Category Archives: Beer

Keatings of Woodend — Macedon region’s brew pub

21 February 2007BeerChris Shanahan

Craft beers are generally at their best from a keg in the brewery – be it a tin shed or luxury pub. On a run through Victoria recently the final pit stop at Woodend, Macedon, involving a wooden paddle, proved the point deliciously.

Keating’s pub, home to Paul Holgate’s brewery, offered a run-of-the bar tasting ‘paddle’ – literally a flat wooden paddle housing seven tasting glasses brimming with Paul’s in-house brews — six from the taps plus one high-alcohol specialty from bottle.

It was a dream nightcap of wheat ale, real ales, pilsener and high-alcohol Belgian-style ale, each one distinctive and a world removed from the bland offerings of the average pub.

A visit to Keating’s is worth the detour on the trip to or from Melbourne – especially for Thursday share-the-mike nights where local musicians get the place rocking. And Dan Murphy stocks the bottled versions of some of the Holgate beers.

Holgate Mount Macedon Ale 330ml $2.99
Paul Holgate models his signature beer, named for nearby Mount Macedon, on the German Kölsch style of pale ale. It has an attractive reddish colour and a smooth, malty richness. Assertive hops seasoning adds a floral note and lingering, zesty, bitter finish. One isn’t enough. But alcohol is a modest 4.5 per cent.

Holgate White Ale 330ml $2.99
On a hot day chilled wheat beer fresh from the tap appeals even to non-beer-drinkers. The high acid, negligible hops aroma and moderate bittering deliver a unique flavour experience unlike that of regular all-barley beers. The luxurious, pure-white head looks a treat, too, especially served in a Champagne flute.

Hellfire here on earth — in Bright Victoria

14 February 2007BeerChris Shanahan

It’s near the Victorian ski pistes, but in summer the new Bright Brewery in Gavin Street, Bright — opposite the legendary Simone’s restaurant – flicks the palate into overdrive.

The beers are all brewed on site and served with Milawa cheese, local dips, local olives and local relishes in the lounge or out on the deck overlooking the town swimming hole.

If you’re visiting don’t stress over the beer choice – just put your palate to the rack, a nifty little wooden tray with shallow wells holding tasting glasses of all of the brews currently available.

If you’re lucky you might have one of the owners – David and Julie Cocks, Scott Brandon or Fiona Reddaway – guide you through the range. But it’s a pleasant journey in its own right savouring English and American ale styles, porter and Belgian style strong wheat ale.

You can buy the beers direct from the brewery. See www.brightbrewery.com.au

Bright Brewery Hellfire Ale 24X330ml $85
Bright’s amber brew is vaguely in the English pale ale style, though notably maltier and with a touch of caramel giving a hint of sweetness. But a good dose of hops keeps the sweetness in balance, starting with appealing aromatic high notes then providing a tantalising, drying, refreshing bitterness.

Bright Brewery Blowhard Pale Ale 24X330ml $85
Blowhard seems more in the mould of American style pale ales — and that often means a burly, muscly, malt-opulence versus hops-bitterness arm wrestle. It’s amazingly zesty, fresh and rich. But as you sip away, the resiny/citrusy hops gain the upper hand. You love it or hate it. But you never forget it.

A bridge worth crossing

7 February 2007BeerChris Shanahan

Winemaker Ben Kraus switched from grape to grain via Ballart University’s post-grad brewing course – a connection that gave him not just a piece of paper but a brewery, too.

Chief lecturer Rob Greig alerted Ben to the sale, by Lawrence Victor Estate, of its brewing equipment – and that was the birth of Bridge Road Brewers, Beechworth.

In that lovely Victorian town, in a little lane off Ford Street, Ben brews what are, to my taste, some of the best craft beers in the country. And they’re served just metres from the vats in a comfy little cellar-door and courtyard facility.

Ben offers on tap a Bavarian style wheat beer, American style pale ale, Aussie pale ale, Celtic Red Ale and Dark Ale with varying specialties, currently a Saisson Belgian style farm house ale and a high alcohol, syrupy-rich biere-de-garde.

Brian Loader sells the bottled versions at Kingston markets or see www.bridgeroadbrewers.com.au for direct purchases.

