Busselton Trip: Pt 1—Arrival and the hoppy bunny
As regular readers will be aware, the wife and I took a bit of break towards the end of October and had a week down at Busselton. My seriously amazing niece, not to be confused with seriously cute niece (SCN), was already down there. She had been there from the beginning of October. In fact it was her oft repeated praise of the stress relieving atmosphere of Busselton that enticed us into a week down there. As a general rule I don't go on holidays. I am one of those poor soles that actually gets a bit stressed by the idea of holidays. So much seems to go wrong on holidays. Also the chances of becoming dead while on holidays are increased.
Arriving at Busselton was a bit of an eye-opener. I can't recall exactly when I was last down there but it must be something like 15 years ago. It has changed a lot. Just to give you some idea they have Red Rooster, MacDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and a Hungry Jacks there now. Seriously! I kid you not. And there are about five sets of traffic lights there now! There was just the one set when I was last there. Who would have thought there would ever be a requirement for additional traffic lights in sleepy-old holiday-town Busselton? Next thing you know there will be traffic lights in Margret River and Dunsborough. Actually, for all I know they might already have traffic lights in those towns.
We were booked into the Forte Cape View Apartments. I am not too sure what the 'view' was supposed to be because there wasn't one; but the unit was fresh, clean, and tidy, and we were could park the car in our own carport. It also had a spa but we never ended up using it.
On the first morning we had arranged to meet amazing niece at 'the office' at around 9:30 a.m. but we slept in a bit and didn't make it until about 10:30. The office is really no office at all. It is the Vasse Cafe Bar.
Now just to set the situation up a bit I am not a 'bar kind of person'. I would not have been into a hotel six times in my life since I was about 15. For whatever reason—I probably know the reason but I won't go into it here—I just don't like going into bars. Don't get me wrong. I am not teetotal; far from it. But I generally feel uneasy and stressed in a bar environment. So before my arrival at the office amazing niece had conditioned the regulars to 'take it easy on me'.
So the wife and I arrive at the office and go over to where amazing niece and her group are sitting at the bar. As you would expect, not very long after I sit at the bar amazing niece asked "What are you going to have?"
I tend to drink Four X Gold (XXXX) at home—it's cheap and not too bad—but here at the office I am thinking I should go for something a bit more special. Probably one of these fancy new craft beers. So I get up and take a look at the what's on offer from the on-tap beers. I end up liking the look of the White Rabbit.
With the fancy 'taps' at the Vasse—which I am led to understand are the only ones like it in WA—you can see the colour of the beer in a glass cylinder at the top of the tap and I liked the colour of the White Rabbit. So a middy of White Rabbit Pale Ale it was.
After I had sipped about a quarter of the middy amazing niece casually inquired "So ... How's your beer?" At the time I had the glass to my mouth just taking another taste. I looked at my glass and replied "Yeah! It's pretty good. It's a bit hoppy." To my surprise she laughed and then I realised what I had said: That my White Rabbit Pale Ale was a bit hoppy. I actually meant it when I said it because it had a beautiful full hops flavour and finish. But then I saw the funny side of what I had just said. It was funny enough for the barman to provide my next hoppy bunny beer on-the-house.
When I thought more about it I figured that the barman had probably heard my accidental hoppy bunny joke many times before, but I queried him on this and he said it was the first time for him.
That night going to bed back at the Forte Cape View I thought about it a number of times as I was drifting off and every time I did I started laughing. I couldn't help it: "It's pretty good. It's a bit hoppy."
Even now as I punch this up I have had a couple of memory chuckles.
Since getting back to base I have researched White Rabbit beer. You can go to their Web site by clicking on the following picture. Can you find the white rabbit in the picture? Hint: He's white.
The following is from the White Rabbit site:
What you taste now is a beer with a beautiful balance of delicate fruit esters and subtle spicy notes - neither one dominates the palate - and is supported by a well-integrated malt backbone and everyone’s favourite; truckloads of aromatic hop flowers. Added late in the process to our hop-back, the chosen hops lend our ale some of that ‘new world’ character and complexity we all love.
Note the bit about the hops. See, I was right. It is a hoppy beer.
Barry.
Post S7-0013