Category Archives: Beer

The punter’s top beers of 2011

25 April 2012BeerChris Shanahan

The increasing reach of social media gives us a glimpse into what thousands of drinkers voted as their favourite premium brews of 2011.

On 26 January, the popular Local Taphouse Blog (www.thelocaltaphouse.blogspot.com) named “the hottest 100 Aussie craft beers” from a selection of over 800 products.

It’s an eclectic blend of names, where tiny brewers rub shoulders with the craft arms of brewing giants Lion Nathan and Foster’s.

In the top 20, for example, Foster’s fielded 13th favourite, Matilda Bay Fat Yak – while Lion Nathan got a look in with 18^th-placed Knappstein Enterprise Brewery Reserve Lager and beers from Little Creatures and White Rabbit (in which it holds a stake) in second, fifth and tenth places

Australia’s third largest brewer, Cooper’s, earned 16^th spot with its perennial favourite, Pale Ale.

The top three beers were Byron Bay’s Stone and Wood Pacific Ale, Little Creatures Pale Ale and Feral Brewing Company Hop Hog.

Craft beer festival, Canberra, 14 April

11 April 2012BeerChris Shanahan

Although the Schwarz Family Company shelved plans for a brewery at its Canberra hotel (the Mercure, formerly Olims), the company continues to sell its own Sydney-brewed beer there and to run its annual craft beer festival.

This year’s event – to be held at the Mercure next Saturday from 11am to 6pm – features beers from 15 brewers: Schwartz, Coopers, Little Creatures, Malt Shovel, Lord Nelson, Paulaner, Stricklands, Harts Rocks Brewery, Matilda Bay, Stone and Wood, Mudgee Brewing Company, 4 Pines, Pinchgut, Hop Dog and Dalgety Brewing.

Canberra’s Zierholz and Wig and Pen are notable absentees. Nevertheless, with over 80 beers and ciders on tasting, it’s a significant event for local beer lovers.

A $25 pass ($35 for families) includes a cup and ten tasting tickets. Full details and tickets are available at www.canberrabeerfest.com

Hop into new brews

4 April 2012BeerChris Shanahan

With the 2012 hop harvest in, watch for the seasonal, hop-focussed brews. Even before firing up its brew kettles, Tasmania’s Cascade Brewery (part of Foster’s), announced plans to hand harvest hops on 14 March.

Each year the company uses experimental hop varieties in its limited release Cascade First Harvest ale. Malted barley used in the brew is also from Tasmania’s 2012 harvest.

Head brewer Mike Unsworth says he’ll use three varieties this year, all grown at Bushy Park Estates in the Derwent Valley – but named after historic Tasmanian hop-growing regions.

The varieties are Campania, for bitterness, Triabunna, for flavour, and Ellendale, for aroma.

By 18 March, Unsworth had the brew under way. Cascade expects to release 3,600 cases (24 375ml bottles) of First Harvest in the first week of May through selected retail outlets nationally – principally Dan Murphy, 1^st Choice and Vintage Cellars.

Gypsy brewing in Beechworth

28 March 2012Beer, PeopleChris Shanahan

On Friday 9 March, the Rostrevor Hop Garden, Ovens Valley, provided fresh-picked hops to Ben Kraus at Bridge Road Brewers, Beechworth. Until the wee hours, Kraus, with visiting Danish brewer, Mikkel Bjergso, worked on their one-off Dark Harvest Ale, designed to showcase the hops.

Kraus says the collaborative brew will be “an imperial dark ale/porter brewed with freshly picked ‘wet’ hops, used in copious amounts, weighing in at around 7.5 per cent alcohol”.

Bjergso runs Mikkeller Brewery, globally famed, says Kraus, “for their unique take on established brewing styles”. Kraus calls Bjergso “a self-proclaimed gypsy brewer”, as he travels the world, making beer collaboratively with other brewers. He released 76 beers in 2010 alone.

Kraus intends to offer the beer on tap at his Beechworth brewery and distribute it to craft beer venues throughout Australia from early April.

Beechworth-Nogne brewing collaboration

21 March 2012Beer, Beer review, PeopleChris Shanahan

Before heading off to Europe last year, Australian brewer Ben Kraus contacted Nogne Brewery, Norway, and organised a joint brewing session.

