Beer & Brewer 57 Winter Teaser

THE 2021 BEST BEER VENUES AWARDS ISSUE – find all the winners inside!

INCLUDING

ISSUE 57 WINTER 2021 PRICE $9.95 (NZ $11.95)

THE LOW DOWN

ON NON-ALC CRAFT BEER

CHEERS

!

K C U CH

WATER PROFILES

OUR HOMEBREW SECTION WADES INTO THEM

CELEBRATING AN ICON’S 50 YEAR BREWING CAREER BEERS & BEERS CIDERS CRAFT

REVIEWED REVIEWED WWW.BEERANDBREWER.COM

PLUS! WINTER’S TOP PORTERS & STOUTS | NZ BREWING | 4 DIY RECIPES

CONTENTS

inside...

Winter 2021

FEATURES 10 Dr Charles ‘Chuck’ Hahn The 50 year career of a beer and brewing icon.

20 No and low alcohol beer The techniques craft brewers are using for best results.

30 Best beer venues

From one godfather about another – Charlie Papazian reflects on Chuck Hahn’s influence and expertise.

What are the top bars and brewpubs this year?

52 Canned beer The packaging format that knows no limits.

REGULARS 8 What’s on guide The beer festivals happening in Australia in Winter.

18 Behind the beer The Berliner Weisse with Aether Brewing.

28 Style shoot The Porters and Stouts to warm up with this Winter.

62 Food matching recipes Beer & Veg by Mark Dredge.

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66 86 beer reviews Our seasonal focus this issue is on the lovely darker beers.

81 Competition The winner of our craft beer review competition.

82 Directory The businesses servicing the beer and brewing industry.

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HOMEBREWER 40 Editor’s Letters 42 Q&A John Palmer looks at water chemistry.

44 Jake’s Brew Log Jake Brandish focuses on the Brown Ale.

46 New Zealand What’s happening in the brewing scene across the ditch?

49 Show us Yours We showcase our reader’s home brewing set ups.

50 DIY recipes

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46

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CHUCK HAHN

“EVERYTHING I HAVE ACCOMPLISHED OVER THE MANY YEARS HAVE BEEN REAL TEAM EFFORTS. I HAVE A GOOD PALATE FOR BEER AND LOTS OF GOOD IDEAS BUT IT’S ALWAYS THE PEOPLE YOU WORK WITH AND TRAIN THAT THEN REALLY PERFORM AND SUPPORT YOU.”

CELEBRATING THE 50 YEAR CAREER OF A BEER AND BREWING ICON

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CHUCK HAHN

Charles in charge HAVING SPENT A DECADE WITH THE COORS BREWING COMPANY IN COLORADO BEFORE MOVING TO AUSTRALIA IN 1981, CHUCK HAHN HAS SPENT THE LAST 40 YEARS HELPING TO CHANGE THE FACE OF BEER IN THIS PART OF THE WORLD. GIFFORD LEE SPOKE WITH HIM ABOUT HOW IT ALL BEGAN BUT ALSO A NUMBER OF KEY FIGURES WHO HAVE RUBBED SHOULDERS WITH HIM OVER THE YEARS.

A

little over 40 years ago, in the where would you rather be place of Bondi Beach in January, a then 35-year-old Dr Charles ‘Chuck’ Hahn, who had never been to Australia before, knew very little of the place or its people, let alone what its beer scene was like, sat eating fish and chips, looking over all that was

before him, and thought to himself: “I reckon I could live here. This is a bit of alright.”

Having spent the 10 years previous working in his American home town of Colorado at the Coors Brewing Company, he had been headhunted by the firm Egon Zehnder in the hope he would help oversee a redevelopment and modernisation program worth over a hundred million dollars at Tooth and Co – the one-time biggest brewing operator in New South Wales.

Tooth had brought him out to Sydney to see if they could tempt him away from his beloved ski slopes in the Rockies to make one of the world’s longest distance sea changes. Chuck had no comprehension of what the next four decades would bring him – the victories and the defeats – but for the similar lifestyle reasons that he got into brewing in the first place it didn’t take long before he was sold. And the beer and brewing landscape in Australasia, for he’s influenced what Kiwis think of beer too, would be forever changed by his decision to stay.

