homebrewandbeer.com

I second Purvis. They have a fantastic selection, and often do beer and wine tastings. Their prices aren't as good as Dan Murphy's, but I find their knowledge right up there, while your regular Dan Murphy's staff member won't know nearly as much.

I go to Purvis for recommendations for new beers - they always have something new for me to try

acland cellars in st kilda. prices are a bit over the top, but they have everything. i'm fairly sure they can get in everything from beerstore.com.au.... as aclandcellars.com.au links straight to it. friendly and helpfull staff too.

Anyone been to Ringwood Cellars on Bedford Road (VIC). They have a website http://www.docsliquor.com/browse/?liqse ... de72e5221c and a few beers i wouldn't mind trying (Double Diamond from the UK) and a Chimay. Any Good???

Tried Double Diamond stubby sized bottles several years ago. Just went under house to check details on cardboard 6 pack that I have saved. Why? God knows, because I surely don't. Especially as 6 pack container is suspiciously uninformative. Gives a brief history of brewing in Burton-upon-Trent, but by omission, indicates that the bottles in the 6 pack were probably not brewed in Burton.

From memory, the 6 pack was quite good. But the 24 X 440ml cans that I subsequently purchased were awful. Got a $20 discount off my next imported carton as a result.

This was several years ago, before I wised up that the UK beers I was buying were mostly several months past Best Before date. Got the impression that they were being warehoused in WA for a year or more before being road freighted to QLD! No wonder many of them were somewhat dead!

Check the dates on the bottles/cans before handing over your hard won dosh.

pacman wrote:Tried Double Diamond stubby sized bottles several years ago. Just went under house to check details on cardboard 6 pack that I have saved. Why? God knows, because I surely don't. Especially as 6 pack container is suspiciously uninformative. Gives a brief history of brewing in Burton-upon-Trent, but by omission, indicates that the bottles in the 6 pack were probably not brewed in Burton.

From memory, the 6 pack was quite good. But the 24 X 440ml cans that I subsequently purchased were awful. Got a $20 discount off my next imported carton as a result.

This was several years ago, before I wised up that the UK beers I was buying were mostly several months past Best Before date. Got the impression that they were being warehoused in WA for a year or more before being road freighted to QLD! No wonder many of them were somewhat dead!

Check the dates on the bottles/cans before handing over your hard won dosh.

Cheers mate will look out for that.

pacman wrote:Check the dates on the bottles/cans before handing over your hard won dosh.

And if it's Coopers, get the stuff well past its "best after" date.

Yeah blandy, how long have Coopers been doing this? Only noticed it a few months ago, when i took a step back in disbelief. Thought Dans had some out of date grog in stock until I read the detail "best after".

So how long after the "best after" date does Coopers last? Two years?

pacman wrote:Yeah blandy, how long have Coopers been doing this? Only noticed it a few months ago, when i took a step back in disbelief. Thought Dans had some out of date grog in stock until I read the detail "best after".

So how long after the "best after" date does Coopers last? Two years?

Gave me a bit of a shock to when i bought my first bottle of sparkling ale and got it home and read the date, i almost took it back and threw it at the liquor shop guy until i realised what it was

pacman wrote:So how long after the "best after" date does Coopers last? Two years?

No idea, Has anyone let it last that long?

The individual capable of this is either very strong-willed or hates beer.

blandy wrote:

pacman wrote:So how long after the "best after" date does Coopers last? Two years?

No idea, Has anyone let it last that long?

The individual capable of this is either very strong-willed or hates beer.

Ive also tried this with my homebrew, DAMN ive tried, but it just doesnt last that long, in any case its pretty good anytime after its best after (the coopers i mean), im sure it gets better but who cares, drink up and be happy

blandy wrote:

pacman wrote:So how long after the "best after" date does Coopers last? Two years?

No idea, Has anyone let it last that long?

The individual capable of this is either very strong-willed or hates beer.

Did anyone try the special release of Sparkling longnecks that were around about 2 years ago? They had a special label on them saying it was the last lot from the old plant, and had been left in a warehouse for longer than they would keep them before release. A mate of mine had one in an esky full of water and when the label came off, there was a japanese label underneath... he later he heard that what really happened is they sent a big batch over to Japan and quite a bit of it was sent back... however it came about, it was bloody delicious