Crafty Pint /
03.04.12
An association formed last year to bring Australian craft breweries and beer companies together has received a boost after the Victorian Association of Microbreweries Incorporated (VAMI) announced it was encouraging its members to sign up – and would subsidise their membership. The association also announced it would be changing its name from Craft Beer Limited to the Craft Beer Industry Association.
In a statement to its members, the VAMI committee said: “It has become the opinion of the VAMI Committee that CBL offers the best opportunity for the industry to achieve its objectives and build on what the many VAMi members have achieved over the years. Additionally, the committee feels that CBL offers the best financial stability for a long term national association, and with that would come a stable base to get real achievements at a national level.”
Meanwhile, on the name change, a statement from the Craft Beer Industry Association explained: “Almost a year ago we started work on developing a national craft beer association and spent months under the working title of ‘Australian Craft Brewers Association’ as we moved towards launch. When we were ready to launch we went to register the name with ASIC and were surprised to find someone had reserved the name days beforehand. We didn’t want this to hold us up so, on the run, we launched under the name Craft Beer Limited as a short term solution until we were able to acquire a name that best represented the association.
“Now that we are up and running and gaining members and support as a true industry association we have changed our name to the Craft Beer Industry Association (CBIA), a name that simply describes who we are.”
We announced the formation of the association on The Crafty Pint last year. That same week a second organisation, called the Australian Real Craft Brewers Association, launched. Discussions have been ongoing between the two associations since then.
A full list of the 20-plus members who are now part of the Craft Beer Industry Association – plus details on its aims and how to join – can be found on its website. Meanwhile, the CBIA will hold its inaugural AGM on May 16, from 1.30pm to 4.30pm, in Melbourne during Good Beer Week; venue TBC. The meeting will be open to anyone with an interest in craft beer, and will include a ballot to elect the Inaugural CBIA Board. As such, they have issued a call for authorised representatives of fully paid members to nominate for positions on the CBIA Board.
The statement said: “We have some well qualified and experienced people in our industry and our aim is get the best people to represent us. We are looking for people who have broad industry knowledge, who have the ability to facilitate positive outcomes, and are open and inclusive in their approach. Importantly they need to have a track record in getting things done and have the time to be both engaged and active in the workings of CBIA. Although the board will be supported by various sub-committees and state chapters they will need to play an active role in the achievement of CBIA’s objectives. It’s not just a case of attending the occasional meeting.”
To be eligible for election, nominations need to submitted via email to email@craftbeer.org.au by April 27. There will be seven seats on the CBIA Board, one from each of the five member categories (Pub and Nano Brewers, Microbrewers, Contract Brewers, Regional Craft Brewers and National Craft Brewers) and two other positions from any of these categories.
Crafty Pint /
02.04.12
We have a winner! Australia’s first People’s Pint is the Double Hoptendre, conceived by Queenslander Leo Hede. The beer – one of six selected for a shortlist by The Crafty Pint and the team at Temple Brewery & Brasserie from almost 150 submissions from across Australia – came top in the public vote, finishing more than 100 votes ahead of the second placed beer. Now it’s over to Temple head brewer Ron Feruglio to speak to the beer’s inventor and work the concept into a beer ready to be launched during Good Beer Week.
Rather appropriately, the person behind The People’s Pint is one who spends his life helping people – children to be precise. Leo is a counsellor for the Kids Helpline in Brisbane, part of the BoysTown charity. And it turns out he’d already had the idea for his winning beer before the nationwide competition was launched earlier this year.
“I was at a beer bar sampling a few pale ales and IPAs and thought it would be a good name for a beer,” he says. “Then two weeks later I saw The People’s Pint. I was chuffed with the whole idea of the competition and thought it was great to make the final six, let alone win it.”
He says he had in mind a beer inspired by those he was drinking at the time – “big hoppy flavours and a bit of bitterness” – but with a little bit of spice.
