{"id":4083,"date":"2012-05-23T10:58:01","date_gmt":"2012-05-22T22:58:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/?p=4083"},"modified":"2012-05-23T10:58:01","modified_gmt":"2012-05-22T22:58:01","slug":"gabs-glass-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2012\/05\/23\/gabs-glass-1\/","title":{"rendered":"GABS Glass #1: Garage Project ‘Double Day of the Dead’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Garage<\/a>
Garage Project 'Double Day of the Dead'<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At GABS, I was understudy for Local Taphouse’s Guy Greenstone, who was set to host ‘Beerista’ introductory tasting sessions at the ‘Craft Beer College’ series of free seminars running at the festival. He had a run-in with pneumonia, but was looking hearty during Friday’s Session One, so I seemed to be in the clear. Until about ten minutes before showtime. I was called in, hurried upstairs — from the front door, where I’d been head-counting for the security guys — and stumbled through (well, it seemed to me; apparently it went fine) a fun little chat about on How To Taste A Beer And Thereafter Ramble A Bit About It — with much-appreciated help from Pete Mitcham<\/a>. Tremendous<\/em> fun, in the end, but a bit hectic and nerve-wracking on short notice and (as I keep pleading, I know) little sleep.<\/p>\n

So: a beer. A proper glass thereof, no mere tasting paddle would do. And no other beer made as much immediate sense as Garage Project’s ‘Double Day of the Dead’ — the miraculous resurrection \/ version 2.0 \/ GABS 2012 Special Edition Reprint of ‘Day of the Dead’<\/a>,\u00a0my favourite beer of 2011<\/a>. Weirdly, given the tactical shift I made<\/a> just recently, this also amounts to my first-ever actual\u00a0Diary<\/em>\u00a0entry here online for a Garage Project beer. Which feels very odd<\/em>\u00a0given how often I bang on about them in the podcasts<\/a> (one of which was recorded with them<\/a>, in their actual garage)1<\/sup>\u00a0and how very-many of their beers are waiting in my notebook ready to be uploaded (soon — ish<\/em>), but these are the consequences of falling way<\/em>\u00a0behind in my rambling.<\/p>\n

The beer, like its first edition, is a strong (and moreso, second time out) black lager, made with cocoa, agave syrup (i.e., the precursor to Tequila), and smoked chipotle chili. I vaguely recall something being mentioned about a dose of vanilla, too, for this batch — but I have a notoriously crappy memory. It’s got a lot going on, but all the components get along harmoniously and feel like they’re there for a reason. Despite a somewhat-similar shape but a briefer bill of adjuncts, it feels quite a lot more purposeful<\/em>\u00a0than Resolute’s ‘Zaragoza’<\/a>, for example. The booze and the chili add a comforting-but-confronting warmth, the agave (with the vanilla, if I didn’t just hallunicate its mention) seems to smooth out the base nicely, and the cocoa has the wonderfully dusty<\/em>\u00a0quality of the tiny little shards of smashed hollow Easter chocolate.\u00a0It’s fantastic, and was just exactly what I needed.<\/p>\n

GABS bought a lot<\/em>\u00a0of each beer — running back-of-the-envelope calculations on what the event must’ve involved, money-wise, damn-near did my head in earlier today — and must’ve taken the entire run of many beers that appeared. Not quite<\/em>\u00a0so with this one, I was able to tell those jealous Wellingtonians who could only live their Spectapular through me and my all-day Twitter ramblings. There’s a small<\/em>\u00a0amount stashed aside and we’ll probably see some of it around town soon. And hopefully some more a few months’ from now, for the\u00a0D\u00eda de los Muertos<\/em>\u00a0itself<\/a> — after it spends the intervening time on holiday in a bourbon barrel. Which is a pretty fucking exciting prospect, if you ask me.<\/p>\n

And as I mention in my notes, a proper-glass at GABS was a little on the steep side, price-wise — this was a relative bargain, at $10 worth of tokens, roundabout in the middle of a $6 to $16 range2<\/sup> — but that’s probably inevitable, given the nature of the event as one stocked almost-entirely with one-off brews. Plus, it pays to remember, that’s me writing as someone a) presently unemployed, b) spending New Zealand dollars in Australia with a non-delightful exchange rate, and additionally c)<\/em>\u00a0a person who earnt those slightly-limp New Zealand dollars on criminally-underpaid bartender wages.<\/p>\n

Original Diary entry:<\/strong>\u00a0GABS Glass #1: Garage Project ‘Double Day of the Dead’ 11\/5\/12 Reward for crash-replacing the host of Beerista. Proper glasses are crazyexpensive, though I can see why. Two notches up in strength, and I can tell: a little booze-heat evident before the chili heat. Cocoa — upgraded to Whittaker’s — is lovely and dusty in that weird way I like. Still nicely balanced and well-assembled, given its many adjuncts. (A dash of vanilla this year, I think they said.) A worthy resurrection.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Diary<\/a>
Diary II entry #213.1, GABS Glass #1 - Garage Project 'Double Day of the Dead'<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"Diary<\/a>
Diary II entry #213.2, GABS Glass #1 - Garage Project 'Double Day of the Dead'<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"Garage<\/a>
Garage Project 'Double Day of the Dead', with one of many, many masks3<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n

