It was never our intention to completely dedicate a day for the James Boags Brewery, but it’s 5pm as I start to draft this, and we’ve done little else.

Months ago, when Jess and I were loosely discussing what we might like to do during our Tasmania trip, our conversation quickly turned to beer tasting. I searched up Boags and Cascade and mentioned these to Jess. We decided both might be a little excessive, but Boags was on our list of ‘to – do’ whilst in Launceston. Jess booked the tour for a 1pm start.

Whilst it’s very easy to travel with Hamish these days, we try to include as many child-friendly activities as we can manage. Today was supposed to be a museum/planetarium morning (kid-friendly) followed by the Boags tour and tasting (adult-friendly). After a late start, the museum idea was scrapped by Hamish initially, (content to hang around the house with his favourite people in his PJ’s) and then by the rest of us as time slipped away.

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Anticipating the state of us after a brewery tour, I decided to head to Woolworths to organise an easy dinner, you know, just incase we weren’t up to cooking. I mentioned yesterday Rod has been unwell: whilst this is no good for Rod, this turned out to be fortunate for Jess, Matt and I as we now had a dedicated driver.

The actual tour itself was 90 minutes of pure enthusiasm, history and information provided by our guide, Phil, whom has worked at Boags for 12 years: he is a keen fan of the amber liquid. His knowledge of the process of brewing beer and the history of the Boags empire was passed onto us in such detail, I for one, can hardly remember anything! I suspect Hamish thinks I drink beer 24/7 – as Phil passed on little gems of information, Hamish would say, “Mum, did you hear that?” or, “Oh, that sounds like you Mum!”

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Due to depth and detail of the tour, I have asked each of us to provide their top take-home message or theme from today:

Me

Beer is best tasted (or is that tastes best) before breakfast (it’s all about the senses!)

Launceston is the 3^rd oldest city in Australia

Something about barley and the colour of the beer

Rod

Can’t believe that every drop of Boags is brewed in one large room of a relatively small brewery

All beers are either lagers or ales

There were many James Boags

Hamish

My juice at the end was good

The lunch at the end was good

The machines were interesting

Jess

The cows get to eat the leftover warm sweet mash, and apparently, they quite enjoy it

Matt

We skulled 3 beers very quickly

Boags brews XXXX Gold

Launceston provided us with chilly temperatures to enjoy our alfresco post-tour, post-tasting lunch. We’ve now retired to our respective rooms for a bit of afternoon down-time, full of food and beer. I’m planning to whip up some Apple-Pie martini’s later, lovely for the cool weather.

Tomorrow is our last day in Launceston and it’ll be a kid-friendly day before we pack up for the next leg of our journey to the Freycinet Peninsula.