It has been two weeks, so lots to say in a beery way

Hi all

Adjusting to my new life has left me with lots to write about but little have had little motivation to write, until now. So in the last 2 weeks a lot has happened. Work has been hugely busy with the rugby world cup on. Will continue to be busy with All Black vs. Canada Game in Wellington tomorrow, lots of other amazing games and the Warriors final tomorrow! love it!

It has been an experience working long hours on my feet all day, lifting heavy glasses, half a ton of kegs up stairs (we go through a lot of Tuatara :)), and serving awesome customers and trying to educate them on great beers. I am even nice enough to forgive the odd person for buying a Heineken (if they want to pay $8.50 for a Heineken when a Tuatara pint which tastes much, much better and has more in it... then well whatever floats their boat).

I have also found that my legal skills come in handy in all parts of life, it gives me great pleasure that those stills are so transferable. I have found that all my co-workers are awesome people, who are good at what they do and have so many different skills and backgrounds that they are great to work with.

Not working during the day has allowed me to enjoy the sun, talk walks around Oriental bay, the waterfront, read in the sun, brew, go shopping for unusual ingredients and enjoy the amazing city of Wellington. Enjoying the fine things in life, good coffee, good food and of course good beer.

Now for my latest beer, Tu Meki Kiwitty. A wheat beer made with Green Kiwifruit, Gold Kiwifruit and Coriander. It shall be ready in a couple of weeks and I have high expectations for it.

In the next few days I will be bottling the Mocha Porter and it will be about 7.5% so a decent alcohol kick and will be relatively sweet.

Ok next post will be reviewing many beers that I have tried recently. Watching the Aussie vs Russia game now, so glad the Russians could at least one try!

Will be less time between posts now I hope! Na zdorovje!


Andrew

Research, tasty, tasty research

Now you cannot brew a good beer without first knowing what a good beer tastes like. Like a chef who doesn't like food, a brewer who does not like beer should not be a brewer. So since I like to have a pint after working a shift at the bar and we have 39 taps, I thought that trying a beer and writing some tasting notes and a little bit about each beer. As well as this I will try and write about slightly more obscure beers just to keep it interesting. Maybe you might like what you read and try it for yourself :)

So without further ado...
Beer #1 Invercargill brewery - Men n' skirts, Scottish Ale 7%

I picked up a bottle of this little beauty from Rumbles on Waring Taylor St in Wellington, it cost about $7 or so. I have tried this beer at the Matariki Winter Ale Festival the day before I went to Japan in June. It was by far my favorite beer of the day and it happened that I was volunteering at the food stand right next to it, so tried it a couple of times.

The beer pours a dark ruby colour, and has maltiness and port on the nose and almost a Belgium mouth feel. It has a full creamy mouth feel with tight bubbles.  It has a rich malt flavour with a highland whiskey flavour with subtle hints of peat. It has a lovely linger of rich smokey malt that has slight tarty notes with a little taste of cherry, I do not like cherry but it works, the cherry linger changes into a smokey flavour a few minutes later, lovely complexity in this. 

It tastes very different at the Matariki Beer festival whit it had been put through the same line as Rex Attitude (a 100% peat malt beer that I will defiantly write about soon!) and it gave this beer a lovely peaty flavour better suited to a darker beer like this rather than a golden ale. I love this beer maybe I should try mixing it with a bit of Rex Attitude next time.

Go out and give this one a go :)


I have my first Friday night shift in 90mins, should be an experience!

Andrew

My first few days at the new job

Hi everyone

Sunday at 4pm I officially had my first shift at the Fork and Brewer. I turned up at 3:20pm to get my uniform ready and get the low down on a few work things. So to start with I was put on glassy. Which is fair enough since I am pretty much am the person with the least hospitality experience there. So proceeded to familiarize myself with what glasses go were etc. The shift went pretty well, busy before the Wales vs South Africa game and then dead when everyone headed to the stadium. The people that I am working with are all friendly, funny and are definitely on to it. Hopefully I learn all the hospitality tricks of the trades very quickly. I ended and 9:30 that night.

Monday I started at 6pm ended at 8:15, short short shift but it was not that busy. Decided to try a beer after work, Yeastie Boys - Pot Kettle Black. I decided that I should write tasting notes on all beers I try, since I have tried sooo many that I am going to have to re-try a lot of them. So as of next post I am going to try and review a new beer every post. So have a read and go out and try some quality beers :)

Oh and the hail today in Wellington was insane!

