Froth Craft Beer Magazine

CRAFT BEER MAGAZINE EDITION 12 NOV 2016 Independent.

Awesome. Free.

Letter from the editor

SO – exciting news! We totally made it to one year of Froth!

Fancy that. I hope you have enjoyed this wild ride.

I certainly have!

In this one-year anniversary edition we investigate all things sciencey and awesome about brewing. From yeasty revelations to hop science and the secrets of malt, we nerd out pretty hard on all things beerrelated. We visit La Sirene brewery in Melbourne’s inner north to chat with those unique yeast-wranglers, we match beers with songs and books, and chat to the interesting home brewer who makes beer in pumpkins. We review our favourite IPAs, investigate why some beers taste like sausages and test our top smoky beers.

In our spare time we’ve also been getting our Froth website up and running, so feel free to check out frothbeer.com for some extra stories and fun times. From the whole team at Froth, we hope you enjoy this new edition!

Cheers, Emily Day – Froth editor

Contents

06 Beer News 08 Taste: It’s All In Your Mind

We check out what’s going down in the Aussie beer scene Mathias Uller Rothmann takes us on a journey through the science of the senses and explains why some beers taste like sausages

09 10 The History of Yeast 12 Everybody Loves the Fungi 14 IPA Reviews 16 La Sirène Call

There’s No Smoke Without Fire

David Fowler pens love letters to his favourite smoky beers Beer historian Will Ziebell reveals the juicy backstory of this sneaky little beast Belinda Smith delves into the scientific wonders of yeast Hop-lover Dan McEvilly dives into six hoppy Australian brews We meet the inner Melbourne brewery harnessing yeast with heavenly results

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Froth Craft Beer Magazine is an independent publication published in Melbourne.

Independent. Awesome. Free.

Publisher: Alfie Dog Media Editor: Emily Day Printer: Printgraphics Design: Clint Weaver (@pocketbeagles) Contributors: Dan McEvilly, Scott Trainor, Pia Poynton, Will Ziebell, Bree Stewart, Tim Stevens, Gemma Mahadeo, Sarah “Salty” Otton, David Fowler, Mathias Uller Rothmann, Chris Thompson, Daniel Parsons-Jones, Silvia Day, Emily Day. Printed by Printgraphics in Melbourne on paper produced using sustainable forestry practices.

Cartoon: Michael Alesich Frothword: Oliver Hayes Cover Art: Clint Weaver clint@pocketbeagles.co

All information © Alfie Dog Media.

The opinions of the contributors are not necessarily those of the publisher.

For editorial and advertising inquiries, contact frothbeermag@gmail.com Want Froth sent to your home?

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18 Barley Regal 19 The Black Magic of Hops 20 Sh*t My Mum Says About Craft Beer 22 Home Brew Heroes

Scott Trainor discovers why the story of malt has a grain of truth Chemistry whiz Chris Thompson probes the inner life of Humulus lupulus Silvia Day samples beers from Himmel Hund and Hobart Brewing Company Daniel Parsons-Jones reveals how he brewed beer in pumpkins (I heard it was a bit of a squash)

23 We’re Not Done With Hops Just Yet 26 What’s In A Rider?

26 Beer & Books

Sarah “Salty” Otton gets extremely science-y about this fascinating flower Timothy Stevens chats to Ness Thornton from Aussie legends Jebediah Gemma Mahadeo sips Birra Del Borgo’s tobacco beer while perusing one of the most important feminist tomes of the decade

27 Beer Beats 28 Fun Pages

Music fan Bree Stewart compares her fave brews with songs Enjoy our science-themed Frothword, Crafty Comic and Mostly Beer Quiz!

hank you so much to all the brilliant people who help to make Froth possible: Darren Smith, Kelly Morton, David and Silvia Day, Kelly Day, Frida Rowe, Sam Keen at Printgraphics, Michael Alesich, Oliver Hayes, Dan McEvilly, Scott Trainor, Daniel Parsons-Jones, Bree Stewart, Tim Stevens, Gemma Mahadeo, Sarah “Salty” Otton, Pia Poynton, Will Ziebell, Marie Claire Jarratt, David Fowler, Mathias Uller Rothmann, Chris Thompson, Graham Frizzell, Scott Kirkaldy, Art Moss, Mick Stylianou, Liam O’Hare, Foresters, the Catfish, BeerMash, Suzi Owen from Purvis Beer, the nice young men at McCoppins, Maddie from Cellarbrations, La Sirène, and all the awesome businesses that bought ads, which is the only way we support ourselves. And massive naming-all-of-mychildren-after-you thanks to super talented Froth designer Clint Weaver for being simply the biggest legend. 

Beer News B

rewpubs and new bars are the order of the month in Melbourne at the moment. Award-winning gypsy brewer Brewcult, famous for their delicious Thanks Captain Obvious IPA and Milk & Two Sugars Stout, is opening a bar in midNovember at 581 Sydney Road, Brunswick (former site of My Handlebar). Brewer Steve “Hendo” Henderson says they will have 10 taps pouring Brewcult’s core range plus a couple of seasonals and bonus beers.

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orquay brewpub Blackman’s Brewery has some exciting news with the opening of their second venue – a laneway beer bar in Geelong. Showcasing 10 taps, they will be pouring Blackman’s core range with room for single batches, seasonals and the odd guest beer. Renn and Jess Blackman have been working for the past year to convert an old stable building into a craft beer bar, dedicated to spreading their great love and appreciation of good beer. Located in the ever-growing Little Malop St Precinct, Blackman’s Brewery Bar is in great company and is already teaming up with neighbouring local hot spots – serving the goods from The Hot

Hunger pangs will be served by a kitchen making tasty pizzas. Situated right on the No. 19 tram line and a short walk from Anstey train station, this bar is sure to be a hit. Keep up to date with their progress on Facebook and Instagram @brewcultbar.

Chicken Project on Saturday nights, offering a rotating wine list curated by the Union Street Wine Bar and pouring a collaboration Coffee Lager with Cartel Coffee Roasters. Blackman’s will also be teaming up with Hugh and Chris from the Little Green Corner every quarter for a beer and food pairing night. “We are pretty pumped to open our doors in Geelong – we can’t wait to have a few beers and get to know our neighbours,” says brewer Renn.

Blackman’s Brewery Bar is located at Dennys Place, Geelong (just off Little Malop Street behind Beav’s Bar). Open Tues-Thurs 4.30pm10pm, Fri-Sat 4.30pm-11pm and Sun 3pm-8pm. www.blackmansbrewery.com.au Jess Blackman at Blackman Brewery’s new Geelong bar.

Photo: Timothy Marriage

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eanwhile, Preston just keeps getting cooler with Tallboy & Moose setting up at 270 Raglan Street, just off High Street, an easy eight-minute stroll north of Carwyn Cellars. The bar, which opened on October 21, is the brainchild of Canadian Steve Germaine (above right, formerly of Phoenix Beers) and Dan Hall (above left, former brewer at Hawkers, Brewcult and Moon Dog). Set in an open-plan warehouse it has eight craft beers on tap, take-away growler fills and heaps of local food options including the kebab guy across the street.

House beers in the line-up include the Deep Steep (chamomile amber ale), Only Ella (single-hop pale ale), Tallboy’s Cream Ale (easy-drinker) and Tallboy’s Table Beer (balanced mid-strength). Open Fridays and Saturdays for the moment, but stay tuned for more www.tallboyandmoose.com RANDOM BEER FACT The study of beer and beer-making has an official scientific name – zythology. It derives from the Greek words “zythos” (beer) and “logos” (study).

froth correspondent Pia Poynton brings us all the latest beer news from western australia.

It’s all about cans in WA right now with Mash, Nail and Feral Brewing all set to release beers in tins before the year is finished.

Feral will celebrate the release of their Sly Fox, War Hog and Perth Local cans at their annual Feral Fest event on 11 November.

As Mash prepare to welcome cans into the world they have also started to unveil new branding too, created by Australian artist Ian Mutch, who also did the artwork for the Colonial Small Ale tinnies.

Eagle Bay has released their Steam Ale, a regular spring release for the brewery, available in both bottles and on tap. Fellow south-west brewery Colonial have also released something new, an Australian IPA featuring an all Aussie line-up of ingredients, available on tap.

New brewery Otherside Brewing Co launched a Festive Ale, an Australian summer ale that will be available on tap at selected beer-loving venues.

In festival news, WA Beer Week starts on November 11, kicking off with the annual Freo BeerFest. The 10-day festival features a variety of events such as tap takeovers, beer dinners and, for the third year, Beer Through The Ages is back where three collab brews go head-to-head, with each beer being made by different generations of the WA brewing industry: it’s the under-30s versus the over-30s versus the legends. Find out more at www.wabeerweek.com.au

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ave you ever tasted a beer and thought, “Damn, how does this taste so much like gingerbread?” Or maybe you’ve had a German rauchbier and realised that smoked sausages aren’t the only delicious savoury and smoky things around. Some beers are bitter, some are sweet. Some smell like pine-cone resin, others like horse blanket. How does coffee, chocolate, and vanilla make it into your delicious imperial stout? To answer this question, we need to know a bit about what taste is and what beer is made out of.