Bridge Road Brewery Beechworth Wheat Ale 330ml-6pack $19
You can buy the bottled version from Brian Loader at Kingston markets and it’s good, but for the real five-star thrill you must try it on tap at the brewery. Served ultra-fresh like this it delivers the wonderful fruity high notes of the southern German wheat style.

Bridge Road Brewery Beechworth Dark Ale 330ml-6pack $20
Brewer Ben Kraus says this goes well with chocolate cake or oysters, presumably not at the same time. It’s definitely good with the brewery’s home-baked pretzels or on its own and distinctive because though dark coloured and assertive chocolate and roast malt in flavour, is quite lean bodied and refreshingly dry.

Australia Day beer report — state of play, state of origin

24 January 2007Beer, Beer reviewChris Shanahan

In the old days where we lived in Australia pretty well determined which beer we’d enjoy on a hot day. Barring a little blurring around State borders, we drank what our home-State breweries offered.

In the mid seventies a new Victorian brewery, Courage, attempted a national roll out with the now defunct Courage and Crest brands. By then, of course, we were also enjoying a range of imported beers.

In the eighties rationalisation of the industry began in earnest and brewers attempted to move State brands across borders. Carlton United did this with great success, building Fosters into a national and international brand.

Interestingly, Fosters faded quickly in Australia to be replaced by Victoria Bitter, another Carlton United brand. It remains, perhaps, the most successful of the border-crossing non-premium State brands.

Huge growth in premium beers started in the late eighties and accelerated in the nineties leading, ultimately, to the national roll out of Sydney’s Hahn Premium and Tasmania’s Cascade and Boags Premium. These joined the already nationally successful Crown Lager, yet another of the Carlton brands, and a growing number of internationals.

By now State brands were thoroughly intermingled in ownership, with Queensland’s Castlemaine, New South Wales’ Tooheys and Hahn, South Australia’s West End and Southwark and Western Australia’s Emu and Swan folded, along with New Zealand Lion, Leopard and Steinlager, into Lion Nathan, itself 46-per-cent Japanese owned.

Meanwhile, Foster’s Group, still Australian owned, controls just about any hallowed old Victorian name you care to remember as well as those from New South Wales’ Tooths and Reschs breweries and Tasmania’s Cascade.

Ironically, while rationalisation and internationalisation tend to foster blandness in mass brands, both of our giant brewers have serious investments in genuine craft brewing operations.

Lion’s Malt Shovel Brewery in Sydney and Little Creatures in Fremantle and Foster’s Matilda Bay (Fremantle and Dandenong) produce highly complex, idiosyncratic beers of the highest quality.

Fortunately these are widely distributed, for the most part readily available and add vivid splashes of colour to the pretty bland palette of commercial beers.

Consumer demand for more interesting beers has also meant a proliferation of micro breweries across the country, These tend to service local markets – sometimes for the simple reason that they make draft beer only. But we’re sure to see increasing numbers on retail shelves if demand for premium beers continues to grow rapidly.

With all of the above in mind, my Australia Day beer selections focus on genuine State-of-origin beers, of great individuality, from craft brewers large and small.

The one exception is the Northern Territory. Without a field trip, alas, nothing notable emerged – hence, the choice of the top end’s beer icon, the Darwin stubby.

Here’s to Australia and Aussie beer.

AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY

The Wig & Pen Tavern & Brewery, various beers
Since 1994 the Wig, under proprietor Lachlan McOmish and brewers Richard Pass and now Richard Watkins, has been at the leading edge of Australian pub brewing. The Wig, in Alinga Street, offers a diversity of complex, award winning beer styles built on a regular range supplemented by seasonal specialties.

NEW SOUTH WALES

James Squire Original Pilsener 345ml 6pack $16
NSW has so many good brewers but this one, made by Chuck Hahn’s crew at the Lion Nathan owned Malt Shovel brewery, is a world class interpretation of the Bohemian model. It delivers the tremendous malt richness of the style as well as the magnificent aromatics and intense bitterness of Saaz hops.

