Melbourne Meetup summary, beer review, and story about Aussie Ninja

This afternoon we had a Melbourne Meetup at the Great Northern Hotel in Carlton. Unfortunately, bad weather and other commitments kept a few people away so it was just the four of us: @bobaphet, @itstime, @mslillypilly, and myself. We had wide-ranging conversations - from cryptocurrency to archaeology to economics to music - the interesting conversations are the reason I love meeting Steemit people. Check out @bobaphet's channel later tonight for some video content.

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Beer Review - White Rabbit Pana Chocolate Stout (Ltd Edition)

The Great Northern Hotel is known for their range of beers (21 on tap). Although I am not a big fan of dark beers I was really curious about this one. It is a special limited edition collaboration between Pana Chocolate and White Rabbit Brewery (both from Melbourne). The beer is 5.6% and is also vegan (stouts often aren't due to the use of lactose sugar and milk-based starter cultures). I thought it was delicious. It was not as chocolatey as I expected but also not as heavy as other stouts I have tried, in fact, if I had tried it blindfolded I would not have expected it to be so dark. @mslillypilly was also impressed. In her words, "very flavoursome, not too heavy, with beautiful chocolate undertones".

Source: https://untappd.com/b/white-rabbit-chocolate-stout/2009845

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My first visit to the Great Northern Hotel with @aussieninja in 2011

I hadn't been to the Great Northern for nearly 7 years but in 2011 it was the location for post-match drinks following futsal (indoor soccer) matches for a team I played in. I was new to Melbourne and joined a team after responding to a Gumtree ad for a goalkeeper wanted for a friendly social team. The team was captained and managed by none other than @aussieninja. I liked how his advert emphasised having fun (I didn't quite register the hidden message in that). I came along for the first match and played a really good game. I let in two goals but we won 3-2. The team were ecstatic at the win. Really really ecstatic. It was only afterwards that @aussieninja told me they had never won a game before. A few months later @aussieninja went for a trip to America and then decided to make the move permanent - at which point he "gifted" the management of the team to me (if you have never managed a social sports team before, it isn't a gift).

Source: https://www.thehappiesthour.com/venues/melbourne/the-great-northern/