You might think that you taste with your tongue, but this is only part of the truth. In fact, your tongue is only really responsible for your experience of the five (more have been suggested but not verified) basic flavours: sweetness, sourness, bitterness, saltiness and umami (savoury).

These flavours are triggered when different compounds react chemically with taste receptor cells on your tastebuds, which are bundled up in the little bumps you can see on your tongue, called papillae. Each papilla contains hundreds of tastebuds, with each bud containing 50 to 100 taste receptor cells, and a total of about 50,000 receptor cells cover your tongue. Each cell is sensitive to a particular compound: hydrogen ions for sourness, alkali metals for saltiness, and simple carbohydrates for sweetness, for example. When the right compound reacts with a cell, a signal is sent to the brain, making you experience that basic flavour.

The world would be pretty boring if we only perceived the five basic flavours, so fortunately our noses have some pretty banging tricks of their own. All the way at the back of your nasal passage is your olfactory epithelium, about 10cm2 of specialised tissue, covered in about 6 million olfactory receptor neurons.

When odorant molecules pass through the nose they dissolve into smaller parts in the nasal mucus, and receptors on the neurons sensitive to only a certain feature of the smell detect the presence of each feature. When a certain receptor is triggered, it sends a signal to the olfactory bulb – the part of the brain responsible for perceiving smell. Here, about 1200 tiny spherical structures called glomeruli (singular: glomerulus) receive signals from the receptors in the nose, with each odorant feature activating a different glomerulus. The combination, or pattern, of activated glomeruli unique to each aroma is what allows the brain to decode odorant molecules into what we perceive as smell. When you think about it, your brain already has every smell possible stored in it, we just happen to unlock it when we smell something!

So how does beer get its flavour? Beer is made from four basic ingredients: water, malt, hops, and yeast, plus whatever else a brewer puts in it. Each ingredient adds flavour and mouthfeel characteristics that our nose and mouth pick up on.

Taste: it’s all in your mind Mathias Uller Rothmann explores why some beers taste like sausages while others taste like gingerbread.

“The world would be pretty boring if we only perceived the five basic flavours, so fortunately our noses have some pretty banging tricks of their own.”

Some of the flavours in beer can be recognised from other things, the distinct banana flavour found in German-style wheat beers being a classic example. The yeast used in these beers produces a compound called isoamylacetate, which is also used as artificial banana flavouring. When isoamylacetate is detected by the olfactory neurons, the pattern specific to banana lights up in the brain, and you taste and smell banana.

To make a beer taste like gingerbread, a brewer picks flavours characteristic to gingerbread, such as ginger, nutmeg, mixed spice and some brown sugar sweetness. The first three ingredients can be added to the beer during the boil, extracting essential oils that are released with the CO2 in the beer, whereas the sweetness comes from picking the right combination of caramelised malts and choosing the right cooking (mashing) temperature.

Slightly increasing the temperature increases the amount of unfermentable sugars left behind in the final beer, giving viscosity and malty sweetness.

When combining all these sensory inputs, the brain lights up in a gingerbread combination, and your beer tastes like gingerbread!

Roasting malts initially caramelises the sugars in them, up to a point where they effectively are burnt. This is similar to roasting coffee and cocoa beans, which is why stouts often display bitter chocolate and coffee flavours. Smoking malts or meat over wood imparts a smoky and savoury flavour, common to both rauchbiers and smoked meats.

So next time you sip a beer and it reminds you of banana ice cream, smoked kransky, or bitter hot chocolate, take a moment to appreciate the awesomeness of how your brain interprets what you put in your mouth and turns it into flavour. After all, it’s all in your head.

THERE’S NO SMOKE WITHOUT FIRE

DAVID FOWLER REVIEWS SEVEN SMOKY BEERS

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eer is probably the oldest alcoholic beverage in the world, dating back at least several thousands of years to when our ancestors discovered the magic formula to turn boring cereals and people into interesting drinks and people. One of the integral ingredients to this process is malt, which is made by forcing cereal grains to germinate and then arresting that process by drying them out quickly.

One of the ways to dry the grains, at least in neolithic times, was with the application of good old dependable fire, the smoke imparting its own flavour to the final product as a natural outcome of the process.

However, by the mid-19th century the rise of kiln drying all but killed off the style, with only a few German breweries continuing to produce rauchbier (meaning smoke beer) as they called it.

I first tried smoky beers at 7Stern Bräu, a small brewpub in Vienna in 2012. As someone who never smoked and can’t even sniff peaty Scotch whisky without gagging, I somehow immediately fell in love with the smoothness and gentle woody burn.

Thankfully, it’s now very easy to find a wide selection of smoked beers to quench your smouldering thirst.

red hill brewery imperial stout As most of the beers in the smoky line-up of this tasting are dark and heavy on the alcohol, I decided to start with a Red Hill Brewery ‘Imperial Stout’ to set a benchmark for zero smokiness. The syrupy, rich, and thick drop is the colour of motor oil but tastes a whole lot nicer. At 8.1% it’s far too easy to drink. Dangerous.

3 ravens dark smoke beer Next was 3 Ravens ‘Dark Smoke Beer’, which was probably the closest to that first rauchbier in Vienna.

While it lacked the big alcohol punch of some of the other smoked beers, being only 5%, it made up for it by being an uncomplicated example of how to cultivate great flavours without resorting to too much mucking about. On a scale of 0 to 10 for smokiness, 0 being none and 10 being shovelling the contents of an ashtray into my mouth, I’d say this was about a 4/10. stillwater artisanal surround ‘Surround’, one of the contemporary works from Stillwater Artisanal in the US, was the most alcoholic of the bunch at 10%. Rich and lingering, the oaksmoked imperial wheat stout definitely threw some sweetness into the mix. I almost felt like I was drinking something candied and a bit naughty, but worth getting into trouble for. The smoke in this one was more of an extra string in the bow rather than a predominant characteristic, at 3/10. dainton sneaky son smoking stout Dainton Family Brewing’s ‘Sneaky Son Smoking Stout’ was another easy-drinking entry to this list, albeit another dangerous one at 7.5%. Surprisingly bright given the style, it hinted at licorice and coffee.

Definitely worth a try if you want something creamy, smoky and smooth. 6/10 for smokiness, I could have happily have drunk this all day. moon dog black lung vi Moon Dog are known for their outlandish approach to brewing and for never backing away from high-alcohol concoctions. At 9% ABV, ‘Black Lung VI’ is only about half the strength of some of their other stouts but it’s probably for the best, as it definitely hits you with the booze straightaway. Aged in whisky barrels, it’s peaty, caramelly, chocolaty and a bit spicy. Smokewise, the label gives you the right idea, a good 7/10. de molen bloed, zweet & tranen De Molen ‘Bloed, Zweet & Tranen’, which you can translate on your own without the benefit of my very limited grasp of Dutch, is advertised on the bottle as smoked stout-ish. It smells like a campfire that someone threw plastic into, although in a good way.

The taste can be described, more favourably, as a syrupy mix of lots and lots of rubbery peat, burnt chocolate and charred meat, with a nice bitter finish. At 8.2% the booze also hits you pretty hard, as does the smoke, at a list-topping 8/10.

Red Duck Dude You Smoked My Cherry Red Duck’s limited-release ‘Dude, You Smoked My Cherry’ was the odd man out in this selection by virtue of being an ale, coming in a 500ml bottle and being lightly sour. Perhaps I did this beer a disservice by having it after the huge alcohol and smoke stouts, as I initially found it a little too thin for my liking.

However, by the second glass I found it quite pleasant to drink. Despite the name, I could only discern wisps of smokiness in this one – around 2/10, although your mileage may vary.

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The History of Yeast Yeast. It’s millions of years old, lives almost everywhere and makes booze and bread. Pretty handy. Yet for most of the time that people have made alcohol, yeast has been something of an unknown entity in the process; a hidden catalyst that turned sweet wort into delicious beer. You only need to look to history’s most famous beer law, the Reinheitsgebot, to understand how overlooked yeast has been.

While the 1516 Bavarian Purity Law states that beer should only be made of barley, hops and water, the single-celled microorganism receives no mention simply because nobody knew about them.

Despite the fact that ancient brewers couldn’t actually see or explain yeast, they were still somewhat aware of it. The earliest alcohols would have been spontaneously fermented with wild yeasts in the air; a process still used today perhaps most famously by Belgium’s lambic brewers.

Over time, brewers realised that the dregs from their tastiest beers could be used again and again so that some kind of consistency could be maintained. This process was similar to the work of the earliest farmers, who selected the seeds from the best fruit to be sown again in the next season. Over time this led to the propagation and use of the most desirable yeasts for brewing; those that were best able to turn sugars into alcohol.