“The description was quite open ended and lent itself to the brewer’s interpretation,” he says. “I’d done a little bit of home brewing a few years ago but thought [the specifics] would be better left to the experts.”
The Double Hoptendre’s description in full – one that raised a chuckle at Crafty Towers for the way it recalled the humour of Tommy Cooper and British adult comic Viz – is:
“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.”
It was the pick of a kaleidoscope list of entries that encompassed the fruity, the vegie, the smoky, the spicy, the native, the crazy, the sexy, the barrel-aged, the sour, the bitter and the unbrewable. For those that made the final six, they finished:
1 Double Hoptendre
2 Grassy Noel
3 Burning Red Heart
4 This One Goes To 11
5= WalkAbout / Chocolate & Cigars
The beer will be launched at a special event at Temple on the Monday of Good Beer Week (May 14), featuring nibbles matched to the beer, musical comedy, prizes, surprises and international guests. For more info or to book your place, head here.
Leo will be flown in by The Crafty Pint to be a guest on the night and sent back to Brisbane with a case of his beer. Hopefully we’ll be able to send some kegs to his local craft beer bars so his fellow Queenslanders can tuck in to it.
A house and techno DJ when not saving kids, he says: “I’ve got a mate who runs the Thirsty Critters brewery tour and he’s been my craft beer buddy. We’ve been out exploring the beer bars – there’s a real buzz about it up here now.”
Sadly for us here at Crafty Towers, licensing laws mean he won’t be able to dust down his old Underworld 12-inches at the beer’s launch, but we look forward to welcoming him to Melbourne for the festival – and seeing just what Ron makes of the Double Hoptendre.
Thanks to everyone who took part in the competition – we’ll be back again in 2013. In the meantime, keep your eyes and ears peeled for some exciting news related to the venture – it’s a long way from finished yet…….
Thanks also to Bintani and Grain & Grape for agreeing to supply the ingredients, Code Create for the website and William Delmont for the logo.
Crafty Pint /
30.03.12
The Hop Hog from Swan Valley brewer Feral has been named Australia’s best beer by a panel of brewers, beer writers, venue operators and retailers. It tops the list in the second edition of The Critic’s Choice: Australia’s Best Beers, the book released this weekend, knocking Stone & Wood’s Pacific Ale down to number two. The top 12 have been counted down online over the past fortnight, with the book’s launch being celebrated at a series of events around the country tonight. It sees Feral joined twice by fellow WA brewery Little Creatures in the list, with Beechworth’s Bridge Road also appearing twice in a list starring breweries from four states.
“We just make beers that we like and have personal respect for so if other people also like them than that’s all very nice and helps us get beer out,” says Feral head brewer Brendan Varis (pictured – sort of – above), who is currently building a new 50 hectolitre brewery with Nail Brewing.
“The timing is very good as on Monday we have forty foot containers arriving to deliver our stainless steel.”
When they’ll be making beer off the new setup is up in the air as they wait for a gas meter from the local authorities, but he has confirmed that the brewhouse will be christened with Hop Hog. He also confirmed that a new lager will be following shortly afterwards. It’s a single hop beer made with Sorachi Ace that has been developed under the working name “983” for more than a year – a beer that could do for the hop what Knappstein’s Reserve Lager has done for the Kiwi Nelson Sauvin variety.
“We still don’t have a name for the beer,” admits Brendan, so if anyone’s got any ideas, feel free to send them over.
As for the remainder of the Critic’s Choice top dozen, they are:
- Feral Hop Hog
- Stone & Wood Pacific Ale
- Little Creatures Pale Ale
- Holgate Temptress
- Bridge Road Saison
- Little Creatures Big Dipper
- Matilda Bay Alpha Pale Ale
- Knappstein Reserve Lager
- Mountain Goat Hightail
- Murray’s Angry Man Pale Ale
- Cooper’s Vintage
- Bridge Road / Nøgne Ø India Saison
It’s a pretty hop heavy top 12, with plenty of pale ales and IPAs there and two new releases making the cut – the Big Dipper, a Single Batch release from Little Creatures, and the Australia / Norway collaboration India Saison. It’s also a top 12 we wouldn’t mind keeping the fridge full at Crafty Towers, although the book’s editor-in-chief Prof Pilsner told us earlier in the week that the “interesting stuff is found between 50 and 100”.
