Eight months.
If you’re ever wondering: “If I begin a brewing company in Sydney’s Inner West then build a home for that brewery in Bathurst, how long will it take before I shed my hip Inner West skin and go full bogan?” … the answer is eight months.
Reckless Brewing have truly become part of their Bathurst community* by embracing motorsports** and RTDs, and brought Bogan Fuel to GABS 2023. They also brought an actual racing car to their GABS stand in Sydney and gave prizes for the fastest tyre changes, which is pretty baller.
Now: the drink. I know it says it’s a rum and cola sour beer, so I should’ve been prepared, but… oh my goodness. It smells like rum and coke. And it tastes like rum and coke. This is strange for me. I haven’t indulged in mixed drinks like this for 15 years, so it was surprising and weird and transported me to another time and another place.
There are a few slight differences. Up close, the liquid is brown with a light cloudiness rather than bearing the caramel sparkle of cola… but hold your glass at arms’ length and it looks the part. And it’s not as sugary as a rum and coke; there’s a very slight sourness, though that gets caught up in the flavour of rum and coke (without the sweetness of those things). The ABV is higher, too, at a relatively hefty 6.9 percent.
So no, it’s not exactly the same. But… it… I… my brain is not accepting that this is a beer. It's a cola drink with spirit in it. My brain is freaking out. I'm having cognitive dissonance.
Am I allowed to say "cognitive dissonance" in a write up of a beer called Bogan Fuel? Perhaps "brain fart" would suit the context better.
Mick Wüst
*I’ll be honest, I actually know shockingly little about Bathurst. Please take of my mocking for what it is: a second-hand relaying of the good-natured ribbing that Reckless is happy to include in the marketing of this beer.
**I know shockingly little about motorsports, too. My limited knowledge comes from recently watching the enjoyable Ford vs Ferrari, regrettably watching Talladega Nights years ago, and about 11 minutes of searching the internet right now. So that my research hasn’t gone to waste: "running slicks" refers to having racing tyres with smooth treads on your car. I was forced to learn about that to understand an FAQ on the Summernats website (Summernats being something else I learned about).
Published June 13, 2023 2023-06-13 00:00:00
