Beer & Brewer 51 Summer 2019 Free Edition by Intermedia Group

HOW DOES GYPSY/CONTRACT BREWING WORK? Find out on page 46 INCLUDING

ISSUE 51 SUMMER 2019 PRICE $9.95 (NZ $11.95)

SUMMER SUNSHINE:

Lagers CRAFT BREWING’S MISUNDERSTOOD MASTERPIECE

WHY CRAFT BEER LOVERS SHOULD HEAD TO THE SUNSHINE COAST

l l i W a s ’ e r e h t e r e h W VAN DIEMAN BREWING’S WILL TATCHELL SCOOPS OUR BEST BREWER AWARD

BEERS & CIDERS

REVIEWED ISSN 1834-5115

0 4

771834 511048

WWW.BEERANDBREWER.COM

PLUS! THE BUSINESS OF BREWING | A PINT WITH… PETE BROWN | MASTERS OF THE BREWNIVERSE

160 YEARS OF AUSTRALIAN MALTING 20 locally sourced base and specialty malts 5 State-of-the-Art malting plants 1 massive network of growers Committed to delivering the best Australian malts to Craft Brewers

Distributed in Australia & New Zealand through Bintani Australia

PUBLISHER Paul Wootton | pwootton@intermedia.com.au EDITOR Charlie Whitting | cwhitting@intermedia.com.au HOMEBREWER EDITOR Chris Thomas HOMEBREWER TECHNICAL EDITOR Jake Brandish NATIONAL SALES MANAGER Andrea Diaz | adiaz@intermedia.com.au Tel: 02 8586 6123 GENERAL MANAGER SALES – LIQUOR & HOSPITALITY GROUP Shane T. Williams GROUP ART DIRECTOR – LIQUOR AND HOSPITALITY Kea Thorburn | kthorburn@intermedia.com.au PHOTOGRAPHER Simon Taylor ACTING CIRCULATIONS MANAGER Troy Brookes | subscriptions@intermedia.com.au PRODUCTION MANAGER Jacqui Cooper | jacqui@intermedia.com.au SUBSCRIPTIONS Tel: 1800 651 422 | Fax: +61 2 8580 6312 subscribe@beerandbrewer.com | www.shop.beerandbrewer.com Mail: PO Box 55 Glebe NSW 2037 SUBSCRIPTION RATE Australia $79.95 3 years (12 issues) savings $39.41 (33%) $54.99 2 years (8 issues) saving $24.61 (31%) $29.99 1 year (4 issues) saving $9.81 (25%) New Zealand $88.99 3 years (12 issues) saving $30.41 (25%) $60.99 2 years (8 issues) saving $18.61 (23%) $32.99 1 year (4 issues) saving $6.81 (17%) International $132.99 3 years (12 issues) $89.99 2 years (8 issues) $47.99 1 year (4 issues) Rate in AUD and incl. 10% GST for Australia, excluding GST for NZ and International PRINTING Webstar Sydney DISTRIBUTION Network Services (Aus) & NetLink (NZ), D&D Mailing, Dan Murphy’s, imakes, The Beverage Food Group (VIC) ISSN 1834 5115

EDITOR’S LETTER

PUBLISHED BY Food and Beverage Media 41 Bridge Road GLEBE NSW Australia 2037 Tel: 02 9660 2113 Fax: 02 9660 4419

Summer Issue Summer has arrived and so has the latest issue of Beer & Brewer. Looking back on 2019, it’s been quite the year, with more breweries than ever opening their doors and limited releases, barrel aging projects and style evolutions seeing a dizzying array of new beers launched on top of that. It can actually get quite daunting! BrewCon 2019 delivered plenty of inspiration and innovation, but also some considerable home truths for the industry as well. And it looks like 2020 is going to bring plenty of disruption, new trends and fresh challenges in its wake. We’ll be here, of course, to keep you informed on all things in the beer and brewing world. But back to this issue. First, the Beer & Brewer Awards are back (page 28), with 14 worthy winners across the industry and country celebrated for their contributions to the wider world of beer and cider. We’ve interviewed all this year’s winners to find out about their journeys, their ambitions and their views on the craft brewing scene in Australia. This issue, we’re also taking a considered look at what you might call ‘the business of brewing’. A Day in the Life (page 38) returns to show what a career as a craft beer sales rep is like and we’ve also delved into the world of gypsy and contract brewing (page 46). We’ve also introduced a feature dedicated to the financial aspect of brewing (page 76). Craft brewing is a hobby turned career for many people involved, but you can’t treat your career like your hobby, as our experts explain. We’ve got two beer-focused features this summer, with our writers tackling two perhaps misunderstood masterpieces. Luke Robertson is taking a look at the globally popular sensation that is lager (page 22), which remains the pinnacle in many brewers’ eyes but is still shunned by many craft beer enthusiasts. In addition, Neal Cameron examines the wonder that is cask ale (page 40), that uniquely British ‘warm beer’ that you really do need to try. As it’s the Summer issue, where better to head in our Regional Brewery Series than Queensland’s own Sunshine Coast, where the brewing scene continues to grow. We’ve also got a packed Homebrewer section, full of awesome recipes, interviews with brewers and the results of a new homebrewing competition, so check that out too. Remember to keep in touch with us (cwhitting@intermedia.com.au) with your thoughts and suggestions. This is your mag and we love hearing from you. Cheers, Charlie

DISCLAIMER

This publication is published by Food and Beverage Media (the “Publisher”). Materials in this publication have been created by a variety of different entities and, to the extent permitted by law, the Publisher accepts no liability for materials created by others. All materials should be considered protected by Australian and international intellectual property laws. Unless you are authorised by law or the copyright owner to do so, you may not copy any of the materials. The mention of a product or service, person or company in this publication does not indicate the Publisher’s endorsement. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Publisher, its agents, company officers or employees. Any use of the information contained in this publication is at the sole risk of the person using that information. The user should make independent enquiries as to the accuracy of the information before relying on that information. All express or implied terms, conditions, warranties, statements, assurances and representations in relation to the Publisher, its publications and its services are expressly excluded save for those conditions and warranties which must be implied under the laws of any State of Australia or the provisions of Division 2 of Part V of the Trade Practices Act 1974 and any statutory modification or re-enactment thereof. To the extent permitted by law, the Publisher will not be liable for any damages including special, exemplary, punitive or consequential damages (including but not limited to economic loss or loss of profit or revenue or loss of opportunity) or indirect loss or damage of any kind arising in contract, tort or otherwise, even if advised of the possibility of such loss of profits or damages. While we use our best endeavours to ensure accuracy of the materials we create, to the extent permitted by law, the Publisher excludes all liability for loss resulting from any inaccuracies or false or misleading statements that may appear in this publication.

WE ENCOURAGE RESPONSIBLE DRINKING Get the facts DrinkWise.org.au

Front cover photo credit: Scott Gelston

Find us on... Summer 2019 3

CONTENTS

inside... Summer 2019

FEATURES 22 Lager: Luke Robertson turns to lagers, an ancient style that is hard to master but easy to love

28 The Beer & Brewer Awards: The 2020 Beer & Brewer Awards are here, featuring in-depth interviews with our 14 winners

38 Day in the Life: We walk a mile in the shoes of a craft beer sales rep

40 Cask Ale: Britain is one of the homelands of brewing and there is no style more uniquely British than cask ale

46 Contract and Gypsy Brewing: Beer & Brewer examines how contract and gypsy brewers are helping each other to thrive and survive in a competitive craft beer marketplace

56 Regional Brewery Series: It’s summer, so what better time to head to the Sunshine Coast to check out a bustling brewing scene

76 The Business of Brewing: Making beer is one thing, but you’ve got to make money too. Beer & Brewer investigates what it takes to run a sustainable brewing business

4 www.beerandbrewer.com

HOMEBREWER 60 Welcome 61 Letters 62 Q&A: John Palmer answers the burning question about how to avoid brewing a bad beer

64 Jake’s Brew Log: Jake Brandish gets into lagers

66 Coopers Masters of the Brewniverse: Chris Thomas sat in on Coopers’ new quest to find Australia’s best DIY brewer

68 Hops Again! After Homebrewer chatted to hop producers in the last issue, Chris Thomas now talks to brewers about how they use those hops

72 Recipes: Andrew Childs brings us up to speed with the recipe for Behemoth Brewing Company’s Giraffe and a Half IPL

74 Level Up: Software: Homebrewer gets technical as it uncovers apps and platforms to help you record your creations

“If you can run great beer in parallel to good business practice, you’ve got a better chance of sustainable success than many others.” – Ben Kooyman, Endeavour Brewing

REGULARS 6 The Brew: The best beer events of the coming summer

8 News: A round-up of what’s been happening in craft brewing

14 World News 16 Bits and Bobs 18 New Venues 82 Entertaining Food: The Whole Fish Book

86 Tasting Panel: Our ‘formally informal’ tasting panel is back to taste 72 beers, with a focus on IPAs

96 Directory 98 A Pint With… Pete Brown

“There’s simply no other industry that’s as welcoming, hospitable and nurturing than ours.” – Will Tatchell, Van Dieman Brewing

Summer 2019 5

THE BREW

WHAT’S ON

Things to Do This Season BALLARAT BEER FESTIVAL Ballarat, VIC: 15 February 2020

Ballarat Beer Festival is back but this time it’s moved. What better way to spend the day after Valentine’s Day than sat in the shade of Ballarat’s beautiful Northern Gardens with a picnic blanket and your pick of over 150 different beers from across Australia? Not only will there be a multitude of beers and ciders for you to try at this Garden Edition, but there will also be dozens of regional wines to sample, an array of awesome food trucks and some banging live music, not to mention a celebration of the best of craft beer culture. Think beer education classes, blind tastings, trivia games and the ever popular brewers sack race. There’s also a competition for the best dressed punter, so get thinking about your outfit! Ballaratbeerfestival.com.au

GREAT AUSTRALIAN BEER FESTIVAL Geelong, VIC: 18 January 2020

BEERFEST AUSTRALIA Fremantle 8-10 November 2019 Sydney 30 November to 1 December 2019 Launceston 31 December 2019 Canberra 15 February 2020 Melbourne 29 February 2020 Brisbane 14 March 2020 Perth 27-28 March 2020

BeerFest is back and it’s bigger than ever. Its 11th installment sees seven summer festivals held in seven cities across Australia. By the time you read this, Fremantle and Sydney will have already hosted their festivals in Esplanade Park and Centennial Park respectively, but if you wanted to bring in the new year with some new beers, then Launcestone BeerFest is once again happening on New Year’s Eve in Royal Park, running until 12:30 to give you the chance to catch all the fireworks. After Launceston BeerFest, the travelling circus heads to the capital for Canberra BeerFest in John Dunmore Lang Place, while St Kilda will host Melbourne’s festival. Brisbane’s festival will be held at Victoria Park, and Perth’s Langley Park will be the location of the final BeerFest of the season. There will be over 300 unique and small batch craft beers and ciders from breweries and cider makers that are both local and national. There will also be cocktails and wines on offer at all of the events, with local wineries and distilleries getting in on the action and representing their brands at the stalls. Hungry? Look no further than the astonishing array of street food on offer from local producers. The musical offering at BeerFest always delivers and although the full line-up has not yet been announced, we do know that Australian electronic dance group Art vs Science will be headlining at all seven festivals in 2019-20. On top of that, you’ll have the chance to snort beer through your nose as a host of comedians work to leave you in stitches in the comedy tent. The festival will also give beer enthusiasts the chance to come face to face with bona fide brewing legends and have a friendly chat about the art of brewing over a few cold ones. Beerfestivals.com.au

6 www.beerandbrewer.com

It’s the eighth installment of the annual Great Australian Beer Festival Geelong and the organisers have moved the event to the iconic Johnstone Park, right in the centre of town and a stone’s throw from the train station. If you’re looking for beers from across the Geelong, Bellarine, Surf Coast and Otway regions – areas that have all seen an array of new breweries opening recently – then this is the place for you. Hundreds of beers and ciders are available, but there is also a gin bar, and wines and slushies on offer. If you get hungry, pig out on slow-cooked meats and burgers and if you fancy a dance, acts like Sneaky Sound System, Kim Churchill and Kite Machine have already been announced, with more to come. Gabfgeelong.com.au

SOUTH WEST CRAFT BEER FESTIVAL Busselton, WA: 15 February 2020

If you were looking for an opportunity to try the best beers from Western Australia’s rich array of south western breweries all in one place, then you need to head to Busselton. Held at Signal Park right on the Busselton Foreshore, this festival will be showcasing over 120 beers from Mandurah to Denmark and everywhere in between. Core staples and limited edition beers will sit side by side, along with plenty of local wines and craft ciders, all to be enjoyed as some of the region’s best DJs belt out some banging tunes in the sunshine. The food offer is also as local is it comes, full of burgers, dumplings, pizzas, nibbles and more! Swbeerfest.com.au

NEWS

L-R: Sam Hambour, Matt Houghton, Sam Reid, Grant Wearin and James Atkinson discuss craft beer and cider

Beer-focused discussions at inaugural Drinks Innovation Summit

THE CRAFT BEER AND CIDER MANIA HYBRID BOOM

Innovation Summit was

HOW TO CAPTURE THE MILLENNIAL AND GEN-Z MARKET WITH A FOCUS ON ‘HEALTH AND WELL-BEING’

hosted by Food and Drink

This Fireside Chat was moderated by Beer &

growing trend of integration within the

Media (of which Beer &

Brewer editor Charlie Whitting and featured

brewing industry – whether it’s brewers

Brewer is part) at the Hyatt

Chuck Hahn, chief brewer at Malt Shovel, Hahn

ageing their beers in whisky or wine barrels,

and Kosciuszko breweries, and Clinton Schultz,

cider makers using hops in their drinks or

the founder of Sobah Beverages, whose entire

brewers using wine yeasts in their beers.

n Tuesday 29 October 2019, the inaugural Drinks

Regency Hotel in Sydney. After a talk from keynote speaker Matthew

Brennan about the remarkable influence of apps, technology and artificial intelligence in

range of beers is non-alcoholic. “The mentality in Australia has been slower

This panel discussion was focused on the

It was moderated by James Atkinson, founder of Drinks Adventures. The panel

the way that China goes about its day-to-day

to shift, but in the last six months we’ve seen

itself was made up of Sam Reid, co-founder

business, there followed discussions on the

a massive swing,” explained Schultz. “Young

and MD of Willie Smith’s Cider Makers;

state of the alcohol retail market, including

people are becoming more health conscious

Matt Houghton, founder and head brewer

a presentation from Julie Ryan, CEO of the

in general. The non-alcohol adult beverage

at Boatrocker Brewers and Distillers; Grant

event’s co-host Retail Drinks Australia.

category will become its own space.”

Wearin, co-founder and owner of Modus

After lunch, the event split into three parts,

“The whole trend has been to reduce

Operandi Brewing; and Sam Hambour, co-

with one ‘stream’ dedicated to beer. There

alcohol in beer,” added Hahn. “People are

owner and general manager of Hop Nation

were four panel discussions about different

into the healthy side of things. We’re seeing a

Brewing Co.

aspects of the brewing industry:

bit of a change, but it will be a while.”

8 www.beerandbrewer.com

“There aren’t many limitations with what

you can do with beer,” said Wearin. “It’s much harder to make a no acid juicy wine that focuses on a particular profile. You have that versatility with beer and the consumer is moving further away from saying ‘I will only drink this style of beverage’ because they’re playing with styles of beer they would never touch before.” “These specialties are great to have a reason to talk about your brand and always be innovative, it’s almost a different segment of your business,” added Houghton. “You can make money if you keep innovating, but you can get lost in it and think it’s more important than it actually is.”

SMALL BUSINESS, BIG MARKETING There then followed a conversation between Atkinson and Jamie Cook, executive chairman of Fermentum and president of the Independent Brewers Asssociation. In the talk, the pair discussed how breweries can manage growth and build brands in a way that keeps them ahead of the competition. “Don’t be seduced by demand,” said Cook. “There’s a lot of interest among beer drinkers to try new things. So you will get tried. But you can spend a lot of money expanding your brewery before you may discover that the ongoing demand may not be there.

EQUITY CROWDFUNDING The final Fireside Chat saw Cook turn moderator, as he led a discussion on equity crowdfunding. He was joined by Ben Kooyman, founder of Endeavour Brewing Company, and Dan Norris, founder of Black Hops Brewing, both of whom went down the crowdfunding route. “Anyone who’s going to launch crowdfunding, I think the platform will be more well known and received than when we did it,” said Kooyman. “We had to garner all the interest

Connecting family hop farms with the world’s finest brewers.

quickly. They’ll be more widely accepted but they won’t be first mover. They’ll be better off if they’ve got a USP or a different strategy than the usual.” “When we raise money I really want to make sure that we value the business highly,” said Norris. “You can tell if you’ve priced too high or not high enough. It’s supply and demand like everything else.”

NOW PROUDLY DISTRIBUTED BY

CRYERMALT.COM.AU L-R: Chuck Hahn and Charlie Whitting chat about low alcohol beer

YAKIMACHIEF.COM

NEWS

“MAKE THE WORD INDEPENDENT’ STAND FOR SOMETHING,” URGES PETE BROWN

ritish beer writer Pete Brown called on independent brewers to embrace marketing and take on the

Pete Brown said Beavertown Brewery broke “every single rule of good branding” and thus “redefined the market”.

big brands in his keynote speech at BrewCon 2019.

The chairman of the British Guild of

Beer Writers began his talk by his time by discussing his time working in the beer marketing and advertising world, taking the conference through some of the funniest British beer ads of the 80s and 90s. He then explored where those brands went wrong in their marketing – losing sight of the consumer or “marketing myopia”. He highlighted what customers are looking for in beer now, “the quest for authenticity”. However, while people want authenticity, they have a harder time pinning down what it is. “If you think it’s fun trying to define ‘craft’, try to define ‘authenticity’,” he said. Other trends that have been going on for decades include the growth of the experience economy and the need for “touchy-feely” products and experiences, the chance to

is and, more importantly, what it isn’t. “Selling is where you make a product and

such, breweries should exert control over it otherwise they run the risk of losing

interact with real things in an age where

find someone to buy it,” he said. “Marketing

control like Stella Artois did in the 90s,

we’re spending more and more time online.

starts with the consumer. Here’s a bunch of

when it became known as “wife beater” by

people, here’s something they need that’s

consumers and even supermarkets.

Additionally, Brown noted that while the word ‘craft’ has tapped into trends, the word ‘independent’ – a core tenet of the

not currently being supplied to them. “People don’t want to buy an electric drill,

Through “design and events and social media”, craft brewers can make their brands

Independent Brewers Association (IBA) – had

unless you’re drill geek in that early majority.

stand out in more “nimble and flexible” ways

yet to do so, presenting the industry with the

What people really want is a quarter inch

than the big brewers, but the big brewers are

challenge to “make the word ‘independent’

hole. If you can come up with a better way of

catching up. “If they weren’t coming after

stand for something meaningful”.

making quarter inch holes there’s no market

craft, they wouldn’t be doing their job.”

Brown cited a popular marketing idea – that of innovators and early adopters

for drill bits any more.” Craft beer became successful “by accident”

Brown called on craft brewers to find new ways to use what they have and big brewers

buying into a product and then eventually

and “without the permission of some of the

the mainstream consumer catching up.

biggest corporations in the world”, but the

Craft beer has captured the innovators and

craft beer industry can no longer rely on

don’t try to copy it because they’ve got much

early adopters and these people care about

happy accidents. It has to accept and embrace

bigger budgets than you. Do what they can’t

the independence of beers, but mainstream

the importance of marketing and do it better

do and do it well. Because you’re smaller

consumers are still happy drinking beer

than the big boys.

scale, you’re more intimate you’re more

owned by bigger breweries. “If you go to them and say ‘you should

“Now marketing beer is built on a

don’t to better market their beers. “Don’t ape what these big guys do badly,

personal. You should be reminding people

combination of social media and local events.

that a pound spent at a local brewery, 70% of

drink this beer, it’s independent’, they’re

Craft brewers understood this implicitly.

that pound stays in the local community.

going to say ‘well, I’m already drinking this

Craft beer remembered and reinvented beer

beer that’s not. What’s the benefit to me?’”

sociability through a combination of events.”

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SELLING AND MARKETING

BRANDS A beer has a brand whether it likes it or

and that’s why you’ve succeeded selling

As someone who previously worked in beer

not, because a brand is “a collection of

independent beer to a mainstream audience.

marketing, Brown understands what marketing

meanings commonly held by people”. As

Just don’t be afraid to call it marketing.”

“Remember, beer is inclusive, it’s about communion. Remember it’s fun and irreverent. Don’t take it too seriously.

10 www.beerandbrewer.com

“You’re better at it than the big guys

Ad beer&brewing.pdf 1 08/11/2019 11:25:31

AN APP FOR BREWERS, BY BREWERS.

Introducing the ALL NEW CraftCan DUO - 45 - 90 cpm - Servo Seaming - Expandable - Low DO - Compact Design

CMJ

DOWNLOAD OUR APP Available on App Store and Google Play. It’s free and it’s full of tips and practical tools!

Unsurpassed Innovation in Canning Systems, Stills and Brew Houses Fully Supported and Serviced in Australia and New Zealand by

info@viniquip.co.nz www.viniquip.com AUS: 1800 209 370 NZ: 0 800 284 647

Summer 2019 11

NEWS

Since leaving Matilda Bay, Phil Sexton has founded Giant Steps Winery

Tripe-1-Three, of which Otherside Brewing is a part, would be affected by the current situation

CROWDFUNDING BARRIERS FOR WA AND SA BREWERIES Breweries in Western Australia (WA) and South Australia (SA) may struggle to apply for crowdfunding initiatives due to licensing rules in both states. According to Birchal, a crowdfunding platform, the liquor licensing regimes of South Australia and Western Australia are currently incompatible with the CSF regime, which could restrict the benefits the Australian craft beer industry might enjoy. “Whether the CSF regime should be extended to proprietary companies was the subject of considerable debate over the several years of consultation on Australia’s CSF regime,” a statement from Birchal explains. “Ultimately, the Government decided that proprietary companies should be permitted to use the CSF regime, subject to additional transparency and governance measures for proprietary companies with CSF shareholders. This fundamental change to the regulatory framework for capital raising in Australia has an apparent unintended

PHIL SEXTON RETURNS TO MATILDA BAY Australian craft beer pioneer Phil Sexton is

consequence of disturbing other regulatory regimes.” Without reform, Birchal believes that craft brewers and other businesses licensed under the liquor licensing regimes of South Australia and Western Australia will be unable to use the CSF regime as proprietary companies. “It just adds another layer of challenge for us to compete nationally which is not ideal,” Al Taylor, CEO, Triple-1-Three, the brewing and hospitality group behind Otherside Brewing, told Beer & Brewer.

going back to where it all began, returning to Matilda Bay, the brewery he co-founded more

craft breweries and was fully acquired by

JAMIE COOK STEPS DOWN AS FERMENTUM CEO

Carlton and United Breweries in 1990. Sexton

Jamie Cook has announced that he will be “stepping

left not long after that takeover, however

back” from executive duties as CEO of Fermentum to

he told Beer & Brewer that an element of

“retire to the role of chair of the Fermentum board

unfinished business and the opportunity

in December”.

than 35 years ago. Matilda Bay was one of Australia’s original

to revive Matilda Bay saw him take the opportunity to work in partnership with CUB. “I want to grow craft beer by showing people how special good small batch beer can

The board has asked Ben Summons, currently managing director of Stone & Wood Brewing Co, to step in and become Fermentum’s CEO, and he has accepted. “It’s a strange feeling to some extent, but I’m very

be,” Sexton said. “I founded Matilda Bay in

comfortable with the team that are in place, and so I

1983 to give drinkers beautiful craft beer. It’s

think it allows me to take a step back,” Cook told Beer

the right label to finish what I started and re-

& Brewer. “It’s been a feeling of pride to step back and

affirm what artisanal brewing should stand

see those things where we’ve got to. But there’s also

for: sessionable, flavourful beers that stand

a little excitement of where they could be, where they

the test of time.”

could go.”

The brewery will be in Healesville in the

While he is stepping back at Fermentum, Cook is

Yarra Valley, an hour east of Melbourne, and

remaining at his post of chair of the Independent

will have a pub attached. It will exclusively

Brewers Association (IBA).

develop and brew a new Matilda Bay range

“At the end of the day there’s still a lot of work to

and some Matilda Bay classics such as

be done at the IBA and we’re just starting to get some

Redback and Dogbolter.

real momentum,” he said.

12 www.beerandbrewer.com

Jamie Cook is one of the founders of Stone & Wood

ADVERTORIAL

The owners Andrew, Iliya and Aaron

MARGARET RIVER BREWHOUSE PROFILE AS MARGARET RIVER BREWHOUSE CELEBRATES ITS FIRST THREE AND A HALF YEARS OF BREWING, THE TEAM IS ALSO LOOKING AHEAD TO A REBRAND AS IT AIMS TO SPREAD FURTHER ACROSS WA

t took the six people who founded

door, we will look after you. We will find

the South West until we can crank up our

Margaret River Brewhouse seven

you a nice place to plant your bum, we will

capacity. We’ll kick off with half our core

years before they opened the doors

give you great value for money food that

range – Red IPA, Pale, Kolsch and Megsy

to their community brewpub in

ranks up there with any restaurant in the

Ginger Beer – and expand to the rest of the

January 2016. Since then, they have

region AND you can enjoy a massive range

core range and a few one-offs soon after.”

been brewing a wide range of beers

of beers straight from the brewery. We

As well as a growing market (and growing

and dedicating themselves to their local

started Margaret River Brewhouse to see

capacity to supply it), Margaret River

community – they were celebrated in the 2019

people happy – that’s all you really need in

Brewhouse is also undergoing a rebrand,

Top 50 Brewpubs as a great community venue.

hospitality – respect every person coming

refreshing the look as the company grows up

through your door and be happy that they are

without losing that original ethos.

“Community is pretty much everything to us,” says Iliya Hastings, general manager and director of Margaret River Brewhouse. “We

happy – everyone wins.” Since they opened, the craft beer scene

“We brought in Jarrod Fuller (Zendoke) who is an amazing creator and whose work

are part of our community and have lived

in Margaret River has exploded, with lots

with breweries across Australia we had

here for a long time. Being recognised in the

of new breweries opening and plenty of

long admired,” says Hastings. “He had the

Community section of the Top 50 Brewpubs in

visitors coming to the area to sample great

unenviable task of trying to create a new

Australia was pretty cool, though unexpected.

beer in a beautiful environment. Margaret

brand that still connected with the brand we

“We support everything from schools and

River Brewhouse relishes the diversity and

had and that held a lot of value and meaning

camaraderie of the region’s breweries.

for our community and us. We still have

footy clubs, to environmental groups and fundraisers for all sorts of causes. Being part

But now, they are starting to look further

a six-armed mermaid that represents the

of a community means going through the ups,

afield to ensure that people don’t just have

three families that make our business, but

downs and everything in between together.

to travel to Margaret River to try their beers.

he’s done it in a way that translates to a

We just have a place where people can do that

The hope is that Margaret River Brewhouse

market beyond Margaret River. The colours,

over a beer and where everyone is welcome.

beers will soon be available across the state of

simplicity and nuances he has designed give

Western Australia.

a hint of the energy and vibe that comes from

“Our business motto is ‘In Good Hands’. From the second you walk through our

“We’ll start off pretty select in Perth and

our area – which is pretty unique.”

Summer 2019 13

WORLD NEWS

World News WHAT’S MAKING HEADLINES IN THE WORLD OF BEER?

14 www.beerandbrewer.com

Brazil

BREWERS AND FARMERS COMBINE TO MAKE CASSAVA BEER A new deal between the Communist party government in the north eastern state of Maranhão and AmBev, the local subsidiary of AB InBev, is set to help local farmers to make a living. A new beer, called Magnífica, is produced using only local cassava – also known as manioc – grown by small scale farmers in the region, which is one of Brazil’s poorest states. The aim is purchase cassava from 250 producers.

USA

South Korea

AB INBEV SHARES DROP 10% Shares in the world’s largest brewer dropped by 10% following a drop in sales in Brazil and Korea in the third financial quarter. The company had a strong second quarter, with its beer sales rising faster than at any moment in the last years, but the months from June to September have been described as “challenging” by the brewing behemoth. Lower beer sales were blamed on increased prices.

USA

Netherlands

Japan

FOOTBALLER CATCHES AND DRINKS FAN’S BEER

LOCAL MAN TRIES TO REINVIGORATE TOWN’S HOP-GROWING HERITAGE

A footballer has surprised fans by catching a beer thrown from the crowd and drinking it in celebration after a goal. Shayon Harrison who plays for Almere City, scored a goal in the 68th minute against Go Ahead Eagles in the Dutch Eerste Division, then caught the cup of beer as it sailed through the air, took a gulp and tossed it away. Unfortunately, Go Ahead Eagles equalised and the game finished 1-1.

The town of Tono in the Iwate Prefecture provides about 20% of Japan’s home-grown hops (about 1% overall, with 95% of hops imported), but its hop output has dropped by 80% over the past 30 years. To reverse the slide, local man Atsushi Yoshida and Japanese company Kirin are promoting the city as a “hometown of beer”. Changes are hoped to increase yields. The craft beer market in Japan has doubled in the last five years.

Denmark

ARIZONANS THINK THEY CAN HOLD THEIR BEER BEST

MAN PRODUCING ALCOHOL IN HIS GUT PULLED OVER

CARLSBERG DEVELOPING A PAPER BOTTLE

A survey of more than 2,580 American beer drinkers has found that people from Arizona believe they can drink more beer than people from other states before they feel drunk. The survey found that it took 4.04 beers before someone from Arizona felt drunk, with Hawaii coming in last with 2.71 beers. Michigan came in second with 4.02 beers, but it also had the highest proportion of people who felt drunk after one beer (12%).

An American man pulled over by the police for drink driving was found to have a fungus in his gut that was producing yeast that was in turn producing alcohol. Tests at the hospital found that he had the blood alcohol level of a person who has consumed 10 alcoholic drinks. He maintains that he had had nothing whatsoever to drink. The condition has been recounted in the past by the British Medical Journal as ABS (auto-brewery syndrome). The man has been put on a no-carbohydrate diet.

