The Visit

As some of you more astute and more frequent visitors to '200 Different Beers' have noted, it has been quite some time since my last post. 25 days in fact. YIKES!

I will correct that as of now but there has been good reason.

My humble abode on Brisbane's northside has been jam-packed with visitors for the past 3 weeks. Mum, Dad and my British-born eldest son decended on this antipodean isle meaning the house contained no less than 7 human beings and my blogging quite simply had to take a back seat.

There were many, many good times shared in such a short space of time. I won't bore you with them all. You're reading this blog because you're interested in beer right? Well, Dad is a keen beer drinker.....

The story begins some months back when I realised that the craft beer revolution that has overwhelmed America and is on the up and up here in Australia has not yet come to the fore in the UK. Yes, there are breweries over there doing the right thing and have been for quite some time such as Wychwood, Wells & Young, Hook Norton, Greene King to name but a few but they are still very much in the minority. The European breed of lager (Heineken, Stella, Carlsberg) is still the winner in retail sales. So, Dad is going to be in for a treat!

Months before Mr Magin Senior's visit, I decided to 'keep' 2 bottles out of every 6 pack that I purchased. The theory was that I would get to appreciate 4 beers and share the other 2 with him. However, as he pointed out, I actually got to drink 5 and he got to drink 1. Oh, what a shame.

I proudly ended up with a list of 23 different beers (x 2 of course) for us to taste during his stay. Some were more obscure than others. Some were just a random 'pick up in passing' from Dan Murphy's. Others were carefully purchased (Little Creatures Single Batches). I made sure he was well aware of the presence of 46 bottles in the beer fridge by placing a designed-by-me 'menu' actually on the beer fridge and even in his wardrode! Should the thought of beer cross his mind as he was getting dressed in the mornings, I wanted the 'menu' to be at hand. 

Here is the 'menu' (click on it for a larger view):

Suffice to say that we consumed every drop - even drinking 3 within the first 24 hours of his feet touching Australian soil. We cut it a bit fine as the final 2 passed our taste buds on the family's penultimate night. The last night was kept alcohol-free (by him not me) just in case of an upset tummy on the flight. Nobody wants to be sat, caged like a chicken, in frequent desperation for the loo on a long haul flight. Not even in the name of a good beer. Mind you, could a good beer even be classed as a 'good beer' if upsets ones stomach?

Everybody's tastes are different but overall we generally gave the thumbs-up and thumbs-down to the same beers. Top of the pile, in both of our views, were the Little Creatures Single Batch beers especially The Big Dipper and The Quiet American. Special mentions go to There Is No Santa (Brewdog), both Stoke Bomber Ales (McCashin Family), Big Eye IPA (Ballast Point) and Monteith's Autumn Ale. Dad certainly won't be letting his gullet entertain Mildura's Choc Hops again though! Not to his liking. Perhaps he should've avoided the 4 pints of Bulmers that he drank at a function a few hours before!

I hope not to leave it as long as 3 weeks between blogs next time.

Happy drinking (sensibly).