Beer Flights Down Under in Perth, Australia

In late February - early March 2016 I spent 10-days in Perth, Western Australia. This was a great opportunity to re-acquaint myself with some superb Oz craft beers (and also to spend time with my lovely sister !).

My last visit was in 2013 for my fiftieth birthday. Back then my favourite beer was Little Creatures IPA. I was looking forwarded to more craft beer from down under and hoped that Oz would not let me down (it didn't!).

In 2013, my beer bible was The Critics Choice Australia's Best Beers (2011 edition) - a great little book with a full page for each of the beers. The No. 1 beer then was Hop Hog (Feral Brewery).

This time around I used GABS Hottest 100 Aussie Craft Beers of 2015 and over 10 days I tried 21 of the top 100 on my (ultimately tatty, beer stained) copy of the list!

Where to start? The Sail and Anchor pub in Fremantle is at one end of the Cappuccino strip directly opposite Fremantle covered market. I enjoyed a beer flight with the following beers:

It was hot, hot, hot when this photo was taken in the Brewseum bar in the Sail and Anchor. Not sure why (to make me drink more beer maybe?!) but they served spicy peanuts with the beer, I certainly didn't need the extra heat !.


Of the four beers on the beer paddle, the Copycat (6.8% ABV from @MashBrewing) was my favourite. A strong, citrusy American-style IPA just the way I like them. One for the hop heads.

The Lucky Shag bar (no sniggering at the back!) on the Swan River is a stones throw from Perth central business district and is a must visit pub for the dedicated beer drinker - a perfect riverfront location. Its a popular watering hole for locals and tourist alike with boats moored alongside on the Swan River.


Yes that's a half pint of Little Creatures IPA in the photo, my excuse was that it was lunchtime, too hot for much drinking in the middle of the day (and everything in proportion!).

Little Creatures Brewery in Fremantle which is a working brewery-bar-restaurant, is something of an institution and my favourite place in Fremantle for a craft beer and food (including Kangaroo!)

My favourite beer from Little Creatures is still their IPA (6.4% @LtCreatures) - the classic citrusy, American-style IPA (which reminds me of Brewdog's Punk IPA back when it was slap-in-your-face-citrusy!) - certainly another one for the hop heads!





Feral Brewery Company in the Swan Valley, approx. 30km east of Perth, fits the bill if you are looking for an 'out-back' bar-restaurant with a wide covered decking overlooking the obligatory vineyard. This was easily one of the most laid back breweries I've ever visited, I could have stayed all day, seriously cool (in such a hot country!).

I had the A$20 beer flight 'taster' which consisted of:

• Sly Fox (4.5% ABV summer ale)
• BFH (Barrel Fermented Hog) (5.8% American-style IPA - my favourite Feral)
• Watermelon Warhead (2.9% ABV sour wheat beer - made with half a tonne of watermelons and it really made my 'tabs laff' !)
• Karma Citra (5.8% ABV black IPA)
• Nice Guy Dud Root (5.6% English brown ale - straight out of the UK)
• Warhog (8% ABV IPA - seriously strong beer which was excellent)

The Boheme bar, Perth - a lunchtime stop (yes its another half pint!) - one of the more European bars in the shopping district of central Perth. A welcome stop for the thirsty foot-sore shopper (as pictured!).

Only a few days left in Perth, so time for a pub crawl which took in the following pubs and bars in the centre of Perth:

• Petition Beer Corner in the State Buildings, St. Georges Terrace - a hyper-trendy beer bar which reminded me of a BrewDog pub but on a larger scale with 18 craft beers on tap, some weird and wonderful varieties - here is a sample list.

• Bob's Bar above the Print Hall, Brookfield Place - a 'must visit' roof top terrace, accessed up some narrow, print-newspaper lined flight of stairs, what a great venue surrounded by the skyscrapers of downtown Perth with a truly stellar atmosphere below the stars and plenty of craft beers - a winner! (the Bob in question was Bob Hawke, Prime Minister of Australia 1983-1991).

• Print Hall - back down the stairs into this cavernous bar which attracted a lot of hen and stag groups the night we were there, good range of beers though.

• The Generous Squire on Murray Street - this was our last stop of the night, was very busy and reminded me of a Wetherspoons back home in the UK - the one redeeming feature were the Beer Flights.

Petition Beer Corner

Bobs Bar

The Generous Squire

That's all folks!

