Current mood:
anxious
Right with our flight home upon us, here come the end of holiday Beerwatch Awards. Awards that can make or break a brewery and are taken as seriously by the industry as they were by us, the Professional Sampling Jury. 38 different beers were sampled (not all on the same day, although occasionally it felt like it).
Chairman of Jury – Mr M Rangecroft, many years experience in this tricky field. Never been proved that he has taken a bung or allowed his professional judgement to be impared (except after about 10 pints).
Senior Beertaster – Ms G Summercroft, a fairly new recruit to the cut throat world of professional beer tasting, but took to the role like a duck to water, or should that be like an alchie to drink?
Best Turned out Beer (best looking beer)
Winner: Heiwa "the beer of Hiroshima"
A very pretty beer in that it looked almost ginger in the glass. Ginger's don't win many things, so our first award goes to our ginger beer, Heiwa.
Honourable Mentions:
Asahi Black – looked like Guinness, never a bad recommendation
Yebisu Black – as above
Bravaria – came in a nice bottle, pity about the taste
Most Improved Beer
Winner: Victoria Bitter (VB)
After an inauspisious start and coming with a huge weight of under expectation, we warmed to VB (George warmed to it straight away, I took more convincing). Its revival was complete when we had a few beesr before the cricket at the MCG and lost on about 8 VB promotional scratchcards on the trot.
Honourable Mentions
XXXX Gold – improved as the evening wore on I recall. Before we passed out, it was very drinkable
Suntory Malt – not one of the Japs finest, but surprising what you'll drink after the shock of an earthquake
Best Serious Beer (not one of your girly lager beers)
Winner: Asahi Black
Would have won more awards I'm sure but for my reluctance to order it as I can't pronounce Asahi. Went very well when you drank it half and half with Asahi Super Dry, but that entailed saying Asahi twice, so that was ordered even less often.
Honourable Mentions
Hiewa "the beer of Hiroshima" – this almost won, but we wanted to avoid accusations of a bias towards Hiroshima, or of drinking too heavily whilst there.
Yebisu Black – excellent beer for drinking when you are snowed in somewhere, this could be their marketing line I think. Would go down a storm in the Arctic Circle on that basis.
Best Individual Pint
Winner: Tooheys Extra Dry in Alice Springs
Runaway winner in this category. Just try spending 3 days in your oven and then let us know what you think of the first chilled thing you drink afterwards. It could be cold horses pee and it would still be soooo good. NB: The people from Tooheys Brewery Inc. have asked me to make it clear that I'm in no way suggesting that their drink compares to horses pee. The people from Budweiser asked me to do the same, but I said no.
Honourable Mentions
Carlton Cold – drank frequently on hot days in Darling Harbour and always hit the spot.
Cascade Blonde – also very cold and refreshing in the aussie heat
Beer most likely to give Hangovers
Winner: Asahi Super Dry
We're not sure whether this is the "Benny" factor coming into play, but George does seem to have had a lot of hangovers in the past few weeks and this is her drink at Benny's Place.
Honourable Mentions
Sapporo – my drink at Benny's (a pattern does seem to be forming doesn't it?)
VB – again this could be a quantity thing, but we'll put it in to forewarn anyone else against the dangers of 12 pints of VB!
Worst Beer
Winner: Beez Neez
Whilst we're loathed to deprive Budweiser of their 8th win in 9 years in this category, Beez Neez was awful. One of the only beers we didn't actually finish a pint of, it made bees shudder due to the sweetness and stickiness. Much like McDonalds BBQ sauce, good for dipping chips in, but not great by the pint.
Honourable Mentions
Budweiser – consistently crap year on year
Bravaria – flattered to deceive after a nice flowery bottle. Spend less on design guys and more on the hops.
Best Beer in a Supporting Role (with food for example)
Winner: VB
Easily quaffed with Chicken Parmagarna, and equally at home supporting a meat pie or even late breakfast!
Honourable Mentions
Carlton Cold – went very well with a meat (not specified) pie at the cricket. In fact one of the few highlights we had watching cricket!
Asahi Super Dry – with popcorn and pistachios from Sam's Bar it worked very well, but I feel after a struggle it would have overpowered a meat pie or Chicken Parma
Best Bar
Winner: Benny's Place, Yokohama
Any bar that can provide you with front row seats at the overbooked Superbowl party, and then, in no particular order over the past couple of weeks, 2 free t-shirts which you will no doubt see us modelling at some stage, free beers (on occasion), a free Baileys coffee mug, a free Smirnoff ice bandana, 2 x Jack Daniels tie pins, the best Nacho's in Japan (not free) and 2 free umbrellas the night it was raining and we left the bar (accompanied by a shout of, "don't bother bringing them back"), has to merit serious consideration. Coupled with the fact that that they were excellent hosts to us on many an occasion and never threw us out despite us having one too many sometimes.
Honourable Mentions
Sam's Bar, Hiroshima – crazy Sam and his constantly filling bowls of popcorn and pistachios. Only downside was that he had Bud on tap and took the piss out of me for not being able to say Asahi.
The Fortune Inn, Sydney – our first experience of a Schooner and then later that some night our 12th experience of a schooner. Live music and drunken singing (and that was just George).
