Brewery Discovery: Red Tape Brewing Company

Brewery: Red Tape Brewing Company (@ King Street Brewhouse)
City: Sydney
Country: Australia

A few days ago, once again after a long day of work, a friend and me decided to go for a drink. The target location this time: King Street Brewhouse, which hosts the Red Tape Brewing Company!

King Street Brewhouse

 Located on King Street Wharf, right on the edge of the cities central business district, this waterside brewpub (and restaurant) is a great place to get your brew on.  The microbrewery is located right next to the bar/restaurant area, and as such is visible from both the terrace and the interior.

A look inside the brewery!

In terms of beer range, the brewery offers 8 different brews at any one time (All brewed on location). All brews are tapped straight from the brewery, making the experience of drinking a nice craft beer even better. Unfortunately for me, when I visited, five of the eight tap points were out of order (no tasting paddle for me :( ).

The Bar

However, my disappointment was soon forgotten as I discovered that pints of craft beer would only cost me $6, you have to love this kind of Happy Hour (every weekday from 4-7pm)! The bar staff was also very friendly, and allowed us to taste a few beers before ordering a full pint.

Single Batch: Amber Ale

The first brew that I tasted was the Single Batch Amber Ale, which had a very strong and defined taste for the category. A seasonal bitter followed this, which was very light and refreshing (it was quite hot outside). We decided on the bitter and settled down for a few pints of the stuff.

Enjoying a Summer Ale Bitter!

The original plan was to go for just one or two drinks, but as such things often go, it’s very hard to stick to just one or two. Moreover, a number of friends joined, and as such one or two drinks turned into five or six. Another brew which I tasted at the brewhouse was Tooth’s pale ale, a revival of an old beer recipe which used to be enjoyed in Sydney quite some time ago.

Tooth's Pale Ale

As time progressed, and as one drink was followed by another, we all started to get quite hungry. Luckily for us however, it turned out that on Monday’s the Brewhouse offers a delicious steak dinner, together with a glass of beer, for about $15 (which is definitely not a bad deal in overpriced Sydney :P). After dinner somebody made the very wise suggestion to go home, and we all did.

Steak and Beer, need i say more?

Yesterday, we decided to go back for just one or two drinks which, I'm glad to say, actually worked this time. Luckily for me, they had one more tap working again so i had the opportunity to try another of Red Tape's brews. 

Trying a Perfect Storm Lager!

Great happy hour(s), friendly staff, nice brew's and an absolutely perfect location by the water! King Street Brewhouse and the Red Tape Brewing Company didn't disappoint! 

Like with my other brewery visit so far here in Sydney, if you have the chance, this is definitely a brewpub worth checking out!

Cheers!

My Ratings:

Single Batch: Amber Ale: 3.75/5

Seasonal: Bitter: 3.5/5 (refreshing, light bitter)

Tooth's Pale Ale: 3.5/5 (hoppy, fresh, pale ale)

Perfect Storm: 3.5/5 (Cloudy Lager, Zwickelish)

Brewery Discovery: Redoak

Brewery: Redoak
City: Sydney
Country: Australia

Whilst finishing off my beer unrelated work of the day, and as my productivity came to an end, a thought came to me: lets google around and see if there are any brewpubs nearby.

I was rewarded with a number of different brewery/pubs, all just a walk away! It was 4pm and i had nothing else planned for the afternoon so i decided to go on a little brewery discovery. One of the brewpubs stood out as it proudly displayed the title "Australia's most awarded Brewery!".

Well that sparked my interest…

Recruiting one of my friends to come along, we set off toward the brewpub!

Redoak Boutique Beer Cafe, and Brewery

After about a 10 minute walk, we arrived at Redoak "Boutique Beer Cafe", and for the benefit of making this beer blog slightly educational here is some background information:

Redoak opened its doors in 2004, by a guy called David Hollyoak together with his sister. David started brewing ginger beer at the age of 14, and as such many years later did possess some beer brewing skills. The brewery brews a wide range of different beer styles, and is apparently the most award winning brewery in all of Australia! For more information, and a longer version of my short summary, visit redoak.com.au!

But back to me

The brewpub really looks nice from the inside, a bit on the modern side, and it has that real craft beer feel to it!

Redoak Bar 

Only staying in Sydney for a short while, and wanting to visit some more brewpubs (hopefully!) in the city, i asked if it were possible to do some form of beer tasting or something similar in that direction. This was a possibility, and i have to say, Redoak has an absolutely genius way of giving people the opportunity to taste its beers! 

Beer Paddle #1

Beer Paddles! While quite common in brewpubs, Redoak has added an extra dimension to this beer tasting platform. All beers on tap, of which there were about 12 (all from the brewery), had a specific number allocated to them. Customers are able to write this number, with chalk, next to each hole in the paddle, the paddle is than handed to bar staff and said holes are then filled with tasting glasses containing the matching brews!

Awesome!

Some of the taps!

And i have to say, based on my limited experience so far with Australian Beers, i do have to say that i really enjoyed the 8 beers i tasted (yes i had two paddles, couldn't help myself). The staff were also very friendly and up for a chat, it was a great way to spend the end of the afternoon. The brewpub also serves food, and a variety of different beverages. 

Functional Decoration

Redoak Boutique Beer Cafe was a great place to visit, and i will definitely come back here if time allows! Great beers, friendly staff, and apparently also good food (didn't have the opportunity to try). Next time you are in Sydney, i highly recommend giving Redoak a try!

