Matilda Bay Brewing Company

A few months ago, I received a Travelzoo email with a "local deal" for beer tasting with food pairings at Matilda Bay Brewing Company. Matilda Bay is a local brewery that Erik and I learned about early on during our time in Oz, as we tasted many of their beers at the Fed Square Beer Festival (which we will be hitting up again this year...in just a few days!). The deal was $25 per person (regularly $50), so I bought a couple of them with intentions to arrange our tasting during the time that my parents were visiting. Fortunately, we were able to book in on a Thursday night during that week!

Our tasting was scheduled for 5:30, but in typical Aussie fashion, people were late and I'm pretty sure we did not get started until around 6pm. The brewery is located in Port Melbourne, and traffic getting there during that time of day was not easy, so that does provide a bit of an explanation for the delay, though Erik and I find that things rarely start on time here! The guy who was leading our food and beer pairings had a terrific personality and was quite funny. He briefly described each of our six beers and the food item that went along with the respective beverage. It was a "go at your own pace" type of tasting, which was great for conversation among the group, but I was not exactly sure which beer was which because our guide only described them in the beginning. 

From L to R: Prawns, Risotto Balls, Seared Tuna, Lamb Chop, Pork Belly, Chocolate Brownie

There were about 16 people in our group, but we ended up spending a lot of time chatting with the four men next to us, a group of three brothers and a friend of one of the brothers. These guys were local to the area and really fun to chat with during the course of the evening. It was my parents first interaction with Australians, so I think they struggled to understand some of what the men were saying (when we first arrived we had to ask people to repeat themselves often...now we are getting better at interpreting Ausssie English!), but they were definitely entertained buy these gentleman while we were beer tasting.

The darkest beer, Dogbolter, was my favorite! It paired amazingly well with the chocolate brownie.

After the tastings, we were given a short tour of the brewery, where our guide explained the brewing process. He also gave credit to the Americans for their beer brewing skills, explaining that the States is way ahead of Australia when it comes to brewing beer. Aussies do seem to be impressed with the beer choices in bars/pubs in the States. Here we are often limited to just a couple of choices on tap at most pubs. The tour lasted about 30 minutes, and afterwards we said goodbye to our new friends. 

I cannot remember the name of our guide, but he used very "colorful" and entertaining language!

Overall, I thought the value for the money was good and I would definitely go back to Matilda Bay Brewing Company for similar specials. The only caveat is the location, as it is in more of an industrial area and most people would have to go out of their way to get there. It was a great "activity" to do with visitors, so perhaps we will be back soon with our next round of guests!

Baking, Birthdays, Beer, and.... SNAKES!

When Erik's birthday rolled around in late September, we were living with very limited kitchen items, so I could not make a proper birthday cake for him. I wanted to find a rainbow chip birthday cake recipe (his favorite), because I knew for SURE that I wouldn't find the rainbow chip box cake mix or frosting here in Oz! With my birthday arriving last week I decided to make the cake to celebrate both of our birthdays together. The cake turned out pretty well, though it was a bit buttery, and I think that butter here might be stronger or more concentrated than the butter in the States. It was the most intensive baking operation I've undergone in a while, and it reminded me how much I've missed baking the last few months!

In honor of our surname!

Erik is excited to FINALLY get a birthday cake.

Mmmmm, rainbow chip deliciousness!

The day after my birthday (much of which was still my birthday in the good 'ole USA), we went to a Microbreweries Showcase in Federation Square, which is basically a big indoor/outdoor area in the center of Melbourne near the sporting complexes. A few of Erik's co-workers told him about the event and I was on-board right away! One of the things I've struggled with here is picking out the "right" beers to drink, so this was a chance to taste MANY different beers for a reasonable price. Tickets were $25 and that included 20 samples of beer (sample sizes were very generous and several places did not even ask for our tickets) from the various breweries. The $25 also included a ticket for a free meat pie (an Aussie staple)...don't worry it's not as gross as it sounds...it's actually quite good. Apparently this event occurs twice a year and we will definitely be going back. Erik actually enjoyed several of the beers as well, and I think he just might be on his way to discovering the goodness of beer! :) 

Fed Square

Yesterday was our first really warm day here in Oz, and as we were about to go off on our respective running adventures (no, we do not run together...he is too fast and I am to slow!), we saw a gecko peeking out of some bushes near our house. In my head I thought "hmmm, if he's out then other reptiles must be starting to come out as well," but I didn't say that out loud (if you are unaware, Erik is a little bit afraid of snakes).  Low and behold, about 20 minutes into my run, I saw a slithering creature about 10 feet ahead of me on the path. He had no interest in me though and headed straight from the path into the grass on the side of the trail.  It did cause me to pick up my speed a bit, but overall I wasn't adversely affected by my first encounter with an Aussie snake. Let's hope the rest of my snake encounters are just as boring. :)