Chris Shanahan: Canberra’s ever-inventive brewers

Canberra’s two ever-inventive brewers have a few new beers and a bit of news to share.
Christoph Zierholz (Zierholz Premium Beers) recently launched a new 5.6 per cent lager – made in the robust Oktoberfest style. It’s on tap at the Fyshwick brewery now. And in a few weeks, says Zierholz, he’ll be distributing five-litre kegs of his brews to retail outlets around Canberra. They’re similar in style, he says, to the Heineken kegs already available in some outlets.

The Wig and Pen, Civic, offers two new brews, the light (3.1 per cent alcohol), floral-citrusy Marv’s Man Mild and a 5.8 per cent seasonal Flemish Red Ale. The Flemish ale passes through the Wig’s “hopinator” (an infuser), acquiring the exotic tastes of morello cherries and whisky-barrel oak chips.

And there’s a wheat beer, brewed with whole apricots, ready to replace the Flemish ale, says brewer Richard Watkins.

Watkins has plans, too, for a summer cider, brewed from delicious apples, a perry and a Trappist-style ale inspired by the beers of Orval Abbey, Belgium.