We received a message from our newly anointed resident “beer dork” yesterday afternoon announcing he was thinking of calling into the Bacchus Brewing tap takeover at The Alehouse Project. Chris was just after a little info on the brewers and their beers. Nothing more.
Yet so inspired was he by what he found there – and his conversations with the brewery founder and head brewer – that he penned this piece on his experience. The Takeover continues today, so if you want to experience some truly out there beers, you know where to go…
Bonkers Brewer Takes Over The Alehouse
British molecular gastronomist (mad chef) Heston Blumenthal is well known for confounding expectations with his bizarre-sounding but by all accounts delicious concoctions such as bacon and egg ice cream, snail porridge and meat fruits. If Heston was a brewer, could he invent an ale that looks like a beer but tastes like a well-known dessert? Well, if he did he’d be too late because the team at Bacchus Brewing have already done it.
Brewery founder, Ross Kenrick, and head brewer, Bill Foley, are in Melbourne to take over the taps of the Alehouse Project in East Brunswick for two nights only and their American Pie ale is literally as American as apple pie. However, British expat Ross has given it a pommy twist, so what we get is apple pie and custard. The copper coloured beer is broadly speaking an American pale ale yet has an aroma of sweet cooked apples and short crust pastry. Add to this a full creamy mouthfeel with more apple, spice and vanilla and you’ve got a mind-boggling dessert beer. Cleverly, the finish is tart and bitter, keeping the beer from becoming too cloying.
How does one go about crafting such a concoction? What evil wizardry have Ross and Bill used?
âApple juice in the secondary fermenterâ explains Ross.
Ah, yes. Obviously I knew that.
The pastry component was a little more convoluted. As part of their ongoing test brewing they had experimented with cinnamon to spice up the brew but found it far too overwhelming. They then hit upon mahlab, a middle eastern baking spice made from cherry pits, and as they had hoped, it lent the beer a delicate hint of cinnamon. Unexpectedly, it also enveloped their spiced apple in shortcrust pastry.
The experimentalism continues. How about a classic European pilsner that smells like white chocolate? Dreamt up by Ross, Bill admits that he took some convincing: âWe all thought he was mad, but we brewed it anyway. And it worked!â
He’s right. What may sound like a car crash on paper turns out to be surprisingly drinkable. Masses of white chocolate aroma carry on to the palate before gently dissipating into the familiar spicy and herbal hoppiness of a Czech pilsner.
Again, the key is a dry finish to counteract what seems like a sweet beer.
âI don’t really enjoy beers that are too sweetâ says Ross. âI think the mark of a good beer is that after you’ve finished you feel like you could have another.â
Bacchus are able to take these risks due to their miniature system featuring multiple small brewhouses that allows them to do batches of as little as 50 litres of beer.
However, things do not always go to plan. Bill reveals that they recently did a brew with 100 per cent smoked wheat malt. âIt just tasted like a bushfire,â he says with a laugh.
It’s not all bizarre fantasy beers though. Also on offer is Red Bellied Black, an Imperial Red IPA. 100 per cent Simcoe hops give the beer a huge bouquet of stone fruit leading on to a tropical pine forest of a beer with added caramel complexity coming from Belgian candi syrup. Again, it’s another highly quaffable beer, despite being 11 per cent ABV.
Fans of a straight up IPA should find plenty to enjoy in Hopilingus, which has a big bold nose of tropical fruit lollipops that fools you into thinking this might be a sweet beer before slamming you with pine needles, lemon zest, then finally ending on a dry, citrusy finish.
Like many craft brewers, Ross started out brewing at home.
âWe still brew like home brewers in that we don’t think about the cost of the ingredients. We only use the best and I think that makes the difference between a good beer and a great beer.â
The Bacchus Brewing Tap Takeover is on again tonight and Ross and Bill will be on hand to discuss the finer points of their brewing adventures.