If you want to find your nearest launch party, head here. And if you’d like to win a copy of the book signed by said Prof, make sure you’re signed up to get today’s Crafty Pint newsletter.
So, congrats to one and all, in particular Brendan and his brewing team at Feral for adding yet another gong to the list won by the awesome Hop Hog.
Crafty Pint /
28.03.12
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!
Nick O /
26.03.12
Denmark is perhaps most famous for providing the world with Lego, nice design and Hans Christian Andersen. But more recently Australia has been on the receiving end of a new kind of Danish export: Gypsy Brewers.
Within the last few weeks, Mikkel Borg Bjergsø, from Mikkeller, has brewed collaborations at Mountain Goat and Bridge Road, while Christian Skovdal Andersen from Beer Here brewed at Red Duck and Moon Dog. No sooner had the pair boarded their planes and the beer community was able to welcome Anders Kissmeyer – probably the best Danish brewer you’ve never heard of (middle above). We couldn’t help but slip in the Carlsberg marketing line because Anders was head brewer there for 16 years before going on to Nørrebro Bryghus. Highly respected and experienced, these days he runs his own craft brewery named ‘Kissmeyer’ which has, in a roundabout way, helped bring him to Australia.
His official role on this trip is to judge at the Australian International Beer Awards (AIBA), but he’s also managing to pack in a whole bunch of other beer-related activities, among them sessions at Chapel St Cellars, Josie Bones and collaborative brews at Schwartz Brewery, Red Duck and Moon Dog. And the first of those has already taken place.
Having flown all the way around the world and touched down in Sydney at 9am, Anders dismissed the usual tourist attractions of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House in favour of a basement in Surry Hills, where he was mashing in at the Schwartz brewery by 10:30am.
“It’s all about the beer” he says. With that sort of dedication, it’s hard to argue.
After some initial discussions, Schwartz head brewer Michael Capaldo had sourced the ingredients for what the collaborative decided would be a “yeast-driven farmhouse style, with a local touch provided by some distinctly Australian ingredients; bush tomatoes, pepperberries and wattleseed. And just for some extra fun, a bit of pomegranate.”
Part of the expertise Anders was able to provide was the ability to bring all the unique ingredients together – none of which he’d tried previously – to find the right balance. That’s where all the years of experience come in, to which assistant brewer Andrew Moore will no doubt testify; “Even spending just one day in the brewery with Anders I’ve learned so many incredibly useful things,” he says.
The beer that has been born from the Kissmeyer-Schwartz collaboration will be shared between the two parties, meaning there should be another Aussie beer making an appearance in mainland Europe – if there’s any left of course.
As Michael says with a smile: “We’ve got around 900 litres, but if it turns out as good as we hope and the brewers get stuck into it, maybe we’ll end up closer to 800 litres!”
We took the opportunity to ask Anders about the state of Danish craft brewing and why we’re seeing so many of his compatriots on these shores lately. The answer seemed to mirror much of what is happening in Australia.
“The whole scene is just growing so quickly” he says. “Around ten years ago there were probably no craft breweries in Denmark – definitely the lowest in Europe. Now there are around 120. With a population of only five million, that’s probably as many craft breweries per capita as you’ll find in any country.”
And as for this whole collaboration thing: “There is also a lot between brewers within Denmark and between Scandinavian brewers – actually between brewers from most neighbouring countries.”
While we’re not exactly next door, let’s just hope that Australia continues to be a destination for this growing band of gypsies.
