Yes Amber Liquid fans, Viking Brewhouse is still alive and kicking.
Despite having not posted (or brewed like a demon like I was going to), I still do keep an eye on the site every millenia or so. I must admit I have been busy following other pursuits and have fallen into the Youtube and Facebook posting craze. I have weened myself off Facebook but still can’t seem to get full control over that magnificently diverse source of vids of people from around the world doing dumb things to themselves!

I have used my time cruising to search out a beer ad from here in Australia that has featured so oftenon ad breaks in the last week that I now change the damn channel when it comes on! That notwithstanding, I think it has to be one of the best ad campaigns ever introduced for a beer.

The beer is Victoria Bitter, and whilst I’m not particularly fond of the brew myself, the advertisment is brilliant. It uses the same tune that has been kicking around in their ads for over two and a half decades now, and is certainly a catchy little number.

So, heres the ad…

And, before you yell at your screen ‘BULLSHIT! IT’S ALL MADE UP WITH EFFECTS’, here’s how they made it…

Pure brilliance I say. Pity they can’t make the beer taste any better! (but that’s just my opinion)

Well fellow beer and other fermented beverage lovers, as you can well see, it has been a LOOOOOOOOONG time since the last post on Brewhouse activities. That has been really because there have been no brewhouse-ish activities taking place for a LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time!
Both experimental lagers have been consumed, commented on, mused over and examined from various angles (at least one of which involved leaning somewhat and staggering to a large degree!) with the final results being that everyone who tasted the experimental brews liked them, with the split between the two styles being about 50/50. Details on those brews WILL be posted eventually.
Nothing, nada, zilch, zip and zero has been fermented for way too long. Things have been hectic to say the least around the brewhouse, including myself changing jobs a number of times, renovations, new furnature and August and most of September being written off for spare time due to the incredible amount of people who are born in those months. I put it down to too much partying and alcohol consumption in the ‘Festive Season’ (nudge nudge wink wink say no more!!!)
So, excuses having been made and bad feelings about having been buying and consuming commercial brews coming back to the surface having finally posted to my sorely neglected website - which has actually been getting some great hit figures considering the lack of updates - and thankyou to all of you who have taken the time to check out these pages - the next few brews shall be as folows….

1 - A wheat beer, possibly a honey/wheat hybrid due to the lovely financee pestering me to knock up another honey beer for her.

2- Another stout - not the Olde Sump Oil super black stout that was raved about last time, but a more civilised and sane brew for ‘normal’ consumption

3- Dark ale of some sort, not sure yet.

Whatever hapens, I really need tyo get off the backside and brew up a storm so I have some of the old VIKING for the Chrismas and New Year season.

I PROMISE I WILL KEEP UPDATES AND POST MORE BREW NOTES THIS TIME. If I don’t, mail me with withering comments containing loads of bad language, poor grammer and insults!

As promised long ago, here are the brew notes in full for Black Anvil Ale

Updates on what has been happening around the brewhouse shall be uploaded very soon. Things have been extremely busy outside of the brewing game, with Easter holiday swinging by, and me changing jobs. Also, there has been much tasting of some of the new fermented beveridges over at the Colwell Brewing Co… probably far more ‘tasting’ than is healthy due to the ease of transition from fermenter to finished product in glass with his recent installation of kegging gear.

A new section has been born at vikingbrewhouse.com!
Titled ‘The Rant’ , it’s all about anything really. Beer related or not, drop a line on your thoughts and e-mail it to therant@vikingbrewhouse.com

Tonight a sad event has come to pass here at the Brewhouse.
The original fermenting vessel that was handed down to me by my grandfather has had to be retired due to a terminal case of leaking.
Why is this an event warranting writing about, you ask? After all, it’s only a plastic 25 litre container. This is the fermenter that started this magnificent adventure of brewing. It was my grandfather’s originally, and he brewed many a fine ale in it, then passed all his gear on to me when he got a bit too old to continue. It’s a fond link to him that I took care of, especially since he has passed away.
This fermenter is the original vessel that Minesweeper Ale my tribute to Charlie Unmack (Pop) was brewed in.
The original vessel may be gone, but it’s spirit will live on

Short and sweet…. January was a failure! (refer back to ‘January Resolutions’ post).
Nothing hapened as it was supposed to! New years came and went, here at the Brewhouse we collectively blinked and BAM! , February barged on through leaving poor old January reeling in memories of drunken New Years revelry.

So, let’s just forget about last month and concentrate on THE EXPERIMENT happening smoothly shall we? These two brews are probably the only ones that will eventuate this month due to
a: The lager brews taking longer to ferment and the nature of THE EXPERIMENT making the whole process more time consuming (much closer monitoring of temperature and more documentation), and…
b:The largest car swapmeet in Australia happens in Ballarat this month, and I have a Landcruiser to get rid of, as well as many other bits and pieces to move.
So, let’s experiment away. Stay tuned for more details on that.

THE EXPERIMENT has finally begun! Yes, I have stopped yabbering on about it and got off my backside and got it underway. Details will follow soon as I’m too buggered (tired!) to type it all out at the moment.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

January at the Brewhouse is planned to correct everything that didn’t happen in November and December of 2006. The Experiment WILL kick off this month and brewing of new and fresh ales WILL leap ahead!

My tastes must be changing as I brew more, I think. I taste most of the old brews - that I was somewhat happy with at the time - and now tend to cringe as I think how sweet and malty they are. I have begun to add extra hops in new brews (from the Olde Sump-Oil Stout production) … (more…)

MERRY CHRISTMAS to you all and have a great New Year! The Brewhouse is certainly partying, and as such, along with a rediculously hectic December thus far (away from Brewhousely works), has only managed to output one lonely brew.

Once again, THE EXPERIMENT has failed to go ahead this month. All required ingredients are on hand so it looks like THE EXPERIMENT will just have to be the first brew of the new year.

Keep on brewing, keep on drinking and most of all, STAY SAFE WHILST DOING IT.