Chris Shanahan: New Zealanders launch home brew machine in Australia

WilliamsWarn Brewmaster

In 2011 New Zealanders Ian Williams and Anders Warn launched what they claimed was “the world’s first all-in-one brewing appliance”. Following success of the WilliamsWarn Brewmaster in New Zealand, the inventors have now released it in Australia

Their launch of the WilliamsWarn Brewmaster beat America’s PicoBrew Zymatic to the punch by about three years. However, the two systems operate in fundamentally different ways.

The American machine starts by making wort from grain. The New Zealand machine, on the other hand, bypasses this time-consuming part of the brewing process by using malt extract, which can be made into wort by adding water.

The machine, which controls fermentation, carbonation and dispensing in one continuous seven-day process, costs between $7500 and $8500, depending on configuration. Details of the machine and the wide range of malt extracts available to would-be brewers are on williamswarn.com.

Beer reviews

Little Creatures Hotchkiss Six Domestic Stout 330ml 6-pack $21
Little Creatures new seasonal brew is an easy drinking stout with a comparatively low alcohol content of 4.5 per cent. The deep colour and roasted-grain flavours come from caramel and chocolate malts. Their sweetness is nicely balanced by the spicy tang and bitterness of Rakau and Southern Cross hops.

Ridgeway Brewing Imperial Barley Wine 2015 (UK) 330ml $8
Barley wines are very strong ales displaying sweeet, malty richness and wine-like alcohol content. Ridgeway’s vintage-dated version offers 10 per cent alcohol, sweet, fruity and malty aroma and a big, warming, malty palate, cut with assertive hops flavours and bitterness. It’s built to cellar and should change in interesting ways over time.