BS&B Brisbane

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February of 2004 and we're in Brisbane, Queensland. Kate is on a sabbatical working with colleagues here and then later in the trip with others in Perth, Western Australia. I am working on the road. This is our second trip to Australia, the first was for a month last year (see Hawaii & Australia 2003 in this blog).

I am a member of the Stonetown Beefsteak and Burgundy (BS&B) wine club back home in St Marys. Stonetown is a local chapter of the international BS&B club that started out in Adelaide, South Australia in the early 1950's. There are clubs all over the country and a few outside (currently 2 in Canada). Wednesday, today, we've arranged to have lunch with a local Beefsteak and Burgundy club that meets a short walk away from our long stay (we're in the City Park Apartments on Gregory Terrace just north of the CBD). This club meets every month for lunch at the United Service Club (USC) on Wickham Terrace about half way to the CBD. The weather has been hot and humid; most days I'm dressed very casual. But today we decide it might be more appropriate to wear proper trousers.

Glad that I did. For when we arrive, we discover that the club is an "officers" club and formal dress (ie. jacket and tie) is required. The wine club meets as a guest in the club and, while they are surprised at my casual dress, are happy to have us. The expectation is that everyone should dress formally; nevertheless, we are made welcome. 

This is a men's club, some are women only, others are mixed clubs. But Kate is welcomed and there's another lady, a friend to one of the members, who is visiting from South Africa. We are jokingly told that the club doesn't allow spouses for these lunch time events — only girlfriends and mistresses. We're told that wives come to their dinners which they have a couple of times a year.

I can't recall what our meal was, I do recall it was very good and the chef was called out to be introduced and thanked.  Nor do I recall what the wines were. I do recall that there would have been a wine steward who had arranged the wines. The wines were served blind (numbered and wrapped in paper so you didn't know what they are) and guests were called on to "speak to the wine" — which is a round about way of saying "making a fool of yourself". Because hardly anyone, unless you're a well heeled and well trained sommelier, can taste and name wines with any accuracy. This makes for a lot of fun. Of course they called on me and of course I got it wrong.

We hung around the USC with some of the rowdy bunch after the lunch and played snooker. The receptionist lent me a sports jacket so I could (sort of) meet the dress code requirements of an officers club. We had a lot of laughs and made friends that lasted for years — Murray (Darling), Baggins, and John of Whiskey Gully Wines. The wine club is a welcoming group and we came back many times over the years.

When Alison, from Winnipeg, came we saw Murray at his home and he took us for a ride on the river in his boat; we visited with John at his winery on the Granite Belt.

Pictures of the event above are largely uncensored. That's probably Ok as, at this writing (2026), many of those friends are long gone. May these memories and those rowdy moments outlast us all.