Outlaw = Diamond

Monday evening was nothing short of fantastic. A large proportion of top chefs (my mate Rick excepted) are self evidently absolute cocks. Nathan on the other hand a really good bloke and capable of ripping the rest of them limb from limb without breaking a sweat. Chances are he’s a better cook as well! I probably cheapen the word honour through over use but seeing my beers allied to food of the quality of Nathan’s was an honour in the profoundest sense.

I also had the privilege of sampling the menu and the beers with Melissa Cole and Sue Nowak. Both ladies know the best beer and food when they see it and were unable to fault any of the comestibles. Sue was also kind enough to bake me a delicious loaf of Doom Bar bread. Thanks Sue.

The highlight of the evening was the reception of DW. It was paired with a cake prepared from figs and beer and everyone attending was glowing in their priase for the beer and the combination. Melissa and Sue both loved it. Sales of the beer are very good and I soon hope to have it for sale at Utobeer and Beerritz.

The yet to be named Rock-Howe collaboration has reached close enough to its attenuation limit to transfer to the lagering vessel. To 11,000 litres of beer we added 50kg of fresh Saaz in hop sacks supplied direct from Orval. Jean-Marie was not entirely convinced that my hop sack anchoring system will prevent the hops floating on top of the beer. I hope to pleasantly surprise him. Captain Chaos and I now have the challenge of getting the old brewery chiller rigged up to the tank in order to drop the temperature to 0C.