Old and New
Anders isn’t the only international brewer sharing his expertise in Australia this week. Frank Pfeifer, head brewer at Weihenstephan, the oldest brewery in the world, is dropping in to Temple, one of the newest breweries in Australia, on Friday where they will be brewing Temple’s first wheat beer. The plan is for an eight per cent Weizenbock “with a twist” says head brewer Ron Feruglio, although he wouldn’t say what the twist was. We’ll be calling in on Friday while it takes place so will report back once we’ve beaten the answer out of them.
Something else we do know about but can’t tell you yet under pain of death is the identity of the special beer being brewed for the Australian International Beer Awards 20th Anniversary. Two Australian trophy winners from last year’s awards are getting together to create The Collaborator tomorrow, with the beer ready for release before Good Beer Week. Don’t forget, Good Beer Week also sees the launch of The People’s Pint. Voting is underway for the final six, which you can read all about here.
Crafty Pint /
23.03.12
The people that have done as much as anyone in Oz to introduce drinkers to hops in beer have been playing around a little. Coinciding with this year’s hop harvest, the brewers at Little Creatures attempted an experiment – to see if they could make a green hop version of their flagship Pale Ale by managing to get 100kg of hops from the bines at Bushy Park in Tasmania to their brewery in Fremantle in as short a time and in as good condition as possible. With help from hop growers Hop Products Australia (HPA), they succeeded, with the resulting beer currently on tap at their HQ in Freo and due to be tapped this weekend at the Little Creatures Dining Hall in Melbourne.
“I’d done a beer like this when I worked at Harveys in the UK,” says head brewer Russell Gosling. “We mooted the idea of doing it for a Single Batch release but didn’t know if it was something we could pursue. I had a conversation with Tim Lord [of HPA] asking how feasible it was and he wasn’t too sure so had some questions for a contact in the US about temperatures and how it could be achieved from a logistical point of view. It was a bit of an experiment but we thought we’d give it a go.”
Hops begin to change very quickly once the bines are cut down, hence why when harvested they are transported very quickly to a kiln and dried out, removing around 90 per cent of moisture before being further processed. For a “green hop” beer to be made, the hop cones have to make their way from field to beer as soon as possible. Bridge Road has made beer like this thanks to its proximity to HPA’s farm at Rostrevor, while HPA in Tasmania has done it with Cascade, which is close to their Bushy Park farm.
“HPA had never had to harvest, process, package, refrigerate and air freight in such a short timeframe,” says Russell. “We broke new ground. One of our brewers was sent to collect the hops from the plane but a courier had already collected it. We’d mashed in at 4am that morning to make sure the wort was ready for their arrival. It was an amazing day.”
All 100kg of the hops went into the hopback, the section of the brewery through which the wort passes late in the brewing process before making its way to the fermentation tanks. A typical batch of Pale Ale uses 25kg of hops, but because of the additional moisture content in the fresh flowers, this was scaled up massively.
From bine to kiln
“We weren’t sure if they would all fit, but we managed to slot all 100kg in,” says Russell, describing the beer as “interesting”.
“It’s a really good quality beer, although I think a lot of people had this mental perception that as the hops were as fresh as you could get so there would be a massive aromatic, in your face hop profile, but the reality is that the majority of the hop character is on the palate: grassy and more like prickly pear in its fruit component.
“From my perspective as a Pom the hop character on the palate is more what I’m used to; there’s less dominance in the aroma but more complexity on the palate.”
Whether the concept makes it to full Single Batch status next year is still being debated so this may be the only time Little Creatures Pale is ever brewed this way. If that’s the case, you’d best hunt it down quickly as it’s a draught only release.
Going Aussie
The Crafty Pint joined a team from Little Creatures when they visited HPA’s Bushy Park farm earlier this month. The brewer has been increasing the amount of Australian grown hops in its beers year on year, looking to reduce the amount of US and other oversease varieties it imports and instead supporting the local industry.
