The latest meeting of the ABC was held at Sirens Bar & Restaurant in Gungahlin. This was the second meeting to be held at Sirens after the committee was very impressed with the standard of beer, food and service provided back in 2011. It’s safe to say that we weren’t disappointed this time around either, as the staff there put on another fantastic evening.
The meeting featured beers from Matso’s brewery in Broome Western Australia, along with a hostess provided to deliver information about each beer, and a menu selected by Sirens head chef.
Matso’s website states: “at the helm of Matso’s Broome Brewery we are fortunate to have the services of Marcus Muller, a Master Brewer who has over 16 years brewing experience around the world. Marcus combines the finest natural ingredients, traditional time honored brewing techniques and modern technology, to produce a range of beer styles that -above all else- aim to deliver flavour.”
Well we certainly got plenty of flavour from the beers, and the chef provided a fantastic menu designed to match these flavours.
As we got settled in for the evening, Dan Gaul welcomed ABC members (I don't think we had any guests) to our 20th gathering and served us up a Matso's Pearler's Pale Ale at 4.5% ABV. It’s a drinking beer, not a thinking beer, and is very easy to down quickly, which certainly happened to all of our beers.
The night started with Tiger Prawns in a Thai Red Curry Broth with Soba Noodle and Asian Greens, accompanied with Matso’s Ginger Beer at 3.5% ABV. The curry was hot (as all curries should be), making a few of the boys work up a sweat while eating it. Luckily the Ginger from the beer was a great match with the Asian flavours in the curry, making the ice cold ginger beer a perfect match for this dish.
At the beginning of the second course our beer hostess took a liking to Neville Betts and decided to throw herself into his lap. Unfortunately for Nev she was carrying a tray of the next beer offering at the time, which ended up all down his front, making it look like he had bladder control issues. While the poor hostess was mortified at this occurrence, no one else was too worried as, let’s face it, there was a chance the Neville was going to end up looking this by the end of the night anyway.
So the following beer was Matso’s Smokey Bishop. This beer is classed as a dark lager at 4.7 % ABV. This beer was the best beer of the night for me, a lovely dark, crisp lager, allowing the flavour of the light and dark Munich and chocolate malts to shine through. This was accompanied by Scotch Fillet resting atop Wilted Spinach and Chat Potatoes with the Chef’s special sauce. I noticed a few of the lads were concerned as to what the chef’s special sauce just might be, but all fears were allayed when it turned out to be a chocolate Jus. And while the menu might have listed the Scotch Fillet to be resting on the spinach and potatoes, it certainly didn’t get to rest for long as it was wolfed down by the hungry ABC members. (Yes we love meat) Another thing I learnt from this course was that my wife is right, everything does go with chocolate.
The next course was a cheese and fruit platter, accompanied by Matso’s Mango Beer, which is a Mango infused Belgian Blonde Beer at 4.5% ABV.
The Beer Judging Certification Program (BJCP) guidelines class this as a fruit/ vegetable beer (yes, beer is a vegetable too) and you can certainly taste the Mango fruitiness coming through the Belgian Pilsner malts, making this a healthy beer to drink. Remember, beer can be included in the recommended servings of five fruit and vegetables a day.
The last beer for the evening was presented by our hostess as a “surprise” beer and we were encouraged to just hook in and throw down a glass full, to get a special experience from this beer. Now my past experience with attractive long haired blond girls who suggest I just hook in and enjoy the experience has never turned out well, so I decided to have a small taste of the beer offered. And I was glad I did. It turned out we were trying Matso’s Chilli Beer at 4.2% ABV , a wheat based chilli infused beer.
Now I have had beers that have a hint of chilli in the past, and I quite liked them. But this had a whole heap of chilli added, and it had the potential to raise your blood pressure. I’m really glad I got to experience this beer. I’m also glad I didn’t buy a case of it. I also heard a few of the boys had some concerns with this beer along the lines of if you eat chillies they burn your ring on the way out, what does it burn when you drink them? Happy to report there were no ill effects at my end.
As usual we enjoyed a few more beers along with a never ending raffle and some great conversation to finish off the night. Thanks must go to Dan Gaul and a his staff at Sirens, Matso’s brewery as well as our beer hostess who did a great job, even if Nev had some explaining to do when he got home.
Make sure you keep an eye out for the next ABC evening. Apparently there is no truth in the rumour it is being held at a Brazilian Churrasco restaurant in Dickson.
This night gets our 2nd ever 5 out 5:-
Report prepared by Matt Garven (Mattress) May 2013.