WINTER 2021 11

NO AND LOW ALCOHOL BEER

THE LOW DOWN AS BETTER QUALITY NO AND LOW ALCOHOL BEERS HAVE EMERGED OVER THE LAST 18 MONTHS SALES IN THE DRINKS CATEGORY HAVE TAKEN OFF AND ARE FORECAST TO SOAR. GIFFORD LEE TAKES A LOOK AT THE REASONS WHY AND SPEAKS WITH FOUR CRAFT BREWERIES THAT ARE FUELLING THE THIRST.

T

rue story. A woman

of catching up with friends in a bar with a

many quality options to choose from that go

in mid-to-late-term

drink in hand.

close to replicating the real thing. But how

pregnancy walks up to

And there it was for me, 12 to 18 months

are Australian craft brewers doing that?

the bar at lunchtime on

of incredible growth in the non-alcoholic

a Friday in the newly

drinks sector in this country explained and

THE RACE TO THE BOTTOM

revamped Harbord ‘Hilton’

encapsulated in one moment in time. I

Ever since launching with their Throwback

Hotel in the Sydney beachside suburb of

had been tasting the beers and writing the

mid-strength IPA back in 2015 Pirate Life have

Freshwater. Scanning a booze-laden drinks

stories but now I actually understood why it

been proving beer doesn’t need to skimp on

menu she looks up at the bartender and

was happening.

aroma and flavour just because its alcohol

asks: ‘Do you have Heaps Normal?’. When

While the last year or so has seen an

volume has been dialled down. So for their head

she’s presented with one of their alcohol-

explosion in sales of non-alcoholic craft beer

brewer Lewis Maschmedt it’s a pretty natural

free XPAs in a can, with a chilled schooner

in this country, which are tipped to grow

extension to now have Point Nine on the market

by its side, the look on her face spoke

by a further 16 per cent by 2024 for largely

– a 0.9% beer he said was originally created in

volumes of the feelings she was clearly

moderation and wellness trends, the reasons

2019 so it would hit shelves last year until some

experiencing on the inside. And suitably

that people choose to abstain have always

COVID-19-related delays prevented them from

chuffed off she walked back to her table and

been there. It’s just that now they don’t need

getting the brand underway.

carried on with the great Australian pastime

to settle for an orange juice as there are so

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“Like all things in the craft beer industry

NO AND LOW ALCOHOL BEER

the product is getting more extreme, only this time it’s a bit of a race to the bottom with ABV unlike a few years back when everyone was trying to out Imperial each other,” Lewis said.

“And like any beer style, I think that craft brewers are going to put their creative weight behind it and start to produce some killer beers. It would be really epic if low alc offerings, across a range of styles, became a bigger part of the story.”

Pirate Life used a cold mashing process to create Point Nine which allowed them to get a solid extraction of the proteins, beta-glucans, Maillard products and other highly water soluble compounds in the malt but leave the majority of the starch behind in the lauter tun.

The low extract efficiency means you get a low ABV beer but all the other malt compounds, along with a solid dose of hops, helps build better flavour, texture, aroma and head retention.

“We brew using Pale malt with a few specialty malts in there for colour and flavour. The hops used are mostly low alpha New Zealand varieties with a little tickle of US ones in there for a bit of piney goodness.

“We ferment it using our house yeast and, aside from the very quick primary fermentation, the cellaring process is the same as any of our other beers. The dry hop volumes started a bit conservative but we have bumped them up incrementally to roughly the same amount as our other Pale Ales so expect the hoppiness to rise from batch one to batch three.”

There’s an incremental journey going on with the ABV as well. Lewis said Pirate Life will be experimenting with a range of low alcohol beers in their taproom this year as they not only search for the perfect representation of the style but also where consumer preferences sit.

“We always looked at the major challenge of brewing low alcohol beers as compromising on product and flavour as little as possible. 0.9% ABV seemed like a good halfway point. If you are moderating it allows you to have a few beers and continue to function and it sits under the excise limit so the consumer doesn’t have to pay for the small amount of alcohol that is in there. You can expect this beer, or something similar, to be in our range going forward. I think this is one of those times where you need to listen to the consumer and really understand what they are searching for in this category. It’s growing so fast that it’s hard to put a finger on where tastes are going to land.”