HPA itself has been undergoing changes in its program in recent years too, recognising the growing importance of the craft beer sector and the growing desire for aroma hops and those with bigger hop flavours. The likes of Galaxy, Stella and Summer are the first fruits of this change of direction, with Tim Lord having high hopes for Stella in particular. Many new experimental varieties are being planted every year at their farms, with only a handful ever making it to the level of commercial crop.
Alex Troncoso, head of brewing development at Little Creatures and the man who is overseeing the construction of their new brewery in Geelong, says: “Over the past five years we have been exploring how we can start using Australian and NZ hops more in our brewing with a view of supporting our local hop industries.
Alex Troncoso and the Little Creatures team hidden behind hops
“Going back to 2006 we didn’t use any Australian hops and only used one NZ hop variety, which was Motueka in Bright Ale. The use of Australian hops has now expanded to include Tasmanian Hallertau (Pilsner), Galaxy (Pale and Rogers), Tasmanian Cascade (Pale, Rogers, Bright, White Rabbit Dark) and Cluster (White Rabbit Dark and White Rabbit White). This season we will be expanding further by way of Summer and Stella out of Tasmania. There is an equally large list of NZ hops we are using now – Motueka as well as NZ Cascade, Super Alpha, Riwaka and a lot of Pacifica. We are now keeping a lookout for any new varieties and experimenting with them in our brewhouses to judge their impact on our beers.
“On the whole our use of local (Australian and NZ) hops has increased markedly and now we are purchasing the majority of our hops from Australian and NZ, supplementing with supplies out of the USA, UK and Europe. It has been a lot of fun working on this and getting to know the local suppliers better in the process.”
It’s a sign that it’s not just the Australian craft brewers who are going from strength to strength, but also those supplying the industry. Some newer HPA varieties are proving extremely popular overseas too.
We’ll be adding more photos from the tour of Bushy Park and the current and historic hop kilns on its land soon.
Crafty Pint /
21.03.12
A few weeks ago, we launched The People’s Pint, a competition to find a beer invented by the people and chosen by the people for the people. Open to any Australian over 18, all we asked for was a beer name and an inspired idea for a beer. We received heaps of submissions from all over Australia and now the judges have spoken and we have our shortlist of just six. What that means is it’s up to you, the people of Australia, to choose which of these will be chosen to be the first People’s Pint. Voting is open – here – until midnight on March 29, with the winner to be announced on March 30.
At that point, Temple Brewery & Brasserie head brewer, Ron Feruglio, will contact the person who nominated the winning beer and begin work on a recipe so that the beer can be brewed ready for launch at a Good Beer Week event on May 14. The six beers to make the cut are:
Grassy Noel – from Daniel O’Grady
One of two punning beers to make the cut (think JFK and Santa), this one is described as:
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.
Burning Red Heart – from Dean Leishman
A beer with a heart this one:
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 (POR), finished with Willamette to deliver wood, spice and smoke notes to the drinker.
Double Hoptendre – from Leo Hede
Maybe we’re easily pleased at The Crafty Pint, but this one made us chuckle, with the terrible bar pun reminiscent of UK adult comic Viz helping it make the cut.
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.
Chocolate and Cigars – from Andrew Braithwaite
Clearly someone with late night drinking on his mind, here’s what Andrew would like you to select:
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.
WalkAbout – from Adam Kenyon
Not the only submission to take the Australian land as its inspiration, but the only one to make the cut. Adam would like The People’s Pint to be:
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.
This One Goes To 11 – from Dan Summers
One of a many entries that referenced music and film, this beer offers a nod to This Is Spinal Tap and opens up a wealth of possibilities. It’s described simply as:
11 different malts. 11 different hops.