NORTHERN TERRITORY

Northern Territory Draught Darwin Stubby 2 litre $30
It’s brewed in Melbourne by Foster’s and the beer, says retired brewer Peter Manders, is a mainstream lager in the style of Victoria Bitter – Australia’s biggest selling brew – so we all know what it tastes like. It’s an icon of the Territory, if not an artefact. And, no, they don’t offer six-packs.

QUEENSLAND

Oxford 152 Micro Brewery, Bulimba, various brews
Early last year I judged at the Australian International Beer Awards with Oxford 152 brewer, Brennan Fielding. I’ve not visited the pub brewery — at 152 Oxford Street, Bulimba — and therefore rely on Brennan’s extraordinary nineteen-medal tally at the awards for my rating and recommendation. A field trip is on the agenda.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Coopers Sparkling Ale 375ml 6 pack about $15
After defeating Lion’s recent hostile takeover bid, Cooper’s cemented its role as the third force in Australian brewing – with an estimated three per cent of the national market. Adelaide loves it. And growing numbers throughout Australia enjoy the rich, fruity, distinctive, cloudy style – caused not by the Adelaide water but by a natural yeast haze.

TASMANIA

Moorilla Moo Brew Wheat Beer 330ml $5.50
Tasmania has a highly visible brewing thanks largely to the quality and mainstream success of Cascade Premium and Boags Premium lagers. But there’s a craft brewing presence as well, including Claudio Radenti’s draught Hazards Ale and this delightful, zesty bottle-conditioned wheat beer from Moorilla Estate Winery’s new brewery near Hobart.

VICTORIA

Naked Ale $4.80 a pot at Young & Jackson Pub, Melbourne
Jules Lefebvre’s 1875 portrait Chloe provoked outrage in Victorian era Melbourne. More than a century on Chloe presides, still naked, over her own bar at Young & Jackson’s pub on Flinders and Swanston Streets. Visitors toast Chloe with Naked Ale, a superb keg-conditioned wheat beer made at Matilda Bay’s Dandenong brewery.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Little Creatures Pale Ale 330ml
Lion Nathan is a major shareholder. Nevertheless this Fremantle operation is a craft brewer in the true sense, making highly complex beers, albeit in sufficient volume for national distribution. Its original creation, Pale Ale, the flagship, stimulates the senses — deliciously — with its passionfruit-like hops-led aroma and flavour.

New barley breed likely to boost to Aussie exports

17 January 2007BeerChris Shanahan

Back in the mid nineties, says brewer Dr Tim Cooper, Canada gained an edge over Australian barley growers following the development of Harrington.

With its high extract yields (meaning more litres of beer or whisky per tonne of malted barley) Harrington appealed strongly to brewers and distillers in traditional export markets, notably Japan.

In response, the University of Adelaide and ABB Waite Institute developed Flagship, a high-yielding, disease resistant malting barley recently used in a short-run brew by Coopers as a prelude to its commercial roll out.

Ten years in the breeding and development from four other varieties, Flagship promises to give farmers better returns, says Tim, because of the higher likelihood of meeting malting specifications and reduced risk of relegation to lower-priced feed grade.

Tim believes that Japanese brewers and whisky distillers will be attracted by Flagship’s higher extract yields, thus boosting export opportunities for Australian barley producers and maltsters.

Brewing Dutch and German favourites in Sydney

23 January 2005Beer, Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Rather than being embittered by a long-term decline in Australia’s per capita beer consumption (129.3 litres in 1989; 89 litres in 2001), Australian brewers sought to excite and entice beer drinkers with new products. Hence, the creation over the past decade and more of light beers, mid-strength beer, dry beers, cold filtered beers etc.

Despite all these artefacts, though, what finally excited consumers and brewers were beers with flavour and character – the increasing diversity and quantity of premium local and imported ales and lagers now tempting us in bars, restaurants and retail stores.

While this represents just eight per cent by volume of the 1,700 million litres of beer consumed annually in Australia, the premium and imported segment continues to grow rapidly and has the potential, some say, to take 15 per cent of the market.

With every percentage point representing 17 million litres, that’s potentially an extra 119 million litres up for grabs.

At present that wonderful diversity of beers comes to us through a few small brewers, a host of small importers, several national importer/distributors, and our two giant domestic brewers, Fosters and Lion Nathan.

