A St Patrick's Dilemma and the Great Pig Bus Adventure
22 03 10 - 07:44 Some tough decisions on St Patrick's Day, followed by the Swan Valley Beer tour - various opinions inside.First up, last week league happened to coincide with St Patrick's Day - we must have more Irish than Rojo, despite some early game closeness, as we went on to win 17-6. That's 3W - 5L for the season, not a great record, but once again set against the backdrop of new faces and quick development. Indeed, it was remarked by a non-Pig recently that we're the only team bringing new faces to the table every season, which is almost certainly an exaggeration and probably a poor excuse.
This win did put us in a pickle though - we wanted to go to Clancy's to celebrate, but, and this is the critical point, it was St Patrick's Day. To understand why this is such a large hurdle, I would like to relay the experience of my boss, who plays in a cover band part-time for the money. At an institution that shall not be named, St Pat's starts with champagne breakfast, continues with a Guiness lunch and concludes with a happy hour. By the time the band rolls up at 9pm, the floor is caked in vomit, and there isn't a cogent sentence to be found anywhere in the building. Folks, it has to be said that search of some elusive craic, Australia has gone a bottle short of a six-pack, and completely lost the plot. At no stage is St Pat's a celebration of (dubious) Irishness, as it is a complete and utter genocide of brain cells via the alcohol process. Which is why, we're sorry to say Clancy's crew, we were staying away on St Pat's Day.
Which leads us conveniently to our Swan Valley Beer tour. Which put Perth's best beers and worst drunks on display. It Ironbark Brewery - a newer establishment run by some very nice people. Ironbark has an interesting range of beer, including the only fruit beer of the day in a Cherry Ale, though in the humble opinion of the Pig, most were missing something special. Onwards then to Elmar's in the Valley - my highlight of the day - I thought, along with some others, that this was the best beer of the day, 5 of 6 beers hitting the mark perfectly with the seasonal Rauch (smoked) beer being simply amazing. Great atmosphere, friendly staff - thumbs up. We then crossed the road to Duckstein...these guys are now subject to a Pig ban, no Pig shall ever enter those doors, for the simple reason that they didn't let us past the door in the first place. Picture if you will a door, and next to the door, on the other side of a low fence, part of the beer garden. There were 5 people in that beer garden. The doorman procedes to ask if we have a booking, which we didn't, he then said you can't come in. We collectively stare at the virtually empty beer garden. Juan, PhD in Subtlety, just says, 'Riiiight!' We leave, disgusted at the general snootiness of a brewery we dare suggest from previous experience can't afford to be snooty.
Onward then to Mash Brewery, an outfit in its early-ish days, producing enough beer to stock cartons in the local bottle-o's. The Dark Belgian Ale was out, a disappointment to all, but I had a Golden Ale which was quite refreshing, though the rest of the Pig wasn't so impressed with the selection. Service again was top-notch, though in comparison to Duckstein, everything thereafter appeared top-notch. Finall, then Feral. With 12 beers on tap, this was an impressive place. Good vibe and atmosphere. Bar staff knew their beers fully, which was quite refreshing. Most beers were quite good, though I was of the opinion that many of the stronger styles simply came through too sweet and with obvious tastes of alcohol. Having enjoyed a Smoked Porter, and a Hop Hog, I felt ok-ish and quite happy to call it a day. The team decided otherwise, and got me a Boris (Russian Imperial Stout, 11.5%), which really nailed the coffin. Then, for the first time in a long time, I fertilised Toby's garden with my stomach contents - apologies Toby and Anne - before doing the same again in my own garden later. The lesson? Never agree to have 'just one more' and never again finish the day with a full serve of Boris (or anything like it).
Despite the display of sickitude, the day was enjoyed by all, many collective thanks to Toby for organising, and to all those who bailed (and there were a few), we have only a few words, 'average' and 'you missed out'.
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