Danish brewer Carlsberg is developing a paper bottle made from sustainably sourced wood fibres. Two new prototype bottles have been unveiled that have an inner barrier to allow them to contain beer, but which are “fully recyclable”. While those inner barriers are currently made from polymers, the plan is to create a bottle that features none and is instead entirely made from biomaterials. Carlsberg is trying to have zero carbon emissions at its breweries by 2030.

Myanmar

CHANG BREWERY OPENS IN MYANMAR Thailand-based brewery Chang has opened a brewery in the neighbouring country of Myanmar. The Emerald Brewery has been built with sustainability in mind – it has solar energy, energy saving equipment and waste treatment facilities. It will make Chang beer using the same ingredients and recipes as the original. The new brewery opens a year after Fraser and Neave Limited invested US$70 million in Myanmar. The beer will be available in 330ml and 500ml cans, 320ml and 620ml bottles and 30-litre kegs.

Summer 2019 15

BITS & BOBS

1. SHOWER BEER HOLDER A cold beer in the shower after a big day is one of life’s great pleasure. This Shower Beer Holder is the perfect accessory to that enjoyment. It’s made from a revolutionary unique silicone compound that grips to shiny surfaces like glass, mirrors or shower tiles which means there’ll be no dropping your beer and seeing that glorious liquid disappear down the plughole. There’s no need for screws, suction cups or adhesives that never seem to work. Plus the holder leaves no residue and doesn’t lose its stick – winning! We should stress that this product is not intended for use on stone or other unglazed tiles and that you should only be putting cans in there. Available in navy blue or in grey to suit your showering needs. RRP: $23.99 Beercartel.com

BITS BOBS

4. BREW A BATCH Brew A Batch is a beginner’s guide to homebrewed beer, chock-full of useful tips for anyone thinking of getting into homebrewing for the first time. Written by Christopher Sidwa, head brewer and co-founder of Batch Brewing, this is the book that will tell you what equipment you’ll need to get started, take you through all the ingredients you’ll be using and what they’re doing in the brewing process, and even has some advanced advice for those students who excel. Homebrewing is a growing hobby in Australia and is a great way for you to better understand the beer you’re drinking and the processes that go into making – it’s also a fantastic way to have a fridge full of unique brews from your own imagination! RRP: 39.99 Murdochbooks.com.au

2. 2019 BEER ADVENT CALENDAR FROM BEER CARTEL Beer Cartel’s Advent Calendar is back for 2019 and the guys there have taken it to another level once more. The box itself has been redesigned to ensure that it’s fridge friendly (perfect for those hot December days) and will be double boxed while in delivery to look after the beers and keep it hidden (should this be a gift for the beer lover in your life). The beer list itself is pretty special too. Beer Cartel has partnered with 25 100% independent Australian craft breweries and the beers in this box are either exclusive, new or limited release beers, which should make the experience that little bit more special. 17 of beers in there are exclusive collaborations that Beer Cartel has done with other breweries, another four are brand new limited releases and the final four have only previously been released as part of a very small, keg-only launch. The beers have been brewed fresh for the calendar and they all come in cans. RRP: $149.99

3. THE BUCKET LIST: BEER

Beercartel.com

Murdochbooks.com.au

16 www.beerandbrewer.com

We all have our own bucket list of things we want to do, see and experience before we die. And there are lists all over the internet talking about bucket lists for travel, work or whatever. But what about beer? This book by American writer Justin Kennedy takes the beer-loving traveler through 1,000 adventures in beer that you just have to get round to doing. It covers breweries, beer museums and pubs you need to visit, as well as tours and festivals you have to attend. It’s full of information and advice about established favourites and leftfield options. From the Americas through Europe, Africa, Asia and, course, Australia and New Zealand, there’s a hell of a lot to cover, so you’d better get a move on. RRP: $39.99

IPA is our FIXATION Australiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only brewery dedicated to India Pale Ales

L D 2 0 17

AT I O N A

A R DS

AR DS GO

E RN

A R DS

A US T R A L I

B INT

W R A

A US T RA L

R N AT I O N A L

L D 2 0 16

W R A

R N A T IO N A

A US T RA L

@fixationbrewing www.fixationbrewing.com.au Visit us - 414 Smith St, Collingwood VIC For enquiries: orders@squarekeg.com.au

L D 2 0 18

NEW XXXXXXX VENUES Moon Dog World 32-46 Chifley Dr, Preston VIC 3072

Moon Dog World opens in Preston

MALT SHOVEL TAPHOUSE OPENS ON SUNSHINE COAST The Sunshine Coast now has its own Malt Shovel Taphouse, which officially opened on 9 October 2019. Located in Birtinya, the venue

Moon Dog is moving its brewing production to the Melbourne suburb of Preston. The new site,

features a changing roster of beers on tap

which opened in late September 2019, has been dubbed Moon Dog World.

and in the fridges, and focuses on intimate

“We’ve been thinking about this since 2017,” Karl Van Buuren, co-founder of Moon Dog,

customer service experiences. Roaming

told Beer & Brewer. “Our current facility in Abbotsford was designed to be a five-year plan, but

teams of ‘beer guides’ take customers

we quickly realised that demand was higher than we were expecting.”

through the beer tasting process and spread

After deciding against contract brewing and realising that space was already “getting a bit

the joy of craft beer, while there are also

cramped” at Abbotsford, the decision was made to look for and build a brand new facility,

private tasting zones, tasting flights and beer

while maintaining the bar and function room on Duke Street.

appreciation classes.

“That’s where our heart is and we want to make sure that its maintained, but for production we

In addition, live music and family

were looking at a new place,” says Van Buuren. “Those two venues will stay, they’re our home,

entertainment is also on offer, while there is

that’s where we started the business. We wanted to make sure that it was accessible and that it was

a 400-capacity events and function space.

in an area that was more residential. We refined our net to as inner Melbourne as we could get.” The venue features a lagoon and rainforest walk, as well as a flowing waterfall. The urban

The design of the venue has a modern, industrial aesthetic with a coastal feel,

jungle is flourishing and the tropical ‘discotikibar’ is well hidden. 72 taps stand ready to pour

featuring large scale murals, fresh greenery,

Moon Dog beers, as well as wines and cocktails, while the kitchen provides three distinct

naked timber and aged copper.

eating experiences – sharing platters, burgers and rotisserie chicken. There’s also a secret ageing barrel room, function spaces for private events and a children’s playground. “The hospitality aspect of the venue was inspired by Wobby’s World, a theme park from

“Neighbourhood-inspired, the venue has been created to be the premier family entertainment destination in Birtinya,” says

the founders’ childhood,” says Van Burren. “It’s a big space that has been divided up into

Jason Marriott, project director of Ignite

different, themed areas. There’s a rainforest area; there’s a boardwalk area; there’s a container

Architects. “With extensive experience in

area that will have pinball machines and arcades; we’ve got a big lagoon and a river and a

leisure and entertainment venues, Ignite has

waterfall. It reminded us of an adult theme park. It’s a place where people can have a bit of fun

tailored this venue to be non-pretentious to

as well as trying out our beers.”

align with the relaxed Sunshine Coast lifestyle.”

“Moon Dog World was born out of a desire to create a one-of-a-kind environment where people of all ages can have fun, eat, drink and enjoy each other’s company,” says co-owner and managing director Josh Uljans. “The team have worked incredibly hard to deliver Melbourne something special.”

18 www.beerandbrewer.com

Malt Shovel Sunshine Coast 31-32/8 The Avenue, Birtinya QLD 4575

NEW 12 TAPS CONCEPT OPENS IN GLEBE New craft beer bar concept 12 Taps has opened its first venue in the Sydney suburb of Glebe. The 12 Taps Glebe venue offers 12 different independent beers on tap, along with a tapas menu, with food matched to the beers on offer. Regional breweries The Coastal Brewing Company and Mudgee Brewing Company have partnered with 12 Taps Glebe, and thus each of the breweries has two of the 12 taps at the new venue dedicated to their beers. “It’s really exciting,” Darren Common, co-founder of 12 Taps, told Beer & Brewer. “We wanted to see breweries from outside Sydney that aren’t given a fair go in Sydney. If you don’t have the contacts in Sydney or you don’t know the publican in the pub, it’s very hard to get your beer out. “The concept we came up with was to help gypsy breweries and independent breweries, especially from outside Sydney, to break into the market, form a partnership and have their beers on tap on a permanent scale.” The Glebe venue, which holds approximately 70 people and has a balcony, will host pairing events like meet the brewer, meet the distiller and meet the winemaker. “I want to mix it up and do events all the time,” says Common. “We’re going to do vegetarian and gluten-free options, and glutenfree beers. We’re going to call it 12 Taps Glebe: a restaurant with a beer problem.” 12 Taps is also in discussion with the Inner West Council to open another venue in Marrickville, while talks are also ongoing with the landlord of a potential site in Surry Hills. At present, neither have breweries partnering with them yet, but the intention for both is to have 12 taps pouring independent beers.

12 Taps Glebe 29 Glebe Point Road, Glebe NSW 2037

EVERYTHING YOU NEED malt • hops • yeast flavours • extracts nutrients • finings enzymes • stabilisers salts • acids • sugars service • support

UNDER ONE ROOF Partner with us. Brew your best. bintani.com.au

NEW VENUES

Ballistic Springfield Brewery, Bar and Kitchen 37 Sinnathamby Boulevard, Springfield Central QLD 4300

AETHER BREWING OPENS NEW TAPROOM Aether Brewing has opened a taproom on the site of its production brewery in Northgate, Queensland. The venue opened on Indie Beer Day (26 October) and offers the brewery the chance to “engage with the local people”. “We wanted to do a taproom from the very start,” Aether’s co-founder Dave Ward, who has parted ways with co-founder Jimmy Young, told Beer & Brewer. “There’s not much out this way and it’s also important for us to be able to engage with the local people. “It’s important for us to be able to meet with them, talk with them and have a beer with them and let them know who we are and what we’re doing.” Aether opened the production brewery in

Ballistic opens third venue Queensland brewery Ballistic Beer Co has opened its third bar/hospitality operation and second brewery. The venue, which is located in Brisbane’s western suburb of Springfield Central, Ipswich,

December 2018, after brewing at a brewpub in Milton and gypsy brewing on the Sunshine Coast. Since it opened, all Aether beers have been produced there and Aether has been trying to get the taproom approved by the council. It wasn’t until July/August 2019 that approval was granted. “It was a nine-month wait to get this across the line,” says Ward. “We’ve managed to get 3pm to 7pm on Fridays and then

opened on 23 October 2019. It joins other “community-focused” venues at West End and Salisbury.

midday to 7pm Saturday and Sunday. We’ll

The venue can hold 350 people and features function spaces, a beer garden, specialty takeaways,

try again with them along the track.”

acoustic live music, a full bar (including wine and spirits) and 18 taps pouring independent craft beers. It will employ around 30 full and part time staff primarily from the Greater Springfield area.

The taproom itself takes up 100 sq m of the space, offering a view of “the entire facility

“Ballistic has completed the fit-out of the old Springfield Central Tavern site in Springfield

from your chair with a beer”. It has space

Education City, after an eight-week project plan,” David Kitchen, co-founder of Ballistic Beer

for 80 people seated, as well as additional

Co, told Beer & Brewer. “Complete with an installation of an 800-litre brewery that will focus

standing space.

on brewing a wide variety of speciality beers for the people of Springfield. “We’re very much looking forward to being part of the local Springfield community and bringing people together with the one thing that does it better than anything else, great beer.” Ballistic’s approach is to “produce venues that are excellent for families”, something that has particularly driven the project. “We have a small amount of grass (in Salisbury) where children can play and ride on their

Ward and Young have parted ways, with Ward keeping the Aether brand and Young keeping the original Milton brewpub venue. The brewpub in Milton will be renamed Milton Common. “He’ll brew beers out of there and run the

bikes,” says Kitchen. “That’s a model that’s worked well for us, so when we were looking for a

bar and everything, and I’ll keep the facility

venue we were looking for a place that has some grass.

and the Aether Brewing brand,” says Ward.

“Springfield has this massive grassed area right in front of the brewery, so you can sit in the brewery and watch your kids playing on the grass. They’ve got a lot more room. Hopefully this will become somewhere that people feel very comfortable bringing their children down to. “Children can play while parents socialise and hopefully they’ll see parents engaging in alcoholic consumption in a responsible manner. I think it’s a far better way to teach people to drink responsibly than trying to have lock-out laws. Positive modelling is far better than trying to institute laws.” To celebrate the launch, Ballistic has created a new beer – Springfield Pilsner. It has a 4.5% ABV and has been made using Pilsner malt and Perle and Halletau hops. The beer has been canned and will be a regular at the Springfield venue.

20 www.beerandbrewer.com

Aether Brewing 340 Melton Rd, Northgate QLD 4013

ADVERTORIAL

Building breweries for pubs THE CHALLENGES FOR RURAL PUBS AND HOTELS ARE INTENSE, BUT SPARK BREWING AND DISTILLERIES AIMS TO GIVE THEM A POINT OF DIFFERENCE WITH EQUIPMENT THAT WILL ALLOW THEM TO BREW THEIR OWN BEER

eing a pub operator in

and also provides education for the team

rural Australia can be

once a week to help with recipe development

challenging. Smaller local

and marketing to ensure that the publicans

communities reduce your

understand the core requirements of

everyday trade, while

the brewing process and will be making

large distances can turn

consistently high quality brews. After that,

off visitors and tourists. In addition, the

it’s up to the people involved to create

distances beer has to travel to get to a rural

something special.

venue can make it both expensive and at risk of ruination en-route. To support these critical community hubs,

“Brewing is fun and addictive, most people want training and then take care of it themselves,” says Sanders. “Breweries are

Spark Brewing and Distilleries has been

like kitchens and beer is like food – the better

working on creating brewing equipment

job you do, the better your business will be.

systems that are easy to install and use,

Ultimately, this is all down to the personality

so that these pubs can not only offer their

of the people involved. Because they can

customers freshly made beer, but also come

design and brew a wide range of beer styles,

up with something different for punters.

a pub can set itself well apart from every

“As a first pint of the night, would you

other venue and will develop its own unique

choose a beer that has been brewed somewhere

character. This is exactly why customers love

else then transported to the pub, or one that

drinking in breweries.

has been brewed on-site and served directly

“Often publicans get their customers on

from the tank?” asks Julian Sanders, director of

board to help design beers or at the very

Spark Brewing. “The K systems are designed to

least – they take their feedback onboard.

Plug and Play. We can install and commission

Having shared ownership in the beer unites a

them in a couple of days.

community and pub owners find that it attracts

“Brewing beer costs $75 a keg, so there is

more drinkers, younger drinkers. With brew

a healthy profit increase. A venue that sells

activity on-site there is always something

10 kegs a week finds that the profit increase

new and interesting to talk about, keeping

easily outweighs the lease costs of a complete

the vibe fresh (like the beer). Brewing allows

Spark K5 brewing system – they are the most

venues a range of additional revenue streams –

compact brewery. They are very easy to install

takeaways, brew event bookings, beer release

and to use.

parties and the ability to distribute kegs.”

“A small brewers excise rebate is available

The growth in craft breweries around

for each brewery, so I often have multi-venue

Australia has prompted many to suggest

customers decide upon a small K5 system

that it won’t be long before every town in

for each venue rather than a larger brewery

the country has its own brewery. With the K

supplying them all.”

systems from Spark, it’s possible that many

Spark supplies and installs these K Systems

“HAVING SHARED OWNERSHIP IN THE BEER UNITES A COMMUNITY”

of these breweries will be in the local pub.

Summer 2019 21

LAGERS

Lager:

POPULAR BUT NOT EASY LUKE ROBERTSON INVESTIGATES THIS A BEER STYLE THAT HAS PERHAPS SUFFERED IN THE CRAFT WORLD DUE TO ITS ENORMOUS MAINSTREAM APPEAL, BUT THAT DESERVES OUTRIGHT ADMIRATION AND LOVE.

22â&#x20AC;&#x192; www.beerandbrewer.com

LAGERS

ager is by far the most

Vienna-style but the label just says “Lager”

consumed beer style in the

on the front. Vienna Lager has a red-to-

country. According to research

amber colour from the darker kilned malt

company IRi, 13 of the top

traditionally used.

15 beer brands in Australia, from a profit perspective, are

“We didn’t want to scare people off.” says head brewer Michael Stanzel. “Vienna lager

all lagers, (one of the exceptions is Furphy,

is completely different to what most people

which is often marketed as “The Ale that

expect. In the brewpub we can communicate

drinks like a Lager”).

what it is and why it is, and why this might be

That doesn’t mean lager is easy to sell, and

different to your Heineken or whatever.”

when it’s made with expensive ingredients, it gets even harder. Brendan O’Sullivan, production director

PALE LAGER IS KING The standard “pale lager” is the easiest

at Melbourne’s 3 Ravens, finds the market

sell. It’s what most mainstream beers call

finicky when it comes to lager. In 2018,

themselves, and while it has its roots in

3 Ravens rebranded its Thornbury Lager

pilsner, which was the first successful pale

to Thornbury Pilsner in an attempt to

lager style, these days it’s a thing unto its

communicate the difference between that

own. It’s what most people think of when

and the standard mainstream lager. Recently,

they think lager.

it also released a beer called Party Lager. Brendan explains the name: “I wanted to find a way to sell what

Balter Brewing on the Gold Coast recently retired its Pilsner from the core range, replacing it with a beer simply called “Lager”.

essentially was a Festbier, and find a way to

Head brewer Scott Hargrave calls it basically a

market it,” he says. “I’ve seen historically

“mini-Helles” style. Helles is a pale, slightly

calling something an Octoberfest, or a

sweet lager, identifiable as a lager to most

Munich lager, or something along those lines

punters who aren’t up with the intricacies of

has been a curse for a lot of breweries.”

beer. The beer wasn’t dreamed up to be a big

A Festbier is basically a malty lager designed to be drunk at Octoberfest. They have a bit more character than most Australian commercial

seller to replace the Pilsner, which was holding its own in the market, Hargrave says. However, once it was made, it was

lagers, and O’Sullivan wanted to make sure he

immediately obvious that it would be a

was doing the style justice. The problem? To do

success. The first batch was a small run

it justice means using expensive ingredients.

for the taproom last summer designed for

It uses a specialty German malt, alongside two

holiday makers and revelers that don’t want

other premium malts from Australia and New

hazy IPAs or strong pale ales.

Zealand. It was hopped generously and has

“They are just looking for a straightforward

a large dose of a Pilsner yeast strain ordered

beer, and Pilsner has confused a lot of

specifically. Sales, Brendan says, haven’t quite

people. They may not identify Pilsner as a

gone as smoothly as he wanted.

lager,” he says. “It just went fucking crazy. It

“I thought the price point was pretty attractive, but it’s still really hard to communicate value to most Australian

became the second biggest selling beer in the taproom really quickly.” From there, the lager was taken to

drinkers in a premium lager. It’s really sad. I

Victorian crowds, GABS and the Great

was hoping to make this a regular thing. I was

Australian Beer Fest, and the continued

hoping it would work really well [but] paying

demand was too great to ignore.

craft beer prices for a lager is challenging for some people.” Also in Melbourne is Burnley Brewing.

What is lager? The word ‘lager’ is German and can be used to describe a place for sleeping, a camp, or a storage or cellar space. What that means in the beer world is conditioning a beer in a cool place for a long period – typically three to six weeks. Lager styles also use bottom fermenting yeast at cooler temperatures, while ale styles use top fermenting. However, in Germany top fermenting styles, such as kölsch, are fermented cool and lagered for a long period. These beers are ales in our part of the world, but in Germany they may be referred to as lagers.

“Once I saw the numbers, and I love pilsner, but the evidence was compelling and you kind of ignore that at your peril. It wasn’t

Its brewer trained in Germany and loves

about making a dumbed down beer with sugar

brewing lagers. Their core range lager is a

adjuncts or anything like that. For me it was

3 Ravens released Party Lager

Summer 2019 23

LAGERS

Staff pour a lager at Burnley Brewing

The first pale lager? In the 1800s, German beer was dark, while in England, brewers were beginning to experiment with different kilning techniques to create pale-coloured malts. Gabriel Sedlmayr II from the Spaten Brewery in Bavaria learned these techniques while exploring Europe and returned to share them. The results were lighter coloured beers, but still dark when compared to what was to come next. In 1842, the town of Pilsen in Czechoslovakia (now Czechia) had a problem. Its beer wasn’t very good, and the people weren’t happy. So the council built a brewery and recruited a Bavarian brewer called Josef Groll. He came up with a very pale lager, using local Czech hops, and the pilsner was born. Modern refrigeration helped make lagering easier, and industrialisation helped spread it globally.

24 www.beerandbrewer.com

All Hands Brewing House in Sydney

about making a fairly clean, nice, straight down the

don’t have a niche in the market. At All Hands there

line mini-Helles.”

is a rotating tap for different lagers. In the quieter

At All Hands Brewing House in Sydney, in a well

winter months, Clayman says they take the time

trafficked tourist area by the waterfront, head

to properly condition lagers and present different

brewer Sam Clayman says knowing the immediate

versions. Recently they made a dunkel (dark lager)

market is something they also need to be wary of.

using specialty rye malts from Gladfield Malt.

“You’re trying to pitch beer to an audience that wants craft beer, but the other half wants a lager. What they have in mind is a commercial style basic lager.”

“It went bonkers,” he says. “It was so clear and rounded. It was awesome.” At Sydney Brewery, the team is eking out success with its pilsner. The point of difference is they are leaning hard on locality. It rebranded in 2012 from

POINTS OF DIFFERENCE

Schwarz Brewery, and Dr Schwarz Pils became Surry

While breweries struggle to market anything but a

Hills Pils; named for the suburb where the small

pale lager, that doesn’t mean lagers in other styles

brewery is located (it has a production brewery

2019 WINNER BEST DRAUGHT PRODUCT (3yrs running) 2019 WINNER BEST INDEPENDENT CRAFT BEER Proudly independent and Australian, our brewery is where it is today because of our passionate drinkers and customers â&#x20AC;&#x201C; cheers for your support!

LAGERS

Burnley Brewing Michael Stanzel performing a brew test

The hardest style?

outside of Sydney as well). This year the pilsner has started picking up some medals, including Champion

Brewers will tell you that lager styles are the hardest styles to make. They traditionally don’t have the high hopping rates or yeast profiles of ales. However, things are getting easier, as Scott Hargreaves from Balter Brewing tells us. He says when he first started brewing, making a lager as consistent as the big breweries was impossible. “It was just really hard to have the equipment to be able to lager beers properly,” Hargreave says. “To have the floorspace to tie up a tank for four or six weeks, and to filter it properly, or centrifuge it. Let alone access to better yeast strains. A lot more breweries now have better glycol systems, they’ve actually got proper, made for purpose fermentation and bright tanks.”

Lager at the 2019 Independent Beer Awards. Marketing manager Richard Feyn says the recent trophies and medals are playing a part in the marketing. “We’ve got a poster called ‘the new king of Crown Street’ which has a picture of the new Surry Hills Pils bottle with the five medals.” he says. “It’s done well in Surry Hills because people in Surry Hills seem really parochial.” He believes by the end of summer Surry Hills Pils could catch up to the current biggest seller, Paddo Pale. In Noosa, Land and Sea Brewing added a lager to its

All Hands Brewing House

lineup in the form of a Japanese rice lager, made in collaboration with Thomas Surfboads. Head brewer Shane Fairweather says when it came to making a beer with the company, they decided to do something with Japanese influence, because that’s a big market for Thomas, while a rice lager made sense for the Noosa climate. “A lot of people see it as a cheap adjunct for making a flavourless beer,” Fairweather says. “We’re actually using it to our advantage to help lighten the body, and lighten the colour. In that Queensland heat in the height of summer, it’s exactly what people want.” That beer is now the brewery’s number two seller, behind its kölsch. Using rice also helps to set it apart from the fierce big brewery competition in that part of the world. Fairweather, who moved from Vancouver (Canada) to work in Noosa, says that it is a challenge for the brewery.

26 www.beerandbrewer.com

LAGERS

“40% of [Vancouver] bars carry exclusively local beer so there’s a lot more support from the general public and understanding of what makes it different from you [XXXX] Golds or your Great Northerns.” Back at Burnley Brewing, Stanzel has a long-term plan for their point of difference. He tells of a brewery in Germany Balter’s Head brewer Scott Hargreaves

that opens its cellar once a year for a bock tasting. It offers bocks going back over 10 years available to taste. Bocks are a strong lager

Lager and Pizza: It’s a Party

style and can be suited to ageing in the right conditions. “A bock beer is sweet and malty, and it just intensifies over the years and becomes more like honey,” Stanzel says. “It gets these warming honey notes and gets really intense. Over longer years it becomes crazy clear, even

MOU1193_Summer Ale Ad_Beer

though it’s not filtered.”

Brendan O’Sullivan, head brewer at 3 Ravens, designed the Party Lager to be ideally suited to pizza. It was created in conjunction with Melbourne pizza place, Lazerpig, for Good Beer Week 2019. “They wanted us to create the world’s greatest pizza beer. I thought back to reading Michael Jackson describe Birra Moretti La Rossa as ‘the world’s greatest pizza beer’, I was looking at And Brewer_FA TRIMS.pdf 1 so 21/10/19 2:49

making something along those lines, using an expressive yeast strain. Something esthery and characterful, malt forward but still drinkable. The hop bill was designed to complement with some spice and pineapple-like fruit characteristics. “ Brendan tells us that he and the brewing team spent a lot of time eating pizza that week.

PPSSHHHH!

THE SOUND OF SUMMER @goatbeer goatbeer.com.au

Drink Responsibly.

Summer 2019 27

BEER & BREWER AWARDS

2020

BEER & BREWER

THE BEER & BREWER AWARDS ARE BACK FOR THE START OF THE NEXT DECADE, WITH A HOST OF ACCOLADES TO HAND OUT.

he votes have been totted up, the scores have

The esteemed panel

been put in place and the winners are now set to be announced: The Beer & Brewer Awards are back for 2020! As we enter the start of the third decade of this new millennium, the beer industry couldn’t look any

more different to when things started out. It has been a roller coaster of a ride from 2000 to the present day, with the concepts of brewing and drinking beer having evolved almost beyond all recognition. And here at Beer & Brewer, we are proud to support the industry. These Awards celebrate the people, places and products that make the Australian craft brewing scene the envy of the world and keep our minds and mouths enthralled. Our esteemed panel of judges of 24 judges have voted in a range of categories, choosing their favourites from all over the country. Those placed higher in each panelist’s list has scored higher than others, and at the end we’ve counted up all the scores to reach our final winners list. Some of the names here are repeat winners from last year, testament to the consistent excellence of their efforts, innovations and ingenuity. Others are new to the list, some are new to the beer scene entirely. Beyond our judges’ choices, we also once again opened up some of the judging to you, our esteemed readers. The People’s Choice returned once more this year and our thanks go out to the huge numbers of people who cast their votes for their favourite Beer Name, Beer Packaging and New Beer of 2019. In the end, these next pages will profile the 14 fantastic and, I hope you’ll agree, deserving winners. So, let us delay no longer. Let us dive into this year’s Beer & Brewer Awards! We begin, as ever, with the Lifetime Achievement Award, which has been claimed this year by Feral’s Brendan Varis – whose colleague Will Irving was a previous winner in the Best Brewer category. Sit back, settle in and enjoy!

28 www.beerandbrewer.com

Will Ziebell – Senior Writer, The Crafty Pint

Tina Panoutsos – Associate Director, Beer Knowledge, CUB

Mick Wust – Contributor, The Crafty Pint and Froth Magazine

Mike Gribble – BeerBuzz

Charlie Whitting – Editor, Beer & Brewer Guy Southern – Contributor, The Crafty Pint

Pia Poynton – Beer Writer, Girl + Beer Luke Robertson – Beer Writer, Ale of a Time

John Kruger – Beer Photographer

Martin Barrett – Senior Business Manager, Australia, Time Out Media

Brad Flowers – Owner, Hops and More

Neal Cameron – Director, Institute of Beer

Peter Mitcham – Beer Writer, Brews News

Graham Wright – The Odd Whisky Co.