Clive Mitchell, BeerFlights Blogger, 13th June 2016
Twitter @BeerFlights

BrewDog flights

BrewDog is a chain of craft beer pubs across the UK. Originating in Scotland, they tend to have one pub per city - my local BrewDog is in the centre of Nottingham which is where I first came across them. They sell beer flights, typically 4 small glasses (one-third pint each) which are priced at one-third of the pint price. Over the last couple of months I've had a beer flight in BrewDogs in Birmingham, London, Nottingham and Edinburgh (because I could !).

BrewDog Birmingham (22nd October 2015) - this is pretty much in the centre of Birmingham and a very welcoming sight after a long day in meetings.

The beer flight I had (£6.75) consisted of the following:

1. This.Is.Lager 4.7% ABV £4.35/ pint - Traditional lager with a more hoppy, bitter taste.

2. Punk IPA 5.4% ABV £4.65/ pint - Classic American-style IPA, so much better in draft !

3. Five AM Red Ale 5% ABV £4.65/ pint - Caramel, malty with significant citrus hops, very dry finish, pucker up!

4. Black House (Modern Times) 5.8% ABV £4.25/ two-thirds pint - Initial coffee hit, smooth not overpowering, belies its strength, a dangerous combination!

All served on a wooden paddle in one-third pint glasses with the paddle numbered and a card with the beers written on it.

BrewDog Shepherd's Bush (28th October 2015) - this is London so everywhere is extremely busy but usually accessible by Tube or a ubiquitous London bus.

The beer flight I had this time was served in small wine style glasses (£11.25) with the following beers:

1. Saison Stone 6% ABV £5.35/ pint - Refreshing amber ale - hint of Belgian style aromas. Dry, slightly gingery with a faint antiseptic/ TCP after taste! (According to the menu: "Not your everyday saison; Light and floral farmhouse ale with lemon thyme & lavender").

2. Hardcore IPA 9.2% ABV £4.65/ half pint - Heavy citrus aroma and initial flavour, pretty quickly overpowered by its high strength! This is one for treading carefully. What does it say in the menu! "Extremes of grapefruit in this citrus hop bomb are followed by a long, biting finish". Not a favourite - I'm sticking with Punk IPA!

3. Blubus Maximus 5.5% ABV (Wild Beer Co.) £5.55/ half pint - Bravely opted for a 'sour' - it's definitely that! A dark purplish- red colour. It's pleasantly sour, with a fruity taste and the sourness hits you in the after taste! Menu says: "Collaboration with Beavertown Sour infused with bay leaves and blueberries".

4. Libertine Black Ale 7.2% ABV £5.30/ two-thirds pint - Black as night, hoppy aroma this is a dark ale that yearns to be an IPA - what would you expect from BrewDog!! It's smooth, citrusy with that dry dark beer finish. The menu says: "This single hop Simcoe black IPA brings coffee, liquorice, pine and orange to the party".

BrewDog Nottingham (30th November 2015) - only a bus ride from home but I've only been here a handful of times, its a lot smaller than I remembered but perfectly formed!


























I was here for a birthday treat with my son and we both had the same BrewDog flight (£7.25) as listed on the board. It consisted of the following (descriptions from the menu in speech marks):

1. Five AM Red Ale 5% ABV £5/ pint - "robust red ale hopped to the brink and back.... resulting in an all out riot of citrus, orange and lychee flavours against a rich, roast malt base." - I say, decent hoppy red ale.

2. Jack Hammer 7.2% ABV £4.35/ two-thirds pint - "devastatingly bitter finish ..... more bitterness than a human palate can detect .... huge grapefruit aroma and flavour". I say, this is a good beer but over-powered by alcohol (which I could detect using my own human palate !)

3. Punk IPA 5.4% ABV £4.30/ pint - "flagship beer ... avalanche of tropical fruits ... fruit explosion and a satisfyingly bitter finish". I say, still my favourite BrewDog beer but £4.30 a pint, come on !

4. Libertine Black Ale 7.2% ABV £4.35/ two-thirds pint - "dark hop bomb ... drinkability ... look out for blackcurrant spiced fruit with roasted malt notes". I say, a decent hoppy stout.

BrewDog Edinburgh (10th December 2015) - on Cowgate tucked away in the 'bowels' of the old town below the Royal Mile. I'd passed this place loads of times - its tiny, not much bigger than the bar !


























Flight of 4 one-third pints in wine style glasses - £5.70 (the cheapest I've had in all the BrewDog pubs I visited). Also had some food in the pub, an excellent beef pie - perfect accompaniment with beer !



