Category Archives: Beer

Prepare for mega beer

30 September 2015Beer, Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Flat sales spur consolidation

Spurred by flat beer sales in major markets, the world’s biggest brewer, Belgium’s Anheuser-Busch InBev, confirmed in mid-September it would make a bid for the second biggest brewer (and owner of Foster’s since 2011), Britain’s SABMiller.

“The combined firm would earn roughly half the industry’s profits and sell one in every three pints of beer quaffed worldwide”, wrote The Economist on 19 September.

With a combined output in 2014 of around 600 million hectolitres, the new entity would produce roughly 12 times as much as Japan’s Kirin, owner of Australia’s market leader, Lion.

Lion holds about 48 per cent of the Australian beer market, followed by Foster’s at 42 per cent. Cooper’s, the largest Australian-owned brewer, claims five per cent, leaving the other five per cent to around 150 craft brewers.

Cooper’s boss, Dr Tim Cooper, says the merger would put pressure on industry suppliers and “result in a further loss of diversity”.

Beer reviews

4 Pines Oaked Baltic Porter 500ml $9
The high alcohol content (7.5 per cent) adds body and warmth to 4 Pines robust, oak-matured porter. The brewer’s description of “gooey chocolate syrup” colourfully reflects the slurpy appeal of its roasted- malt-derived flavours. A touch of vanillin from oak maturation completes a complex, very bitter dark ale.

Bright Brewery Staircase Porter 330ml $5.20
The first sniff of Bright Brewery’s strong, dark porter is reminiscent of espresso coffee. The coffee- and chocolate-like flavours, derived from roasted malt, persist on a generous, warming, bitter–sweet palate. The bitterness of roasted grain and hops ultimately triumphs over the sweet malty flavours, giving a dry, firm grip to the finish.

Sydney brewer honours Albo

23 September 2015Beer, Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Albo bender

Like so many craft brewers, the blokes behind Tempe’s Willie the Boatman Brewery, rose from the ranks of home brewing.

They named the brewery after William Kerr, a boatman and local character of the 1830s, as a statement, they say, of the strong community spirit they believe in. Their beers, too, carry the names of local characters, living and dead.

In a stroke of genius, owners Pat McInerney and Nick Newey named their latest brew after their Federal member, Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese. Albo’s Corn Ale captured Mr Albanese’s imagination, and he attended the Sydney and Canberra launches.

Pat McInerney based the beer on American corn ales, brewed by farmers during the prohibition and war periods. A small portion of corn in the brew gives it a lively freshness and softness, though it’s no wuss at 5.5 per cent alcohol.

Reviews

Willie the Boatman Brewery Albo Corn Ale 640ml $9.90
Pat McInerney and Nick Newey named their new brew after local Federal member, Anthony “Albo” Albanese. Albo attended the Sydney launch and now Canberrans can buy it at King O’Malleys and Plonk. It’s full-bodied, soft beer, with a tease of galaxy hops in the aroma and clean, fresh, mildly bitter finish.

Bright Brewery Fainters Dubbel 330ml $6.20
Named for nearby Mount Fainter, Bright’s Belgian abbey-style ale tastes like the beer equivalent of Rutherglen’s luscious fortified wines, albeit at around half the alcohol content (8.5 per cent). It combines lush raisin-like flavours with distinctive clove-like character, with a sweet but tangy finish, reminiscent of liquorice.

Strange tales of ale

16 September 2015Beer, Beer reviewChris Shanahan

New beer book

For an eclectic look at the world of beer over two millennia, grab a copy of Strange Tales of Ale by British beer author, historian and blogger, Martyn Cornell.

Cornell’s new book kicks off with the tragic tale of London’s great beer flood of 1814. He writes, “A huge vat filled with maturing porter fell apart at Henry Meux’s Horse Shoe brewery. More than 570 tons of beer crashed through the brewery’s back wall and out into the slums behind in a vast wave at least 15 feet high”. Eight women and children died and others were injured.

On a happier note, Cornell details how RAF Spitfire pilots, with tacit approval of the Air Ministry, flew beer in “jettison tanks” to the troops in Normandy in the weeks following D-Day.

The book is available in electronic and print format from Amazon and Google Books.