Chris Thomas – Editor, Homebrewer

Kirrily Waldhorn – Beer Presenter, Educator, Consultant, Writer and Judge, Beer Diva

Mitch Bradey – Bintani Mike Cridge – Craft Beer House Tim Charody – The Beer Pilgrim Ross Lewis – Editor, The Sip, and Executive Officer of the WA Brewers Association Marie-Claire Jarratt – Contributor, The Crafty Pint

Michael Capaldo – Hop Products Australia Deb Jackson – Editor, National Liquor News Andy Young – Editor, TheShout

2020

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT

Brendan Varis, Feral Brewing Co. This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award has gone, with strong backing from the judging panel, to Feral Brewing Company’s Brendan Varis. It was back in 2002, after nearly a decade of failing to find beers they wanted to drink, that Varis and his friend opened the brewpub that is now Feral Brewing with the aim of making beers they liked. “Feral was started to brew beers that I like to drink and have personal respect for,” explains Varis. “We made beers with little regard to commerciality or possible broad acceptance. If others liked it, we made more; if they didn’t, we still made it just kept making smaller batches. The proof was that the pull can be stronger than the push when it comes to garnering broader support for what you do. We were young and dumb and had no money, so the next few years were spent working out how to do that, writing a business plans and convincing someone to put their hard-earned into something that at the time was an unproven concept in Australia.” Varis is quick to point to the people who have helped him along the way to becoming the brewer he is today. He describes Brian Watson, who recently founded Good George Brewing in Hamilton, New Zealand, as a “mentor”, and cites the incredibly positive influence of Roger Bussell, a “font of advice and information not only to me but countless other start-up breweries in Western Australia”. “Craft beer is an incredibly altruistic endeavour; there are so many people that give so much for the good of the overall industry. There are brewers, owners, suppliers, hospitably people, writers and many others who contribute to everyone’s success.” Varis’ own contribution to Australian craft brewing extends beyond Feral as well. He helped Jeremy Good open Cowaramup Brewing and a few months later, the brewery’s pilsner scooped the Champion Lager trophy at the AIBAs, the achievement of which Varis is proudest in his entire career. “It was a great example of a real amazing in-depth discussion about what that beer should be, and how you get there, then executing the plan to deliver. Seek that beer out by the way.” When Varis built his own brewery, craft beer was an anomaly. Now,

“CRAFT BEER IS AN INCREDIBLY ALTRUISTIC ENDEAVOUR; THERE ARE SO MANY PEOPLE THAT GIVE A SO MUCH FOR THE GOOD OF THE OVERALL INDUSTRY.” needed or the relevance of craft in time will be questioned. We also all need to individually put more effort into educating consumers

as he steps away from Feral Brewing (he has maintained a position

into what craft beer is. There are so many that haven’t been reached

there after it was acquired by Coca-Cola Amatil), Vardis finds the craft

and so many that can be re-acquainted.”

brewing scene in Western Australia and the rest of the country has changed beyond recognition. “To start with there is a craft beer scene now,” notes Varis. “When we first opened and went to sell keg of our beer to a local pub, they

Given the vastly altered landscape in which craft beer finds itself, what advice does our Lifetime Achievement Award winner have for someone looking to get into the industry and make it the cause of their own lifetime?

would look at us like we had three heads. Since then, there have been

“Be very clear on your purpose,” says Varis. “This industry is a

periods where demand has outstripped capacity and now we see a lot

hell of a lot of fun but not easy to make a dollar from. It’s a cluttered

of capacity in Australia that is a little ahead of consumer demand.

marketplace now. Don’t do it because you think it sounds fun. What

“I’d like to see craft brewers start looking for what’s next.

will you bring to craft in your area that is not already there? And

We can’t just be looking for different hoppy blends to engage

depending on your model some formal study if you haven’t done any

consumers. More diversity over and above hop forward beers is

will go a long way.”

Summer 2019 29

BEER & BREWER AWARDS

BEST BREWPUB

Stomping Ground

BEST REGIONAL BEER VENUE

Stomping Ground has once again claimed the top

apparently more breweries per capita than even

spot in this year’s Beer & Brewer Awards for Best

the US I still feel there’s plenty of opportunities for

Brewpub in the face of stiff competition.

good brewpubs with strong hospitality offerings to

Darleens

“It’s very humbling to be honest because there

thrive. Given the increasingly competitive nature

are so many great venues that are opening up

of the market, I think brewpubs will have a surer

This year, the Best Regional Beer

around the country that are inspiring us when

success rate. If I was getting into the market now,

Venue is in the Western Australia

we’re planning our new venues,” says Steve

I’d be looking at opening a brewpub. If you’ve got

town of Busselton.

Jeffares, co-founder of Stomping Ground. “So for

your own margin that you can keep and you can

us to be judged by so many of our peers that we

get the hospitality right, I’d like to see lots of them

manager Liam Marsh. “It’s been a

respect as leading the pack is something we never

popping up around Australia.”

goal from day one.”

expected for a second year yet alone a third.” At the time of writing Stomping Ground is in

So what makes a great brewpub?

“It feels awesome,” says venue

Darleens only opened in October

“A venue that looks as your target audience is

2018, but it has already had a

the process of opening two more brewpubs, one

expecting, a suitable food offering, suitable drinks

huge impression on the town.

at Melbourne Airport and one in the south east

offering beyond just the beers you’re brewing.

The name’s origin involves many

Melbourne suburb of Moorrabbin. For Jeffares,

Then obviously staff training and retention. If you

different stories, but according

the opening and improvement of brewpubs

can get it right and you have the right people on

to Marsh, Darleens is “the

holds the key for the success of craft breweries

board then clearly, it’s worth it. We get several

quintessential lady of Busselton”.

in a crowded marketplace.

thousand people a week through our Collingwood

“I follow what’s happening overseas and we’ve

“We always knew we wanted to

venue and if we don’t get that hospitality offer

grow organically being a place for

been really under-represented with brewpubs in

right and people have a poor experience then

everybody. The cornerstone is it

Australia for a long time,” he says. “While we have

that’s their experience of the brand generally.”

has to fun and it has to be about craft beer. Other than that, we’re like ‘let’s see what resonates’.

BEST BEER VENUE

“We are very, very stoked,” says James

differences is we don’t really treat

which runs The Taphouse and also recently

it like a venue in the way that we

reopened The Oxford Tavern in Petersham after a

interact with everyone coming in.

refurbishment.

We’ve thrown out the conventions

“Since taking over The Taphouse two years

of server and patron. It’s more

ago, we’ve worked very hard to build up its beer

‘welcome to Darleen’s house”.

credentials back to the glory days. Opening Odd

The Taphouse

It’s been really fun. One of the

Thorpe, managing director of Thorpe Hospitality,

Busselton is a regional area

Culture was a big part of that. The way that

with strong brewing credentials

we’ve reconceptualised the venue as being The

and Darleens itself, although a

Taphouse as a whole, but also with three very

separate business, is nevertheless

separate experiences on each level is what is

connected to ‘the mothership’,

really appealing to people.

Rocky Ridge Brewing.

“We’ve ramped up our rotation on the taps.

“At Darleens, although it’s very

In this year’s Beer & Brewer Awards, the title for

We pour 28 beers over 60 taps. When we bought

Rocky Ridge-influenced, we get to

Best Beer Venue has returned to Sydney after its

it, they were rotating about 300 beers a year, now

have a lot more fun and flexibility

stay out west, with a win for The Taphouse

we’re up to 400/450 beers a year. We’re changing

with guest taps and events. When

in Darlinghurst.

more than one beer every day.

I was at The Goose, the owner

The venue has long been a craft beer favourite,

“To be able to put our dream to life in The

and I had this thing, ‘nothing by

but has been taking things even further in recent

Taphouse, to be able to pour so many products

half’. And that’s come over with

years, focusing on wide and changing beer menus,

simultaneously and to be able to buy so many

me to Darleens. More fun events,

themed events and refurbishments, with the

products from so many breweries and do cool

more rare and awesome events,

addition of Odd Culture – a wild ale bar on the

events and meet the people who brew the beers,

interactive themes that people

venue’s first floor with an eye-wateringly thick

and then to be able to keep the business afloat is

can be a part of. I want to do more

beer menu book – a particular point of difference.

a massive achievement, I think.”

interactive events.”

30 www.beerandbrewer.com

2020

BEST BREWER AWARD THIS YEAR’S BEER & BREWER AWARD FOR THE BEST BREWER GOES WILL TATCHELL, THE INNOVATIVE BREWER AT THE HEART OF TASMANIA’S VAN DIEMAN BREWING

This year, the Beer & Brewer Award for the Best Brewer goes to Will Tatchell, head brewer at Tasmania’s Van Dieman Brewing. Tatchell, who started brewing as a “distraction” while studying Agricultural Science, has since become one of the Apple Isle’s most innovative and intriguing brewers. “It’s terrific recognition in an industry that’s absolutely brimming with amazing brewers and creative minds,” says Tatchell. “I certainly don’t set out to brew for awards, but simply produce honest and enjoyable beers that capture our unique pocket of the world in liquid form.” Tatchell founded Van Dieman Brewing way back in 2007, having gained extensive brewing experience working at a number of breweries in the UK. This, and his agricultural education, has stood him in good stead to become a leading figure in the Australian craft brewing scene.

Will Tatchell Belgium,” says Tatchell. “The rustic nature of

As well as continuing his work integrating

“I’ve arguably come full circle with my

making beer in a more simplistic and authentic

the brewing process with the growing process

career, having never entered the agricultural

environment drives my process. We’re creating

– growing hops and barley, and malting that

field until we began growing ingredients for

totally unique and completely brewery-

barley - Tatchell is installing a cellar door/

the brewery here on the farm,” notes Tatchell.

grown, single origin beers in Estate Ales (using

taproom facility at the farm. He hopes to have

“Being able to draw upon a tertiary degree for

our selected house yeast) and Australian

it open in late 2020, giving fans the chance to

knowledge, practical brewing experience for

Spontaneous Ales using a coolship (koelschip)

visit and explore the world from which these

production and a litany of great friends I’ve

vessel for indigenous yeast inoculation.

beers come. And what does he hope to see

met throughout my brewing journey holds us in good stead for the next 30 years.”

“We’re utilising grains and hops grown on the brewery farm and subsequent malting and

from the brewing industry as a whole? “I’d love to see more industry engagement

While most of the crafting brewing trends

kilning on-site, a spring-fed water source,

from breweries in order to continue to

over the last decade have focused heavily on

and foraging the countryside for wild flora

develop the industry as a whole. We can

the glories of the hop and the variants of IPA

and indigenous wild yeasts; we are returning

become so engrossed in our own businesses

that can be created, Van Dieman has also been

to how local farmhouse brewing existed in a

that’s sometimes it’s great to step away,

perfecting an increasingly popular style, the

previous life, back to its agricultural roots.

albeit briefly, and gain some perspective of

wild ale. The rural nature of Van Dieman has

This concept drives my focus day to day from

what’s happening outside your four walls

nurtured a farmhouse family of beers, built

a brewing operations perspective and also

and how contribution to the industry as

not just around farmhouse yeast varieties

on-farm decisions for brewing purposes.

a whole can be achieved – even if it’s as

and wild brewing techniques, but a wholesale

Our ability to actively control, influence

simple as a regular catch-up with a group

farmhouse approach.

and manage the entire process from ground

of local brewers. The single greatest part of

to glass is incredibly rare in any industry

the beer community, and by far its biggest

into a holistic on-farm approach heavily

these days, and something we’re proud and

asset, is its people. There’s simply no other

influenced by the farmhouse ales originating in

protective of, and something that I believe

industry that’s as welcoming, hospitable and

the agrarian borderland shared by France and

matters to drinkers.”

nurturing than ours.”

“My (our) focus in recent years has evolved

Summer 2019 31

Nic Sandery in the Molly Rose warehouse. Photo credit: James Smith, Crafty Pint

BEER & BREWER AWARDS

BEST NEW BREWERY

Molly Rose Brewing The growth of new breweries in Australia

Nic Sandery

seems to be accelerating and the judging

Photo credit: Amanda Santamaria

panel this year had an enormous range of options to choose from for the Best New Brewery. That they picked Molly Rose in Melbourne’s Collingwood suburb is a testament to this newcomer to the scene. “It feels amazing!” says Nic Sandery, who opened Molly Rose Brewing earlier this year. “It has been a tough year and we have been working hard first trying to get the brewery up and running, then making sure that we were brewing the best beer we could and providing the best experience at the bar that we can trying to win over every customer one at a time, so winning awards was a long way from my mind. “I have absolutely loved having my own space, not only to make beer but to let people into it and share the beer with them. It is so gratifying watching people order a second

brewery to stand for I realised that they were

and permits later we opened the doors on a

and third pint of the beer that I worked so

handed down to me from my family and

slightly hectic Friday night.

hard to make and till recently was just an

these two women were incredibly inspiring,”

idea in my head.”

Sandery explains.

Sandery has a chemistry degree, but,

“I started the only way I could, which was

Molly Rose brews a full range of beer styles, with balanced flavours the cornerstone of any recipe. Through mobile canning, they

shunning the academic life, he moved from

to launch six beers as a subscription, each

have been able to release two new beers every

Brisbane to Perth to study brewing at Edith

beer came with a story which had brought

month, “one of which will always be an IPA”,

Cowan University. After stints working at

myself and Molly Rose to where we were. I

while there are also 750ml sparkling bottles

Little Creature, Stone & Wood, Holgate, Vale

managed to presell all 150 subscriptions and

that hold beers for cellaring over two years.

and Colonial, he travelled the world to further

this gave me the money with which to brew

As they approach their first summer, Sandery

broaden his brewing knowledge. He then

them. With this traction and some awards

couldn’t be more excited.

went about setting up Molly Rose (named for

to boot I managed to convince friends and

his grandmothers Molly and Rose).

family to kick in a little bit of money to take

up on sunny days and share some beers

on the lease on Wellington Street, and in

with the great people who come to visit us

June this year, nine months and 11 licences

in Collingwood.”

“When trying to decide on a name that suited the values on which I wanted the

32 www.beerandbrewer.com

“We cannot wait to have the roller door

2020

BEST CIDER MAKER

Jimi Anderson Following on his success in the inaugural Best Cider Maker Award, Willie Smith’s Jimi Anderson has once again taken the top spot in our judging panel’s eyes. The big-bearded Tasmanian has been working hard with cans and new apples over the past 12 months and is delighted to have reclaimed his title. “It feels fantastic!” says Anderson. “I’m quite surprised and humbled. With the industry doing as well as it at the moment there’s a lot of big players in there that I’m sure have got their hat in for the win. I’m happy to have taken it out. “The craft cider market is driving quite strong. We want to continue driving that along, but also to offer a good array of beverages and to challenge new beverages in a new format like the can.” Since his win last year, Anderson has been focusing on improving his cider making skills. Collaborations with brewers and other cider makers have coincided with a growing usage of cider apples, which has had interesting effects on the finished products. “What we’ve managed to learn as a team and myself personally is the added flexibility of making more SKUs and more interesting offerings using cider apples,” says Anderson. “We’ll be seeing a few new products and incorporating the cider apples into our more traditional and core SKU offerings. “It’s really exciting from the perspective of what it can actually add to the beverage. Our beverages are becoming more complex; we’re starting to see more natural tannin coming through. It’s just a beautiful thing to be able to work with. We’re using different recipes and changing whereabouts we’re using that product – whether it’s our fermentation program or our final blending. We’re really starting to develop those products to create a better, more complex beverage.” “The seasons ebb and flow in the cider apple production world. We’re always needing to adapt and incorporate different apples into different styles. I think that’s one of the things that I personally have enjoyed and learned most about in the last year. How to bring that to the knowledge of the drinker and continue to challenge and educate our public.” Just before we spoke to Anderson, Willie Smith’s installed its own canning line, stepping away from contract canning as it looks to put more of its ciders into aluminium. Given the growing love of canned beers in Australia and globally, Anderson sees this step as important to get the brand out there more, but also to provide a new way to package limited releases. “It’s fantastic for us from a longevity and branding side of things, and allows us to play around with some more creative products which will be hitting the shelves in the next 12 months,” says Anderson. “They can be limited release but not necessarily in a 750ml format, so that gives us some great flexibility to create a broader and more

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Warwick Billings While Jimi Anderson took the top spot, the judges also voted in great numbers for Warwick Billings, co-founder of Lobo Cider in South Australia. “It’s very unexpected, but I have to say thank you to whoever’s been enjoying our cider,” says Billings, an Australian who grew up in British cider county Somerset and has been involved in cider making since he was eight years old. Lobo, which was founded 11 years ago, focuses on making cloudy, full apple and interesting cider. “I thought ‘We’re in South Australia and everyone drinks Coopers, so why don’t they drink cloudy cider?’ So we made it and people liked it.” Lobo has also been planting cider apple trees on their property – the other co-founder Michael Stafford is a fifth generation apple grower – so that they can make cider with English apple content for “more flavour, more tannin and more interest”. Billings is always experimenting – they now make a brandy and a gin – but the principal focus is “working on what we do better”.

diverse SKU range especially on the creative front.”

Summer 2019 33

BEER & BREWER AWARDS

BEST RETAILER (ONLINE)

Beer Cartel The Best Online Retailer in this year’s Beer & Brewer Awards is once again Beer Cartel, who take the title for the third year in a row, just as the company celebrates its 10th birthday. “It feels pretty amazing to win three years in a row,” says Beer Cartel’s co-founder Richard Kelsey. “It really does show that we must be doing some good stuff. “We ship 1,000s of parcels a year and we have minimal breakages. I think going into cans, we’ve seen our small amount of breakages reduce even further. We try to be quick to follow everything up. We want to look after the customers from the very first point when they come to the website right to the point where they get their beer in the mail. Because at the end of the day it’s that whole experience

BEST RETAILER (BOTTLESHOP)

Mane Liquor, Belmont, WA

that keeps people coming back.” Of course, over the past 10 years, the number of breweries in Australia has exploded and most of them have been releasing new beers at eye-watering rates. Beer Cartel gets sent 20 to 40 beers every week, and has, at any one stage, around 1,000 beers available online. “It’s meant that you stay on your toes a lot more,” says Kelsey. “We’ve got a great team here to curate our selection. It means that there does have to be quite a lot of work, working out what to get. And I guess it’s driven by two things – consumers want to try new beers and breweries are catering to those consumers as well by constantly bringing out new beers to try.”

In this year’s Beer & Brewer Awards, we have sought to celebrate not

To celebrate the 10th anniversary, Beer Cartel has officially

just great online beer retailers, but also the bottleshops that provide

relaunched its beer club, a beer subscription service. It has been

that extra special craft beer service. To that end, Mane Liquor in

re-engineered and features three different packs, all focused solely

Belmont, Western Australia, has taken the title.

on cans.

“We’re absolutely stoked!” says Josh Daley, co-owner of Mane

“We’ve got a starter pack, the Bootlegger (which) has got six

Liquor. “It’s exciting winning things in general, let alone winning

beers; a middle of the road pack called Speakeasy with 12 beers;

something in the field you work in and love each and every day.”

and the Black Market pack which is 12 beers but it’s all limited

Daley has been running Mane Liquor for 13 years now and after taking a tip into the craft beer pool, he and his team decided to take

release beers that haven’t come out in the market before. “With our website, we’re constantly focusing on how we can make

the plunge from regular bottleshop to dedicated craft beer emporium.

things better for consumer. At the moment we’re doing a big thing

He and his team were interested in craft beer before – looking

on our online search within it. We’re going to have pretty substantial

for alternatives to the mainstream products – and that thirst for

changes to the online searches in a month’s time which is going to

knowledge has only grown since making the change.

make it even better for people that are searching online to find the

“Over the years, our craft selection grew with our knowledge of it

products that they’re after, which is going to be exciting.”

and it really just became a load of fun for us,” says Daley. “Constantly trying new beers and learning about new styles. I guess it comes down to the old adage of ‘you never work a day in your life if you love what you do’. Our staff are extremely passionate in their own individual ways toward beer as well, and passion goes a long way.” Western Australia is a little slower on the uptake compared to the rest of the world in Daley’s view, but it is catching up fast, with new breweries opening all over the place. He has been particularly interested in the growth of sour beers across Australia. Looking ahead, there are ambitions to open a “little wine and beer-focused eater”. What advice can offer to someone looking to follow in his footsteps? “It’s a lot of work but the reward far outweighs the blood, sweat and tears you’ll no doubt put in. Start small with a focus on local beers. From there you can work your way up to the more obscure beers around.”

34 www.beerandbrewer.com

Beer Cartel Richard Kelsey (left) & Geoff Huens (right)

2020

BEST HOMEBREW SHOP

Grain and Grape Another stalwart at the top of the Beer & Brewer Awards pile, Grain and Grape has taken the title for Best Homebrew Shop for a third year running. We spoke to owner John Preston about what he thinks Grain and Grape does as a business that so endears it to our judging panel. “Everyone at Grain and Grape is a homebrewer and we all really want to help people make better beer,” he says. “We’re human and we make mistakes, but we know that it’s what happens next that matters. We try not to be too pushy. We love to be involved in beerrelated events and talk to people about beer and brewing. “Of course, it is a business, but we all feel lucky to work in a field that’s also a passion and hopefully that shows. Any business takes

to be quite a blokey pass-time but with more women getting involved,

hard work and sustained energy to make it work. Service is the key,

the scene is taking on a different – better – feel.”

and the passion and eagerness of homebrewers is a great reward.” Preston and his team have been making improvements to the Grain and Grape website, as well as concentrating on the education of customers through information and in-store events, as the Australian homebrewer scene continues to evolve and improve. “We get to taste a lot of our customers’ beers and the quality and creativity shown is nothing short of amazing,” says Preston. “It used

Preston will continue to work on the website and to plan for the Australian National Homebrewing Conference, while exploring the growing market for smaller systems. “Many brewers want to brew more often and drink less. Apartment living, healthier lifestyles and the desire for more variety make smaller batches appealing and doable to many people. We are working on a range of smaller starter kits and Fresh Wort Kits to accommodate this.

Summer 2019 35

BEER & BREWER AWARDS

BEST BREWERY EXPERIENCE

Lot.100, Mismatch Brewing This year, the award for the Best

while there are also regular live music

Brewery Experience goes to Lot.100,

performances to add another string to

where Mismatch Brewing make their

its bow. In addition, twice a day, visitors

beer, but also where Adelaide Hills

can embark on a brewery tour.

Distillery make their spirits (it’s also

“We take large groups on a tour of the

home to Hills Cider Company, Ashton

brewery, educate them on the process

Valley Fresh juice and Vinteloper). The

of making beer, hold a tasting in our

venue is lauded for its beer garden, but

brewery bar and take the patrons through

there is much more to it than that.

the elements of sustainability we have

“It’s extremely humbling for the

implemented into the brewing process,”

team to receive this award amongst so

says Morgan. “Mismatch and Lot.100

many of our peers we truly respect,”

work hand in hand to allow patrons to

says Leigh Morgan, co-owner and

take in things at their own pace. We allow

marketing manager of Mismatch. “It’s

patrons to take in as much information

been five long hard years of work to be

as they like or simply let them enjoy the

able to have our very own home which

beers at their own leisure.”

allows us to welcome beer lovers from

Mismatch itself has expansions plans

around Australia and the globe. To know

both for its brewery and its range of

that consumers love the vision as much

beers, with new releases expected and

as we do is extremely gratifying.”

a two-year strategy getting started.

So what does Morgan think are the key elements for a great brewery experience? “Amazing knowledgeable staff,

But, in terms of what makes this place such a fine brewery experience, Morgan believes that it is the shared values and

delicious food and beautiful surroundings.

collaborative instincts of the distillery,

It’s important that you let your patrons

winery and brewery that holds the key.

do things at their own pace.” Set in 84 hectares of South Australian

“We believe the collaboration plays a huge part in the success of Lot.100. It

farmland in the Hay Valley, the venue

allows us to showcase the best of one

has a ‘land to hand’ ethos when it comes

another in one space. Each company

to food and an open air approach to

within Lot.100 holds very similar values

hospitality. The courtyard alone can

and the main takeaway is that we all strive

host more than 500 people. Food is on

to drive quality. Business is a lot more fun

offer in the form of wood-fired pizzas,

when you get to do it with good people.”

36 www.beerandbrewer.com

2020 People’s Choice Awards

BEER & BREWER AWARDS PEOPLE’S CHOICE

Best Beer Name: Hang Loose Juice

Best Beer Packaging: Wayward This year, the Beer & Brewer Award for the Best Beer Packaging has gone to Wayward Brewing in Camperdown for its rebranded

Here at Beer & Brewer, we reckon that half the

core range that not only saw a

fun of brewing beer is in the naming of your

stylish change to the design but

concoction, with puns aplenty and all the rest.

also moved from bottles into cans.

The People’s Choice threw many amazing

“We put so much work into

beer names at us that had us gasping at their

what the rebrand should look like and we also did mostly everything in-house,” says Faye

ingenuity. But this year’s winner is Capital

White, creative director of Wayward, who was behind the concept. “So it feels especially

Brewing’s Hang Loose Juice.

great. We were in a meeting where we made the decision to move to cans and I jumped on

“The entire team is absolutely chuffed to pick up Best Beer Name considering

the idea. I saw an opportunity for a rebrand and here we are.” The new concept aimed to maintain the Wayward way of using two or three big, bold colours,

how many other epic names are out in the

but also to focus on the idea of vintage travel, which is the backbone of Wayward’s ethos. The

market,” says Mick Healy, Capital’s creative

brewery hired illustrator Rohan Carter to create the imagery.

director. “Our countless hours of throwing names around has certainly paid off.” Hang Loose Juice is a blood orange NEIPA that is “bursting with tropical notes and a

“The idea of adventure and adventurous beer is what Wayward is all about – adventure and sharing beer with friends on the road,” says Faye. “We’ve had some great feedback. Changing formats from bottles to cans is a big part of it, but we’ve definitely had a lot more interest. “I think (packaging) is extremely important. It’s that initial reaction. It’s a bit like when

refreshing bitter finish”. So what was the

you’re going for a job: I feel that the can is like a CV, that initial look and the interview is

inspiration behind the name?

the tasting of the beer, and if you buy it again then it’s like you’ve got the job!”

“We came up with the name as we wanted to pay homage to our keen interest in surfing and thought including some of its vernacular into the name could be cool,” continues Healy. “We also wanted a name that rolled off the tongue and included it’s biggest tasting note, that being how refreshing and juicy the beer is.” Healy knows the importance of a good

Best New Beer in 2019: Boatrocker Ramjet 2019 The year 2019 saw so many fantastic new beers enter the marketplace, but this year, the Best New Beer is a brew that

beer name as it’s not only another chance for

technically has been around for a while now. Every year since 2013,

some creative brainstorming, but it is also a

Boatrocker Brewery in Victoria has brewed an English-style imperial

tool that enables your beer to catch the eye

stout and aged it in Starward whisky barrels for six months. This

and be remembered.

year’s iteration really captured our readers’ hearts.

“A good name is hugely important as it’s so

“I’ve always wanted to come up with a beer that is the style of

important to stand out from the rest in such

the great bourbon barrel-aged beers from America, but I wanted

a crowded environment. It’s also a reflection

to do something that was local and Australian,” says Boatrocker’s

as to how we want to be perceived as a brand

co-founder and head brewer Matt Houghton. “One of our brewers

from our audience. But mainly you want to

used to work at Starward and he put us in touch. They were really

name a beer that people enjoy ordering at the

receptive to it. Every year, we get barrels from them.”

bar or asking for at the bottleshop.”

The beer predominantly uses English Maris Otter malt, but the malt bill features 18 others, including three kinds of English Crystal, rolled barley and Munich malts. Golding and Fuggles hops are used to create that English beer before it goes into Starward’s barrels, which are generally ex-wine barrels. “It’s not about the hops it’s all about the malt and the whisky and the beer interacting in the wood,” says Houghton. “As it ages, I find that the red wine notes do come through a little bit. It’s one of those beers, we always recommending buy two. One to drink now and one to cellar because it does have amazing staying power. The hardcore Ramjet drinkers have Ramjets that they’ve aged for five years and no degradation. It changes, but there’s no degradation.” So while the Best Beer for 2019 is Boatrocker Ramjet 2019, it may be tasting even better by 2020!

Summer 2019 37

A DAY IN THE LIFE

Josh Beattie of Mountain Goat details his average day 8-10am: First thing in the morning is attend to the mountain of emails in the inbox, sort out priority emails, usually a mix of internal communications, replying to customers with offers or deals, and setting up meetings. I will go over the planned sales run for the day and make any adjustments.

Sergio La Forgia of Coopers

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF…

a craft beer sales rep

OUR PEOPLE-FOCUSED FEATURE RETURNS TO TALK TO THE PEOPLE WHOSE JOB IT IS TO GET THEIR BREWERY’S COLLECTION OF BEERS OUT TO BARS AND BOTTLESHOPS.

n our Autumn 2019 issue, we took you through a day in the life of a professional brewer, asking those who brew for a living what it’s like and what qualities it requires. This issue, we’re dipping our toe into another critical part of the craft brewing industry – sales. For what is the use of brewing great beer if you cannot sell it to anyone? If you were looking to get into the brewing industry, but weren’t so sure about the brewing aspect of

things, then sales could be the brewing career for you. But what’s involved? With craft breweries looking to expand their sales beyond their taprooms, sales

reps spend the majority of their day on the road, travelling between a wide range of establishments, both on- and off-premise, to talk to a wide range of customers, whether new, existing and potential. Sales reps therefore need to be able to plan for and adapt to a range of different situations. “I see around 10 venues a day and engage in discussions with customers about making sure they have everything they need for prearranged promotions or activations, contractual discussions and additional tap installation or expanding product range,” explains Sergio La Forgia, sales executive at Coopers Brewery. “Essentially, my role is to ensure that the customer is equipped with the necessary products and knowledge to enable positive and successful business. It is about listening to what the customers need and providing them with solutions. It is less about pushing a product and more about finding what promotes their business and providing innovation solutions and assistance in this regard.”

38 www.beerandbrewer.com

10am – 12pm: Drop into the brewery to catch up with the boss and the brewers, pick up a few samples and POS then hit the road. Typical day will be about eight to 10 sales calls with them all being a combination of planned meetings, drop ins on current customers and cold calls. It’s a real balance to approach venues at certain times: retail and cafe/ bar customers may be open earlier than hotels, bars and pubs so generally try to visit them first. 12-2pm: Lunch time – This is a beer rep’s favourite time of the day. Golden Rule – Don’t call on publicans and restaurateurs customers between 12 and 2pm unless you like to be berated in public. I find this a great opportunity to approach a new venue that you want to build a relationship with. Go in and support the business by ordering a meal, and observe how lunch trade works for them. Leave your card to organise a time to meet at a later date. 2-4pm: This is peak hour in terms of a sales day for a beer rep, when most conversations around beer sales occur. Venue managers are either at venue or opening up a venue to get ready for their day. I ensure that my conversations around beer are prepared; our conversations can be a mix around deals and offers, new products, increasing volume, listening to the customer about how their business is going, finding ways to assist with growing the customer’s business. 4-6pm: I generally visit venues at this time in a supporting role, finding out what the venue needs from me this week – stock levels, coasters, decals, delivery issues. 6pm – late: My day can differ depending on what day of the week it is – when at home pull out the laptop and follow up with venues around conversations that day. Or I’m attending events, hosting venues at the brewery, beer tastings, etc.

A DAY IN THE LIFE

“IT IS ABOUT LISTENING TO WHAT THE CUSTOMERS NEED AND PROVIDING THEM WITH SOLUTIONS”

What it takes Motivation: “I think you need to be motivated. When you’re your own boss you have to get out there and do it all yourself. As much as there’s help from the brewery, when you’re in your own patch, it’s just about getting out and seeing people, being sociable with them.”

