Karen Golding from Red Hill sent off a keg of their very delicious and very limited seasonal Hop Harvest to The Local Taphouse with a special gift and a bit of a challenge to the beer’s fans. Simply say the word “Hoporific” when ordering a glass of Hop Harvest and The Local would give you the serve for free and Karen would give you a gift pack containing a bottled version of the Hop Harvest and a particularly nice Red Hill goblet style glass. Nice.
Being the Beer Bloke that I am and keen for a beery challenge, I taped away at the comments box and immediately tried to scam the prize by way of a ‘mail order’ – no joy, but then my expectations weren’t high. That was eight days ago.
So last night at Ale Stars I prop at the bar nice and early to get in a quick pre-game loosener – Red Hill Hop Harvest, no less, - and notice that Shandy has just finished one of the same. We complete another successful Ale Stars meeting and hit the bar again some three hours later and grab a quiet ‘finisher’. No prizes for guessing which beer. No, literally, no prizes.
Simon K is at the bar with us. You may recall that Simon is the bloke recently referred to in this blog as “Lucky” due to the fact that he (A) gets there early enough every session to grab the comfy couches and (B) because he is nearly always the only bloke in the company of some of the Local’s nicest and finest-looking ladies. Simon strolls up after we order, looks at our choice, orders same (Red Hill Hop Harvest) and casually enquires; “Who got the free one for being the first to say ... oh, what was it ... ummmm .... Hoppy? Hoopy? Hoppo? ... ahhhhhhh .... “HOPORIFIC”?
“You just did, mate. Well done.”
“You’re fair dinkum shittin’ me” Shandy and I chorus in unison.
When we left an hour later, Simon was still smiling, unable to believe his luck and Guy was still laughing at us.
Cheers
Prof. Pilsner
