Saturday 12th April – Lunch at the Port Broughton Hotel

[Williamson]

By stage I'd given up - they at least had Tooheys Old, best of the bunch

I agree, but don't think Nigel would.

If you recall, at Ulladulla, I wasn't pleased that when I ordered my Cooper's Sparkling Ale, he didn't roll the bottle to mix all the chewy stuff through.

Wasn't there a discussion on that and it concluded that was all a load of BS?

[Williamson]

I did a quick search of "draught beers in NSW hotels" and it came up with all manner of boutique ales which I would have been more than happy to imbibe. Sadly my experience was the pubs I stayed in were generally limited to insipid dishwater like Great Northern (undrinkable), XXXX Gold (similarly uninspiring), VB (crap) and Toohey's Old (about the only one that doesn't trigger the gagging reflex). It may have been I was staying in small country towns and it wasn't economically feasible to have a larger selection of beers on tap. I did try to get bottle/cans instead - but not much in stock. As I may have mentioned elsewhere, the Grand Central Hotel in Glen Innes was a shining beacon in a sea of miserable muck with its Deepwater Brewery beers on tap.

And this comes from a chap that was (probably) weaned on Southwark and West End lagers?

Toohey's Old Dark Ale, one of the best brews from the any of large Aussie brewers.

[ruSTynutz]

In my opinion, all beer tastes like sh*te! 

[Langers]

"Toohey's Old Dark Ale, one of the best brews from the any of large Aussie brewers."  HA!!!!

Average at best. Without a shadow of a doubt, Southwark Old Stout is the best stout on the market in Australia from a large foreign owned brewery. Noting that both SOS and TODA are made by Kirin, a Japanese business.

If you want to support Australian - go Coopers (Sparkling Ale - fantastic, Stout - ok, on par with TODA (and I'm being bloody generous here) but at least the money stays in Aus (SA in particular)) or any number of boutique breweries.

[Shillas]

If you recall, at Ulladulla, I wasn't pleased that when I ordered my Cooper's Sparkling Ale, he didn't roll the bottle to mix all the chewy stuff through.

Wasn't there a discussion on that and it concluded that was all a load of BS?

That was Gary at the Bellbird Creek Hotel.

Rolling the bottle, as far as I'm aware, has always been a thing - or at least it was happening in the early 80s.

The only time you didn't roll it was when you wanted the live yeast culture as the starter for your Coopers Sparkling Ale Home Brew.

[Bodø]

Rolling the bottle, as far as I'm aware, has always been a thing - or at least it was happening in the early 80s.

Is that a thing?  It's the first I've heard of it.

[Shillas]

Rolling the bottle, as far as I'm aware, has always been a thing - or at least it was happening in the early 80s.

Is that a thing?  It's the first I've heard of it.

And let's not even start on the joys of getting one of the last few pints from the bottom of the keg - thick, soupy and delicious