Feral's Royal Albert takeover

Feral's tap takeover at Royal Albert

Steeped in history, the Royal Albert Hotel is in the dead-set middle of Surry Hills, a close inner-city suburb located a bar-hop, skip and a jump away from Sydney's Central Station. This extraordinarily popular local pub hosts tap takeovers, which promote the local craft beer industry. On the 14th July our friends from Feral Brewing in Western Australia provided what some could argue as one of the best craft beer shows this side of Sydney.

Twelve beers were available on tap, with an awe-inspiring set of tasting notes for each beautifully crafted beer. Although the Royal Albert is somewhat of a small pub, it appeared that every craft beer lover came out that night to try and drink Feral dry. How packed was the Royal Albert in readiness to drink Feral's brews? This here gives you a very good insight. Fancy a Japanese train ride? :-/

Hop Hog 5.8%

Once inside, my friends Sam, Leigh and I had varying ideas of which beer to drink first. Sam and I agreed to go with Australia's hottest craft beer (as voted by Australian craft beer lovers), Hop Hog.  As the beer states it is an "...American style India Pale Ale" with a dose of "American Hops......to give Hop Hog a strong pine needle and citrus aroma, followed by an aggressive bitterness and a dry finish."

An interesting beer, even a damn good one. But I will admit that my Riverside Brewing t-shirt that I wore sparked a little bit of interest, and some debate. "The Hop Hog is good, but the 77 is better," one bemused customer said to me as he caught a glimpse of my Riverside t-shirt. I fully agreed with his sentiments. In fact, my earlier post here mentions how these voted beers can be lop-sided. Access and availability are two key factors in helping peoples decisions.

Still, not to knock Feral at all. This was a classy IPA that had all the hallmarks of legendary status. Tastes are like bums; everybody's got a different one. So, onto our next beer it was. I chose the Rust, without looking at the tasting notes. Leigh recommended it as that was his first beer of the night. So, to keep in line with our pack (for now) we chose the said crafty. Waiting to be served was a killer, though...unlike this. So many interested folk in wanting to get their hands on a Feral is something to behold.

Belgian Dubbel 6%

Trust me, though...the wait was worth it. This next little ripper was just phenomenal. By this stage our little rat pack managed to squeeze into the gaming room behind the main bar. Here I was trying to decipher the aroma and texture of this beer, just like trying to decrypt a code at Bletchley Park. I could gather there was some hint of banana aroma and some banana characteristics in this Belgian beer, which copped some criticism. Thankfully, the tasting notes "agreed" with me, stating that "Rust is a strong Belgian Abbey ale style. The aromatic is reminiscent of candied banana is produced from a distinctive imported yeast stain."

Fantapants 7.6%

The next adventure turned to a darker side. Well, a darker beer really which happened to be the Fantapants Red IPA. Such a shame the photo you see on your right is an atrocious attempt at photography. The beer had a deeper red colour to that of the Belgian Dubbel. Described as "...offensively bitter (like some redheads!) but begins slightly sweet, with an aroma of passion fruit and pineapple.  The finish is full-bodied with a hint of biscuit malt." I thoroughly enjoyed this beer, and was looking forward to the next.

It was at this moment I felt like Darth Vader: if you only knew the power of the dark side. Our Karma Citra Black IPA was showcased as a "...relatively new beer style" that  "...sees a high proportion of dark malts combined with

Karma Citra 5.8%

resinous and floral new world American hops. The dark malt adds chocolate and toffee undertones whilst American citra hops add a tropical and citrus hop aroma and flavour." Gosh, what a solid beer this was.

No sooner than we finished Kama Sutra, err....Karma Citra was the one I was most looking forward to: Smoked Porter. I'd recently been brewing some Porters in which one of them had a chipotle chilli in secondary fermentation. Now, apart from the gentle heat it provides, the chipotle chilli is essentially a smoke-dried jalapeno. Of course, the smoked porter didn't have a smoked-dried jalapeno in it but I was curious to see the different characteristics this beer was going to show.

Smoked Porter  4.7%

Although the smoked porter picture is strikingly similar to the Karma Citra picture above, trust me to say that it is indeed a different picture...and, importantly, a different beer. And what a beer it was. Wow. It "...combines the classic coffee and chocolate malt character  true to the Porter style. A subtle smoked hickory flavour comes from the use of smoked beechwood German malts." I've had a few smoked porters in my time, but this one actually stood out for me. Very subtle on the palate, smooth yet immensely enjoyable to drink.

Boris 11.5%

Our last tasting for the night was an absolute kick-ass beer. Absolutely kick-ass. I was gobsmacked at how good this beer really was. I hadn't expected anything from it. In fact, I didn't even expect to drink it on the night. However, Sam and Leigh thought it wise to go out big with a BIG beer.

So big was this beer, in fact, that it made the Russian Army and its artillery supplies look like a solitary tin of baked beans in an empty pantry. The Boris Russian Imperial Stout hit a whopping 11.5%, the biggest beer of the night. Phenomenal. The thing was that it didn't even taste like an 11.5% beer. How brilliant was that? With it's "mocha head" and "viscous full body" it was so high in alcohol that Boris Yeltsin himself came back from the dead to sink a few. No wonder he kept referring to his 'cabinet' meetings. He must've had this on tap!

Boris Yeltsin

Like Boris Yeltsin, we were getting rosy around the checks after a while. So, it was time for us to head home. But what an experience we had. A great line up of beers, tremendous local support from the craft beer community that had everyone wanting more. Feral Brewing done a marvelous (where are you Richie Benaud?) job at such a well-known venue with great bar staff.

I tip my hat off to you, Sirs.

Za vashe zdorovye!

dannbrew@gmail.com