It’s Always Sunny in Sydney-delphia

Well, Summer has come strong, hard and with a vengeance.High temps, almost oppressive humidity and long nights has certainly left all of us at The Oak Barrel thirsty as anything for a refreshing beverage to make everything seem like it is alright.We all remember the slogans calling for big cold beers to quench your hard-earned thirsts, but when we think about it what does that really mean? Could your thirst be crushed better by a lemon soda, drinking frozen water or sitting inside of a fridge? Possibly, but it wouldn’t be as satisfying as the following refreshing beverages that you can get from your local (or digital) independent bottle shop.

Cyril Zangs Ciderman

Cyril, a former book publisher hailing from regional France, decided around 2009 that enough was enough and wanted to return to his native Normandy.Being influenced by the long-heralded tradition of cider making in his home region, Cyril took his inspiration from his childhood but took the production down a very fun, fresh and natural path.

Cyril’s ciders share the same selection of apples (69 in total), are picked from trees up to 60 years old, the fruit is picked while still on the tree (not having fallen to the ground to rot), the apples then ripen in his barns for up to six weeks, is gently pressed and naturally fermented in tank.The bottles are then left to condition in bottles in a similar way to champagne, disgorged and topped up with only disgorged cider from the same batch.

Ciderman (or Brut if you want to buy a bigger bottle) is light, fresh, funky and only slightly filtered to give an amazing texture.There is an undeniable balance here, a finish of slight effervescence and a serious contender for our favourite summer smasher.

Batch Brewing Pash the Magic Dragon Sour Fruit Ale

When you think that even back in 2013 there weren’t many local breweries around Sydney, and let’s all take a moment to think about the great amount of new, young, exciting and incredible breweries we have been blessed with since then.

As one of the earliest upstarts for the current craft brewing charge, Batch Brewing was set up by American ex-pats Chris and Andrew with a clear message that the ‘brew for you’.Meaning that they will always create beers to make their fans, friends and family stoked to drink and share.

Pash the Magic Dragon (Batch #83) is a passionfruit and dragon fruit sour ale first released in May 2016, coming to life to tell a magical tale of fruity, sour goodness to the people of Marrickville.Being a massive hit from fans far and wide, Batch has introduced the dragon to be released whenever it can, refreshing your thirsty mouths with the sour fruity goodness.

Beer Farm West Coast Lager

If you have been in the store recently, you could of possibly noticed that we have a fully stocked range courtesy of our friends at Beer Farm.Hailing from Metricup in regional WA (yes you must all be sick of how much I love the West by now), Beer Farm has finally started to take their relationship with the east coast to the next level.

Funnily enough their answer to your summer prayers is their West Coast Lager, based on a Helles style presenting with a light hop aroma, pale appearance and finishes fresh with a thoroughly enjoyable malt character lingering around.

Who’s number one?XPA’s number one.Well that is according to the voters in the latest GABS hottest 100.A brewery started by a bunch of mates for the purpose of making exceptional crew brews accessible to every single mouth in Australia.

Given its recent rise as a style, XPA is often misrepresented or not even truly understood.What we are looking at is an ale that sits between US pale ales and IPA, with a beautiful amount of pronounced hop character without it being overbearing.

Let’s think about it, this style is all about refreshment and balance, met with tropical hop aromas that balter have managed to sneak in to making easily one of the most crushable and relieving beers for this time of the year.