Beer reviews

Bright Brewery Smoko Rauchbier 330ml $5
Smoko emulates the beechwood-smoked beers (rauchbier) of Bamberg, Germany, where it makes delicious company, as I found out firsthand, for liver dumpling soup. So it’s a forceful beer to enjoy with rich food, not quinoa. Smoko reeks of campfire clothing and bacon, combining rich malt and bitter hops with meaty, smoky flavours.

Bright Brewery Alpine Ale 330ml $3.95
Craft brewers explore every corner of the beer world, at times challenging our senses with powerful flavour combinations. But they also make simpler brews for everyday quaffing. Bright Brewery succeeds in this area with its single malt, single hop Alpine Ale. It’s malty, tasty, fresh and finishes with a balanced, lingering hops bitterness.

Craft brewer becomes Bright’s social hub

9 September 2015Beer, Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Bright, on a cold weekday night

Bright, Victoria, on a cold weekday night and diners spread sparsely through the town’s eateries. Culinary landmark, Simone’s, hunkers opaque against the winter chill, hiding and nourishing an unknown number of diners.

Nearby, the brilliant, glass-walled, Japanese-inspired Tani restaurant, bares its innards to passers by, revealing a less than half-full house – in contrast, apparently, to the sell-out weekends.

But across the road, locals pack into brightly lit Bright Brewery. The tiny start-up of nine years ago is today a spacious, buzzing social hub for the town, busy even on a cold night out of tourist season.

Local bed-and-breakfast operator, Graham Badrock, says the brewery and eatery, founded by the late Fiona Reddaway and husband Scott Brandon, earned its wide community appeal as much for its inviting ambience and decent, fresh food as for its excellent beers, brewed on site.

Lobethal Bierhaus Bohemian Pilsner 330ml $5.90
On weekends, Lobethal Bierhaus, in the Adelaide Hills, comes to life as a family watering hole, with singles, mums, dads and kids spilling from the beer hall onto the large outdoor area. On a hot day, the Bierhaus’s pilsner refreshes with its full, clean, malty palate and assertive hops bitterness.

Stone and Wood Forefathers Phil Sexton English Brown Ale 500ml $8–$10
Forefather for fathers day? Corny as Kansas, for sure, but who cares when the beer’s this good. A glowing mid-brown colour it offers deep malty flavours and a dry finish, with a pervasive and lingering bitterness, totally in harmony with the malt. The beer salutes craft beer pioneer, Phil Sexton.

CCA–Casella beer venture headed for top five

2 September 2015Beer, Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Packaged beer drives volume growth

The Australian Beer Company, a joint venture between Coca Cola Amatil and Casella Wines, launched its Yenda draft beer range in October last year and bottled versions in March 2015.

The company began its push into beer under former Group Managing Director, Terry Davis. Releasing the company’s half-year results on 21 August, Davis’s successor, Alison Watkins, said Yenda, “is now on target to become a top-five craft beer brand”.

She said beer and cider volumes almost doubled in a year, “primarily driven by the successful launch of Yenda in packaged format in March”.

At the March launch, CCA explained its optimism for the crafter beer segment. It pointed to a 25-per-cent growth rate in consumption of craft beer and its comparatively small share of total beer sales – 3.9 per cent, compared with over ten per cent in the UK and US.

Beer reviews

Anchor Brewing Co Liberty Ale 355ml $4.50
First brewed in 1975 to commemorate Paul Revere’s historic ride 200 years earlier, San Francisco’s Liberty Ale impresses from the start with its brimming freshness and rich, creamy head. The delicate, fruity, malty palate, complete with intense but delicate and lingering hops flavour and bitterness complete a perfect ale.

Southern Bay Australian Lager 330ml $4.50
The bottle, bearing a best-before date of May 2016 and purchased in a Canberra retail outlet, had clearly seen better days. The head faded and died quickly, the aroma and flavour failed to show the freshness and briskness of lager and indeed tasted flabby and tired. Still drinkable if unexciting, the beer perhaps suffered from a packaging failure.

Lion to include nutritional info on beer labels

26 August 2015Beer, Beer reviewChris Shanahan

What’s in your beer

If you’re confused about what goes into beer, you’re not alone. Galaxy research, cited by Lion as it announced plans to include nutritional labelling on its Australian beers, found that “87 per cent of Aussies don’t know what goes into beer”.

