Topic: Reviews of…stuff

: Post Ride Beer – White Rabbit Dark Ale

By: fat-lenny | January 28th, 2011 | 2 Comments » |

One of my favorite parts of riding, and anyone who has ridden with me will attest, is the post ride beer. OK, take away the riding and I would be happy with just the beer.

Maybe that should have just read, one of my favorite things is beer. Hold that.

My favorite thing is beer.

So in homage to the Amber Ale, I am now going to review post ride brews. I welcome suggestions, will publish readers reviews and vow to search high and low for the perfect post ride beer.

So, first beer out of the bottlo fridge for this exciting installment of Post Ride Beer is a stunning Dark Ale from the White Rabbit Brewery in Healesville Victoria. Want to know more about the beer, click away here.

Lets get the standard stuff out of the way, the beer clocks in at 4.9% booze, which equates to 1.3 standard drinks per 330ml bottle. Now the unimportant stuff is dealt with on to what really matters, how does it taste? Well here is what the brewery itself has to say on the beverage.

An intriguing dark ale that moves to it’s own beat, our minds set about creating a beer that contradicted itself….rich dark and flavoursome but at the same time ever refreshing….malt driven but with the aromatic lift of generous doses of hops.

Raisin like ester characters derived through its open fermentation bind a balancing act of flavour with a malt bill that rewards the parched palette with a rich, dark colour without losing any sessionabilty qualities, which we love so much in a beer.

Passed through a hop back generously laden with whole hop flowers and then dry hoped in the open fermenters, at 4.9% abv this is a dark ale with plenty of reassuring bitterness…..

I must admit, I bought this expecting a dark beer a lot closer to a porter to what the beer is in reality.

The beer is a reddish brown in colour and pours with a white head. What came out was a tasty dark ale. Not a heavy beer and definitely not as overbearing as say a stout or porter, but something very drinkable, maybe too drinkable. Bitter enough to make it a perfect beer on hot day without overdoing it. I’ve heard people say it is the perfect winters beer, but the last week has proven it is very much at home in the middle of summer. The malt and hops blend almost perfectly although the hops are definitely out in front in this one. A must for the hop lover.

As a post ride beer this beer rates 4 out of 5 chain rings.

Photo coming very soon.

: Appleseed Ex Machina

By: g | October 9th, 2009 | No Comments » |

Anyone into modern animation should be familiar with the work of Japan’s Production I.G. Where Studio Ghibli produced some of the great traditionally animated Japanese classics such as Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle and Totoro, Production I.G, pushes the boundaries of what one can do with traditional techniques like in the series ‘FLCL’ and blended 3D technologies such as in the brilliant Ghost In the Shell films.

Well, Production I.G was not involved with ex Machina… unfortunately.

2007 Appleseed.

Based on the thought provoking work of Shirow Manasune (Ghost in the Shell and Dominion, Orion etc.), directed by action film master John Woo, and even having Prada get in the act for some ‘costume’ design, 2007′s Appleseed Ex Machina was set to stun its audience with a tour de force of style, technique and storyline, if the first film was anything to go by .

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: Freddo’s Famous Pies

By: g | September 2nd, 2009 | No Comments » |

I like pies. And sausage rolls. Old school fast food, a bit old school like parties that served up ‘Coon, ‘Cab and Jatz with wine out of Goon Bags. There’s few things better than pulling up on a road trip or after an epic ride and getting a good pie and a Chocky Oak to wash it down; it’s just all good and can often be so much better than the pseudo gourmet things so many places have switched to and about 100 times better than fast food junk….. usually.

So the thought of a place that dishes up only old school cuisine is delight for those that hit the road and head north from Sydney.

Outside Kempsie there’s a place called Freddo’s, a pie shop in the middle of nowhere. For as long as I can remember, Freddo’s has been there. Smack next to the Pacific Highway with a fibreglass Marilyn Monroe at its entrance. Cars are always parked outside and one always sees people eating pies, no matter what time you pass it. For years, since I was a kid to be honest, I just passed it by and wondered until last Christmas, when, for the first time ever, I decided to stop and see what the fuss was all about.

Let me tell you, it was a bit of heaven. Pies of all kinds, sausage rolls and Vanilla Slices as big as your head! For those that have no idea, a Vanilla Slice is truly a thing of beauty (in a very wrong sort of way). A firm block of very yellow custard like ‘stuff’ that tastes vaguely like vanilla, topped and bottomed with a thin flakey crust and iced (usually) with a thick, sticky yellow icing that more often than not has a mild Passion-fruit flave to it. It’s a dying thing, this Vanilla Slice, superseded by deli muffins and Friands. So when one finds one, a good one, a BIG one, it’s a joy to behold.

