Going home

I rise just after 9 AM and have a shower. Now I feel better.

Today will be an odd day. After checking out of our hotel, we have around 10 hours to kill before going to the airport. Our flight is at 00:40. What could we possibly do? Hang around in pubs, I guess.

We check out at 11 AM and dump our bags.

Lion Brewery opens at noon and isn’t far away. That’ll do. The walk there takes us through Chinatown.

It’s warm. Very warm. By the time we get to the Buddha Tooth temple, we’re in need of a cold drink. And pop into the little hawker centre we ate in yesterday. We each get a cola and take seats. Directly underneath a giant fan.

After a little cooling, we carry on to Lion Brewery. Plonk ourselves down and spend a few moments appreciating the airco. Then order some beers. Nitro Stout for me, Pilsner for Amdrew.

It’s pretty quiet. Though they have just opened. It’s all very low-key. Which is how I generally like things. Dead, I think, is the technical term.

The Stout is OK. But quite burnt tasting. I explain to Andrew that there’s a long history of Stout brewing around this way. He continues to play with his phone. That’s how impressed he is.

I’m not drinking very quickly. We’re going to be here for a long time. I don’t want to get too pissed. Or spend too much money.

There’s tennis on the TV.

“You’re not keen on tennis, are you, Dad?”

“No.”

“Boring as fuck. Isn’t that what you said?”

“Something like that. Though I may have been less subtle.”

Feeling peckish after a while, I order baked oysters. Very tasty, they are.

“That’s not much of a meal, Dad.”

“You can talk. You’ve only had about three full meals all trip. And that’s counting the bacon and beans breakfast.”

“I’m having a cheeseburger.”

“And it’s just my starter.”

I’ve switched to Boss IPA. It’s alright. Doesn’t blow my socks off, but it’s perfectly drinkable.

The tennis seems to be on a loop. The same handful of games, over and over.

“This is a preview of hell, Andrew.”

“What?”

“Endless repeats of boring tennis matches. For all eternity.”

“We’ll only be here until seven.”

“That’ll seem like an eternity.”

“Exaggerating, as always.”

Totally out of character, Andrew shows an interest in food. For a full meal, at that.

“I’m having a cheeseburger.”

“Oh, you’re being serious. I’d assumed that was a joke. Given your record, so far.”

“Very funny, Dad. You haven’t exactly been stuffing yourself.”

”OK. Jalapeno bacon mac and cheese for me. It really should be macaroni cheese. That’s the proper name for it.”

“Back when all the computers were still clockwork.”

“Ha, fucking, ha.” I’m always there with a witty riposte.

“And that’s only a small meal, according to the menu. Whatever you want to call it.”

“Fuck off, smartarse.” Wit just comes naturally to me.

We do some more bonding as the clock moves slowly around. And the pace of my drinking gets ever slower. Which is weird. Usually, I’d be speeding up. Am I getting old? Or just sensible?

A taxi gets us to Changi in plenty of time. Though dropping our bags takes longer than usual. Nothing too crazy.

The Qantas lounge is massive. And fairly empty. No trouble finding seats. No Cooper, but Stone & Wood and Little Creatures Pale Ale on tap. Plus some Lagery stuff.

“A whisky with one ice cube, please.”

Andrew goes for a Stone & Wood.

They’ve got beef rendang. The proper consistency, not the soup they had in the Schiphol lounge. Just mot spicy enough. Which is surprising.

We’ve got a few hours. No rush. I whip out my laptop and watch some rubbish.

It’s a good job they only serve stingy single measures of spirits. Saved me from getting too pissed. Not a good idea before a long flight.

Our gate isn’t too far from the lounge. By the standards of Changi. It’s just big. The last gates on pier C are almost in Malaysia.

A full flight again. Which is always fun. Chicken or pasta are the food options. Not sure if I’ve had this chicken curry and rice before. Better than some of their meals. At least there’s a bit of heat to it. 

I watch The Accountant II over my gourmet dinner. Filling the time until lights out. When it’s lights out for me, too.

Six hours of blissful sleep. Followed by some dozing. When I get bored of that, I turn to Black Bag. Made me think of the Viz cartoon. Where there’s a black plastic bin bag blowing around the moors like a sheepdog. Not a bad film. And it finishes just before landing.

Breakfast is weird. There’s this weird sliced up dumpling thing.  What the fuck is it? There’s some fruit, too. I eat Andrew’s, as well as mine.