There’s no hiding the fact that alcohol plays a big part in the flavour of the beers that we all love so much, so when you take it out it invariably leaves a big hole. But Pirate Life aren’t ones to shy away from the challenge.

“I have started getting into reading and watching videos about vegan cooking because the chefs in that realm are masters of mimicking the flavour and mouthfeel of animal products using alternative ingredients,” Lewis said. “Vegan ice cream is a good example. There are some people out there making great products with zero dairy in there which is pretty amazing. We are very lucky that we can experiment a lot with the four brew kits we operate and the intention is certainly to try as many different techniques and ingredients as we can imagine to make a low alc beer that won’t be discernible from its higher ABV counterparts.”

“IT’S GROWING SO FAST THAT IT’S HARD TO PUT A FINGER ON WHERE TASTES ARE GOING TO LAND,” LEWIS MASCHMEDT, PIRATE LIFE WINTER 2021 21

BEER & BREWER AWARDS

2021

BEER & BREWER BEST BEER VENUES

OUR AWARDS RETURN TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE BEST BEER VENUE AND BREWPUB IN AUSTRALIA. WRITTEN AND COMPILED BY GIFFORD LEE.

A

2021 Best Beer Venues

fter the year and more we’ve all had the utter joy of standing at the bar of your local pub or brewpub with a glass of fresh beer in hand may never be taken for granted again and Beer & Brewer is more excited than ever to be recognising the venues that provide that

pleasure. And just maybe this year’s awards for our Best Beer Venue and Best Brewpub in Australia hold a different meaning than before as the things we hold so dear and value the most have been brought into closer focus because they were taken away from us for so long in 2020.

To determine this year’s winners we have conducted a weighted points voting system where a number of votes are allocated to a particular venue depending on where it was placed in the judge’s top five list. Therefore, despite multiple amazing venues making a judge’s list, if they weren’t consistently voted for across the panel they lost out through the share weight of numbers against them.

And we know awards are fickle things. They are a reflection of a moment in time that has then been reflected by a judging panel. Australia’s beer bars and brewpubs are world-class and we salute them all.

The judges Rushani Epa Timeout Melbourne, Food & Drink Editor

Vanessa Cavasinni Australian Hotelier, Editor

Liam Pereira Batch Brewing Group, Venue Manager

Jono Outred Beer Writer

Chris Lukianenko The Beer Healer Marie Claire Jarratt New South Ales Andy Young TheShout, Editor

Justin Fox Bintani, Head of Sales Tim Charody The Beer Pilgrim Ross Lewis The Sip, Editor

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Richard Kelsey Beer Cartel, Director Simon Collins The West Australian, Journalist Tiffany Waldron Pink Boots Society AU, President James Atkinson Drinks Adventures

Sammy Preston Urban List, Sydney Editor Rick Stephens Urban List, Melbourne Editor Ioana Dragnef Urban List, QLD Editor Claire Logan Urban List, Perth Editor

Clint Weaver Pocketbeagles

Dorian Broomhall Beer Writer

Jessie Jungalwalla Craft Instinct, Pack Leader

Harrison Westlake The Brew Hop

Grace Irwin Hop Products Australia, Marketing Specialist Michael Capaldo Hop Products Australia, National Sales Manager

Matt Farrelly & Joslyn Erickson Hop On Brewery Tours Connor Tracey-Patte Plonk Beer & Wine Gifford Lee Beer & Brewer, Editor

2021 Best Beer Venues

BEST BEER VENUE WINNER 2021

#1 Royal Albert Hotel 140 Commonwealth St, Surry Hills NSW 2010 royalalberthotel.com.au

Just what makes a beer venue great? That question was challenged more than ever this year by our judges as COVID forced us all to re-evaluate just what was truly important – not just in a pub but in every facet of life. And one of the things we discovered was that beer, while obviously integral, wasn’t the be-all-and-end-all. The most important things were a trusted familiarity, of being a truly local establishment and of being something to everyone.

In the 10th anniversary year since he bought the nigh on 100-year-old venue, publican Mick Bain said the 2021 award was recognition of the Albert simply being a pub with good beer principles.

