Category Archives: Beer

In the past, Australian breweries have produced beer in PET plastic bottles, principally for safety at large-scale event – protecting people from liquor fuelled violence or simply keeping benign drunks out of harm’s way.

Recently, however, Fluid Wholesalers, Sydney, introduced a plastic-packaged Belgian beer to the market, promoting its environmental as well as safety benefits.

Distributor Allan Hayes writes, “It is in a patented PET bottle which protects it from any reaction with the plastic and provides nine months life from production. We developed this as we saw a gap in the market for safe, lightweight and more environmentally friendly option over glass and aluminium”.

Initial distribution is Australia-wide through Woolworths’-owned Dan Murphy outlets and a few independent Sydney retailers.

Brass comes in two styles – Lager and Pilsener (which means they’re both lagers, the pilsner, reviewed below, being notably more lively and bitter, and the lager OK, but not exciting).

Brass Belgium Pilsener 330ml 6-pack $14.99 I couldn’t bring myself to drink from the plastic bottle, so glug, glug, glug, into the glass it went. Clear, pale-golden colour, good head retention and lively carbonation all raised hopes; the aroma and palate were as fresh as the appearance suggested. And the intense, bitter hops balanced the malt richness well.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2012 First published 22 February 2012 in The Canberra Times

This week Canberra’s Wig and Pen releases an oak matured beer, modelled on the ancient Belgian lambic style. Brewer Richard Watkins started the brew in January 2009 – a blend of 75 per cent barley and 25 per cent wheat malts – inoculated with a microbial tag-team, including brewer’s yeast, brettanomyces and lactobacillus (derived from Belgian lambic populations).

At the end of 2010, with the traditional lambic style now almost two years in barrel, Watkins sourced a batch of de-stemmed, de-seeded hail-damaged cherries from Young.

To build the mid palate of the beer, he added the pureed cherries to the two barrels – so the lambic became a kriek style, still following the Belgian tradition.

In early February 2012 Watkins transferred the beer to tank for final adjustments, including carbonation and freshening up with a dash more cherry.

Wig and Pen Lambs-go-Baa (Kriek Lambic) 285ml balloon $9 Three years in the making, this is perhaps Richard Watkins finest brewing achievement. The colour’s a medium cherry-skin red and the flavour combines sour cherry and marzipan. Brisk acidity keeps the palate lively and fresh. But there’s a rich texture, too, and a hint of oak-derived vanilla in the dry, delicious aftertaste.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2012 First published 15 February 2012 in The Canberra Times

If the god’s of bureaucracy and fate smile on Christoph Zierholz, Canberra University may have its own brewpub by the time you read this. Well, it’ll have the pub, and lots of beer, but it’ll be a little while before the brewery arrives.

In mid-January, Zierholz said he expected to open the pub in time for O week (30 January to 3 February) and supply it from his existing brewpub at Fyshwick.

However, he plans to install a brewery this year and supplement the Fyshwick-brewed products with “unique house beers” brewed on site.

The bar will initially offer 18 beers and a couple of ciders, including Gundaroo’s Jolly Miller.

The university outlet – located at the hub in building 1, Kirinari Street – features a wood fired pizza, grill and some of the German-style dishes created originally for the Fyshwick brewpub.

Zierholz Pils 5-litre keg $40 The recyclable keg, purchased at Zierholz Brewery Fyshwick, opened easily, poured reliably and delivered the true, fresh-draft experience. The cloudy, light golden colour promises wholemeal goodness and delivers deliciously, with a pure, rich, malty flavour and lovely, clean lingering bitterness (for those that like hops).

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2012 First published 1 February 2012 in The Canberra Times

Australia’s largest brewer, Fosters, makes one of Australia’s finest craft beers – Crown Ambassador de Luxe Lager. Ambassador measures up as “craft” on all fronts – quality, small production (4,000 to 7,000 bottles annually) and hands-on production by John Cozens and two brewing colleagues.

This year Cozens released the 2011 vintage, fourth in this series of high-alcohol, bottle-conditioned lagers.

It builds on the four previous vintages, adding what Cozens calls “layers of flavour” as he tweaks the style each year. In 2009 he introduced crystal malt to the blend, to add caramel and toffee notes. In 2010, a couple of hand-me-down oak barrels from Foster’s wine division added complexity, as well some unwanted characters to the blend.

This year’s release, incorporating handpicked galaxy hops from Bright, and a portion fermented new French oak, seems the most layered, pleasing brew yet.

Crown Ambassador Reserve Lager 2011 $90 Dark, cloudy, golden-amber Crown pours with a dense head and enticing aroma of floral-citrus hops and sweet caramel. Over an hour or as so it warms from fridge to room temperature, the silky textured brew s reveals layers of caramel and toffee malt flavours, spicy notes and both the flavour and bitterness of hops.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2011 First published 14 December 2011 in The Canberra Times

In 2005 Karen and David Golding established hops at Red Hill on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula. This satisfied local regulations requiring would-be liquor licence holders to be primary producers.

They harvest the four varieties – Hallertau, Tettnanger, Golding and Willamette – around March each year for use in their Red Hill Brewery products.

These include three beers produced year round (Golden Ale, Wheat Beer and Scotch Ale) and seasonal specialties like the upcoming releases, Bohemian Pilsner and Christmas Ale, reviewed below, and Temptation, a seriously good strong Belgian blonde style.

Wheat Beer shows the classic fruity esters of this delicate style with a subtle, lovely tang of estate-grown Tettnanger hops.

Golden Ale delivers complex, refreshing, full flavours, cut through with the delicate flavour and soft bitterness of Hallertau and Tettnanger hops.

And big, bold, chocolaty Scotch Ale benefits from a lick of goldings and Willamette hops.

Red Hill Brewery Bohemian Pilsner 330ml $5.50 Red Hill takes a distinctive approach to this classic, full-bodied, hoppy, Czech style. It’s a little stronger than normal at 5.9 per cent, it’s unfiltered (and therefore has a yeast haze) and utterly delicious. From nose to finish, pungent hops wrestle with opulent, sweet, malt flavours, finishing strong, bitter and alcoholic.

Red Hill Brewery Christmas Ale 330ml $7 This ale salutes Chimay Red, one of the great Belgian abbey beers. It combines full, malty body with high alcohol (7.5 per cent) and a strong aroma input from hallertau and tettnanger hops flowers. It’s a sip and savour style, its opulence and silky texture a good much for Christmas cake or pudding.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2011 First published 23 November 2011 in The Canberra Times