This process of reusing yeast likely existed almost wherever alcohol was made and for many centuries, even if nobody really knew what was going on. It took the invention of the microscope, and the work of Dutch scientist Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek, for yeast to finally come out from the shadows.

Born in 1632, Van Leeuwenhoek is often referred to as the “Father of Microbiology” and was originally in the cloth-making game. Determined to better examine his threads, Leeuwenhoek developed his own lenses which revolutionised what people could see under a microscope. In doing so he became the first person to observe and describe microorganisms, one of which was yeast which he first wrote about in 1680. However, Leeuwenhoek had no idea that the yeast he was observing was living, and it was difficult to know if it was cause of fermentation or a result of the process.

It would take more than a century of scientific discovery before yeast’s status as a living organism could be determined, this time by the German Theodor Schwann. In 1837 Schwann argued that because he was able to show that yeast was the primary cause of fermentation it could be assumed it was alive. He also correctly asserted that it was a member of the fungi family. Most other leading microbiologists of the day believed that yeast was some kind of residue left by sugars, so Schwann’s beliefs left him somewhat unpopular in the field. Assuming that 19th-century international yeast conventions were a thing, we can be certain that 10

Schwann would have attended them alone and left early.

Enter Louis Pasteur, the guy responsible for pasteurised milk (who also pioneered germ theory, vaccines and a whole bunch of other cool things). In his scientific papers that were published in 1858, Pasteur was able to show through experimentation that fermentation was caused by the growth of yeast. It was Pasteur’s early work with wine that led him to discover that certain microorganisms spoiled some liquids which in turn led to the widespread pasteurisation of milk.

Before we finish there is one last very dead, very white man who made great strides to help us understand yeast. From the 1880s, Emil Hansen, who worked in the laboratory of the Carlsberg brewery in Copenhagen, spent years researching yeast and discovered that most of the yeasts brewers used were actually made up of multiple different strains.

Assuming that 19th-century international yeast conventions were a thing, we can be certain that Schwann would have attended them alone and left early.

In 1908 Hansen was able to isolate one strain of yeast that worked best in lagers, which he named Saccharomyces carlsbergensis after the brewery he was standing in. While it is still commonly used to make lagers, it is now known as Saccharomyces pastorianus, after old mate Louis Pasteur.

Despite the fact that yeast is now pretty well understood, research into genome science means new discoveries are still being made. Scientists are increasingly capable of examining microorganisms with even greater precision and as a result our understanding of yeast could be further enriched in the years to come. Although the chance of any discoveries being made by a Dutch textile worker does seem somewhat less likely.

By Will Ziebell

YEAST AFFECTION: EVERYONE LOVES THE FUNGI

By Belinda Smith

Sip some beer. Go on, do it.

What goes through your mind as the liquid sloshes across your tongue? “Mmm… malty”?

“That’s an oaty stout”? Maybe even “Whoa! Too hoppy!”?

How about, “Cor, get a load of this yeast”?

Without it, we wouldn’t have Vegemite, bread, wine – and, of course, beer. But the humble fungus isn’t only a supplier of alcohol and fizziness. It imparts a whole spectrum of flavours.

And it’s all due to the one species – Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the main “top-cropping” (or “topfermenting”) yeast used in craft brewing. The cells are roughly spherical and tiny – 100 of them strung together side-by-side span less than a millimetre – and, unless they’re under stress, reproduce by cloning themselves.

Along with ethanol, different S. cerevisiae strains produce compounds called esters and phenols. Lots of fruity flavours – especially banana – are ester-based. If you like a spicy Hefeweizen, that’s the phenolic 4-vinyl guaiacol you’re enjoying.

So how can one species of yeast create this giant array of flavours?

Beer brewing has a long and varied history. It probably sprang up multiple times as civilisations independently realised that if they left sugary water out in the open, it eventually turned into a drink that could get them buzzed.

In May, US and Chinese archaeologists reported two 5000-year-old pits containing a set of vessels that could well have brewed beer, along with grains such as millet and barley which bore scars signifying mashing. (The timing of the “breweries” also coincides with the proliferation of villages in the region and social complexity – so the drink was probably used a

social lubricant to negotiate land deals all those millennia ago.)

But it’s the 16th-century brewers we have to thank for the wide array of brewer’s yeast strains we enjoy today.

S. cerevisiae is particularly well-suited to beer brewing.

It can tolerate high-alcohol environments, so even if you start with a few different yeasts at the beginning of fermentation, they’ll die off one by one – eventually leaving just S. cerevisiae working away.

‘If you like a spicy Hefeweizen, that’s the phenolic 4-vinyl guaiacol you’re enjoying.’

So to trace the yeast’s history, researchers in the US and Belgium analysed the genome of more than 150 S. cerevisiae beer, wine, bread, sake and spirits strains.

Turns out their last common ancestor lived in the 1500s. This means that more than a century before microbes were even formally discovered, brewers were unwittingly moulding how beer would be brewed centuries later.

While winemakers tended to use wild yeasts that grew on grape skins or the feet of the grapecrushers, brewers were forced to keep sedimentary dregs (which, along with yeast, contained other bits and bobs such as bacteria) from one batch to use in the next. And as they realised that one batch was particularly tasty or boozy, they’d keep that yeast in circulation.

Eventually, like dogs from

wolves, beer yeast strains were domesticated into a huge variety of “breeds”. Many lost the ability to live outside the brewery – for instance, some strains need a molecule called maltotriose, a sugar made of three glucose molecules rarely found in the wild.

So that’s yeast’s genetic history.

Of course, an article about beer and yeast wouldn’t be complete without addressing the question: could I brew beer from the yeast I harbour on (or in) my body?

7 Cent swabbed brewers’ belly buttons and produced a drop “in the style of a new worldish Belgian-ish Witbier”.

Going further south, a US company called Order of Yoni in May claimed to have brewed beer using scrapings from a model’s vagina (for real – on their website they say they use a “gynaecological stick”) but there’s something fishy about it. They don’t isolate yeast; rather, they use lactobacillus – a bacterium.

Back to the PG rating, could the power of Vegemite – a brewer’s yeast by-product – be harnessed?

It can, but not as a yeast in itself.

Ben Schulz and Edward Kerr at the University of Queensland in Brisbane tried mixing the spread with sugar and water, but processing Vegemite kills off any active cells, effectively rendering it sterile and useless as a fermenter.

Add some live yeast, though, and you have a whole different story. Vegemite provides a load of nutrients yeast simply loves.

And while the pair ended up with an alcoholic drink – between 3-5%, depending on the amount of sugar added – the final product was a flat, murky orange liquid with a distinctive Vegemitey taste.

So let’s raise a glass to our microbial buddies – whether they be on our bread, in our beer, or deep in our belly button and bush.

IPA REVIEWS Brewery Merchant Brewing Co Beer Hasselsloth ABV 7.2% Beer Type West Coast India Pale Ale (IPA) Brewed Sydney, NSW Average Price $6

Brewery Pirate Life Beer Throwback IPA ABV 3.5% Beer Type Session India Pale Ale (IPA) Brewed Adelaide, SA Average Price $5

Brewery Riverside Brewing Co Beer 777 Imperial India Pale Ale ABV 9.2% Beer Type Imperial India Pale Ale Brewed Parramatta, NSW Average Price $16.50

Merchant Brewing Company was born in March 2015. Named after the street on which three mates and their Sloth (Cecil) first brewed together, they have managed to create quite possibly the greatest label ever to grace a beer bottle. Introducing the Hasselsloth. The big, bold and damn sexy, all-American West Coast IPA. Just take a moment to fully appreciate the Hasselsloth in all its glory before diving in.

Pouring a beautifully bronzed, rich mahogany with a delectable, thinly laced white head, Hasselsloth looks breathtaking. Just like the Hoff, the Sloth has a stunningly pungent musk.

Aromas of powerful pine, roasted caramel, ripe citrus and resinous tropical fruit seductively ooze from the glass.

Time to strip off, jump in and ride those lupulin waves back to shore. Hasselsloth is packed full of sharp pine and roasted caramel with a burly bitterness upfront.

The ripe citrus and fruity, floral hop notes come into play adding to this fantastic specimen. As expected from a shirtless, life-saving, beach-dwelling sloth, it’s rather smooth and creamy with a resinous mouthfeel that’s oilier than a budgie-smuggling sun-worshipper.

Avast ye! It’s time to set sail aboard the fastest, most easy-going, sessionable IPA ever to grace the seven seas, Throwback.

Designed for landlubbers, lasses & gentlemen o’ fortune who’d like to be able to throw back a few cans of a zealously hopped ale, endowed with an ample malt chassis, and still perform daily tasks.

Pouring a clear, effervescent doubloon amber topped with a small frothy white swirl. Crack open a can and you’re hit with hops, a lovely sweet mango, pineapple, tropical fruit and citrus whiff with light caramel biscuit notes and resinous pine.

