Dealing with the hot weather.

The weather is unusually hot yet perfect for the weekend. 30 degrees is the perfect temperature. As I set out for the Southbank Boulevard region of Melbourne, I could feel the excitement grow. I arrived about 5 minutes early yet by the time I had signed in a group of others had arrived on a bachelor party. Within minutes it was ready to start and the first sample came out. It was a Hoegaarden, a wheat beer. I was told to look at the cloudiness of the colour, and find the citrus in the taste. I was also told that this is a good starting beer as there is no bitterness.

The guy who was telling me all this was Charles Coll, a guy with the most enviable job. He is an expert beer guru. He works as a writer for beer industry magazines. He stated a typical day would be waking up at 9.30 in the morning to collect a sample slab, and then test it all day. What a job. After giving us the description of a hard days work, we moved into an area set aside for the purpose of the day – drinking. Sorry I meant beer appreciation.

I felt like I was back in school with the way the tables were set up, except that instead of books, there were glasses. Different types of glasses. The teacher went on describing the merits of different glasses, the mixing of food and beer, the reasons why some women are beer averse, how Budwieser made Asian beer, and why monks became expert brewers, as I went about appreciating the slow trickle of beer coming my way.

The beer that surprised me most was pinky/red. It was a desert beer. I had not even thought about a red beer, let alone making beer taste like cherry. It was matched with chocolate mousse. It was heavenly, think a beery cherry ripe. Maybe, not so good for an all nighter yet definitely a refined way to end a meal.

Afterwards we were put to the test, and I hooked up with these guys on another bachelor party. After trying a few other brands of beer, they went to kick on at the casino and asked me to come along. I went with them to the casino and we went to eat. The mood pretty much died from their as over consumption started to creep in and I split. I was thinking it was a fantastic day and went home to sleep it off in a beery dream world.

And the best way to enjoy beer, in its pure form.