At passport control, a lady ushers some passengers to the electronic gates.

“Nedelandse passen. [Dutch passports].”

Happens every time.

Our bags take a while to unload. The carousel is full. No-one is taking a bag off. Leaving no room for new ones. Eventually, there’s a space for our bags.

The taxi winds his way into Amsterdam. This is the morning rush hour. But, it being the holidays, the traffic is fine.

Soon, we’re greeted by Dolores and cups of tea. It’s good to be home. And in one piece. At least, as far as I can tell. 

Glasgow beers

I didn't spend all my time in Glasgow last week in the archives. I also went to a couple of pubs. Mostly in the company of my mate Robbie Pickering.

First was the Three Judges. Which I literally had to walk past to get from the archive to the subway station. I kicked off with a Stewart 80/-. And a double Glenlivet. The beer is very dark. As dark as Dark Mild. It's OK, though there's a a slight whiff of vinegar.

Next round, I go for a half of Broughton Old Jock. And another double malt.

After that, I need to get into the city centre to check into my hotel. And meet up with Robbie. At 6 PM in the Imperial, which is almost next door to my hotel. A nice pub, but with no cask beer. I have a McEwans 80/-. It's OK, in a keggy sort of way.

We only have the one before moving on to the nearby 'Spoons. Where I have a cheap pint of Jaipur. Lovely, as always.

We cross the Clyde to go for a curry. Which is yummy.

While we're on the posh side of the rives, we drop by the Laurieston. One of those single-storey, flat-roofed Glasgow pubs. As seen in Rab C. Nesbitt. I have a pint of something brown and Scottish.

On the way to our final destination, I spot a Tim Horton's. Didn't realise they had them in Scotland. Or the UK, for that matter.

What do I drink in the Pot Still? Can't remember, I'm afraid. Might have been a whisky.

Next day, I start with a small fried breakfast.

Before heading on to "Spoons. To kill some time before my flight. Where I get myself a Red McGregor. Which isn't bad at all.

And later a small fish and chips. And a Raven Amber Ale.

I have whisky in the lounge. And a quarter of a sandwich. Don't want to go too crazy.

 

 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1885 Thomas Usher 54/- M

I collected plenty of new photos of Usher's records last week. But, as I've just started processing them,  this is from a previous harvest. And an interesting use of a Shilling designation.

Rather confusingly, 54/- M is quite a bit stronger than 60/- B. I’m guessing that the “M” stands for Mild. But no idea why that would make it stronger. Maybe I’m looking at this the wrong way, expecting consistency in brewhouse names. Especially in Scotland.

The recipe is exactly the same for 60/- B. Because the two were parti-gyled together. The Scots were dead keen on parti-gyling. Other than William Younger. Reaching its pinnacle after WW I, when breweries, such as Maclay, just had one recipe.

Which doesn’t leave much more to say. Other than this is just a soup-up version of 60/- B.

1885 Thomas Usher 54/- M
pale malt	4.25 lb	32.69%
Munich malt	7.25 lb	55.77%
No. 2 invert sugar	1.50 lb	11.54%
Cluster 120 min	1.75 oz
Strisselspalt 30 min	1.25 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.25 oz
OG	1062
FG	1023
ABV	5.16
Apparent attenuation	62.90%
IBU	44
SRM	11
Mash at	152º F
Sparge at	175º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	59º F
Yeast	WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

 

Belhaven beers in 1871

Here's the first results of last week's trip to the Scottish Brewing Archive in Glasgow. Details of Belhaven's beers in 1871.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, this information copmes from a transcript rather than the brewing record itself. I'm guessing that there's more information in the original records. As it doesn't give any details of the malt and hops, just the quantities. Which is a bit of a bummer. But I'm just grateful to get anything at all.

The good thing is, because of the period, I know that the grist can't be that complicated. Being pre-1880, there can't be any adjuncts. And there's probably no sugar, either. And, this being Scotland, most of the beers almost certainly contain nothing other than base malt. The exception being the Stouts.

Interestingly, despite there being 17 different beers, there don't seem to be any Pale Ales. Unless they're hiding amongst the Shilling Ales. I'm ruling out XX and XXX because, though they have some of the highest hopping rates, they look too strong to be Pale Ales.