This nomadic lifestyle does provide sales reps with the opportunity to gather a uniquely wide-ranging picture of the fast-changing craft beer scene than those who spend most of their time working at one brewery or behind one bar. “When I worked in hospitality venues, I could only see a section of the industry, but as a sales rep I have been exposed to the larger perspective of the industry,” says La Forgia. “Craft beer and the speed of product development has been a big change to the industry, but it has people talking about beer and is revitalising it as a product, which is immensely positive.” While the quality and variety of the beer one is trying to sell will play a hugely important role in a sales rep’s success, ultimately the craft beer market has never

Sam Hawkes, Burleigh Brewing

been more competitive than it is now. There are only so many taps on a bar and only so much space in a fridge,

backed up with a quality product. For Brian Urmson,

so the fight for space is intense (and getting more so).

Queensland sales manager for Sauce Brewing Co, this

As a result, sales reps place a great deal of importance

interaction one of the perks of the job.

on the relationships that they can foster within their

“The best thing about this job would easily have to be

geographical area. As Mountain Goat’s Josh Beattie

the people you deal with,” says Urmson. “This might

explains, only 2% of sales are made on first contact

sound cheesy or clichéd, but you would be hard pressed

with a venue. It is about constant and consistent

to find many other industries where owners, producers,

interaction with customers, which is then hopefully

venue managers, staff, right through to customers, all have a huge amount of interest and passion towards what we collectively do. Being able to work and interact with such a diverse group of people on a daily basis is fantastic; what’s really interesting is how varied the previous professions are for everyone who’s shifted into the craft beer space. The people definitely make this industry what it is.” However, aside from time spent with customers, the job is largely solitary, with sales reps accorded a greater degree of autonomy in their role compared to others within a brewery. For many, this is one of the advantages of the job, but it also means that to be successful, one needs to be both organised and motivated, as well as able to deal with all of the inevitable speed bumps and distractions that will occur over the course of a day or week. “In general, a rep’s day should be fairly straightforward and structured, get orders from existing customers and activate new business; but you’re quite often the only person in your area or state to solve a majority of the issues that arise,” says Urmson. “While completing your run lists, there are countless things that occur that can take you away from your daily tasks. The ability to self-manage and

Brian Urmson from Sauce Beer

Resilience: “Because it’s competitive, not everyone can give you a space, so it’s about sticking in there and building those relationships. It’s good fun and if you like getting out and talking to people and having a beer then it’s a pretty good industry to be in.” Knowledge: “The most useful thing would just be educated in either the breweries that you’re looking to try to work for, and what they’re doing, but also just what the market is doing as a whole. You want to be up to date and be able to talk easily about the company that you want to work with portfolio, as well as what others are doing and how that might affect them.” Passion: “It always helps if you love the beers that you’re working with as well. If you’ve got something that you enjoy drinking, then it makes it a lot easier to sell.” (Provided by Sam Hawkes, business development manager at Burleigh Brewing)

adapt/replan for any unforeseen issues that pop up is invaluable.”

Summer 2019 39

CASK ALE

Cask of beer ready to serve

Ask for cask

OF ALL THE MYRIAD BEER STYLES THAT THE AUSTRALIAN CRAFT SCENE HAS EMBRACED, CASK ALE HAS PERHAPS NOT CAPTURED THE IMAGINATION IN THE WAY IT SHOULD. BRITISH CASK ALE LOVER NEAL CAMERON SETS OUT TO CHAMPION THIS QUINTESSENTIALLY BRITISH BEER.

ften the subject of

beer tonics, are we perhaps not missing

purported to have remarked “Come quickly

some gentle antipodean

the opportunity to go back to the future

I am tasting the stars!” when he broached

scorn, cask ales appear

and realise that cask beer is another, quite

his naturally carbonated champagne. And

to be a singularly

marvelous way of enjoying our beloved beer?

while we can’t reasonably attribute such

British phenomenon,

stellar praise to cask ales, such terms as

CASK BEER – THE GOOD STUFF.

‘bead’ and ‘mousse’ are common terms in

notion of stone-flagged pubs, tired dogs

Firstly, we should deal with what cask beer is

the sparkling wine game and are also relevant

under stools and, of course, flat, warm

not. Cask beer, or real ale as it’s also known,

in beer. Go and carbonate some water in

beer. Served in straight-sided pint glasses

is not simply a de-fizzed keg of beer served

your soda stream at home and compare it to

after much arm-bending on a hand-pump

on a hand-pump. It’s all too common to see

a decent champagne. It’s all carbon dioxide,

by a less than cheery publican, the picture

the welcome sight of a white porcelain hand-

but the difference in texture, and sensory

is complete and generally rare outside the

pull on a bar, only to be served a flat and

pleasure, is legion. Cask beer is naturally

horse brass-laden motherland.

watery apology for what should be a naturally

lower in carbonation, it’s part of the charm,

carbonated delight. The very heart of a cask-

but the quality of the carbonation should

and some would say complex way of storing

conditioned beer is exactly that. Like a fine

be paramount, a gentle mousse-y tingle or

and serving beer that causes an ex-pat

champagne, the beer is naturally carbonated

brightness on the palate rather than the

Englishman to leak a nostalgic tear when

in the cask, not force carbonated in a large

sharp carbonic bite of force-carbonated kegs.

found in an Australian pub? In our desperate

tank and then filled into the pressure

search for new and interesting beer styles,

resilient container that is the modern keg.

inextricably tied with the

But what is it about this seemingly strange,

new ways of serving beer, sours, fruits,

40 www.beerandbrewer.com

Dom Perignon, the father of champagne is

The final advantage for the caskconditioned beer is the fact that you can add flavourings, usually hops, to the cask as it

CASK ALE

“PERHAPS THE GREATEST ISSUE WITH CASK BEER IS THE NEED TO DRINK IT QUICKLY.” naturally carbonates. Whilst we may have (hopefully)

Serving cask beer

reached peak hop in some of our more extreme NEIPAs, what could be better than an ounce or two of hops added to a typical 40L cask? (aka a firkin). The extra time and contact ‘twixt hop and ale is well worth exploring and enjoying. And why stop at hops? What about some orange peel to a fruit IPA or some juniper berries to a gin-inspired lager perhaps? Cask beer is also traditionally served at cellar temperatures without chilling. In the UK, this is 1012°C, which suits the complex flavours of hoppy beers

• Move your cask to where it’s going to be tapped and leave for a few hours to settle. Keep it cool using a fridge or a cooled jacket. • Hammer in a soft spile (wooden peg) into the keystone to gently reduce the pressure. You will see gentle foaming coming from the spile which is normal. • When foaming stops, hammer a spigot or tap into the keystone (a confident strike is required to avoid being covered in beer!). • Either serve beer straight from the tap or hook up to a beer engine to serve the beer at its best.

perfectly. The flavour expression at this temperature is quite extraordinary. Cold beer is lovely, but it also mutes flavours too much in many cases.

CASK BEER – THE TRICKY STUFF Now that our collective tastebuds are watering, we must offer some balance to the equation and mention the challenges of cask ale. These partially explain why proper cask ale is still rare, or at least closely geographically tied to those few breweries that produce it. Unlike the ubiquitous beer keg that’s designed to take high levels of pressure, casks are pressure vessels, but only just. As you will see from the exploded diagram, there’s many parts to a traditional cask and while they’ll hold a bit of pressure to keep the carbon dioxide in the beer, they can fail if things get too fizzy or too warm. Not ideal if you’re transporting casks long distances especially in a hot country like Australia. The margin for error is not huge and without experience, producing cask ale can seem daunting for those starting out. Perhaps the greatest issue with cask beer is the need to drink it quickly. With a kegged beer, carbon dioxide is forced into the keg to push it out of the tap and into the glass. With the cask, a hand-pump is used to draw the beer from the cask. What goes into the cask to replace the beer is therefore air, causing staling over time. Breather pegs can be used to put a preserving layer of carbon dioxide over the beer but finishing the cask off in a couple of days is always the best idea. Not always easy when there are many beers to try in a typical craft bar. Tapping on a Friday night to a wellinformed group of regulars seems to be the best tactic!

Pulling a pint of cask ale

Summer 2019 41

CASK ALE

Racking kegs at Thornbridge

A CASK BEER SUCCESS STORY

akin to having a meat pie without sauce. The

Chatting to one of England’s traditional craft

So why bother with all these shenanigans?

trouble was, bringing cask ale from the UK

success stories, Hawkshead Brewery in the

This is a question best asked of one of the most

was not feasible and local breweries were

stunning Lake District, leaves one optimistic.

successful bar openings in Sydney recently. The

simply not set up to provide anything apart

Head brewer Matt Clarke says that

Duke of Clarence in Sydney’s CBD, brainchild

from low carbonation kegs. Thankfully, the

traditional cask ales still represent a big

of British ex-pat Mikey Enright and partner,

team at Beerfarm in WA, well-populated with

market for them.

is proof that having cask beer as part of your

cask-loving Brits were prepared to take on

offering is a winning strategy.

the challenge and provide traditional cask-

part of the world, there will always be a

conditioned ales, despite the brewery being in

demand for good cask ales.” he says. “About

WA, 4500kms away.

65% of our draught beer still goes out in

After learning his trade amongst the pubs of northern England including a stint as a cellar manager, Enright moved to Australia

The big question however, was whether

“Especially in this traditional beer drinking

cask.” A recent tour of the local area backs

and found himself as group bar manager

the local population would embrace this

this up, with every pub offering cask ales

for Merivale group, opening such legendary

traditional style of serving beer? And of

from a range of breweries, big and small.

nightspots as the Ivy. Seeing a gap in the

course, the answer is a firm yes. While it

Kegged beer is still on the fringes here.

market for a traditional English boozer, he

took some time for the locals to adapt to the

found the perfect spot on Clarence Street.

lower carbonation, smooth and creamy style

that are treading the cask path giving

As with most things successful, this wasn’t

Happily, there are a few local breweries

of beer, Enright now has two permanent cask

opportunities to discover the glories of

just a case of putting up a few Constable

taps and would like to go to a third when

this style. An early adopter being Richard

landscape prints and fake horse brasses.

supply allows. He attributes a fair portion

Watkins at the sadly now closed Wig & Pen

The bar was carefully designed and put in

of the venue’s success to being able to offer

in Canberra. He has however carried on the

the hands of a set-designer in the UK who

excellent cask ale – a rare and desirous thing

tradition at his own Bentspoke Brewery.

sourced original British pub interiors from

in Australia.

After a couple of decades of producing

the many pub closures over the past decade.

cask beer, you can be assured of a well-

Walking into the Duke is like going back in

CASK BEER IN AUSTRALIA

conditioned, well-served pint at the venue.

time. Original oak panels, a beautiful wooden

Can we therefore expect more local pubs

Paul Holgate at his eponymous brewery tap

bar, over-stuffed Chesterfield lounges and

and breweries to offer this style of beer?

in Woodend always has a cask beer available,

cosy book-lined snugs hit the mark stylishly

The answer is, probably, maybe. In England,

especially the dangerously drinkable ESB

and convincingly.

traditional cask beer has its work cut out

or, if you’re lucky, the Temptress Chocolate

to keep its place against the easy surge of

Porter. Ashur Hall at Stomping Ground is

kegged beer from the many new breweries.

a recent advocate and does a wonderful

As an experienced cellar manager, having an English pub without the real cask ale was

42 www.beerandbrewer.com

the world’s

greatest local & imported ingredients

Simply the BEST. Welcoming BESTMALZ® to the Cryer Malt family.

orders@cryermalt.com.au cryermalt.com

Keen to invest in professional development for your staff? Our qualifications are for people working in industry, who already have skills and experience in brewing. The Level 5 NZ Certificate in Brewing focuses on operational and technical brewing capabilities plus continuous improvement and quality assurance. The Level 6 NZ Diploma in Brewing focuses on advanced operational and technical brewing capabilities plus professional, ethical and business practices within brewing. Full fee scholarships can be applied for. To find out more contact Raewyn Paviour on 021735856 or email info@capablenz.co.nz visit www.capable.nz email info@capablenz.co.nz phone 021 735 856

Summer 2019 43

CASK ALE

Producing cask beer • Clean and sanitise your cask • Hammer home a keystone into the bottom hole

Empty casks at Hawkshead Brewery Tapping a firkin

• Fill cask straight from the fermenter at the end of ferment to just below the top hole • Add about 100g of sugar or 140g of dried malt extract into the cask • Add your chosen hop or flavouring, 1-2g/L is plenty • Hammer home a shive into the top of the keg, your cask is now sealed • Leave for one to two weeks somewhere cool to condition and settle

Releasing carbonation with a soft spile.

job, always trying to have a couple of cask options available. Stomping Ground do occasionally spread some cask love around the local area, but it’s a challenge to find people that have the experience to handle and serve the beer properly. For those around the Margaret River and Perth area, look out for more Beerfarm casks available. A recent delivery of proper English casks adding to their fleet should see them able to meet an increasing interest in the beer serving style

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM CASK BEER All the history and apparent complexity comes to naught if the drinking experience just isn’t there so here’s what you should expect from a well-made cask beer. The beer should be well poured giving a totally smooth and creamy head, preferably in a straight-sided pint. If properly conditioned (carbonated) it should have a cascading carbonation just like you see on Guinness. The beer should be smooth and creamy when drunk but have a pleasant delicate ‘brightness’ on the tongue. There should also be great, fresh hop aromas from the hops added to the cask and there should be oodles of foam lacing down the glass. And remember to follow the Yorkshire adage – let it settle before you fettle! Or wait for the beer to clear before you drink it. If you can, of course.

44 www.beerandbrewer.com

EAST COAST STEAM

Australian made Boilers helping make Aussie made beer • East Coast Steam has been the Brewing, Balter, Green Beacon, number one boiler manufacturer for Black Hops, Brew Dog, Ten Toes, over 30 years in Australia, building Stone & Wood and Grifter. all their vessels in their Brisbane • We can deliver assistance with the based workshop. whole steam system, providing the • Our services range from installation boiler to brewing vessel marry up. and repairs to sales of equipment • East Coast system boilers ensure and parts. even heat distribution and smooth • The vessel range starts with vertical temperature control for a highwater tube boilers from 60Kw to quality end product. 1250Kw through to large water tube • Vertical boilers up to 500Kw require boilers from 1500Kw to 10000Kw. no boiler tickets and are • East Coast Steam easy to operate and supplies boilers maintain, meeting to breweries all Australian on all scales, standards and including coming with Eagle Bay a 5 year Brewing, warranty on Colonial, the pressure Burleigh vessel.

Feel free to contact us or visit our website Phone: 07 3271 3688 www.eastcoaststeam.com

CONTRACT AND GYPSY BREWING

A pause for a beer at Edge Brewing

Brewing with friends

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BREWERIES WITHOUT ENOUGH BREWING CAPACITY OR EQUIPMENT TO BREW AND THOSE WITH MORE CAPACITY THAN DEMAND HAS MADE FOR A LARGELY UNDISCUSSED SYMBIOTIC ECOSYSTEM THAT CHARLIE WHITTING EXPLORES.

ust as drinking beer is an activity

up a gear from one-off limited releases to

BREWING SOMEONE ELSE’S BEER

best enjoyed communally, so too

functioning, long-term business models

In order for gypsy brewers to brew their beer,

is brewing beer. The craft scene

for both parties. As we have discussed in

there need to be breweries with the capacity

has seen plenty of collaboration

previous issues, the cost and logistics of

to accommodate them. Handily, there

between brewers regardless of

setting up or growing one’s brewery can be

are plenty of brewers out there that have

size and location.

out of reach for many aspiring craft brewers.

specifically enlarged their own businesses

What does one do when one’s ambitions

with contracting in mind and plenty of others

cannot be realised in cold steel fermenters

that have expanded beyond their immediate

is one of the most open industries out there,

in a warehouse with newly concreted floors?

demand. Growing a brewery is an expensive

with all participants keen to work and learn

One asks to use someone else’s equipment.

enterprise, so while you wait for demand for

together. We couldn’t come close to counting

For a price of course.

your own beer to grow, there’s no need for

It can be easy to forget (although

it is important not to) that craft brewing

the number of beers that have been brewed

This is the core concept behind contract

the equipment to stand idle if you could be

collaboratively between breweries – as they

and gypsy brewing, the main difference

share expertise, ingredients and equipment to

between the two simply being that contract

create something unique and special.

brewing tends to be a long-term agreement

Geelong for 30 years and has always dedicated

between two breweries, while gypsy brewers

part of its capacity to contract.

In the world of contract and gypsy brewing, however, this process is shifted

46 www.beerandbrewer.com

move nomadically from brewery to brewery.

brewing someone else’s beer instead. Southern Bay Brewery has been brewing in

“We are a relatively large brewery so one of

CoConspirators are defined by their gypsy approach

Hairyman Brewery relies on contract brewing

the key advantages about contract brewing

but we are always present for any brewing

is maintaining volume through the business

to ensure maximum efficiencies and

and it is very rewarding delivering a product

quality control.”

that exceeds customers’ expectations,” says

That nicely brings up the question of

Peter Clark, sales manager at Southern Bay

control – as a contract brewer, are you

Brewery. “The only challenge can be around

happy to let someone have the run of your

forward planning to ensure we do not exceed

brewery? Conversely, as a gypsy brewer,

capacity, especially in peak periods. We have

would you be happy to entrust the brewing

a very experienced brew team and once we

of your recipes into the hands of someone

receive a recipe, we can brew nearly any type

else? It is important for both parties to try

of product to meet the set specifications.

out the recipes a few times before beginning

Furthermore we can work with clients to

in earnest, since every brewhouse has its

help establish a recipe and encourage them

own quirks and foibles that can affect the

to be part of the brewing process.”

finished product. Cordial relationships

There are certainly plenty of questions

between brewers are essential in these

that need to be asked before one decides to

matters, but the seriousness of what’s at

get into contract brewing. From a logistical

stake must also not be forgotten.

perspective, a contract brewery will

“Every brewer is proud and protective

now need to be balancing the demands,

of their recipe, so the biggest challenge

priorities and brewing timetables or more

is earning the trust of the brewer that

than one brewer, meaning that your set-up

we can brew their beer to meet their

needs to be incredibly accurate.

expectations,” explains Jason Lees, head

“Managing expectation is especially

of sales at Tribe Breweries in Goulburn.

poignant for the initial period of

“Once we have earned the trust of the

transitioning to a commercial scale,”

brewer, there are often some subtle

explains Andy Orrell, head brewer and owner

differences between one brewhouse to the

of Hairyman, which aims for approximately

next. Regular and open dialogue between

50% of the beer it brews to be under contract.

our brewers and our partner brewer

“The transition needs to be commercially

ensures any necessary tweaks to recipe or

viable for both parties to ensure a beer or

process are agreed. We are happy to have

beverage is delivered to market that has

discussions and partner with any brewer

quality and flavoursome characteristics. We

who can meet some basic requirements

encourage active participation throughout a

including minimum volume run sizes,

contract brew day, some contractors/gyspies

format and packaging specifications, and

are more hands-on or involved than others,

alignment around required timelines.”

Summer 2019 47

CONTRACT AND GYPSY BREWING

BECOMING A GYPSY The principal reason for getting into brewing via the gypsy method is, of course, cost. Brewing equipment is expensive, as are ground rent, electrical bills and everything else that goes into building a brewery from scratch. Just as there are plenty of breweries who take advantage of mobile canning companies to package their beers long before they have the capital to purchase a canning line of their own, this model works especially well for just starting out.

Reddot Brewhouse contract brews for a multitude of gypsy brewers

“Australia has a lot of brewers who use such arrangement as trial balloon for their dream beer business to build up brand names, buy time to find partners and to earn enough money before launching

Why be a gypsy brewer?

their own breweries,” says Ernest Ng, director and head brewer at Reddot Brewhouse, which dedicates 40% of its present capacity to contract brewing. “Such an arrangement allows the potential contract brewers to have the advantage to source for the best equipped breweries to contract brew their beers, as good equipment plays a big part in producing quality beers, microbial stability and good shelf life.” However, while gypsy brewing has its advantages in terms of the cost of making the beer, another cost can come in the challenges of actually selling it. Without a

Edge Brewing: “One of the reasons for us to gypsy brew is rather than produce the beer in one location and export to the world, it’s much better for the environment, cost and consumer getting fresher beer if we export the brewer instead of the product. In that way, we get to travel and brew a lot of batches overseas for their local market. Often, we will do a repeat batch of the beer when back home for the Australian consumers.” CoConspirators: “The normal circumstances for getting into gypsy brewing would be to get into the craft beer market without the expense of purchasing a brewery to start with. This was our circumstances at the time. We were not financially able to start a business with a location to start with.”

base of their own, gypsy brewers cannot take advantage of the sales opportunity inherent in the brewpub model – a model that has proved so successful that many brewers are building new ones rather than increasing capacity at their original sites. Additionally, once a contract is in place, it is up to the gypsy brewer to sell what has been brewed and what is yet to be brewed. There is far less flexibility in place. On top of that, the search for ‘authentic’ products can count against some gypsy brewers who might lack the physical connection to local communities that bricks-and-mortar breweries enjoy. Swell Beer in South Australia’s McLaren Vale used gypsy brewing to get itself off the ground, but has since moved into premises. “I feel there is and will be a bit of a stigma against gypsy brewers, albeit unspoken in the industry,” says Dan Wright, founder of Swell Beer. “The real craft beer drinkers also feel this way but the majority of craft beer drinkers not so much. I feel they just like the beer and aren’t so into where it is made. As the competition increases and space on shelves decrease, the breweries that have their own venue and retail space will have a better business and more chance of success. Hence, why we have recently built a large tap house in McLaren Vale and have a brewery on its way to be commissioned in October 2019. Just this alone has doubled our sales in four months.” However, the lack of roots can also work to a brewery’s advantage. Wrong Side Brewing in Queensland has gone the other way, selling up its

48 www.beerandbrewer.com

Dan Wright from Swell Beer

Summer 2019â&#x20AC;&#x192; 49

CONTRACT AND GYPSY BREWING

Where do gypsy brewers brew? Tribe’s new brewery in Goulburn

brewery and venue to go full gypsy instead. Sacrificing their original home brewery in Mansfield, Victoria, to instead move from brewery to brewery might have torn up local roots, but strong local support for the brand still remains. Gypsy brewing has also meant that Wrong Side can always brew beer closer to the places selling it and learn from the wide array of

CoConspirators: “First brew was with The Public Brewery. We then worked with Dainton Family Brewery and Wolf of the Willows. We worked with Craft and Co for festival beers and special one-time beers. We have also used Holgate in past. We are now using Bodriggy Brewing Co in Abbotsford and still continue to use Dainton Family Brewery for The Matriarch NEIPA. We brewed with these venues as we established a relationship and they helped us develop our brand.” Edge Brewing: “Our Australian-produced beers we brew at Burnley’s production site in Dandenong, except for our barrel aged beers, which we we brew at Red Duck in Ballarat. Overseas, we have brewed with Beer Here and Amager Bryghus in Denmark, Omnipollo in Sweden, &Brewery in Andorra, Cerveza Granizo in Chile, Stillwater in USA, Barbarian in Peru, Invercargill in NZ, etc.”

brewing systems on which they work. Southern Bay Brewery is another prominent contract brewer

“We’re a bit different here as we are not starting out as gypsies – we’ve progressed into it. Doing things backwards is the Wrong Side way,” says Bree Rayfield, ‘hergozin of hops’ at Wrong Side Brewing. “At present Wrong Side is exploiting gypsy brewing for the variable brewhouse and packaging options out there and to brew locally to our established markets – freight the brewer around the country rather than the beer. At some point we may well put down roots again, but even then, I’d like to keep gypsy brewing at some level. I really enjoy getting out there, playing with new toys and hanging with the cool kids. If life is all about the relationships you build (and I believe it is) then it’s the gypsy life for me.” The craft brewing industry in Australia is in rude health, with over 600 breweries registered in the country and new ones opening almost every week. In terms of size, scope and output, it is as varied as any other country’s brewing scene. And while there are aspiring brewers looking for a short-term, low-cost option and while there are brewers with equipment they’re willing to hire out, then the relationship between gypsy and contract brewers shows little sign of flagging. “I believe the future is strong within this space and we see the continued growth of the craft beer category,” says Clark.

50 www.beerandbrewer.com

Inspecting Hairyman’s latest batch

Your base for contract brewing.

BREWERY INSURANCE SPECIALISTS

Medium scale contract & gypsy Guaranteed brewing slots

b r you

We are always happy to discuss your needs. Please call us or visit a t our website for H o your more information.

Free quoting

Recipe development

Preservative free naturally brewed

aft

Hol

Various brew size options

Supports mobile canning & bottling

- hand er

www.hairyman.com.au Unit 10, 12-14 Northumberland Rd,

Caringbah NSW 2229 Tel 02 9525 4050

Midland. INSURANCE BROKERS

1300 306 571 midlandinsurance.com.au brewery@midlandinsurance.com.au

NEW SPARK 2020 BREWERY RANGE Beer and Brewer Mag_87x119_NewBranding_DecemberIssue_06.11.19.indd 9

8/11/2019 9:19:26 AM

The best just got more affordable

Compact range for pubs and customised brewery range for large operations Easy to use - rapid delivery - easy installation - local support

We make brewing quality beer easy: -

Recipe design & Training Brewing services Launch marketing Finance Available

Join the Brew-On-Site Revolution sparkbrew.com

sales@sparkbrew.com

Summer 2019â&#x20AC;&#x192; 51

1. BentSpoke Crankshaft

2. Feral Brewing Biggie Juice

The component of a bicycle that converts the reciprocating motion from the rider’s legs into rotational motion to power the rear wheel. BentSpoke’s Crankshaft converts the oil content from the hops into amazing fruity, piney and floral aromas and flavours. Citra, Centennial, Ekuanot and Simcoe hop varieties from the Pacific northwest USA combine to make an IPA that bursts with hop aroma, and delivers solid bitterness and a nice backbone of malt for balance.

FOOD MATCH: Kangaroo burger or buffalo wings

Teeming with punchy tropical hop aromas full of apricot, peaches and passionfruit. Day dreamin’ in a cloud of haze, this New England IPA is low in bitterness and intentionally cloudy contributing to a creamy mouth feel.

FOOD MATCH: Grill some Aussie sausages on the BBQ or pair with a strong cheese ABV: 6% RRP: $22 per four-pack Feralbrewing.com.au

3. Young Henrys IPA With a new hop regime and brand spankin’ new look, our IPA is dangerously sessionable with galaxy-forward passionfruit and citrus zest on the nose, grassiness on the palate and a nicely balanced malt character. This 6% Oz/American style IPA has a slight hazy golden hue, balanced bitterness and a refreshingly dry finish.

4. Atomic Beer Project IPA A classic West Coast IPA, bursting with juicy citrus and pine aromas. Hop-forward flavour at its best, with balanced malt character and crisp bitterness for great drinkability. Our IPA features iconic US hops Simcoe, Columbus and Amarillo. A fitting tribute to the beers that started the great craft beer revolution. And a 2019 AIBA Gold Medal winner.

FOOD MATCH: Jerk chicken straight from the barbie.

FOOD MATCH:

ABV: 6.0% RRP: $80 per case of 24 Younghenrys.com.au

ABV: 5.6% RRP: $24.99 per six-pack Atomic.beer

Spicy Asian dishes

ABV: 5.8% RRP: $20.99 per four-pack Bentspokebrewing.com.au

Hops in the

Sunshine!

52 www.beerandbrewer.com

IPA PROMOTION

5. Bridge Road Bling IPA Bling IPA bears closest resemblance to a rich, maltforward British IPA – not afraid of a big hop addition and darker than a lot of Australian beers in this category. As with all Bridge Road Beers, it has balance in mind, rather than melting your face with hop bitterness, Bling sees the sweetness of malt and the piney tropical hop bitterness, working together effortlessly.

FOOD MATCH: Big, spicy, oily dishes ABV: 5.8% RRP: $19 per four-pack Bridgeroadbrewers.com.au

6. Tinnies Session IPA This premium session IPA is full flavoured like a full strength IPA but at only 3.5%. It’s bursting with flavours of pine, citrus and hops with a low IBU that tastes far more bitter [like 60 IBU].

FOOD MATCH: Pizza or pasta ABV: 3.5% RRP: $25.99 per six-pack Coles.com.au

7. Prancing Pony The Piper It’s the hoppiest beer the Ponies have ever made and it’s so super smooth that we pretty much drank the first keg ‘amongst ourselves’. Gorgeously gold in colour with steady carbonation. Aroma and flavour full of fresh hops, strong on grapefruit, pineapple, apricot and plum, pineapple. Also shining through are some dank pine notes from the dry hop. Very refreshing and unbelievably moreish that hides the alcohol dangerously well. Full bodied with a dry finish and lingering bitterness on the back palate.

8. Feral Brewing War Hog This Full Metal Jacket of an American IPA rains a resinous hellfire of passionfruit aromas, a bold bitterness and clustered hops upon the senses. We love the taste of IPA in the morning.

FOOD MATCH: Spicy Indian food and American BBQ ABV: 7.5% RRP: $25 per four-pack Feralbrewing.com.au

FOOD MATCH: Grilled or deep-fried chicken wings, pizzas and burgers. ABV: 7.2% RRP: $22-23 per four-pack Prancingponybrewery.com.au

SHOT AT THE LIGHT BRIGADE HOTEL, PADDINGTON.

Summer 2019 53

1. Kaiju! Metamorphosis Don’t be fooled by the nefarious aroma. Quite a hefty malt profile, perfectly balanced by refreshing hop bitterness. After being crushed to goo at the hands of the Mechaguaranadon, this mysterious beastie plots future devastation from within the hop cocoon.

2. Jetty Road IPA Inspired by our love of all things summer and all things coastal, this is your sunset in a can. Presenting golden honey in colour, punchy US hops of El Dorado and Ekuanot offer notes of tropical fruits, melon and guava.