“We’ve never tried to have the biggest, baddest, most ridiculous beers. We’ve always had a lager, we’ve always had a pilsner and a pale ale. At least 60 per cent of our customers aren’t beer nerds – they just want to come to a pub and have a beer.

“And I think it is consistency. We’ve always prided ourselves on the basics of good beer – good staff knowledge and super clean beer lines. We’re basically just an old school pub and I’m an old school publican where things like clean beer taps and glasses and properly refrigerated beer is of the utmost importance. There are four or five old school pub rules to go by and it’s something we’ve always done here and I

“WE’VE ALWAYS PRIDED OURSELVES ON THE BASICS OF GOOD BEER,” MICK BAIN

think is one of the keys to our success.”

WHAT THE PANEL SAID: “A stand-out performer when it comes to curating a balanced list of outstanding beers and ensuring they reach the customer in peak condition.”

“A great range of beers that change regularly and are from all over the country. Mick’s always good for a chat and a recommendation and you’ve got to love those dumplings!”

“A champion of Australia’s craft beer scene for many years.”

“Mick’s Taps ‘n Tins initiative last year to save keg beer from the drain has to be one of the beer and brewing industry’s most endearing memories of the shit storm that was 2020.”

WINTER 2021 31

Q&A

Water profiles JOHN PALMER, THE GURU OF HOME BREWING, RESPONDS TO A READER’S LETTER REGARDING WATER CHEMISTRY.

S

ometimes it’s hard to see

MALTY, BALANCED OR HOPPY

information to the previous edition (2006).

the forest for the trees

Fortunately, it is not a difficult choice.

I took everything I learned about adjusting

and so it is with choosing

You have essentially three options: malty,

brewing water from the Water book (2013)

a water profile for your

balanced or hoppy. If you want to accentuate

and distilled it into chapters 21 and 22. One

recipe. But hopefully I can

the maltiness of a beer, you would look at

of those distillations is the Brew Cube on

help you see that forest

your water profile and add more chloride

page 364. The Brew Cube is an easy way to

for what it really is. The primary reason we

than sulfate, such that the concentration of

get a better understanding of how beer style

adjust our brewing water by adding salts

chloride ion was between 50-150 ppm, and

and water profile relate to one another.

and acid is to hit our target mash pH. This

the sulfate concentration in the water was

Briefly, the colour of the beer correlates with

is in the range of 5.2-5.6 as measured 5-15

approximately half of that. If you wanted

the Residual Alkalinity of the water profile,

minutes after doughing in, by taking a

a more balanced profile, equally malty and

with the goal being to achieve your target

sample of wort and cooling it to near room

hoppy, you would make the concentrations

mash pH. The beer style flavour balance

temperature before measuring it with a

more even. They don’t have to be exact,

corresponds to the sulfate to chloride ratio,

calibrated digital pH meter.

but within 10-20 per cent of each other.

and the mineral structure (of the style soft,

If you want to accentuate the dryness and

medium, or firm) is the magnitude of the

to accentuate the beer flavours. There is

hoppiness of the beer, then you would

seasoning and corresponds to the calcium

no single answer to what the correct water

add more sulfate than chloride, to a ratio

concentration of the water profile that you

profile for a recipe should be because it

of 2:1 or 3:1 – even up to 5:1, but I don’t

build. I should note that most beer styles are

depends on the ingredients in that beer

recommend exceeding 300 ppm sulfate, even

soft or medium, meaning the total amount

recipe and on your tastes. Do you stress

for a West Coast IPA. The amount of calcium

of salts that you add to the water (as

about the water profile for your soup? No,

salts that you add, and the final water profile

represented by the final calcium

because you adjust it to your taste and it

is up to you. There is no optimum profile,

concentration) should be low or medium,

should be the same with your beer. Once

there are only guidelines and what you think

otherwise the beer could taste minerally or

you have the mash pH in the right ballpark,

tastes good. Typically, you need at least 50

even metallic.

the beer pH should fall in line as well

ppm of an ion to have an effect, and you

(typically 4.0-4.6). As I say in the 2017

don’t want to exceed 150 ppm, although

how do you know what mineral profile to use

edition of How To Brew, chapter 21, page 332,

sulfate is the exception.

