expertise in sequencing the song in borderline perfect order for maximum impact.

Needless to say, what seemed to be very real inner-band animosities and the way they elevated it confidently to performance art to use the ensuing fallout for marketing, did not hurt the ascent of the band either.

The combination of Noel Gallagher’s song writing skills and pop sensibilities in conjunction with Liam’s wonderfully logical yet ultimately meaningless, non-sensical lyricism conjure mental images that serve as a perfect canvas for the recipient to project their own interpretations and ride their big emotions on.

In essence, they brought the evolution and collapse of rock music heroism full circle by reinventing the notion of rock stardom and bigger than life on stage personas and the scale they achieved it on, remains unrivalled to this day.