FOOD MATCH: Fish ‘n’ chips on the beach

FOOD MATCH: Cauliflower steak, chipotle aioli with a squeeze of lemon ABV: 6.7% RRP: $22 per four-pack Kaijubeer.com.au

ABV: 5.8% RRP: $22.99 per four-pack Jettyroad.com.au

3. Burleigh Fig Jam IPA The incredible balance of Fig Jam belies its 7% ABV and 70 IBU statistics. The fine balance of malt, hops and alcohol is defly managed through five separate hopping phases, delivering the classic IPA characters of floral hop aromas and a distinctive hop character on the finish. All the ‘punch’ of an IPA, carefully delivered with Burleigh Brewing’s trademark balance.

FOOD MATCH: Succulent meat and stinky cheeses ABV: 7% RRP: $23 per four-pack Burleighbrewing.com.au

e e p Yip ! A IP 54 www.beerandbrewer.com

4. Stockade 8 Bit IPA This West Coast-style IPA offers a full-tilt hoppy hit. 8bit is a throwback that’s easy to throw back. It delivers a big bitterness with a high hop flavour, balanced by a sweet malt character. This brew presents citrus and floral aromas on the nose and is a thirst refresher all year round.

FOOD MATCH: Burgers, battered fish, crispy skin chicken or pork, spicy food ABV: 6.5% RRP: $22.99 per four-pack Stockadebrewco.com.au

IPA PROMOTION

5. Mornington Peninsula Squid Rising Created from the depths of a brewer’s complex mind comes Squid Rising. A stronger, meaner New England IPA. It’s fat, it’s cloudy, it’s mouthwateringly juicy and shatteringly hoppy!

FOOD MATCH: Cheese, fajitas, burritos ABV: 6.% RRP: $26 per four-pack Mpbrew.com.au

6. Hop Nation Dreamfeed Hazy IPA

6. Fixation Obsession Session IPA

Hazy beers, full of flavour and depth, lend themselves surprisingly well to foods that need cutting through - so Dreamfeed will pair well with charcuterie and sausages cutting nicely through the meat. Similarly, try it with crispy fried calamari, or fish and chips. The citrus notes in Dreamfeed lend themselves well to fresh flavours too, so try chargrilled asparagus on the barbecue with a squeeze of lemon. It’s your barbecue’s best friend beer!

Obsession is Fixation’s session IPA that packs a flavoursome, hoppy punch but comes in at a very balanced 4.6% ABV. Beautiful Pale and Munich malts provide a nice golden base from which the dominant piney and fruity aromas just sing. Obsession is the perfect balance of flavour, and drinkability. The hop aroma hit is instantaneous and the taste is clean, resinous and fruit-driven. This is a refreshing beer loaded with the best Simcoe, Galaxy and Mosaic hops.

FOOD MATCH:

Spring greens, charcuterie or seafood

Cal/Mex cuisine

ABV: 6.5% RRP: $8 per can Hopnation.com.au

ABV: 4.6% RRP: $24.99 per six-pack Fixationbrewing.com.au

8. Six Strings Aloha NEIPA This juicy NEIPA oozes juicy tropical flavour and aroma thanks to the passionfruit, orange and guava juice, or POG as it’s known in Hawaii, and the copious amounts of hops. While it may look more like a juice than a beer, the hops add a bitterness that balances out the sweetness leaving no question that this is a beer and one that you will want to keep on sipping.

FOOD MATCH: Big juicy burger with pineapple and the works ABV: 7.5% RRP: $35.90 per four-pack Sixstringsbrewing.com.au

SHOT AT THE LIGHT BRIGADE HOTEL, PADDINGTON.

Summer 2019 55

REGIONAL BREWERIES

Let the Sunshine in! THE SUNSHINE COAST HAS BEEN AT THE FOREFRONT OF QUEENSLAND’S CRAFT BEER BOOM, WITH 14 BREWERIES APPEARING IN THE AREA WHERE ONCE THERE WERE NONE. IN OUR FINAL REGIONAL BREWERIES SERIES OF 2019, BEER & BREWER FINDS OUT WHAT LIFE IS LIKE ON THE SUNSHINE COAST.

he past few years have seen

Our final Regional Brewery Series of 2019

Glass House Brewery with Paul Sanders nine

Queensland accelerate its

visits the Sunshine Coast and its fantastic

months ago. “The growth in breweries across

craft beer obsession as

collection of brewpubs and breweries. Craft

SE Queensland has meant major suppliers

it seeks to catch up with

beer might not have taken over here as early

have set up local distribution, which has

its fellows further south

as in Melbourne or Sydney, but the Sunshine

made access to raw materials, packaging and

and west. Consequently,

Coast has nevertheless been a longstanding

other supplies quite straightforward.”

Queensland has seen greater growth in new

supporter of independent brewing and is now

breweries than other states and its brewers

reaping the benefits.

have fought for and are now receiving

“On a per capita basis we probably

LIFE’S A BEACH Australia’s global reputation is largely

support from the state government. While

have more breweries on the coast than in

focused around its beaches and it’s no

Brisbane has, as state capital, clearly been

Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney – which is

surprise to anyone that the Sunshine Coast

one of the principal drivers of craft beer in

a challenge but also an opportunity to really

has a strong beach culture. As such, one

Queensland, a trip further up the coast also

drive education and market growth around

might expect that the tastes in beer here

provides the regional brewery enthusiast with

the benefits of local, independent beer,”

would err towards the lighter – both in colour

a cornucopia of great brews to try.

says Simon Michelangeli, who founded

and in ABV. Heads of Noosa Brewery, for

56 www.beerandbrewer.com

REGIONAL BREWERIES

The view from Moffat Brewing Glass House brewer Simon Michelangeli

Brewing in the sun As you would expect, the Sunshine Coast gets a fair amount of solar rays and breweries like Your Mates Brewing intend to make the most of this as they attempt to reduce their carbon footprint and look after their home on the beach. “We would love to see Your Mates grow with the Sunshine Coast in a sustainable way,” says Christen McGarry, production manager and director of Your Mates Brewing. “We want to make sure our impact on the environment is as low as possible; we are about to throw some solar panels on our roof and have plans for a community garden out the front of the brewery. We are also actively engaged in going out and cleaning our local beaches so they can be enjoyed in pristine condition for years to come.”

Your Mates Brewing are keen to reduce their carbon footprint

Summer 2019 57

example, prides itself on its range of award-winning lagers. “It’s been a long journey, going on

but it is still subject to similar logistical

the dream,” says Craig Masterton,

challenges when it comes to getting

who founded Heads of Noosa with

equipment, ingredients and staff

his brother Lance this year. “What

members to the brewery, and then

drew us to the industry was the great

getting the finished product out beyond

culture that came with it, its exciting

the immediate local area. However,

growth and of course a love of beer.

given the considerable population of

We are particularly passionate about

the Sunshine Coast and the changing

brewing great lagers and felt there was

attitudes towards craft beer, many

an opportunity to do something a little

breweries aren’t yet looking too far

unique in the indie beer scene.”

afield in any case while they also get

popular style here, it is by no means

“BREWERIES SHOULD BE SOCIAL CLUBS, GATHERING POINTS AND COMMUNITY CENTRES. A PLACE WHERE EVERYONE IS WELCOME. FAMILIES, DOGS, TOURISTS AND DIE-HARD LOCALS”

“Logistics are always going to be a challenge in regional areas, the further

as much experimentation with styles

you move your beer the more it costs,”

as the rest of the country. Breweries

says McGarry. “Luckily, we are still only

like Land & Sea, which opened in 2018,

barely moving beer any further than

are keen to promote their sessionable,

our backyard. As we grow, so does the

low ABV and low carb beers, but they

thirst of our Sunny Coast beer drinkers.

are also exploring opportunities with

We certainly thought that by this stage

local distilleries and barrel-aged beers.

we would be sending our capacity

“For the next few months we’re

further afield, it’s a great problem

looking to lock in our core range

to have! The benefit is definitely the

and grow our wholesale arm of the

opportunity to nurture and grow beer

business,” says Tim Crabtree, owner of

culture in areas that haven’t been

Land & Sea Brewing. “With the launch

saturated yet, a very important job

of Fortune Distilling Co. under the

which we take very seriously.”

same roof we are looking to exploit the

One of the major aspects that we’ve

barrels we now have in-house making

seen throughout our Regional tours has

clean, barrel aged strong beers.”

been the bond that is created between

Sunshine Coast Brewing has existed here for over two decades, although in its early days, ginger beer was the only thing it made. It wasn’t until 2006, when Greg and Brigid Curran took over, that the brewery began to get involved in ‘New World’ beers. Since then, many more enterprising brewers have followed suit and made the Sunshine Coast a real craft beer haven.

58 www.beerandbrewer.com

enjoy the life on the beach.

the only one favoured, and there is just

Been here a while

“When we refreshed the Sunshine Coast Brewery brand, the popularity of craft beer was growing in Melbourne and Sydney, but was a relatively new concept in the Sunshine State,” say the Currans. “It was a slow and hesitant process of persuading loyal Queensland XXXX drinkers to dip their toe into the craft beer market, but as our beers such as the full-flavoured mid strength beer Summer Ale were recognised on the Australian and international stage, popularity for the new world of craft beer began to mature on the Coast. Now, of the almost 90 independent craft breweries across Queensland, there would be over a dozen that now also call the Sunshine Coast home.”

or Margaret River in Western Australia,

a decade since we decided to chase

However, while that is certainly a

Grabbing a beer at Moffat Brewing

The Sunshine Coast isn’t as far from a major city as Victoria’s High Country

Heads of Noosa start another batch

REGIONAL BREWERIES

Bonsai Brewhouse 28 King St, Cooran QLD 4569 Facebook.com/BonsaiBrewhouse-1126739564037705/ Brouhaha Brewery 6/39 Coral St, Maleny QLD 4552 Brouhahabrewery.com.au Copperhead Restaurant Brewery 52 Kauri St, Cooroy QLD 4563 Copperheadbrewery.com.au Glass House Brewery 8/330 Mons Rd, Forest Glen QLD 4556 Glasshousebrewery.com.au Heads of Noosa Brewing Co 85 Rene St, Noosaville QLD 4566 Headsofnoosa.com.au

Heads of Noosa brewhouse

brewery and community. And even in a tourist

Greg and Brigid Curran, co-owners of Sunshine

hotspot like the Sunshine Coast, that desire to

Coast Brewery. “We also participate in a number

get involved in and support local endeavours is

of Sunshine Coast Business Groups focused on

strong among the breweries in and around the

supporting local producers. We are also regularly

coast, whether it’s sponsoring local organisations,

called upon to provide sponsorship to various

hosting events or simply concentrating on the

community groups.”

hospitality aspect of their brewpubs. “Breweries should be social clubs, gathering

“There is a tight-knit community of brewers on the coast, and the camaraderie and collaboration

points and community centres,” says Crabtree.

between us is one of the best things about the

“A place where the door is always open and

local industry,” says Michelangeli.

everyone is welcome. Families, dogs, tourists and die-hard locals can all sit together and have

WHAT’S NEXT?

a shared experience. We support our local footy

The regions of Australia beyond the state capitals

team and have done a charity beer to support

can often escape our attention, which has

#fightforthebight to keep big oil from drilling

been the partial reasoning behind our Regional

in the Great Australian Bight. We have a big

Brewery Series. But there are communities across

event space that we lend out to the community

the country that are calling out for quality and

for Permaculture talks, Wonder Women series

interesting beers from local suppliers. And in

promoting women in business, comedy nights

the Sunshine Coast, that desire has ensured that

and flea markets.”

many of the breweries here are already exploring

That community spirit has also grown considerably among the brewers themselves, not

growth and collaboration opportunities. “This has definitely shifted in recent years,

to mention other producers and suppliers from

there has been a longstanding stereotype that if

the Sunshine Coast. This collaborative effort has

you have ambition or want to chase a dream that

allowed the breweries to combine to advertise and

the only way to do it is to move to the city but we

showcase the region as a whole, creating an even

are certainly seeing a shift and it is really evident

stronger case for visitors.

in the local beer industry,” says McGarry.

“We are actively involved in Sunshine Coast’s

So ‘slip, slap, slop’ and get yourself up to the

Food & Agribusiness Network (FAN) and have

Sunshine Coast this summer and sample the

served as a major sponsor for several years,” say

region’s finest beers on the beach!

Imperial Hotel Eumundi 1 Etheridge St, Eumundi QLD 4562 Imperialhoteleumundi.com.au Land & Sea – Noosa Brewing Company 19 Venture Dr, Noosaville QLD 4566 Landandseabrewery.com Moffat Beach Brewing Co. 12 Seaview Terrace, Moffat Beach QLD 4551 Moffatbeachbrewingco.beer Sunshine Brewery 28 Fishermans Rd, Kuluin QLD 4558 Sunshinebrewery.com.au Sunshine Coast Brewery 5/13 Endeavour Dr, Kunda Park QLD 4556 Sunshinecoastbrewery.com Sunshine Coast Cider 1/4 Conara Rd, Kunda Park QLD 4556 Sunshinecoastcider.com.au 10 Toes Brewery 4/127A Sugar Rd, Alexandra Headland QLD 4572 10toes.beer Wild Rocket 142 Main St, Montville 4560, Australia Facebook.com/wildrocket Your Mates Brewing Co. 41 Technology Dr, Warana QLD 4575 Yourmatesbrewing.com

Summer 2019 59

HOMEBREWER

60 Ed’s Letter 61 Letters to the Editor 62 Q&A 64 Jake’s Brew Log 66 Coopers Masters of the Brewniverse 68 Hops Again! 72 Andrew Childs 74 Level Up

“THE IDEA IS TO GIVE THIS PERSON A LAUNCH PAD AND NATIONAL RECOGNITION FOR THEIR BREWING PROWESS.” – EMMA CRAGGS

Check out page 68 where we talk to Balter’s Scott Hargrave and Philter’s Sam Fuss about hops

Editor’s letter

Chris Thomas Homebrewer Editor chris@beerandbrewer.com

60 www.beerandbrewer.com

Summer time means summer beers. And for many of us, that means easier drinking lagers and refreshing ales. But lager doesn’t always have to be a straw-coloured, mainstream interpretation. Andrew Childs (Behemoth – NZ & Chur - Aus) turns up the hops on lager with a recipe for his Giraffe and a Half India Pale Lager – a crisp lager that is hopped like an IPA. We also take two looks at dark

lagers – first through the eyes of John Palmer with his ‘simple dark lager’ then through the eyes of our very own Jake Brandish who has a more in-depth look into the style that is schwarzbier. Without turning our back on ales completely, Coopers share a Pacific Ale recipe from their new Voyage Advanced Recipe Pack series. We continue our adventure into hops from last issue, this time from the perspective of two of

Australia’s finest users – Philter and Balter. Finally, to improve our brewing skillset, John Palmer inspires the frustrated brewer in all of us, while Jake Brandish looks at brewing software. Cheers and happy brewing! Chris chris@clubbrewing.com

Letters

WRITE IN FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN! TELL US WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND BY EMAILING CHRIS@BEERANDBREWER.COM OR THROUGH OUR SOCIAL CHANNELS FACEBOOK.COM/ BEERANDBREWER OR WWW.TWITTER.COM/BEERANDBREWER

DEAR CHRIS, Lately when people ask me about homebrewing I’ve found myself saying that I love it and hate it. I love pouring a beer that I’ve made myself and sharing it with friends and family. I love experimenting and trying to make new beers that I’ve never had before. I love the smell of grains mashing in hot water and watching yeast ferment. I love thinking about the next brew. But sometimes I hate it. The failed batches. The frustration at the hint of an off-flavour. The effort that goes into it when it doesn’t come off. The feeling like you’re always pushing to make the beer that reaches your hopes and expectations which might blow your mind, and yet you can’t quite get there. I’m always trying to learn and improve my methods so that I keep brewing better beers. But sometimes the beers you brew just don’t match the beers you intend. Do you have any wisdom for the frustrated brewer who can’t stop brewing because he loves it? Cheers, Tim Thanks Tim – check out Palmer’s Q&A to find some solutions to your frustrations!

This letter printed has won a Brew Demon Conical Fermenter Kit The Editor’s Choice Letter has won an Ss Brewing Technologies/ New Era Brewing 26.3 litre stainless fermenter. What sets the Brew Bucket apart are features such as stacking during ferment, the rotatable racking arm and ball valve spigot assembly. The BrewBucket’s conical bottom allows trub to settle nicely in a more concentrated space and has the effect of minimising the surface area of your beer that is in contact with the trub during ferment, which then minimises off flavours in your beer! RRP $269

HI CHRIS, Long-term homebrewer and subscriber to your fine magazine. Keep up the great educational reading. I’ve dabbled in kegs the past year but still keep coming back to my bottles. They simply give me more options - size, portability and less space in the fridge. The obvious down side of bottles is oxidisation with long-term storage - particularly with my hoppy beers. I’ve recently obtained a few glass swing-top bottles, which appear to keep the beer better for longer. Much better than the PET type bottles, which seem to allow oxygen into the bottle and spoil the hoppy brews.

So my question to you is, what are the real options to reduce or remove the oxygen when using bottles? I’m aware of the Blichmann Gun. Are there any other methods out there I could consider to keep my hoppy beers better for longer? Cheers, Pete M. Thanks Pete – as this requires a detailed response, we’ll follow it up in a future article. Cheers!

Summer 2019 61

Q&A

Q&A:

FOR THE LOVE OF BEER HOMEBREWING LEGEND, JOHN PALMER, THROWS AN ARM AROUND A DISENFRANCHISED HOMEBREWER AND OFFERS A FEW TIPS FOR BETTER BEER. QUESTION:

Lately when people ask me

and cons – it just makes you want to dump

JOHN’S TOP FIVE LIST FOR PREVENTING THE SLINGS AND ARROWS OF OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE

about home brewing I’ve found myself saying

the keg (except maybe one more pint) and

that I love it and hate it. I love pouring a beer

try that new recipe sometimes, doesn’t it?

that I’ve made myself and sharing it with

It may surprise you to know that I have had

friends and family. I love experimenting and

many failed batches over the years. Some

1 . Measure twice, cut once

trying to make new beers that I’ve never had

were bad due to off-flavours, while others

2. Keep it simple

before. I love the smell of grains mashing

were merely disappointing. Sometimes the

3. Think out loud

in hot water and watching yeast ferment.

fault was mine from failing to anticipate

4. Improve your work area

I love thinking about the next brew.

changes in the weather, sometimes the

5. Root cause analysis – five why’s

But sometimes I hate it. The failed batches.

fault was mine from not anticipating the

The frustration at the hint of an off-flavour.

consequences of changes in equipment, and

The effort that goes into it when it doesn’t

sometimes I made mistakes. The point is

most common bit of advice given to everyone,

come off. The feeling like you’re always

that a bad batch happens to everyone, it is

but it always bears repeating for exactly that

pushing to make the beer that reaches your

often your fault, and you just have to take it

reason. Everyone gets in a hurry and makes

hopes and expectations which might blow

as a learning experience.

mistakes. Was it 50 millilitres of acid or 5?

your mind, and yet you can’t quite get there. I’m always trying to learn and improve my

But the question is, how can these

1. “Measure twice, cut once.” This is the

Always double-check your recipe and your

mistakes and the associated agony be

weights and measures. Volume measurement

methods so that I keep brewing better beers.

prevented? Ah, that is the question.

error is the most common cause of problems

But sometimes the beers you brew just don’t

“Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to

in my experience.

match the beers you intend. Do you have any

suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous

wisdom for the frustrated brewer who can’t

fortune, or to take arms against a sea of

you are brewing for the fun of it, and getting

stop brewing because he loves it?

troubles, and by opposing end them?”

extravagant is half the fun when it comes

Hmmm…yeah, probably best to take a

to designing a recipe or tricking out your

proactive approach.

brewing rig. I once spent the better part of

ANSWER:

Ah, the zeal and zen of

homebrewing, the yin and yang, the pros

62 Home Brewer

2. “Keep it simple.” If you are like me,

a year and a bunch of money designing and building an automated Recirculating

The Recipe

Infusion Mash system that I could control from a homemade console. I had electrically-actuated valves that would switch wort flow from the pump to the different vessels. I designed the circuits and built the electronics myself (with the help of my electrical engineer wife). It was a beauty. And it mostly worked. What I hadn’t realized was that any grain or hops in the lines would clog the valves and prevent them from closing. My wort in the kettle got diluted with sparge water from the hot liquor tank as it was being pumped over from the mash tun. The message here is simpler equipment and simpler recipes can help ensure success. 3. “Think out loud.” Have you ever tried to explain how to do something to someone else, and in doing so, realise how incomplete or crazy it sounds? No? This is just me? Well, this happens to me all the time. I often find that the best way to learn something is to try and explain it to someone else. You can do this either verbally, i.e. thinking out loud, or you can make a checklist. The point is that creating an actual procedure to follow will help identify those small details which, when forgotten, can easily turn into mistakes. 4. “Improve your work area.” Oh my God, the number of times I have been

Simple Dark Lager – All Grain (BIAB) Expected Brew Figures OG: 1.055 FG: 1.014 ABV: 5.5% IBU: 25 Volume: 19 litres

Ingredients 3.5kg Munich (10L) malt 1kg Munich (20L) malt 500g Caramunich III (60L) malt 250g Carafa Special I (350L) malt

spinning around trying to find a clean, non-cluttered surface on which to lay a lid

35g German Tradition (6%AA)

or a stirring spoon, or to find something I could have sworn I put right there… A

30g German Hallertau (4%AA)

cluttered and unclean work area invites misfortune. It often leads to that harbinger of calamity, “Hold my beer…”. Seriously, clean up your brewing area before you

Method

start. Put tools away, wipe down and clean the counters, locate all your equipment

1. Bring 26 litres of water to 68°C and immerse the crushed grains (in a large nylon mesh bag) and mash (steep) for 60 minutes. Stir grain occasionally to make sure all the grain is wet. After the hour, the bag is lifted out of the mash tun and allowed to drain. The wort will be (should be) 23 litres of 1.046 gravity, which should boil down to 19 litres of 1.055 gravity to go into the fermentor. No sparging is required.

beforehand – get organised! The same goes for your fermentation area. I once attempted to carry a full glass carboy to my fermentation fridge only to see that I hadn’t cleared enough space. When I set the carboy down on the garage floor, I apparently set it down on a small but sharp pebble which proceeded to fracture said vessel and release the contents, much to my dismay. 5. “Root cause analysis and the five why’s”. If figuring out what went wrong was easy, there wouldn’t be expensive management seminars and employee training modules to teach you how it’s done. Probably. Be that as it may, digging down to the root cause of a disappointing batch is always worthwhile. The five why’s are a good tool to help you determine the root cause. It is a simple tool, you simply ask yourself Why five times in order to dig down to the root cause. For example:

2. Lift the grain bag out of the kettle and allow to drain. You should have 24 litres of 1.046 wort. 3. Bring to the boil and add the hops for the duration of the 60 minute boil.

a. My beer has diacetyl. Why? b. Diacetyl should be consumed by the yeast. They didn’t. Why?

4. Chill the wort to 15°C then transfer to your fermenter and pitch the yeast.

c. The beer was chilled too soon. Why? d. Earl is having a barbecue and asked me to bring beer. Why? e. Earl. Hopefully this intellectual exercise has helped relieve your guilt and anxiety over the occasional disappointing batch. Sometimes it helps to lower your expectations and realise that you have still made beer. Unfortunately, this has never worked for me – I always want my next batch to be better than the last. To be completely truthful, the two biggest improvements in my rate of success have been “Keep it simple” and “Improve your work area.” Your root cause may be different from mine. As you say, always learning and improving your methods is a good recipe for improving your success. I can’t offer much more advice than that, other than (as a much wiser man has repeatedly said), “Relax, don’t worry, have a homebrew.”

5. Allow the beer temperature to rise to 18°C for a diacetyl rest when the airlock bubbling begins to slow down (about day 3 of fermentation). 6. Let the beer rest at 18°C for at least a week after fermentation before bottling or kegging. 7. NB: Lagering (several weeks at near freezing) is not required, although chilling the beer after the rest, before kegging, will help clarification. 8. Do not chill to clarify if you are going to be bottle conditioning. If bottling, prime and carbonate first before chilling and serving.

THE RECOMMENDED WATER PROFILE OF THIS BEER IS: Recommended Water Profile (ppm)

Dark, Balanced Medium

Total Alk

SO4

75-100

10-20

75-125

100-150

50-100

Summer 2019 63

JAKE’S BREW LOG

Lager HOMEBREWER TECHNICAL EDITOR JAKE BRANDISH LOOKS AT LAGERS

LAGER – ONE OF THE MOST COMMON BEER STYLES

was produced, then stored in underground caves or dungeons, which provided excellent

you get your hands on your first homebrew

Lager is one of the world’s oldest and most

temperature stability. Usually a lager’s main

kit, the beer that usually comes with it is a

common beer styles. The Europeans, and

showcase is Pilsener malt. High in DMS

lager. A lager is a hard beer to brew for an

mostly Germany, are famous for their lagers

(dimethyl sulfide), this malt will present with

experienced brewer, let alone for a novice

and for very good reason. This very light

a high level of cooked corn, or sweet corn.

starting out. Brewing lager requires a great

coloured, bitter and sweet malty beer has

The precursor to DMS is a compound called

grasp on the brewing methods, such as

quenched the thirst of the world for hundreds

S-methylmethionine, which is produced

understanding the volatile compounds

of years. Brewing water has a lot to do with

during germination in the barley kernel, and

released from the wort during the kettle boil.

a lager and the soft water of Germany and

more so in pilsener malt due to the barley

surrounding countries have helped make

strain and the malting process. Over the

VDK (vicinal dikeytones – more often known

lagers so appreciated around the world.

years many different versions of lagers were

as diacetyl), and can be removed in the steam

Another reason why Fosters is a famous and

brewed, ranging from pilseners and German

from the rolling boil. In fact, one of the very

multi-award winning lager around the world

lagers to darker versions such as Munich

reasons for a rolling boil is to remove these

is that Melbourne’s soft water lends itself to

dunkels and bocks, then onto even darker

unwanted compounds, so don’t fully cover your

the style. Light straw coloured, fizzy barley

lagers such as schwarzbiers and rauchbiers.

kettle – let it breathe and let the condensation

pop? I think not!! Read on.

It has always perplexed me that when

These volatiles include such compounds as

drip outside of the kettle not back into it!

MORE THAN JUST A BEER STYLE

Another ritual brewers do is the diacetyl

HISTORY OF LAGER

As lager was the main brew of Germany and

rest. This step, in the late stages of

Typically a lager is a light straw- to gold-

surrounding countries in the Middle Ages to

fermentation, is used to bring the yeast

coloured beer with medium to high bitterness

modern times, we can thank lager for quite a

back into active fermentation by increasing

thanks to the Noble German hops. Lagers

few different rituals and habits. Whilst lagering,

ferment temperature by a few degrees to

date back from the Middle Ages, and the term

the caves and dungeons were often packed with

clean up the diacetyl and other undesirable

‘lager’ is a German term for ‘cold storage’.

ice. Trees were often planted to provide shade

compounds. If you are not brewing a clean

In the days before refrigeration, these lagers

and help keep the temperature low to slow

lager (i.e. a hoppy lager, or one that includes

were brewed months, sometimes years before

down the ice from melting. This has been linked

dextrins), you may not need this step.

drinking to be enjoyed at their peak. Beer

to what we know as the beer garden.

64 Home Brewer

The step mash (holding the mash at a

The Recipe Oztritzer Schwarzbier: All-grain Expected Brew Figures OG: 1.049 FG: 1.010 ABV: 5.1% IBU: 29 Volume: 20 litres

Ingredients 3.1kg Pilsener malt 1.25kg Munich malt 350g Carafa II malt 40g Tettnang hop pellets 35g Hallertauer hop pellets WLP830 or Wyeast 2247 liquid yeast or two packs SafLager S-23 dry yeast.

Method 1. Adjust brewing liquor to a ‘lager’ profile if possible. 2. Mash all grains at 66°C for 60 minutes. lower temperature, then raising and holding to a higher temperature, and so on) was also used in olden days to extract the most out of the under-modified malts of old. Nowadays the malts are highly modified and the step mash is not required.

BREWDAY Today we are brewing a Sshwarzbier. Dark beer meets easy drinking lager – winning!! I love dark beers and this is an often overlooked lager and would have be my favourite lager (next to a Munich dunkel). It offers deep roasty characteristics along with the sweet and bitter elements of a lager. Once, on a trip through Europe I was so happy to find that the beer on offer at our Austrian hotel lounge was Köstritzer – undoubtedly one of the world’s best examples of schwarzbier. Water manipulation is very important with this style, so if you can get your water close to that used for a lager or pilsener then do so. If you can’t, then just crack on any way. Fermentation temperature control is essential if you want to brew a good lager, with a nice low ferment termperature of around 10°C. Once brewed store the kegged beer in the fridge for a month or so, and if

3. Sparge, then transfer to kettle and bring to boil. Adjust sparge liquor to pH 5.4 if possible. 4. Once boiling add 35g Hallertauer hops for a 90 minute boil. 5. With 20 minutes left on the boil, add 20g Tettnang hops. 6. At flame out add the remaining 20g Tettnang hops. 7. Transfer to the fermenter and cool to 10°C, then pitch yeast. 8. Ferment at 10°C until fermentation starts to slow down then increase temperature by 1°C per day over 4 or 5 days. Once fermentation stops increase to 18°C for 24 hours.

Oztritzer Schwarzbier: Extract with specialty grains Expected brew figures OG: 1.049 FG: 1.010 ABV: 5.1% IBU: 29 Volume: 20 litres

Ingredients 2.75kg light dry malt extract 1kg Munich malt extract 350g Carafa II malt 40g Tettnang hop pellets 35g Hallertauer hop pellets WLP830 or Wyeast 2247 liquid yeast or two packs SafLager S-23 dry yeast

Method 1. Mini-mash: steep cracked grains in 2 litres of 67°C water for 60 mins, then drain. 2. Slowly dissolve half of the extract in 8 litres of water along with the 2 litres of wort from mini mash and bring to the boil. 3. Once boiling add 35g Hallertauer hops for a 90 minute boil. 4. With 20 minutes left on the boil, add 20g Tettnang hops. 5. At flame out add the remaining 20g Tettnang hops. 6. Stir in rest of extract at flame out. Make sure all lumps are dissolved. 7. Transfer to the fermenter and top up with fresh, very cold water to 20 litres.