1. Doodle Bug 2.8% ABV £3.25/pint - pale, citrusy, effervescent. Not listed in the BrewDog menu in the pub so must have been new or limited batch.

2. Punk IPA 5.4% ABV £4.50/ pint - my favourite BrewDog beer has featured on three of the beer flights for a good reason.

3. Five AM Saint 5% ABV £4.50/ pint - "balance of five malts ... red berry and stone fruit with a long dry finish".

4. B-side Stout 5.3% ABV £4.75/ pint - "gorgeous milk stout ... silky smooth". I say, coffee tasting but moreish stout.



That's all folks!

Clive Mitchell, BeerFlights Blogger, 1st January 2016
Twitter @BeerFlights

Take flight - beer tweets

I love beer and I also love twitter, so inevitably I tweet my beer encounters. A delve back over the last 4 years has revealed what I have discovered (and mostly forgotten!) from my beery exploration of the UK. So this is for me as much as it is for you!

My first beer recommendation and a great one - Bishops Farewell is still one of my favourite beers!

An exotic foreign beer landed on our shores - tried this one in Holyrood 9A still a favourite pub-restaurant of mine in Edinburgh.

I'd obviously not found the camera before now - Screech Owl (5.5% ABV) is a Castle Rock IPA and the Kean's Head one of their best pubs in Nottingham.

Another favourite Oakham Ale beer and another excellent pub in Edinburgh.

This was the moment when I discovered that Wetherspoons had started to sell decent real ale and they have gone from strength to strength ever since!

You can't beat a good pint of Doom Bar especially in the seaside resort where it comes from !

When in Edinburgh the Guildford Arms is my first pub-port of call, my refuge and real ale mecca !

One of the best pubs in Belfast....

This is all I will drink in Wetherspoons at the moment, its brewed in the UK too (by Bank's) - superb!

This is easily the best beer that Brew Dog make - the perfect American-style IPA.

This looks like an unfeasibly large beer !

Tiny Rebel is an excellent brewery (that recently won Champion Beer of Britain with another beer, Cwtch) and this bar a fortuitous find in an unlikely place!

A bizarre day by the seaside with the Mitchell clan and we sheltered in a pub which turned out to be pirate central - Aarrrrrggghhhh !

I'm lucky to live within walking distance of one of the best pubs in Nottingham, The Old Volunteer, which is sensible enough to have 2 beer festivals a year !

That's all folks!

Clive Mitchell, BeerFlights Blogger, 31st October 2015

Twitter @BeerFlights

Great British Beer Festival - A festival of flights

Spent two days in August at the Great British Beer Festival (GBBF) in London Olympia. I was working for part of the time as a volunteer for the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) press office. For the rest of the time I was trying lots of new beer at the festival - a tenuous link to beer flights? Well maybe not....

Beer flights are all about trying new beer styles typically in small glasses. At the GBBF they have introduced 1/3 pint glasses which are perfect for sampling beer, which is exactly what I did!

GBBF had 900 beers and ciders to try, I only had 48 hours.... Suffice it to say I tried as many beers as would fit into my 1/3 pint glass. No apologies this blog will mainly consist of photos from GBBF!

One of the main halls during the trade day at the GBBF at London Olympia. 

One of the many well-stocked bars at the GBBF.

The Champion Beer of Britain 2015 is ...... Cwtch (4.6% ABV Tiny Rebel Brewing Company) pronounced Cutch (which means 'cuddle' in Welsh) - possibly the first Welsh beer to win CBOB and probably the only one with no vowels!

Note the pen and GBBF guide, I was assiduously working my way through the best of the American style IPAs.

Apricot Jungle (4.8% ABV Grafton Brewing Ltd) - very fruity golden ale. 

Affinity (4.6% ABV Shiny Brewing Company) - excellent American style IPA.

My winning photo for the @WellsBrewery #BombardierBus selfie with a pint twitter competition!

Feeling a little green?! Here's a beer to match - Venom (5.5% ABV Potbelly Brewery). 

What a gent! Met up with the famous beer writer and Camra Good Beer guide editor Roger Protz.

St. Austell Brewery bar - lively with Tribute (4.2% ABV Pale Ale) and Proper Job (4.5% ABV IPA) on tap a very popular destination!

Finally, my favourite beer of the GBBF - Revelation (5.7% ABV Dark Star Brewery) - superb citrus hoppy real ale - a winner!

That's all folks!

Clive Mitchell, BeerFlights Blogger, 17th August 2015

Twitter @BeerFlights