Not sure what the real name of the weakest beer, listed as "###" was. Maybe they just couldn't read the original. Whatever it was called, it looks very much like a Table Beer to me. What with its low gravity and quite heavy hopping.

What there are a lot of are strong beers. There are three with gravities over 1100º. Plus two others over 1090º. In fact, 12 of the 17 beers have gravities over 1070º. Which makes for quite an unbalanced range. Like William Younger, there were two parallel ranges of strong beers. Shilling Ales and numbered Ales. The only difference being that the latter were more heavily hopped.

The degree of attenuation is pretty crap. Though that's typical of Scottish beers in general. Only a couple are a little over 70%. And a couple are under 60%. 

Belhaven beers in 1871
Date	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
12th Oct	###	Ale	1033	1011	2.91	66.67%	10.00	1.03
14th Oct	50/-	Ale	1041	1011	3.97	73.17%	13.00	0.90
13th Oct	60/-	Ale	1058	1022	4.76	62.07%	6.67	1.74
6th Oct	80/-	Ale	1072.1	1025	6.23	65.33%	6.33	2.38
10th Oct	100/-	Ale	1084	1035	6.48	58.33%	5.41	2.35
5th Oct	120/-	Ale	1095	1035	7.94	63.16%	6.98	3.49
6th Oct	140/-	Ale	1110	1035	9.92	68.18%	7.17	4.47
9th Oct	160/-	Ale	1125	1053	9.53	57.60%	7.69	5.36
4th Oct	London	Ale	1078	1028	6.61	64.10%	8.33	3.41
9th Oct	XX	Mild	1064	1025	5.16	60.94%	7.80	2.32
11th Oct	XXX	Mild	1076	1028	6.35	63.16%	7.67	2.74
10th Oct	BS	Stout	1038	1013	3.31	65.79%	8.67	1.37
13th Oct	S	Stout	1076	1039	4.89	48.68%	8.48	3.26
7th Oct	2	Strong Ale	1096	1032	8.47	66.67%	8.14	4.17
3rd Oct	3	Strong Ale	1078	1025	7.01	67.95%	11.43	4.55
3rd Oct	4	Strong Ale	1068	1020	6.35	70.59%	12.41	4.29
14th Oct	II	Strong Ale	1108	1043	8.60	60.19%	7.88	5.13
Source:
Belhaven brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archives, document number B/6/1/1/3.

 

 

Singapore beers

I rise at 9:30 feeling pretty refreshed. Go through my emails. And do some writing.

Andrew is up quite late. Again. Still, we're in no real rush. We're free until 4 PM, when we're meeting Charles Guerrier. Whom I met when judging in Bahia in Brazil. And with whom I shared many caipirinhas.

We leave the hotel at 1:30. To go grab some lunch at Chinatown Hawker Center. We don't actually end up going there. go to the one we intended to visit. But stumble across a small one. 

Andrew is already looking a bit hot. Not quite at the turning grey and looking ready to collapse stage. But in need of cooling down. It’s not too hot under the massive ceiling fans. Which are rotating slightly faster than a spitfire propellor.

From a Vietnamese stall we each have a banh mi. Which is very nice. It’s very posh for a hawker centre. And one of the stands proudly proclaims:

"The World's First Michelin Rated Nasi Lemak Hawker".

The banh mi isn’t quite enough for me. 

“I’m still feeling a bit peckish.”

“Now there’s a surprise.”

“Do you want anything else?”

“No. But feel free to stuff your face some more, Dad.”

“I will.”

I get some roast pork with rice from another stall. Which is also very good. And dirt cheap. That should do me for a few hours. I love Chinese roast stuff.

We get to Lion brewery at around 3 PM. And get stuck into some beers. An IPA for me. Something Lagery for Andrew. It has a bit of an English pub feel, with lots of seating. Including some settees. And, of course, there's the shiny stuff behind a glass wall.

Charles turns up, as agreed, at 4 PM. It’s good to see him again. Despite the unfortunate arm-breaking incident in Salvador last November.

We have a few more beers. Then Charles suggests we go to Welcome Ren Min, which is in the Maxwell hawker centre. 

Today there’s on offer on IPAs. Both the Single and Double type. I have an excellent DIPA. Andrew and Charles just a normal IPA.

“Getting the strongest beer again, eh, Dad?”

“I just feel like a Double.”

“If they did Quadrupels I guess you’d be ordering one of them.”

