The Squire's Maiden

The Squire’s Maiden doesn’t just offer an all encompassing bevy of their beautiful beers, it does pub grub gratifyingly well too.

The delightful duo of sensationally seasoned, humongous hunks of hoki fish were coated in a thoroughly peerless beer batter. Said beer batter crumbled like the walls of Jericho upon every bite with a satisfying crackle to expose the bounty of moist, flaky, flavorful fish fillet within. The tantalizing tartar sauce on the side helped to elevate the fish to a whole new level of fishy felicity.

The shoestring fries were also wonderfully well done, with that all too alluring combination of a crispy, golden brown exterior fused with the fluffy insides of hand cut chips greatly gratifying your gluttonous sensibilities. Special mention must be made to the mushy peas sitting coyly on the fringes of the action, however. Normally I utterly despise peas, but these mushy peas were actually quite smooth and not too powdery in texture, and the mint-accentuated taste was right on the money.

I don’t care if she’s with the Squire, I will marry any maiden who can whip up fish and chips this good.

I didn’t know it at the time, but I was moving into the hometown of one of Australia’s biggest craft breweries, James Squire. And yes, my life has never been better (or boozier) ever since I found out.

One of their most unique brews is this black beauty right here, The Wreck Preservation Ale. It’s a porter made from 220 year old yeast resurrected from one of the ancient shipwrecks off the coast of Australia, so savor every sip, for this brew was quite literally a long time coming.

It’s malty, roasty and slightly spicy with the usual roasted coffee bean flavor and scent, and each historical hit of The Wreck is creamy and lusciously full bodied. It’s smooth and low in carbonation, which means this brew won’t wreck your guts.

Now this is craft beer at it’s undisputed peak.