If you’re a fan of craft beer, there’s a very good chance you’ll assume it's a hop kiln decorating the can of Phillip Island Brewing’s stout. However, the beer instead pays tribute to a different slice of agricultural history, back when the island was a major hub for chicory farming, with the brick kilns that still stand today a reminder of those times.
Sure, the bitter green vegetable isn’t the trendiest of culinary delights today (although this writer is still hoping it’ll make a kale-like comeback) but if you know the plant, which is wonderful fresh but serves as a substitute to coffee when roasted, then you’ll find plenty of it here. Starting with an Irish stout base, Chicory Stout is overall quite dry and brings dark chocolate aplenty. But it’s in the roast, spice and fresh espresso that the stout gets dialled up to the Nth degree while a substanital bitterness also makes itself known.
Will Ziebell