“If I felt like one.”

“Which you obviously would.”

“Maybe.”

“You’re only fooling yourself, Dad.”

“Well, that’s good enough for me.”

“Pathetic.”

We manage to find seats amidst the chaos.

“I’m surprised that they use real glasses.” I remark.

“You have to take them back to the bar. Not to the normal returns place.” Charles says.

It's a bit odd having a craft beer stand in a hawker centre. But the beer is really good. It's brewed in Vietnam and then imported into Singapore. Which is a slightly unusual arrangement.

Next, we go to SG Taps. A small bar run by a Japanese bloke. It’s located in a typical old three-storey Chinatown house.

I have a Pink Blossoms Let it be Geraldine, a NE IPA. Which isn't as good as the beer at the hawker centre. But fine enough. Wet, alcoholic and drinkable. Just like me.

Charles has to leave to meet his daughter. But he points us in the direction of a street full of Korean and Japanese restaurants. We pick one at random, HiBuddy. Which turns out to be Chinese. Though it looks like a Korean BBQ. And they have kimchi.

Andrew orders a beer and we both get soju. Each with our own bottle.

“So much for soju being for sharing.”

“Shut up, Dad.”

Andrew isn't hungry. I order a rice, pork and egg thing. With a side order of kimchi. Which is sweeter than the one Dolores makes. And not as spicy.

On the way back to our hotel, we get some more booze and snacks. And watch YouTube for a couple of hours.



Lion Brewery
36 Club St, 
Singapore 069469.
http://www.lionbreweryco.com/


Welcome Ren Min
1 Kadayanallur St, 
Unit No. 01-33 
Maxwell Food Centre, 
Singapore 069184.


SG Taps Restaurant
13 Duxton Hl, #01-01, 
Singapore 089597.


HiBuddy BBQ
68 Tg Pagar Rd, 
Singapore 088489.
https://www.hibuddy.sg/ 

Glasgow

I made a flying visit to Glasgow this week. Obviously, to drop by the Scottish Brewing Archive. But also for frequent flyer reasons. As it looked like I was going to end 12 months just short of retaining my gold status with KLM. To make sure of qualifying, I've arranged a couple of trips to the UK to visit archives.

I'd already photographed a lot of the brewing records. But there was still plenty to keep me occupied for a day. Some of it was just filling in some gaps in William Younger and Thomas Usher records. There was some totally new stuff, though. Like Meiklejohn, Belhaven and Binnie. And sort of Lorimer & Clark. Because I'd never looked at their records in the archive before. But had photographed one of their books in the Caledonian brewery a few years back. Just as well I did, because they couldn't find it in the archive.

I was particularly interested in looking at the records of Belhaven. As there are some brewing books from the late 19th century. The topic of the book I'm currently working on. Unfortunately, the relevant book is in poor condition. Too poor for me to look at it.

However, there was a folder of loose sheets. Which seem to be a transcript of at least part of that book. But which had been weirdly miscatalogued. The dates as in the format dd.mm.yy. And they's assumed that the years were 1971 and 1983. While it's actually 1871 and 1883.

The transcripts are dead handy. Containing most of the information I need. There are a couple of things missing. I can live with that.

Here's an example:

 

 

Let's Brew - 1885 Thomas Usher PA

The next step up the Usher Pale Ale staircase is, er, Pale Ale. Which is about the same strength as a London Ordinary Bitter.

It’s another pretty simple recipe. Though this time there are two types of pale malt, 75% Scottish and 25% Smyrna (modern day Turkey). Usher was still using a lot of malt made from Scottish barley. A decade later, many of their beers used no local barley at all. Instead, using malt made from barley sourced from all over the world.

No UK hops again. With them all sourced from what was (then) Germany: Hallertau and Alsace. Both from the 1884 harvest.

My guess is that this wasn’t aged at all. Just allowed to condition for a couple of weeks.

1885 Thomas Usher PA
pale malt	12.50 lb	100.00%
Strisselspalt 90 min	2.75 oz
Hallertau 30 min	2.75 oz
Goldings dry hops	1.00 oz
OG	1054
FG	1015
ABV	5.16
Apparent attenuation	72.22%
IBU	58
SRM	5
Mash at	151º F
Sparge at	175º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	58º F
Yeast	WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

 

 

Back to Singapore

I get up at 6:45 AM. And discover that out flight has been delayed by 40 minutes. I could have had another hour in bed.