Time to wet that pipe and jump overboard. Throwback is packed full of oily resinous hops of the floral, juicy tropical, citrus and lemon sherbet kind. Combined with subtly toasty, biscuity pale malts finishing with a solid, lingering bitterness.

It’s common knowledge that those buccaneers of old spent most of their time loaded to the gunwales on grog.

Unfortunately the level of alcohol in most beer with any hint of flavour has quite a profound effect when attempting to perform as a functioning and productive human. Just imagine what could have been achieved under the Jolly Roger if the Throwback was aboard, shiver me timbers!

Towards the end of 2013, Parramatta’s Riverside Brewing quietly released a small test batch. A hop-heavy Imperial IPA that went down a treat with local hop-heads. The only logical option was to make it bigger, bitterer and far more to go around. And so Riverside Brewing’s bulked-up 777 Imperial IPA was born.

777 pours a bright golden-amber, topped with a creamy white head and looks simply divine. There’s a robust hop-driven nose with ample orange peel, ripe melon, passionfruit, guava and freshly cut grass, creating a pungent tropical fruit cocktail backed up with plenty of caramel and biscuity malts. It gives you everything you could possibly want from an IIPA, with citrus notes riper than freshly picked fruit and a whole forest’s worth of pine character to chew on, all wrapped up in a big, busty body that’s smooth, resinous and oilier than a corpulent man preparing to hurtle down a slip ‘n’ slide.

At 9.2% it’s massive, not that you’d know it from the ease of which you finish your glass. The ABV is disguised better than a Greek soldier in a Trojan Horse, making this brew dangerously sessionable (probably a short session, but a bloody good one).

by dan mcevilly @crafty_kev

Brewery Murray’s Craft Brewing Co Beer: Black Bear ABV 5.6% Beer Type: Black India Pale Ale Brewed Bob’s Farm, NSW Average Price $6

Brewery Feral Brewing Co Beer Ace of Base ABV 8.3% Beer Type Imperial India Saison Brewed Swan Valley, WA Average Price $8

Brewery Newstead Brewing Co Beer Two to the Valley ABV 5.9% Beer Type India Pale Ale (IPA) Brewed Newstead, QLD Average Price $6

The American black bear is a mediumsized bear, much like Murray’s Black Bear, which weighs in at a respectable 5.6%. Black Bear was one of four IPAs released in a bottle by Murray’s midyear and is, without question, smarter than your average bear (apologies for the Yogi Bear reference, couldn’t help myself).

Every now and then, Feral pick a corker from their Brewpub Series (beers that have previously graced the Swan Valley brewpub’s taps) to be released to the wider public. Having got their hands on some Sorachi Ace hops, Feral were inspired to pull this golden oldie out from the back catalogue for the winter of 2016.

The story goes, “Two to the Valley” refers to when the US army was camped in the Brisbane suburb of Newstead during World War II. Aussie soldiers weren’t allowed to tell the Americans what they thought of them, so they told them that it was “Two penny to the Valley” along with two fingers pointed upwards in the reverse-victory formation to get on the tram. This was both factual transport advice and a sly way of telling them to f--- off.

Pouring a delightfully beaming orange-amber topped with a creamy white head, Two to the Valley is a very, very attractive-looking brew. There’s a beautiful fruit punch whiff to match with big resinous pine notes and an array of citrus and biscuity aromatics.

This IPA certainly doesn’t mince its words. Straight to the point, Two to the Valley is a malt-driven brew with big caramel, biscuity and resinous pine notes dominating the early stages. A little citrus and tropical fruit makes a showing with some noticeable tangerine notes helping to accentuate the hop bitterness giving you something to really chew on.

With victory assured, thanks to a gold medal at the 2015 Australian International Beer Awards, maybe it’s about time we all hopped aboard and took the advice offered to those Americans all that time ago.

“It’s common knowledge that those buccaneers of old spent most of their time loaded to the gunwales on grog.”

This Black IPA pours a deep, thick, dark brown thanks to the dark malts added for colour with very little of the dark malt flavour and aroma. Black bears can usually be found kicking back in forested areas with thick ground vegetation and an abundance of fruit and nuts. And that’s exactly what you get with the nose. Big fruity hop notes, citrus, roasted nuts, burnt caramel and pine.

This particular bear packs a good charge of green, resinous and citric hops with those gorgeous roasted notes clambering through. The slightly toasted pine flavours are there, and in a big way, creating a thick resinous mouthfeel and a bitterness that can only be matched by a bear rudely awoken from hibernation one month early!

Ace of Base, labelled as an ‘Imperial India Saison’ upon its bottled release, is a divisive and rather feisty brew. Ace of Base pours a lively sun-drenched, straw yellow topped with a dense, somewhat excitable, large frothy white head. There’s some serious funk in the air. Fruity, tangy and tart aromatics with spiced pepper notes are dominated by bitter lemon citrus and a little wild yeast wraps it all up in a hessian sack. It’s brewed to showcase the Japanese Sorachi Ace hops which deliver a not-so-subtle citrus explosion. It’s fresh, clean and vinous with copious amounts of lemon citrus, herbal notes and a hint of pine backed up with a dry, crisp and spicy bitterness along with that wonderful warming quality of a higher ABV.

15

La Sirène call

Words and pictures by Emily Day

the yeast-wranglers open up about coolships, cooperage and creating beer with a sense of place The first time I had a La Sirène beer, I screwed up my face in horror. I loved the beautiful label with the art-deco mermaid but I thought it was the most horrible thing I’d ever drunk.

The sour beer explosion was still in its infancy and the idea of voluntarily drinking this tart, florally concoction seemed akin to madness. Fast-forward to today and you can find any number of funky, yeast-driven brews in craft beer bars, while more and more Australian breweries are snapping up wine barrels and seeking local yeast strains to recreate old-time brewing techniques.

La Sirène is one of the more interesting breweries playing with indigenous yeast. Based near the Darebin parklands in Melbourne’s inner north, the self-described “yeast-wranglers” comprise former winemaker Costa Nikias and his wife Eva, brewer Ben Turley and brand ambassador Will MacDonald.

I rock up to the Alphington brewery for some hard-hitting journalism but am waylaid by a makeshift bar displaying their entire beer range and a sumptuous cheese platter. Before slipping into one of the best cheese comas of my life, this is what I learnt about La Sirène.

Characteristic of La Sirène is a tendency to take their time. They started up in late 2010 but had been making test batches since 2009.

“We hired a little warehouse and for about nine months we had a pilot system,” says Costa. “We did about 40 batches to get our first saison. On the 41st trial, we tried it and said ‘Wow, this is it. We’re happy with it.’”

He says experimenting was crucial to developing the beers they love today. “We don’t have to get to 40 batches nowadays to release a beer because we are a lot more astute about how malts and yeast work

here in our environment. But I think it’s important to go to those lengths to understand what you’re doing.”

Six years later, La Sirène is still reluctant to rush beers out. About 120 barrels are stacked in the warehouse, some containing beer made in 2011.

“There’s a kneejerk reaction in the industry to release stuff in barrels – ‘barrelaged’ – it’s the buzzword, along with ‘sour’.

And for us, barrels are somewhat sacred.

So I guess we’re not so trigger-happy on releasing stuff unless they’re really ready.”

Will adds: “We have to pry them off you.

It takes a lot of coercion to get them out.”

“We empty most of them when Costa’s away,” Ben jokes.

We did about 40 batches to get our first saison.

On the 41st trial, we tried it and said ‘Wow, this is it.’

Will says every beer they brew involves their yeast that Costa brought over from a farmhouse brewing family in Wallonia.

“We actually have some people at La Trobe who keep that cultured for us,” says Will.

The barrels all come from local wineries.

“It’s all French oak – we might have one or two American oak in there, but I love French oak and what it does,” says Costa.

“It gives you more complexity, a little bit more astringency sometimes, and a lot more spice. Less vanilla, caramelly. I think that matches our beers a lot better.”

Brewer Ben Turley, who previously

worked at Beavertown Brewery in the UK, has been with La Sirène for about six months. Costa says it’s been great to be able to work with Ben. “It’s sort of a meeting of the minds to some degree,” he says. “It’s been great to be able to bounce ideas off, to have someone collaboratively involved.”

Ben says the risk of using barrels means you have to be prepared “for something to turn out in a way that you hadn’t expected”.

“I think you have to be prepared, they say, to dump 40-50% of the barrels,” says Costa.

“And we’re prepared to do that if we have to. You don’t do that for an investment to make money. That’s a complete passion project. But we love it, it’s great fun.”

La Sirène’s range includes a Farmhouse Red, Saison, Saisonette, Super Saison, Sour Red, Paradoxe, Harvest Ale and Wild Saison. All beers would look completely at home on the tables of fine-dining establishments, and even the Praline, La Sirène’s dark, chocolatey beer which won the 2014 GABS People’s Choice Award, can be matched with sweet chocolate desserts or savoury dishes such as mushrooms or steak.