Lion said that from August it will begin putting the information panels on its “wholly-owned Australian beer portfolio – meaning 887 million bottles of beer will carry helpful information on sugar, preservative, calorie (kilojoule) and carbohydrate content every year”.

The rollout will begin on Lion’s biggest brands, including XXXX, Tooheys, Hahn and James Squire, before spreading out across the entire portfolio.

Lion says the new labelling will be part of a broader public education campaign on beer facts and myths. There have been growing calls from some quarters in Europe, the US and Australia to include nutritional information on alcohol labelling.

Reviews

Sünner Kölsch 500ml $5.90
Kölsch, one of Germany’s classic beer styles, made only in Köln, is pale-lemon -coloured ale that’s been cold cellared, like a lager. Not surprisingly, it straddles the style border between lager and ale, with ale-like, rich, fruity palate and lager-like briskness. Sunner is a vibrant, fresh, easy drinking but complex example of the style.

Cavalier Courage 330ml $4.90
The website describes Cavalier Courage as an Australia blonde ale “developed to help raise awareness of and funds for research into motor neuron disease”. Every bottle sold generates $1 for the cause. Exuberant hopping matches the flamboyant head. The lively palate offers gentle malt character and an assertive hoppy bitterness.

30 breweries sign up for Canberra Beer Week

19 August 2015Beer, Beer review, PeopleChris Shanahan

Canberra beer week and beer day out

Canberra might lack the geographic breadth of greater Sydney or Melbourne for a beer event. But it more than makes up for it in enthusiasm – and perhaps in beer geeks and brewers per capita.

Canberra Beer Week, scheduled for 5 to 11 November, incorporating Beer Day Out craft festival (6 and 7 November), claims to have 30 breweries signed and is currently working with venues around the city to host the various activities.

Specialist beer and cider retailer, Plonk, of Fyshwick Markets, runs and coordinates beer week. This year it’s set to attract a great diversity of brewers and cider makers to host tap takeovers, brewer talks and food matching events in various venues across the city.

Put the dates in your diary and keep an eye on canberrabeerweek.com and beerdayout.com.au for details and tickets.

Reviews

Southern Bay Requiem Uber Pale Pilsner 330ml $4.60
What’s in a name? Will I need a cab? Ahh, no, uber pale malt and uber hopping give Southern Bay a quirky take on pilsner. It’s also uber fresh and frothy, which is good. And the uber hops will please some but not all with their uber resiny flavour and uber bitter finish.

Jennings Brewery Cumberland Deep Golden Ale 500ml $8.90
Cumberland UK Lake District beer stirs memories of Santon Bridge pub, stodgy food, mediocre wine list, beautiful countryside and delicious ale, made to drink too much of. The beer is indeed deep-golden coloured, with a warming malty palate and sturdy, lingering and refreshing hops bitterness.

Mr Malty’s favourite Phew

12 August 2015Beer, Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Bitter Phew, 137 Oxford Street, Paddington

Late on a warm, sunny Sydney day, my beer scout, Mr Malty, marched me up Oxford Street to the remarkable Bitter Phew bar.

We strode up the narrow, dark staircase at number 137 and into the homely watering hole, lit gently by oblique winter sun slanting through open windows.

Tuesday, 4.30pm, workday barely ended, and already beer lovers hugged their stools behind the bar, facing 12 taps and an obliging barman. Overhead, a whiteboard listed the wild-ferment cider and 11 craft beers currently on tap.

We ordered two Victorian beers – a pale golden, French-style farmhouse ale and a robust American brown ale – then finished on an exotic, sour, challenging brew from Italian brewer, Birrificio del Ducato.

The owners, Aaron Edwards and Jay Pollard, search widely for cutting-edge beers and rotate them through the moving feast on tap, making Bitter Phew a must-visit for beer lovers.

Beer reviews

Castlemaine XXXX Gold Australian Pale Ale 375ml six-pack $15
Australia’s market leading mid-strength beer, XXXX Gold Lager, has a new mid-strength sibling (3.5 per alcohol) – XXXX Gold Australian Pale Ale. A press release describes the beer, accurately, as having, “less bitter and hoppy flavour than other pale ale styles in the market”. It’s an easy drinking quaffer destined to offend no one.