Andrew rises about an hour after me. I'm not feeling great. One too many of the Imperial Stouts last night. But I look positively chipper compared to Andrew. He's not a great morning person at the best of times. He looks like death warmed up today.

“Feeling fresh and raring to go?”

“Fuck off, Dad.”

“Charming.”

“Just shut up, Dad.”

We leave at 8:30 AM and soon are rumbling our way down the motorway in an Uber.

Dropping off our bags is a bit of a fuss as the machine doesn't want to accept them for some reason. We get a member of staff to help. He has the same problem, but can get into an override screen and our bags shoot off.

There's quite a queue at security. But it moves pretty quickly and it doesn’t take long to get through. While immigration is a doddle with its electronic gates.

Just two things to do now. Get some duty free and get to the lounge. Cheap whisky for me, Appleton Estate for Andrew. 

“We wouldn’t want to pay Singapore prices for booze, Andrew.”

“No.”

“My bank account still hasn’t recovered from the days in Singapore on our way in.”

“Always about money, eh?”

“My money, not yours. Remember that.” 

Being a health-conscious sort of chap, I get some fruit. While Andrew notices that our flight has been delayed another 45 minutes. 

“More time in the lounge, then, Andrew.”

“That’s a positive way of looking at it.”

“You know me, Mr. Positive.”

“Right. Mr. Negative, more like. You’re always moaning.”

“Constructively critical, I’d call it.” 

“As constructive as a neutron bomb.”

“Bugger off.”

In Sydney, the bar in the lounge didn't open until 12. So, I'm a bit surprised when I see some people getting sparkling wine. It's only 9:30.

"Is the bar open?" I ask the young lady.

"Yes."

"I'll have a whisky then. One cube of ice. And a cafe latte."

The coffee is very good. And the whisky perks me up.

Andrew gets himself a Light Beer. Which is a surprise. It's only 2.2% ABV.

"Is that all they have?"

"No."

“Feeling rough? I’ve never seen you voluntarily drink a Light Beer before.”

“Shut up, Dad.”

“Ooh, touchy.”

“Fuck off.”

After a while, this bit of the lounge closes and we're asked to move upstairs. Where they have a range of draught beers, including Coopers Original Pale Ale. I get Andrew one of those. And a whisky for myself. Along with some scrambled egg.

We can see our gate from where we're sitting. Which is handy. 

When Andrew comes back from the bogs, I tell him:

"I just saw the crew getting on the plane. We must be going to board soon."

Still time for a couple more whiskies. And ice cubes.

When we see the flight starting to board, we head on down.

The on-board entertainment is done rather differently. Rather than embedded in the seat in front, they have a tablet that you plug in. It does have the downside of not being usable before or during take-off. I take advantage of the free wifi with my phone instead.

The lunch we're served isn't bad. Braised beef and mash. Followed by a timtam.

After the meal, the lights are turned down. I suppose they want people to sleep. But it's early afternoon. No sleeping for me. Instead, I watch a few films. Blockers, Spit, Another Small Favor. Spit is fairly decent. The other two pass the time. 

An hour or so before landing, we're served pork and kimchi dumplings. Which are really good. And quite spicy. Some of the best food I’ve ever had on a plane. Including in business class.

When I have to stow away the tablet for landing, I check on the test match on my phone. England need 35 to win. But keep losing wickets. When we land, it's down to 20 runs. But only 2 wickets left. One of which is one-armed Woakes.

Despite it being quite a way from our gate to immigration, it doesn't take too long as they have moving walkways. Unlike in fucking Rio airport.

A taxi transports us to our hotel in Chinatown. Once checked in, I ask Andrew:

“What’s the plan now?”

“Well, there’s a 7 Eleven just over the road.”

“Sounds like a good idea. Do you think you can make it that far in the heat?”

“Very amusing.”

“So, can you make it?”

“Yes I fucking can. I’m not that bad.”

“Just making sure.”

“Fuck off, Dad.”

Ay the 7 Eleven we stock up with essentials. Mixers for our duty free, sandwiches, crisps, beer and Strong Zero. The last one for Andrew, obviously.

Feeling quite knacked, we just laze around in our room watching YouTube.
 

The lift

I rise at 10:40. After a good long sleep.