The big brewers compete with both domestically brewed beer and imports. Fosters brews Crown Lager and owns the Matilda Bay brewery in Western Australia and the Cascade Brewery in Tasmania; Lion Nathan brews Hahn Premium and owns Sydney’s Malt Shovel Brewery, creator of James Squire beers.

Through its Carlton Special Beverages subsidiary, Fosters also imports and distributes a range of beers including Belgium’s Stella Artois, while Lion Nathan brings in Steinlager from its own New Zealand brewery, plus Holland’s Heineken and Germany’s Beck’s.

The sheer scale of Foster’s and Lion Nathan places them in a dominant position to capitalise on this growing market for top end product. Indeed, Lion Nathan’s growing volumes have allowed it to begin contract brewing in Sydney of Heineken and Beck’s.

If all goes to plan, we should be enjoying Australian-brewed Heineken by March and Beck’s before the end of June. But will we taste a difference?

Lion Nathan Chief Brewer, Bill Taylor, believes not. He also believes that drinkers will benefit by enjoying fresher beer. “And the real jewel will be draft beer”, he said. “In Australia, local draft beers tend to be served ultra fresh, just one to two weeks old”. Imported drafts can be three months old before they go on tap.

And what does it take to brew a replica Heineken?

Taylor says that the distribution of Heineken has been done through a joint venture company, Heineken Lion, and that the intention always was to brew locally once a critical volume had been achieved.

The Heineken team selected Lion’s Sydney brewery as the most suited and trials began in 2004, conducted by Bill Taylor’s team and a brewer from Heineken.

Taylor views the exercise as a great learning experience for his young brewers. “You have to capture the essence of what makes that beer taste different. To do that you have to respect another brewer’s approach and philosophy and make different decisions”.

While the raw ingredients – malted barley, hops and yeast – are specified and supplied either by Heineken or Heineken approved European suppliers, every detail of the brewing process counts in capturing the right aromas and flavours.

For example, with Heineken, Taylor says his team learned that hydrostatic pressure influenced the performance of yeasts in producing subtle but crucial aroma esters. As a result only partially filled upright fermenters could be used in the trials and shallower, horizontal fermenters are being installed for full-scale production.

After trial brews got the tick from Bill’s team and the Heineken brewer, samples went to Holland for tasting and analysis. Just before Christmas approval came through and the Sydney team is now gearing up for full production and release of locally brewed Heineken by March.

Similarly with Beck’s the decision to brew locally followed market success. Again the brewing crew have to embrace the Beck’s philosophy, work with a Beck’s brewer and source ingredients from Becks’ approved European suppliers.

Amongst the dozens of details to master, says Bill, is capturing Beck’s distinctive, pale, colour – achieved by using Beck’s pale malt and ‘a delicate use of heat in fermentation, somewhat untypical of other brewers’.

And because Beck’s abides by Germany’s sixteenth century beer purity law (Rheinheitsgebot), even little things like achieving a specific pH in the wort prior to fermentation has to be achieved in the brewing process.

The ultimate result according to Bill is to brew, in Sydney’s western suburb, a beer that tastes just like the original rich, bitter, pilsner-style lager from Bremen, northern Germany.

We’ll be able to make our own judgement before mid-year.

Beck’s of Bremen Beer, $15 to $18 a 6 pack
By mid year you’ll be able to try Beck’s brewed locally under licence by Lion Nathan’s Tooheys Brewery, Sydney. Right now both the draft and package versions come from Beck’s Brewery in Bremen, Germany. Their own description of it as having a ‘pure, fresh crisp, pilsner taste’ is on the money, if a bit short on detail. It’s notably paler than most international lager styles, but this belies the very rich, malty flavour and intensely bitter hops that balance the maltiness to deliver the ‘crisp, pilsner taste’. In the hops department, it’s certainly more assertive, both in aroma, flavour and bitterness, than Australian commercial lagers and, therefore, to this palate at least, all the more appealing.

Breaking beer’s tribal boundaries

28 June 1997BeerChris Shanahan

The amount Australians spend on wine each year – around $1.2 billion – seems small beer (sorry) compared to the more than $5 billion we spend on the amber fluid.

