Category Archives: Uncategorized

The common refrain in any discussion about good food or good beer is that it is a joy best shared. I think this is true, for the most part – with precious few exceptions, every amazing meal I’ve had was shared with my partner or friends. Likewise, I don’t tend to remember having my worldContinue reading “Sharing is Caring”

The first thing you’ll notice – beside the fact that the Jade Elixir has gone red, presumably with anger or with the effort of trying to keep up with an evolving market that is pulling ever further away from the olde-worlde manly-man ideal that VB still pushes so hard – is the adorable tiny grenadeContinue reading “Victoria Bitter VX, CUB”

In my last post I reviewed the top ten beers in Australia as voted by the bleakest gronks of the country – that is, the majority of Australians. So, it seems only fair this time to try the top ten as voted by another, differently insufferable slice of the population. Not to sound too muchContinue reading “Hottest 100”

So something I’ve been meaning to get around to since… one of the lockdowns, I forget which, is sampling and reviewing Australia’s Favourite Beers. Not as judged by a poll so unregulated and highly influenceable (and therefore ultimately meaningless) as the Hottest 100, but by something that TNG fans have been clamouring for since theContinue reading “Australia’s Favourites”

Well, we survived the year of the Wiggles. Barely. With 2022 behind us and lockdowns in the distant rearview mirror, the pandemic carries on but we… just don’t seem to care anymore. I mean, our government is still side-eyeing China, calling to implement stricter testing and border controls on everyone who has so much asContinue reading “Café Entropie du Societé”

Once again, the season has passed and the Carwyn Cellars Canvent Calendar has been and gone. Like Frosty the Snowman, it brought with it important lessons, love and joy, as well as something to do in the silly season before disappearing for another year. Below are my tasting notes for each of the beers –Continue reading “Notes from an Advent Calendar”

The silly season is once more upon us, and aside from all the tacky things like family and love and generosity and togetherness, it is a time for indulgence in food and drink. Should you find yourself in need of some ideas, below are some of the beverages you might find me serving or enjoying,Continue reading “Pairings”

The idea of lost time is a beguiling and sometimes terrifying concept to us as humans. Our experience of time as linear and predictable, broken up into orderly units of seconds, hours and days is an inseparable part of us. Our experience of time is our experience of life. And when you disrupt our conceptContinue reading “Hazy Days”

Rediscovery has been much on my mind of late. Old friends, old favourites, old interests; rediscovered pleasures are rare jewels. Recently, I have begun reading again for the first time in a while. This may come across as incongruous, from someone who writes. The written word is all, surely? Well, yes – in a wayContinue reading “Rediscovery”

Do you ever think about the between-places? The ones that separate Here from There, or Then from Now? Artists and other creatives love them for their potential, and fantasists and magical realists can spin wonderful tales of soft places in the world where the fabric of reality is thin. Such places exist within each ofContinue reading “Liminality”