BentSpoke brewery plans cans

New outlet and canning line

Canberra’s BentSpoke brewery recently announced plans to open a second outlet and packaging plant in the industrial suburb of Mitchell.

Brewer and part owner Richard Watkins expects the new facility to open in the first half of 2016. It will operate as a brewery, bar and packaging hall.

Like a growing number of small brewers, Watkins aims to package his beer and cider in cans, citing their superior ability to keep beer fresh. The packaged beers and cider will be available at the new outlet, to be known as The Cannery. Watkins also aims to distribute the packaged product across Canberra.

BentSpoke will be the third Canberra brewer to offer packaged beer. In a one-off exercise in 2009, Richard Watkins brewed and bottled the Wig and Pen’s Kembrey Ale at the De Bortoli family’s Red Angus brewery, Griffith, NSW.

And in September this year Kevin Hingston introduced Pact Beer Co’s bottled beers to several Canberra outlets. Canberra-based Hingston brewed and bottled the beers in Melbourne but plans to build a sizeable brewery in Canberra.

Reviews

Moo Brew Belgo 330ml $5.90
Moo Brew shares its Hobart site with Moorilla Estate and the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA). The brewery’s gold-amber expression of the Belgian wheat ale style leads with a luxurious white head and sweet, banana-like fruitiness. A creamy, fresh palate reflects the aroma. But an assertive hops bitterness distinguishes it from the Belgian style.

Riverside Brewing Co Eighty Eight Robust Porter 330ml $5.50
This porter comes from Parramatta, just a few kilometres upstream from where convict James Squire grew Australia’s first hops. Inky black and six per-cent alcohol, it blurs the line between porter and stout with its oppulent roasted-grain and molasses-like flavours. Roasted flavours overlap hops bitterness and the fresh, clean finish.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2015
First published 17 and 18 November 2015 in goodfood.com.au  and the Canberra Times