Looking at my Whatsapp, I'm amazed to see a string of messages from the hotel. That's how they contacted me. Not via email, as stated in the confirmation email. Fuck. I really cocked that up.

I make myself a nice pot of English breakfast tea. You can’t go wrong with a nice cup of tea. Several nice cups are even better.

Andrew surfaces after midday. It's OK, we're in no rush. 

“Drinking tea again, Dad?”

“It helps wash the whiskey down.”

“Never too early for whiskey, is it?”

“Not when you’re on holiday.”

“And every day is a holiday now you’re retired.”

“Exactly.”

What's the plan for today? The Empire hotel for a cheap lunch. We head there about 13:30.

I've finally twigged that the Empire is linked to Valley Hops, the brewery next door. Which would explain why they supply most of the draught beers. At very reasonable prices, too. Some of the beers are only $10 for a pint. And the most expensive one, the Hazy IPA I'm drinking, is $15. Andrew, thankfully, is on the $10 Original Lager.

Between noon and 3 PM, the Empire has cheap meals. $18 for either a rump steak or a chicken parmo. Andrew has the latter while I go for the former. It's an absolute steal. Eating a chicken parmo was one of Andrew’s main objectives for the trip.

It's a funny old spot, the Empire. Doesn't exactly have a craft beer bar vibe. Lots of vertical drinking space, a few pool tables and a giant Fireball advertising statue.

“I'm starting to take quite a liking to this place, Andrew.”

“Me, too.”

 “The staff are friendly and the prices very reasonable.”

“Good for a cheapskate like you.”

“Thank you.”

“There’s a first.”

“What?”

“You said thank you at an appropriate time.”

“Damn.”

After we've eaten, a few more punters show up. Some wearing yellow and black scarves so I'm guessing that they're going to some sort of sporting event. My money would be on rugby league, which is big in these parts.

I Whatsapp Mikey with a photo of the $10 pints pumps.

“Oh my Buddha. That’s fucking cheap!” He replies.

Always good to make Mikey jealous.

After a few pints, we stroll back to our hotel. Flat, really. And chill for a bit. I know what we're doing this evening. Taking the lift.

When we checked into our emergency hotel, the nice man mentioned that nearby there's a lift which takes you down to the riverside. Where there's a brewery, amongst other things.

It's just around dusk when we head there. Providing us with a great view of the Story bridge and the downtown skyscrapers. Felons Brewing is massive. With a big frontage along the river. It's rather lovely. We sit outside and get some beers. A 10.5% ABV Imperial Stout for me, something Lagery for Andrew.

It's our last evening in Australia. Andrew seems to have enjoyed himself here. As have I.

“Would you like to come back to Australia?”

“Of course, Dad.”

“But in the summer, when it’s nice and hot?”

“Haha. You know I can’t take the heat.”

“What about living here?”

“Maybe Tasmania.”

We have a few beers. Well, I do. Andrew swaps onto cider, as he's apt to do. We don't stay too late, having an early start tomorrow. Our flight to Singapore is at 11 AM. Meaning we'll need to be up at around 7 AM.

"Have you noticed something, Andrew?"

"What?"

"It hasn't rained today. Like it has every other day we've been in Australia."



Empire Hotel
339 Brunswick St, 
Fortitude Valley QLD 4006.
https://www.empirehotel.com.au/


Felons Brewing
5 Boundary St, 
Brisbane City QLD 4000.
http://felonsbrewingco.com.au/ 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1885 Thomas Usher X Stock

More confusion at Usher, with an X Ale clearly marked in the brewing record as “Stock”. Pretty obvious, then, that this isn’t a Mild Ale.

What is it then? It looks to me like a Stock Pale Ale. The hopping rate certainly bears that out. At 12 lbs per quarter (336 lbs), it was significantly more than the 8 or 9 lbs that usually went into Usher’s Pale Ales.

An all-malt grist consists of two types of pale malt, a quarter made from Smyrna barley, the remainder from Scottish. 

The hops were an even split between Alsace and Hallertau, both from the 1884 harvest.

Obviously, this beer was aged. My guess would be for between six and nine months. Which would have lowered the FG a fair bit. 

1885 Thomas Usher X Stock
pale malt	11.50 lb	100.00%
Strisselspalt 90 min	3.00 oz
Hallertau 30 min	3.00 oz
Goldings dry hops	1.00 oz
OG	1050
FG	1015
ABV	4.63
Apparent attenuation	70.00%
IBU	65
SRM	4.5
Mash at	151º F
Sparge at	175º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	58º F
Yeast	WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

 

 

Breakfast Creek

I rise at 10. Andrew a little later. We check out and then trail down to our other place.

