Barons Best Beer In Battle of Britain

It really did happen, but it was also a great excuse to use all those ‘B’ words in a title!

Barons Brewing Company, who were featured and promoted late in November, have taken out the top gong in the JD Wetherspoon International beer festival last week.

Barons was invited to enter and represent Australia in the international category and offered the Barons Black Wattle Original Ale as their signature brew. A very nice amber ale flavoured with native spices, the beer was selected ahead of three other overseas contenders from California, Denmark and Tokyo, and a total of 50 nominations for best beer.

The competition was run in 717 Wetherspoon pubs across the country and attracted votes from some 8500 punters so this was no mean feat, despite what some locals think of the ‘chain’ pubs and the anti-sentiment of some CAMRA factions. I would be interested to hear fro my blog mates in Old Blighty as to their thoughts on the ‘validity’ of the Wetherspoon festival. Either way, I am backing Barons as a legitimate winner, so there. And here’s why ...

Black Wattle Original Ale has been floating around as a bottled brew for about three years and when head brewer Richard Adamson was invited to brew a batch at the prestigious Marston’s Brewery at Burton-On-Trent he specifically designed a version of the Black Wattle that would savour the ‘real ale’ experience – open fermentation, bright filtering, cask conditioning and hand pumping – to ensure a genuine ale rather than a sort of native favoured Aussie standard beer. The local brew went through six different versions and some serious tweaking before being unleashed on the public. That’s brewing dedication, isn’t it?

In addition, the win has attracted some interest from local importers who are looking at getting on board the Barons Squadron and letting our mother country’s beer lovers experience these innovative beers.

Cheers,
Prof. Pilsner

Barons Squadron

Further to my post about the Save The Males campaign being run by the very nice beer people at Baron’s Brewing Company, I have been asked (by the same very nice beer people) to help them out in spreading the word about their very nice beer club, the Barons Squadron.

As I am already signed up, I thought it only proper to agree to such a nice beer request. As they have very kindly offered to give me some of their very nice beer, I agreed even quicker than I normally would have. Thanks, Alison!

Most breweries have a ‘club’ or some other form of ‘sign up’ deal and good on them for that. Sadly, with many, the deal includes little more than a regular newsletter that looks as if it could have been generated in Microsoft Publisher by a marketing-degree-holding laptop jockey who doesn’t even know the company has a brewing division. All flash and no dash. Others seem to forget about you after two or three editions.

The Barons Squadron is a little like the Barons' crew themselves. It’s about the beer, but it’s more than just beer. I have a series on craft brewers in the works and have already assembled posts on about six Australian brewers who are doing the right thing by the beer drinker and I will go into more detail on Baron’s set up later. For now you just need know that from a crew of two blokes and a single beer not too long ago, the business has grown and prospered without losing sight of the principles that got them this far and without becoming all ‘corporate’ and ‘big’.

The Squadron is more than just a data base for the marketing of their gear, too. It is not only informative but a good fun read as well - and sent regularly. Its special offers are a little different to those you may have come across and range from tours and dinners and the usual sort of things through to a chance to put your own stamp on the beer world with the opportunity to join in with beer development groups. Of course, competitions are held regularly for members only so that your loyalty is rewarded as well as your beer drinking bits. You know what I mean.

I will paste a link onto my screen, and hopefully you will be able to see it and then you can join up. Then I won’t feel so bad about being offered free beer. Perhaps I should remain completely independent and politely decline the very nice offer of some very nice beer? No, that would just be rude.

Oh, and for all my friends and pals and old chums across in the Lands Of Real Ale And Bitter and Ordinary Cricket Teams, I have a post coming up about the Barons invasion of the Great British Beer Festival coming up, so you don’t feel left out. And while you may not be able to stroll across for a beer dinner or a brewery tour, sign up for the Squadron anyway and tell ‘em the Beer Blokes sent ya!

If you can find the time to sign up now, you should be in time for the next newsletter which I am assured is a cracker.

... and seriously, you have to check out the Save the Males video. Funny stuff.

Join up http://www.baronsbrewing.com/ here. Not right here, back there a bit where the writing is all coloured in. That's it.

Cheers,
Prof. Pilsner

Save the Males

I’m not all that politically correct. You may have gathered that from actually reading some of the stuff that makes its way from my mind to this blog. Just out of interest, what gave it away? Was it the smattering of boobies throughout the posts? The back-handed compliments given out to men who drink white wine at parties? Maybe it was my propensity to continually use words like ‘dickheadedness’ ‘poofter’ and rarely use words like ‘propensity’? What’s that? It was the boobies? Yeah, they’re my favourite, too!

Anyway, the point is that there is far too much emphasis today on speaking so as to not offend anybody at all ever. Ever. Now, I am a firm believer in the old adage that the man who never made a mistake, never made anything and, to this end, I try to use this blog to make LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS OF THINGS!! I like to think I am doing my bit. Giving the male of the species a voice and the chance to share blokey things like feelings without having to touch each others bottoms.

Another crowd of blokes who are on the same page in this respect are the ones who hang out at a place called Baron’s Brewing Company. Not a brewery, in that they don’t own the equipment to brew beer in, but the makers of some very fine beers nonetheless. I have mentioned them before in these pages and have enjoyed many of their range of beers which include a standard style Pale ale and Lager as well as some beers at the more ‘experimental’ end of the beer world which are flavoured, infused and otherwise enhanced by the addition of native products. I will give you a link to their very well constructed site later, but for now, concentrate. This is important.

Baron’s are launching a Save The Males campaign. Neatly tongue in cheek, it has already raised the ire of the namby-pambies who would rather see us all in grey sack cloth eating water crackers and sipping cold tea and not talking about boobies and it has the support of a cleverly delivered marketing package. Lion Nathan stepped across a similar path recently with their Super Dry ads warning that poofy roller blading and sucky love songs could damage your delicate beer but this is different. For a start, Baron’s beer is very, very drinkable and the range provides a good beer for nearly every taste. Scondly, the ads feature very, very large dongers being chased and intimidated by very, very large ‘gynnies. Funny stuff.

The boys have also launched a competition to see who can come up with a good old fashioned PC incorrect video to support the cause. Check out the site at the address below and see if you can seek out some of their beers, too. Apart from the usual reliable like Cloudwine Cellars, Purvis’ and Sword’s Select you can now get a couple of lines from Dan Murphy’s.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get out and get some Baron’s beers and then make fun of some blokes carrying man-bags. And fellas, they’re purses, despite what you think.

http://www.blogger.com/www.baronsbrewing.com

Cheers,
Prof. Pilsner