I'll admit it - I like a theme when I drink so as my partner and I stood in front of the beer fridge at our local bar (local bar when we aren't in lcokdown, reduced to a take-away only bottleshop when not) and pointed at things says 'That looks interesting' and we realised one of the things we pointed at was from Little Bang and the other was from Tiny Rebel. we figured there was some sort of Small theme happening and thought - that's good enough reason as any to buy those beers.
From there it was a Saturday night at home (we can't go out and no one can come over because, you know lockdown) on the couch drinking some beer, eating some cheese and watching some football. For anyone still interested in knowing how my team (North Melbourne) is doing in the AFL - we are still last, there is one week left in the season and we lost again - but we are hopeful and all the pieces are there for a better year next year.
But back to the beer. We figured Tiny was smaller than Little so we started with the Tiny Rebel. Tiny Rebel are a Welsh brewery of some reknown. In fact untappd tells me I've only ever drunk 15 different Welsh beers - 14 of them have been Tiny Rebel so for intents and purposes Tiny Rebel are the Welsh craft beer scene for me.
The beer in question is called Fruit Machine Dream and is a Triple fruited Pastry Tart Sour - and if that sounds like it's barely a beer it's because this thing rewrites the rules on everything you expect a beer to be. It Looks like raspberry cordial, it smells little a little bag of lollies you get at a kids birthday party. It tastes a bit like it to. It's sweet fruity it has a full smooth mouthfeel a little silky, very interesting. At least at first, as you drink it you realise it’s not much more than a gimmick and to start thinking you are drinking a dare, and think - hmmmm, If I wanted a cordial I could have had one. I guess that what you get for chasing gimmicks and thinking a can looks cool.
Next up is another brewery I know quite well. They are called Little Bang and come from South Australia - which is about 700km from where I live in Melbourne. They consistently make good beers so I had high hopes for this - It appears to be called Dark Arts and is made for the Adelaide Theatre Company and is a Chocolate Stout.
It pours Jet black. It Smells like a pretty normal stout, but there is something in the sip, the roastiness is there but it’s combined with a sweetness, I wouldn’t quite say chocolate it almost a hazelnut type of taste, but all in all it pretty darn good.
And all and all it was a pretty darn good night sitting on the couch and drinking beer. And remember that this is part of #beersaturday which is organised every week by the very dedicated @detlev and if you want to read all about beer check out the main post or spend some time in the beer community