It’s very spacious, with two bedrooms and two bathrooms. We chill out for a while, before getting an Uber to the Breakfast Creek hotel. A pub dating from the 1880s, with one particular claim to fame.

The place is mobbed.

"Do we need to wait to be seated?" I ask.

"Yes. Unless you want to just sit at the bar."

That's exactly what we were planning. We weave our way through the seating to the private bar in the original part of the building. It's rather lovely. With a marble-topped bar and leaded glass windows. And a cask perched on the bar.

Because this is the one place where XXXX Bitter is served by gravity from a wooden cask. We get ourselves schooners. It's quite pleasant. Smooth.

There's women's rugby league on the TV. It's pretty brutal.

After a couple of schooners, I order some prawns. Giant ones. They're rather nice.

I take a look at the public bar over the corridor. It's a real, old-fashioned Aussie public bar. Fully tiled, island bar counter in the centre, horse racing on the TV. It's quite raucous. In contrast to the more sedate private bar.

“You should have a look in the public bar, Andrew.”

“Is that where all the noise is coming from?”

“Yes. They’re watching horse racing.”

“Hence the shouting.”

“Yes. Take a look. It’ll give you an idea of the six o’clock swill days.”

Andrew is feeling a bit hungry and orders some chips. In the meantime, he has a pint of Hahn Superdry.

I have a couple of Bundaberg rums to accompany my schooners. This is all rather nice.

They’re getting through the casks pretty quickly.  Each one only lasts 30 or 40 minutes. It looks like a firkin in size. Meaning a cask contains about 100 schooners. So, they’re serving them at a decent pace.

After several happy hours, we get an Uber back to our hotel.

I fancy some Asian food. There seem to be loads of places down the road. So that's where we head. We, somewhat randomly, choose the Fat Dumpling. As it's pretty early, we can get a walk in.

We order spring rolls and three types of dumplings. Pretty much exactly what we want in terms of variety and quantity. I feel quite stuffed at the end. Even Andrew eats a fair bit.

“Feeling hungry for once?”

“Fuck off, Dad.”

“Charming. I’m only concerned about your welfare.”

“Really? Not just trying to wind me up?”

“Would I do that?”

“Yes. You’re always saying shit just to annoy me.”

“Bantz, Andrew. Just bantz.”

“That’s what all abusers say.”

Now it's time to find somewhere to watch the Lions game. We first check out the Empire. But that doesn't seem to have any large screens. We pop over the road to the Royal George. It's really buzzing outside, but pretty empty inside. With lots of rugby league games on. I have an IPA-type thing, Andrew a cider.

“Not sure this is the best place to watch the game, Andrew. It’s a bit dead.”

“Like you?”

“Very funny. I’m still alive.”

“Just about.”

“And it’s very rugby league in here. Not sure they’ll show a union game.”

Heavily carpeted and with a bland, modern look, it reminds me of a Watney’s tied house circa 1974. Not exactly homely.

We find a much better candidate back up on Brunswick Street, the Ginger Lion. They have two big screens. One is showing an Aussie rules game featuring Brisbane (who are also called the Lions). The other, the rugby union Lions game. We get beers and are lucky enough to find seats next to an older chav with an impressive beard.

It's absolutely pissing it down when the game starts. And it doesn't go well for the Lions. It's a bit disconcerting as half the punters are cheering for the rules game.

We get chatting to the bearded gentleman, whose name is Stuart. He spent a couple of decades in the Australian army. He seems a nice chap.

Unlike the pissed-up arsehole who screams in the face of a mild-mannered Irishman when the Lions lose. What a total and utter cunt.

We leave soon after the end of the game. For drinks and YouTube in our hotel.



Breakfast Creek Hotel
2 Kingsford Smith Dr, 
Albion QLD 4010.
https://www.breakfastcreekhotel.com/


Fat Dumpling
370 Brunswick St, 
Fortitude Valley QLD 4006.


Royal George Hotel
327 Brunswick St, 
Fortitude Valley QLD 4006.
http://royalgeorgehotel.com.au/


Ginger Lion
446 Brunswick St.,
Fortitude Valley QLD 4006.