Eva, who admits her “whole life has always revolved around food”, has trouble picking her favourite brew. “I can’t go past the Saisonette just as something I have on the dinner table. It’s my bread-and-butter beer. But I love the Saison – in winter with pizza and just pasta at home, and casseroles, it’s just really delicious. But then I love the Super Saison as well! And then in summer the Fleur Folie with scallops ... so it just really depends on what I’m eating.”

Besides barrels, Costa’s great love is yeast.

The choice of location for the brewery was far from accidental.

“We chose the site here because we have a park just there, that’s close to 40 acres, and we’re bordered by the creek. So we have this abundance of microflora. And here it’s sort of a wind tunnel. That was the whole idea of it, to harness some of what’s out there – to express where we are. It’s making beer with a sense of place and time.”

The airy warehouse has gaps around the eaves, allowing wild yeast to drift in.

While letting random bugs float around your brewery sounds kind of gross, it’s a technique that has been used for generations in Belgium.

“It’s brilliant,” says Costa. “We’re almost like an outdoor brewery, because we’re just in a big old shed and it’s got a thin piece of galvanised between us and the atmosphere.

To me, that’s what makes this brewery. It’s quite character-filled. I think it’s got a nice sort of rustic feel to it.”

He looks down at the crater-pocked floor with delight. “I love the floor … This used to be a mechanics workshop for military vehicles. So they’d literally bring that crane in, lift it up, do what they had to do, and they’d drop the vehicle to the floor, which is why we’ve got such a great floor. But if you’ve been to the greatest breweries in Belgium, they’ve got the worst floors, so we’re true to style in that regard.”

Another old-fashioned element in the brewery is its coolship. In pre-electricity days, hot wort was placed in coolships – large, shallow, open-topped vessels – to cool down, while yeast and bacteria in the air drifted in and kickstarted the fermenting process. La Sirène’s coolship looks a litle like a trough of watery brown liquid with a sack of hops in it, but this where the magic happens.

“All we’re doing is giving you a glimpse of how things used to be,” says Costa. “We’re trying to pay homage to how things used to be done, and experiment for ourselves to see what affect that has with our locale.”

Costa says that keeping the ‘bad bugs’ out of the open vessel is a matter of applying selective pressure by manipulating pH, temperature and time of brewing.

Ben says: “So Belgians can only really

La Sirène’s impressive barrel collection.

Below: The Saisonette and Praline pictured in the Darebin parklands. Bottom: Brewer Ben Turley samples beer beside the coolship.

Opposite: La Sirène owner Costa Nikias.

brew lambic in the cooler months, otherwise [the wort] won’t cool down quickly enough, and if it spends too long at say between 30-40 degrees it’s going to attract some undesirable stuff – like you might end up with some vinegary flavours or overly sour. So time of year is really important, and pH and temperature.”

He adds: “But we wouldn’t be massively surprised if something went wrong with this procedure. And it will go through some pretty disgusting periods …”

Costa: “Oh, some ugly phases, yeah.”

Eva: “Like teenagers.”

Ben adds: “But they tend to sort themselves out.”

“You should have seen these ones, the Avant Garde ones,” Costa enthuses.

“Initially they were really ugly and they’re become this beautiful flower. We had to wait 12 months for that.”

The La Sirène brewery is “like a big experiment … but one that we bring with a brewing science background”, says Costa. “It’s a lot of fun because we’re doing something that was a tradition hundreds of years ago, and still is, and it’s great to be a part of that.” www.lasirene.com.au

Get Your Sais-On Saisons originated in farmhouses in Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium. Brewed in the cooler months, the beer was served to seasonal workers, or “saisonniers”, in summer.

This refreshing ale was typically low in alcohol, around 3-5% ABV. Modern-day saisons tend to clock in at about 5-8%, making them less appropriate for those operating heavy machinery.

This style has enjoyed an international renaissance, with many local breweries releasing their own versions. Brewers can buy yeast from a lab to imbue the beer with the characteristic “funky” saison flavour, or the more adventurous can harness local yeasts, such as La Sirène’s Wild Tripelle, the brewery’s first 100% spontaneously fermented beer.

Saisons match well with food, from cheese platters and desserts to spicy Asian and Indian dishes. Its refreshing funky nose, creamy mid-palate and dry finish gives it a complexity akin to wine, and saisons are finding their way into fine-dining establishments all over town.

As beer drinkers learn more about traditional brewing methods and Belgian beer history, the interest in this style will no doubt continue to grow.

Other great Aussie saisons to try: Bridge Road Chevalier Saison, Boatrocker Saison du Bateau, Hawkers Saison, Exit Saison, Wolf of the Willows India Saison, Nomad Brewing Long Trip Saison.

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B A RLEY REGAL

An ode to beer’s forgotten ingredient Scott Trainor delves into the fascinating workings of malt.

‘Malt’ can refer to any kind of cereal grain that has undergone a malting process, which converts starches into sugars. Barley is the most commonly malted grain, but other grains such as wheat and rye can also be malted.

The malting process itself does at least two important things. Firstly, it converts starches into sugars that brewers can extract from the grain by mashing, thereby providing a source of fermentable sugar to make beer with. Secondly it induces Maillard reactions which add colour and flavour to the grain, allowing brewers to create different beer styles from different malt combinations.

There are other things that malting does, but space constraints will not allow me to explain them here.

Grains such as barley seeds are packed full of energy, stored in the form of starch. When the seed is exposed to moist and slightly warm conditions, such as those that occur in spring time, a chemical process is triggered that converts the starch (a complex carbohydrate) into sugar (a simple carbohydrate). In nature, the plant uses this energy to fuel its first stages of growth, allowing it to establish the roots and leaves that it needs to generate its own energy from photosynthesis.

Fortunately, thousands of years ago humans discovered that this converted sugar could be harvested and used to make beer! These days, factories known as malt houses are used to malt large amounts of grain in precisely controlled environments by soaking it in warm water, and carefully controlling the starch-to-sugar conversion. Once the grain has been ‘tricked’ into converting its starch into sugar, it is put into a kiln where it is dried using hot air. This stops the seed from continuing to grow into a plant.

The kiln can also be used to roast the newly created sugars, determining the final colour and flavour profile of the malted grain. Grains that are kilned for a shorter time are lighter in colour and flavour, and will retain more of their ‘maltiness’ – think pilsner malt. Grains that are kilned for longer will undergo become darker, more complex and roastier – think the dark malt that is used in porters or stouts.

“

How is malt used in brewing?

When it comes to using malt in the brewing process, brewers are able to achieve very specific effects by using different combinations of malt. Not only does malt affect the flavour and colour of the final product, it is also the primary determinant of the alcohol content and mouthfeel of a beer.

In very simplistic terms, the sugars that come from malt can exist either as complex, long-chain sugar molecules known as polysaccharides which yeast cells find difficult to metabolise, or as simple, shortchain sugar molecules known as disaccharides and monosaccharides which yeast can easily metabolise, and which results in the production of alcohol.

The mix of complex and simple sugars that are extracted from the grain and made available for the yeast to consume is ultimately determined by the mash schedule chosen by the brewer. Mashing at a lower temperature will allow beta-amylase enzymes to become active, which help to break down the long-chain sugars into shortchain, fermentable sugar molecules. Mashing at a higher temperature will allow alpha-amylase enzymes to become active, which breaks long-chain molecules down in a random way, resulting in some unfermentable long-chain molecules, and some fermentable short-chain molecules.

Any complex, long-chain sugar molecules that remain will add sweetness and body, and contribute to the overall mouthfeel of the finished beer. Any simple sugars that are consumed by the yeast will result in the production of alcohol. The trick for brewers is finding the right mash schedule to break down the complex sugar chains and achieve the right balance between complex sugars which will be retained and simple sugars which will be turned into alcohol by the yeast.

So, while hops might be the rock star of beer ingredients and get all the attention, don’t forget malt. It is equally important in determining the overall beer style, and is much more complex from a brewing perspective. Remember this next time you crack a beer open. Here’s to malt!

“

What is malt?

The trick for brewers is finding the right mash schedule to break down the complex sugar chains

The Black Magic & Funky Chemistry of Hops T he use of hops in brewing dates back to the 11th century in Bavaria, although hops have probably been used for longer. Six hundred years after the Reinheitsgebot – the Bavarian purity law – was drafted in the 16th century, hops remain mandatory for a beverage to be called ‘beer’.

Hops have superhero properties, including fighting certain microorganisms found in brewing.

But the true wonder of hops can be split into its two main roles in providing bitterness and delivering a million different flavours and aromas.

The dried seed cases of Humulus lupulus are known as hop cones. Hundreds of different molecules are found in the gooey yellow powder on the surface of each hop cone petal.

