Ale Stars at the Local Taphouse

Well, this blog is rapidly morphing into a place for us to upload anything to do with food or drink we feel is interesting… So its probably time I wrote about my experience of being an “Ale Star”, a beer club that is run out of The Local Taphouse in St Kilda East.



I’ve been going there for a few years now and hazellee and I (gammagum) are both members. This means we pay an annual membership fee, and end up at the local once a month for a beer tasting, as well as getting an Ale Stars shirt and beer mug, with our own little locker to keep it in! Cute!

These monthly catch ups are usually pretty memorable… although of course there has been a few that I struggle to remember at all! But mainly it’s a line up of interesting beers and speakers, with great company and a real community feel to it. If you want more info, check out the Taphouse’s blog here



So to our last session - Tuesday night! This month, we had a visit from the Beer Ambassadors, three guys who went off to the States with a mission to visit 25 craft breweries in 25 days. Here’s what the Local had to say:

“The craft beer scene in the US leads the way in many regards when it comes to innovation and experimentation. Here in Australia we’re playing catch up fast but still regard ourselves to be several years behind the US market acceptance of craft beer, consumer uptake and brewer confidence. The Beer Ambassadors, not content to take the word of others, made the trip to the US themselves to experience craft beer at its burgeoning best. The Ambassadors set themselves the task of visiting 25 breweries in 25 days to discover as much about the US scene as they could and return with their livers intact. The following beers represent some of the diversity in beer styles they encountered.”

We tried 4 beers (plus I had a few sneaky ales between tasters) and here’s what we thought of them! You should note that we are not brewers and we don’t have a very functional understanding of how beer is produced. But we love to try new styles and encourage all wine/beer drinkers to do the same!

Lagunitas – A Little Sumpin’Sumpin’ Ale (American Wheat – 7.3%)
I should say this upfront – I am not a fan of wheat beers. Sorry. But this didn’t seem to fit as a wheat beer at all. In fact, I think I quite liked it! It smelt amazing, like it would be choc full of hops. And the taste was very crisp and malty, but bitter in its finish. It also carried a bit of sweetness and we also got a bit of citrus. But we thought that the hops started to really come through as it warmed up and also became less bitter towards the end of the glass. Lots of us commented that the one sample (maybe 100 – 150mL?) was not quite enough. Shandy (our Ale Stars leader!) said he was getting bready/wheaty flavours… but we thought you maybe needed a larger glass served a few degrees warmer to get that.

Avery – IPA (American IPA – 6.3%)
Mmm IPA, my favourite! Wait, it’s an American IPA? Even better! As you would expect, loaded with hops and smelt amazing. My only legible tasting note is the one that says ‘yum, yum, yum’ which is not particularly helpful. Apart from that, what else can I say? This was a super yummy American IPA and I would like to have a few of them in my fridge to come home to every night.

Avery – Salvation (Belgian Strong Pale Ale – 9%)
Phew. 9%!!! The smell of this one was not as pleasant as the first two tasters. I got a lot of banana on the nose, which is not my favourite in a beer, but despite this the taste was surprising. It was very smooth and almost like a tripel. This reminds me of the times we sit down at Cookie to drink some Trappist Ales – it seemed like a session ale to me and something you would sit on for a while in front of a nice, cosy fire.

Left Hand – Milk Stout (Milk Stout – 5.2%)
I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one, although Shandy promptly informed us that we could expect a sweet stout. Sounds good. Then Tom from Mountain Goat told us that their Surefoot Stout also features a lactose powder, so I was keen to try it. And it is a great beer! Sometimes I find the coffee/chocolatty flavours in a really heavy stout a little overwhelming and I cant drink much. But this was like a chocolate milkshake in beer form, which I suppose on paper sounds pretty awful, but was delicious! Yum yum.

In between I has some small tasters of the Bitter & Twisted IPA from Harviestoun Brewery (UK) which was fairly average and not something I would go for again, and the Wig & Pen Velvet Cream Stout, which was delicious. What was most amazing about this beer however was the incredible colour and finish on it – the head was like velvet (hence the name!) and it carried such amazing bitter and sweet characteristics that this is another one I will need to go out and buy.