They’ve been selected from submissions that included smoked beers, spicy beers, massive beers, aged beers, mainstream Aussie lager hybrids, beers featuring native herbs and spices, beers to create hangovers and beers to cure hangovers. There were some that couldn’t make the cut as they couldn’t have been brewed within the six week period (no barrel aging in that time, folks!), others that the expert minds at Temple said simply wouldn’t work, some that were a little XXX-rated for a people’s comp and others that were simply too darn out there to be considered. Some were humorous, others were very detailed, while we’d hoped for a few more entries that told a tale or were inspired by classic beer memories – perhaps you’re saving them for People’s Pint 2013!!
“We tried to choose the ones that were most inspiring and creative but also beers that were brewable and we knew would work,” says Ron. “They had to be inspired but work within the timeframe and be appropriate for a draught beer. We also looked for beers that fitted the context of The People’s Pint.”
To choose the shortlist, the team at Temple was presented with a list of beer names and descriptions – nothing more. We then went through their favourites to nut out the six above. All came from men, despite a strong representation from women in the submissions, so there will be, among others, no Princess Porter, cheesy wheat beer, spiced pumpkin ale or Slip, Slop, Slap this time, ladies.
The person who submitted the winning beer wins tickets to the launch plus a case of the beer. If they’re from outside Victoria, we’ll even bring them to Melbourne for the night (see terms and conditions here). So, don’t waste any more time reading this – head here and get voting! And take note – it’s one person, one vote, so choose carefully!
Thanks again to Andy at Code Create for The People’s Pint website, William Delmont for the logo and to Bintani and Grain & Grape for agreeing to supply ingredients for the brew.
Crafty Pint /
19.03.12
The 20th anniversary Melbourne Food & Wine Festival is about to draw to a close after a massive 20 day celebration. It’s been the biggest ever festival and the one in which craft beer has taken centre stage like never before. The Portland Hotel brewed a MFWF beer in keeping with the fire theme, significantly more beery events were run than in previous years and it seems they went rather well. The Crafty Pint had some involvement, putting together and moderating a pair of sold out Liquid Lounge sessions that ran as part of the Masterclass weekend, as well as hosting the Gypsy & The Goat dinner at Mountain Goat.
We’ll be posting a roundup and photos from Liquid Lounge later in the week. For now, we’ve got a short film shot at the Gypsy & The Goat for you. Hopefully, it will bring back memories for those who attended and were involved in running it – and will whet the appetite for future events for those that couldn’t make it. The night saw Mikkel Borg Bjergsø, of Mikkeller, join the Goat brewing team to create a Cross Breed collaboration, the Pepperberry Black IPA, while 30-odd beer lovers gathered for a five-course degustation served at a long table erected on the brewery floor, with a Mikkeller and Goat beer accompanying each course.
The food was created and served by The 36 Collective, a Melbourne-based group that pulls together chefs and waiting staff from some of the city’s top restaurants for very occasional one-off events. This was their largest event to date, with the kitchen headed up by Casey Wall (Auction Rooms, Cutler & Co) and the waiters all decked out in flat caps, black braces and, in most cases, hearty beards; a megaphone and large cigar featured strongly too. The food was superb, with the soup (that came served in a can) later appearing in the dreams of one guest, the lamb neck to die for and the service nothing if not unique.
Mikkel and Goat head brewer Dave Bonighton spoke about their beers and their breweries – occasionally with assistance; when the megaphone proved insufficient for all guests to hear their words, the waiters formed a human microphone to repeat their words in unison. We were unsure how Mikkel – in Australia for less than 24 hours at this point – would react; that he started speaking in Danish “to test out these guys” shows he was soon in the spirit. With grain bags used for place mats and seat covers and growlers acting as water bottles, it was a truly unique evening in an amazing location. Here’s hoping Goat allow us to do it all again one day. As for the beer, it will be released in kegs and bottles in the next few weeks.
The Crafty Pint - The Gypsy and the Goat from Aaron Cuthbert on Vimeo.
