Sydney

Sydney has a bit of an odd reputation in Australia. If you ask most people what their favourite part of Sydney is they'll tell you that it's the motorway leading out to other parts. That's unless you talk to a Sydneysider, who will tell you that wanting to live anywhere else is just wrong. In many ways it's like London - those that don't live there like to visit but are happy to leave, and those that do are happy in their inherent superiority because - well, the live in London don't they?

Attititudes aside I enjoyed my time in Sydney. The architecture is Victorian English in many ways, but the feel on the streets is of a more Asian city. There's a lot going on, and you always have the feeling that whichever way you go there's something in the streets that you didn't take that you have missed.

Some random pictures - some from my hotel room, the rest from my morning or evening roamings...
Cargo delivery bikes used by couriers

Darling Harbour, 2 mins walk from my hotel  

Views from my hotel room

 Hyde Park in the dusk, with fruit bats flocking overhead

 The Queen Victoria Building (and shopping centre)

Some bridge or other

There are 4 million odd people in Sydney (almost 20% of the population of Australia!), and I still managed to bump into a friend from Brisbane just before taking this!

Warning

If someone in Sydney's Chinatown warns you that a dish is hot, pay attention. I'm used to spicy curries from my days in Manchester and often bemoan the lack of decent spicy food in Brisbane, but this has me suffering 20 minutes later despite the beer. God knows what it will do to my innards...

Daylight savings

I understand the point behind daylight savings and why it divides city & country folk. I dislike the view (rolled out in both the UK and Australia) that anyone who's against daylight savings is a country hick. I know Australia is a bloody big country. But I'm still confused as to why it's still light in Sydney at 8 pm, even though it's only an hour ahead of Brisbane (where it will be dark at 6.30).
Still, any excuse for a monorail picture...and also the tanks at the Redoak brewery pub, just down the road from my hotel. They have a summer beer which is flavourfull yet flat and charmless. I just hope mine turns out better than this.
Edit - their wheat beer however is very tasty....

Planes, trains and automobiles

On my way to Sydney this bleary grey morning. I have an afternoon meeting and then two days of work, and I've arranged to stay Friday night and meet up with an old friend on the Saturday. Because of this I thought I'd take the train to the airport, which means I don't need to worry about having a few beers before the flight home.

I'm one of those organised people that hates to get to the airport late. Anything later than an hour before an internal flight is cutting it fine (this is probably due to too many huge queues on charter flights from the UK, where you could join the check-in queue with 90 minutes to go and still be pressed to make your flight). Of course with the marvels of online check-on this is no longer an issue, but better safe than sorry.....

Anyway, 10 minutes into my journey through the grey drizzle I get a text telling me my flight is delayed by half an hour. Which means I get to the airport around an hour and a half before departure

A lot of my colleagues would see this as an opportunity to whip out the laptop and catch up on some work stuff. I've got nothing pressing on so I'm just kicking back reading my book....*shhhhh*

Edit later this evening....got into Sydney around an hour late. I was travelling in 'casual' gear and needed to change into my suit, and my bag had obviously been left out in the train because the shirt and jacket was wet. Then I waited for a cab for 20 minutes and we got stuck in traffic. Still, I can add an extra transport option because I can see a monorail from the hotel room!

Airport cliches

Tattooed rock bans arguing excess baggage allowances - check
Asian gentleman wandering around on a face mask - check
Confused lady wondering why she can't carry scissors on in her hand baggage - check
Screaming child - check
Lady talking continual doggeral at her two year old next door who keeps throwing stuff on the floor - check

Brews news

I've been quietly but persistently brewing over the last few months.

My pilsner turned out OK  - it had a slightly buttery aftertaste (which I think was due to diacetyl being produced because I couldn't regulate the fermentation & conditioning temperatures) but at least one taster commented on that being a good thing.

My pale ale (brewed with exactly the same ingredients as the pilsner but with a different yeast) was recognisably different. More flavours, a slightly fuller mouthfeel. More ale-y, which of course isn't surprising. It was favourably compared to Coopers Pale which I was pretty chuffed about. The only problem with it is that it tended to be very lively in the bottle, gushing out in a foaming snake if not handled extremely gently.

I realised that I had enough ingredients sitting in my store to make a full beer, so my 'left over bitter' was created. Pale malt, crystal malt, dextrose, hallertau hops. Simple but very quaffable, in the style of an English bitter. It made me realise that I've been playing around with pale ales a lot, so once it colls down a bit I'll get back to my roots and get some more bitter on the go.

I also tried an experimental smoke beer. Even thirds of smoked malt, pale malt and wheat with some pepper added at the end of the boil. There was a bit of confusion at the homebrew shop and I ended up getting a kg more fermentables than I was expecting, so I threw that all in. I also backed the hops off on this one to try and let the smoke come through. It didn't and the malt overpowered the other flavours. In an attempt to give it a bit more character I added extras to the secondaries - one with liquid smoke, one was dry hopped, one was dry hopped and had liquid smoke and the final one was left as is. Still waiting for this one to fully condition, but the samplers I've had so far aren't that impressive.

I've got high hopes for my spring summer ale and I'm keen to see if the use of spring water reduces the aftertaste I've been getting. That went in the bottle on Friday so there's still a couple of weeks to wait. And 30odd labels to write.

And finally my much-requested ginger beer is still bubbling away gently. I'll leave it one more week in the fermentor and bottle direct instead of racking it off to a secondary - that way it will be ready for xmas.

Speaking of experimental brews, I tried these the other evening

Mikkeller black (17.5%ABV), and Mikkeller Santas Little Helper (a puny 10.9% ABV). Both were brewed to that strength, not distilled, and that really is masterful brewing which shows a real understanding of how to get the best out of their ingredients. They were both - interesting, with the Black being a thick oily 'imperial stout' that I should have photographed but was too excited about drinking to remember. Definately worth a try, but only occasionally.

Needless to say I slept well that night.

Don't eat my shorts

I saw this label when Xmas shopping today.


Does that really need to be said?