9. Once FG stabilises, keg or bottle then lager for 4 weeks minimum.

8. When wort is stable at 10°C, pitch yeast.

Prost!

9. Ferment at 10°C until fermentation starts to slow down, then increase temperature by 1°C per day over 4 or 5 days. Once fermentation stops increase to 18°C for 24 hours. 10. Once FG stabilises, keg or bottle then lager for 4 weeks minimum. Prost!

bottling, keep them in a cool as possible place for a few months.

Summer 2019 65

FEATURE

Master of the Brewniverse THE STATE FINALISTS IN THE COOPERS RUN NATIONAL HOMEBREW COMPETITION TO FIND AUSTRALIA’S BEST DIY BREWER HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED. CHRIS THOMAS LOOKS BACK ON THE COMPETITION AND HEARS ABOUT SOME OF THE INSPIRED ENTRIES SO FAR.

The State Finalists SA/NT Alex Molnar – Liquid Schwartz Jesse Hale – Popcorn IPA Sam Reynolds – Grapefruit IPA Simon Parking – The Backyarder

WA Chris Woods – Fruit of the Woods Matthew Millhouse – Millhouse Thrillhouse IPA Paul Hutton – Hutto’s House Kolsch

magine being crowned the champion

THE CONCEPT

brewer in the country. We know that

“A national homebrewing competition is

this award already exists in the form

something we have wanted to bring to our

of the Australian National Homebrew

brewers for a while,” says Emma Craggs,

Competition (ANHC) Champion Brewer,

brand marketing manager of brewing products

and a very prestigious award it is. But

at Coopers.

it isn’t for the every-brewer who is making beer using cans of concentrate.

Given the Coopers DIY cans of concentrate are the biggest selling in the country, Craggs felt it

Roger Armstrong – Boundary Road Brewing APA

Vic/Tas Leon Cameron – Irish Breakfast Coffee Stout Peter Kakol – Sunbury Festival Ale Sam Higgs – Peach Milkshake IPA Stephen Bayley – English Bitter 5/19

was the logical step for these products to inspire

QLD

run competition seeking to find the best

a commercially brewed and limited edition

Harrison Hertick – Galatra

concentrate (or DIY) homebrewer in the country.

packaged beer.

Jamie Allen – Two Flags Golden Ale

Enter Master of the Brewniverse, a Coopers-

Think about the concept for a moment. You’re inviting every homebrewer in the country to enter his or her Coopers homebrewed beer. It’s an enormous logistical undertaking to receive the entries in the first place, then assemble five

“Coopers DIY Beer products are made at a brewery and developed by our master brewers. “The idea is to give this person a launch pad and national recognition for their brewing prowess.” To any budding homebrewer this is an amazing

separate panels across the country to identify the

opportunity to see how your wares compare to

best few beers each.

others around the country.

As a homebrewer though, consider the prize.

“We received everything from basic bright,

Justin Clarke – Clarkey’s Pineapple Golden Ale Marc Shepherdson – Inittowinit Pale Ale

NSW/ACT Angus Fairall – Bigger Ben Robust Brown Ale Kip Koenig – Dark Terra

Your beer. Brewed commercially. Launched at

well brewed lagers to interesting takes on IPAs

Paul Verbeek – Liquorice Twist

GABS 2020. Available at Dan Murphy’s. Nice.

and smooth porters and stouts,” says Craggs.

Richard Brown – Chocolate Frog Porter

It’s enough to get an all-grain brewer to revisit his or her humble brewing beginnings.

66 Home Brewer

Unsurprisingly, various takes on pale ale and IPA dominated entries.

THE JUDGES Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) guidelines were referenced by the judges in the various states and territories to ensure clear parametres for the judging.

The Voyage – Pacific Ale

“We obviously have access to a number of brewers and beer aficionados internally, but in addition to this we worked with the Canberra Brewers to assemble a judging panel to assist us in getting through the State

Concentrate with specialty grains

entries, at a judging day in the ACT.”

Pouring a hazy golden hue in the glass, the crisp wheat provides a spicy backbone, while the Galaxy hops offer a big fruit aroma with a refreshing finish.

NATIONALS

Expected Brew Figures

Each finalist will re-brew the original recipe of his or her beer to ensure maximum freshness for submission to the national judging day. This will take place in early December at Coopers Brewery in South Australia. “The judging panel will consist of the resident

OG: 1.046 FG: 1.010 ABV: 4.8% IBU: 38 Volume: 23 litres

Ingredients

DIY brew guru Liam Yorke, marketing manager Scott

1.7kg Thomas Coopers Preacher’s Hefe Wheat

Harris, director Dr Tim Cooper (AM), operations

1kg Light Dry Malt Extract

manager Nick Sterenberg, as well as other yet to be

250g Light Crystal Malted Barley (cracked)

selected guest judges,” say Craggs. Once a winner is chosen, they will work with the brewing team at Coopers to to upscale their recipe to commercial level. It will then be brewed and canned at Coopers, before it is launched at GABS 2020. You can get a taste of the winning product too, as the person crowned ‘Master of the Brewniverse’ will then have their beer sold in the craft beer section at Dan Murphy’s. The can and outer packaging will prominently hero the brewer and their winning beer as well. Not bad bragging rights at all!

RECIPE While we can’t yet feature any recipes from the finalists, we have got hold of one of Coopers new range of DIY recipes for those seeking more challenge in the brewing process. The Voyage Advanced Recipe Pack series feature nine recipes and will be launching nationally over summer. These recipes go beyond kit & kilo brewing to include specialty hops, grains and yeasts and include styles such as honey kolsch,

50g Galaxy hops Safale US-05 yeast

Method 1. Heat 2 litres of water in your pot to 70°C then add the grain to your muslin bag and soak in the water for 30 minutes. Try and keep the water between 65-70°C. 2. Carefully lift the muslin bag from the water and let it drain into the pot (you can use a colander to sit it in and let the water drain). 3. Add ½ of one of the bags (250g) of Dry Malt Extract and stir to dissolve. 4. Bring the liquid to a boil. Once boiling add 25g of Galaxy hops and boil for 15 minutes. 5. Remove from heat and set the pot in an ice cold water bath to cool for 15 minutes then strain into your fermenter.

6. Add the Thomas Coopers Preacher’s Hefe Wheat and the remaining Light Dry Malt Extract then stir to dissolve (don’t be concerned if some lumps persist as they will dissolve over the course of several hours. 7. Top up with cool water to the 18 litre mark and stir vigorously. Check the temperature and top up to the 21 litre mark with warm or cold water (refrigerated if necessary) to get as close as possible to 18°C. 8. Sprinkle the Safale US-05 yeast over the brew then fit the lid and out of direct sunlight. Aim to keep the ferment temperature between 18°C-20°C for 7 days. 9. On day 7, add the remaining 25g of Galaxy hops (we recommend adding them to a sanitised muslin bag with enough room for them to expand). 10. Check the gravity on day 9 and again on day 10. Your brew is ready to bottle once the gravity is consistent across consecutive days. 11. Bottle as normal, and store upright and out of direct sunlight at 18°C-20°C for at least two weeks 12. Your beer will be ready to drink after this time but it will continue to improve over the next month. Don’t keep it too long though, as hopdriven beers are best enjoyed young.

saison, IIPA and vanilla choc stout.

Summer 2019 67

FEATURE

68â&#x20AC;&#x192; Home Brewer

More Hops! LAST ISSUE, WE LOOKED AT HOPS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF TWO OF AUSTRALIA’S LARGEST HOP DISTRIBUTORS. NOW IT IS TIME TO CONSIDER HOPS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF TWO OF AUSTRALIA’S FINEST PROPONENTS OF THE GREAT PRODUCT.

ll brewers use hops differently.

Creatures in WA. I first worked on the bar there but

Some use noble hops for a subtle

spent my spare time hanging out in the brewery with

character in traditional English

the guys and helping out on my days off. One day, one

ales, European pilseners and

of the boys burnt his foot quite severely and had to take

saisons. Others create new world

eight weeks off. There were only two brewers there at

inspired pales, IPAs and beyond.

that stage and they didn’t have time to train anyone up

Generally, these new world hops hail from Australia,

New Zealand and of course America.

or get anyone in. So, they called me up and asked me to help out.

Amongst the best and most accessible users of new

is the brewery known as Behemoth (NZ), which you will

LET’S TALK HOPS - HOW DO YOU DECIDE ON THE HOP PROFILE FOR YOUR HOPDRIVEN BEERS LIKE XPA AND IPA?

find as Chur in Australia.

SF: Most of my beers are about hop flavour and

world hops in Australia are Balter and Philter. In New Zealand, as many of us homebrewers are already aware,

Let us first meet Sam Fuss from Philter and the Scott

aromas rather than bitterness. The bittering

Hargrave from Balter, before looking at a Behemoth

component is there but the alpha acids are usually

(NZ)/Chur (Aus) recipe for a smashing summer India

derived from the whirlpool additions, which I find

Pale Lager.

give a more balanced, less harsh bitterness and also great hop flavour.

SAM FUSS: PHILTER

developed a range of beers which perfectly showcase

DO YOU HAVE A PREFERENCE FOR AUSTRALIAN, NEW ZEALAND OR AMERICAN HOPS?

how to use new world hops effectively. She gives us

SF: Aussie and US are my most favoured hops, but

some hints and tips for homebrewers to consider.

some of the NZ hops are cracking! I also really like

Sam Fuss, head brewer at Philter brewery, is a champion of new world hops. At Philter, she has

using noble hops in beers styles that call for it. I would

LET’S PUT IT OUT THERE FROM THE START, YOUR HOMEBREWING EXPERIENCE IS LIMITED… Sam Fuss (SF): Yes, limited to the point that I’ve never homebrewed before!

definitely say I’m a bit of a new world hop user.

HOW DO YOU WORK OUT YOUR QUANTITIES WHEN DESIGNING A NEW BEER? SF: When I design a beer, I have a pretty good idea of

HOW DID YOU GET INTO COMMERCIAL BREWING FROM HERE?

what profile I’m after already, then it’s just a point

SF: I started brewing over 18 years ago at Little

above what I’m after if it’s a single batch.

of fine-tuning and tweaking. I generally shoot a little

Summer 2019 69

FEATURE

PHILTER HAVE HAD A RAPID RISE SINCE BEGINNING OPERATIONS IN 2017. WHAT IS THE FUTURE LOOKING LIKE FOR PHILTER? SF: We’ve had an awesome few years, but now it’s time to build our own home. The plans for our own brewery are well underway and we hope to have the doors open by the end of the year.

SCOTT HARGRAVE: BALTER Scotty Hargrave, brew master at Balter, brought XPA into Australia’s craft beer conversation. Then he followed it up with a portfolio of new world hop-inspired beers including Strong Pale, IPA, IIPA and Hazy.

WHY DID YOU START HOMEBREWING? Scotty Hargrave (SH): I was so totally enthralled by the process and the end results.

WERE YOU A MEMBER OF ANY HOMEBREW CLUBS AND, IF SO, HOW HELPFUL WAS THIS? SH: Yep, still a member in exile of the Canberra Brewers unless they’ve brushed me! I wouldn’t be in this industry at all without the stuff I learned and friends I made there.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO COMMERCIAL BREWING? SH: I fell in love with the process of making beer, joined the Canberra Brewers, got good at brewing, kept improving by brewing a huge array of beers, did well in competitions, had a pro-brewer mindset to anything I brewed. Then I began to get asked to brewing job interviews, resulting in my first brewing gig at Sunshine Coast Brewery in 2008.

DO YOU STILL HOMEBREW OR DOES IT FEEL TOO MUCH LIKE WORK? SH: I still tinker all the time but that is now mostly happening on my pilot system at Balter. Pretty much any spare brewing time I have is harnessed to the R&D side of that. Not sure if any of it really feels like work.... it’s just who I am and what I do. Sam Fuss, head brewer at Philter

Hops at Philter XPA: 30 IBU; Mosaic, Galaxy, Simcoe, Citra Red Session Ale: 35 IBU; Cascade, Galaxy, Mosaic, Citra

LET’S TALK HOPS - HOW DO YOU DECIDE ON THE HOP PROFILE FOR YOUR HOP-DRIVEN BEERS LIKE XPA, STRONG PALE AND IPA? SH: I will always have a pretty good idea of the finished beer in my mind before I create the recipe. I usually like the hop profile to have layers and to blend different hop notes to get something greater than the individual parts, trying to generate synergy and counterpoint. This will make me sound

Lager: 30 IBU; Topaz, Ella, Vic Secret, Enigma

like a flog but it’s a bit like sitting at a sound mixing desk and

IPA: 55 IBU; Simcoe, Kohatu, Motueka, Mosaic, Galaxy

trying to get every part clear and distinct but still meshing together as a coherent piece or performance.

70 Home Brewer

DO YOU HAVE A PREFERENCE FOR AUSTRALIAN, NEW ZEALAND OR AMERICAN HOPS?

The Recipe

SH: My first love is American hops, they have so many wonderful characters but a smoothness for the most part that you can’t get from those grown elsewhere. I have used plenty of Australian hops in my time and I really like that combo of fruit and raw bluster that only they provide. The grunt and cut through if you like. I haven’t had a great deal to do with NZ hops but look forward playing around with them when the opportunity arises. And I will always have place in my heart for those noble Germans - Spalt, Tettnang and Hallertau Mittlefrue

HOW DO YOU WORK OUT YOUR QUANTITIES - HOW MUCH IS TRIAL AND ERROR AND HOW MUCH IS KNOWING WHAT EACH WILL BRING? It’s always trial and error with new varieties and experimentals, but I guess I’ve been in the game long enough to have some expectation of how a hop might express itself. When I get to smell experimental varieties it will often trigger in my mind a style or type of beer that I should trial them in. Some hops just sing out and almost dictate what type of beer they will shine in and others can throw up the unexpected. Figuring out how they tick is very appealing and important to me – unlocking the code I guess. I love the discovery.

IF YOU COULD ONLY BREW WITH TWO HOPS WHAT WOULD THEY BE? Very hard question and this would change all the time. Citra and

Balter Rusty Cage: All-grain “The night Balter won our first AIBA trophies in 2017, I was feeling over the moon. While at the awards a friend text me that Chris Cornell from Soundgarden had just passed away. This tempered my celebrations a lot. The first thing I did when I got home to Balter HQ was to brew a version of this beer, Rusty Cage, as an immediate tribute to Chris Cornell. The beer was designed as an old school northwest pale ale and featured hops only from Chris’ home state Washington. It went on the taps at Balter HQ and was a great beer.”

Expected Brew Figures OG: 1.055 FG: 1.012 ABV: 5.6% IBU: 47 Volume: 21 litres

Ingedients 4.58kg Simpsons Maris Otter malt 310g Weyermann Munich malt 150g Weyermann CaraRed malt 150g Weyermann CaraPils malt

Mosaic is an easy one or Amarillo and Citra, but tomorrow it could be

150g BB Wheat malt

experimental HBC522 & Mosaic. Or some of the experimental hops from

60g Weyermann Carafa Special II malt

down in Tassie that are fantastic too.

62g Amarillo hops (8.2% AA) 62g Centennial hops (7.9% AA) 25g Citra hops (12% AA) 37.3g Simcoe hops (13.0% AA) ½ whirlfloc tablet Safale US-05 yeast

Method 1. Mash all grains at 66°C for 60 minutes. 2. Sparge, then transfer to kettle, adding 12.3g of Amarillo and 12.3g of Centennial hops for the first wort hop. 3. Bring to the boil and add 12.3g of Simcoe hops for the 60 minute boil. 4. With 15 minutes left on the boil, add whirlfloc and 12.3g of Amarillo hops. 5. With 5 minutes left on the boil, add 12.3g of Centennial hops. 6. At flame out add 12.3g of Amarillo and 12.3g of Centennial. 7. Transfer to the fermenter and cool to 19°C, then pitch yeast. 8. Ferment at 19°C for 7 days, then raise to 21°C for 5 days for diacetyl rest. 9. On day 12 dry hop with 25g of Amarillo, Centennial, Citra and Simcoe and hold temperature for 5 days. 10. Put on Soundgarden’s BadMotorfinger, crank it to 11 and enjoy the Rusty Cage!

Summer 2019 71

RECIPE

All Grain Expected Brew Figures OG: 1.060 FG: 1.012 ABV: 6.3% IBU: 40 Volume: 23 litres

Ingredients 5.3kg Pale ale malt 500g Rolled oats 500g Weyermann wheat 200g Weyermann carapils

Giraffe and a Half India Pale Lager BEHEMOTH (NZ) AND CHUR (AUS) HEAD BREWER ANDREW CHILDS PROVIDES US WITH A CRISP LAGER THAT IS HOPPED LIKE AN IPA. WELCOME TO THE GIRAFFE AND A HALF IPL!

e obviously love hops here at Behemoth (NZ) and Chur (Aus). But there is something to be said for a really good lager yeast. The crispness that it can bring to a beer is satisfying and quenching . So

we did what we would normally do for one of our IPAs - pale malt, carapils, wheat and oats. Then we hopped it pretty heavily with Citra, Mosaic and Riwaka. The result is this deliciously hoppy and crisp IPL. If it wasn’t so high in ABV you would want to drink this all day!

Extract with specialty grains Expected Brew Figures OG: 1.060 FG: 1.012 ABV: 6.3% IBU: 40 Volume: 23 litres

Ingredients 4.3kg of Pale liquid malt extract 500g Rolled Oats 500g Weyermann Wheat

15g Columbus hop pellets

200g Weyermann Carapils

120g Citra hop pellets

15g Columbus hop pellets

135g Mosaic hop pellets

120g Citra hop pellets

50g Riwaka hops (can replace with Nelson Sauvin preferred)

135g Mosaic hop pellets

0.3g Copperfloc

Wyeast Labs #2124 Bohemian (or 2 packets of Saf 34/70 or Mangrove Jacks M76 Bavarian Lager yeast)

Method

1. Mash all malts at 67°C. 2. Sparge and bring to a boil. 3. Boil for 90 minutes. 4. Add 15g Columbus at beginning of the boil.

50g Riwaka hop pellets

1. Boil 8 litres of water in a large pot. 2. Add all malt extract and stir.

5. Add 0.3g of Copperfloc with 10 minutes to go.

3. Crack grain and add to a muslin sack in 70°C water for 30 minutes, then take out of the wort.

6. At the end of the boil start a whirlpool then add 20g Citra and 35g Mosaic.

4. Boil for 90 minutes, adding Columbus at the start of the boil.

7. Cool to 12°C and transfer to fermenter. 8. Pitch yeast and ferment at 10-12°C. 9. Do a diacetyl rest at 22°C towards end of fermentation. 10. After fermentation, dry hop for three days with 100g Mosaic, 100g Citra and 50g Riwaka.

5. Add 0.3g of Copperfloc with 10 minutes to go. 6. At the end of the boil start a whirlpool then add 20g Citra and 35g Mosaic. 7. Transfer to fermenter and top up to 23 litres with very cold water and allow it to cool to 12°C. 8. Pitch yeast and ferment at 10-12°C.

11. Crash cool for at least 2 weeks.

9. Do a diacetyl rest at 22°C towards end of fermentation.

12. Bottle or keg as usual then enjoy with mates.

10. After fermentation dry hop for three days with 100g Mosaic, 100g Citra and 50g Riwaka. 11. Crash cool for at least 2 weeks. 12. Bottle or keg as usual then enjoy with mates.

72 Home Brewer

engineering better beer

Available from

www.newerabrewing.com.au

EDUCATION – LEVEL UP TECHNICAL SECTION

Software HOMEBREWER TECHNICAL EDITOR JAKE BRANDISH TALKS ABOUT HOW TO KEEP YOUR BREWING RECORDS IN ORDER.

o you brewed an awesome

essential. Sure, you can keep manual records

experience with others, I have done some

Belgian imperial sour

as they did years ago, on a piece of paper or in

research for you all and that may change

black Berlinner weisse

an exercise book – old school style if you want.

soon. Read on!

(yes, I recently tasted

I love reading through these old brewing

BrewSmith2: This is one of the most

one of these!) and you

records to see the brewers’ comments and

popular platforms for both amateur and

want to replicate it

style. Did they have time to write neatly

pro brewers. This software package comes

or share the recipe with your brewing

or was it rushed? Was there wort or sweat

at a small one-off cost and provides you

brothers and sisters….. Ooooops!! I forgot

dripped all over the page?! When I first

with pretty much everything you will need

to write anything down or keep any records

started out brewing there was a template in a

for brewing your own beers, keeping a

whatsoever! Keeping records is one of the

homebrew book you could photocopy or draw

record of what you did, designing beers and

essential habits you have to get into when

up yourself to use!

researching ingredients such as hops (and

brewing consistently good beer, make sure

Now, I am on to BeerSmith2 and I love it.

their alternatives for when you can’t get a

you are all over this! This Level up segment,

It has changed my brewing forever and, as

hold of a certain variety). It calculates IBUs,

we will look at how to keep your brewing

such, I don’t have much experience on other

EBC, ABV, efficiency, gives you a visual of

records in order.

platforms. It suits me and I am used to it.

what the beer will look like, and you can

Brad, I await the royalty cheque!

even keep tasting notes. It has an inventory

YOUR PERMANENT RECORD

section too so you can enter what you have

I would think that in this modern day and

IF THE CAP FITS

in stock and it will automatically reduce the

age, most of you are already keeping brewing

There are a few programs you can get on to

levels when you brew. You can enter your

records in one way, shape or form. With the

and all come with their own advantages and

equipment profile in the ‘equipment’ area

availability of brewing software and apps on

disadvantages. Let’s have a look at some of

and it makes all calculations for you. You

your smart phone, getting a brewing platform

them but bear in mind, BeerSmith2 (BS2) is

can also add ingredients that are not on the

involved in your brewing is pretty much

my go-to and while I have not had that much

menu, which I actually do quite a bit of as

74 Home Brewer

they don’t have local maltsters like Gladfield etc. You can click on a particular ingredient and then substitute with others to see what that does to the brew. There is an online cloud where you can store recipes and, better still, use recipes that other brewers have left on the cloud to share. I have BS2 on my laptop and on my smartphone, which is very handy to nut out a few questions you may have at 3am in the morning when pondering which yeast strain to use! Sharing recipes with friends is easy, especially if they are on BS2. Brad also provides a great newsletter for subscribers which gives awesome information on all facets of brewing which are very informative. Brewers Friend: This is another very good software platform. It is so easy to use and has pretty much the features of BrewSmith2. I find BrewSmith2 easier to navigate but that is probably as that is my day-to-day program that I am used to. I am sure Brewers Friend users would say the same about the program they use. What I like about Brewers Friend is the ease of getting, and access to, brew sheets and calculators without having to commit to buying. You can print off a brew day sheet to keep manual records then enter later on your computer. You can play around with it before you have to spend any cash – and let’s face it, as homebrewers, we like to do things on the cheap! Brew Target: Speaking of things on the cheap, as far as I can see, Brew Target is a free software package. I have not used this

software package they have ever used. Makes

at brewing university, we had to build our own

system but it looks like a great way to get

you wonder what is next!

brewing record-keeping system, and most of

into advanced record keeping, while still

Mr Malty: Whilst this package is used

us found Excel was great for working out the

giving you access to all the calculators and

primarily for yeast pitch rates, it has a wealth

calculations we needed. This proved invaluable

ingredient information. In fact, I think I will

of information and resources for home

when understanding how and why calculations

give this a crack on my next brew day!

brewers. The yeast pitch rate calculator is

are made, so do some further research on

awesome if you really want to dial in your

individual calculations, such as brewhouse

the block, but it seems very good and quite

pitching rates which is very useful if you are

efficiency! The software will automatically

versatile. It appears to be compatible with

propagating and re-pitching.

spit out a number, but do you really know

BrewFather: This is a relatively new kid on

most browsers and devices, and has an off-

what that means? You can build your own, and

line mode so you can continue to brew and

IN SUMMARY

I know a few brewers who do use their own

design beers when out of range, and it will

I’m an old school kind of guy. I can turn

creations on a commercial level.

automatically update when internet comes

my computer on, smash out the odd Excel

available again. Most brewers use this app in

spreadsheet and do most basic operations.

sort of advanced record keeping and enjoy

conjunction with other apps such as Plaato, a

I am by no means a computer expert. When

your beers getting better and better. With

digital airlock which tracks CO² and ethanol

I started brewing, filling out a brew sheet

the availability of brew toys these days, you

production – awesome! This device monitors

suited me just fine – that is until I realised I

could easily play around with a few software

and tracks your fermentation and will give

was not writing everything down! When I first

programs and see which one suits you.

you automatic and instant fermentation

made the switch to using brewing software

information right on your phone! Brewing

it was a bit daunting, but the accessibility

us know how you prefer to keep your

mates that I know who use it say it is the

of modern software packages had me doing

brewing records!

most comprehensive and versatile brewing

things I didn’t realise I could. During my time

Do yourself a huge favour, get onto some

Happy brewing, and don’t forget to let

Cheers!

Summer 2019 75

FINANCIALS

76 www.beerandbrewer.com

Black Hops Brewing has raised money in myriad ways

FINANCIALS

s s e n i s u b The g n i w e r b f o IT MIGHT NOT FIT WITH THE DREAM IMAGE OF CRAFT BREWING, BUT AS CHARLIE WHITTING DISCOVERS, BREWERIES NEED TO BE THINKING ABOUT CASHFLOW AS WELL AS BEERFLOW.

reweries are founded by

actually be greater than the money received

passionate people making a

from the buyer, so a brewery loses money

career doing what they love.

with every can or bottle sold. She called

The principal focus in those

on breweries to take costings seriously,

early days is on the creative

especially since any ambitions of growth will

process, the recipes you’re

necessitate periods of significant debt for the

going to perfect, the branding, the name, the identity. Introducing suits and business-

brewers, what she called ‘Valleys of Death’. Maria Pearman, principal at Perkins and Co.,

talk into proceedings isn’t necessarily what

an American accounting firm that specialises in

most of us got into brewing for. We relish the

craft breweries, also gave a financially themed

irreverence and the camaraderie, saving the

talk that echoed this advice.

seriousness for another day. Unfortunately,

“My recommendation is: hire a professional

the craft brewing landscape has changed

leadership team as early as possible,”

and continues to change, and brewers need

Pearman told Beer & Brewer. “You can

to adopt a business-like approach – or

outsource if needed, but it’s important to have

employ someone to adopt it for them – if

someone who’s looking after your company’s

they are to maintain or grow their business,

financial health. I think it’s important for

because unless you have another form of

business owners to realise they don’t have

employment, your brewery is your career and

to have all the answers and to realise that if

it needs to be making you money.

they did have all the answers, they probably wouldn’t be very good at what they do.

THINKING BUSINESS

“Second: invest in clean data in timely

This year’s BrewCon featured speakers

financial data,” adds Pearman. “It needs to

talking about the business of brewing rather

be reviewed at a detailed level – looking at the

than the actual brewing itself. And that’s

performance by brand. It’s not a sexy thing

because the craft beer industry operates in a

to do, but it’s critically important because it

competitive market with tight margins. The

helps you see where you’ve missed the mark

many costs associated with the production

and it’s important to understand why. Are

and sale of craft beer must all be accounted

you missing it because of a variance in the

for and rigorously assessed if a brewery is to

number of units sold or is it a variance in the

make money.

sales price? If your costs are out of line, is it

Corinna Steeb, co-founder of Prancing

because you’re using more raw materials than

Pony, explained in her talk that if you’re

you expected or did they cost more on a per

not on top of your outgoings, the cost of

unit basis? Review it, understand it and make

producing and delivering a carton of beer can

changes based on that review.”

Summer 2019 77

FINANCIALS

Invoice Finance Endeavour Brewing was an early user of crowdfunding

Intelligent analysis from a business

brewing and the set-up costs surrounding

perspective is critical to understanding

this can be eye-watering. To make money,

what is going on and what might be going

you need to spend money, so the saying goes

wrong. Focusing on your income statement

and whether you are starting a new brewery

alone might provide positive feelings, but

or taking one to the next level, raising capital

it won’t give you as clear an idea of where

is essential. In the early stages, most brewers

your business currently stands as a balance

will turn to family and friends for funds,

sheet, which shows you how leveraged your

but beyond that, greater amounts may be

business is, calculates your working capital

required and there are numerous ways to get

and ultimately explains how healthy your

your hands on it.

company actually is. As a business, a brewery

Stomping Ground was initially funded by

needs to be making and selling beer, sure,

existing venues that it ran. However, the

but it also needs to be turning a profit, and

company has since turned to “debt funding”.

profit is not solely about selling lots of beer. “It’s vitally important to have a robust

“Whatever capital you think you need, double it!” recommends Guy Greenstone,

foundation and ‘back office’ for any enterprise,

co-founder of Stomping Ground. “We’ve

otherwise things will come to a halt very

self-funded a lot of it, as well as drawn on

quickly even though there may be great

more debt funding, as well as a sort of ‘hybrid’

demand,” says Ben Kooyman, founder of

option where our existing shareholders have

Endeavour Brewing. “Brewing is a very capital-

lent the business money that, if not paid back,

intensive sector, both on finances and people;

will be converted into equity (which is not

if you can run great beer in parallel to good

uncommon – even with external investors –

business practice, you’ve got a better chance of

often referred to as ‘convertible notes’).”

sustainable success than many others.”

Similarly, Black Hops Brewing has used almost every avenue in the book to raise cash.

