By Stuart Whytcross

Nederland’s and Heineken

On my travels, I reckon you can get a pretty good feel for a city in terms of the beers offered in the hotels mini-bar. Upon opening the fridge in our hotel in the Red Light District in Amsterdam, I was greeted by a selection of Grimbergen and Leffe bottles. It was at this stage I was really regretting not researching Amsterdam and its breweries and pubs. Not that these were Dutch beers, but any country that recognizes good beers surely possesses a great beer culture?

Amsterdam wasn’t on my Beer Travels at all, but it had been recommended by several other travelers we met as a ‘must.’ Needless to say I was overwhelmed and excited at the beer culture of the city. In terms of beer culture, Amsterdam is thriving. Obviously they cater for their market (loads of male pom’s on bucks parties and footy trips) by offering Amstel and Heineken on tap in many small sports style bars. But you won’t have to walk far to discover some terrific outlets with some fantastic Belgian and trappist beers, and of course a good selection of local Dutch beers available both on tap and in bottles, and here is a selection of the most noteworthy.

Read more »

By Steve Sargent (aka Sarge)

February 2009 marked the start of construction of the “Sargent Arms Bar and Brewery”. Twelve months in the making, it is a purpose built, 24 square metre ‘shed’ in the backyard. It also includes a 15 square metre deck. Footings are 600 mm deep, with stirrups concreted into the holes. 100 X 100 mm treated pine posts support the treated pine bearers and floor joists. There are 16 posts in all, supporting four bearers, plus another bearer that is dyna-bolted to the double brick wall at the rear. The floor is ‘yellow tongue’ particle board. The frames are standard structural pine and the rafters are 4.6 metre long treated pine and span the 4 metre wide floor space with a 600 mm eave. The whole thing is clad with corrugated iron and both walls and roof are insulated. It has two second-hand sliding cedar doors, 1 X 1.8 metre and 1 X 2.4 metre, courtesy of my cousin,  giving a total of 4.2 metres of glass over the 6 metre length. The decking is new timber but was weathered, so I picked it up for $2 per metre.

Read more »

Stuart Whytcross

Hi, my name is Stuart Whytcross (disco stu) from Griffith NSW. I have been all-grain brewing for about two years now. In October last year I was introduced to the Canberra Brewers Club by Dicko at the Nationals. I was amazed to find so many other people as passionate about brewing as myself, and so the next day I became a member of the National Champions!

Being 350kms from Canberra, I have yet to attend my first Canberra Brewers meeting, but I still manage to get to Canberra quite regularly. Since joining the Club my brewing has dramatically improved as well as my enjoyment of the hobby. The friendship and knowledge I have gained from members on visits to Canberra, the forum, ‘The Ferm’ and competitions has been extraordinary to say the least.

Read more »