It's probably fair to say that the annual commemoration of the death of England's patron saint isn't normally a big occasion in Queensland. This year's St George's Day is a bit different though.
It's due to Bacchus' chief brewer Ross Kenrick having travelled to the UK last year and being invited for a personal tour of the more than 200 year old and multi award-winning Harvey & Son brewery. While there he made a cheeky/bold enquiry as to whether he might procure the recipe for their Best Bitter in order to brew something similar in Australia.
The main concern from Harvey & Sons' head brewer Miles Jenner was that the proprietary ingredients, not least of which was the ancient yeast strain, wouldn't be available in Queensland so there was little point in attempting to recreate the beer. However, he promised to follow it up.
Some time later, Ross got news that not only would H&S agree to share the recipe, but they'd also share another three recipes – including the World Beer Cup winning brown and mild ales – as well as air freighting all the proprietary ingredients so that the beers could be recreated as authentically as possible.
All of which is, frankly, pretty awesome.
So, on St George's Day, Saturday April 23, you will be able to head to the Bacchus brewery and try cask conditioned real ales from Harvey & Sons, made in Australia, served on hand pump. To add to the Englishness of the occasion, the remaining taps will be pouring Bacchus' own English style beers which you can enjoy with a ploughman's lunch.
It's happening from midday and finished at around 7pm.