RAISING FUNDS

“We have asset finance for some of the

Of course, in order for a brewery to even

equipment,” says co-founder Dan Norris.

conceive of making money, it has to start

“We’ve done a rewards-based crowdfunding

78 www.beerandbrewer.com

“Invoice finance (also known as debtor financing, factoring, cash-flow finance and invoice discounting) is simply a line of credit against the receivables of a business that helps smooth out uneven cash flow,” says Greg Charlwood, managing director of Australian Invoice Finance. “It enables businesses to convert their unpaid invoices to cash by leveraging their accounts receivable, typically one of the largest assets on a business’ balance sheet. “Clients should be prepared to answer questions from potential invoice finance providers such as: -W hat type of business are you in? Invoice finance providers often prefer to deal with businesses selling a product or service which can easily be shown to have been provided e.g. by a signed delivery note or timesheet. Breweries are well suited to invoice finance in this regard. – What debtors do you have? Invoice finance providers will want to understand the quality and spread of a client’s debtors before entering into an arrangement. They will also typically enquire about a business’ bad-debt record, the age of the sales ledger and overall collection performance. - How good is your record keeping? Any provider of invoice finance will want to ensure that invoices can be easily followed through the collection process.”

Clients NOT GETTING SUPPORT FROM theIR bank? Australian Invoice Finance specialises in funding to businesses in distress.

FAST flexible We lend more

24-hour approval We understand small business and their cash flow needs Up to 90% of unpaid invoices for facility limits up to $3m

• We help your clients meet payment deadlines, even if their customers don’t • Our flexible finance facilities will grow with your clients’ businesses • We don’t require property as security 1800 FUNDIT (386 348)

enquiries@austif.com.au

austif.com.au

Sydney | Melbourne | Brisbane | Perth | Adelaide

191114_AIF Beer&Brewer Half Page Ad_v2_FA.indd 1

14/11/19 4:57 pm

Brew your best batch every time! Test for 6 Key Factors

It’s in the Chemistry

• Total Hardness • Calcium Hardness

The BREWLAB® test kit for Home Brewers quantifies 6 important water test factors. Included is a digital pH meter for monitoring batches from start to finish. Experts agree water conditions affect your final product, so take the mystery out of making great beer. Trust LaMotte, the water analysis experts since 1919, to help you control your most important ingredient—water!

• Total Alkalinity • Sulfate • Chlorine • pH (Digital)

p 02 9624 8842 f 02 9674 5115 e sales@lamottepacific.com lamotte.com/brewlab For more information check out our website!

(Magnesium Hardness)

50+ tests for most factors! Digital pH Tester for unlimited pH tests!

FINANCIALS

Stomping Ground relied on takings from its hospitality businesses at first

Options for raising finance Debt: “Debt finance can take a variety for forms ranging from bank loans secured by assets to unsecured personal loans and credit cards. Typically, the better the security provided to the bank for the loan, the cheaper the cost of the loan will be. However, providing assets as security for a loan puts them at risk of forfeiture if the business doesn’t perform. This can be particularly stressful if the assets are personal (like the family home).”

“REVIEW IT, UNDERSTAND IT AND MAKE CHANGES BASED ON THAT REVIEW.” – MARIA PEARMAN campaign. We’ve done an equity crowdfunding

have started the brewery with a mind to

campaign. We’ve done multiple equity raises.

owning their own business and having the

Equity: “Equity capital typically represents an injection of cash into a business and does not need to be repaid. However, the existing shareholders are essentially selling part of the business and their ownership will be diluted accordingly. Additionally, investors who have acquired shares will have rights as shareholders in the business, in most cases, similar to the rights of existing shareholders, and sometimes more.”

We’ve put our own money in. We’ve used

independence that comes with it. There has

leasing arrangements for cars and our first

been a huge amount of discussion in recent

canning line. We are also currently setting up

years about independence in craft beer, with

a debtor finance facility with the bank. We also

responses to the acquisition of small craft

have used convertible notes. We’ve pre-sold

breweries by large, multinational companies

certain products like shirts before so we didn’t

differing considerable.

have to pay it all up-front.” So there are clearly various options

For those that have ‘sold out’, the extra support and finance has allowed them

available to breweries looking to get their

to brew their beers in volumes deemed

hands on some money. Applying for bank

impossible before acquisition and then have

Crowdsourced funding (CSF): “CSF is a great way to raise finance, get brand exposure, and align your business to your most passionate fans all at the same time. It’s not for everyone though. Being a public campaign can be a double-edged sword. Either a very public triumph, or a very public failure. Preparation is essential.”

loans is an option taken by many, but puts

a marketing budget to see it sold across the

you at risk of losing everything should

country and beyond. For detractors, the loss

you fail to pay back the debt. Brewers can

of control – not to mention the perceived

also turn to the government for grants, as

loss of local connections – is not worth the

BrewDog have done in Queensland.

added investment.

investment either from companies or

need to do what they can to make themselves

(Provided by Birchal)

individual investors. It’s a big decision

attractive as a business opportunity, which

for brewers, especially those that may

is where an accurate grip on your finances

80 www.beerandbrewer.com

Another route is to seek outside

Should they seek investors, breweries

FINANCIALS

can also come in handy, but they should also

Barclay, senior associate at Ramsden Lawyers.

be doing their due diligence as well. Investors

“Common documents used for this purpose

are, in effect, joining your company and just

include a director and shareholder agreement,

as with hiring staff, finding people with whom

share subscription agreement, partnership

you can have a good, long-term relationship

agreement, loan document, etc. A written

is as important as the financial impetus.

agreement assists parties to understand their

Investigating potential investors allows

role, rights and obligations to the other party in

brewers to better understand what they might

the investment relationship and may mitigate

be giving up and to whom in return for money

the risk of potential disputes from arising.”

and support, while having all agreements

As much as it may not fit with the romantic

professionally put together should ensure that

notions of creating great beers, brewers must

everything remains clear.

come to terms with the facts that they are

“Companies should ensure that a properly

running businesses and that proper business

documented arrangement is in place which

practice needs to be in place to ensure that

sets out the rules of the relationship between

your company can not just stay afloat but soar

the company and an investor,” says Julian

ever higher.

Financial advice for brewers Create an advisory committee: “This is a small group that will aid in technical decisions. Professions such as legal, marketing, accounting and engineering are nice to have on the committee since they fall far from the brewing process but are critical for good growth.” Schedule meetings: “Develop a meeting schedule to keep your investors up to date on the brewery news. Host a beer pairing dinner, catered at the brewery, with tables set up near the brewing equipment. What better way to wow your financial backers with great food around the equipment they helped purchase?” Have transparent, accurate financials: “Most partnership agreements allow investors access to the financials. While this may seem intrusive to the brewery operators, they are expecting a return on their investment. Maintaining accurate financials is key to delivering their return.” Hire a professional: “You cannot promise distributions if you do not have an idea of what is going on financially. Hire someone who understands manufacturing and retail accounting and also buys into the culture of the brewery.”

Prancing Pony taps

Listen: “Listen to your investors. Institute an open door policy which allows them to voice their comments, questions, praises and concerns. In all that noise, there may be a piece of advice that makes sense. Also, people like to be heard, so this one doubles up as a slick investor relations move. This intimate investor time should allow any issues to surface and be dealt with in a professional manner.” Share strategic plans: “The brewery should have a rolling one-year and five-year strategic plan. This should identify the goals set for the business within the given time periods. Goals should challenge the brewery but also be attainable. Sharing the strategic plan with the investors will keep them engaged to the growth and direction of the brewery.”

The team at Prancing Pony Brewery

(Provided by Small Batch Standard)

Summer 2019 81

ENTERTAINING – FOOD

The Whole Fish Cookbook LOOKING FOR SOMETHING MORE INSPIRING THAN FISH AND CHIPS TO PAIR WITH YOUR BEERS? THEN CHECK OUT THE CORNUCOPIA OF AQUATIC DELICACIES HERE.

e all want to eat more fish, but who wants to bother spending the time, effort and money cooking that same

old salmon fillet on repeat when you could be trying something new and utterly delicious? In The Whole Fish Cookbook, Sydney’s ground-breaking seafood chef Josh Niland seeks to change the way people think about fish, the way they cook it, even the way they eat it. Endlessly fascinated by the creative opportunities presented by fish, Niland is looking to untap its potential in the kitchen, bringing its myriad flavours, textures and appearances to life. The recipes within the book reveal a completely new way to think about all aspects of fish cookery. From sourcing and butchering to dry ageing and curing, it challenges everything we thought we knew about the subject and invites readers to see fish for what it really is – an amazing, complex source of protein that can, and should, be treated with exactly the same nose-to-tail reverence as meat.

This is an edited extract from The Whole Fish Cookbook by Josh Niland, published by Hardie Grant Publishers. It’s available in hardcover from all good bookstores or online (RRP $55).

82 www.beerandbrewer.com

ENTERTAINING – FOOD

Moonfish Steak Frites SERVES 10

500g unsalted butter, cut into cubes, at room temperature

Ingredients

sea salt flakes and freshly cracked black pepper

1 x 2 kg moonfish or tuna (ideally aged 8 days) round muscle, dark meat, skin on

To serve

60 ml extra-virgin olive oil

120g picked watercress

Sea salt flakes and freshly cracked

80g picked frisée

Black pepper

10 radishes, cut into thin wedges

Bearnaise sauce 6 French shallots, sliced 4 tarragon sprigs, plus 2 tablespoons chopped tarragon 12 whole black peppercorns 250 ml white wine 250 ml tarragon vinegar 7 egg yolks

1/2 quantity Verjuice dressing 1kg potato chips

Recipe 1. For the bearnaise, cook the shallots, tarragon sprigs, peppercorns, wine and vinegar in a saucepan over a medium– high heat for 8–10 minutes until the liquid is reduced to 150 ml.

2. Place the egg yolks in a large heatproof bowl that sits easily over a saucepan. Strain the tarragon reduction, pour it over the egg yolks and whisk well. Place the bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water and start whisking. When the mixture thickens by tripling in size, add the butter, 3–4 cubes at a time, still whisking well. When all the butter is added, remove the bowl from the heat, add the chopped tarragon and check the seasoning. Place baking paper on top to prevent a skin forming. Keep warm. 3. Preheat the oven to its lowest possible temperature. Brush the moonfish with olive oil and season with salt. Cook the

fish on a wire rack set inside a baking tray in the oven for 1 hour until the internal temperature of the fish reaches 45°C when tested with a probe thermometer. Leave to rest for at least 10 minutes, then brush the skin again with olive oil. 4. Heat a large cast-iron pan on the stove. Brown the fish skin until it is caramelised. Kiss the backside of the muscle in the pan but only briefly, then remove and cut long steaks from the fish, similar to cutting a beef rump cap. Season and serve with the bearnaise sauce, a watercress, frisée and radish salad dressed with verjuice dressing and a pile of hot chips.

Summer 2019 83

ENTERTAINING â&#x20AC;&#x201C; FOOD

Native Australian Fish Curry SERVES 8 Ingredients 100g demerara sugar 100ml Fish Garum or goodquality fish sauce, plus extra if necessary 6 litres coconut water 8 Murray cod chops Juice of 2 limes Pickled red grapes 975 ml red-wine vinegar 375g caster sugar 1 tablespoon salt 600g red grapes

Curry paste 2 tablespoons each coriander seeds, fennel seeds and black peppercorns 1 tablespoon ground sichuan pepper 600g French shallots 100g garlic cloves 100g peeled ginger 4 native turmeric leaves or 50g fresh turmeric, roughly chopped 4 native ginger leaves or 50g fresh ginger, roughly chopped 4 kaffir lime leaves Â˝ smoked eel, skin and bone intact, cut into 2cm lengths 400g salted chilli or mild chilli, seeds removed 3 native thyme or lemon thyme sprigs, leaves picked 750ml grapeseed oil

Recipe 1. To pickle the grapes, bring the vinegar, sugar and salt to the boil in a saucepan over a high heat. Pour the hot syrup over the grapes in a plastic container to completely cover. Place baking paper on top to keep the grapes submerged and chill for at least 2 hours, ideally overnight or longer. The grapes will keep in the pickle for months. 2. For the curry paste, toast all the seeds and peppercorns

84â&#x20AC;&#x192; www.beerandbrewer.com

in separate batches in a frying pan over a medium heat until fragrant, then add half the spices and half the remaining paste ingredients to a food processor and blitz to a smooth paste. Repeat until all the spices are blended and the paste is well mixed. 3. Heat a wide, heavy-based saucepan over a mediumhigh heat for 5 minutes, add the curry paste and stir-fry for 15 minutes. The key here is to cook these ingredients thoroughly in the beginning to establish a well-balanced flavour in the final stock. 4. Add the sugar and garum and cook for 10 minutes to caramelise the sugar. Add the coconut water, then bring the stock to the boil, reduce the heat and cook gently for 45 minutes, or until the stock has reduced by half. Remove from the heat and leave to rest for at least 20 minutes. 5. Using a large ladle and coarse sieve, push the stock through the sieve, then divide the stock into a larger pot for poaching and a saucepan. 6. Bring the larger pot for poaching to the boil, then remove from the heat and place four of the chops in, cover with a lid and poach for 10 minutes off the heat. Gently reheat the stock in the medium pan, then taste and season with the lime juice and more garum, if necessary. 7. Once the fish is poached, carefully remove the chops being careful not to break the skin and leave to rest on a plate, then cook the rest of the fish in the same way. 8. Serve the fish with the warmed stock poured over and with a herb salad, brown rice, the pickled grapes and any other pickles of your choice.

ENTERTAINING – FOOD

Greenback Flounder in Verjuice and Sorrel SERVES 4 Ingredients 2 x 500 g greenback flounder, gutted and scaled 120 ml extra-virgin olive oil Sea salt flakes 120 ml verjuice 130 g large leaf sorrel, sliced

Recipe 1. For the charcoal grill, make sure the grill is hot and the charcoal has cooked down to hot embers. 2. Brush the flounder with a little olive oil all over the skin and season well with sea salt. Grill the flounders directly on the grill rack on the white side (or bottom side) for 4 minutes, then turn over and cook for a further 4 minutes, or until the internal temperature on the bone reaches 60°C on a probe thermometer. 3. Put the remaining olive oil and the verjuice on a flat baking tray and warm the tray on the side of the hot grill. Transfer the flounder to the warm tray and leave to rest off the heat for 5 minutes. 4. Position the flounder, white side up, on a flat plate. Return the baking tray to the hot grill and, using a whisk, mix the fish juices into the verjuice and olive oil, then spoon over the flounder. Finish with a big handful of sorrel leaves.

Summer 2019 85

The Brew Review THE TASTING PANELISTS ARE BACK AND TRYING A HOST OF FANTASTIC BEERS FOR YOUR SUMMER

The Panel Josh Quantrill

Jack

Peter Philip

NSW Sales Manager, Capital Brewing Co.

Richardson

Co-founder, Wayward Brewery

Key Account Manager, 4 Pines Brewing

Jill Kneipp

Judd Owen Contributor, Craft Pint

Luke Hiscox

Beverage Operations Manager, The Oxford Tavern, Petersham

General Manager, The Union, Newtown

John Elliott Marco Codato

O AS N

Brewing Assistant, The Lord Nelson Brewery

Craft Beer Review

Rosemary Lilburne-Fini Craft Beer & Cider Specialist, Camperdown Cellars

Jamie Webb-Smith

CUS

Brewer, Yulli’s

What’s our Seasonal Focus?

Craig Hawtin Butcher Marketing Manager, Intermedia

86 www.beerandbrewer.com

This issue, we’re taking a good look at IPAs, in all their myriad forms

TASTING

CUS

Van Dieman Giblin

BentSpoke Red Nut

ABV: 10% Style: Imperial stout It should be no surprise that the panel’s highest rated beer is one of the new releases from Best Brewer winner Van Dieman Brewing. An imperial stout, it’s as rich and dark in colour as you’d expect and desire. It coats the glass with a lovely tan head. This is a great beer with a rich, decadent nose. It brings aromas of cigars and rich dark chocolate, as well as a slight sourness of dried fruit first up. There is an element of a boozy Black Forest gateau on the palate, with all the sweet, chocolatey richness backed up by delicious sour cherry for some added complexity. Its mouthfeel is velvety but perhaps a little lighter than one might expect What a cracker! A real favourite among the panel. Vandiemanbrewing.com.au

ABV: 7% Style: Red IPA We all know the pedigree of BentSpoke and it should come as no surprise to find that Red Nut was highly favoured by the judging panel. One judge simply called it ‘astounding!’ which speaks volumes. It looks great, with a welcoming ruddy warmth that draws you in for a sniff. You’re rewarded there with great spice aromas, as well as vanilla and some alcohol weight. However, upon taking a sip, one finds that this beer carries its weight remarkably well, with a hint of sweetness on the palate and a real dry spiciness to the front. This is a great example of the style that really benefits from the ABV and provides excellent balance between the spice and caramel notes. Bentspokebrewing.com.au

O AS N

Panel’s Top Picks

CUS

Kaiju! Where Strides the Behemoth

Yulli’s Matt Steele Pale Ale

ABV: 10% Style: Double Black IPA Another big, boozy beer, Where Strides the Behemoth was very popular with the panel. Its appearance is as you’d expect – impenetrable black with great lacing. There is a touch of berry on the nose which continues through onto the palate with added fruitiness and, of course, a strong driving taste of malt followed by a lingering bitterness. There’s even a hint of roast coffee there as well. The body is smooth and while there’s some heat to finished there is little alcohol burn for such a strong beer. It’s incredibly well balanced and a great example of the style. Kaiju! have nailed it. Kaijubeer.com.au

ABV: 5.5% Style: American pale ale The boys from Alexandria sent in a decent amount of beer for this issue’s tasting and the pick of the bunch was this dank American pale ale. Light amber or dark golden in colour, Matt Steele provides plenty of fresh tropical notes on the nose – think mango, guava and passionfruit. This is a big beer and no mistake. That fruitiness continues on the tongue, with plenty of tropicality. This is, however, accompanied by some piney oiliness as well and upon swallowing the beer, there is a good lingering bitterness. The mouthfeel is balanced, rounded and smooth. The panel loved this well-balanced, great smelling and very crushable beer. Pine and fruit in a glass! Yullisbrews.com.au

Summer 2019 87

TASTING

O AS N

Van Dieman Unpredictable Spring

Sauce and Garage Beer Co Citrus Haze IPA

ABV: 5.9% Style: Spontaneous Ale One of Van Dieman’s new Spontaneous range, where the brewer has been able to experiment with farmhouse styles. The beer has little head and is light gold in appearance, with a pleasant haze. There’s a lovely funk and wild yeast character on the nose, while the first swig brings a host of fruit and nut flavours – apples, almonds, bitter orange peel and cherry – accompanied by gorgeous tartness and sourness and a medium body. This is a delightful and complex barrelaged beer that offers great long acidity and beautiful barnyard notes. A wonderful beer for a picnic. Vandiemanbrewing.com.au

ABV: 6.7% Style: Hazy IPA The hazy IPA is the IPA of the moment these days and who better to give it a try than Sauce Brewing, who have created this beer with their friends from Spain – Garage Beer Co. As you’d expect, the beer that comes from this sizeable can is as hazy as anything and is the colour of golden straw. You don’t need to get your nose into the glass to know that gives off a great hop aroma, with melon to the fore. The fruitiness is so impressive that the panelists weren’t sure if fruit had actually been added. As it is, it’s just awesome hop balance. A very enjoyable beer that meets the brief. It’s soft, with low bitterness, nice sweetness and with plenty of tropical fruit notes. Sauce.beer

88 www.beerandbrewer.com

CUS

Panel’s Top Picks

CUS

BentSpoke Cluster 8 ABV: 8.8 Style: Double IPA You can’t keep BentSpoke out of the Panel’s Picks it seems. Cluster 8 is a double IPA and therefore the Canberra’s brewery opportunity to really go wild with hops and ABV. And there is plenty of that, with heavy pine and resinous aromas bursting from the glass along with sweet fruit notes. There then follows a beautiful, frontup bitterness on the palate. But this is a perfectly balanced beer as well, with hoppy bitterness and malt sweetness integrated in absolute harmony. There’s a smooth finish from this medium to highly weighted beer. In all opinions, an excellent DIPA. Wonderful. Bentspokebrewing.com.au

Dainton 3D Anniversary Ale ABV: 8.1% Style: Double red rye Brewed to celebrate the brewery’s third birthday, this is a great effort from Dainton. A deep ruby colour, this beer is clear with a rich head and it welcomes you in. The aromas are beautiful and warming, with dry spices to the fore. Those rich spice flavours continue onto the palate and then make way for a lightness that in turn gives way to a very subtle sweetness and a dry finish. This is a really enjoyable drop. Happy birthday folks! Dainton.beer

O AS N

CUS

O AS N

TASTING

CUS

Wilson Scurvy Nights

Bridge Road Bling

Felons Imperial Stout

Dainton IPA

ABV: 6% Style: Cherry dark ale Wilson Brewing Company is located down in Albany, a four and half-hour drive southeast from Perth. And when the winds are blowing in from the south, this black beer with cherry red hues should be just the ticket. There are Black Forest gateau smells coming strongly off the beer, with a slight tartness and hints of oak as well. Bright fruit acid is the order of the day on the palate. There’s some sourness, but it’s well balanced with maltiness to make for a complex beer. Despite its heavy colour, this beer feels light on the tongue and tastes completely the opposite to its appearance. Light smoke, woody tastes with a sparkling mouthfeel. Gorgeous! Wilsonbrewing.com.au

ABV: 5.8% Style: IPA The brewers from Beechworth have provided the panel with an IPA very much in the West Coast tradition. Darker in appearance than one might at first expect given the brightly coloured can, it brings a warm amber hue to the glass. A first smell heralds an initial hit of vanilla sweetness which then makes way for black pepper, spices and cinnamon. Intrigued, you take a gulp and that great giant hop bitterness comes bursting forth at the front of the palate. It’s good through the middle as well, bringing excellent body and a warmth that suggests a higher ABV. This is a great example of the style that’s thoroughly enjoyable with good complexity. Another? Yes please. Bridgeroadbrewers.com.au

ABV: 10.5% Style: Imperial stout This beer from Queensland isn’t yet officially in cans, so Beer & Brewer received a huge canimal of the stuff for the tasting panelists to try. You know what they say, ‘big beer, big can’. A dark, malty head sits atop an inky black beer. There’s a dryness on the nose that belies a far sweeter taste on the palate. Other aromas include chocolate, cocoa, coffee, oak and vanilla. The alcohol hit is big and up-front, but that then makes way for a coconut and vanilla warmth and a long, dry finish. This is a great example of the style – it’s well made, robust and has great balance. Felonsbrewingco.com.au

ABV: 6 Style: IPA One of Dainton’s more outlandish beers won the 2019 Indies Awards, but this staple of the range was a firm favourite of the panel as well. It has a deep golden colour and a good, tight head. Pine and resinous aromas come through on the nose, with a hint of light and sweet malt as well. As one would hope from an IPA, there is assertive bitterness on first gulp, with the hops going full-on piney on the palate, which is very nice. It has a medium body and a slight astringency. This is, simply put, a really good IPA in the best West Coast traditions. Nicely done. Dainton.beer

Summer 2019 89

ABV: 6.7% Style: IPA There’s some nice hop presence in this wellmade IPA, but it is not overly hop-forward. A bright, copper-coloured ale, it starts with a nice hoppy aroma, with elements of malt as well. Take a sip and you get that strong bitterness coming right to the fore and lingering at the front of your tongue. These fine hop flavours are also balanced with some pleasant malt sweetness. Kaijubeer.com.au

O AS N

CUS

90 www.beerandbrewer.com

ABV: 6.1% Style: IPA A golden beer with a good head, this beer from the capital is chock full of good pine and stone fruits on the nose, backed up with a light malt character. Things get more tropical on a finely balanced palate – melon and orange rind – that comes with a firm bitterness. There is good carbonation and a medium body. A very drinkable and well-made IPA in the West Coast style. Bravo. Capitalbrewing.co

ABV: 6 Style: Red IPA A visually striking beer, this red IPA mingles great bitterness with lovely caramel notes. The nose has nice deep fruit and caramels, but also some nice tropical mango notes. After that, you enjoy an on-point bitterness on the palate with tropical rock hop sweetness complementing the caramel toffee. It might be worth letting this beer warm by a degree or two to ensure that you get the best out of it. Sixstringbrewing.com.au

Kaiju! Metamorphosis

O AS N

ABV: 6.2% Style: Red ale We love the look a good red ale in this panel and this certainly fits the bill – lovely ruby and copper hues and good lacing. There are biscuit and caramel notes on the nose, but there’s also a healthy dose of citrusy hops as well. That blend of bread and caramel malt combined with hop bitterness is well maintained onto the palate in what is a very smooth beer. This is a very well-constructed and well-balanced red ale. Yullisbrews.com.au

CUS

Six Strings Dark Red IPA

Yulli’s Slick Rick’s Red Ale

O AS N

Capital Rock Hopper

CUS

ABV: 6.5% Style Hazy IPA Like some of the other hazy IPAs in this series, the haziness is fainter than one might expect in this light-coloured beer. A big sniff brings your stone fruits and some really nice tropical tones, as well as some welcoming skunky hop bitterness. The beer enjoys a lager lightness and the palate is all in the cheeks – lots of citrus and crisp bitterness. Also worth noting that as the beer warms, the ABV becomes more prominent. Hopnation.com.au

Hop Nation Dreamfeed Hazy IPA

O AS N

CUS

O AS N

ABV: 7.5% Style: American IPA This is a very bright beer, the colour of light gold. A well constructed IPA, there is great hop character both in aroma and flavour, and it conceals its high ABV very well. There are plenty of New World hops bringing citrus notes to the nose, while the palate is balanced nicely with a clean ferment and a soft bitterness accompanying good hop character. Feralbrewing.com.au

ABV: 5.2% Style: Dark lager This well made and easy-drinking beer is definitely worth another. Dark brown in colour but with a brightness to it, this dark lager offers chocolate and coffee on the nose with hints of vanilla. The beer itself is full bodied but not heavy, with a malt bitter finish delivering some dryness. The malt and caramel flavours are delicate on the palate. 4pinesbeer.com.au

Feral War Hog

O AS N

ABV: 7 Style: Hazy IPA For a hazy IPA, Dream Weaver is not as hazy as you might think, although it still looks gorgeous. Strong pine and citrus notes on the nose, along with lemon and sherbert. On the palate there’s a really pleasant balance of great malt and prominent hoppiness. This is a well constructed IPA with good aroma, good flavour and medium to high mouthfeel. Mobrewing.com.au

4 Pines Schwarzbier Dark Lager

CUS

Modus Operandi Dream Weaver

O AS N

TASTING

CUS

Exit IIPA

Vale IPA

ABV: 9% Style: Double IPA This beer just looks great. Lovely copper colour with a brilliant white head. The alcohol is well hidden on the nose, with hop aromas – pine needles and citrus – and some malty toffee and sultana notes coming to the fore. Take a swig and enjoy the viscous mouthfeel and hoppy punch of this piney, well-balanced beer, accompanied by caramel, vibrant hints of citrus and even a touch of rye spiciness. The panel would buy a slab of this. Exitbrewing.com

ABV: 5.5% Style: IPA While this isn’t as big as some IPAs on this list, its clean and tropical fruitiness makes for a very sessionable drop indeed. A quietly fruity nose has highlights of ripe mango and good malt. The bitterness and sweetness are balanced and soft on the palate, with the sweetness echoing fruit salad and honey, and the bitterness lingering pleasantly. It’s a smooth, golden beer with a good head and a dry finish. Valebrewing.com.au

Mountain Goat Fox Chaser

Two Birds Sundaze Sippah

BentSpoke Sprocket

ABV: 6.5% Style: Farmhouse red ale This beer has a just lovely aroma. A finely built head does dissipate above a hazy amber liquid, but the aroma doesn’t do that. There are Belgian yeast notes, cloves and spices all floating above a rye nose that hints at a higher ABV. The beer also brings a refreshing dryness to proceedings, balanced by the alcohol, spicy rye notes and that lovely yeast. Goatbeer.com.au

ABV: 5% Style: Summer ale Summer’s here, so let’s try a summer ale. A bright, straw-coloured beer with a great head, this is overall a top-notch example of the style. It’s well-made and there is nice hop presence, whether it’s a floral, fruit punch on the nose and front palate or a pleasant lingering back bitterness after your first, second and third sips. Look out also for stone fruit aromas as well in this rather delicate and soft, yet full bodied delight. Twobirdsbrewing.com.au

ABV:7% Style: IPA Another firm favourite from the BentSpoke folks, this is a banger, a definitive well balanced IPA. What you get from this hazy, cloudy delight are notes of mango, pineapple and pine aromas coming through on the nose, a robust mouthfeel on the tongue, thoroughly good whole mouth coating, and a dry, bitter finish. Tastes to look out for include some caramel sweetness, balanced beautifully with passionfruit and pine, and also pineapple skin! Bentspokebrewing.com.au

Yulli’s Dolly Aldrin Honey Dew Melon Berliner Weisse

BentSpoke Easy

4 Pines Nitro Stout

O AS N

L CUS

CUS

O AS N

ABV: 8% Style: Double IPA Balter’s tradition of putting its biggest beers in its biggest cans continues. This slightly sweet double IPA has a touch of haze through the great golden colouring. The nose is hoppy, of course, with stone fruit, citrus and pine, but it’s not a punch in the face. Neither is it overwhelming on the palate, masking its 8% very well and bringing instead a touch of spice, tropical notes, a slight resin and a lingering bitterness. Balter.com.au

Balter Dazy

ABV: 6.3% Style: IPA A beer with great clarity, a light straw colour and a nice clean head. It’s mango to the fore on the aroma front, bringing sweetness to complement a nuttiness and hints of pine. The mango sweetness continues to the palate and works splendidly with a solid bitterness that builds up the more you drink. And you will drink more. This super tasty beer is a textbook IPA that is very drinkable. Detour.beer

Detour IPA

O AS N

CUS

O AS N

L CUS

O AS N

CUS

Hobart Colorado IPA

BentSpoke Crankshaft

ABV: 7.3% Style: IPA This beer has a fairly high ABV and a first glance reveals a caramel warmth. The beer carries its weight well, with a sweet dose coming through the middle. But it’s hops to the forefront here. There’s a nutty brightness on the nose at first, followed by citrus, pine and grass, while a swig of it will bring a tight length, continued brightness and fresh grass notes, plus, of course, lots of bitterness that builds throughout. A classic IPA. Hobartbrewingco.com.au