These molecules can be split into two categories: the resin and the essential oils.

aLPHA and bETA acids The important part of the resin for brewers are the alpha and beta acids, which are collectively responsible for the bitterness we yearn for in a frothy. As well as having different chemical structures, they are different in that alpha acids go off, but beta acids get better with time. So the freshness of hops is essential for getting the balance just right and making sure one brew tastes like the last.

Alpha acids don’t dissolve readily into the wort at first, but over the boil they slowly transform and solubilize (dissolve in liquid) to provide the bitterness of the brew.

These acids have another important role to play in the foaming ability of beer. In a well-gassed pour you can always get an extra sense of the bitterness because of the presence of these molecules from within the froth.

‘Essential oils aren’t just for aligning your body chakras and getting you high’

By Dr Chris Thompson, BSc (Hons), PhD

Essential Oils Essential oils aren’t just for aligning your body chakras and getting you high – for brewers they provide many of the exotic flavours and aromas in the brew. The number of different oils in hops varies, but there are usually hundreds in total. Next time you think a beer is ‘floral’, ‘fruity’, ‘spicy’ or perhaps ‘hoppy’, it’s these oils you can hold responsible.

An important part of the art of beer brewing is knowing when to add your hops to the wort. As carbon dioxide is generated and bubbles out of the brew, these precious molecules are slowly but surely being removed too! The brewing room might smell great, but that’s because your aromas are escaping from the beer!

For that reason, many brewers add their hops late in the wort boil. Dry-hopping is where brewers add the hops at the end of the boil, so while no bitterness is added via the alpha and beta acids, the aromas can still be leached out by the alcohol in the broth.

The Black Magic

Despite the generally well-understood chemistry taking place in beer brewing, there’s much we don’t fully understand. As most brewers will tell you, it can be incredibly challenging to recapture the glory from one exceptional outcome to the next. When it comes to hops, there are a handful of key factors: Make sure you know where your hops are coming from and how fresh they are. They may have been certified as having a certain acid ratio when they were harvested, but this can change dramatically over six months!

Monitor the hopping procedure closely.

Note the times and how close to the end of the boil you’ve added the last hops. If you want to emulate something you’ve done before, it’s best to reproduce this as closely as possible.

So if you’re an amateur craft brewer, why not experiment with all of the above? Given the millions of ways you can manipulate the recipe just with hops alone, you never know when you may stumble upon an amazing new recipe!

What I do in the name of Science!

Help! I am drowning in a vat of beer!! Or, more precisely, in many vats of very different & often very weird beers!

Hang on, this is a science edition, so I guess I should be saying a vial of beer, or a tube. However, it might be a bit difficult to drown in one of those unless you were an awfully lot smaller than I am.

Looks like I am on the right track though! The editor of this fine scientific journal had allowed a couple of scientists to do some experimentation at her place. There was a small collection of vials (or tubes?) and petri dishes with I know not what in them. They were carefully sealed. Actually, I was told about the procedure, but I let it wash over me. All that stuck in my head was what was in one of them. Put it this way, I may now know the origins of the term ‘Hair of the Dog’, although it may not be the meaning intended. Mine is a much more literal meaning!

Ok, I shall leave the rest shrouded in mystery until they come up with the results and let them announce it and themselves to you. They are fine specimens of scientific brewers who are sure to be looking in the right direction.

After all, they already have succeeded in the past.

Sh*t My Mum Says About Craft Beer ay D a lvi

by Si

So, I shall begin with Himmel Hund where I had a couple of beers when Froth edition 11 was launched at their new brewery in Victoria Street, Brunswick.

When we were in Tasmania, we went to the Hobart Brewing Company. We met Scott & Jimmy who were very helpful to me in making sure I tasted a variety of their beers.

WITBIER 4.6% Tasted like a pure, classic hoppy beer. Well, it did at first, but there was a strange citrusy and spicy taste as well. What? Coriander? No idea really, but not my cup of tea, even though the hops later on, didn’t seem so strong.

HARBOUR MASTER 4.4% A darkish red/brown Tasmanian Ale which I am afraid tasted to me just like an ordinary beer. No special taste.

MATHILDE 6.2% Cloudy, pale brown, bit citrusy with a weird yeasty smell. Not very beery, but I was still not keen. Sorry Annabel. You can work on one you think I would like!

That’s all I had there, so now I shall continue with other beers.

SAINT CHRISTOPHER CREAM ALE, THE TRAVELLER 4.7% Pale gold, not as hoppy, feasible!

X-TRA PALE ALE 5.8% Not quite an IPA. It looks darker than pale to me, creamy & smooth at first, then the hoppiness hits you and it hangs on, but it is not as strong as the first one.

SHAKE ‘N GRIND GOSE 5.4% A very pale golden colour, a bit salty, a bit citrusy and sour with a bit of a spicy taste at the end, but what’s weird about this is that it does not leave an aftertaste, despite all those combinations! No hoppiness or bitterness. It was like eating an Indian meal or those spicy nuts they give you in some pubs.

HOUBLONNEE SAISON 6.9% A 2016 hop harvested ale, quite pale, not too hoppy, a bit of a fizzy lemon taste. Is it because of the fresh hops?

IRON POT RYE PORTER 4.8% So dark, it is almost black, not very hoppy.

A bit malty, a bit creamy, not too dry.

Drinkable? Sort of as the taste does not linger!

OK, I think that’s enough beers for now. Thanks Scotty & Jimmy (right). Have you chosen beers that you know I can pretty much cope with?

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Home Brew Heroes

By Emily Day Here at Froth magazine, we love it when people are … a little bit mad. In the best possible sense. So we decided to ask home brew whiz Daniel Parsons-Jones from Australian Home Brewing in Richmond about the time he made beer in pumpkins.

So Dan, I hear you are something of a mad scientist when it comes to brewing at home. Is it true that you once brewed beer inside a pumpkin?

Totes did! I was looking at a pumpkin one day, and thought it made sense to brew inside it. So I checked the internet and a few people had tried with varying success. I did three beers in three pumpkins.

How was this even possible?

Well first you gotta get a VERY BIG pumpkin. A giant pumpkin. And as I didn’t know where to get one, I grew them myself.

Which is not too hard if you have good soil, lots of sun and water, and lots of space. And then, once it’s grown big enough (mine got to around 30-35kg) you cut out a lid on an angle so it can sit back on top, then scoop everything out. I used a metabisulfite solution to knock back any bacteria that might be lurking inside, then filled each one with a different wort, pitched the yeast and giggled a lot.

ad

What did the beer taste like?

They tasted odd. Giant pumpkin isn’t a pumpkin, it’s a squash/melon hybrid so there was a distinct melon note, and I couldn’t quite re-seal the lids so I feel there were some slight infections going on. But

“

”

unfortunately the pumpkin developed a leak

overall very pleasant, just bizarre! I had a roast pumpkin amber ale which tasted amazing during sampling but the lid shrunk and fell in (tears were shed), an oaked apple barleywine which developed a really pleasing acidity to counteract its 9% ABV and was the only one to make it into the

kegs in its entirety, and a simple pale ale that smelled great - but unfortunately the pumpkin developed a leak and made the floor smell great too.

Do you plan to brew beer inside other vegetables/fruit?

Yes! I’ve got some watermelon seedlings that I’m desperately hoping will make it through this freakishly cold October. Plan is to make a sour-as-anything Berliner Weisse and ferment in them, in homage to Feral’s Watermelon Warhead. Ideally I’d like to serve from them too but I don’t know how much pressure a watermelon will hold. We’ll find out, I guess...

Hopalicious

Let’s get a little science-y about hops

Hold onto your hats, as Sarah “Salty” Otton takes us deep into the world of hop science.

by Sarah Otton What are they?

I assume I am writing this article for individuals who love or at least appreciate the glory and splendour of hops. But, how much do you really know? This article is written in two parts, the first is an introduction to hops and the second is where I get “science-y”.

You may need a couple of ice-cold problem-solvers for the second part.

Humulus lupulus is the scientific name for hops and they are a member of the Cannabaceae family. Yes, that word looks familiar, the closest botanical relative to marijuana is hops.

Hops grow on BINES not VINES which grow very, very tall (even taller than me).

Hops are grown in several regions around the world, and thrive between the latitudes of 35° and 55°. The main producers are Germany and the USA. (In Australia they are mainly grown in northern Victoria and Tasmania.) According to the ever-unreliable Wiki, North Korea grew 2000 tonnes in 2012. I wonder what kind of beer powers Kim Jong-un?

Figure 1: Dissected hop flower The hop products in our beer are derived from the flowers (aka cones) of the unfertilised female flowers. The yellow at the base of the petals near the stem are the lupulin glands. These are the tasty bits containing hop resins, polyphenols, essential oils and other delicious things.

Nerd alert! Hop resins are divided into hard and soft. Soft resins contain the hop acids, both alpha-acids (α-acids) also known as humulones, and beta acids (β-acids) also known as lupulones. I don’t know a whole lot about β-acids, my research focused on α-acids. What I do know is that as a general rule they are undesirable as they don’t isomerize in the boil (I’ll explain this in the second part) and they contribute bitterness as a result of oxidation.