That Christmas was a road trip feast I ate like a child king and as we pulled away to continue north, I knew we’d be back.

8 months later, the opportunity came again as a quick ‘get out of Sydney’ opportunity came up and by late morning we pulled up, ready for some pie eat’n. When you walk in to Freddo’s you are confronted with a multitude of pies, interlaced with sausage rolls. Pie of all sorts, crocodile, Thai, chicken, old time faves and new world wonders. Yum. Before ordering, I decide to give the cake cabinet a quick once over. Hmmm. Yes, there is a Vanilla Slice but what’s up with the size of it? It’s half the size. Still looks the goods but can I have the rest of it as well? Not too amused I forego the Slice, it did look a little old and I am pretty sure it was the same price as its full size cousin, and get into the meat of it. 1 pepper steak pie and a sausage roll and 1 chicken satay. My reasoning with sticking with a traditional pie is that usually it’s pretty hard to get wrong, especially for a pie shop. Things like satay can be hit and miss and I wanted to make sure I walked away happy – still to some, a satay is too hard to resist. Tomato sauce and a chocolate Oak (a soft drink it aint) rounded off the order.

From a 20 I get 2.50 back. Huh? OK, that got me by surprise. Those are Sydney prices.

We grab the paper bags, nab a couple of chairs and sit in the sun to watch the traffic pass by.

The sausage roll.

The sausage roll just looked good. Good pastry, good smell and a nice size to it. Nothing prefab here. The filling is definitely ‘home made’ and has the perfect mix of spices and meat. It’s just so very good. It goes down quite easily and does not have that greasy feeling some home made ‘rolls do. While not huge, it’s enough to be a good snack on its own. Towards the end of it though, I hear “I think I got the wrong thing” and looking up, the chicken satay pie does not really look that appealing. There seems to be less chicken and more, well, satay? Feeling confident in my choice though, I whip out my pie and drop some sauce on it, making it ready to go.

The Pie.

You can tell a good pie even before you get it out of the foil tray. If it’s a good one, the underside of the tray has a firm feel to it. When you hold it it does not indent, but remains flat and firm.

My tray indented.

Some people manage to eat pies in the foil trays, I’ve never been one of these. I like to take the pie out of the tray, so I can attack it how I feel like. Trying to get my pie out of its tray was a bit like trying to pull out a wet lettuce. While the top of the pie was golden crusty, out of sight, the rest of the pastry was decidedly limp. That’s OK though because I knew the filling was going to be right on the mark.

My first bite left me wondering who stole the meat from my meat pie. I ended up with a mouth full of limp pastry and what can only be described as thick gravy. I think there was a little pepper in it, at least I think that’s what it looked like but the taste was not there. A few more bites and the same thing. To keep a long pie story short, I ended up ‘drinking’ most of the pie out of the foil tray and burnt my mouth to boot. While it was called a pepper steak pie, I think the word ‘steak’ or even ‘mince’, ‘meat’ or ‘grizzle’ might be a bit on the misleading side. Gravy pie with mild pepper flecks I could go for.

So what went so horribly wrong? Was I dreaming or was the first visit a freak occasion? I can’t add it up as the first time was in the Christmas period when things are busy, usually crappy and expensive. This time round it was off season and while busy, it was not Christmas traffic busy. So why the crappy quality and somewhat surprising prices? Who knows. While the sausage roll was excellent, the two pies were disasters and for a pie shop that describes itself as ‘famous’, that’s not really good enough.

So will I recommend ‘Freddo’s famous pies’? Based on the last experience, probably not. While it might have been a freak once off, the $17 price tag and the rubbish pies make me think that next time I’ll stop at Micky D’s for a sandwich and a cup of coffee.

Sad but true.

Tags:Eat (aka Fuel part II),eating,meat pie,Oak milk,road trip,sausage roll

: Central Baking Depot

By: g | November 29th, 2008 | No Comments » |

Central Baking Depot, 37-39 Erskine St Sydney 2000. (02 9290 2229)

Yep in the Northern end of Sydney’s CBD, is the Central Baking Depot – a definite breath of fresh air in a city CBD stuffed with totally average cafe’s and the usual Asian slop fare.

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: Peaberry Espresso

By: g | November 9th, 2008 | No Comments » |

Peaberry Espresso, 166 Riley St, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010: www.peaberryespresso.com.au

I lied! Instead of Dov, I’m reviewing another tucked away fave, Peaberry Espresso.

I discovered Peaberry quite by accident last year as I wanted a coffee while waiting for the Feit shoe store to open – it’s right next door. Peaberry’s like that, unless you live or work in the area, chances are you won’t find it; I think it’s one of those places known by locals only but once you know it, you’ll keep on going back.

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