Woolshed Brewery Amazon Ale 330ml $4.90
Woolshed Brewery dedicated its first beer to Amazon Creek, a picturesque waterway near the brewery, located on the Murray River, South Australia. The mid-gold-amber coloured ale offers rich caramel-like malt flavours, cut through with citrus-like hops flavours and finishing with a lingering hops bitterness. A portion of wheat malt gives the palate notable briskness.

Brewing up history – Goulburn’s Bradley Grange

5 August 2015Beer, Beer review, PeopleChris Shanahan

Bradley Grange, Goulburn. Photo Chris Shanahan

The remarkable Bradley Grange property, housing the Old Goulburn Brewery, lies behind the big merino’s arse, near the Goulburn back roads Canberrans once navigated to avoid main-street.

Grange’s buildings, designed by Francis Greenway and built from 1833, housed “the various activities associated with brewing, malting, milling, coopering, smithing and stabling”, according to the brewery website.

Amazingly, the buildings survived the centuries. And now restored to their original shapes, if not full functionality, they stand as a unique museum of colonial architecture and commerce.

We visited for the beer and finally did taste it in the old malt house. Before that, however, the ghosts of brewers, coopers and maltsters past lured us through the old buildings.

There’s a homespun feel to the displays. But beautifully written information boards in the various galleries give profound insights into the brilliant mind of Francis Greenway, and the diverse – and surprising – influences on his designs.

Old Goulburn Brewery Goulburn Gold 750ml $9.50
The Old Goulburn Brewery barman, Michael, isn’t telling us much. In fact he’s serving the pale golden beer blind, leaving us to work out what it was. Well, it was delicious, surprisingly so for an ale of just 2.7 per cent alcohol: gentle, soft and malty with an assertive, refreshing hops bitterness.

Orkney Brewery Skull Splitter 330ml $7.50
Orkney’s “wee heavy” delivers the dessert-like richness of traditional, strong Scottish ale. Forget about hops and bitterness. This is all about rich, sweet malt flavours – including caramel- and –molasses-like characters – combined with a heady 8.5 per cent alcohol. It’s a delicious, harmonious, winter warmer – in fact, far from skull splitting.

Canberra brewer’s gypsy pact

29 July 2015Beer, Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Pact Beer Co, Canberra’s ambitious new brewer. Photo Giancarlo Del Miglio

Like the Wig and Pen, Zierholz, and Bent Spoke, Canberra’s new brewer, the Pact Beer Co, arose from the vibrant, anarchic underworld of home brewing.

In 2014, Kevin Hingston, a keen home brewer, became national winner of the Australian Amateur Brewing Championships.

His appetite whet, Hingston moved into the professional ranks this year. With the backing of Canberra-raised mates Mark Grainger and Tim Osborne, Hingston brewed Pact Beer Co’s first ales at craft breweries in Sydney and Melbourne – a widespread practice known as gypsy brewing.

He offers the beers on tap at the Transit Bar, the Durham Castle, the Pot Belly, the Old Canberra Inn and A. Baker, and take-away “growlers” at Plonk.

Hingston plans to introduce bottled beer into Canberra by September, and has ambitions to build a sizeable brewery here in future. “We’d like a brewery larger than the existing Canberra operators – large enough to supply wholesale”, Hingston said.

Pact beers reviewed

Pact Beer Co Brickworks Brown Ale schooner $7
“Gypsy” brewer Kevin Hingston launched Brickworks Brown Ale at the Durham Castle, Kingston, on 16 July. The beer pours deep amber with an abundant, inviting head. Strong, floral hops aromas leads to a rich, warming palate, with flavours of caramel, malt and roasted grains under the pervasive hops, which linger in flavour and bitterness.

Pact Beer Co Tennent Pale Ale schooner $7
A big, bold beer in the American pale ale style, Tennent sets pungent, resiny hops against rich, sweet, malty flavours. Hops dominate from first sniff to the lingering aftertaste, in an harmonious and characterful interpretation of the style. On tap at Durham Castle, Transit Bar, Pot Belly and Old Canberra Inn.