Some hops are revered for their ability to provide aroma, such as the four Noble hops: Hallertau, Tettnang, Spalt and Saaz. Bittering hops, on the other hand, are full of α-acids waiting to be isomerized (I’ll explain this a bit later).

So, why do we add hops to beer? Lots of reasons. Hops are pretty amazing and accomplish heaps of stuff other than contributing to the bitterness and aroma of beer. Hops are an antibacterial and inhibit the growth of gram-positive bacteria such as Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Listeria and Clostridium. Hops also contribute to foam stability, so your frothy stays frothy!

Generally, hops are added to the “boil” phase of brewing. The bittering hops are added first so they can isomerize (explanation is coming, I promise),

and aroma hops are added towards the end of the boil. Pre-isomerized hop extract can be added when moving beer from vessel to vessel, and beer can be dry-hopped, although this is for aroma.

Now, if you’ll allow me, I am going to digress into India Pale Ales (IPAs). In the 18th-century a sailor’s beer ration was one gallon or 4.5ish litres every day (again risky Wiki fact, if you’re a 300-year-old sailor and can correct me, please do). When sailing to cooler climates the beer kept reasonably well.

However, as the British started to sail into warmer climates, it became infected with lactobacillus (causing sourness) and lacked carbonation. Beer was just not important for the sailor’s morale, but back then if the sailors were crook, the B-vitamins in beer actually made them healthier. And no one wanted to give them rum because we all know rum makes you crazy.

Lots of experimentation took place, including a beer concentrate which James Cook took on a voyage, but nothing worked. The beer available to the navy was sour and flat and sailors were sad. No one wants sad sailors.

Then along came George Hodgson of Bow Brewery in East London. George created a new pale ale. More hops were added in the boil and dry hops were added to the casks going to India. George also added more malt to the boil, increasing the fermentable sugars which allowed the yeast to survive longer, thereby increasing carbonation. And the IPA was born – George, what a bloody legend!

23

Hopalicious continued...

Figure 3: Molecular structure of α-acids and iso-α-acids in their cis- and trans- formation located at carbon 4.

Let’s get Science-y!

So, to recap, we have a hop resin. Within this hop resin we have α-acids and β-acids.

This section is going to focus primarily on α-acids, which give beer its bitterness. α-acids have five analogues, or five constituents. There are three primary α-acids: cohumulone, humulone, adhumulone, and two secondary α-acids: posthumulone and prehumulone.

Let’s focus on the primaries.

The α-acids as they exist in the lupulin glands have very poor solubility and minimal bitterness. I hear you ask, “How do they become bitter? How do they become soluble?” Well, when your hops are boiled they isomerize.

Isomerization is when a molecule changes – it has the exact same number and type of atoms, it just changes its shape.

Figure 2: Badly drawn representation of isomerization.

B A

D C

un-isomerized

C D

A B

isomerized

Now would be a good time to get an ice-cold problem-solver from the fridge. We’re about to get deep.

In isomerizing, the three primary α-acids – cohumulone, humulone, adhumulone – transform into isocohumulone, iso-humulone, isoadhumulone. Each of these have a cis- and trans- configuration. Isohumulone is said to impart a soft bitterness and iso-cohumulone is believed to impart a harsher bitterness.

It is this isomerisation that enables the formation of the desirable characteristics including foam stability, antimicrobial properties, increased solubility and – maybe most importantly –bitterness. Isoα-acid bitterness can be detected at levels as low as six parts per million in water.

All iso-α-acids are sensitive to light and will rapidly undergo photo-degredation (alteration as a result of light exposure).

This is commonly referred to as ‘light strike’ and results in a ‘skunky’ aroma and flavour due to the formation of a volatile compound detectable at 2-20 parts per trillion. Beer in dark bottles, now you know why! Brown being best and green coming in second and cans let in no light so they’re better than bottles (it’s a well-known fact I love tinnies).

So, what about beer in clear bottles? In the 1970s breweries started to research how they could sell a beer in clear bottles

“NO ONE WANTED TO GIVE THEM RUM BECAUSE WE ALL KNOW RUM MAKES YOU CRAZY.” without it becoming skunky. Scientists (obviously doing God’s work) discovered that you could “reduce” iso-α-acids, i.e. eliminating the double bond present in the iso-α-acid carbon side chain. There are three major reduced iso-α-acids but, I’ll just talk about tetrahydro-iso-α-acids as they are most stable and most commonly used.

In figure 4 the cis- and trans- form of tetrahydro-iso-α-acids are shown (sorry if you have no idea what I am talking about, but stay with me). If you compare it to figure 3 there are no double bonds in the left-most carbon chain.

All reduced iso-α-acids are made in laboratories. Tetrahydro-iso-α-acids are interesting as not only do they improve light stability but also foam stability as a result from increased hydrophobicity as a result of the removal of the double bond.

Interestingly, according to the Reinheitsgebot (German purity law), reduced iso-α-acids are not permitted in beer, despite being derived from hops. But who pays attention to the Reinheitsgebot

Figure 4: Tetrahydro-iso-α-acids

these days? (apart from Germans).

Now I am sure everyone has seen or heard beer discussed in terms of IBUs or International Bitterness Units. The Australian Tax Office defines a beer (for tax purposes) as a beverage that contains hops, or extracts of hops, with an IBU reading of no less than four. IBUs are measured using a spectrometer. A sample of beer is put in the spectrometer and UV light is shone into it. Some of this light is absorbed which gives a reading, this is then multiplied by 50 and hey, presto, you’ve got an IBU reading.

However, an IBU reading does not distinguish between the constituents of hops and can be affected by a cloudy beer or anything else that also absorbs at the same wavelength. High-performance liquid chromatography is slowly getting adopted as the preferred method of bitterness or iso-α-acid concentration measurement. It extracts all the hop acids and is immune to interference from other compounds present. It is however extremely expensive.

So, as a result, we can thank tetrahydroiso-α-acids for providing clear bottle beers with the IBU measurement they need to be classed a beer by the ATO. I really enjoyed writing this article and introducing you to a bit of hop chemistry.

I hope I didn’t get to science-y. I am more than happy to explain stuff. So, if you see me, buy me a beer and ask.

what’s in a rider?

Tim Stevens chats with Ness Thornton, bass guitarist for Aussie rock band Jebediah. (If you don’t know Jebediah, chances are you aren’t old enough to drink because these guys have been rocking for over two decades now.)

What is or would be in your perfect rider?

Jebs are pretty partial to a good scotch, preferably a few bottles from the Islay region. A bottle of vodka is nice too. I like to alternate between scotch and coconut water while we’re playing. The rider beer is generally of the low carb variety so Chris can keep himself trim, taut and terrific! Personally, I don’t think you can get a better beer than Tooheys Old but after a show I’d be happy to pull any cold beer out of the icebox!

What is the worst thing you’ve had in a rider?

West End bitter. It was in the very early days and I remember being surprised to find there was a beer I didn’t like! Times and beers have changed a lot since then so it might taste all right now!

Have you ever indulged too much in a rider?

That would be very unprofessional! I may have teetered on the edge a couple of times though.

Do fans often buy you drinks?

Yes, that happens sometimes. People who come to our shows are wonderful and often quite generous. Though if we have a large rider, I would most often turn down the offer of a drink as it’s better for us if they spend their money on our merchandise!

Do you have a favourite beer/beer style?

Tooheys Old. I’ve heard Guinness brewed in Australia is now veganfriendly so I’ll definitely be using that as a dietary supplement when I get back to Oz. What do you recommend drinking with your album Kosciuszko ?

There is a beer called Kosciuszko and it’s pretty good! Probably a lot easier to drink than the album. I think you could drink pretty much anything while listening to the album and you would be sure to have a super fun time.

Will we be able to see you perform in Melbourne soon?

Yes please, we would love that! We’ll be playing somewhere near Melbourne Jebediah are playing A Day On The for the Day On The Green shows in Green in November. For tickets and info check out www.adayonthegreen.com.au November. Details of that show will be somewhere, I’m sure.

Did you ever build the big beer wall?

A very long time ago I did make a few contributions to the building of a big beer wall! I also once started building a big whisky wall but I fell on it before it really got going. where is the best place you’ve chilled out with a refreshing beverage?

Last week the best place was down on the Jurassic coast in England. A lonely pub atop a hill in a place called Sea Town, looking down onto the beach on a sunny day. The beverages were refreshing and I was so chilled out I couldn’t leave for the entire day!

By Tim Stevens

RANDOM BEER SCIENCE FACT: Did you know? Beer’s hops are in the same family of flowering plants as marijuana, the Cannabaceae family.