1:<\/strong> When it was incredibly<\/em> empty, in hindsight. There was a big comfy couch where the brewhouse now stands and barely enough spare space to swing a proverbial cat. It’s been replaced by all sorts<\/em>\u00a0of lovely shiny stainless steel<\/a>.<\/span>
\n2:<\/strong> The low end was populated by a surprisingly-varied collection of beers not necessarily united in gentler strength or simpler-looking recipes whereas the high end of the territory was held by Renaissance’s Oak-aged edition of their much-loved and marvellous ‘Stonecutter’<\/a>. Despite the high price, I kept hearing good things about it from various visitors — and the GABS organisers did make the wise and simplifying move of making all<\/em>\u00a0tasters one token, whatever the price of their full glass.<\/span>
\n3:<\/strong> With apologies for the considerably crappier camera in my phone, not the ultra-lovely one<\/a> I always have in my bag. I suppose I was just enjoying my beer to much, and didn’t think to re-take the shot with the mask, after snapping that image for the Twitters.<\/span>
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At GABS, I was understudy for Local Taphouse’s Guy Greenstone, who was set to host ‘Beerista’ introductory tasting sessions at the ‘Craft Beer College’ series of free seminars running at the festival. He had a run-in with pneumonia, but was looking hearty during Friday’s Session One, so I seemed to be in the clear. Until … Continue reading GABS Glass #1: Garage Project ‘Double Day of the Dead’<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[6,14,9,8,48],"class_list":["post-4083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diary","tag-pages","tag-nz","tag-lager","tag-photogenic","tag-2012-05"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17133,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2015\/08\/02\/beer-diary-podcast-s05e01\/","url_meta":{"origin":4083,"position":0},"title":"Beer Diary Podcast s05e01: 3G Coverage \u2014 Garage Project, GABS, and gastrophysics","author":"Phil","date":"August 2, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"And so the Beer Diary Podcast is back for a fifth season\u00a0\u2014\u00a0and with our traditional delay in hitting 'publish', no less. Episodes should return to their usual non-super-sized format and a sharper turnaround in this back half of the year\u00a0\u2014\u00a0but you all know what kind of paving projects are undertaken\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Podcast episodes"","block_context":{"text":"Podcast episodes","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/podcast-episodes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Mash tun hopback for Trip Hop (Garage Project, 6 July 2012)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mash-tun-hopback-at-Garage-Project-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3973,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2012\/05\/12\/gabs-day-one-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":4083,"position":1},"title":"GABS 2012: Day One Photos","author":"Phil","date":"May 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"So, I'm back in my dear old Melbourne taking full advantage of my well-timed unemployment to attend GABS: the Great Australasian Beer Spectapular. It's rather a treat, and will warrant a proper write-up (or several), but I just want to use the last few moments before my sleep-deprived brain implodes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Observations"","block_context":{"text":"Observations","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/reports\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Main Hall, looking East","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Malt-end-daylight1-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4431,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2012\/06\/30\/yeastie-boys-gunnamatta\/","url_meta":{"origin":4083,"position":2},"title":"Yeastie Boys ‘Gunnamatta’","author":"Phil","date":"June 30, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"It's rather fitting that, now I've finally finished uploading my GABS Weekend notes, I actually have a proper Diary\u00a0entry for the beer that started my trip. At the preposterously unfortunate time of four-thirty in the morning \u2014 around-about when I'd usually be contemplating going to bed \u2014 I arrived at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"A later \/ right-now \/ not-long-ago bottle of Yeastie Boys 'Gunnamatta'","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Yeastie-Boys-Gunnamatta-in-the-bottle-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4189,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2012\/06\/15\/gabs-glass-4\/","url_meta":{"origin":4083,"position":3},"title":"GABS Glass #4: Moo Brew ‘Belgo’","author":"Phil","date":"June 15, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Reading the Big Book while waiting for my Food Coma to subside and my brain to ramp back up to some semblance of walking-and-talking ability, I noticed that I'd missed out a sessionable beer from what I thought\u00a0was an exhaustive set of five. Shamefully so, since it was from Moo\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Moo Brew 'Belgo'","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Moo-Brew-Belgo-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5679,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2013\/07\/12\/beer-diary-podcast-s03e03\/","url_meta":{"origin":4083,"position":4},"title":"Beer Diary Podcast s03e03: Beer Names (and Festivals, again), with Hadyn Green","author":"Phil","date":"July 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Catching up for the first time in a while, and not long after a now-notorious kerfuffle over the 'Death From Above' beer put out by Garage Project (site of my day job, if you haven't already noticed), my friend and fellow red-bearded beer writer Hadyn Green and I were about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Podcast episodes"","block_context":{"text":"Podcast episodes","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/podcast-episodes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Beers of the Week, s03e03","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/s03e03-BOTW-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4193,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2012\/06\/03\/beer-diary-podcast-s02e02\/","url_meta":{"origin":4083,"position":5},"title":"Beer Diary Podcast s02e02: Australia","author":"Phil","date":"June 3, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"And now, a brief interlude for a long-lost podcast episode. We recorded shortly before\u00a0I went away to GABS in Melbourne -- and immediately before George and I went along to Hashigo Zake's marvellous little 'X-Ale' festival in the still-empty ParrotDog brewery.\u00a0We take the chance to catch up a little on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Podcast episodes"","block_context":{"text":"Podcast episodes","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/podcast-episodes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Two Moon Dogs and 'Melon Gibson'","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Moon-Dogs-and-Melon-Gibson-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4083"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4148,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4083\/revisions\/4148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}