ABV: 8% Style: IPA This beer is very appealing from the moment you see it – rich gold or is it pale amber? The nose is an array of hoppiness. There are dank, piney and resinous aromas, but also tropical notes of passionfruit and grapefruit. It is the tropical elements of grapefruit skins that carry through onto the palate, while the hops also bring a great bitterness that balances an enjoyable sweetness. This is a big IPA, oh yes, but it’s not overly heavy on the palate. Bentspokebrewing.com.au

ABV: 3.3% Style: Berliner Weisse There’s a pale blonde, lemongrass colour and a soft haze to this beer that is awash with aromas of fruits and herbs – there’s mandarin and sage, lemon and limestone on the nose, accompanied by a slight acidity. The taste is tart, starting out fruity and finishing very dry. Tastes of lemon sherbet, lemongrass, coriander, white pepper and passionfruit rounded up with a balanced acid zip, make this a perfect summer drink for the beach. Yullisbrews.com.au

ABV: 3.2% Style: Session ale A perfect ‘Christmas Day beer’. It has a low ABV and drinks so very easily. Possessed of brilliant clarity on the eye, mango, papaya and pine on the nose, and a smoothness on the palate, this is a beer that’s light on the tongue. It’s crisp and clean, fresh and fruity. A nice alternative to full strength XPAs. Bentspokebrewing.com.au

ABV: 5.1% Style: Nitro stout There’s a lot to love about this beer, which is a fine execution of a classic style. It’s extremely dark in colour and includes some reddish hues and a tan head. The nose is complex and varied – there’s malt and toffee, but also espresso and smoke and chocolate undertones. The body is medium, the coating is fulsome and the mouthfeel is great. It enjoys a sweetness balanced by a compound bitterness set at a perfect level. 4pinebeer.com.au

Summer 2019 91

CUS

O AS N

CUS

O AS N

CUS

O AS N

CUS

O AS N

TASTING

CUS

Aether Mango Sticky Rice IPA

ABV: 7.3% Style: IPA Unusually for a modern IPA, this light gold beer is crystal clear. It offers clean aromas of melon and passionfruit, as well as elements of honeydew, inviting you in. The taste is clean, crisp, refreshing and light, but this is a fruit bowl. Over all the light body and crisp tastes, strong fruity tones dominate, balanced with hints of malt. For a 7.3% beer, this is dangerously crushable, almost like a tropical ale. Wayward.com.au

ABV: 6.5% Style: IPA This is a bright and inviting beer with golden colours and a hint of haze. It’s a real fruit salad on the nose, but there are also aromas of pine and citrus to complement things as well. On the palate, the hops provide melon and stone fruit notes, while the bitterness is not dominant, but instead nicely balanced. This is a wellrounded, very enjoyable IPA with a medium body and the easy drinking nature that sees it lean as much towards a pale ale as an IPA. Which is no bad thing. Slipstreambrewing.com.au

ABV: 8 Style: Double IPA A subtle and smooth IPA from the T-Bone brewers in Hobart, but with powerful tropical fruit notes coming through on the palate, right at the tip of the tongue. The nose has plenty of green fruitiness and is surprisingly mellow and easy going. It masks its high ABV very well for a double IPA; it is dangerously light and easy to drink. Lovely stuff. Tbonebrewing.com.au

ABV: 5.5% Style: Session IPA A rich yellow beer with a slight haze, this session IPA has a good aroma of Australian tropical hops and lemony scent of fresh citrus. This is accompanied by honey and licorice notes. There’s a slight malt sweetness on the palate, but the beer has a mostly fruit-based hop profile, with a bitterness at the back end. It coats the mouth entirely, but doesn’t linger long. This is a well-balanced beer and a great gateway IPA for the uninitiated. Redhillbrewery.com.au

ABV: 6.5% Style: IPA An incredibly juicy beer this one. It has the haziness of a NEIPA and is coconut sweet on the nose, with added pineapple and passionfruit coming through as well. Then you take a sip and all this sweet, viscous mango flavour comes through at the front, followed by coconut and finished with a healthy dose of bitterness to cut through the almost oily mouthfeel. It sounds like a strange beer and it certainly is, but you have to try this one! Aetherbrewing.com.au

ABV: 6% Style: IPA If you’re looking for great aroma, then this is the IPA. It has great hop aroma with a touch of pepper and melon for good measure. The palate is fruity and well-rounded, with a nice sweetness balanced by a low bitterness that comes through strongly towards the end. The mouthfeel is light and dry with no harshness at all. This is a thoroughly enjoyable beer. Hopebrewhouse.com.au

92 www.beerandbrewer.com

Dainton Blood Orange New England Rye IPA ABV: 6 Style: NEIPA Nw this is one hazy beer. There’s zero light getting through this golden brown beer that resembles a juice in appearance. The nose is hoppy, with pineapple and stone fruit to the fore, backed up by some subtle zestiness. Sweet and juicy would best describe the taste, with the juice to the front and sweetness finishing things off. There’s not too much complexity here, but it is a good example of the NEIPA style. Dainton.beer

O AS N

Hope Brewery IPA

ABV: 6.7% Style: West Coast IPA A bright and boozy summer IPA, Big Sur is deep yellow with a little haze and a good fine haze. A good strong smell of stone fruits greets the nostrils along with rich resin oil and the oomph of alcohol. The first sip is small, but let it build because it’s worth it as the length grows and the bitterness comes through. The ABV carries things through to a pretty happy place. Enjoy. Thegrifter.com.au

CUS

Grifter Big Sur

O AS N

CUS

O AS N

CUS

O AS N

Red Hill East Coast Session IPA

T-Bone Pineapple Punch

Slipstream G-Force IPA

Wayward Son Lupulin IPA

CUS

Black Hops Super Hornet Double IPA

Yulli’s Margot Apple Cider

ABV: 8.7% Style: Double IPA Looking for a clear, light and incredibly easy drinking double IPA? Black Hops have just the thing. The beer has a viscosity and sweetness in the mouth, but it is still a light example of the style and is very easy to drink. There’s passionfruit, melon and parsley on the palate and a subdued bitterness on the finish. One the nose, there’s pine, underripe melon and grass, as well as some warm booziness. Blackhops.com.au

ABV: 5% Style: Cider This cloudy cider has a pale straw colour and a good head and lacing. The nose balances the sweet fruit aromas of fresh pear and strawberries with a saison-esque spiciness of cloves. The palate has some nice acidity and finishes with a pleasant tartness and tang, but this is a sweeter example of the cider style. There is good flavour complexity in this enjoyable cider. Yullisbrews.com.au

CUS

ABV: 6% Style: IPA A gluten-free example of the style from the brewers down in Torquay, VIC, this a clear, yellow beer with the slightest haze. It has a good, clean hop aroma with stone fruit and lemon. The palate is light in more of an Aussie style, with more stone fruit accompanied by light tropical notes. It’s clear and crisp rather than weighty. A fine example of a gluten-free product that can stand tall in the crowded IPA marketplace. Easy bitterness and chill tropical flavours make this an ideal summer IPA. Twobays.beer

CUS

Two Birds India Pale Ale

Van Dieman Medlar Wild

ABV: 5% Style: IPA This is a great, refreshing and easy-drinking IPA that has a good balance of sweetness with the accompanying bitterness. Light in colour for an IPA, its tropical hop aromas are subdued, allowing some sweetness to come through. However, there’s plenty more bitterness on the palate which creates an excellent balance that coats the mouth well without lingering. Great balance and drinks well. Twobirdsbrewing.com.au

ABV: 7.5% Style: Saison This is a wild style of saison that hides its ABV well. A cloudy beer, straw in colour, there’s lots of fruit up-front on the nose, but also plenty of funkiness and sourness. The palate has nice soft carbonation, crisp mouthfeel and fruity character – mostly pineapple – that blends with a great wild sour profile. There is also a strong acetic flavour and a nice bitterness. This is a very good beer that drinks very well. Vandiemanbrewing. com.au

Burnley Helles

Wayward Paddock to Pale

O AS N

Two Bay IPAs

ABV: 7% Style: IPA A light gold beer with pleasant brightness, Exit’s IPA is a hoppy little number, with plenty of grassy notes on the nose backed up with faint citrus. Taking a swig brings plenty more hop dominance, with a solid, firm bitterness bringing citrus and lemon to the forefront. The mouthfeel isn’t overly heavy, allowing the booziness of it to come through. This is a good beer described by the panel as a tropical American IPA. Exitbrewing.com

Exit IPA

O AS N

ABV: 3.5% Style: Session IPA This latest beer from Coles presents itself well, with a classic light amber colour. This is an accessible session IPA with welcome pine and resinous aromas on the nose, accompanied by subtle malt and cereal notes. This is then backed up on the palate by a good chalky bitterness. It’s tricky to get low ABV beers right, but this is an eminently drinkable and redrinkable beer. Liquorland.com.au

CUS

Tinnies Session IPA

O AS N

L CUS

O AS N

CUS

Tallboy and Moose Kettle Sour

Van Dieman Long Shadows

Black Hops Hornet IPA

ABV: 4% Style: Sour Pale yellow in colour with a pleasant haze and a crisp white head, this beer has plenty of flavours, but they are light and subtle. Lemon myrtle, citrus, funk and burnt rubber are all apparent on the nose. Taking a sip brings a light and clean beer into your mouth, with a good balance between citrus and sour notes. This is a zesty and slightly floral thirst quencher – a sessionable sour for the summer. Tallboyandmoose.com

ABV: 6% Style: Farmhouse ale This is a really pretty ale – it’s golden and hazy with slight amber notes. Take a smell and relish the beautiful array of aromas – lemon rind and leather saddle, lemongrass and myrtle – all coming through in a clean and fresh manner. It’s a very earthy beer on the palate, balanced by a herbal bitterness and some citrus notes. This beer has so much promise moving forward, and that aroma is a thing of beauty! Vandiemanbrewing. com.au

ABV: 6 Style: IPA A bright, clear, golden IPA, this beer has plenty of good lacing and a soft hop aroma on the nose. There’s also a touch of stone fruit and tropical fruit there as well. The hop profile is very pleasant – it’s soft on the palate with a low bitterness and some medium mouthfeel. The softness of the bitterness and perceived low IBU makes this IPA very drinkable and perhaps leaning towards the popular hazy style. Blackhops.com.au

ABV: 4.5% Style: Lager This is a bigger lager aimed at those who want plenty of flavour. Light straw in colour with some cloudiness, it brings a doughy aroma to the nose, but also plenty of freshly cut grass, hay and mandarin pith. That grassiness follows through on the palate where it is accompanied by a dose of beautiful earthy and herbal notes and a persistent bitterness that lingers for a long time after you swallow. Burnleybrewing.com.au

ABV: 5% Style: Farmhouse ale This is a solid example of the style. With a straw-like colour, a wheat haze and a solid lacing, it has a nice funk on the nose along with some bubblegum and a very slight hop aroma. The taste is both hoppy and yeasty with a touch of funk, but this is subdued and not overbearing, with a dry finish. This beer is easy to drink and is a great summer alternative to a pale ale. Wayward.com.au

Summer 2019 93

ABV: 4.8% Style: Pale ale Pixel Brewing Co is a Sydney gypsy brewer that has been brewing with a whole host of the Marrickville brewers. Deep golden in colour, Pixel’s pale ale brings great tropical hop aroma to the nose – there’s stone fruit and grass aplenty – while there’s a solid bitterness on the palate that lingers after you’ve swallowed. It offers a medium to light body. A fine beer. Facebook.com/ pixelbrewing

ABV: 5.6% Style: IPA This offer from Gage Roads’ new IPA project is an IPA that will do just what you’re expecting it to do. It has a clear amber colour, the colour an IPA should be. It has a rounded greenness on the nose which is pleasantly balanced by a touch of toffee. The palate offers an orange freshness and a good bitterness to get your tastebuds around. Atomic.beer

ABV: 6.5% Style: IPA The panel liked this beer. It’s a unique IPA. Great colour – it’s got brightness coming through a dark amber colouration. The nose is splendidly unorthodox – there’s good spice and earthy notes, but also spiciness and elements of malt to balance. Taking a swig brings this rounded beer into your mouth with all its subtle spices and earthy notes. It’s got a thick mouthfeel that lingers. A welcome addition to the list. Ballisticbeer.com.au

ABV: 7% Style: IPA Rich yellow in colour with a little haziness, this IPA enjoys lovely tropical rock fruit coming through and is balanced really well, with an appealing and lingering bitterness. The nose’s tropical aroma is accompanied by some slight earthiness and paprika notes, while the palate sees the tropics coming through along with grassy and green hop notes. It certainly leaves you wanting more. Hopebrewhouse.com.au

ABV: 6% Style: IPA This is a slightly cloudy beer that doesn’t look so much like an IPA as it does a Chardonnay wine, with a greenish tinge to the yellow. But the appearance is deceptive. This is very well-made IPA. It certainly smells like an IPA, with good resin and orange notes to enjoy. The palate is treated to pine needles and some cheekcleansing bitterness. A cracking beer and a lovely surprise. Stompingground.beer

94 www.beerandbrewer.com

Holgate White IPA ABV: 7% Style: White IPA The white IPA is a beer that sits between an American IPA and a Belgian wit, which means there’s all sorts of flavours mingling together. This golden beer with a slight haze has a nose dominated by Belgian esters – banana and cloves – as well as some sweet malt. It smells great. The palate though is more IPA-ish, there’s quite a lot of bitterness in there, along with a medium body and good carbonation. Holgatebrewhouse.com

Balter Hazy DC ABV: 6% Style: Hazy IPA As you’d expect, this beer is hazy, with an orange colouring. The aromas are considerable, with the booze coming through in hints behind smells of lemon and wet grass. Deep down, there’s even something faintly medicinal about it. The mouthfeel is almost creamy, soft and round almost like a milkshake, but this is nevertheless not an overly weighty beer. Green chilli flavours and herbal notes are also present on the palate. Balter.com.au

O AS N

Stomping Ground Hop Stomper IPA

CUS

Hope Brewery West Coast IPA

O AS N

CUS

O AS N

ABV: 6% Style: NEIPA This single hop NEIPA from the ever-inventive team at Dainton doesn’t look like a NEIPA, it’s almost completely clear with a good foam. A first sniff results in a herbal and vegetal punch with hints of lime and an alcohol warming. This is slightly unusual, but the palate is far more familiar, welcoming and enjoyable, with fresh notes of cucumber and apples, with maybe a hint of vanilla? Dainton.beer

CUS

Dainton The Raider Single Hop NEIPA

O AS N

L CUS

O AS N

ABV: 6 Style: NEIPA As you would expect from a NEIPA, this beer brings plenty of tropical and fruity hops to both the nose and tongue – there’s plenty of fruit and juiciness in this pale and cloudy beer. Unusually for a NEIPA, however, this is balanced with some strong late bitterness and some slight astringency on the mouthfeel. A lovely drop. Twobirdsbrewing.com.au

Ballistic Revelation IPA

Atomic Beer Project IPA

Pixel Brewing 480P

Two Birds Chew Tang Can

O AS N

CUS

O AS N

CUS

O AS N

TASTING

CUS

Burleigh Fig Jam IPA ABV: 7% Style: IPA This dark amber, almost toffee-coloured beer is crystal clear with an exciting array of aromas to enjoy on first sniffing. There’s pine and lemon, sure, but there’s also salt and green strawberry and even a hint of whisky malt. There’s a sweet maltiness on the palate, perhaps from the figs, that’s balanced with lovely citrus notes. There’s good weight and good balance in this beer that also hides its ABV very well. Burleighbrewing.com.au

CUS

Jetty Road IPA ABV: 5.8% Style: IPA This is an enjoyable drop of beer. It has bright yellow and gold colourings, holds it head very well and has strong lacing. The nose is subtle, there’s soft fruit salad and a touch of caramel coming through. That subtlety continues through onto the palate, where the bitterness is lower than expected and the hop and caramel tastes are pleasantly balanced. Jettyroad.com.au

Felons Blood Orange Sour ABV: 3.7% Style: Sour Straight off the bat, this looks amazing. It’s clear and is rosé pink with a nice head – very inviting on a hot summer’s day. The aromas include fresh strawberries and a yeasty element as well. It’s dry on the palate, with an expected sour tinge running through it. This is an easy drinking thirst quencher, for sure. Felonsbrewingco.com.au

O AS N

ABV: 5.8% Style: IPA A light, straw-coloured beer with a slight haze, this New World IPA has a big and clean aroma on the nose. There are hints of pine and stonefruit, as well as grassy tones. The palate gets a good dose of bitterness from the hops that leads to a dry finish. This is a nicely rounded beer that is lightly carbonated to give an almost creamy mouthfeel. 3ravens.com.au

3 Ravens New World IPA

O AS N

ABV: 6% Style: IPA Another cracking beer from Holgate, this is a light copper colour with some wheat haze and great lacing. There’s a faint funkiness on the nose, as well as some stone fruit aroma which comes through. There’s plenty of hop bitterness on the palate that lingers throughout and has a good length. The beer itself is smooth and light, with a medium carbonation. Holgatebrewhouse.com

CUS

Holgate Road Trip

O AS N

ABV: 6.7% Style: Black IPA A fantastically deep black IPA here with a thick creamy head. The aroma is that lovely blend of roasted notes and citrus that we love to see in this style. The taste has plenty of sweetness, with chocolate notes coming through, and this is then backed up with some assertive hop bitterness. Aetherbrewing.com.au

CUS

Aether Black As Your Heart IPA

O AS N

L CUS

O AS N

CUS

Two Birds Apple Cider

Two Bays No Mans Land

Two Birds Fruit Tang Can

Stockade Flight Path

Gage Roads Sleeping Giant

ABV: 5% Style: Cider This is a great example of a crisp, dry and refreshing cider. It has excellent balance on the palate – there’s gentle acidity mingling with the crispness of a fresh apple. The nose is also bright and fresh, smelling like a green orchard with a hint of oak as well. The cider itself is crystal clear, with refined bubbles, and shows an off-white colour. A tastebud tingler. Twobirdsbrewing.com.au

ABV: 5% Style: XPA Two Bays specialises on gluten-free beer and this is a delight for coeliacs and non-coeliacs alike. Clean and appetising in appearance with great clarity, the beer has floral and earthy notes on the nose. The gluten-free aspect brings some unexpected but welcome flavours to the palate, and there’s a bitterness that builds very nicely in this clean, crisp, easydrinking beer. Twobays.beer

ABV: 3.8% Style: Tropical sour A great, smashable beer this one. Straw-coloured with a slight haze is a good start, and while the nose is light, there are fruity notes coming through strong. The sourness is up-front on the palate, followed by a lovely fruit finish. The mouthfeel is light and airy. This is the perfect beer for a summer’s day. Twobirdsbrewing.com.au

ABV: 4.5% Style: Pale ale This beer has a vibrant, almost lurid yellow colour and a gentle head. The hop aroma on the nose is pretty dank but there is also a significant amount that is maltdriven, which makes for a more complex pale ale. The bitterness and hop aroma are then accompanied onto the palate by an almost cornlike sweetness. A very interesting beer. Stockadebrewco.com.au

ABV: 5.4% Style: IPA This is a yummy citrus bomb and is nice and easy to drink. You wouldn’t mind pouring a couple more after this. The aromas from this eye-catchingly amber beer are light and honeyish, with hints of almonds and sherry. There’s a nice bitterness on the palate with a light hop profile. Gageroads.com.au

Summer 2019 95

AUSTRALIA & NZ DIRECTORY

Australia & NZ Directory Breweries

QLD

NSW

THE MONK BREWERY & KITCHEN CRAFTY CONTRACTORS

AUSTRALIAN BREWERY 350 Annangrove Road, Rouse Hill NSW 2155 (02) 9679 4555 brewer@australianbrewery.com.au www.australianbrewery.com.au Cellar door open 10am-10pm daily

TEMPLE BREWING CO.

@TEMPLEBREWING

Tanunda SA, 5352 08 8563 0696 (option 2) Email: office@bvbeer.com.au www.facebook.com/ craftycontractors/ You bring passion. We provide expertise. The perfect partner to make your beer dreams a reality. Specialising in small batch craft brewing.

33 South Terrace, Fremantle WA 6160 (08) 9336 7666 beer@themonk.com.au Open every day 11:30am until late

WWW.TEMPLEBREWING.COM.AU

MOA BREWING COMPANY HAIRYMAN BREWERY Contract/Gypsy Services Unit 10, 12-14 Northumberland Road, Caringbah NSW 2229 (02) 9525 4050 info@hairyman.com.au www.hairyman.com.au

VIC

THE CRAFT & CO Brewery. Distillery. Eatery. Micro Dairy. Incorporating a craft brewery, distillery, eatery & micro-dairy onsite, there’s always things to drink, eat or shop for at The Craft & Co! 390 Smith St Collingwood (03) 9417-4755 info@thecraftandco.com.au www.thecraftandco.com.au

PRANCING PONY The Pony is an Experience. Based in the Adelaide Hills, watch the brewers at work as the brewhouse is in the middle of the brewery restaurant. We offer food matched or cooked with beers and with 16 beers on tap there is something for everybody. Join us for a brewery tour and check out our live entertainment. Come as you are, the brewery is family and dog friendly. Open 6 days a week (closed Tuesdays), call to book your table or brewery tour now. 08-8398 3881 or info@prancingponybrewery.com.au prancingponybrewery.com.au www.facebook.com/PrancingPonyBrewery twitter.com/prancingponysa www.instagram.com/prancingponybrewery

Jacksons Road, RD3 Blenheim Marlborough Tel: +64 3 572 5146 www.moabeer.com Visitors welcome Open 11am – 5pm or late, 7 days

Contract Brewing

GYPSY HUB Gypsy Hub a brand incubator working with brewers & distillers to bring their recipes to life on a commercial scale: -Planning & Logistics -Recipe Development -R&D -Onsite Packaging -Full Contract Brewing or Distilling -Gypsy Brewing or Distilling (03) 9924-4070 info@gypsyhub.com.au

COOPERS 461 South Road, Regency Park SA 5010 (08) 8440 1800 www.coopers.com.au Tours available 1pm Tuesday to Friday

96 www.beerandbrewer.com

COWARAMUP BREWING CO. North Treeton Road, Cowaramup WA 6284 (08) 9755 5822 www.cowaramupbrewing.com.au Tours available by appointment Open 7 days a week 11am – 6pm

SOUTHERN BAY CANNING NOW AVAILABLE We Contract Brew, Can, Bottle or Keg ALL Beverage Types www.SouthernBay.com.au Michael@SouthernBay.com.au Ph: 03 5248 5710

Distributors

FB*PROPAK

BEER IMPORTERS & DISTRIBUTORS Unit 5/20-28 Ricketty Street, Mascot NSW 2020 (02) 9667 3755 info@bidbeer.com www.bidbeer.com www.facebook.com/ BeerImportersDistributors Beers: Abita, Warsteiner, Greene King, Chimay, Duvel

Equipment

HOME MAKE IT WHOLESALE Home Make It’s new wholesale and trade division has been launched to help supply home and craft brewing businesses nationwide with quality, unique brewing supplies and equipment. Contact: Steve Lamberto Mobile 0412 865 783 Ph (03) 9487 1130 stevenl@homemakeit.com.au www.homemakeit.com.au/pages/ wholesale-trade

Education

96 Chifley Drive, Preston. VIC 3072 (03) 9487 1150 info@fbpropak.com www.fbpropak.com Specialised team has more than 50 years of experience in providing various brewing equipment solutions, including turnkey breweries, bottling/ canning lines, filtration, tanks, labellers, pilot/custom breweries, refrigeration and much more

Find out more about our brewing qualifications. www.central.op.ac.nz

Insurance

INSURANCE HOUSE Tailored solutions for microbrewers 1300 305 834 www.insurancehouse.com.au

VINIQUIP INTERNATIONAL Processing, Bottling and Packaging equipment Unit 4 Wineworks Complex 5 James Rochfort Place, Twyford (RD5) Hastings, New Zealand Tel: +64 6 8797799 Fax: +64 6 8794624 Mob: +64 21 588008 NZ Freephone: 0800 284647 AUSTRALIA Freephone: 1800 209370 www.viniquip.co.nz

Ingredients BINTANI

Love Brewing Beer?

NZ HOPS +64 3 544 8989 nzhops@nzhops.co.nz www.nzhops.co.n

+61 3 8587 9888 sales@bintani.com.au www.bintani.com.au Connecting brewers and distillers to the world’s best ingredients Malt: Joe White, Best Malz, Simpsons Malt, Briess Yeast: Fermentis Hops: the best US HOPS, Charles Faram European hops Finings and brewing aids.

Testing

FERMENT Australia-wide beer testing. Ph: 1300 30 2242 for your Free EastTest Sample Kit and free transport to your nearest laboratory. info@ferment.com.au www.ferment.com.au

Homebrew Directory VIC

HOME MAKE IT

HOP PRODUCTS AUSTRALIA +61 3 6282 2000 info@hops.com.au www.hops.com.au Hops: Proprietary - Ella, Enigma, Galaxy, Topaz, Vic Secret – imported and advanced hop products.

4/158 Wellington Road, Clayton VIC 3168 265 Spring Street, Reservoir VIC 3073 (03) 9487 1150 info@homemakeit.com.au www.homemakeit.com.au Twitter: @HomeMakeIt Specialists in home brew, beverage and food making equipment and supplies. Shop in-store or online

Summer 2019 97

A PINT WITH…

It’s going to places where it’s not right. And people who get a pint of cask beer they’re not happy with, only 40% of them will complain or take it back. But what they will do is not visit the pub again and tell their mates and they will avoid that beer again.

Q: WHAT’S THE REST OF THE UK CRAFT BEER SCENE LIKE? Over the past 12 months people have started to accept the fact that really big successful craft beer brands are going to get bought by major breweries. What we’ve got now is

Pete Brown WE CAUGHT UP WITH BRITISH BEER WRITER PETE BROWN AT BREWCON 2019 WHERE HE WAS THE KEYNOTE SPEAKER. THE AUTHOR OF NINE BOOKS ABOUT BEER, CIDER AND MORE, BROWN HAS BEEN NAMED BRITISH BEER WRITER OF THE YEAR IN 2009, 2012 AND 2016.

the mainstreaming of craft beer. I went to a gig last year, some global brewer has got exclusive pouring rights there and I thought, ‘oh, great, I’m going to have a glass of white wine instead’. And then I saw a Camden Pale pump clip because it’s now owned by AB InBev. If Camden had not been bought by AB InBev you would not be able to get a decent hoppy pale ale at the O2. And now you can. But the more you get big brands doing a good pale ale or a craft lager going mainstream, the more esoteric the beer bubble becomes in response to that. If the mainstream starts drinking hoppy pale ales, then the craft bubble is going to go and start drinking something else.

Q: YOU’VE BEEN WRITING ABOUT BEER SINCE 2003. WHAT FIRST DREW YOU TO WRITE ABOUT IT?

it was massively enjoyable, but there were

Q: WHAT CAN AUSTRALIAN CRAFT BREWERS DO TO CHAMPION THEIR BEERS?

only one or two interesting craft beers. It’s

‘Indpendence’ is not as loaded with meaning

really has changed in the last 15 years. It’s

for the consumer. There’s a whole bunch

I was always more interested in the cultural

a really vibrant scene now. There is even

of people to whom the independence of

and social aspects of beer before I got into the

an Australian craft beer style – Pacific ale –

breweries is really important. The issue is

product, styles and things like that. It’s just

which is distinctly Australian. I think that’s

that all those people are already drinking

this brilliant way of exploring the world. You

fantastic. ‘We’ve got these hops and we’ve

[independent] beer – craft or whatever – and

travel with it, you do history with it, you do

used them to create this style that suits our

that’s why they’re drinking it. The people

politics with it. I gave up a very well paid but

climate and our way of drinking’.

you’ve got to get hold of are the people who

quite soul-destroying job and now I’m at the

are quite happy to be drinking mass produced

Q: THE UK HAS A PROUD BREWING TRADITION IN CASK ALE. HOW’S THE CATEGORY DOING?

beer and don’t have a problem with it.

Q: HOW ARE YOU FINDING THE AUSTRALIAN SCENE?

Cask ale is having a lot of trouble. In my head,

it. And the people are good people and they

cask ale is craft beer. Fuller’s is considered

create a scene around it that’s a lot of fun’.

I think there’s a joyousness around beer

the pinnacle of craft beer except in the UK,

That’s how these brands are built. Without

here that is unequalled anywhere else. The

where it’s not a craft beer at all because it’s

the big budget to go on TV, you have to build

cheerfulness of it. I got into the business

old. When has that had anything to do with

them in a more personal way. Necessity

working on beer ads in the UK. Australia

anybody’s definition of craft? It’s a shame that

becomes a virtue. We’re small, we’re

is the only country in the world that has

in the UK we don’t treat it with the respect

intimate, with a personal touch. You engage

anything like the humour and class that

that any beer drinker around the world does.

with us, you don’t just buy our products from

British beer advertising used to have.

It’s been in 10% year on year decline. And the

us. You have an experience with us. That’s

issue is quality. It’s the pub companies’ fault.

the way to do it.

other end of the spectrum, where the quality of life is through the roof but I’m not earning very much!

When I was here in 2004, all that side of

98 www.beerandbrewer.com

People love stories. Couch it in a story. And the story is: ‘People leaving very good jobs to set up something they love for the love of

We believe that craft beers deserve crafted glasses.

These are our CRAFT BEER glasses. The Spiegelau Craft Beer Glasses have been approved by an expert tasting panel of master brewers and industry professionals. Focusing on beer enjoyment, members of the tasting workshop tested multiple glass shapes to find the best glass for India Pale Ale, Stout, and American Wheat Beer. In the expertsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; opinion, the custom-shaped glasses successfully deliver the complexity of aromas on the nose, while demonstrating the optimum beer texture, balance, and flavour intensity on the palate. Staying faithful to the spirit of Bavarian artisan craftsmanship, we have created these unique, functional glasses to bring out the best in complex craft beers.

The Craft Beer Range is available at David Jones, Myer and selected homewares stores or online at www.spiegelau.com.au