Yet beer drinkers take their habit less seriously than wine drinkers do theirs, demolishing oceans of ale with minimal fuss, pretension, or even discussion over its merits.

Despite a plethora of labels that might suggest otherwise, Australian beer drinkers generally stick within a narrow style band that might be summed up as clean, fresh, bland and a touch sweet.

Brand choice, the marketers say, is determined more along tribal lines than by flavour: most beer drinkers will drink what their peer group drinks. Ice beers, a comparatively recent development, are an exception and appear to cross tribal boundaries all across this parched and thirsty continent.

For that reason a six-pack of, say, Hahn Ice, taken into foreign territory may be a safer bet than potential tribal icons such as VB or Tooheys Draught.

Away from the mainstream, there is a growing demand for variety. What the marketers call the premium and imported beer segment is growing at a prodigious rate, but off a small base. Some say this segment may make up, at the most, five per cent of the current market – a still sizeable $250million a year or so.

Again, lagers – albeit with notably more character than mainstream brands – make up the bulk of this market. But there is an increasing variety of beer styles arriving on retail shelves.

While many of these challenge the Aussie lager-conditioned palate, some consumers seem to be in the mood to experiment with and embrace new flavour sensations.

Acknowledging the trend, this year’s annual ‘Sydney Morning Herald’/Age’ ‘Uncorked’, published last Tuesday, devoted two pages to beer reviews by well-known wine critic, Mark Shield.

Shield recommended a truly catholic selection of beers ranging from Foster’s New ‘Extra’ to mainstream international lagers like the German classic, Beck’s, to the beautifully named Belgian ‘Delirium Tremens’ and full-blooded 9 per cent alcohol Chimay ales, brewed by Trappist monks.

I was particularly interested to read Shield’s reviews as I’d just returned to Canberra after four days’ judging at this year’s Liquorland Australian International Beer Awards in Ballarat.

Now Ballarat may seem a strange place to taste 400 beers in mid winter. But it is the only place in Australia offering University courses in brewing. And it is senior lecturer, Rob Greig who, with the help of the Royal Victorian Agricultural Society, has very quickly made this event the world’s third biggest beer competition.

Originally, the awards were seen as a forum for small makers, but Greig and his team adapted the awards to accommodate mainstream as well as exotic brews as the number of entries exploded. This year the ratio of entrants was 34 small to 41 large breweries.

Last year, when I attended as observer there were 288 entries. This year the number leapt 51 per cent to 436 and, according to Greig, another hundred were turned away after arriving too late.

Forty-five breweries from 24 countries entered beers for judging and the number of international competitors leapt 73 per cent to 296 – a sign of how seriously this Australian event is now being taken.

Entries came from Australia, Korea, Singapore, Germany, Thailand, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Vietnam, England, India, Scotland, China, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Indonesia, Tonga, Czechoslovakia, Hong Kong, Philippines, Malta, USA, South Africa and Vanuatu.

To do justice to 331 bottled and 105 draught beers over last Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday Greig assembled 11 judges, working as a single panel on small categories and splitting into two for larger ones.

The judges were Tim Cooper (Coopers Brewery, Adelaide), Roger Bussell (Joe White Maltings, Adelaide), Bill Taylor (Castlemaine, Brisbane), Paul Schrader (Eumundi, Brisbane), Johann Steenberg (South African Breweries, Johannesburg) Peter Manders (Carlton and United Breweries, Melbourne), Barry Axon (Dominion Breweries, Auckland), Richard Benwell (Boags Brewery, Tasmania), Rob Rich (Quest International, New Zealand, myself, and chief judge Colin Dowzer (Brewing consultant, Melbourne).

The beers were split into like classes across open, small brewery, specialty and international sections. And so, systematically, one beer at a time in unmarked glasses, the panels judged lagers, ales, stouts, and wheat beers.

We judged everything from the lightest, blandest low-alcohol lagers to an extraordinary, non-sparkling triple bok that poured like licorice, smelled like Vegemite and weighed in at a colossal 17 per cent alcohol.

But as we knew the beers only by class definition and randomly generated entry numbers we will have to wait until later this month for the Award winners to be announced. I will report the judges’ verdict on June 29, along with comments from my own notes.