With good beer goes good ramble, I’ve always thought. Two of my regulars at the Malthouse — Clare and Jula — were of a similar mind, and organised for a group of people in likewise agreement to meet up at their place one Saturday afternoon (the timing was tricky, given the vastly different hours we all worked). It was ridiculously civilised; we sat around their kitchen table and talked about some tricky questions of ethics and metaphysics all tangled up in the notion of what counts — and what doesn’t count, and why — as a “person”. We were all coming at that from strikingly different angles (for myself, it was basically the main obsession of my philosophy degree…), which made for a spirited and fascinating conversation.
And, it went bloody-well with:
- Singha Lager
- Wigram Hefe
- Emerson’s ‘Little Red Rooster’
- Belhaven ‘Twisted Thistle’
- Peak Brewery ‘Monkey Point’ IPA
- Belhaven ‘Wee Heavy’
- Emerson’s ‘Taieri George’, and
- Black Sheep ‘Riggwelter’
You can see by the photos that most people did as they were told and also brought some food to go with their choice of beer. Falling into my deservedly-stereotypical role as The Guy Who Knows Nothing About Food, I failed; I can’t even tell you what those things are that the others provided. I therefore shifted a little into the role of Slightly More Beer Nerdy Nerd, and picked the order of service, at least.
My own beer for the occasion was Emerson’s ‘Little Red Rooster’, a ‘Brewers’ Reserve’ series release that had just come out at the time and was available on the fill-your-own at Regional Wines & Spirits. It was a rather-lovely little Vienna Lager; the increased caramelly maltiness accounting for the colour and name, and providing a nicely interesting body. My new place in Mount Victoria is a very short walk from that shop, which makes for some delightfully-dangerous pay day shopping sprees.
