The Final Countdown

Time is running out for you to choose your favourite beer from the final six for The People’s Pint. Voting closes at midnight tomorrow (Thursday) for the first beer in Australia invented by the people and chosen by the people for the people. Once the winner is known, Ron Feruglio, head brewer at Temple Brewery & Brasserie, will contact them and work out a recipe for a unique beer that will be brewed ready for launch during Good Beer Week.

The winner will be a guest at the launch – along with some international brewing guests who, along with Temple, have some exciting news for the Aussie beer world… The winner will also receive a case of their beer – the only case to be bottled (unless we can persuade Temple to do any for us at Crafty Towers!) with the remainder being sold on tap at Temple then at craft beer bars after the festival.

The top six as selected by Temple and The Crafty Pint were unveiled late last week and you can cast your vote on them here. We also found out a little about the people behind the pints over the weekend. If you missed the post on The People’s Pint website, they hail from Brisbane, Sydney, Perth, North Warrandyte and the Yarra Valley and are:

Daniel O’Grady (top left above)

A sparkie and an avid homebrewer from the Yarra Valley, Daniel says: “I love beer and constantly bore people about the topic, I frequently taste new beers every week and spend too much money.”

His favourite beer is Gouden Carolus Cuvee of the Emperor or any top notch Quadruple and he came up with Grassy Noel – “A hoppy, spiced American Brown Ale, big malt flavour up front, christmas plum pudding spices through the middle, finishing on a hit of fruity hops.”

Dean Leishman (bottom right)

Dean works as a consultant with “one of the great big IT companies” and lives on the fringes of Melbourne in North Warrandyte. Outside of work, he’s “a dad (to three daughters), a husband (to one wife), a firefighter, homebrewer and fly-fisherman with a keen side interest in all things geeky.”

He can’t pick a favourite beer, so has offered his most memorable… Founders Breakfast Stout, Mikellers Beer Geek Breakfast and Arrogant Bastard. Locally, he enjoys beers from Bridge Road and Holgate (“Ohh the Temptress”) while it’s a toss up between Stone & Wood Pacific Ale, Murray’s Angry Man Brown Ale and The Growler from 2 Brothers for his go-to beer. Or, as he says: “Forget it, I couldn’t pick a favorite beer if my life depended on it.”

His beer is Burning Red Heart – “Taking its cue from the colour of our trucks, this beer is designed with a nod to our volunteer fire services. The Burning Red Heart is a supremely quaffable, lightly smoked red ale with a smooth bitterness, finished with Willamette to deliver wood, spice and smoke notes to the drinker.”

Leo Hede (top right)

A resident of Brisbane with “a sensible day job” Leo tries “to do my bit to make the world a better place.” He’s also a DJ and muso with a long-term love affair with beer. Leo tells us he “used to be easily pleased with whatever beer appeared in front of me, but now I enjoy the hunt for new tastes and flavours. Of late, lots of APAs and all the variations have been wetting my whistle.” His favourite recently has been SKA Brewing’s Modus Hoperandi.

He came up with Double Hoptendre – “A woman walked into a bar and ordered a Double Hoptendre. So the bartender gave it to her… This is a spicy, flamboyantly hopped, cheeky beer, not afraid of making a statement, big flavours but enough subtlety to be acceptable for all occasions; it speaks its mind without offending anyone.”

Andrew Braithwaite (second from left on bottom)

Andrew is normally “a Melbournite living in Sydney” with his city of preference depending on who is asking. Currently, however he’s driving a van and bungee jumping his way around New Zealand. He works in digital strategy during the day, and loves to come home to a nice Moo Brew Dark Ale… Or a stout if he can get his hands on one.

In keeping with his love of the dark arts, he gave us Chocolate and Cigars – “A chocolatey stout with a smokey flavour. Best drunk from an extra large glass, so it can be swirled around like a fine cognac between puffs of a South American cigar.”

Adam Kenyon (bottom left)

Adam lives in Belmont, WA, where he works for a family mechanics business. He says he loves “going to the horse races, animals and especially enjoys craft beer and going to my local to find something new on the shelf.” He rarely drinks anything twice, with current favourite either Russian River Temptation or Rogue St Rouge Red.

He gave The People’s Pint WalkAbout – “A brew as red as the desert with big toffee malts for a medium body and dry hopped in the style of a Red IPA while adding Davidsons plum for a touch of sour and some mountain pepper for spice and, just like a mixed breed dog, a bit of a mongrel brew that has a little bit of everything while being unique.”

Dan Summers (third from left on bottom)

Dan kept things short and to the point when we posed the questions of him:

Live: Sydney

Do: Beer specialist at Camperdown Cellars, Darlinghurst

Favourite beer (of the moment): Mac’s Sassy Red Best Bitter

His beer is the Spinal Tap-inspired This One Goes To 11 – “11 different malts. 11 different hops.”

As things stand, Double Hoptendre leads with Grassy Noel in second place. Burning Red Heart has kept its nose ahead in third, closely followed by This One Goes To 11, while after a sluggish start, Chocolate and Cigars has moved into fifth, leaving WalkAbout for now in last. If you’d like to see this change, then get voting now!