See you next time with beer tastings.

Andrew

My brothers 21st... das boot and homebrew

Hi guys and girls

So today a tale about a good old kiwi Tradition.... the 21st birthday. Saturday was my little brother Logan's 21st birthday party, actually birthday was Sunday September 11th (there was an inappropriate birthday cake which I will not show pictures of... thanks mum haha). Now being the good big brother I am I made sure that proper 21st protocol was adhered to. So today I shall talk about Logan's 21st birthday and my own one over 6 years ago.

Protocol number 1 (the 1 and only): Do a yard glass or some variation

Both Logan's and mine had some variation. Logan had gone out and got a yard glass mainly out of peer pressure I think. But for my gift I got him a 2.4 liter Glass boot with 21st written on the side of it. So he ended up using my one because it looked cooler :) Logan did awesomely. I was a proud big brother. Proud that he did it in less than 4 mins and that he fulled it was horrible export gold as he knew he would chuck it back up soon enough. But he is starting to enjoy some good beers outside of drinking out of a giant boot :)

The yard glass that Logan's mates passed around

My story is a wee bit different. Looking back I was into beer a long time before I started to drink it. I used to go to the Salvation army and get second hand beer mugs on my paper run when I was 12 years old. In keeping with that I bought my other brother Cameron a yard glass for Christmas when he has 16, I kinda knew I would get it to use it for my 21st before he would. So over the years I loaned it to mates for there 21st's. So the day of my 21st birthday I want to give it wipe down and took it out of its case and bang! cracked in my hand, blood everywhere, and was about to go out to dinner with mum before coming back for drinks with a few friends at home. Came home and Cameron had set up a 8 foot beer bong that had been set up from the top of the roof with a valve, I think he had named it BB Cooper. So 9 beers, cold, bubbly speights when down my throat in less than a minute. Did I through up, of course. Why do we do it? well because we are young and stupid and everyone like cheering on a mate and then laughing.

So I manned the BBQ on the night, everyone had a great time, it was also a good opportunity to sample around to everyone the pale ale I made for Logan. The Bob the Builder Pale Ale, named after Logan (his middle name is Robert, hence bob. He is also an apprentice builder). Most people seemed to really like it, more than the green tea pale ale, that is to be expected. Anyhow I said happy birthday to him at midnight then went to see a friend for karaoke for her birthday, you can't get good beer at karaoke but oh well, sung a lot of Bruce Springsteen amongst others, went home and prepared for my first day of work the next day.That is next post.


Till next time I leave you of a Pic of me and my friend Melissa at my movie dress up themed 21st.

Yes it looks like a ate Willy Wonka haha

Andrew

Last day behind the desk, and the new bars opening!

Hi everyone!

Crazy last few days! My last post was maybe Thursday. Thursday afternoon we had Fork and Brewer training. By training I mean a beer tasting and beer history lesson by Neil Miller at the Malthouse. This was meant to teach us about different beers and how to pick out different flavours in beers. Well it was a great session but they are all beers I have had too many times to count. They were Tautara Heffe, Tuatara Porter, Epic pale ale and Tuatara Pilsner. All great beers and great examples of their style.


We then went and had a team meeting at the time not quite finished Fork and Brewer bar, it looked great! We ended up helping set up the bar, carrying furniture, fitting the kegs to the lines, and making sure they were lined up properly. Having to sample a beer or 2 to double check what it was correct.

Next day, ever big last day at the desk job, I think this photo sums up my move. 

Was great that this book showed up on my desk on my last day! So I cleaned up my desk and chatted to people, sent out a quiz about myself, it was fun. If you want to see the quiz send me an email. We had an afternoon tea for my leaving, speeches made, my home brew bought over home brew and people bought awesome food, people liked my beer and cider, they gave me a $100 homebrew supplies voucher is awesome! :)

A bit frothy, but the rest of them were good

Then off to the Fork and Brewer for the grand opening, it looked amazing! All my new co-workers did an amazing job and well I drunk a few too many very fine beers and watched the All Blacks beat Tonga in the World cup opener. The place is seriously amazing! Here are a couple of pics

The beautiful bar and its random taps

Me and my beer nerd invites

Bar and staff

The Hashigo Zake crew

A few too many amazing beers

Watching the All Blacks vs Tonga opening game f the rugby world cup

 Ok folks, gotta go, don't want to be late for my first day at work :)

Last week left at the desk job, and the craziness that is the “old man mocha porter”

The last week behind the desk, here I am looking the beautiful view over Wellington harbour, slightly blocked by the railway station but that is not bad to look at either. So in the last week we had someone else leave policy, she is heading to Scotland to live while I am moving about 2 km down the road to the Fork and Brewer.