As mentioned earlier, i tried 8 different Redoak beers at the brewpub, my ratings:

Special Strong Ale: 3.75/5 ESB

All Day Breakfast: 3.5/5 Session IPA/Hoppy Lager?

American Pale Ale: 3.5/5 Pale Ale

Winter in the Rye: 4/5 Bock?

Pommy Bitter: 3.5/5 Bitter

Honey Ale: 3.25/5 Honey/Mead

Dr Paddy's Elixer: 3.5/5 Stout

Organic Pale Ale: 3.75/5 Pale Ale

Awesome Decorations! 

Cheers! 

Stouts on a Plane!

As previously mentioned on my facebook page, the next three months I will be travelling around the Asia-Pacific for non beer related reasons. But being the multi-tasker that I am, my plan was (and still is) to discover some new brews and breweries on the side.

Interesting for me, hopefully interesting to you..

But anyway, in order to get to where I needed to be going, I off course had to take an airplane. And being the fearless adventurer that I am, I delved right into the beverage menu, which was handed to me when I was seated.

Stout!? and yes, free drinks….

As you can see, a wide variety of different beverages. When taking a closer look however, you will see that this did not apply to the beer section. Here we see the choice between an “international selection” or “stout”.

Wait, what.. did that menu say stout!!?

That was pretty much my reaction, I didn’t expect much of the in flight brew list, but I definitely did not expect to see stout on the menu. This also gave me hope of what was hiding behind the vague term of “international selection”, but unfortunately international selection, on the first flight, meant a choice between two pilsners brewed by the same company: Heineken and Tiger (Heineken). A decent lager, catering to predominately Asian markets. 

The International Selection, Flight 1

But back to the interesting stuff, stout on a plane? Why, from all choices you have of serving a nice and refreshing brew way up in the sky, would you choose for a 6.8% extra stout? I mean I’m not complaining, I like stouts and its really cool to see them being served in flight, but its just so unexpected. The stewardess definitely didn’t expect me ordering it, as it took her a few seconds to register what exactly it was that I ordered. Said stewardess then proceeded to the back of the airplane where, after some minutes, she came back with a can of stout.

Stout on a plane

Her unexpected look at someone ordering stout, coupled with the fact that it had to be retrieved from the back instead of from the drinks trolley, makes me come to the somewhat unsupported conclusion that they are not very popular on flights. However, as Singapore airlines states that all beverages are carefully selected, they must have their reasons. 

And, to be quite honest, the stout tasted damn good given its surroundings. Craft beer, and especially beers bringing strong tastes are, in my opinion, great for flights as they really bring a lot of taste to a somewhat bland environment. 

The International Selection, Flight 2

On my second flight, from Singapore to Sydney, Mr. Heineken was replaced by his Australian colleague Mr. Foster (also owned by Heineken, in Europe). 

So, a short overview of my experiences with the craft beer sommeliers of Singapore Airlines. A great and pleasantly surprising inclusion of stout beer on the airplane really gives me hope that in the future there actually might be a respectable "international selection" of craft beers on airplanes. 

Know of any other airlines serving specialty beers types? Let me know!

Cheers! 

Beer Discovery: Bombs and Grenades!! (Bommen & Granaten)

Beer: Bommen & Granaten (Bombs & Grenades)
Brewery: De Molen
Country: Netherlands
Style: Barleywine
ABV: 15.2% - 11.9%

Bommen & Granaten, or Bombs & Grenades,  is an apt title for this beautiful, and extreme, Barleywine!

Quite honestly, this was also the first full on barleywine which I've had (if i remember correctly), previous to B&B i did drink Anchor Brewing's famous "Old Foghorn" barleywine style ale, but as the name suggests it doesn't quite come close to a full blown barleywine.

B&B represents the strongest beer in the arsenal of Brouwerij/Brewery de Molen, and is a great balanced barleywine.

Enjoying the original 15.2% B&B, please enjoy within 25 years :P

As you may have noticed at the top, there are two different ABV's presented. Originally, the beer was brewed with an explosive 15.2% alcohol, something which really made an impression on me the first time i drank it. This has now been reduced to 11.9%, a little less explosive but still strong enough for a Barleywine.
A change in the brewing process caused this alcohol reduction, although the recipe still remains the same. I have drunk both ABV strengths and both were really good, i can't remember if there are any distinct differences as quite some time has passed since i had the 15.2% B&B.

What also made this beer really stand out for me, when i first came across it, was the fact that the label stated "Enjoy within 25 years". There are few beers i have encountered which prominently state their longevity, 25 years is something of a bold statement to make in regards to consistent quality. Whilst i believe that B&B is still quite drinkable, maybe even better if stored correctly, coming out with such a statement whilst its longevity has not yet been tested is quite remarkable (the brewery itself is only 12 years old, and B&B quite a bit younger than that).

Perhaps the brewers at de Molen thought the same, as all new 11.9% B&B bottels no longer prominently display this claim of longevity (the best before date is still 25 years however). B&B is now also available in many barrel aged and other variants. I have had the pleasure of sampling a rioja aged variant which was simply delicious.

Enjoying a B&B Rioja B.A.

B&B is brewed with champagne yeast, and pours a champagne mousse. Many fruit flavours are present and the barleywine is quite sweet (something the Rioja B.A. brilliantly balances out). All in all definitely one of my favourite barleywines to this day, both the regular and B.A. versions that i have tried.

Cheers!

My Ratings:

Bommen & Granaten: 4.5/5*
Bommen & Granaten Rioja B.A.: 4.5/5*