Beer at $25 a stubby! The Canberra Times as consumer advocate?

edit: eating not reading

byt2007 said :

Last time I went there the beer tasted odd — stale, flat, unclean — and a good half of the mussels were closed (per serving, and we ordered five different kinds). It was also expensive beyond our wildest dreams — 3 beers each, bread, fries and mussels ended up costing over $80 per head for six people (the total bill was close to $500!!!!!).

Since then, I’ve stuck to doing the mussels-beer-bread-fries combination at home on the sunny balcony — where $80 will get you Little Creatures beer, 2 kg mussels (chilli-garlic-marsala and white wine-cream-garlic), fresh bread, oozing ripe brie and camembert, home made aioli, and nice fresh hot fries from Flatheads. More than enough food for six people to gorge themselves on, and if you’re lucky, your guests might bring along a bottle of wine.

nice! makes me long for summer reading that……

Skidd Marx said :

We should be thankful that places like the Belgian Beer Cafe exist. Who else is going to keep all of the pretentious tossbags with two last names away from the good bars?

What are the good bars?
I am biased, so will not mention mine, or do we not tell anyone about the good bars incase they (the two last names) come to them?

A product that goes from warm water and sugar to packaged beverage in less than a day is not beer.

Why drink euro exotica beers when you can have delicious local Zierholz (or even U-Brew it with a little effort).

54-11 said :

Posers that spend $25 on a beer deserve everything they get. What’s wrong with a VB?

What’s wrong with VB could fill volumes??? Interestingly on a recent excursion to the Apple Isle, I had occasion to find myself at the Boag’s Brewery on the ‘Beer Lovers Tour’. An interesting trail through the beer making process of one of Australia’s oldest Brewers and then the delights of a tasting session. Someone in our group mentioned VB and Melbourne Bitter and our guide retorted with, ‘we only talk about beer here’. Nuff said.

We should be thankful that places like the Belgian Beer Cafe exist. Who else is going to keep all of the pretentious tossbags with two last names away from the good bars?

Just a quick bit on the supplier aspect, many suppliers to pubs and clubs have become a little more anxious in regards to credit afforded to businesses due to the likliehood of them closing down / significantly reducing orders. Where you could once get away with owing a lot and still get an order, it is no longer the case.
Customer gouging is nothing new, if you want cheap alcohol, buy it and drink it at home, or go to happy hours.

Purely out of interest, does Jazz’ in-law still manage it?
http://the-riotact.com/?p=3925

Clown Killer said :

fermented for flavour and then topped up with industrial ethanol last I heard

It’s brewed with yeasts that deliver around 8.5% alcohol and then they add carbonated water to bring it back to 4.9% (or whatever). They don’t use barley for the carbs either – rice, potato starch, sugar beet whatevers cheapest – so no it’s not really beer, well not as we know it …

foul. i haven’t drunk VB since my povo student and graduate years, a long long time ago. this knowledge will ensure that i never ever consider going back!!!

Last time I went there the beer tasted odd — stale, flat, unclean — and a good half of the mussels were closed (per serving, and we ordered five different kinds). It was also expensive beyond our wildest dreams — 3 beers each, bread, fries and mussels ended up costing over $80 per head for six people (the total bill was close to $500!!!!!).

Since then, I’ve stuck to doing the mussels-beer-bread-fries combination at home on the sunny balcony — where $80 will get you Little Creatures beer, 2 kg mussels (chilli-garlic-marsala and white wine-cream-garlic), fresh bread, oozing ripe brie and camembert, home made aioli, and nice fresh hot fries from Flatheads. More than enough food for six people to gorge themselves on, and if you’re lucky, your guests might bring along a bottle of wine.

jackal said :

farnarkler said :

Looks like a hatchet job by Aaron Ridgway. The menu confirms what Eyeball said, $10.50 for a 330ml bottle of Chimay Blanche. I’ll bet Aaron pronounces Hoegaarden incorrectly too. What an acht maand.

Ridgeway would know more about fine beers and wine than all of you clowns.

What an odd thing to say?

54-11 said :

Posers that spend $25 on a beer deserve everything they get. What’s wrong with a VB?

Firstly, VB is piss.

Chimay is one of the finest beers in the world, but if you pay $25 for a glass than you are indeed an idiot.

I’m sure you could go down to Plonk and pay a lil’ extra to pick up one of the Chimay gift packs which features all 3 Chimays (blue, white and red) and a goblet!

And the BWS up the road from the Belgium Beer Garden sells them for approximately $9 a bottle.

I went there several years ago. The beer was expensive, but good, and the food was too. But the service and atmosphere was great. If it loses the atmosphere and service then not worth the $, but other wise was a good after work drink with friends, and better value the paying for a VB in civic on a friday night…

fermented for flavour and then topped up with industrial ethanol last I heard

It’s brewed with yeasts that deliver around 8.5% alcohol and then they add carbonated water to bring it back to 4.9% (or whatever). They don’t use barley for the carbs either – rice, potato starch, sugar beet whatevers cheapest – so no it’s not really beer, well not as we know it …

johnboy said :

fermented for flavour and then topped up with industrial ethanol last I heard.

Then served as cold as possible to hide the fact that it tastes like sh*t.

johnboy is right, VB is hideous.

farnarkler said :

Looks like a hatchet job by Aaron Ridgway. The menu confirms what Eyeball said, $10.50 for a 330ml bottle of Chimay Blanche. I’ll bet Aaron pronounces Hoegaarden incorrectly too. What an acht maand.

Ridgeway would know more about fine beers and wine than all of you clowns, and clown killers. And i’m not he, if you’re wondering. The bar owner was interviewed for the story and admitted the mark-up, blaming an issue with the suppliers.

54-11 said :

Posers that spend $25 on a beer deserve everything they get. What’s wrong with a VB?

Well for a start VB isn’t beer, it’s a beer flavoured alcopop.

fermented for flavour and then topped up with industrial ethanol last I heard.

Posers that spend $25 on a beer deserve everything they get. What’s wrong with a VB?

They tried to charge me $13 for a pint of stella a couple of years back. I won’t be going back there, Ridgeway hatchet job or not.

Looks like a hatchet job by Aaron Ridgway. The menu confirms what Eyeball said, $10.50 for a 330ml bottle of Chimay Blanche. I’ll bet Aaron pronounces Hoegaarden incorrectly too. What an acht maand.

Save yourself the trip lads..was there a few weeks ago..most of the tap beers weren’t available, and the barmaid was new and didn’t have a clue about anything. Guy next to me said something about the owner being screwed by his suppliers, hence the big markups…still doesn’t explain the $25 beer though…never again for me. I can drink imported beer at home without having to wait 15 minutes to get served..

I was planning on doing the same thing Eyeball. If you’re there at lunch time look out for a fat bastard reading the paper and having lunch on his own!

Caveat emptor.

I wonder how many of their customers are buying a 2nd or 3rd bottle of it?

I can certainly see that there would be some interest in buying a bottle of expensive beer, more from the sheer curiosity of it. But if it’s not value for money, you don’t usually go back.

But then, value for money & Kingston rarely go together…

I’m going to go there tomorrow and check out the facts of this story.

A 750ml bottle of Chimay Grand Reserve costs $27, and a 330ml of Chimay Blanche has generally cost $10.50 according to their menu.