Beer & Book Review

BOOK Men Explain Things To Me

by Rebecca Solnit BEER Birra Del Borgo ‘KeTo Reporter’

“So? I hear you’ve written a couple of books.” He’d said (this) … in the way you encourage your friend’s seven-year old to describe flute practice … I replied, “Several, actually.”

Rebecca Solnit’s book Men Explain Things to Me features several essays - the introductory one recounting how a Mr Very Important attempts to school her on a book she should know about. Solnit’s companion keeps trying to interrupt him – to tell him that Solnit knows about it because she wrote it. Later on in the essay, Solnit calls him “a carbuncle on the face of humanity and an obstacle to civilisation” in order that he might one day feel some of the humiliation that women experience when not treated as equals.

Coincidentally, this topic is also pertinent to beer. Gender-based (binary) assumptions are still made about what people drink, smoke, eat, and do for recreation, for employment.

I’ve constantly failed to finish an ordinary cigarette despite all immediate family having smoked full-time. A decent cigar, however, leaves no doubt why Sir Walter Raleigh was fêted for popularising tobacco in England.

According to ratebeer.com, Italian beer ‘KeTo Reporter’ by Birra del Borgo is a porter aromatised with tobacco – specifically the one used for Toscano cigars (Kentucky tobacco leaves). My bottle had slightly different details on the label (bottle-conditioned, ABV 6.4%, 330mL). Twelve hours after its consumption: my skin is stained with the accord of lightly roasted caramel, nutty scent similar to sweetened hazelnuts. Sadly, it doesn’t taste as balanced, but more reminiscent of thin, sour metallic notes mixed with wood charred to disintegrated carbon or burnt coffee grounds. The liquid has a similarly reed-thin, unexceptional mouthfeel.

I blame the above sensory acuteness – and the slight reluctance to share it for fear of being set straight by “humanity’s sexist carbuncles”, to paraphrase Solnit. Originally seven essays, two newer ones seek to augment her view of restrictive ideologies, once deconstructed, cannot be fully resurrected. She cites Clarence King, a 19th-century geologist and survey director as introducing the term “punctuated equilibrium” – a pattern of movement from time periods of stasis and turbulence within societal structures.

Before accusing me of being an unbiased fangirl, ask me about her essay Woolf’s Darkness: Embracing the Inexplicable (2009). She can write in a succinct manner, but doesn’t when most Western lit bigwigs are name-dropped; only Keatsian ‘negative capability’ is explained in terms actually relevant to a fleshand-blood human – as opposed to a history professor who doesn’t know the difference between realism and naturalism: true story!

By Gemma Mahadeo 27

Beer Beats

brews+songs by bree stewart instagram @breezuslives

CROWDED HOUSE: SOMETHING SO STRONG MOO BREW: SINGLE HOP ALE

Love can make you weep, make you run for cover. If this beer were on Facebook it would have an inappropriate amount of friend requests and pokes from yours truly, I am seriously stalking this beautiful tinnie. The floral bitterness is the perfect pairing for a throwback to this ’80s track. Sip and eargasm during a Sunday balcony session.

BEACH BOYS: CALIFORNIA GIRLS ROGUE WAVE: MOBY PALE ALE

This coupling is not due to Brian Wilson’s LSD trip while writing California Girls, more so the adventurous summer chords demonstrated within the song. The beer’s fresh hoppiness mingling with a West Coast shuffle serves as a decompression suitable for sunsets. Bonus point: 10% of profits from Moby go straight to Sea Shepherd in an effort to preserve our oceans.

DAVID DALLAS: CAUGHT IN A DAZE YEASTIE BOYS: POT KETTLE BLACK PORTER

This Kiwi brew deserves to be paired with an exceptional Kiwi artist. One of my favourite rappers, David Dallas throws us back to his 2011 drop Caught in a Daze Ft. Freddie Gibbs. The roasted nutty flavours of the porter are best enjoyed while wrapping up your Friday night.

WU-TANG CLAN: DA MYSTERY OF CHESSBOXIN’ 2 BROTHERS: KUNG FOO RICE LAGER

Based on the movie of the same song name, Da Mystery of Chessboxin’ by Wu-Tang is loaded up on kung-fu effects, relentlessly cheeky lyrics as well as a beat that won’t quit. The 2 Bro’s Rice Lager has to be one of the most delightful beers to come out of Victoria in recent years, with a light citrus aroma the bev settles nicely with this light, audacious record. RIP O.D.B.

FUN PAGES crafty comic

Bartender of the month

Guess the brewery illustrated above for your chance to win a prize! Email your answer to alfiedogmedia@gmail.com Artwork by Michael Alesich @ironoak / alesich.com

Scott Kirkaldy pours beers at The Gertrude in Fitzroy, and was previously at the Alehouse Project. We would like to give Scott a high-five for his beer knowledge and top-notch serving skills.

“

I worked at the Alehouse [Project] pretty much from the start, probably for about three years. It was always really exciting to have rotating taps, at that time there weren’t too many places that had them. It was also really daunting as well, coming to work and basically having to learn 12 taps and learn how every beer pours and the tastes and all

that sort of thing. And then the next day, depending on how busy it was, there could be 12 new taps.

I’d always really enjoyed craft beer, and there’s always something to learn with it.

Also being at the Alehouse and the Gertrude, you’re really close to the people who make the beers, and I think that’s a really cool aspect of it.

One of the most exciting things I think is when someone comes to the bar and says, ‘I don’t like beer.’ And I think, ‘You just haven’t found the right beer yet.’ And that’s when I think it’s my duty to try to find a beer that they will like.

Women in beer is a pretty big thing now, but early on, a lot of girls would be like, ‘I don’t like beers.’ But it would turn out they might like some sort of sours or even really, really nice big dark beers. I find it a challenge to find out where people’s tastebuds are at and whether they want to drink similar beers all night or whether they want to go on a journey. I think with 12-16 taps you can do that really well, you can take someone on a journey, which is quite fun.

I really like hoppy beers and I really like dark beers, so the perfect is in-between – it’s a black IPA. Whenever I see a black IPA I get really excited, I really want to see how it goes.

The Gertrude is a really nice, relaxed pub that has really great craft beers. The food is sensational and the staff – it’s the best team I’ve ever worked with. Cassie is just such a hands-on owner, she’s working so hard all the time to produce such good tap lists. At the end of a Saturday night, when everyone’s having a few drinks and you’re having a bit of a knockoff, it’s very hard to leave.

”

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Crossword Answers – Edition 11 Across 1. Pilsner 4. Brown 5. Tan 7. Tecate 10. He 11. Pub 13. Amber 14. Elm Down 1. Pirate 2. Sun 3. Real 6. Steam 8. Can 9. Beer 10. Hops 12. Be 13. Am

Frothword

ACROSS 5. Yeast converts sugar into alcohol and this by-product (6,7) 7. A strong beverage could be described as high _ (6) 9. Term for the oils, and also the flavour, of hops (5) 10. Term for a sharp bitter flavour (4) 11. Term for the distinctive colouration of different varieties of beer (4) 12. Term for the product of yeast’s consumption of sugar (7) 14. Colloquial contraction of a popular US whiskey liqueur (4) 15. Term for spirits served without mixer or ice (4) 16. Term for the rupture of the yeast cell membrane (5) 18. Spanish peninsula known for its fine ales (6) 19. What the gas in a bottle or can is doing when you open it (13)

Mostly beer quiz

1. What does “fiat” mean in Latin? a) Delicious b) Good value c) Let it be done d) Small car 2. Which Melbourne gypsy brewer is opening a bar on Sydney Road, Brunswick this month?

3. Which Victorian brewery recently released a Tangelo Gose?

4. What is the capital of Tanzania?

5. Which brewery in Melbourne’s northern suburbs recently released a beer called Paradoxe?

DOWN 1. The genus of single-celled yeasts that ferment sugar (13) 2. Term used to describe unpleasant flavours due to bacterial spoilage (7) 3. Standard single serving of beer in England and Victoria (5) 4. Any additives outside of a base recipe would be considered this (13) 6. The pear-shaped petal of a hop cone (9) 8. Hops and various spices are consider flavour _ (9) 13. To be stored in a silo (of grain) (7) 17. Term for the spilled beer that collects in the drip tray under taps (5) 6. What is a foeder? a) a large wooden barrel used to age beer b) a device used to feed goldfish c) a delicious Danish pastry d) a type of beer made in South Africa 7. Which US brewery has a beer called Still Unapologetic IPA? 8. Which three Australian brewers made a hoppy farmhouse ale last month called Stop, Collaborate & Saison?

9. Which hops used in Stone & Wood’s Pacific Ale are out of this world?

10. Which country’s prime minister was recently caught playing Pokemon in Parliament?

Mostly Beer Quiz Answers 1 c) Let it be done 2 Brewcult 3 Holgate Brewhouse 4 Dodoma 5 La Sirène 6 A wooden barrel used to age beer 7 Stone Brewing 8 Pact Brewing, Bad Shepherd and Little Bang 9 Galaxy hops 10 Norway