Summerfield Award for Special Achievement
Winner: Cascade Blonde
Quote from the judge "just coz I liked it, Pale (pause for 5 seconds) …..Ale. Yes she really did give that insight into her decision making process, so I couldn't be arsed asking about Honourable Mentions.
Best Overall Beer
Winner: Sapporo Black Label
After a fist fight between the judges to determine the winner, we settled on Sapporo, as how many other places can you get snowed into where they actually make it – what bad luck eh? George says it doesn't go well with chocolate, but I say that's not a very healthy combination anyway (as I open my peanuts and popcorn)
Honourable Mentions
Asahi Super Dry – George's fav in Japan, despite the constant headaches that occurred about 8 hours after drinking it.
Cascade Blonde – as George would say, "Pale………………………..Ale"
So there we have it, a comprehensive survey carried out on behalf of anyone who wants to travel to this part of the world. Whilst it may not rank alongside the Nobel Prize's or the Oscar's, I think you'll find far more pain was endured by the judges involved in Beerwatch than by some old dear who has to choose between, Leonardo Di Caprio, Jack Nicholson or Matt Damon.
BeerWatch is a trademark and this event was sponsored by Sapporo Beer, The Portman Building Society and Endemol Television.
The Final Overall List
94 Sapporo Black Label – current leader very tasty, almost with a creamy aftertaste, like a latte beer – only in Japan my friends
93 Asahi Half & Half – the best of both worlds – ancient meets modern if you will. George wasn't a huge fan, but after a day of taking my shoes off every 20 mins to go into another temple/shrine/palace etc.. it really hit the spot!
92 Asahi Super Dry "the beer for all seasons" – very good, removes 98% of all octopus traces, leaving just a fish finger sort of aftertaste
91 Heiwa "the beer of Hiroshima" – excellent darker beer, good with noodles which is essential in this part of the world
90 Tooheys Extra Dry – bear in mind this was the first beer I had after 3 days in hell. So I may be biased, but boy it tasted good.
89 Yebisu Black – this was like a roasted beer, very good at keeping out the cold, which was essential in Sapporo
88 Asahi Black – very nice, like Heiwa a darker beer. Very good mixed half and half with Asahi normal. A good "one for the road" beer
87 Carlton Draft – is the current beer of choice, very refreshing and takes away the taste of some of the other god awful beers we've tried below. Rating increased as I needed to drink several of these to get rid of the taste of Beez Neez
86 Grand Ridge Natural Blonde – ooh very nice. Cloudy beer tastes a little like hoegarrden but with a terrys chocolate orange aftertaste
85 Kaitikushi Beer – another from the beer museum, Sapporo. Not a great, but a good.
84 Carlton Cold – already rated
83 Sapporo Classic – like Sapporo's second team. Good as a substitute, but not the real deal like its brother, Black Label
82 James Boags premium – beer from Tasmania that tastes like its from germany, how queer?? Very good all the same and eases the nerves before flights a treat!
80 Little Creatures Bright Ale – although it tasted like it was actually made from little creatures, this did lend it a unique quality
78 VB – rating increased again as its taste is becoming more familiar. I had a similar experience with Kronenberg at home. Its takes some time becoming your friend, but then goes from strength to strength!
77 Kirin beer – ok, and in the same class as your aussie staples, but no octopus killer this one!
77 Yebisu – a good quaffing beer, but more in the aussie league than japanese
77 Orion – made by those clever people at Asahi, but not as good. Must be made specifically for dumasses who can't pronounce Asahi
77 Pure Blonde – a low carb beer, which clearly goes against the grain for me, its like de-caffinated coffee – what is the point?? Still as beers go, not a bad taste and given that I really don't know exactly what a carb is, no great loss on that front.
77 XXXX Gold – Several schooners of this and you forgot how bland it was – gives awful hangover (Gxx)
77 Coopers Pale Ale – George's fav, cloudy but tasty
77 Heineken – ok, but not a patch on the stuff you get when in Holland
76 Suntory Malt – they make whisky, and this must be the off-product left over?
76 Redback Ale – Another cloudy beer, this is why I have a headache today
75 Cascade Pale Ale – Another George discovery, she is pale ale queen
74 Carlton Mid – already rated, v average
73 Cascade Blonde – another of George's beers, very drinkable
72 James Squires Honey Ale – ok so not "honey", more "waxy", but drinkable
71 Tooheys New - already rated
69 Crown – made by the same people who run the massive Melbourne casino, but strangely not as addictive as their gaming tables
67 Shiga Kogen Ale – our hotels favourite beer. Not very good and still reeling from the price of dinner was unable to be rational in the face of £4 for a half
62 Hahn Light – George claimed I was drunk when I tasted this, but it seemed not as tasty as the others. May try again when in less of a state
61 James Squires Pilsner – a bit dull really, but we'd had a few by this stage!
56 Bravara – a sort of brazilian beer, that tasted like rainforest rain (of nothing), this can be counted as a proper tasting as I was sober on this occasion
48 Fosters – just crap
44 Cascade Regular – wash your socks in this
22 Beez Neez Honey Ale – have you ever drunk a pint of honey??? Shamelessly left half of it and still was getting rid of the honey coating after 5 pints of detoxifying Carlton
13 Budweiser – it just tastes of water, how do they perfect that??
determined
creative