Credits
Thanks to The 36 Collective for the incredible food and service. Look out for them at Good Beer Week…
Thanks to Chris McNamara for coming up with the idea for the event.
Thanks to Aaron and Mark at Stunt-Rock for the film.
Thanks to Mikkel for joining us from Copenhagen.
Thanks to Hop & Spirit for bringing him over and supplying beers on the night.
And thanks to Mountain Goat for their ongoing willingness to do whatever they can to forward the cause of craft beer and incorporate The Crafty Pint’s requests, no matter how outlandish they become…
Crafty Pint /
16.03.12
As anyone who attended this week’s Fed Square Microbreweries Showcase or has been paying attention on Twitter will know, the Good Beer Week 2012 program is out. That means it’s time to get ready for what may well be the biggest celebration of beer that Australia has seen, with more than 90 events taking place at venues across Melbourne and Victoria. There are showcases, dinners, tours, tastings, plus events pairing beer with chocolate, sweets, sorbets, music and comedy – even a beer hunt. There are visiting brewers from all over Australia as well as New Zealand, the US and Europe. And there are events ranging from those you can rock up to at any time free of charge right through to masterclasses and courses aimed at hardcore beer lovers and home brewers.
The Good Beer Week team is particularly delighted to reveal that the 2010 and 2011 Australian International Beer Awards champion brewers – Kjetil Jikiun, from Norway’s Nøgne Ø, and Brendan Moylan, founder of US brewery Moylan’s – are coming to Melbourne for the week. While here they’ll be appearing at a number of events, including the Good Beer Week Masterclass of Champions. This will see them come together at Hargreaves Hill brewery in Yarra Valley to create a one-off Good Beer Week collaborative brew while conducting an all-day masterclass. Tickets on sale very soon.
Other international guests include a number of Kiwi brewers, including those from the Yeastie Boys, Tuatara, and Renaissance, plus representatives from Sierra Nevada, Brooklyn Brewery, Weltenburg. Meanwhile, the best of Australia will be on show as five Melbourne pubs turn over their taps to interstate brewers in the Pint of Origin series.
Elsewhere, there is the 20th anniversary Australian International Beer Awards Presentation Dinner on May 17, with a menu designed by Josie Bones’ Chris Badenoch, and the Great Australasian Beer Spectapular at the Royal Exhibition Building. There are plenty of varied breakfasts, lunches and dinners, beer swaps and the launch of unique brews, including the second Abbotsford Collabbotsford brew between Mountain Goat, Moon Dog and Matilda Bay plus The People’s Pint, the beer conceived by one of you, voted for by you and brewed by Temple Brewery & Brasserie.
If you’d like your beer to be chosen by the nation to be the first People’s Pint, you’ve got until the end of this weekend to get your ideas in – full details on the competition here. All we need is a name and a great idea for a beer. We’re closing submissions at midnight on Sunday so head here to enter yours. The beer will be launched at an event at Temple on May 14, where you can be the first to sample it alongside food created specially for the beer while enjoying musical comedy from Beer Song writers ElbowSkin. Sierra Nevada will be in the house, with Temple making a special announcement on the night.
The Good Beer Week Team along with GRAM magazine is distributing 60,000 print versions of the program across Melbourne and Victoria right now, while the full program – including a few events not in the print program – can also be accessed online here. You can search by day, target audience or using the map, with all week long events listed on the first day in the calendar (May 12). You can also sign up to the Good Beer Week newsletter through the site and keep up to date with the latest news. So, check out the lineup, book your spots before they’re gone, and ask yourself, are you ready?
GOOD BEER WEEK promo clip from GOOD BEER WEEK on Vimeo.
Good Beer Week is a not-for-profit organisation. The festival has been created and the program compiled by a dedicated team of volunteers, of which The Crafty Pint’s founder is a member.
