Beer Holgate Brewhouse Norton Lager

In recent years, Paul Holgate has been embarking on various trips around the world to learn from masters of the beer world so he can bring the knowledge back to Woodend and take his beers to another level. A recent overseas jaunt took him to Germany, where he spent time studying how they made such wonderful, delicate lagers with the intention of adding one to the brewery's core range.

Since returning, the brewery's Tank 9 – reserved for small trial batches – has been used to see if what he'd learnt in Germany could be replicated back home. And, following those trials, the result is the Norton Lager, arriving 13 years after Paul's first lager, the Pilsner. It's named in tribute to Paul's dad, who used to cruise around the south of England on a Norton motorcycle before moving to Australia – dad and bike now feature on the beer's labels.

It's a pale golden drop with a gentle bitterness, soft, honey like malts and floral, lemon and stonefruit hop aromas and flavours derived from the duo of local hops, Ella and Vic Secret, that give this Munich Helles-inspired beer an Aussie twist.