It turns out that New Zealand was not ready for a serious rival to Trade Me – well, the Wheedle website certainly was not ready. Part of the reason for this blog’s incredible longevity [1] is that it focuses on the issues which really matter – mainly craft beer admittedly but also food and music. Today’s post covers beer (St Austell) and music (Adam Page).
Since 1851, St Austell Brewery has been making traditional ales and real ales in Cornwall, an English county famous mainly for the humble tastiness of the Cornish Pastie and the fish loving wisdom and charm of television chef Rick Stein. The brewery was founded by Walter Hicks who mortgaged his farm for the then princely sum of £1,500 and it has remained in private ownership ever since. With numerous descendents of Walter Hicks still involved in operations, St Austell is one of the very few independent family brewers left in the United Kingdom.
St Austell Proper Job (5.5%) is an IPA with a bit of a twist. Using local Maris Otter malt and three American hop varieties, this bitter golden ale has hints of pine, resinous hops, grapefruit and grass. Brewed since 2005, Proper Job is “dedicated to the 32nd (Cornwall) Regiment who stoutly defended their garrison during the Indian Mutiny in 1857-58. In recognition of a ‘Proper Job’, Queen Victoria awarded the 32nd the honour of becoming a Light Infantry Regiment.” It is not known if the brewery is concerned by the possible irony of naming an India Pale Ale after a colonial battle which was fought against Indians.
Brewed to mark the 200th anniversary of Nelson’s Triumph at the Battle of Trafalgar, St Austell Admiral’s Ale (5%) is an Extra Special Bitter (ESB) made with local malt and hops. It is a dark bronze ale with a spicy fruitcake nose, full biscuity body with a hint of berry, and a fairly bitter finish.
Their best selling beer by a considerable margin is St Austell Tribute (4.2%), an English Pale Ale. Again, it uses local Cornish Gold and Maris Otter malts, with a mix of Fuggles, Styrian and Willamette hops. Less assertive and bitter than American Pale Ale styles, Tribute has notes of orange zest, tropical fruit salad and caramel. Unlike the other St Austell beers which were inspired by war and bloodshed, Tribute was created to commemorate the 1999 solar eclipse. [2]
The next Malthouse Sunday Session will be held on 14 October 2012 from 3pm and will feature the multi-instrumental musical talents of Adam Page and the Clockwork Browns. [3] There will be special prices for jugs of Tuatara and Coopers which is appropriate because Adam is originally from Adelaide and is a huge fan of Tuatara Brewery.
The first time I saw Adam perform, his entire band (The Adelaide Sax Pack) were wearing Tuatara t-shirts and drinking Tuatara beer on stage. If someone had previously told me that I would attend – far less enjoy – a gig with four guys playing saxophones on stage I would have smacked them for being a damnable Whig. I was wrong. From the track which included dozens of eighties songs through to the toe-tapping mash-up encore of Killing in the Name of Frosty [4], I was hooked.
It turns out that people with far greater musical ability than me [5] think Adam Page is a seriously talented dude. Tim Minchin, an incredible pianist and comedian with a global cult following, said of Adam “it is a rare treat to see a musician with such a masterful grasp of his craft performing with such effortless charisma, humour and inventiveness. I was blown away.”
I cannot recommend Adam more highly. If you need proof he is real musician, he has a MySpace page and nobody outside the music biz has one of those any more. [6] Apart from the music, he is quite famous for his trademark bushy beard. It has been admired, stroked, had small plastic dinosaurs put in it and, on occasion, Adam has played it as a musical instrument. In the history of the world, there have only been four men to look good with a beard – Jesus, Sean Connery, Gandalf the Wizard and Adam Page.
On a final musical note, during last week’s Oktoberfest celebrations I finally figured how to make oompah music awesome. I would simply have them play the Star Wars Cantina Band song on an endless loop. Perfect. The Cantina Band song is certainly no less German than “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary” which was repeatedly played at Oktoberfest despite it being a song sung by British soldiers in World War One while they were fighting the Germans…
[1] This is blog post number 187 for those who are keeping track at home.
[2] The BBC concentrated their eclipse coverage on Cornwall. However, because Cornwall is in England, it rained on the big day.
[3] Trust me, you absolutely do not want to know the origins of the Clockwork Brown name.
[4] Easily the best quadruple saxophone version of Rage Against the Machine’s anarchist anthem mixed with a Christmas carol I have heard.
[5] People with more musical talent than me can broadly be defined as “the entire human race apart from Justin Bieber, Posh Spice and Paul Holmes.”
[6] On this MySpace page there is a button to “Bring Adam Page to Wellington”. Given he now lives here, it must have been the last thing on MySpace to actually work.
Cheers
Neil Miller
Beer Writer
Beer and Brewer Magazine
Links
Wheedle – http://www.wheedle.co.nz/
St Austell Brewery Official Website – http://www.staustellbrewery.co.uk/
Adam Page Official Website – http://adampage.prosite.com/
Adam Page Official MySpace – http://www.myspace.com/adampagemusic
Killing in the Name of Frosty – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUxsGtNFJW8
Star Wars Cantina Band – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_ElSUstqdI&feature=fvwrel
Malthouse Facebook – www.facebook.com/pages/Malthouse/7084276173
Malthouse Twitter – www.twitter.com/#!/malthouse
Malthouse Taps on Twitter – www.twitter.com/#!/MalthouseTaps
Neil Miller on Twitter – www.twitter.com/#beerlytweeting