Kraus airfreighted fresh Australian galaxy and stella hops to Nogne, and with brewer Kjetil Jikiun made 5,000 litres of India Saison. Nogne marketed the co-branded beer in Europe and shipped some in 500ml bottles to Australia.

Returning to Australia, Kraus made a batch to the same recipe at Bridge Road Brewers, Beechworth. So successful was it that he brewed a second batch and has a third in the making.

His Norwegian mate enjoyed similar same success, and is now into his seventh batch, says Kraus.

Kraus says Jikian’s visiting Melbourne for good beer week in May and will visit Beechworth to collaborate on another brew. Kraus also plans to work with a visiting Danish brewer.

Nogne and Bridge Road Brewery India Saison 330ml $5.50
Hops, hops, hops and more hops – glorious, fresh, pungent and resiny – drive this collaboration between Norway’s Nogne brewery and Bridge Road Brewers, Beechworth. They’re Australian galaxy and stella varieties, says brewer Ben Kraus. They dominate the aroma, push through the full, malty palate and linger, bitter and tart on the palate.

Mad brewer’s mood swing

14 March 2012Beer, Beer reviewChris Shanahan

How can a quirky beer like Hoppy Hefe come from the same brewery as the bland and boring James Squire 150 Lashes – the one thrilling and edgy; the other, well, it’s wet and alcoholic. But Maybe that’s just a mad brewer’s mood swing.

The latest offering from Mad Brewers – Malt Shovel’s Chuck Hahn, Tony Jones, Rob Freshwater and Dayton Coffey – puts a novel spin on bottle-conditioned wheat ale.

Wheat beers generally rely on high acidity, not hops, for their freshness and bite. But Hoppy Hefe takes several cues from the American Pale Ale style – full, malty body, high alcohol and really pungent, assertive hops, added late in the brewing process.

Brewer Tony Jones calls it a “mongrel of a wheat beer with no claim to nationality” – a fair description for a brew that occupies no known niche.

Malt Shovel Mad Brewers Hoppy Hefe Ale 640ml $9.99
The colour’s medium amber with a light yeast haze (hefe); the aroma combines ale fruitiness with rich, sweet maltiness, cut by fresh, citrus-like hops; and the opulent, malty, alcoholic palate benefits from fresh acid, courtesy of the wheat, and the challenging but delicious dollop of lingering, bitter hops.

Hard to stomach

29 February 2012BeerChris Shanahan

In the Chemical and Engineering News, 14 February, we’re told that drinking beer stimulates the secretion of gastric acid – and that too much of this is not good for us. Hardy surprising news, you would think. But researcher Veronika Somoza of the University of Vienna extended the range of compounds in beer known to do this.

Previous research had confirmed ethanol and several acids formed by fermentation of glucose as culprits. But the new research looked at the bitter acids from hops.

Somoza’s team tested the response of human gastric cells to the individual compounds in fives styles of German and Austrian beer. She concluded that the more bitter the compound the greater its stimulation of gastric juices.

Somoza said as a result of her research “Brewers could produce more stomach-friendly beers by choosing their hops and controlling how long they heat the ingredients”.

Belgians launch PET-packed beer in Australia

22 February 2012Beer, Beer reviewChris Shanahan

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.

Nothing sheepish about Wig’s new lambic

15 February 2012Beer, Beer reviewChris Shanahan

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.

Wig and Pen to release lambic beer

8 February 2012BeerChris Shanahan

Three years ago Wig and Pen brewer, Richard Watkins, laid down an oak cask of beer modelled on Belgium’s unique “lambic” style.

It’s risky stuff indeed as the tag team of microbes that create the beer could well bring the whole batch undone; the barrel itself might harbour uninvited micro guests; and the oxidative environment brings its own risks.

The style originated in the Brussels region and, indeed, a visit to brewers in the area sparked Watkins’ desire to have a go.

English beer expert, the late Michael Jackson, described it as “the oldest style of beer readily found in the developed world. Lambic beers gain their tartness from a content of at least 30 per cent raw wheat …but their defining characteristic is the use of wild yeast”.

Next week we’ll review the Wig’s lambic and get the full story on how Watkins made it.