for the Behemoth Here Comes a Shower Beer

The second reason is to season the beer

using the spaghetti sauce example: “The

So, getting back to your original question of

Hazy Session IPA? Well, given the fact that

pH of the beer controls the way flavours are

THE BREW CUBE

it is a hazy IPA, you surmised correctly that

expressed to your palate, while the water

I explain all of this in chapter 22 Adjusting

you would want more chloride that sulfate.

profile – the minerals in the water – are the

Water for Style in How To Brew. If you don’t

But that is Step 2. We need to begin with the

seasonings for your beer”. And that choice

have the 2017 edition, I strongly suggest

source water. Since I don’t know what your

is yours to make.

you get it because I added 200 pages of

(or their) source water might be, I will use the

42 Home Brewer

BEHEMOTH HAZY SESSION IPA Step 1 Source water: Here’s an example surface water profile for Wellington. The mineral levels are all less than 20 ppm, with the exception of the Total Alkalinity, but even that is less than 50 ppm.

This water is fine to use as-is, although you may want to carbon filter it, or add ascorbic acid to remove any residual chlorine/chloramine.

WELLINGTON NZ SURFACE WATER PROFILE Calcium

Magnesium

Total Alkalinity

Sulfate

Chloride

Sodium

Residual Alkalinity

8

2

30

3

10

8

23

Step 2 Adding Salts: The first priority is to achieve target mash pH and we can help that by increasing the calcium and magnesium. The hazy IPA style is typically soft, and this is a session hazy, so it should be softer as well, therefore a suggested calcium level of 50-75 ppm per the Brew Cube. Using brewing software, such as the Palmer Water Adjustment app on your phone, you can add 6 grams of calcium chloride and 2 grams of magnesium sulfate to 30 litres of water to achieve a profile of: water report for Wellington in New Zealand. There are two basic kinds of water: surface and ground.

Surface water is low mineral, high organics. Ground water is usually high mineral, low organics. The low mineral content of surface water – all mineral

SALT ADDITIONS TO WELLINGTON SURFACE WATER PROFILE Calcium

Magnesium

Total Alkalinity

Sulfate

Chloride

Sodium

Residual Alkalinity

63

9

30

29

106

8

(–20)

concentrations less that 50 ppm, indeed, often less than 20 ppm – means that you can add your brewing salts to it without really worrying about the initial composition, because you are generally looking at additions that will result in concentrations between 50-100 ppm or higher. Ground water on the other hand, often has significant mineral levels (50-ish ppm) and high alkalinity – often greater than 100 ppm. Alkalinity generally needs to be neutralised with acid before brewing pale beers, but it balances the acidity of caramel and roast malts in amber or dark beers.

This is a better profile because it boosts the calcium to the recommended minimum level of 50 ppm and increases the magnesium, which is always good for the yeast health. The chloride is about 100 ppm, which is decent, and the sulfate level is low, which will help the beer taste fuller and less dry. The residual alkalinity is better, but probably should go lower, towards –100 per the Brew Cube.

Step 3 Adding Acid: To achieve a residual alkalinity of –100, the brewing software recommends the addition of 4ml of 88 per cent lactic acid to the 30 litres of water we are treating. This changes the profile to:

ACID ADDITION TO WELLINGTON SURFACE WATER PROFILE Calcium

Magnesium

Total Alkalinity

Sulfate

Chloride

Sodium

Residual Alkalinity

63

9

(–49)

29

106

8

(–98)

Step 4 The actual additions: This water profile should produce a very good session hazy IPA. It is a soft profile, but provides sufficient calcium and magnesium for yeast health, the right sort of sulfate to chloride ratio and chloride level for the style, and enough negative residual alkalinity to hit a mash pH target around 5.4. To actually build this water, I would put the 30 litres in either the hot liquor tank or mash tun and add the 4ml of lactic acid. I would stir to mix the acid and neutralise the alkalinity, and then add the 6 grams of calcium chloride and 2 grams of magnesium sulfate. Adding the acid first will help the salts to dissolve more easily. Stir until the salts are dissolved, then proceed with the brew.

