New Year with friends, old and new

The drawback to working in hospitality at this end of the year is that you have to work while others play and, for the most part, that suits me just fine. I still get to do what I love which is to talk about beer a lot and help folk to choose nice beers that I think they’ll enjoy or that will match well with their meals and I get to pour beer for them, which I also love doing. And I can still catch up with friends and family during December sometime.

But New Year’s Eve is a bit different. Your mates can’t reschedule the party because you have to work – New Year’s Eve is New Year’s Eve. It’s a good night to catch up with friends and all their kids, to kick back and talk crap and to just sort of rule a line through the ledger of the year gone and start afresh, mentally. Plus, I believe beer is traditionally consumed at this event.

The restaurant was not only open for dinner on NYE but we were the ONLY game in town. And ours is a smallish ‘village’ kind of town, with a steadily growing population but a cosy community sort of feel to the shopping area. The other six or seven restaurants were all closed so we were pretty full and therefore pretty busy. No chance to sneak away and join the party early! The boss had decided that we would offer a full A La Carte menu rather than a set price special menu but that we would be serving dinner only, no midnight ringing-in, and all out to your parties or fireworks or whatever by 10.30. A good compromise.

So my old friends would have to wait. But there’s a funny thing about the restaurant business – it deals up nice surprises when you least expect it. Rather than regretting that I would not get to the party much before midnight, I found myself making new friends throughout the dining room. Here, seated before me, were a group of people who were out to have a good night, a nice feed and some pleasant company and wanted me and my crew to be a part of it. Young and old, couples and groups, families and old friends. A nice spirit in the room.

Some were after a chat about the history of the building while others were congratulating us on our TV showdown victory. The larger groups in the back room were after a fun night with plenty of liquid social lubrication while others were there to enjoy a few selections from our extensive beer list. And this is where the fun part comes in for me. Being asked to recommend a beer, either to jst drink, or to match with food. A challenge every time, but one that I relish. It is both a privilege and a responsibility when someone you’ve just met charges you with the onerous task of selecting a beer for them.

Rod and Barbara are the sort of people that I have gown to love meeting because they are willing to take a chance on a new beer, they are prepared for the fact that they may choose one that they don’t particularly like and, most importantly, they are a couple who both drink beer! Great! I was asked to select a couple of beers to match up with main course of fillet steak (pepper sauce and garlic cream) as well as a couple of beers to go with a cheese platter and pate. As I said, a new challenge around every corner. I have promised them that I would post a bit about Pale Ales and I am working on that at the moment but, for now, I can tell you that a Little Creatures (US style) Pale Ale works really well with blue cheese and that Unibroue’s La Fin Du Monde strong Belgian ale partnered a treat with the pate.

I got away around 11 and arrived at my NYE party in time to see in the New Year with old friends, family and loved ones and it felt as though I’d been there all night. So, to all those I spent the night with, welcoming in the new and seeing out the old – to friends old and new – my every best wish for 09 and here’s to sampling more craft beers and meeting more new friends.

Cheers
Prof. Pilsner

Answers for Aaron

I met another beer guy in the restaurant on the weekend and he had an enquiry about a Mexican beer called Mexican Bohemia. I hadn’t heard of it and so I promised that I would set my dogs on to it and chase down the details. More than that, I promised that I would get word out to my American blog mates and see if I could get the REAL scoop on this brew. Isn’t the internet thingy great!?!

The source and supplier websites all talk about what a highly sought after and multi-award winning beer Mexican Bohemia is and I never expected anything other than that and so we shall move on. A few beer blogger sites have some glowing remarks to recommend it and others tell me which beers they prefer to this one.

All the comments seem to suggest that the beers best feature is its ‘European-ness’ and the fact that it has been around for a hundred years. Apparently imported into Australia since at least January 08, it has been available only in Mexican restaurants and occasionally through some retailers. I imagine most have steered clear due to the saturation of the Mex beer market by Corona and Sol and, more recently, by Dos Equis.

So the cry for help goes out to my North American bretheren – and any Mexicans who may have stumbled across the worldwide beery phenomenon that is Beer Blokes. What is the true story of his fabled brew? Who drinks it and when?

Thanks for your interest, Aaron. The beer world is getting smaller and smaller and the answers should come in shortly. Otherwise we’ll both have to go with company line that it is a truly international standard Pilsner style but ‘rich in hops and corn’ and ‘a delight to drink’.

Cheers,
Prof. Pilsner

“I only drink Carlton Draught”

That was the first thing he said to me as the group settled themselves in for dinner. Saturday night, 7.30 booking, work group out for their Christmas get together, I only drink Carlton Draught. Just another shift in any other restaurant in Melbourne.

A funny bloke, we got off to a flyer when I had his beer in front of him before he had finished his ‘warning’ and this theme continued throughout the night. I was running the restaurant and just popping out to the back room the group had to themselves as often as I could, as a couple of other boys on the table had decided to try a few ‘different’ beers.

With each beer order these guys made I gave them a story or an interesting fact about the brewer or the history of the style and before long they were flagging me down for another ‘beer fact’ or to settle an argument or a question they had. Remember, these guys were a bunch of ‘tradies’ and their partners who had never really been exposed to beer other than mainstream golden lagers from the big brewers. As the night continued one of the girls joined in with a few beers and the others were beginning to ask questions and get into the spirit of the whole beer thing.

And throughout all of this, Mr Carlton Draught stuck true to his brand – although he did start showing just a hint of interest in what the boys down the other end of the table were getting into. A few well chosen jabs at his mates just to keep them honest as much as too assert his position as the ‘Beer Loyalist’. His mates went from Kingfisher to Leffe Blond and into Budvar all in matching badged glassware while he stuck to the Draught with a passion and a couple of wise cracks at his ‘boutique poofter mates’.

And then it happened. Slowly but surely his interest turned into .. whatever comes just after interest... advanced interest, maybe. His glare turned into a gaze and his quips turned into questions. “What’s this one?” he asked as the boys were poured a Shlenkerla Rauchbier. “Looks a bit darker than that last one.” This comment was made with the deft observation of a seasoned expert. That is to say, a seasoned expert capable of spotting the difference between a smoky Smoke Marzen beer and a crystal clear Czech pilsner. To be fair, he HAD started enjoying the fact that his Carlton Draught was being drunk from a nice glass.

One of the boys passed the stylish stein down to CD and he summoned up the courage to bring it to his nose for a sniff. “That’s different,” he says as if this is the sort of thing he does every day of the week. “Go on, mate, ‘ave a sip”, says his mate. With his mates’ eyes burning into his scone, he cautiously raises the glass to his gob. Expecting the worst I took a step back. He sips, smacks his lips and pauses thoughtfully as he looks up.

“That’s not bad”. That’s amazing. Not only did he not hate it, but he actually liked it! OK, so it’s no miracle on 42nd St kind of moment, but it’s significant. What’s even more amazing is that after another round (he wandered back to Carlton Draught for his next) he even decided that when the boys went for the ‘big finish’, he’d join them, regardless of what I chose for them. So Kwak it was, in its distinctive wooden stand – complete with history lesson – and while it didn’t move him like the smoke beer had, again he didn’t hate it. Another small win for the Beer Bloke.

He may not go out tomorrow and start filling his beer fridge with imported specialty beers or local craft beers but maybe, just maybe, he will tell some of his mates down at the footy club about how he discovered that the beer world doesn’t begin and end with Carlton Draught afterall. And that’s a win for all of us.

Cheers,
Prof Pilsner