THE DAINTON DIFFERENCE

GABS 2022

THE DAINTON DIFFERENCE

About 30kms south-east of Melbourne’s CBD, Carrum Downs is home to Australian owned Dainton Beer and the origin of not one but two Hottest 100 Beers of 2021 - #38 Blood Orange NEIPA and #84 Jungle Juice Hazy IPA. We caught up with Head Brewer, Cam Turner to find out what makes him tick!

Dainton Beer says that everyone has the right to be different and to be themselves.

Tell us a little about what the brand means to you.

To me the beer and the business run in parallel lines, always authentically Dainton. It's fun, creative, always pushing the boundaries and bringing people together.

What got you into brewing in the first place?

Travelling overseas and trying a world of new beer styles I'd never tasted. I think at that stage the Coopers pale and James Squires amber ale were the crafty beers. It was back in the early 2000's and the US craft industry was in its boom, and there were a lot of fun and interesting beers to try.

What does a normal day at the brewery look like for you?

The brewery runs double shifts as well as the packing line, with constant inventory coming in and going out. It's go go go!

Any other passions outside of brewing beer?

Drinking beer and camping, and drinking beer when camping.

What is your personal favourite beer style to drink?

At the moment classic clean pilsner's. Hold on - we just packed a delicious wheat beer, now it's that!

This year’s GABS Festival beer, “Return of the Red Eye” is a massive 11.8% Red IPA. Tell us about the inspiration for the beer, what you are going through from an ingredient and brew process & what the punter can expect from the final product?

We've taken a bit of a punt and a hit on this beer to make something very special for GABS. We have taken our trophy winning 4D Imperial Red IPA with its DNA stemming from our original Red Eye Rye, which we brewed back in Feb 2021. It was laid to rest in French Oak which has had 2 previous lives as red wine barrels and then a whiskey barrels. The 1 year old barrel-aged beer has then been transferred back into our fermenters where it has been back blended with a fresh batch and left to naturally carbonate.

It then gets a large dry hop addition of citra, mosaic simcoe and columbus. You can expect aromas and flavours of rye spice, bush honey, dark fruit and dank powerful hops.

Finally, what is something that nobody in the brewing industry knows about you? Whether or not I surf standing natural or goofy, I am just a goofy surfer.