Debacle

If the Civic Pub is the social centre of the working-class of Braddon, Debacle is its middle-class counterpart - being usually filled with university students and people who look like young functionaries in one of Canberra's public or private bureaucracies.

In short, it's one of those loud, upmarket pizza places that sprung up as a genre of Australasian dining sometime in the 90s. Unlike most other such places, Debacle does have a genuinely impressive array of beer - probably the best in the city after the Wig and Pen. There are better German wheat beers, Czech pilsners, and Belgian trappist brews on tap - along with other friends in the fridge that we haven't got to yet. Unfortunately, the pizza is a bit of a disappointment - you'd be better off with a burrito from Zambrero across Lonsdale Street. While looking good on the menu, the delivery is just not that flash. On our last visit (on a 2-for-1 Monday), both pizzas were way too doughy and the toppings were seriously undercooked. And while the place does get busy, the kitchen did not look like it was so rushed as to serious cut corners while we were there. Not good.

So, in sum, if you're willing to put up with a little atmospheric vanity, 70s/80s middle-brow pop (Lionel Ritchie/Van Morrison), general noisiness, and the junior ranks of the middle-class - for the payoff of better than average beer (if risking worse than average pizza) - Debacle could be for you.

Things Mexican: Zambrero and the Fiery Aztec

Over the past few weeks the Always Hungry team have come across a couple of vaguely Mexican things of note.

The first is the Wig and Pen's new seasonal (i.e. winter) stout, which they have named Fiery Aztec. As a good stout should be it's thick and tasty, although with more of the consistency of Coopers Extra Stout than Guinness. One of us made the observation that it was not unlike chilled, alcoholic coffee. Definitely worth a taste...

The second is the wannabe Mexican-style chain Zambrero. Their first outpost (that we know of) was in Lonsdale Street (Braddon), and they have since opened for business on a corner of the Sydney Building in the Civic bus interchange, where you would think a hospitality business might thrive but for whatever reason, they historically seem not to. We are in two minds about our Zambrero experiences. One of us is enthusiastic about it, and thinks highly of the burritos they've had, while the other is less impressed, thinking the food average and a bit over-priced. You would think that Canberra (and Australia more widely) could support a successful Mexican chain (which it doesn't have at the moment) - however whether Zambrero has got the formula right is less clear. If they up the quality on the food a notch, and knock a dollar or two off the prices for their main menu items we think they might make it.

Redback Cristal

One way of categorising Australasian cities is distinguishing between those whose inhabitants (or former residents) are somewhat more parochial about their home-town, and those who while they may like a given city, are less prone to praise-singing. Generalising, we would say Sydney, Brisbane, or Auckland would clearly fall into the latter category, whereas parochialism is more pronounced among those with ties to Melbourne, Wellington, and Perth.

While neither of us have been there, so we've been told, the weather is better, the grass is greener, and so on in the WA state capital. Growing up, one of us recalls a school friend, who along with being generally enthusiastic about their time growing up in Perth, was in similar terms fond of Redback Cristal, a wheat beer from "over there". Accordingly, he on occasion made these beers available for didactic purposes, and it was agreed at the time that they were indeed estimable.

Now, as we still enjoy a good wheat beer - which when done well have a certain energy - we recently purchased a sixer of Redback, to see if memory and taste were still in concordance. Unfortunately it seems that during a 10 or so year interval between tastings, something happened. While, to be clear, there isn't much offensive with Redback circa 2008, it also doesn't seem to do much else for us, other than being rather bland. Importantly, it doesn't actually really taste like a wheat beer at all. Given their premium pricing (i.e. about $19 a six-pack), this can be seen as a not insignificant failing. We like taste, and if we buy a high-priced wheat beer, we would hope it would taste recognisably as a wheat beer. Given that WA is home to Australia's wheatbelt, it might be hoped that wheat beers from that part of world would be a bit better.

Coopers Extra Stout

It is more or less redundant to note that the Coopers brewery is (along with the Little Creatures crowd) one of the two best makers of mass market beer in Australia, or for that matter, Australasia (although we do think the "family brewed" tag is stretching it a little - what proportion of the Coopers workforce can really be family members?)

However, while being well familiarised with most of their other products we hadn't though previously come across their Extra Stout. In short, this is probably the best (mass market) stout we can think of this side of Ireland (along with perhaps New Zealand's classic Vita Stout). While not as rich and thick as Guiness (obviously the benchmark for the style) Coopers have actually managed to create a complex, textured drink. This unfortunately has been all-too-rare among the attempts of most brewers in this part of the world's attempts at making stouts, porters, and other darker beers.

Definitely worth a try for the uninitiated.

The Wig and Pen Assessed against the Haywood Framework

From Christchurch, the author David Haywood has recently put forth a five-point framework of the key characteristics of the all-too-infrequently found "good pub". The original piece is worth reading in its entirety, containing compelling insights including, "The only acceptable substitute for good beer, in my opinion, is very, very cheap beer" and, in setting an appropriate atmosphere, "A stuffed fish is a welcome addition to any pub".

In short, the five essential components of the good pub can be summarised as:

1. Good beer (i.e naturally fizzy, non-sweet, well-headed, hand pumped beer).
2. A total absence of recorded music, with live music allowable in very restricted circumstances.
3. The absence of activities requiring physical exertion. Darts and dominoes are fine, pool is out.
4. Bar staff with gravitas appropriate to serving good beer. Trivial bonhomie is dimly viewed.
5. Dark, sombre, yet comfortable decor.

With only minor qualifications, we are willing to accept Haywood's criteria as being of value. This of course leads to the further question of which pubs in one's own place of residence fulfil them. Haywood himself notes that no one venue in Christchurch meets all of his criteria, with various otherwise meritous establishments each having significant flaws. Drawing on our collective experience of drinking in Canberra, it is clear only one pub comes close to clearing the high bar set. This, of course, is the Wig and Pen, whose beer in taste and its service is well above the offerings of any and everywhere else, and lacks only for seating comfortable for extended visits.

Unlike Haywood, we are willing to entertain arguments for pubs other than those that tend towards his archetype clearly derived from a very particular understanding of the United Kingdom and Ireland. We are willing to acknowledge, for example, the pleasures of the Civic Pub, or the Phoenix as an occasional corrective. However, in most circumstances the discerning, reflective, adult Canberran cannot venture past the W and P.