In summary, you need to understand that there is no single perfect mineral profile because it depends on what you like. The calcium chloride could easily be swapped for calcium sulfate to change the hop character to a more West Coast style, or both could be used to make it more balanced. That choice is up to you. Remember: beer and brewing is food and cooking.

WINTER 2021 43

FOOD MATCHING

BEER & VEG

COMBINING GREAT CRAFT BEER WITH VEGETARIAN AND VEGAN FOOD

AS WELL AS DISHING UP OVER 70 RECIPES THIS EXCELLENT BOOK FROM MARK DREDGE IS THE IDEAL COMPANION FOR ANYONE WANTING TO LEARN THE ART OF MATCHING A WORLD OF FOOD WITH THE FULL SPECTRUM OF BEER STYLES.

B

eer is the ultimate plantbased drink. It’s a product of the ground, the seasons, and different regions. It sprouts, grows, flowers, gets harvested, and then it begins its change

into beer, helped by the hands of the brewers, and shaped by time and place. Beer is made from plants and it goes really well with plants. It’s time to celebrate that with this book.

Look around the world at the most famous dishes that go with beer and it’s all meat, meat, meat: Belgian beer stews, meat and ale pies, schnitzels, knuckles, sausages, wings, fried fish, steamed mussels…. Beer food means meat. Or it meant meat, because those old, traditional dishes no longer truly reflect the modern world and the drinker who’s likely to eat a broader diet, one more focused on plant-based foods.

And this book looks to right the ledger.

Before it even goes into the recipes to make at home it provides comprehensive detail about which characteristics of food and beer are complementary and therefore setting the reader on the path of understanding how to pair the flavours in food with the different styles of beers.

It might be a British book but Australian beers feature heavily with the likes of Balter’s XPA (roast veg, mozzarella and pesto sandwich), Your Mates’ Larry (laksa) and Modus Operandi’s Former Tenant (tomato and herb focaccia) getting singled out with food matching ideas.

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This is an edited extract from Beer & Veg by Mark Dredge published by Dog n’ Bone, Ryland Peters & Small. RRP $39.99

FOOD MATCHING

IPA BHAJI BAKES & MANGO IPA CHUTNEY Vegan, serves 8 – match with a Hazy Pale Ale, Hazy IPA or Pilsner Ingredients For the chutney: 1 mango, peeled and diced 1 garlic clove, crushed 1cm fresh ginger, peeled and grated 3 tbsp caster sugar Pinch of cumin seeds Pinch of chili flakes 1 tsp salt Juice of 1⁄2 lime 60ml white wine vinegar 30ml Hazy IPA For the bhajis: 3 tbsp vegetable oil 100g chickpea flour 60–90ml Hazy IPA 1 tsp salt 1⁄2 tsp each: ground cumin, ground coriander, ground turmeric, chili powder and black pepper Pinch of cinnamon Pinch of fennel seeds, crushed 1 large carrot, grated 1 large cooked beetroot, grated 1 large white onion, cut into rings

Method 1. First, make the chutney. Put the mango, garlic, ginger and sugar in a pan over a medium heat and cook until the sugar dissolves. Add the rest of the ingredients, saving the beer till last, then simmer until it’s thick and sticky, and the mango is very soft. Set aside to cool.

2. Preheat the oven to 200°C and line a large baking sheet with baking paper and 2 tablespoons of the oil. In a large bowl, combine the flour, 1 tablespoon of oil, and enough beer for it to form a thick batter.

Stir in the spices and seasoning.

3. Squeeze out excess water from the carrot and beetroot and add to the batter along with the onion. Stir into a thick mix, adding more beer if necessary—it should be thick enough to shape with your hands into balls.

4. Shape the mixture into 8 balls and place on the baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown and properly cooked through.

WINTER 2021 63

The ultimate travel guide showcasing Australia’s amazing breweries, taprooms & brewpubs

THE

GREAT AUSTRALIAN BREWERY GUIDE Free with the Spring issue of Beer & Brewer!

Not yet a subscriber? Head to subscribe.beerandbrewer.com For breweries wanting to be involved, or to find out more information, contact Beer & Brewer’s sales manager Craig Manning cmanning@intermedia.com.au 0418 869 853