The bar opens this Friday! With a few invite only drinks then the bar is open from 8pm. It is also the day the world cup starts, New Zealand is going to be insane for the duration of the tournament. Hopefully lovers of fine ales and rugby will be packing the bar and the atmosphere will be awesome! The new brew bar won’t be brewing for about a month due to the brewing equipment still being in China. But it will be exciting when it all gets going.

So last week I made “old man mocha porter” in celebration of my old man, his love of coffee and dark beers. This one is something special and I hope over the next few weeks of fermentation it lives up to my expectations! I have high hopes but it potentially has a lot of alcohol, possibly over 8%, so things can go wrong at higher alcohol levels. This thing has a lot of ingredients in it, more than I have ever used. To start off it has cold infused coffee from Memphis Belle on Dixon street (they do amazing coffee) coco nibs, lactose, ground mocha beans from caffe l'affare, lots of chocolate malt, roasted barley, crystal malt and some nice subtle hops. Also just for good measure added some vanilla and marshmallows (tokenly to make it a real mocha). I think I will have to add more yeast to get it to this huge alcohol level. Don’t worry I will be inviting all of you are to sample when it is ready (about a month away I would say. I think if I drunk this all myself I would die of liver failure and become the size a whale.

I have tried the Bob the Builder Pale Ale that I have made in celebration of my little brother turning 21, it is tasting pretty good, just a simple cascade hopped pale ale with some piney and citrusy notes, big hop linger, I like it but, my pale ales will only get better. My green tea pale ale will be sampled over the next day or so, hopefully it will be similar to Bob’s pale ale but with subtle green tea flavours, update, the green tea pale ale is quite sweet but with cascade piney notes coming through, it is not too bad but can be improved in the future.

Well I need to head to the gym soon, with the future occupational hazard of drinking too much beer, gym efforts must be doubled. Will be interesting to see what my new schedule is like, hopefully it will give my more daylight hours to get out and do more running and getting back into a good gym routine.

I leave you with a pic of me brewing my first beer, learn to fly pale ale... I finished the last bottle with my brother over the weekend, am still very happy for my first beer being drinkable :)

Bar work, beer bottling and everything in between

The enemy of success.... procrastination. Now everyone I know thinks they are the best at procrastination. It is something we all do. I once heard that the best way to beat procrastination is procrastinate procrastinating... procrastinate later. What does this have to do with anything? Well I have been procrastinating doing my latest brew, too busy, don't have the right ingredients, can't afford some of them right now, my stupid fermentors are leaking etc, etc. But on the other hand dammit you just need to relax sometimes.

Take for example Friday night after the day jobs (2 weeks to go from last Friday). I worked a shift at the Malthouse as they were short staffed. The new manager of my future job told me that I need to relax, don't worry that I don't know were everything is because I'm new. He was right, that first hour I was a bit flustered and worried. I even heard a customer say, I bet it's his first day, I don't give him long. Well after that I relaxed and chatted to customers while serving. I really started to enjoy myself after that. I only took a less than 10min break to get some subway because it was more interesting behind the bar on a Friday night. Having a quite pint after my shift and talking to a customer (who happens to be an American who is selling fighter planes to the NZ air force) I decided the social aspect of this job is definitely something I will enjoy.

On Saturday I bottled my Bob the Builder pale ale. Brewed for my little brother who is about to turn 21. Then Sunday I bottled my Green Tea Pale Ale, brewed with 2 types of green tea I got from Japan. The problem with these bottles is that I used gelatin to try and get rid of sediment, but the improvement in Wellington weather has seen it not settle and set properly. I hope this happens in the bottle or I may have chunky beer on my hands... eeek

Saturday there were a couple of flat warming and some cool people, I had a great time, even if there was a mad drunk guy at the second party trying to hurt people badly.... another story that one is.