Nick O /
15.03.12
The Sydney suburb of Newtown is an eclectic one. Gentrification battles with counter-culture; most stores are independent and there are few chain stores open amidst the walls plastered with anti-corporate propaganda; any litter on the street belies an obvious tendency towards environmentalism; chalk drawings on the pavement point you towards an art installation, craft fair or human-rights campaign. Even the soundtrack is interesting; walking a single block you’ll be as likely to hear a street poet or a student rock band practising in a nearby warehouse as you will to hear pop music coming from a cafe.
It’s a place that’s constantly riding the wave of what’s hip and cool and if any one Sydney suburb was crying out for a craft beer of its own, it’s Newtown. Thankfully, that need is about to be fulfilled as the finishing touches are put on the brand new Young Henry’s brewery.
It almost didn’t turn out that way, however, as owner and chief brewer Richard Adamson points out: “We originally planned to open up in Surry Hills, but some local residents opposed the development. We already had the Newtown warehouse site set aside for storage so thought, ‘Why not just open up there?’
“I live a ten minute bike ride away, the other guys working here are either Newtown born-and-bred or have lived here for years. It’s turned out to be a perfect fit.”
Walking along the graffiti-lined streets to the brewery, you certainly do get the feeling that there won’t be quite the same opposition here. We’ll get to find out soon enough because the brewery is almost ready for action. Visiting the site in early March, the protective coverings were being peeled off to reveal the pristine stainless steel tanks beneath, objects were being cut and welded, electricians busily scurrying about, all manner of last minute things being done. Pretty soon the sound of power tools will give way to the happy bubbling of yeast.
“It’s just that final sprint over the finish line now” says Adamson, “we should be brewing the first batch by next week”.
As for what will be coming out of those shiny tanks, it sounds like there’ll be plenty to keep people interested all year round. Adamson reels off a rough list of what he’s already got in mind…
“We’ll probably start off with an unfiltered Keller with Aussie hops, and of course we’ll do a hoppy pale ale – to get it out of the way. Then we’ll be doing real ales for the hand pump – probably dark stuff; something lighter-tasting in the warm months and heavier for the cool weather, maybe a stout. There’ll be seasonal releases too; at the moment I’m thinking ginger beer for autumn, perhaps a Vienna lager for winter, Bock for spring, a cloudy scrumpy-style cider. And there’s the Homebrew Competition winner too.”
He’s referring to the lucky winner of their Homebrew Competition who will get to see their beer made commercially at Young Henry’s “as long as it’s scalable. If the recipe requires the addition of a ton of Saffron, you might be out of luck!”
If you’re already thinking ahead as to where you might be able to get a hold of all these beers, your best bet will be to head straight to the source. While the brewery obviously takes up most of the warehouse, there’s a dedicated space where Adamson plans to open up a bar so punters can drink direct from the brewery – in fact, the glycol system is already wired up, ready to bring the beer from the brewery to your glass at perfect drinking temperature. But until their own bar is up and running, Young Henry’s will mainly be serving local Newtown pubs and bars.
For those that prefer to drink their beer in their own company, a fancy new machine – yet to be unwrapped – will offer Growler fills that, according to Adamson, “will keep the beer fresh for a couple of months” and “fits in well with the attitude of people in the local area towards recycling”. Those slightly further afield will be pleased to know that the label design has been given the final tick of approval, meaning bottles will eventually be made available.
It’s a positive indication of the health of the local craft beer industry that Young Henry’s hasn’t even opened yet but has already been approached by other Sydney breweries wanting to take up additional tank space for contract brewing, which will in turn also be made available at the aforementioned Young Henry’s bar – a win for everyone concerned. Another extremely exciting prospect is the talk of collaborations with other brewers in the region, something which hasn’t been particularly prominent in NSW and which drinkers should look forward to with great anticipation.
Having taken the best part of two and a half years in planning, Young Henry’s is now at that exciting point where the dream is set to become reality. All the signs point to this being exactly the right time and the right place to launch.