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Beer has led to many wonderful things in my life. I remember, with vivid detail, the very first time I truly loved a beer. I was 19 years old, it was a stinking hot summer day, and I was sitting with a friend at UQ’s Red Room.  We took a long sip from our glasses, and something about that very ordinary XXXX was intensely refreshing on that sweltering afternoon. And I have been in love ever since.

This year, I decided that one of my goals would be to try as many new beers as possible. What an exciting prospect! I have set off with a cracking start to 2010, ordering anything I can find at bars that is unfamiliar – along the way, I have tried locals, such as Burgleigh Brewing Co’s “Big Head“, and international beers, such as the Fourex of Finland, “Lapin Kulta“, and the more adventurous Finnish “Prykmestar Savu” (smoke beer). And by happy fortune, I went along to a beer tasting at the Platform Bar with my friend Mikael, where I enjoyed my first Stone & Wood Draught Ale, and met Beer Matt, the beer-obsessed genius behind Good Beer Lunches.

Matt’s imparted wisdom stepped up my 2010 New Beer Pledge to whole new level, and since meeting him, I have spent increasing amounts of time at Nectar, Grand Central’s Platform Bar (Brisbane’s best-kept boutique beer-serving secret), and the quite new Archives Beer Boutique Bistro in West End. I have ALSO spent a whole lot more time at various beer tastings – including one of Matt’s mouth-wateringly awesome Good Beer Lunches. You take three courses of delectable food, match them with a variety of beers, slather on a healthy dash of beer education, and you have a recipe for Sunday afternoon success.

Matt’s lunches and tastings are friendly and fun, and he welcomes both beer novices and beer buffs. Jovial and unpretentious, he happily answers all questions that are thrown at him (those that he knows the answers to, anyway), and urges guests to make up their own minds about what they like, what they don’t like, and the sorts of flavours and smells they experience in the beers.

On this particular afternoon, we enjoyed our Good Beer Lunch at the Platform Bar. The beers and food were as follows – and thanks to Matt for letting me steal bits from his tasting notes!

Stone & Wood Draught Ale on arrival
This beer is really enjoyable, and has a fresh, fruity (passionfruit) flavour. Yummo! Would be a great beer on a hot summer day!

Schöfferhofer Hefeweizen matched with Scallops with Tomato Salsa
Schöfferhofer is a cloudy wheat beer from Germany, made cloudy by the “hefe”, or wheat. I’ve had this one before and it’s absolutely sensational! Wheat beer is my favourite variety of beer! It was incredibly light and fresh with the minimalist flavour of the scallops.

Stone & Wood Stone Beer matched with Slow-Cooked Lamb Shanks
The Stone Beer is a dark lager made using the medieval technique of adding red hot stones to the brew kettle to assist with the boil. The hot stones caramelise the sugars and enhance the toffee flavours – which matched the  juicy, sweet, lamb shanks nicely. Incidentally, the lamb shanks were incredible.

Little Creatures Pale Ale with Louisiana Cajun Chicken on Sweet Potato Cake
The Little Creatures is an American-style Pale Ale. I have two things to say of this course: firstly, the chicken breast was a little dry and stringy, which overly-enhanced the spices that I think might otherwise have been quite succulent with a bit of a subtle kick. Secondly, I was pretty inebriated from all the beer up to this point, so I really don’t have a proper assessment of the matching for you! Suffice to say, though, having drunk it a few times since, this beer  has a decent amount of bitterness for a pale ale, and is quite enjoyable.

Coopers Best Extra Stout matched with Chocolate Cake, Ice Cream and Strawberry
I really enjoyed this beer. With beautiful coffee and chocolate flavours, the chocolate cake and ice cream cut nicely through the intense bitterness.

BrewBoys Seeing Double to finish!
Wow. What a crazy, crazy beer! Very few people liked this one, but I absolutely loved it! The flavour is quite literally that of blue cheese – well, blue cheese and bitters. It was marvellous! I love really gutsy flavours in beer, wine, food, and cheeses, and so this was a real treat for me. Give it a go if you’re feeling game!

So a great afternoon of beer and food! I had a fantastic time, and so did my friends who came along, all of us with different interests in beer.  I can highly recommend you head along to one in the near future. They’re great value for money, and you’ll learn a lot about beer, regardless of how much you’ve tried in the past.

Matt also runs plenty of other events, including Beer 101 classes, and the monthly Back Alley Beer Club, which features several beers from a single brewery each month.  I attended one of these last Friday, where we were privileged to enjoy a variety of beers from the Kiuchi Brewery in Japan. This evening was another big wow, because, boy do they brew em’ strong in Japan.  With a Belgian style white ale(5%), a ginger ale (7%), a beer brewed from rice (8%), an India pale ale (8%), and an unusual Belgian strong ale (7%) it’s suffice to say that Friday night was very festive night indeed!

I can’t recommend Matt’s tastings enough. Check out his upcoming events by going to Good Beer Lunches, or get the latest on beer internationally and locally by going to Australian Brews News.’

Also, the Brisbane Brewer’s Festival will be happening over the weekend of July 16-18, so if you’d like to get to know beers and their brewers a bit better, there are a range of events happening throughout the weekend which you can read about at Good Beer Lunches. Matt is hosting the opening night on the Friday at Grand Central Hotel, and Archives in West End are also running an event for the festival too.

Finally, on another bottle-related note, don’t forget about our “Win a Mixed Case of Punt Road Cider” competition that we are running until the end of July! All you need to do is comment on any post before the end of July with your Name and Brisbane Suburb, and the most interesting one will land the case! Check out the details here.

PS – excuse the average photos. It’s hard to take photos after a few good beers!