So the everything in between part is Wednesday night, my friend Lucy's birthday byo dinner, I had already eaten but I rocked up with a bottle of red wine, trying to forget my sorrows relating to my last post.... was a fun night got to hang out with an awesome group of people but work training day the next day was not so much fun.

Stick to beer, you will be in the clear. Red wine can be tasty... but beware!

Spring in a few days! :)

Andrew

Lessons learnt, usually the hard way. But on a lighter note - Garage Project!

Writing this early in the morning but not so early that I will make it to the office on time. Go flexi-time.

So I figure complete honesty makes for a good blog, despite the name of the blog. Yesterday I had to face the fact the old saying don't screw the crew (or fall in love with one of them) may be good advice. Everyone knows this is good advice but all too often you have to learn these lessons yourself. Said girlfriend and I broke up a few weeks ago, but learning that she is seeing someone else is more than I can handle. So I talked to her and said I can't talk to her or try and see her for a while. In that respect I am pretty happy I will not work there in a few weeks time :) Hitting the gym at lunch helped a little, but what helped more was a nice golden brown ale by Garage Project at HZ! great roasty malty flavours with a roasty finish with the hops lingering on the back of the tongue and a decent mouth feel, tried a couple of Quebec beers on offer too, very interesting if not both a bit sweet, doppelbocks usually are. Met Pete and the boys from Garage project, great guys, inspiring the work they are doing :) look forward to going and checking out their set up..... plans for a fish curry afterward turned into heavens $10 pizza and a fat yak pale ale.

Also I recommend checking out the TV show breaking bad, it is awesome!

Andrew

Handing in the notice, It becomes official!

Today, I have 3 weeks left as life as a policy analyst. I handed in my notice at around 9:30am, it felt good, dam good! I then had a great phone call with my dad (2 of them actually). Of course both my parents are apprehensive about such a huge career change. I plan to prove to everyone that it is not just a passing interest but one day I will look back on this decision and realize it was a great one to make. Does this mean that I regret my past jobs and experience? no. This just means that I have gone through some life experiences and those have let me on the path of what I want to do with my life. That for me has been the hard part, now is that part that will be hard work, but fun! 

Funny thing about work, if you really like doing it, it feels a lot less like work.  Now for some beer talk, currently drinking a Yeastie boys Motueka Warrior. Big syrupy stone fruit hoppy characters with a long linger, its is rather pleasant but big alcohol so would have it sparingly... nice to sip on slowly. Went for a run up Brooklyn hill after visiting my little brothers new place around the corner, will hurt tomorrow. Hopefully I will get to brewing the "old man's mocha porter" after work tomorrow.

Chow for now,
Andrew

You are only what you put your mind to - A fresh start

Hi Everyone

I am Andrew Childs. I am 27 and live in Wellington, New Zealand (in case anyone reading this did not already know. I am about to embark on a great new adventure. I am going from being a Policy Analyst for a large New Zealand Government Crown entity to being a bar-tender and hopefully sometime assistant-brewer in Bond st here in Wellington. It is going to be a huge change in life-style, from 8:30am-5pmish to well I don't know what the new hours will be! But is exciting. Since I am a qualified lawyer I get a lot of questions asking, why did I do this, what drives you to take a 50 percent pay cut. Well to them I say you have to do what you love. Do I want to be a bartender forever? no. I want to create something that I will love, that others will love. Be that beer, a place that people will come to and enjoy themselves and hang out with friends or meet new friends, this would make me happy.

I had to come to realize what I want in life, what is important to me, what I am passionate about. All signs point to beer, good beer!

I have come along way from drinking $5 jugs of tui at the Victoria University, I have tried many beers from around the world, have developed a taste for what I like and what I don't. Come for this ride with me... While I take you through my life. It will not be all beer all the time, I like to think I am much more rounded than that, but it will defiantly be the major theme of this blog. It has taken me a long time from being a facebook addict to getting to this blog. So I shall try and inform and entertain all of you who are cool enough to follow me in my adventure, any feedback or comments would be awesome, and I will make sure I get pictures and stuff on here soon.

Before I go a couple of thank yous. Thank you to Stella for the idea for the blog name, thanks to Paul for getting me into homebrewing and paying for my craft beers as a poor student, Ben for inspiring me with his blog and to you all for reading.

Chur and talk to you all soon

Andrew